Part 3: Lila
A very worried young mother sat on the floor, with her sick and shaking daughter Sadie in one hand, her other hand helping her thankfully oblivious three year old build a block tower. Xander seemed to notice nothing, other than the fact that "sissy sick again".
An older, grandmotherly woman sat on the well-worn leather sofa, reading a book to a seven year old Paxton, who kept glancing nervously at the handgun tucked into a shoulder holster on the woman beside him.
Lila was forever grateful for Georgia. She had been like the mother that Lila had lost when she was nineteen. Georgia was like that for most of the kids in the city. Her home had been used for unofficial foster care for years, since the tall, bubbly woman had not been able to have children of her own. Then, after her husband had retired from the local police force, she had started taking in troubled teens and families escaping domestic violence.
Given that she was an avid gun collector, and could nail a fly on a fencepost at two hundred yards with most of them, her home was considered the safest in the city.
Sadie shuddered in Lila's arms, whimpering a little as she struggled to breathe. The medicine she had been receiving for the last several months had seemed like a miracle, nearly eliminating the need for hospital stays, blood tests, oxygen masks, and dozens of doctors hovering over her day and night. She had been like a new kid, running and screaming and playing with her brothers in their backyard, happily giggling and climbing all over the new swingset the community had purchased for her as a get-well gift.
Now, it was like it had been in the beginning. Every breath, every second a struggle just for survival.
Lila heard a knock at the door. She stared wild-eyed at it, then at Georgia, who had come to her feet with her gun already in hand, carefully parting the curtains.
"It's Luis."
Lila sighed in relief. Sadie's meds had arrived. Part of her wanted to strangle the greedy jerk who had taken them. The rest of her just wanted her little girl to feel better.
The door opened and Jerry's cousin slipped inside. He smiled in encouragement at Sadie, who had perked up a little at the sight of him, and the bag in his hand. "Uncle Luis? Is that...my...pill?"
He nodded and handed her a pill, with a bottle of her favorite chocolate milk. She swallowed the pill hungrily, like a starving man, and carefully sipped at the milk. She had to eat and drink carefully, since a choking episode could mean death for her.
Lila looked up at Luis with questions on her face. Questions she did not dare voice around her already frightened children. She had thought they were past this. She had thought that Jerry's retirement from the agency would be the end of the guns, and the constant fear.
Luis sighed. "I'm sorry, but honestly, I don't know a lot more than you do. We are trying to catch the guys that did this, and we are trying to figure out what they want with the pills. They're expensive, of course. But these guys...sorry. I wish I could tell you more."
"They aren't normal crooks, are they?" Lila asked shrewdly. "They targeted us specifically, because of these pills. It isn't just money they are after, is it?"
Luis glanced at Stan, who had come into the room. The older man nodded tightly. Lila had already figured out at least half of it, and was well on her way to figuring out the other half.
"That's true. They aren't. I swear to you, I don't really know what is going on, but..." he hesitated, not sure if he should tell her.
She glared at him. "Luis...you guys can't keep me in the dark anymore. I am going to protect my kids, even if I have to protect them from you. And Jerry. So spit it out. What aren't you telling me?"
He bit his lip, then shrugged and dropped into a chair. "I don't know if it means anything, but...as I was leaving, a car pulled up. Guess who was in it?"
She shook her head. "No clue."
"Todd."
She felt like her blood had turned to ice. "No. Not again. Luis, Todd isn't here to talk Jerry into coming back, is he?"
"Again, I don't know. I don't have clearance to know. But whatever is going on, it's big. We are going to move you to my mom's place tonight. It's way out in the country, in the middle of nowhere, really. You'll be safe there. Our narc department will send you with some dedicated guards."
"I'm going too," Georgia insisted, in a voice that was more of a threat than anything else. "I know your mom is a fighter, Luis, but Lila needs me. The kids do too. Stephens has some good guys, but they get distracted too easily. I'm not leaving these kids until this is over with."
Luis nodded. "Figured you'd say that. Be ready as soon as it's dark, about nine-ish. I'll get a text when they are ready for us."
