Finishing The Job

by Harley Fox

  I nod, chewing a mouthful of food. “Yeah.”

  “When Trista didn’t come back last night I kind of figured she went to find you.”

  “She broke me out of the hospital,” I tell her. “Said she heard Will was going to come by and torture me or something.”

  Merryn furrows her brow. “Torture you?”

  I shrug. “That’s what she said.”

  She stares down at her bowl of cereal as I keep eating, and after a moment she eats a spoonful too.

  “I heard about you and Jake,” I say, and her head snaps in my direction, her gaze searching.

  “You heard about us?”

  “Just that you got in a fight.”

  She visibly relaxes. “Oh … right.”

  I shrug again, chewing cereal. “Sucks that happened to you. But the fighting might be over soon.” She looks at me again. “I went by the warehouse and it’s not in a good state. I get the feeling the Bullets are done. So there’s no more fighting.”

  She nods slowly. “There’s still Will Silver …”

  “Ah yeah, that’s true.” I take another bite of cereal. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens there, too.”

  Trista comes back into the kitchen. She puts the empty bowl and spoon in the sink, then grabs a fresh one from the cupboard.

  “Merryn, I’m sorry I didn’t let you know about last night,” she says as she fixes herself some cereal too.

  “Oh, that’s all right,” Merryn says. “I fell asleep pretty early anyway.”

  Trista finishes getting her cereal ready and sits at the table too. But just as she’s about to take her first bite, the doorbell rings. We all freeze, looking at each other.

  “Are you expecting someone?” she asks Merryn, who shakes her head, looking confused.

  “No.”

  Trista looks at me, and then puts her spoon down without eating the cereal and gets up. I get up too. She slides her gun out of its holster and moves silently to the top of the stairs. I follow, but keep a distance. Behind me I hear Merryn get up from the table too, her chair scraping back. When I reach the top of the stairs Trista goes through the door at the bottom. I’m about to follow her, but I turn to look behind me and Merryn is at the doorway to the kitchen, looking scared.

  I’m about to lift my hand to silently motion her back inside the kitchen, to safety, when I hear the outer door open. And then Trista’s voice makes me stop.

  “Oh!”

  I turn back and look down the stairs, unable to see who she’s talking to.

  “What’re you doing here?”

  A mumbled voice, deep and male. I feel like I recognize it, but I can’t say from where.

  Trista’s voice again, “Yeah, she’s up here.” And then footsteps and the outer door closes. When the one at the bottom opens up Trista starts up the stairs, followed by Jake Hawksley.

  My eyes widen and my stomach drops. The last time I saw Jake Hawksley was at the warehouse, where he kidnapped Trista after trying to kill us both. And now she’s welcoming him into her house! I mean, I guess there is what Trista said happened … the whole shootout and her being around when Jake kicked Merryn out. But still … it’s a strange sight to see.

  Trista reaches the top of the stairs, followed closely by Jake. She’s put her gun away already. She steps to the side and I see Jake stop, looking past me. It’s like he doesn’t even know I’m here. I turn and see Merryn still standing in the kitchen doorway. She’s staring back at him.

  “Jake …” she says. Her voice cracks.

  “Merryn,” Jake says. “I … I don’t … I’m so sorry, Merryn. For what I did. How I acted. For everything.”

  “Jake …” Merryn’s voice cracks. She swallows, but Jake goes on.

  “Merryn, listen to me. I’ve spent the last two days thinking. Feeling like shit. Trying to figure out what I can do to feel better. I was thinking about what happened at the warehouse. I let my emotions get the best of me. I realize now that you didn’t try to go behind my back. You’re not like that. I was blinded by my own thing. I didn’t realize that what you were doing was for everybody’s benefit. You weren’t being selfish. I was the one being selfish. And then, last night …” He shakes his head. “I had this dream. I had a dream like it the night before, but last night … I dreamed that I came here on my bike. It was foggy out. And you came down and invited me up here, to that room,” he indicated Trista’s bedroom, “and we made love. We fell asleep after, but when I woke up I was in my own bed.”

