“No. If I do, I’ll let you know.”
“Gan, Felicia told me when we were out earlier that she thought she saw someone she knew. Is the person you’re here to apprehend named Jason?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Well he was seen in a restaurant on Canal street but he disappeared as soon as she saw him. You sure our meeting can wait? I can come sooner.”
“It’s fine. It’s in hand. I just wanted you vigilant. Jason was a little put out that Felicia left Thailand and based on his reaction I had him watched. I found out he’d flown to your city so I’m having him apprehended. I recommend you have someone watch Felicia until I update you.”
“She’s safe. And alright. See you at noon tomorrow. You need anything in the meantime, you call me.”
“Thank you, Dario. All’s well with your Felicia?”
“Exceptionally well,” I replied.
“Good. Until tomorrow.”
“Right.” I ended the call and then I let out a long breath and phoned Tommy and conferenced Zack in. I informed them of the latest and Zack told me he had Chen under surveillance by someone on his team. He said they were working to track Frost down, too.
I reached into the truck and got another pack of smokes out and as I lit one I got another text from Tommy telling me that Dex was escorting the girls from the hospital back to the house. I got a text from Sarah that she’d just helped Nino load his car with groceries and now Nino was on his way with supplies for us.
I had just a few drags and then went back inside and she was sitting on the sofa looking lost.
“It’s all okay, baby.” I tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. She’d been wearing it straight in order to keep herself together and while it looked beautiful, sleek, shiny, and gorgeous, it was the hair of “Felicia”. When it was wavy it gave me the promise of who she was before she was broken. One day soon I hoped we’d be able to toss that fucking flat iron off my balcony. Together.
She snuggled into me and it started to rain and it was heavy, coming down in buckets. We sat quietly for a while, watching the rain out the big picture window. I rubbed her back and rained kisses all over her face. She made contented sounds, arms around me. I was gonna ask her about Jason Frost and the shooting again but before I could, I heard a car. I jumped up, pulled a gun from my knapsack, and stepped out with it, catching her face as she saw and watching a horrified look spread across her face, “It’s probably Nino with our supplies but stay here.”
She nodded and I stepped out. It was Nino. He and I unloaded about a dozen grocery bags into the kitchen and she started unloading food from bags into the fridge and pantry.
“Sarah must’ve shopped for a month instead of a few days,” I muttered, carrying in two stacked cases of bottled water. Nino followed with the last of it, a case of 24 rolls of toilet paper and case of 12 rolls of paper towels.
“If you don’t need to be up here that long, me, Bee, and little Joe’ll come spend a weekend and finish up the food,” Nino joked, “Been a while since we had a getaway.”
“Yeah, well with the state of the union, might not wanna get too excited. It could be a while longer,” I mumbled and saw Angel’s eyes get bigger, “I’ll walk you to the car, man.”
Angel waved at Nino, “Thanks very much, Nino,” she said.
He gave her a smile and said, “You’re welcome.” And then he followed me outside where he said, “Good to see you shacked up, man. She’s a beautiful girl. How’d you meet?”
I gave him the quick and dirty low down on Angel, Kruna, and where things were at with the threat. He listened, looked pissed, and said he was committed to helping me eliminate any and all threats. He was heading home to take care of organizing security for us so that I’d have someone here to watch over us tonight and to watch over Angel while I was at the Gan Chen meeting tomorrow. It sounded like Gan Chen wasn’t here to be an enemy but I wasn’t taking chances. Nino said he’d also been organizing security for the farm where Tommy and Tia were as well as Pop’s house to watch over the girls and kids.
When I got back in I suggested she make us something to eat, said I was stepping back out for a smoke. I needed to make a few more calls and didn’t want her to hear.
Angel
I was having trouble holding it together. He was being super-secretive, making calls out of earshot, looking angry and stressed, smoking like a fiend. I got the groceries all away and after sitting for a long time doing nothing because he was outside in his SUV on the phone because it was raining outside, I decided to put a movie on. There was an old floor model television that had to be circa 1980 and there was a VCR with a bookshelf filled with dozens and dozens of old VHS movies. The rain kept pouring and nearly the whole length of a movie passed before he came back inside.
I’d cooked us a frozen lasagna. There was enough food here to feed us for weeks. I’d taken the pan out to cool and I was setting the table.
He went to the washroom, came out, got a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge, glanced at the screen, and then he looked at his phone again as it made a text sound.
He headed toward the door again.
“Dinner is ready,” I told him as he went out.
“One sec.” He kept going with the phone.
I finished getting the table set and waited. And waited.