Operation: Beach Angel

by Margaret Kay

  “Four days? Wow, um, probably. I don’t know.”

  “How much would the rent be if you don’t have to put that kind of work into it, and would you offer a discount if I was the one paying the rent?”

  “I’m sure we could work something out. Who did you have in mind to stay in the place?”

  Lambchop relayed the problem to her. “I got EJ off and all charges dropped, but if I don’t get him out of here, he’s just going to get into more trouble. He needs a fresh start in a new place. He’s a good kid and we just need to buy time until he’s eighteen, graduates high school, and can go into the Navy.”

  “Wow, Lambchop. I had no idea you were supporting your brother’s family.”

  “I wouldn’t say support. I help. The schools up where your house is, are good. I wouldn’t have to pay for private school for him, so I could pay the rent until Shereese found a job and got on her feet. It would be a good move for her girls too.”

  “What does she do?”

  “She’s a hair stylist.”

  “I wonder if Angel’s Aunt Meredith would let her share her space here in our building. It might take Shereese some time to build a clientele, but it’s something to think about.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Lambchop agreed. “I’m driving them back in Shereese’s car if it can make the trip.”

  Madison whistled. “You never cease to amaze me, Lambchop.”

  “So, is that a yes, that I can rent your house from you for Shereese and her kids?”

  “Yes, you can move your friend and her kids in as soon as you get them back here. I’ll have the carpets cleaned, but the painting and anything else will be on them.”

  “How much is the monthly rent you need?”

  “To cover my expenses, I need a thousand a month,” Madison said.

  “That’s cheap for a three-bedroom home in a good neighborhood. How much did you charge your last tenant?”

  “Seventeen hundred.”

  “You and Cooper also are about to close on your new home, and you’ll have his condo sitting empty. How about fifteen hundred a month? I want to be fair to you.”

  Madison laughed. “You are being more than fair. Fifteen hundred is good. You supply the paint. They can paint the rooms any color they want.”

  “Thanks, Madison. They’ll take good care of it.”

  “I have no concerns. Just let me know when you’ll want me to meet you at the house to give them the keys and I’ll be there. I want to meet my tenants.”

  Shereese stood in the doorway. “Fifteen hundred dollars a month is a lot of money. I only pay nine hundred.”

  “I’ll help you with the rent.”

  “Is she your girlfriend?” Shereese asked.

  “She’s a friend,” Lambchop answered.

  “It’s just that, if EJ is going to be spending time with someone else besides you, I should probably meet them an know about them?”

  Are you fucking kidding me? Now, all of a sudden, when she hadn’t met any of EJ’s friends who he spent so much time with? “The guys on my team are all good guys. I know you won’t have an issue with any of them. I don’t spend much time with Madison outside of work. Her husband also works at the agency. They’ve just adopted a four-year-old girl, so they spend most of their time with the married guys and their wives. Two others have kids and two more are pregnant with their first.”

  “Oh,” Shereese muttered.

  Quebec

  After inspecting Shereese’s car in his parent’s garage, he determined that it was in no condition to make a cross country trip. Everything was wrong with it. The tires were bald. Every belt and hose were nearly rotted through. The breaks squealed. The blue book value of it was under five hundred dollars. Lambchop had been considering buying a new SUV. He knew he could borrow one of the Shepherd Security vehicles when he was in town until he could buy a new one for himself. He’d give his Expedition to Shereese.

  He called a moving company and had them give him an estimate on packing and moving their things. It was less than he thought it would be. Shereese didn’t have it, so he’d pay for it too. They had one last dinner with his parents the night before their flight was scheduled. His father would meet the packers at Shereese’s the next day.

  The kids were excited to be going on a plane. Not only had they never been on a plane, they’d never been out of Pittsburgh. The goodbyes with his parents were emotional. He promised them he’d send them tickets to fly into O’Hare and visit within the next month. He knew this was the right move for Shereese and her kids. He also knew this would be hard on his parents.

  With a backpack on each of them and a suitcase each to check through, they arrived at the airport. It didn’t escape him that they looked like a happy little family. This could have been his life if EJ had been his. Even though the girls had different fathers, he did feel an affection towards them.

  After they passed through security, they grabbed sandwiches to eat for lunch on the flight before they headed to the gate. The girls hung out at the window, watching for the connecting flight to arrive. He watched them look out the big window at all the activity, truly thrilled by the experience of being there and going on this great adventure.

  When his gaze shifted to Shereese, she was watching him and smiling. She was still an attractive woman. He had an affection for her too but knew it would never develop into what he knew Shereese hoped it would. He hoped this move wouldn’t give her a false indication of a future relationship together.

  “What?” He asked her.

  “You, playing proud papa. The girls adore you. You know that don’t you?”

  “It’s mutual,” he said. “They’re happy, excited to be going on this trip.”