  Merryn lets out a sob, and I see that she’s been silently crying this whole time. Her eyes are red, and her cheeks are shiny with tears.

  “Jake, that happened!” she chokes out. “It wasn’t a dream. You came here last night and we made love!”

  Jake looks shocked. “What? But … it was foggy …”

  “I know,” she nods, letting out a laugh. “I saw the fog too. Just like the dream in the night before.”

  His mouth is open. “I wasn’t dreaming?”

  She shakes her head, laughing again. She walks towards him and he starts towards her, the two meeting in the middle of the hall. They embrace, hugging tightly, and then pull their heads back just enough to kiss. I can feel my throat tighten up watching them. I look over at Trista and she’s watching this spectacle too, her eyes shimmering.

  Finally Jake and Merryn release their embrace and he turns to us. When he sees me he blinks, once again looking shocked.

  “Flynn?”

  I nod, feeling a bit sheepish.

  “Yeah,” I say.

  “What are you …” And he looks at Trista, then back at me. “Oh god, man … I’m so sorry, for what happened.”

  But I shake my head. “It’s okay, man. Water under the bridge.”

  “No,” Jake shakes his head. He steps forward from Merryn, towards me. “Really. I’m so sorry. I was hot-headed. I got … blind, with anger. For what I did,” he faces Trista, “and for taking you … giving you to the cops.”

  “It’s okay,” I tell him. He looks at me again. “We were in rival gangs. We each wanted each other dead. What happened made sense at the time.”

  “Wait,” he says. “Were?”

  I nod. “Yeah. I mean, I’m out of the Bullets anyway. They were pretty well getting ready to kick Trista and me out before you guys showed up. But even then, I have a feeling the Bullets are no more. Will abandoned us. Turned his back on all of us.” I shrug again. “It’s probably better this way.”

  “Flynn was getting his own revenge,” Trista pipes up, and we all look at her. She looks fiercely proud. “He was trying to burn down their drug-making facilities. He managed to get two of them before he got caught. I busted him out of the hospital last night.”

  “Well, it wasn’t exactly my revenge,” I tell her. “I was doing it for you.”

  “You burned down two of Will Silver’s drug buildings?” Jake asks me, and I nod. “Did you have any help?”

  “No. It was just me.”

  He nods slowly. Looks at Trista and me.

  “So there’s actually a new development,” he tells us. “With Will Silver.”

  “Oh, honey,” Merryn says. She takes his hand in hers.

  “No, it’s not just me,” Jake assures her. “And it’s more thought-out, not just running in with guns blazing. But it’s a bit complicated.” He looks around at us. “Craig Silver came to me.”

  I blink. “Craig Silver? Will Silver’s son?”

  “What?” says Merryn.

  Trista asks, “You mean the guy who was there when Will killed Captain Hartridge?”

  “I know I know, trust me,” Jake says, quieting us down. “Trust me, I’m being careful with him. I brought Lance and Katie in on this too. The four of us came up with a plan together. Basically, she’s going to pretend to be a client interested in investing in PharmaChem. Craig set up a meeting for today at noon. She’ll go in, say she’s interested but she heard about the fire from the night before last,” he nods to
me, “and she wants assurance that the other manufacturing buildings are secure. So she’ll let Will choose a place to show her, she and Will and Craig will all leave to go check it out. She’ll call Lance, tell us where he’s taking us, and then we’re going to go meet them there, where we’ll finally kill Will Silver.”

  He finishes speaking. I feel speechless, and it seems like Trista and Merryn are too.

  “How do you know you can trust him?” Trista asks.

  “I don’t,” Jake responds. “I warned Lance and Katie about that too. We’re all going to be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. If things get suspicious, then we’ll stop it before things get too far.”

  “Jake …” Merryn says, and he looks at her. “After everything Craig did …”

  “He actually came looking for you,” Jake tells her. “He told me this story … he says Will is getting crazy. Acting out … the thing with the police captain in the hospital, and then he wanted Craig to kill this kid, Nathan Willow.”

  “Nathan Willow?” Trista’s eyebrows fly up.

  “Yeah. Him and his mom.”

