Only the fact that he doesn’t approve of what I do. Why do you ask?
He wanted to know what I was doing because he wants to talk to me about a fight you two had.
I told him that if he can’t handle what I do, then he and I are not going to work. You should know better than anyone that this is who I am he either needs to accept it or leave me alone.
I know it sounds harsh, but it’s the truth. I am not going to change my career for someone. I didn’t do it when Jarrod begged me to and I'm not going to do it for Jake. This is what I love to do.
Jo, he is just like everyone else in your life and is worried about you. I know you are going after one of the biggest drug dealers in the city right now and I am worried sick about you. How do you think he feels? This is new to him. He doesn’t know you as well as I do.
Look Annie, I am working right now, if you want to try and make him feel better its fine. But I cannot waste time on this right now. My case is time sensitive and I don’t have any extra time to spend on this. I love him, yes, but he needs to accept this, end of story. If he can’t, well then there is no point in trying to be together.
Being your best friend and knowing you as well as I do, I know for a fact that you don’t want that. But, I understand about this being your job and he needs to accept it. But please call or text him. He is seriously blowing up my phone. He loves you Jo, and he is freaking out because he thinks that he has lost you.
I just sit there looking at her message. “Hey Jo,” I hear Ryan.
“Ryan, you scared me,” I look up at him.
“Sorry, what are you doing here? I thought you would be hanging out with Jake’s family today.”
“I was, but this thing is getting out of control already and I thought that if I can try and get a head start on it maybe I can have a little control over it.”
“You’re worried about this aren’t you?”
“Extremely, if I don’t get Lewis out of this soon, I may not be able to get him out at all.”
“We will get him out Jo, we know how these guys operate, and I think that if we can just pin point their big drop off then we can nail them. We already know about most of their dealers, we just need to get a date and time on the drop.”
“I hope so,” I watch him as he goes and sits at his desk.
“Jo, I want to show you something,” he grabs his laptop off the desk. “I have been watching some of the guys that we know work for them. I have been tracking them for the last few days once I knew we were getting into this. They all run the same routes. It is like the Warrens have a system. We know they like things to be neat because they don’t want to slip and tip us off. Now I saw one of the brothers outside of this location a couple times in the last five days. I think this building has something to do with their exchanges.” He puts the computer in front of me.
“Ryan, that is two blocks from here. Do you really think they would do it right under our noses like that?”
“If they have us chasing after all these guys, yes I do. They have balls, I will give them that. I don’t think they suspect Lewis. I think if they did, he wouldn’t be here. We just need to do this as quietly as possible. Did you talk to Jake about him staying there yet?”
“No I think with mine and his faces all over the news they might suspect something. I was going to look at some of the safe houses around the area but they know about most of them I'm sure.”
“You know what, there is a little place for rent across the street from Lucas’ restaurant, I bet I can talk to the owner and see if he can stay there. Hopefully it won’t be too long.”
“Yeah, that might work. I know that I have the ok to do what I need to so that we can get him under a watchful eye. With you being across the street I think that would be a good place. That way he can contact you if he needs to.”
“Ok, I will go talk to him right away tomorrow morning.”
“So do you think they will entrust him to deal up here?”
“I do. I was thinking about it, and I have this feeling that they are going want him to try and get in with the big crowd. Which means Jake’s group of people. Think about it, that is a big pay day for them. And you know that some of those guys are probably into it. And most of the women they hang out with are probably into it. Especially the escorts.”
“Yeah, I can see them trying to push it on him to go to that level. I hope this doesn’t backfire Ryan. This worries me that he could get involved this deep. I just hope he is able to stay clean.”
“You think he would start using again?”
“You know they are going to put him to the test. We have seen it before.”
“Yeah, I know. Let’s hope this is different. Let’s hope his family being behind him keeps him off that path.” We sit there looking over all of our notes and come up with a plan. I look at the clock and see that we have been sitting here for two hours. I check my phone thinking that Jake has probably blown my phone up, but there is nothing. I stand up and go over to the window. It has started raining since I got here. I wonder what Jake and his family are doing. I feel guilty about what I said to him earlier.
“Hey, is there something wrong? You seem someplace else?” Ryan walks up next to me.
“I said some things to Jake that I probably shouldn’t have.”
“What do you mean?”
“He is being super protective of me telling me that he doesn’t like that I am involved in this right now. I blew up saying that if he can’t accept that this is my job then this isn’t going to work. I know it was definitely not the thing to say, but you know how I am when it comes to my job.”
He shakes his head, “Yeah, I do. But Jo, come on. I don’t blame him. This is a bad situation. You and I both know it. There is a chance someone is going to get hurt in this.”
“I know that, but I don’t want to admit it. Ryan, I knew when Sargent McDonald told me it was the Warrens that this was way worse than I thought. But Lewis is Jake’s brother; I couldn’t just walk away from it.”
“If it wasn’t his brother?”
“Narcotics would be doing their job instead of us,” I look at him.
