by Matt Lincoln
“It can wait,” Raven replied confidently. “Just not too long.”
Header blew by and waved his hand behind him to beckon the team into the dining room. Tessa followed Ethan closely as they quickly got themselves situated around the table. Header settled at one end of the table to start the debrief, and Tessa grabbed an empty chair beside Ethan. For some reason, that woman… Raven… made her a bit uncomfortable, but she was grateful that the woman had opted to stay in the living room while everyone else gathered around the table.
“Okay, first of all, we have a sample for Bonnie,” Header announced, looking over at Bonnie with a proud smile.
“Oh, yeah?” Bonnie perked up at the news. “I’m glad I can do something useful now!” Ethan dug through his pants pocket for the sample and slid it toward her. She took it excitedly, turning it over in her hands.
“Hey, you have most definitely been useful,” Header reminded her. “You were the perfect bakery date.”
Bonnie barked out a laugh. “That was a lofty life goal of mine, but I think I’m more suited for this particular line of work.” She held up the sample kit to support her statement.
“Maybe,” Header agreed, “just don’t discredit yourself. We’re all glad you’re here.”
Bonnie beamed and sat back in her chair. “Thanks.”
“Well,” Ethan pushed forward, addressing the rest of the table, “right after I grabbed the sample for Bonnie, we heard someone trying to come into the building. We were trapped and had to fight our way out.” He looked over at Warner. “I’m not sure what Farr said or did that we missed, but I’m incredibly grateful for the group of bikers that came to our aid.”
“I told him we didn’t have much in the way of medical assistance or backup,” Warner shrugged. “You two were the obvious choice to get this done, but you two are also the best we’ve got. The downside to doing this under the radar is we don’t have a lot of help. When I told Farr what the plan was, he just gave us a number to call. He didn’t tell us anything other than that if you needed any help, to call the number. So, I did. As soon as you asked for help, I called.”
Bonnie sat forward again excitedly and jumped back into the conversation. “It was really cool. There was a long line of motorcycles sitting outside of the hot dog place. We figured it was just a random meeting that was happening, and no one passing by seemed to question it. As soon as Warner hung up the phone, the crowd spilled out of the building, and all of the bikes came to life. They all took off toward the bakery.”
“Did Farr follow up with any updates on what the bikers did?” Ethan asked, looking over at Header. He was looking expectantly at Warner, and Tessa knew he was hoping for the answer to that question, too.
“No, he didn’t,” Warner informed us. “I’m sure he will fill us in at some point, though.”
“Do you think… that woman knows?” Tessa asked hesitantly, not wanting to interrupt the flow of the debrief. She wasn’t an active participant, after all.
The conversation halted as everyone considered her question until a sharp voice echoed out from the living room.
“I don’t know anything! I just do what they need me to do.”
“Well, there goes that,” Ethan chuckled humorlessly. “So, where does this leave us now?”
“I’m working on pulling some information on the family,” Warner informed us. “I should have an update soon.”
“Yeah, and I will get to work on this sample,” Bonnie announced cheerfully. “Let’s see if there are any clues in here.”
“Great,” Header announced to the table in general. “We also know that Marston needs to take some time to deal with his wound, so let’s break up for the night and meet back here in the morning to compare the rest of our findings.”
“Sounds good to me,” Ethan agreed. His statement was parroted by Warner and Bonnie, and everyone shoved their chairs back and began to disperse. Ethan hung back, though, and let Tessa help him up.
“How do you feel?” she asked gently as she walked with him into the living room to meet Raven.
“Better now that you’re here,” he replied smoothly, grinning down at her. Now that the immediate worry had dissipated, Tessa was left wondering how she could help him recover. Luckily, Raven chimed in with the answer.
“You the girlfriend?” the woman asked, her dark eyes piercing through Tessa’s.
“Uhh, not really,” she muttered, shrugging off the question.
“Alright, let me rephrase that.” Raven came over and helped Ethan over to the couch. “Are you the one that’s going to be keeping an eye on his recovery?”
“Yes,” Tessa confirmed with more confidence. Whatever her relationship was with Ethan, this was a question she could definitely answer.
Raven began working at Ethan’s shoulder, and Tessa noticed the open medic kit on the coffee table. The woman hadn’t just been lounging in their living room. She’d been preparing.
“Good,” Raven muttered distractedly as she worked. “He will need someone to keep an eye on this. It’s hard to see without a mirror, and it’s better to have two hands for this. Come here.”
Raven’s voice was sharp and impersonal, but she shifted over on the couch to allow Tessa some room to see what she was doing, and her knowledge and skill had Tessa feeling much more at ease than when she had first walked through the door.
Raven spent time showing Tessa exactly what to do and how to care for Ethan’s wounded shoulder, and then she had Tessa walk her through everything when it was all done.
“Good,” she announced matter-of-factly when she finished up and began to repack her medic bag. “He will need to rest tonight. I’d stay away from any more gunfights in your immediate future if I were you.” She poked at Ethan in the arm, and he chuckled good naturedly.
“No promises,” he responded.
“Come on,” Tessa replied positively. “Let’s get you up to bed.”