  “Are they okay?” she asks. Jake nods.

  “Yeah. Lance and Katie have them in a safe place.”

  Trista seems to work things through in her head. “I’d like to see her,” she says.

  “Well,” says Jake, “if you want, we could all go over there. I should meet up with them anyways, to make sure the plan is all set.”

  “Okay,” Trista says. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  Jake looks at Merryn. “Is that okay?”

  Merryn’s still holding his hand. She puts her other hand over it.

  “I just want you to be safe,” she says.

  “Don’t worry. I will be.”

  Jake and Merryn share a kiss, and then Jake pulls out his cell phone.

  “Let me call Lance to let him know we’re coming over. And then we’ll go.”

  Lance

  I take a bite of my toast with peanut butter as Jeannette plays with Nathan on the floor.

  It’s nice having this kid around. He’s friendly, and pretty well-mannered. It reminds me of how Danny was like as a baby. I only have a few memories of him that age, but I remember he was fun to be around too.

  Nathan crawls around, picking up his colorful, plastic toys and bringing them to Jeannette.

  “Oh, good boy!” she coos as she takes the proffered gift. Nathan’s face breaks out into a wide smile. “Aw, come here, honey.”

  Jeannette scoops Nathan up in her arms and he squeals with delight. She reaches over to the bowl with some dry cereal in it, picking out one of the O’s.

  “Open up, baby.”

  Nathan obediently opens his mouth and she sticks the food in, letting his inexperienced lips and tongue take it from her finger. She smacks at the breakfast cereal while Jeannette bounces him in her lap.

  “Have you and Katie thought about having kids?” she asks me. I raise my eyebrows as I chew the food in my mouth, washing it down with a slurp of coffee.

  “Um, we haven’t really talked about it,” I confess. “To be honest, we’ve mostly been focusing on our careers.”

  “Hmm,” she says, focusing on Nathan as he bounces up and down. “You’d make good parents.”

  “Oh. Thank you.” I don’t know what to say to that. Jeannette smiles at Nathan, making faces at him, causing him to giggle.

  Having children of my own had never really been on my radar. I’ve thought about it, sure—who hasn’t? But thinking about having a baby and actually having one are two very different ballgames. It would certainly be fulfilling, having a child of my own. And having one with Katie … I can think of no one else I’d rather do that with. But then again, I’d have to quit the work I do. Katie wouldn’t be able to go into it. And Thailand would almost certainly be off the table.

  Having a baby would compromise my freedom. My whole life would change. For the better or for the worse … it’s hard to say. Like comparing apples to oranges. Or freedom to happiness.

  The bedroom door opens, interrupting my thoughts, and Katie steps out. She’s dressed in a sharp black blouse under a purple jacket and thin black skirt. She’s also wearing stockings and high heels, something she’s hardly done since we got together. Her hair is up, and her makeup looks professional without being overwhelming.

  All this she told me before going in there.

  “How do I look?” she asks, stepping into the living room. Jeannette looks up from where she’s sitting. Even Nathan seems interested. I put my toast down on the plate and get up from the couch.

  “You look very professional,” she says.

  “I like it,” I tell her.

  “Yeah?” Katie looks down at herself, opening her arms to the side. “I don’t want to seem too amateur. Looking at me, do you think I could be the CEO of a business?”

  “Definitely,” Jeannette says. I nod too.

  “You’ll be fine. Will Silver’s sharp. He’ll be focused more on how you act than how you dress.”

  “Well,” Jeannette says, “how she dresses is important too. It makes the first impression. But I think this,” she indicates Katie again, “will definitely make an impression.”

  Katie breaks out into a relieved smile.

  “You’ve got your gun on you?” I ask her. Katie nods and shows me the holster, hidden underneath the purple jacket. “Good. I don’t imagine you’ll have to use it, but just in case things go awry or you get into danger. But if you play it cool, you’ll be golden. I’ve always thought the best weapon is whatever your mark believes.”

  Katie nods. She looks nervous, but ready.

  “I’m going to get some coffee,” she says. As she turns for the kitchen, my cell phone rings. I pull it out and look at the display. Jake. Just in time.

