Unexpected Love (Jo's Story)

by Nikki Williams

  “Baby, what’s going on?”

  “I have to go; I have something that I have to take care of.”

  “It’s 8:30 at night what do you have to take care of?”

  “They moved their drop off with Lewis from tomorrow morning at some residential to a warehouse that we think might be involved with their major drops. I need to wire him before he goes.”

  “You’re going to work right now?”

  “I have to,” I walk out of the bathroom dressed and lay my shorts and t shirt on the bed. “Hopefully I won’t be gone long, but I will be back. I am just going to ride with Ryan.” He gives me that worried look. “I'm fine,” I bend across the bed and kiss him.

  “You better come back.”

  “I promise,” I smile and get up and go back downstairs. I can hear Ryan telling Molly that we are leaving and she is just as pleased as Jake is possibly less.

  “Hey,” I hear Jake and see him standing at the top of the steps. “Be careful,” he smiles at me.

  “I will be,” I smile and walk toward the front door. Ryan opens it for me and then we are on our way to the stations. “Did you get a hold of Bob and Jean?”

  “Yes, Bob said he would be there soon, Jean said she had to call her mom and get her to come over to keep an eye on the kids and she would be there.”

  “Ok, so what I want you to do is call Lewis and have him meet us at Pier Park. We need to get a wire on him.”

  “You think they will suspect that?”

  “They might, but we will get Andy from tech to give us something they won’t be able to find. We need to get eyes in there. He isn’t going in without them. This is way too big for him to not have us being able to see what he is walking into.”

  “I agree,” he grabs his phone and dials Lewis. I listen to him talk as we drive to the station. When he parks I see that Bob is already there and that Ricky is still there. He must have had some stuff he wanted to check out and came back after we left. I walk in and see Ricky and Bob are waiting for us in the board room. I go into my office and grab my laptop.

  “I think I am going to call Chief and let him know too,” I say as I walk into the room.

  “He is already here,” Ryan says. “I saw him when we walked in. I'm sure he will be here soon.”

  “Ok, so this is what I want to do, I want to make sure that we have something that is undetectable that we can have Lewis wear, but it has to feed video I want to see what is in that building. My guess is there is nothing there now, but if we have to do a bust there, at least we will know the lay out.”

  “Ok, I will go down and talk to Andy,” Ryan heads out of the room. I hear him say hi to Chief then he is standing in the door way.

  “Working awfully late aren’t you?” He walks in.

  “Lewis got a call to meet tonight at the warehouse up the street. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check it out.” I smile at him.

  “Jo, you’re going to work yourself to death you know that?” He shakes his head at me. “Are you going to get a wire on him?”

  “Oh yes, video feed. I was just saying I don’t think there will be much there tonight, but if we end up having to do a bust at least we have some sort of idea what we are up against.”

  “See, I knew I promoted you for a reason,” he laughs. “If you need anything let me know.”

  “Will do,” I smile. “Ok, Bob see if you can get a van set up outside of the warehouse without it being obvious. I want to be as close as possible in case something goes wrong so we can get in and get him out if we need to. Ricky, I think I want you in a squad down the road too. I will have Jean stay here in case we need backup.” They both nod at me. They both leave the room and I sit down in front of my computer. If this doesn’t go anywhere tonight I need to get in contact with the other dealer that wants out. Captain Williams gave me the information on them this morning.

  “Hey Jo,” Ryan is standing in the doorway. “We should get going we have to meet Lewis in like twenty minutes.”

  “Ok,” I grab my phone and follow him out the door. We climb in the unmarked squad that Walsh gave us and head toward Pier Park. “Where is he meeting us?”

  “I told him around back, that way hopefully no one will see,” he pulls up to one of the buildings in the park and goes around the side. I see Lewis standing there and he walks toward us. He opens the back door and gets in.

  “Hey,” he says and looks at me. I can tell he is freaking out.

