by Kelly Shade
“Guys lower the weapons; she is a friend.” Said Don.
Jane looked around and spotted Ian. He was lying face down next to a poker table. There were seven more people, all of them on the ground, shaking. No one was hurt. The only employees were two guards, who were tied back to back, a waitress and a bartender. Through the day they only worked the bar and the slot machines, so there was no need for more staff. The high security and the managers were there through the night.
“What are we going to do now, Don? I’m not leaving with nothing.” Jane stood in front of him with arms crossed on her chest.
“We came first, Blake. Maybe next time you will be faster,” nagged Don.
“You don’t want to make me mad, do you Don?” Jane smiled “You don’t want me for an enemy, right?”
“We came first, Blake. It’s fair. No hard feelings.” Don’s voice softened.
“No hard feelings, yeah. Well, if you wanna be like this . . .” Jane turned back to the spot she entered from. “We’ll see each other in your head next time!”
“Come on. We can split the cash, okay?” Don’s voice was trembling.
Jane smiled and went back to him. “Good decision!”
“I’m guessing you don’t have the safe combination?” Blake asked walking around the men who were looking suspiciously at her. Her attitude and walk were different. Jane looked arrogant with a nasty smile and greedy eyes.
“Yep, but I have a guy to crack it,” said Don and nodded to the man on his right.
“I have a better idea.” Jane went to Ian and rudely pulled him off the ground. “This one will tell us the combination.”
“Who is that?” Don looked at him with disregard. His team, more like a gang, lifted their guns again. He gestured to lower them.
“This is the manager’s assistant.” Jane put her finger to her lips to shush Ian’s cousin who almost blew the cover. Valdez knew what she was doing and pretended to be scared of her. She dragged him in front of Don. “Someone didn’t do his homework, huh?” Blake was insolent, she made a glib smile and narrowed her eyes. She was playing a role, but which role? Maybe that was her old self? Ian Valdez couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Okay, Blake, you haven’t let me down. I’ll trust you on that one.” Don nodded to the back door, showing where the safe was located. “But you are taking two of my guys with ya. And, Blake, no funny business. If you try your mind controlling tricks on me, I’ll kill you and everyone in this room” He pointed his gun at the people on the ground and then ordered the two other clown-masked men to go with Jane and Ian. They took several duffle bags and went after them.
Jane stopped at the door. “Where is the passageway out?”
“You will know soon enough,” laughed Don.
“I’m not opening the safe if I don’t have a way of escape,” Jane said decisively.
“The old Blake . . .” Don shook his head. “It is in the storage room, behind the shelf with the cleaning agents. There is a hidden door. We will get out in the back alley where an ice cream truck will be waiting for us. Happy now?”
“Extremely!” Jane said sarcastically.
She, Ian and the two guys from Don’s team went in. Only a hallway was separating them from the significant treasure. Jane was holding Ian’s hand pretending to drag him, Don’s gorillas were behind them with guns ready to shoot. Blake slowly gave Ian her weapon, and then she searched her pocket for the silencer and passed it too. Ian was confused.
“When we go near the safe, you turn, duck and shoot the one on the left,” whispered Jane.
“The other will kill us; you don’t have another gun.” Ian said.
“I’ve got this.” Jane showed him a little pocket knife. “Trust me.”
Ian agreed. They opened the metal door that guarded the safe and saw the massive titan-made box with a numpad on it.
“Now!” whispered Jane at the moment the two men went behind them. Ian squatted and turned with finesse. Fired. Valdez hit the man on the left and pointed the gun at the other one. To his surprise, Jane already took care of him. Blake had thrown her knife at him. Ian saw the pocket knife sticking out of the thief’s stomach. Blake jumped and punched the stabbed one in the face. Valdez did the same with the person he shot. The men were unconscious. Jane took the knife out and wiped the blood with the thief’s shirt.
“Help me!” Now Jane was trying to move the men. Ian helped her. Then they tied them with zip locks. Ian ripped the shot man’s shirt and put part of the cloth in their mouths so they wouldn’t scream if they woke up.