He came back to his feet. "I'm sorry about all this, Lila. Of all the people to get dragged into this...I don't think they know about Jerry. I honestly don't think this is about your family at all. It's about the drugs, somehow. We will figure this out, I promise."
Across town, in the house with the red Honda, a man was frantically arguing for his life.
"I didn't know who he was, I swear!"
"Truly? Then you are more stupid than I had thought. His address was on his website. Of all the people you called to fix your bike, you called the girl's father."
"You said to get the bike fixed and ready for transport. And you said it had to be done immediately. I just got the guy with the fastest response time, and the best rating--"
"You screwed up. Again. But it is the last time. We are done with you."
The man swallowed hard. "But...I can do better! I can silence them. All of them. Just give me time."
"The bicycle man has already gone to the police. He has friends there. I am still trying to figure out how he stirred up the hornets there so quickly...he must be a former cop. But we are going to leave them alone. All of them. They are expecting retaliation; to go after them now would be to invite them to come down on our heads like a freighter of bricks."
"But...your guy in the department--"
"Got himself dismissed on drug charges two weeks ago. He was as useless as he was stupid, and he has already been dealt with."
There was a long, strained silence, then two men stood, facing the quivering, pale third man.
"This is far bigger than one man. You know little enough, but what you know could still be damaging. You can no longer be trusted. Therefore, you are done."
There was silence again. For a long minute. Two men slipped out of the door, and into a black Mercedes. It vanished down the street as unnoticed as it had come.
Jerry sat across from Todd in a briefing room, waiting as others were gathered in. He still wasn't sure what this was about, but Todd was the agency's liaison to the DEA. At least, he had been. Jerry wasn't sure what his job was now. The man never seemed to be content to stay in one place for too long. He bounced around the agency like a pinball.
Jerry leaned his head back against the wall, watching the activity with hooded eyes. Todd was on the phone, talking to one of his men.
The bicycle repairman had mixed feelings. Todd had been his boss, his mentor, and even his friend. But friendship had its limits, and Todd had strained them once too often. Jerry had nearly died, nearly left his new, pregnant bride a widow. Lila had been furious, and had put her foot down. No more. She would leave him if he stayed with the agency.
And so he had left his job. His superiors hadn't exactly been happy, but to Jerry, it was as if a heavy weight had been lifted from him. A weight he had been carrying for far too long.
The door flew open, and Stephens came in. His face was grim as he motioned Todd over. Jerry couldn't hear the whole conversation, but he heard the words "red Honda" and "dead"
Todd nodded slowly, rubbing his chin. "Did we get anything out of the neighbors?"
"That whole neighborhood sleeps all day and parties all night," Stephens said flatly. "We managed to get a small camera on the Honda, and we got a plate on another car that was there. Also got partial views of the two guys that were there. Presumably our hit men. Jessie is running them through the system for matches."
Jerry felt his fear heighten. His client, the pill thief, had been killed. Was his family in even greater danger now?
Todd noticed him, sitting up with his shoulders rigid. He came over to Jerry. "Don't worry. We have some data on this guy already, some of his contacts and such. And we're watching all of them closely. Your family will be fine."
"Your promises don't exactly fill me with confidence, Todd," Jerry bit out. "I want to know what is really going on, and I want to know now. I still have my clearance, if you remember. It was never revoked."
Todd shrugged. "What can I say? I always hoped you'd come back some day. That you would miss all the fun and excitement. I'll make a few calls and see what I can do."
After five more minutes, and several phone calls, Todd came back to him. "Okay. We can give you a little info. Just so you know why your family is tangled up in this, and a general idea of what is going on. But no more than that. Deal?"
It would have to be enough. Jerry nodded. "When?"
The door opened, and another man entered. A tall stranger. He had a beard and a plaid shirt, work boots, and tired eyes. He looked like a lumberjack.
But his eyes were roving over the room, taking in everything. This was an agent, and probably an experienced one. Jerry wondered who he was. He thought he knew everyone in the agency. At least, everyone older than him.
Todd noticed the man in the plaid shirt, and nodded, looking around. "Everyone's here. All right, let's get this over with. We have a drug ring to bust up. Hopefully before it's too late."
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