  “Hey,” I give him a reassuring smile. “You have definitely done a good job at getting their attention.”

  “Yeah, they want me in that is for sure.”

  “We will take care of you Lewis. Don’t worry about that. Here put this on,” I hand him a baseball cap. “Inside of here is a little camera. It is so small they won’t even suspect it,” I show him where it is. I can see him relax. “We will be stationed outside the building, not far I want to be able to get in if I need to. I have five people ready to charge at the drop of a hat.”

  “This is crazy you know that right?” He laughs nervously.

  “Well, if it works, then it won’t be crazy anymore,” Ryan says. “She is the leader of this team for a reason Lewis, she knows what she is doing,” Ryan pats my knee.

  I smile, “that’s right; hopefully I am right about this. I don’t think there is going to be anything there tonight. I just want you to look around as much as possible and give us a good layout of the building. I realize that too much would give you away just do what you feel comfortable with. If you can’t do it, don’t worry, we will go with what we can get.”

  “Ok, you’re the boss,” he looks at me. I see the fear in his eyes and feel guilty for getting him into this.

  “I will get you out Lewis, one way or another, I promise you that.” He nods at me and puts the hat on. “Show time,” I smile at him and get out to let him out of the car.

  “Thanks Jo,” he smiles as he turns and heads out of the park.

  I sit back down and shut my door. “God I hope this works, if it doesn’t I'm moving to Mexico.”

  “Oh Jo, you will be fine.”

  “You do realize that I just promised my boyfriend’s brother that I am going to get him out of this right? I mean I just promised him the impossible!”

  “It’s not impossible, just tricky.” He drives back toward the warehouse and parks the car about a block from the van that Bob is in. We walk to the van and get in. “How’s the feed?” Ryan asks when we get in.

  “Looks good, he is about a block away from the warehouse now, looks like he stopped at the coffee shop up the road to kill a little time.” Bob says. I look at my watch it is 9:15.

  “Ricky in place?” I ask.

  “Yep, about five cars down opposite side of the street,” Bob points out the window. I look up and see the unmarked car sitting there. I sit there just staring at the screen that the feed from Lewis’ hat is on.

  “Jo,” Ryan says my name and is looking out the front window. I look and see a black SUV coming down the road slowly. It stops about a half block from us and I see three guys get out. They go into the warehouse.

  “I wish I knew what was in there,” I say.

  “Maybe he can get some footage and get us a search warrant,” Ryan sounds hopeful.

  “Yeah, maybe,” I am not as optimistic. I adjust in my seat and look at the screen for the hat and notice that Lewis is on the move and not far from the warehouse. I watch out the back window and see him turn the corner to the road we are sitting on. “There he is,” I tell Ryan.

  “Alright, here goes nothing,” Ryan takes a deep breath. We sit there and watch the screen as he walks into the warehouse. I see that they search him but they never touch the hat. That makes me relax we are in. He is doing a good job at looking around and getting us really good footage. They stop at a door and open it. They walk into a big room that is empty except for a bunch of tables. There are three guys standing at a big table at the end of the room and Lewis walks toward them.
I see him shake hands with the guys and then they sit down. I can’t hear anything that is being said but Lewis is doing a damn good job at getting their faces. We know who is in charge now.

  “He’s doing great,” Bob says. “Like he has done this before.”

  “I hope this gets us what we need,” I keep watching the screen. Next thing I know he is shaking their hands again and walking out of the building. His meeting lasted about thirty minutes. Now we just have to wait for him to call us and let us know what they told him. I let out a long breath when he walks out of the warehouse onto the street and starts toward his house. “Let’s get out of here,” I say to Bob then get on the radio and tell Ricky to get back to the station. Ryan hops out of the van and goes back to the car we came in and we all head back to the station.

  “So how did it go?” Chief comes to the board room when he sees we are back.

  “Good, we have faces and a good layout of the building.” Ryan answers him.

  “Anything in the building?”

