“You do know that alcohol is the worst of the gateway drugs, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. Still, no thanks on the weed.”
He dips his head in acknowledgement. Then Special shoves her sleeves up and Prescott yells, “Holy fuck. Would you look at that?” He grabs one of her arms and starts examining it. “Wow. I’ve never see anything this detailed before. Those are better than yours, Westie.”
“Westie?” Special asks, quirking her brow.
“Yeah. He’s Scotty, I’m Westie, and Harrison is Harry.”
“I bet you three were so cute, weren’t you?” She teases, but Prescott misses it.
“You wouldn’t have believed it. We even scammed the teachers. We were that bad.” Prescott preens like a fucking peacock.
Special rolls her eyes.
“I was terrible,” I admit.
“Westie,” she says in a playful tone, “please don’t tell me you were mean and used the girls.”
“Oh, it came with the territory,” Prescott says before I can say anything.
“Not how you were treated, though. Like I said, I never did anything like that.” I was never that bad and pray she understands it.
“I hope not, because if you did, I’d whip your ass but good and find some other way to make you miserable.”
“Oooh. Special likes to whip. Does she have a flogger too?” Prescott leans back and grins at her.
“Not quite,” I say, laughing.
We’re sitting around talking when Special’s phone rings. I look at the clock and it’s close to one thirty. My first thought is something is going on at the restaurant. She grabs her phone, and as soon as I see the color drain from her face, I know something is terribly wrong.
39
Special
Mimi’s whispered voice comes to me over the phone. I can barely hear her. “Honey B, they’re here. They’ve come. I just called 911. Come quick.” The line goes dead.
“We gotta go to the farm. Now,” I yell, jumping up and running to Weston’s room to grab my coat and shoes. My mind races and I can’t think straight. What the fuck is happening out there? I can’t call Mimi back. What if her phone isn’t muted? Someone might hear it, and it could give her hiding place away.
Weston is on my heels and we’re out the door, telling Prescott we’ll call him later to let him know what’s going on.
His eyes are huge as he watches us leave. It’s a sobering moment for him I suppose, seeing us move so fast.
Riding the elevator to the parking garage, Weston asks, “What’s going on?”
“I got a call from Mimi.” And then I explain how we set up our emergency plan. “She also called 911, so I know something bad is going down.”
“Fuck.” Is all he says.
“Just get us there as fast as you can.” Then I call Jeb from the truck. He answers and I hear noise from the bar in the background.
“I got a call from Mimi,” I say.
“Are they okay?”
“She said they’ve come.” My voice wavers.
“I’m on the way.”
“Jeb, you better bring your gun.”
“Planning on it.” He hangs up.
“Do you have a gun in here?” I ask Weston.
“Wish I did.”
“Do you have anything we can use as weapons?” I ask.
“Hammers?”
Fuck. “They’ll have to do.”
I call Jeb back to tell him we are unarmed.
“Don’t you drive up that road, Spesh. You’ll alert them and make things worse.”
“Shit, you’re right. Okay, we’ll come in from the highway.”
“Just stay out of sight and let me handle things. I know how to take care of this kind of thing. Remember, I was Special Ops. Don’t run toward gunfire if you hear any. Stay out of the way. You got that?”
“Yes, okay.”
“What’d he say?” I relay the information. When we arrive, I tell him where to park. It’s a moonless night, dark as ink. After we leave the truck, we wait a minute, allowing our eyes to adjust.
“Should we get a flashlight?” Weston asks.
“No. It’ll draw attention to us, and without a gun we’d be the perfect target with no way to defend ourselves.”
We pick our way between the trees and shrubbery lining the road and driveway and head toward the house. When we get closer, I tell Weston to be as quiet as possible.
As we near the porch, I don’t detect any sound, nor is there a car other than Mimi’s parked out front. Everything inside is dark, but the front door is cracked open. Since the porch is squeaky, I choose not to go up there. Walking to the side, I’m careful to stay close to the house and shadows. When I get to Cody’s room, I peek in the windows, but the blinds are closed so I can’t see a thing. It’s the same for the rest of the windows, so we move around to the back of the house. That’s when I see the kitchen door is wide open.
