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I was tired when I got off the plane. I was up all night with Felicia and I got up early again in the morning. But it was worth it. In more ways than just the obvious. I wanted to go home and get some rest, but I went to the stake house first. Things were quiet when I arrived at the house. Monika was sitting in front of the console, but not really looking. Jett was sitting on the floor, goin’ through the paper. It didn’t matter where in the world we were, or what language it was in, Jett always went through the paper, page by page. You never know what’s goin’ on unless you read the paper, he’d always say.
"Evening, people." I said and made myself comfortable.
"Where you been?" Monika asked excitedly.
"California."
"California?"
"Yeah. Jett didn’t tell you?"
"Oops," Jett said, and buried his head back in the Times.
"What were you doin’ in Cali?"
"I went to follow up on a lead I got on Pamela Hendricks. Why? Did something happen?" My first thought was for Mrs. Childers safety. "Is Mrs. Childers all right?"
"Nick, take your head out that woman’s ass for a minute and take a look at this," Monika said, and handed me a piece of paper.
I looked at it and shrugged my shoulders. "Is this supposed to mean something to me?"
"I’ll say," Jett said. "That paper is the missing link. It puts it all together. It’s the answer we’ve been looking for."
"Are you gonna let me in on it or do I have to guess?"
Felicia was true to her word. She told me everything she knew once she got me up this morning. But they seemed so excited, why blow it for them.
Monika smiled. "That is the formula for what appears to be some type of synthetic cocaine."
"Synthetic crack to be exact," I said. "Jake developed it for Chilly."
"How did you know?" Monika asked.
"That’s what I was doin’ in California. Chilly got the formula from a chemist named Rodrigez who used to work for the Peruvians."
"Used to? I didn’t know that was possible."
"He was on the run. There was a bounty out for him. He had started a new life, quiet, and low profile. But Chilly spots him at some mall up state. Rodrigez gave Chilly the formula so he wouldn’t give him up. But it didn’t work."
"Damn right, it didn’t work," Jett said. "It was killin’ people, and dead customers are bad for business."
"After the first five died from smokin’ it, Chilly gives him up to the Peruvians. That’s what Diego Estabon was talking about when he said I took care of mine. Apparently, they agreed that everyone involved had to die."
"So what do we do now?" Jett asked.
I looked at Jett and Monika. Jett dropped his head.
Monika shook hers in semi disgust. "I told you that this wasn’t something we needed to be fuckin’ around in. I say we back all the way up off this. Shut all this down and go back to doin’ what we do. Jett hacks our way in, you kill them, and I blow it up so there’s no trace."
"Jett?"
"I think she’s right, Nick. The shit didn’t work, so if Jake ain’t dead, he’s gonna be."
"How ‘bout it, Nick?" Monika asked.
I didn’t want to admit it, but they were right. If Jake was still alive and he had any sense, he’d be so far away that Chilly would never find him and neither would we. "I’ll call Mrs. Childers and give her back her money."
"Why?" Monika asked.