“I know that, I knew as soon as Chief told us it was Jake’s brother that you would be way more involved than you should be. I tried talking him into giving it to Narcotics but he said no. Just promise me you won’t do anything alone. Please make sure one of us is with you for anything that you check out on this. I may not be your partner anymore but I'm still going to protect you Jo. I know how damn stubborn you are and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I know, thanks Ryan,” I give him a hug. I hear a knock on the office door and look over and see Jake standing there.
“Hey Jake,” Ryan walks over to him and shakes his hand. “She is all yours,” he walks out the door and shuts it behind him. Jake just stands there looking at me.
“Hey,” I finally break the silence. He doesn’t say anything just walks over to me and pulls me into a kiss. He pulls away from kissing me and just stands there holding me. I have my arms around his neck and just hold him. “Jake, I'm sorry.”
“Baby, its fine. I know this is your job. I know that you aren’t used to having someone be concerned about your safety. I just don’t know how to deal with this.”
“Jake, please understand that I know what I am doing ok?”
“I know, but that doesn’t make this easier for me. You just walked into my life; I don’t want anything to happen to take you away. I love you and I don’t know what I would do if I lost you right now. Whether it is to something happening to you, or my own stupidity.”
“I'm sorry I said what I did Jake, I just get worked up about my job. I have had to defend myself here for a long time and now that everyone has accepted that I am the best at this job it is hard for me to hear from the people that I love that they think I shouldn’t be doing it. I have busted my ass to get where I am and I will not give it up because someone is afraid I might get hurt. It’s a hazard of the job Jake
, and that won’t change.”
“I know. But it doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”
“I don’t think anything will. My parents still hate it. Jarrod hated it, but it’s who I am.”
“I know.” He looks at me. “So did you get some stuff done?”
“A lot, actually. Ryan and I sat down and accomplished a nice plan for the next couple days. I think we found a place for Lewis to stay and from there it is just a waiting game basically.”
“Well, hopefully they don’t make you wait long. I don’t know how long I can sit around knowing that everything that you do could put you in danger.”
“I won’t be alone with any of it Jake. I promise someone will always be with me. What good would having a team be if I didn’t use them?”
“I know. So do you have more work to do?”
“A couple things yes.”
“Ok, well I just had to see you. I wanted to make sure that we are ok.”
“We are fine. You can’t take things that I say right now to heart ok. I'm stressed, to the max! Just try to brush things off if I yell at you,” I smile at him. “I tend to turn into a bitch when I get this involved in a case.”
“Great,” he jokes. “Just want I need is another crazy woman in my life. My mom and sisters are already driving me nuts. I was hoping you would be the sane one.”
I smile. “Where is everyone?”
“I just dropped them off at the hotel and took my dad down to rent a truck for the week. They are going to hang out there then come back to the house for dinner. My mom wants to cook for the family. She asked if you were going to stop by.”
“I think I might be able to handle that. I just have to print off my sheets for everyone for our meeting in the morning.” I walk past him and sit down at my desk. I start printing off the papers that I need and I hear his phone ring.
“Hey Molly, what’s up?” He walks over to the window. “Why would I care? I know he’s a decent guy.” I hear him laugh. “Yeah, well get used to it Molly because it doesn’t get easier. You just have to deal with it.” He turns and looks at me. “Ok, see you at dinner.” He hangs up the phone.
“What?”
“It seems that Ryan wants to make sure that I am ok with him taking my little sister out because of what we are going through with your job right now. He thinks I would not approve because he is also a cop.”
“Do you?”
“He isn’t really my concern. The only thing about him that matters to me is that he has your back.”
“No worries there, he is pretty much in the same boat you are right now. He tried talking Chief into giving this case away because he thinks I will be too involved.”
“Is he wrong?”
“No, he isn’t. But that is how I do my job, all or nothing. There is no in between for me.” I get up and get my papers off the printer. Looks like I have everything that I need. I set them on my desk and grab my jacket off the back of my chair and put it on. “I'm ready,” I smile at him.
“You want to follow me?”
“Yeah, I can do that.”
“Are you staying tonight?” He grabs my hand.
“Do you think I should?”
“Absolutely.”
I smile, “we will see how dinner goes. Depends if you annoy me or not,” I kiss his cheek.
“You are frustrating sometimes you know that?”
“Yeah, I know. But get used to it,” I laugh. I see him roll his eyes and we walk out of the office and out of the station. “I will follow you back,” I walk toward my car and get in.
Just as I am about to back out of my parking stall I see Chief pull up and wave for me to come talk to him. I look at Jake and he puts his truck back in park and turns it off. I get out of the car and walk over to Chief. “Hey Jo,” he says. “I need to talk to you in my office please.”
“Sure,” I follow him into the station and up to his office.
“So, I'm not sure how true this is, but I heard that someone at the Rehab Center is on the payroll of the Warrens.”
“Who did you hear it from?”
“Someone on the inside there. They said that they have been watching Lewis closely and have made note of all the visitors he has had. Do you think they will try anything stupid?”