Glancing up at Weston, I notice he motions toward the field. Shadowy figures move toward us from the direction of the woods. I look to the other direction and see the same.
“Shit,” I murmur. I need to find Cody and Mimi before they do. But who are they, and if Mimi saw anyone when she called, where is she now? I make a quick decision and gesture to Weston.
“Follow me.” I tear off toward the barn as fast as I can, but come to a screeching halt when I get there.
“I don’t know anything about that. I told you,” I hear Mimi say. Backing up and inching to the side, we remain in the shadows.
“You’re lying. You’re hiding something.” In the middle of the barn, two men stand facing Mimi with their backs to me. “I’m going to ask you once more, and if you don’t answer, we’ll tear this place apart, but it’ll be after you’re dead.”
Knowing I can’t let that happen, I inch closer. Grasping the hammer, I let the thing fly, praying it’ll hit one of them where it counts.
The way Mimi’s eyes widen must alert them because they both turn at the same time. The hammer strikes one on the shoulder, but besides that doesn’t do much damage. Weston throws his and the two fire their guns. At the same time shots are fired from behind us. I hit the ground, but I’m not sure where Weston goes. All I know is footsteps pound all around me. Then someone asks me if I’ve been hit.
“No, I’m okay. Is it safe?”
“Yeah, you can get up now.”
When I lift my head, the two men lie on the ground, but I’m not sure if they’re alive or dead. Weston is fine. He has a wild look in his eyes. Jeb runs in and heads straight to the root cellar. A moment later he returns carrying a shaking Cody.
Cody takes one look at me and runs right into my arms, sobbing. Then I see Jeb in front of me. Only I do a double take. He’s wearing an FBI jacket.
“Why are you dressed like that?”
He bears a sheepish expression. “Yeah, about that. I’m an FBI agent, Spesh.”
“What are you talking about? Were you dipping in the Jack tonight?” I laugh and mutter, “FBI agent.” Then I look around and notice there’s a number of men and women milling around wearing jackets with the FBI logo on them.
Squinting at Jeb, I ask, “You’re not shitting me, are you?” Weston grabs my hand and I look at him. “Did you know about this?”
“No, but I’m damn glad he is.”
“You mean all this time we’ve known each other, you’ve been an FBI agent?”
Jeb asks, “Can we go inside and talk before the police get here?”
“Why aren’t they here already if Mimi called them?”
“We intercepted the call because we needed to get them first.” He points to the guys on the ground. “That’s why I need to talk to you.”
“Oh, God! Mimi!” I run over to her and hug her. “Are you okay?” She’s sitting down with a blanket on her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little shaken up, but I’ll be okay.”
“Why didn’t you go down with Cody?”
“Not enough
time. I knew I could send him down and hold them off, but we both couldn’t get there. They didn’t drive down in a car. I’m not sure how they got here, but when they started fiddling with the front door, I sent Cody out the back. Mokey alerted us when she started whining. I’ve been letting her stay inside with it being so cold.”
“Where is Mokey now?”
“Probably sleeping. I shut the bedroom door on her so they wouldn’t shoot her.”
I sag in relief. “Thank God they didn’t shoot you. You were amazing!” I hug her again.
Leaning in close, I ask her, “Did you know Jeb was with the FBI?”
“No.” And she grins.
“I gotta go talk to him before the police get here.”
Jeb, Weston, and I go into the kitchen and sit down. On the way, I remind Weston to call Prescott. He says he already did, but he must’ve been asleep because he didn’t answer. “We’ll catch him up in the morning,” Weston says.
