He watched her carefully, studying her face for signs of concern. “I’m sorry, doll.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and continued to peer deeply, looking for whatever had been on her mind. “Um, are you okay?” he asked. “You seemed really lost in thought.”
“Yeah,” she said, leaning into his embrace. She felt his arms wrap around her tightly, enveloping her completely. Safe. Here, I’m safe.
She leaned back and held his gaze, a nervous look now filling her face. “Jobe? We need to talk.”
His heart began to pound as his control shook, making it hard to steady his breathing. “Sure,” he managed to choke out, inwardly cursing that his voice was betraying his fear. “Whatever it is, we can deal,” he promised.
Keeping his arm around her shoulders, he turned them and walked to the sofa. Sitting down, he carefully pulled her in close to his body.
“You know I went to the doctor today and—”
Before she could continue, he blurted, “Baby, whatever it is, I’ll be here. Whatever is going on, we can face this together.”
Her eyes widened in surprise at his outburst and then slowly understanding filled her expression. “Oh no, honey. I’m not sick.”
His eyes closed in relief as he pulled her in closer, pressing her face into his chest. Thank God!
“Mmm pena,” she said, her face still held firmly planted against his chest.
He felt her hands move from around his neck to his shoulders where she pushed away. She was smiling as he said, “What did you say? I couldn’t understand you.”
She licked her lips nervously, forcing herself to hold his gaze. “I said that I’m pregnant.”
*
The light from the full moon beamed down on the bed, illuminating Mackenna’s sleeping form. She was curled on her side with one hand tucked under her cheek and her long’s mane streaming behind her across the pillow. Jobe had rolled to his side facing her, but sleep did not come. The events of the evening filled his thoughts.
He had sat dumbly as the words that had left her mouth slowly managed to penetrate his foggy mind. Pregnant? He stupidly said the first thing that came into his head. “How?” he blundered.
“Um, the usual way, I’m sure. You know…sperm, egg, all that stuff we learned a long time ago?”
Then he managed to blurt out, “Are you sure?”
The smile on her face began to drop as she answered, “Yes. The doctor is sure.”
He saw the doubt move over her face, and cursed in regret that he had put that fear in her. “Shit, doll. This is amazing. I know it’s unexpected, but baby…this is everything.” Suddenly realizing that she might not be well, he jumped in, “Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”
She giggled as she moved her hands up to cup his face as well. Leaning in she kissed his lips gently. “Yeah, I’m all right. It’s too early to know about the baby, but,” she said with a little shrug, “I’m good.”
After the words she had gifted him with finally sunk in, he pulled her closely once again, holding her right against his chest. Thoughts swirled through his head. Gotta tell our parents. Gotta turn the spare bedroom into a nursery. Oh fuck, we need to go ahead and get married. And her job—Jesus Christ, I need to get her out of—
His anticipations were interrupted by her cupping his face once again.
“Jobe, I can practically hear those thoughts as they fly through your mind. And I know because they’ve been flying through my mind also. But honey, we can deal with them one at a time.”
With that, he pulled her in for a kiss once again. One that he hoped poured all of his love into her, desperately wanting her to know what she and this child meant to him. Healing. Hope. New life. Forever.
Now he lay, quietly watching her as she slept. And he vowed once more to keep her safe always.
Chapter 18
Tito, Jazzie, and Waldo sat around the unfamiliar table in the dimly lit room, trying not to show their excitement…or their nerves. With the police dogging their moves, the meeting had been relocated from the basement of Tito’s uncle’s store to the basement of one of their brother’s houses. Across from them sat the envoy from Florence 10, one of the larger gangs in South Los Angeles that had been making inroads in Virginia. This was what Tito had been leading the Sixers toward—a chance to be recognized by an organization as big as the F10s. This could mean an opportunity to move in the circles that could make some serious money.
Jazzie watched carefully, noting the F10’s seconds that were running the show. Three of them had arrived to negotiate, with five more of them as backup. One, street named Oz, was introduced as the man in charge. Oscar Portillo—a reputation as a slick killer as a teen, now given the command of the envoy. Jazzie licked his lips in anticipation, eager for the negotiations to begin. They waited, respect being given to the larger gang. Finally after several minutes of silence, making the Sixers more nervous, the talking began.
“Not happy having to relocate,” the man sitting next to Oz said.
“Havin’ some trouble with the crabs,” Tito replied, referring to the police.
“You don’t got trouble. You give it.”
Not wanting to appear weak, Tito smoothly said, “Wanna give you the best.”
The silence extended for another minute, the Sixers sweating out the time.
“Done,” Oz announced, and Jazzie found himself releasing the breath he had been holding.
For a while, the session began with an immediate discussion of the drug trade that the Sixers were bringing in. Tito had played it smart—he had his figures written down and spreadsheets of who they traded with, how many runners he had, and their costs vs. profit. Jazzie’s admiration for his leader rose again as he realized that Tito had done his homework.
The F10s were impressed with the management of large shipments of stolen guns, noting that smaller gangs usually just dealt with what they had stolen off of the streets.