“That sounds wonderful,” he moaned, letting Tessa guide him off the couch and up to the bedrooms. She turned around when they hit the bottom of the stairs.
“Thank you,” she called out to Raven, who was rearranging the couch cushions so that she could lay down.
“No problem,” Raven replied nonchalantly. “Let me know if you need help through the night.”
Tessa nodded and continued up the stairs with Ethan at her side. She was happy to have him back and grateful that his injury wasn’t worse, but she was also incredibly worried. This family was bad news, and if this was what happened now, as they were just getting started, how bad was this mission going to get? As she eased Ethan down onto his bed and helped him get comfortable, she found herself staring at him for a bit too long.
This mission was proving to be incredibly dangerous, and she had a bad feeling they had just poked a very big bear.
Chapter 14: Ethan
Despite Tessa’s help, it was a very long night. I tossed and turned with no comfort in sight, and I groaned in frustration when the sunlight began peeking through the curtains the next morning. I dragged my heavy body out of bed and got ready and dressed for the day, wincing in pain every time I tried to move my shoulder. The pain was mostly stiffness and the pain meds wearing off, though, and I knew it wouldn’t last. Raven had been incredibly helpful last night, but there was only so much she could do. The stiffness and inflammation in my shoulder were evidence of a new injury that I had slept on top of for half of the night. Some movement and some caffeine seemed to be the obvious solution, and I made my way downstairs as quickly as possible to make both of those things happen.
Raven was up already, drinking coffee by the kitchen counter. When she saw me, she placed her paper cup down on the counter and turned to me.
“How’re you feeling?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to read my facial expression.
“A bit sore,” I shrugged, “and a bit stiff. Nothing some coffee and meds can’t fix.”
She reached over toward the other side of
the countertop and slid a couple of pill bottles over to me. “These are for you. One’s for pain, and one’s an antibiotic. Your girl, Tessa, will be able to help you care for your shoulder. Keep track of the supplies so that you know what to grab when you need to restock.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, taking the bottles from her.
“No problem,” she announced. “Listen, you’re standing and talking, and you’re totally fine, so… I’m out of here. I hope it heals up nicely for you.” She took one last gulp of coffee, crumpled up her cup, and chucked it into the nearby bin. “See you around.”
“See ya!” I called out after her as she headed for the front door. The conversation had happened so quickly that I stood there for a moment, wondering if it had really happened.
I scooped up the pill bottles and read the labels. The pain medication was simply a high dosage of ibuprofen, and it definitely gave me flashbacks to my days in the military. I popped both bottles open and took the pills with a quick gulp of water from the tap and then proceeded to pour myself my own cup of coffee. I was grateful that Raven had made a fresh pot before she left. I took my coffee over to the couch and sank into the cushions. My body was exhausted, but my mind was racing with the details of this case, and I closed my eyes and wondered which side would win out.
There was some activity going on behind me as the rest of the house woke up and stumbled downstairs for coffee. I muttered my morning greeting to anyone that called out to me but didn’t really pay much attention to anything that was going on until I heard Warner’s voice cut through the rest of the morning noise.
“Everybody, you won’t believe what I found out!” Warner’s voice demanded immediate attention, and given that Warner hardly ever made big announcements like this, he got exactly what he wanted.
I pushed myself out of the cushions and turned around to see everyone else staring at him intently, even Header, whose hand was still hovering over the handle of the carafe to fill his empty cup.
“We should sit down, I think,” Warner suggested, heading toward his seat at the table.
It hadn’t happened consciously, but somehow we kept grabbing the same seats every time we gathered around this table for a meeting, and this morning was no exception. When Warner pulled out his chair, it set off a chain of events that led all of us to our positions. Tessa was the exception, walking instead straight over to me, where she immediately checked my bandage.
“I’m okay,” I whispered to her. She flashed me a relieved smile. I wasn’t about to tell her that I was in pain, but hopefully, the medication would help with that soon.
Tessa accompanied me to the table, and once everyone had been seated, Warner cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Good morning, everyone,” he began, looking around at all of us. “I’ve been working hard to find any threads connecting the Mezzanottes to any illegal activities in any place other than New York. I hadn’t been having much luck until Marston came home last night with the potential cocaine sample. Once I knew how to narrow down that search, I started getting results.”
“You did?!” Bonnie sounded just as surprised as I was. “What d'you find out?”
“Well.” Warner continued, “as it turns out, they not only had connections here in New York but also in Los Angeles, Hawaii, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.”
“Wait, what?” Header sat forward in his chair, thoroughly intrigued. “Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic? Seriously?”
“Yup,” Warner confirmed. “I’m curious to know if it’s tied in at all to the MBLIS case that was down there.”
“It’d have to be,” I mused. “If it is, though, it means that the Mezzanotte family is a lot larger and with a much farther reach than we’d originally given them credit for. I don’t like the sound of that.”
“There’s one surefire way to find out,” Bonnie added confidently.
“Yeah, how’s that?” Header inquired from his spot at the far end of the table.