We shuffle into the kitchen and sit at the table. Then Jeb begins to tell us his side of the story. He’s been undercover the entire time I’ve known him. He didn’t accidentally stumble into my bar looking for work. It was all set up to protect Cody and me. The FBI has been watching over us all this time. I’m finally getting the rest of the story. Sasha wasn’t just skimming off the top. She was stealing large amounts of cocaine from her drug lord and then reselling it. She figured he wouldn’t care so much since she was the one stealing. When they discovered who the thief was, they made her pay for it with her life. They found her, brought her into that warehouse, strapped her to a barrel loaded with gasoline, and set it on fire after threatening her. But she never told them where she stashed the drugs. The FBI figured that Cody’s dad, the drug lord, would come looking for the drugs Sasha stole. But they didn’t know if he’d come for Cody.
“At first it wasn’t clear if he knew about Cody. But then we think he eventually figured out she had a son and wherever the kid was he would find the drugs there. We must’ve been right. Changing Cody’s name was the smartest thing you could’ve done,” Jeb says.
One of the agents walks inside and tells Jeb that everything has been cleaned up.
“Thanks, Marvin, and good job.”
That name rings a bell. “Hey, wait. Is that the guy you called from the hospital to let your dog out?” I ask Jeb. He looks sheepish.
“Yeah, about Jasper. It was your code word. I don’t have a dog. It meant to check on things out here. I wasn’t sure if that driver had targeted you, or if he was just your average stupid drunk. That was also why I was about to freak when you wanted to let Weston spend the night. I called Marvin from the truck, and he ran a check on him before I left that night.”
“Damn. I don’t know what to say.” I look at Marvin and give him a lopsided smile. “How did you get here so fast tonight?”
“Marvin’s been here all night. Up in the loft. The barn and the house have been wired, just in case. These guys hunting their drugs have done a couple of trial runs recently and we knew they were going to strike again. We just didn’t know when. Guess they figured New Year’s Eve would be a good night with everyone busy and celebrating and you off with the big party at the bar.” He’s turned a nice shade of pink and at first I don’t know why, but then it hits me. Oh, shit! They’ve had this place wired! The fuck palace! One glance at Weston tells me he’s on the same page. But Jeb never lets on. “We’ve always had at least one agent out here. That day you shot Weston, I wasn’t on my way to see my aunt. I was parked over in the woods where our team’s been keeping tabs on you. There’s an old house back there we’ve taken over.”
“I owe you a big thanks, Jeb. We could’ve been killed without you. Cody, Mimi … I can’t imagine.”
“About that. Whose idea was it to use the hammers as weapons?”
“Mine. Weston didn’t have a gun.”
“Jesus, Spesh. Marvin about shit his pants when you threw that thing.” And then he says to Weston, “Don’t ever follow her lead again if something like this happens in the future. That was the worst plan I’ve ever seen in my life. Fucking hammers?”
“Sorry,” I squeak, “but I thought they were going to shoot Mimi.”
“Marvin would’ve taken them out. You didn’t know it, but he was waiting for them to incriminate themselves.”
“So, is one of those guys out there Cody’s father?”
Jeb’s eyes drill holes straight through me, but he doesn’t answer. “Let’s just say Cody’s dad isn’t an issue for you to be concerned about anymore.” He never blinks while answering.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means he’s no longer around to cause you any problems, and let’s just leave it at that.”
I think about what he says. I’m just glad Cody can now be free to come into the city with me. I don’t have to worry about his safety any longer. Then I slam my hand on the table. “Now I get it!”
Jeb asks, “Get what?”
“No wonder you pushed for me to date Weston. You knew he was a good guy. You ran background checks on everyone, even my employees.”
Jeb puts his hands in the air. “Guilty as charged. I had to make sure you three were safe. But aren’t you glad I was right about this one?” He nods toward Weston.
“Oh, yeah.” I grab Weston’s hand.
“Good Lord, just don’t shoot him in the ass again!” Jeb says.
Weston snaps his fingers. “Now it makes sense that you knew how to dress a gunshot wound.”
“Well, that and I was a Night Stalker. Special Ops.”