As Tito handed over the information, the expressions of the F10 seconds relaxed slightly, seemingly to be satisfied that their time was not being wasted. The meeting continued for another hour, going over the details of a merger negotiation. The Sixers would remain autonomous, but have the F10 as a distributor and supply line for both the drugs and weapons.
Tito had hoped to impress them more with his dealing in bringing the Kings on board, but was unable to hide his surprise that the F10s already knew that.
“We don’t waste our time, so we know all your shit,” Oz said. He stared at Tito for a moment, once again letting the silence of the room unnerve the Sixers.
“Heard you gave them a present?”
Tito smiled as he nodded. “Some bitch needed to return home,” he said with a chuckle.
“From what I hear you got several bitches that need to get home.”
The smile left Tito’s face as a question formed on his lips. Jazzie stepped in, “We’re dealing.”
The F10’s gazes all moved from Tito to Jazzie, holding his stare.
“You can’t take care of your own house, how you gonna take care of our business.”
At the risk of showing disrespect, Jazzie reiterated, “We’re takin’ care of our business.”
Oz shifted his gaze between Tito and Jazzie, silence filling the darkness. Slowly nodding, he said, “We can bring you on board. Drugs, guns…we can deal. But you take care of your house first.”
The F10s stood from their seats, the metal chairs scraping noisily on the concrete floor. One of them bumped the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, causing it to move back and forth shooting shadows across the men. Tito, Jazzie, and Waldo stood as the others left, giving shakes and signals.
The other gang members moved out into the night leaving the three Sixers facing each other, not knowing whether to celebrate or curse.
*
Now that Carla had graduated from New Beginnings and Jenita was almost ready to move out, Mackenna thought that she needed to step up her efforts to find a new place. One with more rooms so th
at we could expand. Sitting in the small office in the center, she continued her online searches for appropriate housing that the city would continue to fund. Several seemed promising and she took note of those.
Rose wandered in having finished her class. Leaning against the door frame, she watched Mackenna concentrate on the computer screen.
Glancing up, Mackenna smiled, saying, “Hey, what’s up?”
“I’ve had three daughters you know.”
Mackenna’s brow creased in confusion. “Yeah, um, I know.”
“Two of them have given me grandbabies.”
Mackenna cocked her head to the side, still waiting for Rose to continue.
“Something you want to tell me?” Rose asked, her lips curving into a smile.
Eyes widening, she whispered, “How can you tell?”
Throwing her head back in laughter, “Oh honey, it’s just a mom thing.” Settling her gaze once again on Mackenna, she said gently, “And it looks like you’re going to be finding out all about mom things.”
Mackenna rose from her seat and the two women embraced. Tears filled Mackenna’s eyes as she pulled back away from the older woman. “Oh, my goodness. It seems like I keep tearing up.”
“That’s normal,” Rose said, patting her hand. “How’s Jobe?”
Shaking her head, she gushed “I swear, he’s over the moon with excitement. We’ve only known a week and haven’t told our parents yet. I wanted to wait for a bit to make sure that things were going well.” Sitting back down in the chair as Rose settled in the other one, she continued, “In fact, you’re the only one who knows!”
“Then you’d better stay away from your moms because they’ll ferret it out of you as soon as I did. Have you thought about down the road? With this place, I mean?”
“Not really. My first concern right now besides finding a new location is keeping these girls safe.”
The two women looked at the computer screen for a moment together as Mackenna scrolled through the options she found. “There’s actually a house that is currently being used as a battered woman’s shelter and they’re moving. So…I think that it might be perfect. There are five large bedrooms, and with bunks in there, we could house ten women at a time.”
She glanced up at Rose’s smiling face and asked, “Would you come with us?”
“Oh honey, you couldn’t keep me away.”
“I would like to give up the running of the shelter, though,” Mackenna confessed, then seeing the distress on Rose’s face she quickly added, “But I’d like to just focus on the counseling.”
Rose’s face immediately melted into a smile again, as she leaned over and patted Mackenna’s leg. “That’d be perfect for you,” she agreed.
“By the way, don’t tell anyone else, please. At least not now,” she begged.
Standing, Rose moved toward the door looking back over her shoulder and said, “I promise.”
*
“That center bitch is knocked up,” Jazzie said as he came into the room, out of breath.
Tito looked up sharply, his mind immediately working through the information Jazzie had blurted out. “How’d you find out?”
“I got my ways,” Jazzie said. “And it’s by one of those security guys that was hanging around.”
A slow smile crept across Tito’s face. Jazzie noticed and began grinning as well. “Prez, you thinkin’ what I am?”
Tito nodded, “Fuck yeah. We got us a chance for some payback.”
*
Jobe, Vinny, Gabe, and Terrence were out once again securing cameras in some of the areas noted by the Richland Police as heavy with active gangs. Wearing utility uniforms, they worked on installing cameras near traffic lights and, slipping inside several older buildings, they managed to locate some of them on rooftops. Working seamlessly, they made quick work of the task and were heading back to headquarters by the end of the day.
Tony had called a staff meeting as soon as they returned, so Jobe phoned Mackenna on his cell as Gabe drove. “Hey doll, are you home yet?” Receiving an affirmative, he told her that he would be a little late.
Gabe asked, “How’s she feeling?”