  I answer it. “Jake.”

  “Lance. How’re things looking?”

  “Good. Katie’s dressed for the part. We’re ready to go.”

  “Good. So Lance, before I come over, there’s been some development.”

  My brow furrows and I glance at Jeannette and Nathan, who are back to playing on the floor. Turning so my back is to them, I ask, “What’s up?”

  “Nothing big. I, uh … got back together with Merryn this morning. I’m at Trista’s place right now. Also, she and Flynn are back together. I told them the plan. They want to help. Is it all right if they come too?”

  I keep my face impassive, even though Jake’s on the phone.

  “I don’t know what they can do to help,” I tell him. “We’ve got things pretty much sorted out. They’d have to stay here.”

  “That should be fine.”

  “Okay … let me check.”

  I lower the phone and turn back to Jeannette to see her eyes cast up in my direction. She drops them as soon as I turn, and I can’t help but smile.

  “Jeannette?” She looks up again. “I’ve got Jake on the phone. He wants to bring some people with him.” My brain catches up to me. “Actually, one of them is Trista … er, Officer Pearson. Also her boyfriend, and Jake’s girlfriend. Is that all right if they come over? They’d stay here while we’re doing the job.”

  Jeannette’s eyebrows had risen when I mentioned Officer Pearson.

  “Sure,” she says. “I thought you two didn’t know each other. When I told you about her before …”

  “Yes, a lot’s happened in the past few days,” I say. I life the phone back up to my ear. “Jake?”

  “That’s Jeannette?” he asks me. He must’ve heard our conversation.

  “Yeah.”

  “How much did you tell her about the plan?”

  I glance down at Jeannette again, but she’s back to playing with Nathan.

  “Not much.”

  “Okay … good. We’re heading over now. We’ll be there in a bit.”

  “Give me a call when you arrive. I’ll come let you in.”

  I hang up the phone. Katie’s back in the doorway to the living room, holding a cup of
coffee, looking at me with eyebrows raised.

  “Jake’s on his way over,” I tell her. “Merryn, Trista, and Flynn are all coming too.”

  “Oh,” she says. “They aren’t …”

  But I shake my head. “No, they’ll stay here. We’ve already got things sorted out.”

  So the four of us hang out in the living room until I get another call from Jake, about fifteen minutes later.

  “We’re here.”

  I leave the apartment and go down to the parking lot to receive them. Flynn looks terrible, but he says it’s not that bad, although I clock his limp when he walks. The four of them follow me up to the apartment where I let them in. Katie and Jeannette stand up to receive the visitors, Jeannette scooping Nathan up in her arms.

  “Hi Officer Pearson.”

  “Oh, just Trista now.”

  “Oh wow, is this Nathan? I’ve heard about you!”

  “Jake and I are expecting in about six weeks.”

  “Well, you look amazing!”

  “Lance, mind if I grab some water?”

  “Uh yeah, the glasses are above the sink.”

  Jake leaves for the kitchen while everybody else fills up the living room. There’s hardly enough space to sit, leaving most everyone to stand. Nathan is nervous about the crowd at first, but he warms up quickly. Merryn takes a seat on the couch with Nathan in her lap, who’s fascinated by her large belly.

  “Can I get anyone a drink?” I offer.

  “Water would be great, thanks.”

  “I’ll have some coffee.”

  “Same.”

  I go into the kitchen, filling up glasses with water, mugs with coffee. I put another pot on once the current one’s empty. Coming back into the room, I realize I’m not cut out to be a waiter.

  “Jesus, this is hard, keeping track of what everybody wants,” I tell Katie. She smiles and pats me on the shoulder, taking water glasses from me and helping to dole them out.

  Eventually, though, everybody settles down.

  “Flynn, what happened to you?” Katie asks, concern obvious in her voice.

  “Ah, I tried doing a little vigilante work last night,” he says. “There are these facilities that we—the Bullets—gutted and outfitted to be places for Will to make drugs, right? We did these all over the city. Anyway, the night before last I went to one and managed to burn it down.”