“No shit?” Weston asks.
“Yep. Special knew, but I guess she never told you. When I got out, I joined the FBI. Oh, don’t say a word to any of the employees at work about that. No one can know I’m FBI.”
We’re getting ready to stand when a female agent walks in and says the cops are here, along with the EMTs. They were called to check out Mimi.
“Delores?”
“Hey, Special.” She grins at me.
“You too?”
“Yeah. He brought me in when he found out I had kitchen experience from when I was in the Navy.”
I throw my hands up in the air. “Now what am I gonna do? I’m losing my two best employees!”
“No, I’ll hang around until you get a replacement,” Jeb says.
Honestly, I feel like crying. Replacing Delores is one thing, but Jeb? He’s the dad I never had. Tears fill my eyes as I fly into his arms. He pats me on the back for a while, then says, “Hey, where’s my little firecracker?”
“She’s still here. She’s just thinking about how she’s going to miss one of her best friends.” Weston puts his hand on me, letting me know he’s there to support me.
“You got a good man there. I’m sure he’ll see you through and I’m still here. It’s not like I’m moving away or anything.”
“Jeb, did you ever find the drugs she stole, because they weren’t here.”
“No. We never did. We don’t know what she did with them. When you brought Cody back, did he have anything with him other than clothes?”
“Just some of his baby clothes and little toys in an old trunk. It’s in the attic. I told myself I’d go through it one day and give some of those things away, but I never did.”
“How large was it?”
“About so big.” I use my arm to demonstrate. “And it was super heavy. The lady that kept Cody had to help me get it to the car.”
“Can we bring it down?” Jeb asks.
I see lights flashing as the ambulance pulls up. “Can we do it after they check Mimi?”
“Sure. You should be with her now.”
Weston and I go outside and stay with her as they check her over. Once they finish, they decide that she’s fine and can stay home. I ask them to take a look at Cody too while they’re here. He’s been outside with one of the agents because he thinks they’re as cool as Batman.
After the EMTs give him the once-over and he plays
with their stethoscopes to listen to his heart, they give me a thumbs-up. Weston helps Mimi inside, although I think she just wants his attention. Once inside, I ask her if she wants a shot of bourbon. She lets out a giggle and then says, “I think I will, thank you.”
I point to the cabinet where it is and have Weston take care of Mimi while I have Jeb follow me up to the attic. When we get up there, I say, “If there are drugs in this, I want you to get it out of here without Mimi or Cody knowing about it.”
“Will do.”
Locating the trunk, we open it. On the top are baby clothes and some little items such as teething rings and rattles. Jeb reaches underneath everything, then eyes where his hand is to the bottom of the trunk.
“There’s a false bottom in here.”
We pull everything out and he lifts up the bottom. Inside are bricks of cocaine. The entire thing is jammed packed with them.
“Oh shit. How much do you think is in there?”
“Several dozen kilos, at least. I suspect this is only a tip of what she grabbed. Who knows what she did with the rest.”
“Jeb, you gotta get this out of here.”
“Yeah. Do you have an old duffel bag or something I can carry this out in? Maybe Weston can keep Mimi and Cody occupied while I take care of this.”
I look around and see a couple of old suitcases.
“What about those?”
“I’m not sure they’re big enough,” he says.
Then I see an old canvas duffel. It looks like something my grandfather had from when he was in the military. “What about that?”
“That might do it.”
We pack the bricks inside and we go down to see if the coast is clear. Weston is still in the kitchen with Mimi and Cody. I catch his eye for a second and he understands the need to keep them distracted a while longer. Then I quietly close the door to the kitchen. Jeb slips outside to explain the situation to Marvin. Marvin drives an SUV around to the front while Jeb carries the heavy bag down and out through the front door. When it’s loaded in their vehicle, I finally breathe normally again.
Shit! “Dammit, Jeb, I drove all the way from California with that stuff.”
“Hey, you’re good now. We got the bad guys.”
A Special Obsession Page 29
