“Can’t tell you,” Special Agent Sanders snaps, even though he’s devouring his meal.
“So what happened last night?” O asks.
“Can’t tell you, ongoing investigation.”
“Oh come on,” I say, throwing my hands up in the air, “that’s really all you’re going to tell us? This isn’t how it’s supposed to go, right? Usually in the book you get to read everything that goes down! Or in the movie, we get to know everything! Real life sucks!”
“Not everything about real life sucks,” Special Agent Luta says with a smile around her mouth, warming her hands around her mug. I don’t really understand why you need to warm your hands around your coffee in Arizona, but I love my blankets, so I don’t judge. “Unfortunately we haven’t been able to locate Miss Lewis, and we've so far been unable to take her in. She wasn’t there last night. Part of the reason we’re here is so you can let us know when you see her, so we can take her into custody. It seems like she is very much involved in the business side of everything that went down.”
I can see Jonah pale. For a moment I’m more worried for him than noticing the stress this news causes in myself. I reach for his knee with a clammy hand and squeeze in it.
“Do you think she’s still dangerous with everyone you took in yesterday?” Dean asks hesitantly.
Both agents are silent before answering that. “No,” Special Agent Sanders finally answers, his emerald green eyes looking all of us in the eye. “With everyone we took out yesterday her position of power is failing. She’s no longer in a position to pose a real threat.”
“Well, we just got stalked by a mentally ill girl who had nobody to help her, which almost ended up with several of us seriously hurt, so excuse us if we’re not too comforted by the thought of her not having any help,” Gil calmly explains, and it makes me want to kiss the living shit out of him. Jonah’s mom scares the crap out of me, whether she has help or not.
“We’ll be around here for a few weeks,” Special Agent Luta says, trying to soothe me with her smile or something. “We’ll need some time to wrap this all up and document everything. Give us a call if you hear anything from her and we’ll come take her in immediately.”
I think about the few seconds it took for Celia to take me and the short amount of time it took for her to crawl in the back of that car. If Miss Lewis really wants to hurt any of us, she’ll be able to without us having the time to call the FBI.
Suddenly my breakfast doesn’t sit all that well in my stomach, and I’m seriously reconsidering that last cup of coffee I had.
The doorbell rings again, and I get so startled that I squeeze Jonah’s knee so hard it has to hurt. He winces, and I apologize before I stand up and make my way to the door to open it up. Maybe it’s Detective Vargas or someone who’s also here to update us. Stranger things have happened, right?
It does seem I’m not trusted to open the door on my own though, because footsteps are following me close behind as I make my way through the hallway.
When I open the door I see the person I want to see least of all, and really want to see most of all at the same time.
“What the hell did you do?” Jonah’s mother, Miss Lewis, yells at me.
Before she has finished her sentence, all my guys are right behind me, backing me up. Jonah pushes me behind him, making sure I’m out of her direct line of fire.
“Jonah…” she says, her face turning softer. I didn’t know she had it in her, and it doesn’t make her look any nicer whatsoever.
“What do you mean, what the hell did we do?” Jonah asks, acting like we don’t know anything.
“That location you gave us,” she answers looking deflated and defeated, looking around her son and finding my eyes again, “it was compromised and now everyone has gotten taken in. There’s nobody left. Someone snitched, and it’s got to be one of yours.”
Suddenly her fire returns.
“What am I supposed to do without Jack? I can’t make it out here without him!”
I can feel Jonah’s muscles tense beneath the hands I’ve got on his back. “Who’s Jack? Is he my father?” he shouts.
“What?” Miss Lewis answers. “Of course not. Your father was a low life, good for nothing, nobody. I don’t even remember his name. Jack is everything and I’ll be lying in a ditch if he doesn’t show up soon.”
Jonah is fuming, and O works his way around us, pulling us both back. He brings his mouth to Jonah’s ear, and I’m close enough to hear what he whispers.
“Let it go, man. You’ve made it this far without your biological father, you don’t need him. Mark and Laurie were all the parents you’ll ever need, even if they’re no longer here.”
Jonah lets himself be guided back, while Dean and Gil make sure I can’t see anything, which makes me feel safe and very much annoyed. Jonah moves past me and makes his way back in the house.
The sight seems to infuriate Miss Lewis, because she starts getting in O’s face. The scrawny lady with gray hair becomes intimidating when she starts yelling. “What did you do?”
I don’t hope she’s carrying any kind of weapon. I’ve had enough armed assaults for the rest of my life, and I don’t want any of my guys to get hurt.
“Nothing you didn’t deserve,” O snaps at her.