“Only if Lewis doesn’t follow their every instruction. Dammit I knew I should have had him go to a private rehab. Well, I just need to make sure that he does everything they want him to.”
“Do you think that you going there is going to tip them off at all?”
“I don’t think they have put that together, if they did they probably would have stopped trying to get stuff into him. They probably just think that since I was the one that brought him up here and I am dating his brother that I am staying in charge of making sure he walks a straight line.”
“Did you find a place for him to stay yet?”
“Working on that now. Ryan has a place in mind he is going to check into.”
“Not a safe house?”
“No, I think that would be pushing it. I think they are pretty aware of all the safe houses in the area.”
“Alright, well just play it safe and make sure you watch your back. They know who you are and sounds like they know who his family is now too. Make sure they lay low for a while.”
“They are staying some place on the north side of town.” I look up at him. “Chief, I want to end this by next weekend. This is the only case that I have worked that I am actually worried about my wellbeing. And I'm afraid of what might happen if this goes bad. There are a lot of people wrapped up in this mess right now.’
“I know, but we have so much on them, we just need that proof. Let’s focus on that and get it done.”
“Sounds good. Anything else?”
“No, I think that about covers it. I will see you in the morning.”
“Ok,” I turn and walk out of the station. My head is spinning. This just keeps getting worse by the minute. Maybe I should have just left Lewis in Virginia Beach. I walk up to Jake’s truck and see he is on the phone. He rolls his window down once he hangs up.
“Everything ok?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Ready to go?”
“Yep,” he starts the truck.
I get into my car and follow him back to his house. I pull up outside the front door as he pulls into the garage. I see that Ryan’s car is there. I smile, I'm sure he is hanging out with Molly. I walk to the garage. “What’s Ryan doing here?
“He is taking Molly to a movie. Mom said dinner is at 6:00 so they are going to catch a movie quick and be back for dinner.”
“Is Ryan coming to dinner too?”
“Not sure, depends on how their date goes I would imagine.” He smiles at me.
“What?”
“Nothing, just glad you are here that’s all.” He grabs my hand and leads me into the house. When we get inside Ryan and Molly are sitting on the couch in the living room talking. I wave at them and go into the dining room and out onto the porch. I lose Jake between the living room and the porch; I assume that he is harassing Ryan and Molly. I stand with my arms on the railing and look out at the back yard. I see that he has the cover back on the pool and I can see the colors changing in the trees. I take a deep breath and let it out slow. I have enjoyed my last few days having Jake to myself but tomorrow we both go back to normal. I don’t even know what normal feels like anymore. I feel Jake put his arms around me. “You are in deep thought,” he starts kissing my neck.
“Yeah, just wishing that we didn’t have to go back to the normal life tomorrow that’s all.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. But I have had an amazing last week.”
“I did too,” I turn and face him. “It gets easier you know.”
“What does?”
“Dealing with what I do. I'm not always in this type of situation. And if I can get these guys off the streets maybe it will get a little easier.”
“Yeah, hopefully. And you haven’t eve
n experienced my life yet. You got lucky the last week. My life is just getting harder. I don’t know how this is going to work Jo. I have never been with someone during the season. I don’t know what it is going to be like.” I put my hand on his cheek.
“We will figure it out, together.”
“Yes, we will,” he smiles and bends down to kiss me. “I love you Jo.”
I smile at him and pull him into a kiss.
Chapter Fifteen
“Alright team; this is what we are looking at for a time line. The faster we can get Lewis in, the faster we can hopefully nail these assholes. You all know how this works. We want to make sure that this is done neatly and as quietly as possible. I have narrowed down what we have found already. Ryan and I sat last night and looked over everything that we already have on the Warrens; the only thing we cannot nail down is their drop point for the drugs. We know they are getting them here somehow, but we haven’t gotten that yet.” I hand out the sheets to everyone. “I want you to look over this paper as much as possible, anyone you recognize and any information you have on them will help us. Angela and I will be going over to get Lewis from rehab here soon. I want it to look like he is under the watchful eye of me, that will cause them to do things sneaky and when they have to be sneaky they are more likely to screw something up.”
“Do you want us to check out the warehouse location?” Ryan asks me about the location he brought to my attention last night.
“Not yet, I want to get Lewis settled in first and then we will go from there. I need to get him clued in on what we are doing. He needs to be aware of what we want him to do and what we are expecting them to do. I'm hoping that they entrust him right away.” I look around the room and see everyone look up at me. “Guys, this is the only good opportunity we will get to do this. We need to keep our heads in the game and focus on this.” I hear a knock on the door and Chief Lorenz walks in with Captain Williams the head of Narcotics.
“Captain Williams has some insight for you on this, possibly some good locations and maybe another seller looking to get out,” he tells me. “Why don’t you sit down with him and have Officer Ross take Officer Turner and go pick up Mr. Adams.” I nod, as much as I want to be the one to handle Lewis, I need to get as much information as possible. They go to the rehab center and about forty-five minutes later they are back.
Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) Page 27