“Now what?” Valdez asked with a worried, trembling voice.
“Now we have to take care of the others. Come with me.” Jane closed the metal door and headed to the storage room. It was ten feet away from the safe. Ian and Jane went in. Jane saw boxes with alcohol bottles.
“Spill as many as you can. Fast, we are running out of time,” she said.
“Will you please tell me the plan!” Ian asked while splashing perfectly good whiskey on the floor.
“We go back, and I’ll say we have the money, and it is time to go. They come after me, you free the people and call the team. They are across the street sitting at the pizzeria waiting. Understood?” Jane spoke and threw another bottle on the ground.
“And leaving you with those freaks, no way!” protested Ian.
Jane’s look said, "We are doing it no matter what." After stuffing the bags with the empty bottles, Jane put them in the middle of the closet. She took the gun from Ian, put the silencer back in her pocket and grabbed his hand again.
“I’m sorry for that!” Jane apologized.
“For what?” Ian asked surprisingly. Jane looked at him with regret and punched him in the face. Valdez was so confused he couldn’t do anything. Now his cheek was bleeding. Blake dragged him back.
“Come on! We have to move,” she shouted at Don.
“Where is the money and my men?” he asked while walking to the back door.
“In the closet, waiting,” Jane said and left the crew to go first. She winked at Ian and closed the door behind her.
Now the crew was in front of the storage room. Don opened the door and saw the bags. But his two gorillas weren’t there.
“Good job, Blake! Thanks! You killed my boys? Bad decision. Now give me your gun. Put it down slowly,” and he pointed his pistol at her.
Blake smiled. She kneeled and put her weapon on the ground. Then stood up slowly and kicked it toward Don. One of his guards went to get it, but at that moment Jane took her Zippo lighter from her sleeve, lighted it and threw it. The room burst into flames. Don’s jacket caught fire. He jumped back screaming. Jane ran back. The thieves went after her. She got into the client part of the casino and saw the homicide and robbery team, shoulder by shoulder, aiming at the door.
“Hey!” Jane said breathlessly with a smile. Don and the two other men slammed the door open and saw the policemen waiting for them.
“I’ll kill ya, Blake!” Don shouted while Sam Klein was putting the handcuffs on his wrists.
Jane smiled deviously and went to her team. Ian’s cheek was still bleeding.
After a little conversation, the robbery team agreed to cover up the story. They had to write the report without Jane’s part. Sam agreed because this way his team would be rewarded and they and Ian would be the heroes who saved everyone.
Jane, Ryan, Hunt, Nick and Ian decided to grab lunch and go back to the office. Blake had to apologize ten more times to Ian because of the punch he had to take.
“What was that attitude back there?” Ian asked Jane, “You were different.”
“If you want to deceive someone, you need to be a good actor.” She smiled.
“Yeah, makes sense,” he said. “You are good. Crazy good!”
“What do you expect?” Jason Carter said. “She is a professional liar. I bet you made millions out of this, huh, Blake?”
“Yeah, I did.” Jane bit her lip.
“The f
unny part is after all you did, you’re not in prison. You’re here, in the police department, getting paid by the government. I don’t know why you are keeping a thief and a liar in your team, Hunt!” Carter said.
“Harsh!” Nick laughed loudly “All of this just because you couldn’t get her to be your girlfriend? That’s low, bro, very low!”
Jason grimaced and slammed the door. Everyone laughed.
The lunch turned into an early dinner, but the team enjoyed every bite of it. Everyone was happy and excited about the way Jane handled the situation. But she didn’t feel that way. She was staying in her chair with a serious look on her face, staring at her phone.
“What is it?” Nick asked.
“Nothing,” lied Jane.
She opened her drawer and took out Ryan’s mother’s diary. Gray and Hunt were the only ones who knew what that was. Blake stared at Amber’s notes for a minute, and then waved Ryan to come over.