  “Not this time.”

  “Well, let’s keep on it now that we have some faces to go by,” Chief smiles. He is watching me as I look at the three faces that we now have. “Any idea who they are?”

  “Not yet,” I answer. “But maybe with the help from Lewis and the other dealer that wants out we can put some names with faces.”

  “Did you contact the other one yet?”

  “No, going to do that tomorrow. With the meetings today and all the information we have I wanted to get everything sorted before I got in contact.”

  “Alright, well keep me posted,” he puts his hand on my shoulder. “Try to keep your head straight with this Jo. I know he is Jake’s brother but don’t put yourself in danger because of that. You know what happens when you get too involved.”

  I nod; I have seen a lot of people get hurt because they get too involved when they shouldn’t have. I am trying my hardest to not get in too deep but I want so badly to get him out.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Does Molly know that you are just dropping me off and leaving?” I ask Ryan as we get closer to Jake’s house.

  “Not yet. It’s after 11:00 already and I am completely exhausted she will just have to be ok with it.” He smiles.

  “Yeah, good luck with that,” he pulls up outside the gate and I tell him the code to get in. He pulls up the driveway and I see that the living room lights are on. I am assuming that Molly is waiting for Ryan. I get out of the car and walk to the door and see that Jake is sitting on the couch. I open the door and he looks at me and smiles.

  “Hey,” he stands up and walks over to me. “How did it go?”

  “Good,” I smile. “I'm exhausted.”

  “Alright, let’s go to bed,” he grabs my hand. “Molly is in the kitchen.” He says to Ryan.

  “Ok, I'm going to say good bye and head out, I'm beat too.”

  “You’re going to drive home?” Jake stops walking and looks at him.

  “Yeah.”

  “You can stay here,” Jake says.

  “No, I don’t have any clothes or anything here, plus I would feel a little weird.” I smile and know that this is not going to end the way Ryan wants.

  “You might as well just give in Ryan, I have dealt with these two long enough to know that you are not going to win. I'm sure Jake has something you can borrow,” I look up at Jake.

  “Yeah of course I do. And I would rather you stay then drive across town, if anything happened my sister would not shut up. So save us all the hassle and just stay,” he laughs.

  “You’re staying here tonight?” Molly walks into the living room.

  “Is that ok?” Ryan looks at her.

  “Of course it is,” I see her smile. She is trying to hold back her excitement but I'm not sure if it is for the sake of Jake or Ryan.

  “Ryan, come on up to my room I will find you some clothes,” Jake smiles and turns to go upstairs.

  “I will be up in a minute,” I smile at him. I need some water before I go to bed and maybe something to snack on. I walk to the kitchen and get a glass of water and open the fridge. I see there is some grapes in there and take a handful. I am standing there eating them when Molly walks in.

  “So did you guys get whatever done that you needed to?” She leans up against the counter and looks at me.

  “Yes, we did. Hopefully no more excitement for the night though,” I smile at her.

  “Are you involved in my dumbass brother’s case?” She frowns at me.

  “Molly, I can’t talk about my work. Especially an ongoing investigation.”

  “So I'm going to take that as you are. I just don’t understand why everyone is putting their necks on the line for him. He has done nothing but tear our family apart and keeps getting in trouble with shit. He treated Jake like shit for the last three years and Jake is just letting it roll off his back and being ok with his girlfriend bailing his loser brother out of jail. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “Well Molly, maybe your brother is more forgiving than you think.”

  “I don’t think so. I think he is being cool about it because you are around and you made up some sort of excuse for him,” my mouth drops open. I just shake my head and finish my glass of water.

  “No one said you had to forgive him Molly.” I say and walk out of the kitchen. I go toward the steps and hear Jake and Ryan talking at the end of the hall.

  “He is freaked out a little bit that is for sure. I don’t think he expected it to go this quickly.” Ryan is saying.