Jobe, unlike Mackenna, told everyone that she was pregnant immediately. Rounds of congratulations, back-slapping, and “join the club of little sleep” rang out at Alvarez Security. Smiling, he looked over at his friend and said, “She’s great. So far no morning sickness, just a little nausea at night.”
Jobe’s good feelings continued until they reached their destination. Striding into the conference room, the group saw that Tony was standing with Matt, Shane, and…much to his surprise, Jack Bryant. Jack, a former member of their Special Forces squad had retired and started his own protection and investigative services and had recently assisted them when Vinny and Annalissa needed help.
None of the men had happy expressions on their faces. Everyone quickly settled around the table, all eyes on Tony.
“Matt called me today to tell me that they had more news and about the same time, called to let me know that he had gotten a request from the Governor. Jack gave me enough info that I surmised that both he and Matt had some of the same concerns. So I brought us all here together to find out what’s going on and what we can do to assist.” With a nod toward Shane, he turned it over to them.
“The Sixers are different from some of the local punk-ass gangs. A bunch of the others are just teenagers breaking into houses, selling pot, or petty crimes likes smashing car windows, vagrancy, etc. But Tito Montalvo’s got a real eye for making a name for himself. He’s smart and has figured out a way to move into the big time.
“We knew he ran drugs and puss—um,” Shane glanced apologetically at Lily, “girls. But as we’ve been tracking them, we now know that they’ve moved into guns. And not just stealing guns from houses, but running stolen military guns.”
Matt continued, “We’ve got inside information that they made a deal with the River Street Kings to use some of their river front property to bring the guns in by the water and they give the Kings a cut of the profits. The Kings are more punk-ass, but control a decent spread right on the river, so this is a win for them. They align with the Sixers, they get some guns and money, and the Sixers get a place to run.”
Alvarez’s men listened intently, eyes occasionally moving to the screen on the wall where Lily projected some aerial views of the river’s old wharf area.
Shane added, “All this adds up to the Sixers becoming the most powerful and dangerous gang in Richland. The mayor is concerned; an election year is coming up and there are rumblings in the Richland Times about gangs in the area and how politicians have turned a blind eye to the problem for years. To combat that, he’s having the Richland Times do a huge article on Mackenna’s New Beginnings program.”
All eyes moved to Jobe, as he nodded slowly. “Yeah, she said she was interviewed yesterday for the newspaper and it’ll run tomorrow. She was excited because she’s wanting to move the location to a safer place and said the publicity will be great for donations.”
Shane added, “Yeah, but it puts her right on the front page with a powerful gang’s pregnant girlfriend hiding there.”
The sick feeling that started in Jobe’s gut when a mission was not going as planned began to creep over him and while no one else would notice, his brothers knew immediately what he was experiencing.
“Before you ask, no, we can’t get the article pulled,” Matt said. “The mayor’s too involved now. ’Course he said that the police’ll make sure the center is safe.” Looking sharply at Jobe, he added quickly, “and, we will, but you gotta know there’s no way it’ll get twenty-four hour police protection.”
The group was quiet a moment while BJ took over the technology side and projected pictures of Tito Montalvo on the screen.
At this point, Tony looked over at Jack and gave him a nod as well. Jack opened up a file that was in front of him and after glancing around the table, focused on Jobe and began.
“The go
vernor’s now gotten involved. He had a state drug task force, which one of my men served on. The guy’s got a background in undercover work with gangs. It seems the state has a bigger problem. One of the larger LA based gangs that have national ties is the Florence 10. They’re about as badass as the Crips, Bloods, or MS-13. They go by F10, an old throwback to the Air Force fighter jets known by that name.”
The feeling that had been growing in Jobe became sharper, more pronounced. His mind flashed back to the multitude of times that he had sat around a conference table being briefed before a mission. In the Army, with his squad, and here at Alvarez Security. This feels different. This is personal. Giving himself a mental shake, he knew he needed to focus. Mackenna’s safety depended on him knowing all of the intel he could gather.
Jack’s gaze landed on Jobe as he continued, “They’re on the FBI’s top-ten list of most dangerous gangs. And now the F10s have been making inroads into Virginia. They checked out DC but have settled on Richland being their new place of business. The river, the I95 corridor of drug traffic between Florida to DC to New York is too lucrative for them to pass up.” He paused for just a moment before dropping the news that he knew would most upset the group.
“And now they’ve made contact with the Sixers here in Richland.”
The rumbling and cursing around the table grew louder, both with indignation that their city was being overrun and infiltrated but also for the knowledge that by her vocation, Mackenna could find herself in the crosshairs.
Shane shook his head, saying, “Jesus, fuck, as though we didn’t have enough to deal with. If the Sixers have gained national attention to get someone as big as the F10s to be interested in dealing, that’s going to spread our police force even thinner.”
Jack nodded and added, “That’s why the governor has contacted me. He’s got a job for us.” He said no more, but the group expected that. Jack’s business took on the hard assignments…the ones that no one else would take. And he flew under the radar, not following anyone’s orders or protocol other than his own. And from what they knew, his employees operated the same.
Jobe: Alvarez Security Series Page 18