“Give me your locket,” she said.
Gray gave it to her. Jane opened it and closed it. Then again, Blake looked at it carefully from each side.
“What’s the idea here?” Ryan questioned.
Jane didn’t answer. She saw little arrows on the inside. Blake placed the locket on the notebook and started writing some of the symbols on a piece of paper. Ryan silently waited. Moments later Blake had written few words with those symbols.
“Great!” she sighed.
“What is great? Did you get something?” Ryan glanced at the nonsense that Jane was admiring.
“These are perfectly written English letters. You just have to look at them one by one.” She pointed at the first one. “This is H, then we have u, m, a, n.”
“Human?” Ryan wrinkled his eyebrows.
Jane was flipping the locket on the paper, and after each turn, she was writing down a letter.
“Damn!” Blake said after she finished. “Human trafficking. She was helping Rose with a case of human trafficking!”
Before Ryan could say something, Jane viciously started to spin the notebook and to write faster on the other paper. Minutes later she had "inside job" and "prostitutes" and "black book" and "meetmedotorg" and "Morse."
“God!” Ryan breathed deeply “That’s bad!”
“Check that; it is a website!” Jane pointed at the words she wrote.
Ryan took his laptop and typed the address. It turned out to be some kind of a dating service. Women overseas were looking to marry men in the USA so they could live in the States legally.
“So Morse gets these women by offering them a good life in the US, but actually, he is making them work as prostitutes. Oh my God, this is bad!” Ryan put his hand on his mouth. “We should tell the team!”
“We can’t involve them.” Jane threw the notebook and the piece of paper back into her locker. “Later we will decode the other notes.”
“What should we do then?” Ryan sounded worried.
“I’ll think of something” Blake stood up “I have to go.” And she went out. Ryan hurried to her.
“You want it or not, I’m coming with you!” Blake agreed.
Together they went to Barbara Bradley’s office. She wasn’t there, so they had to wait. Jane leaned on the cold wall of the corridor. She looked calm, scary calm. Ryan, on the other hand, was walking back and forth nervously. Jane told him about the possibility of blood relationship between her and Michael Morse. That news freaked him even more. He was tapping with his leg and snapping his fingers. Bradley said she would be there in ten minutes, but each second felt like an hour. But as Barbara promised she was there on time holding a pile of documents.
“You may need to go in,” Bradley said nervously.
Jane and Ryan went in her office. Her face showed she had terrible news for them.
“Well?” asked Jane.
“I checked and re-checked. I made the test ten times. Always the same results.” Bradley looked scared. She handed over the documents with shaking hands. Jane took them and with Ryan started to read them. It was something like a chart with ticks and x‘s. Gray was puzzled and got even more so when Blake put the documents in her bag without asking what they meant.
“Can you tell me what the hell we were looking at?” Ryan’s nerves couldn’t take the pressure.
“DNA test,” said Jane shortly.
Ryan grabbed her hand.
“Yeah, and?” They were face to face now.
“It turns out Michael Morse is my biological grandfather,” Jane sighed and looked away.
Chapter 15
Back to Chicago
Ryan and Barbara were in shock after the news about Michael Morse. Jane had to convince them to keep quiet. They promised to keep the information to themselves, but Blake had doubts. Gray already put a bug in her phone and the fact that he stayed at her house for almost a week worried Jane. What if he planted listening devices or hidden cameras? Jane couldn’t be sure Ryan wouldn’t tell the team about this new development. The only thing they agreed about was to share Michael Morse’s criminal record with Hunt, but nothing else.
Blake spent the night at home searching for planted bugs. For ten hours she checked both floors of the house. She dug up every spot she would hide stuff like that, every suitable place. Nothing. It was a relief. Maybe Ryan wasn’t that bad after all; perhaps he was worried about Jane for real. Or maybe he was too good and hid the gadgets well enough.