  EJ sat beside them with his headphones on his head. He had his laptop open.

  “He is too. He’s just not showing it.”

  “He’s still upset he’s leaving Lisa and his friends. I get that.”

  “I think you were right to tell him about Terrance’s father. He needed to know.”

  Lambchop ran his hand over his head. “The boys are seventeen years old. It’s up to them if they want to be in contact, not Mervin Boyd.”

  “You can’t save everyone, Landon.”

  Lambchop chuckled. “I only want to make a positive impact with those I can, EJ, the girls.”

  “Me,” Shereese said. “You have you know? From the first moment I told you I was pregnant. This move and the possibility of having a job at the shop you mentioned is huge for my family.” She wrapped her arms around him and embraced him. “I will pay you back for everything, I promise.”

  Lambchop held her for a long moment. “Not necessary. I just want all of you to have a better life. I can’t tell you how angry I was when I saw Hayden’s split lip. Promise me you will never tell either of those girls that any violence against them is their fault again. It is never the girl’s fault and I don’t want either of them to ever think that they deserve physical injury for anything they do.”

  “I didn’t think about it that way when I said it, but you’re right.”

  The plane arrived, passengers deplaned, and Lambchop watched EJ and the girls throughout it all. EJ tried to play it cool, but he knew that EJ was watching the activity with more focus than he let on. The girls were excited and didn’t hide it. Once settled in their seats. Lambchop talked with EJ about the safety pamphlet, the importance of identifying the exit doors, and being alert during the flight.

  “So, you fly all the time, Uncle L?”

  “I do. I’m glad you’ll be living so close to me. I’m only home a few days a month, but I want to spend as much of that time with you as I can. I want us to do a lot of things together. I’ll take you to the range and teach you to shoot. I’ll teach you more hand-to-hand combat, hopefully we can take in some professional sporting events.”

  For the first time since moving to Illinois was mentioned to him, EJ smiled. “I’ll only go to a Bulls game if the Cavs are there and I’m rooting for
my team.”

  Lambchop chuckled. “I’ve been to Soldier Field for a few Bears games but I’m true to the Steelers.”

  After arriving at O’Hare International Airport, they drove north to where Madison’s rental house was. It was where she’d lived prior to her relationship with Cooper. Lambchop drove them by the schools and a few of the parks. He showed them where the grocery stores were near the house and then they stopped at an extended stay hotel that featured in-suite kitchens and he checked them in.

  They met Madison at the house. Shereese was in awe of the neighborhood and the homes in the well-maintained subdivision. Never in her life did she ever think she could afford to live in a neighborhood like this with her kids. “Thank you so much for renting this house to us,” Shereese said as she shook Madison’s hand.

  “I’m glad it was available,” Madison said. “This is a great neighborhood. I liked living here. I’m sure you will too.” She took them on the tour of the house. “Carpets were just cleaned. Lambchop said you would paint it. Feel free to paint the rooms any color you want.”

  “Lambchop?” Shereese repeated.

  He chuckled. “It’s my nickname.” He knew there was a lot about him that Shereese and EJ did not know. He hadn’t yet, but he would need to have a talk with them about what he really did for living and the covert nature of it. This would be especially important if he introduced EJ to more of his teammates.

  After seeing their own bedrooms and knowing they could paint them any color they wished, both girls hugged him and thanked him. His heart swelled. Yes, this move was a gamechanger for Shereese and her kids. He left with Madison, leaving his car keys with Shereese. He promised to be back the next day to help them buy the paint and get them started on decorating it to make it their own.

  “You are a good man,” Madison said. “That family is lucky to have you helping them.”

  “I’ve always felt a responsibility to help them. Shereese is a good person, loves her kids, just needs a little help once in a while. She has overcome a lot, a teen pregnancy, my brother dying before EJ was even born. Her husband was shot in a drive-by when Hayden was only a year old, and then the father of her third child was abusive. It took courage and strength for her to end that relationship. The neighborhood they lived in, in Pittsburgh was a rough one. I feel good that they have a shot at a good life here.”

  “Do you have any feelings for her?”

  Lambchop was taken aback by Madison’s question. He took a second to answer. “None beyond sister.”

  “She gave you a lengthy hug before we left. She has feelings for you.” Madison said. “I saw how she looked at you.”

  Lambchop glanced out the window. “I’ll probably have to set her straight at some point.”

  When they arrived at the Shepherd Security Building, Lambchop and Madison went to Ops. Cooper was covering it alone. They were still short staffed due to the flu infecting more analysts. Caleb Smith and Jackson were the two latest to be ill. The entire Jackson family was home with it.

  Lambchop said a silent prayer for health for all. He was especially worried about Angel as she was pregnant. And he was worried about little Sammy. He knew children could be very badly affected by the flu. He’d text message Jackson later to check in on them.