  “Yeah, well the sooner this is over the sooner I know Jo is safe and the Lewis can get out of town,” Jake says then he sees me walking down the hall.

  “You sound like your sister who, by the way, just interrogated me in the kitchen,” I look at him then walk past him into the bedroom. I hear him say goodnight to Ryan as I grab my clothes that I put on the bed when I left earlier and go into the bathroom and shut the door. I start the shower and get undressed and get in. I hear the door open.

  “Is everything ok?”

  “Oh yeah, just peachy, I'm in the middle of a crazy ass relationship that I cannot explain and now I am busting my ass to get your brother that it seems like you don’t care about out of drug cartel. And not just any drug cartel, the worst and most dangerous one in Baltimore! I just wish I would have known that a week ago so I would not have wasted mine and my teams time and energy on a case that could potentially get one of us killed!” He doesn’t say anything and I hear the door open and close again. I just stand there and let the water run down my body trying to relax. After about twenty minutes of just standing there I turn the shower off and get out. I dry off and get dressed and go out of the bathroom. I don’t see Jake in bed so I just crawl in and curl up. I am just lying there when I hear him talking to Molly in the hall.

  “Molly, just get over it, ok. Everyone screws up, so what if he did some stuff wrong. He is trying to turn his life around.” Jake says.

  “I don’t believe that you have forgiven him for all the shit he has put our family through,” she says back.

  “No, you’re right, I haven’t. But you know what if he can stay clean maybe he can be the old Lewis again.”

  “I find that very hard to believe. I'm sorry I just don’t trust him and I probably never will.”

  “Then that is your choice, but you do not attack my girlfriend about him again. Jo did nothing but to help him get up here so he could get clean. You should be thankful to her; mom and dad are happier knowing that he is up here safer. Now if he can just stay clean and get his shit together maybe then his family will support him again.”

  “I'm not buying your act Jake. I think you are putting on a face for her and I think she is wrapped up in his bullshit. Did you even tell her what he did to you?”

  “No, Molly, I didn’t. To be completely honest with you I don’t think that matters. That was a really long time ago and I have moved on.”

  “Oh really? Moving across the countr
y is being over it? Christ Jake, the guy just about ruined your football career because he was jealous. He is never going to change Jake; he will always be the low life that tried to get you busted with drugs. He wants you to be a useless piece of shit just like him. I bet you given the chance he would do it again!”

  “Enough Molly! I don’t think that information really needs to get out ok. Let’s just move on and let shit go.”

  “Whatever Jake, you do what you need to. I will never forgive him. He is still worthless to me and I don’t care if I ever see him again.”

  “Just leave Jo and Ryan out of it ok. She doesn’t need to know what he did.”

  “Fine,” I hear her shut a door and I hear him come down the hall. I just lie there not knowing what to think. Why is he hiding stuff from me? I hear the door open and automatically close my eyes to make it seem like I am asleep. He closes it and I feel him get in bed. He gets closer to me and kisses my cheek then lies down.

  I hear my alarm going off and look at my phone; it is 6:00 already. Yesterday was such a long day. I roll over and see that Jake is not in bed. I don’t know how he stays awake as long as he does and is up so damn early. I lie there for a little bit then decide I need to get up and get moving. I have a lot of work to do today. I get out of bed and go in the bathroom and fix my hair and get dressed. After I brush my teeth I walk back out into the bedroom. I walk over to the window and look out. The sun is just coming up and I can see Jake running down the driveway for his morning jog. I smile. He is dedicated I will give him that. I go down to the kitchen and grab a bagel out of the fridge and eat it.

  “Morning,” I hear Ryan.

  “Hey,” I smile at him.

  “Get any sleep last night?” He sits down at the counter.

  “Not a lot. I was going to sleep in this morning but decided the sooner I get in the sooner I can get done.”

  “Yeah, I hear you there. I told your brother I would help him at the restaurant tonight.”

  “Did you tell Molly yet?”