Blake finished the search and went to the kitchen for coffee. There were other things on her mind now. She found out Michael Morse was biologically connected with her. It was time to think of a plan to get him. He was the one who could tell her the truth and probably he was the one behind Rose’s and Amber’s murders. But why? There were so many unanswered questions.
Standing by her favorite sun bed with a cup and a cigarette in her hand, Jane was staring at the pool, thinking. There was no way she could get to this man alone. Blake needed help. But could she trust her team? There was only one way to know. What if they thought she was on Morse’s side? All kinds of crazy thoughts were running through her head. “Grandfather . . .” she muttered in disgust. Then she smiled “Grandpa! Of course!” She just thought of the only person she cared about in the sick family who raised her. Her grandpa, Zackary Jordan, was the only one she never asked about her adoption. Jane loved him very much, and she didn’t want to hurt him with this kind of question while he was alive. He was gone now, but he might have information hidden in his personal belongings. Blake had respect for him, and she didn’t go through his stuff before. Maybe now was the time.
Blake had hoped she would never go back to that place again. But here she was, standing at her beautiful house, away from those people for six years now, and thinking of going back. Jane had to prepare herself mentally for that visit. She hadn’t spoken with them since she had left. Jane wasn’t afraid of their reaction; she was fearful of her own reaction. What if she flipped out and shot them? The thought put a smile on her face for a second, though. Back in Chicago. Damn! she thought. It was decided. Jane had to take the unpleasant trip to find out if her adoption family had been in touch with Michael Morse.
Blake dressed up and went to the homicide office. She had a responsibility to be there. Jane had to inform Hunt that she needed to take a day off. It was new for her to ask for permission. Almost a year with the LAPD wasn’t nearly enough to teach her that.
Blake found Hunt and, with great effort, started to talk.
“Hey, I need the day off. I have something to do. It is okay, right?” she muttered.
“Why?” Hunt asked casually. He was head of homicide for a long time, and he was used to keeping tabs on his people.
“Personal business in Chicago.” Jane was annoyed.
“Okay.” Hunt lifted his eyes off the reports he was studying. “You can have the day off.”
Jane nodded. The sentence irritated her even more. Without a word to the team, she took her bag and headed to her car. She booked a ticket in the morning and had to hu
rry to the airport. The traffic wasn’t on her side today. Every traffic light was red, and there were even more vehicles on the road than usual. Jane arrived at the airport, parked her car and took out the backpack she prepared earlier. She was running to the gate when she bumped in to Ryan Gray.
“Of course, Hunt sent you!” she sighed with no surprise.
“Well, I get to meet your family!” Ryan smiled. “You are going to them, aren’t you?”
Jane looked at him as if she wanted to burn a hole in his forehead.
“Don’t ever refer to those bastards as my family. Understood?”
“Sorry.” Ryan was a little scared. “Understood.”
“Let’s go. I don’t want to miss the flight. You have a ticket, I suppose?” asked Jane.
Ryan showed her his ticket and smiled awkwardly.
They managed to get on the plane at the last minute. The only conversation they had throughout the four-hour flight was when Jane asked him to reserve a rent-a-car.
Blake had the files on the serial killer case with her instead of a book like the other passengers. She took them with her to take her mind off the fact that she was going back to the place she hated the most.
Jane found no clues in Rewera’s files, so she put them back in the bag. The last thirty minutes Jane stared out the window.
Finally, they were in Chicago. Blake woke up Ryan who fell asleep shortly after they took off from LAX.
They quickly got out to search for the car Ryan rented for them.
“Ferrari? Seriously?” Jane laughed out of surprise. Ryan had rented a red Ferrari California.
“You wanna make an impression, right?” he winked and took the driver’s seat. “I’ll let you drive on the way back!” Gray hurried to promise when he saw Jane’s sharp look.
She got in the car without complaining.
“First, we have to dress you properly,” she said glancing at his black blazer. “And to buy munitions for these.”
She took two small suitcases from her backpack.
“Is that a Glock 21?” Ryan said impressed. “How did you get those?”