  “The team in Nashville is close to conducting a raid on the house they have identified as where the product is being distributed from to the network of dealers. That could come as early as tonight,” Cooper said.

  “I’d like to be on to support them,” Lambchop offered.

  “I was hoping you’d say that,” Cooper replied with a smile. “I’ve been on for ten hours. Dupont is due in later this evening, but I’d feel better if one of us were on with him when the raid goes down since this is Tessman’s first DEA Partner Mission. Yvette is still sicker than shit. Sherman is due in at zero two hundred. I don’t want to have to call him in early. He’s put a lot of hours in over the past few days.”

  Lambchop felt bad about that. His sudden departure to Pittsburgh caused Ops to be short staffed. “Yeah, no need to call him in early. You got me for the next twelve plus hours if you want me,” Lambchop volunteered.

  The raid of the house was scheduled for twenty-three hundred hours. Dupont was in as his Ops partner. He was experienced, but not as experienced as Yvette or one of the Operators. This take down would be tricky. The team would raid a house with a lot of foot traffic. In one twenty-four-hour period they had observed as many as fifty people coming and going from the house which was located just a few blocks from the Country Music Hall of Fame, just a stone’s throw from Honky Tonk Row on Broadway. They’d have to keep their theater contained and keep the sounds of gunfire down. This had the potential to draw way too much attention if they were not careful.

  The team rolled up on the location with the DEA Strike Team. The six members of the Shepherd Security Team circled around to the back. There were a half-dozen people out front, who were immediately taken down by the DEA Team. Lambchop watched the feed from their helmet mounted cameras. There were a lot of lights on inside. Through one of the many windows, he could see a lot of people within the house, milling around, talking, laughing, drinking out of red Solo cups. Plumes of smoke from blunts added to the haze in the room. It looked like a damn party was going on.

  “Fuck,” he murmured.

  “Affirmative, Lambchop. This raid should have been aborted,” Mother’s voice replied. “I’m counting at least forty people inside.

  “Who the fuck was doing onsite recon during the pre-raid briefing?” Dupont asked.

  “I’m going to say no one,” Doc replied through comms. “This is a cluster-fuck waiting to happen.”

  Lambchop switched channels and connected with the DEA agent in charge, who was situated a few blocks over from the target house in the control van. “AIC Stowers, this is Johnson from the contract support team’s operations center. You’ve got a damned party with civilians going on in your target house. You have to abort.”

  “Negative, Johnson. We’ve already engaged at the front. The team needs to proceed. I’m calling the entry now. Through everyone’s comms, the go order sounded.

  “Shit,” Lambchop exclaimed. He focused on the large wall mounted monitor that displayed the camera feed from each of the six Shepherd Security Operators. “You heard the go order, team. Engage, Protocol Overload. Keep your theater contained. Mother, Doc, Razor, and Taco, you’re primary. Handsome and Moe are on detainment.”

  The Shepherd Security Team had a protocol of how to handle situations like this where there were far more people to sort through than they had men to screen and search. The back door flew open and at least twenty people spilled out into the yard, running as though the devil was after them.

  “Federal agents! Get down on the ground!”

  “Let me see your hands!”

  “Get down on the ground!”

  “Freeze!”

  “Let me see your hands!”

  “Down on the ground!”

  The shouts of the six Shepherd Security men overlapped. It was chaotic and hard to follow on the monitors. At least half of those who initially came out, dropped to the ground. The others did not, and more people came running out to escape the agents who entered through the front.

  Lambchop watched Mother take a guy down who attempted to run. Through the helmet cam on Doc, he saw the barrel of Doc’s rifle sweep over a group of four men who rushed him. Doc fired one shot into the ground in front of them. “The next round goes through your chest! Get on the fucking ground!”

  The four men dropped.

  Through Moe and Handsome’s video feed he saw them securing everyone on the ground with zip ties, their hands behind their backs and securing each person around their ankles. They worked quickly and moved from person to person, securing one person nearly every minute.

  The sound of gunshots erupted. Lambchop’s eyes scrutinized the footage. Where the fuck was it coming from? “Report!”

  “O
h, fuck me,” Taco cursed. His helmet cam was pointed to the ground.

  Lambchop saw Doc’s helmet footage swing to a man in the open doorway, shotgun in hand. Two targeted shots from Doc’s weapon, and the man fell backwards, back into the house.

  “Moe, check the downed Tango in the house!” Doc called. His feed showed him approach Taco, who was still bent over.

  “I took one in the vest. I think only the vest,” Jimmy ‘Taco’ Wilson said.

  “Get me a sitrep,” Lambchop demanded.

  A few too many seconds passed while they waited for Doc to check him over. Lambchop’s heart beat hard in his chest. As always, this was one hundred times worse watching from Ops as it was taking care of it on the ground.