Bonnie beamed excitedly and sat forward. “Marston got me the sample from last night. I can reach out to Clyde and ask him to send me the encrypted files to my shiny new laptop so that I can compare the results of last night’s samples to those from the crime scene down in Puerto Rico. It’s not a sure thing, but it’ll give us a decent idea as to how far their reach might actually go. It’ll also give me some information about the drug’s origins. I’ll get to work on that… uhm… after breakfast.”
I heard a few murmurs of agreement and realized that my stomach was feeling quite a bit empty, too.
“You don’t think Clyde will get suspicious?” I asked, ignoring my stomach for the moment.
“Nah.” Bonnie literally waved off my concern with one hand. “All Clyde needs is my reassurance that things are fine. He doesn’t ask too many questions. He’ll be happy to send it.”
“You hope,” Header warned, but his demeanor told me he wasn’t as serious as he portrayed. “The files are encrypted for a reason.”
“I know,” Bonnie reassured him, her smile still in place. “Trust me.”
“Alright,” Header conceded. “I trust you.” Header had a mischievous grin tugging at the corners of his lips, and I knew that he appreciated that Bonnie was overtly breaking the rules to make this happen for us. It was very much in line with something he would do, and I had to admit, I was a bit surprised at how willing Bonnie was to go to that length for us.
“Excuse me for a moment,” Tessa announced, pushing back from the table and heading into the living room. She pulled out her phone as she went, and although Header looked at me questioningly, I merely shrugged. Tessa wouldn’t have anything to contribute to the conversation. As much as I enjoyed being with her, she didn’t need to remain this involved.
“Okay,” I asserted, refocusing the conversation. “Assuming Bonnie gets to work on the samples right away, do we have anything else? Any way to go? What’s next?”
“Great question,” Header nodded in agreement. “I have no clue.”
Warner sat forward. “Actually, there is one more thing.” Once again, he commanded our attention.
“What’s that?” I prompted.
“I found out who Whittington was trading favors with,” he announced.
“The Florida Senator?” Header clarified. “Our puppet?”
“Puppet?” I looked back at Header in confusion.
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “We all know Bradley Whittington isn’t the problem. He’s just the Mezzanotte’s puppet. They’re the ones pulling the strings.”
“And we’re here to cut those strings,” Bonnie added.
“Exactly.” Header sat straighter, proud of his analogy.
I shook my head at the sidebar that had just happened and turned back to Warner. “Who is he trading favors with?”
At that moment, Tessa came back into the room, excited and confident. “Okay, everyone. I’ve secured breakfast.”
“You what?” Bonnie looked thrilled, but that was nothing compared to Header’s dramatic sigh of relief.
“Oh, thank you!” he breathed. “I’m starving.”
“Same here,” Bonnie agreed. “What are we getting?”
Tessa grinned widely. “Breakfast sandwiches! Bacon, egg, and cheese on a bagel. All of you made the trip up to New York City for this, and there is no way you are leaving without a classic New York breakfast option.”
“I’ve heard so much about these damn sandwiches,” Header admitted. “I’ve never tried them, though.”
“Oh, you’re missing out,” Tessa promised. “They’re made fresh. It’s so much better than the cookie-cutter variety you can get in a drive-through.”
“That sounds amazing,” I replied honestly. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she crooned, looking up at me. This time, her smile was only meant for me.
“Yeah, thank you,” Warner added with a chuckle. “I can focus better now that I know food is on its way.
Tessa
laughed in response. “Well, I feel mostly useless here, so I’m trying to help where I can. It’s the least I can do.”
“Just take care of Marston’s shoulder,” Header chimed in. “We need him.”
“I’m on it,” she assured him cheerfully before sitting back in her seat to listen in as we all waited for our food.
“So, the favor trading,” Warner continued, bringing us all back on track. “I’ve already brought this to Farr’s attention, so there isn’t much for us to do about it, but the man’s name is Paul Russo. He’s a Senator in New York who has a history of supporting Whittington’s decisions and helping him push his agendas through. In exchange, Whittington has continually slashed at MBLIS’s budget. It seems that each time Russo supported something that Whittington wanted, another funding cut happened right after that.”
“Why?” Bonnie wondered out loud. “Who is Paul Russo, and why does he care?”
“Don’t let the last name fool you,” Warner continued. “I traced Russo back through the years. He’s wisely shed his connections over the years to accomplish his career goals, but I looked deep enough. Russo is related to the Mezzanotte crew by blood. He’s family, and despite what his outward persona may project, his connections to them are as strong as ever.”
“The Mezzanottes have a legitimate, blood-related, government connection?” I gasped. “This just keeps getting worse.”
“Bradley Whittington seems like the least of your problems,” Tessa added, her eyes just as wide with shock as the rest of ours.
“Like I said,” Header sighed. “He’s just a puppet.”
I turned to Warner. “You already told Farr?”
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“What did he say?” Farr was not one to stay quiet after news like this.
Warner shrugged. “Not much. He said he’d look into it. That’s it.”
I looked over at Header. “We need to call him. This isn’t something we can just gloss over and assume someone else is handling.”
“I completely agree.” Header nodded as he sat back in his seat. “I only have one request.”
