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R eeni turned around and stared at the compound, finding Bullard with a note of contrition in his expression.
He nodded. “I know you wanted to go with Trevor, not so much to be with him but to not be here.”
She shrugged, then nodded. “Yeah, I do have this thing against being held prisoner.” She glared at him. “Never again,… not in this lifetime.”
“I would never have done that,” he said. “However, something about your attitude collided with my frustration, not knowing how to protect my family. I know I behaved badly, and I was totally out of line.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, “that’s the only reason I’m here now.”
He smiled and nodded at her. “So… peace?” Then he held out his hand.
She winced at that, as she stared and then groaned.
“We start over,” Bullard stated.
She slowly nodded and held out her hand. And, with that handshake, a little sense of peace came into her soul. She looked back at his compound and asked, “Did you ever figure out what was going on with that generator?”
“Definitely some electrical components are inside that shouldn’t be there, yet it’s no second bomb,” he told her. “They’re tearing it apart now, seeing if they can hack it backward.”
“Oh, they can hack it backward, but they’ve got these Bluetooth things all throughout the house.”
He stared at her. “Bluetooth things?”
“Yeah, you know, when they put light switches on different walls, and you don’t have to move the wiring because they can just use a Bluetooth connector now?” she explained. “They’ve got those attached for triggering this thing. I presume you found the powdery chemicals on some of the electrical components?”
He nodded. “We did, yes. and I presume they were the same chemicals from the apartment with the bomb-making materials, but we don’t know that yet.”
“We do know that,” she clarified, with a shrug. “At least I presume that’s why they all took off.”
“My understanding is that they think somebody is still there at the apartment.”
She hesitated. “Yeah, that would be my guess too. Somebody or something.”
“You really don’t have any control over your… ability , do you?” Bullard asked.
“It’s not about control,” she stated, looking at him. “I don’t necessarily even understand what I can and cannot do. I’m just a messenger, and that ends up being a problem.”
“I’ve heard that a time or two from Terk,” Bullard murmured, as he stared off into the distance.
“You can go back inside and do whatever you need to do,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “You don’t have to babysit me.”
“I’m not babysitting,” he clarified, looking at her. “The team is handling it.”
“What about Leia?”
“Leia’s lying down. She’s still in shock.”
“She really didn’t know, did she?”
“No, she didn’t know.” And then he grinned boyishly. “I told her, No more kids because she had such a terrible time with the last one, but she was bound and determined to have more.”
“Three more,” Reeni announced. He looked at her and visibly paled. She shrugged, knowing she had no filter and yet knowing she was right. “Sorry, I could be wrong,” she added.
His gaze narrowed. “You and Terk,… you are both irritating as hell.”
“Yeah, it’s the precog side.”
“I thought you didn’t do precog.”
“I don’t.” And then she groaned. “Jesus, I don’t do anything consistently. I… seem to be a wild card in that regard, which is one of the reasons I don’t think Terk would want me on his team.”
“Terk will figure out all that. Now, from what I’ve heard, we’ve got a problem with your father. Tell me more about that.”
“You don’t have a problem. I do.”
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing new really. When I was a minor, he had control over all the medical decisions and finances. As I got older, he realized he was losing that control. When these things manifested, these abilities, I didn’t know to keep my mouth shut, thinking, for once, he would be thrilled with me. Instead he was horrified and used it to have me locked up in a mental institution. He’s done nothing but try to control me ever since. When he does capture me, I get imprisoned, until I can find a way out again,” she explained. “I’ve been free for the last four years now, but, because the police called him, now he’s in town, looking to grab me all over again.”
“What does he gain by holding you? Are you financially independent?”
“I am, in a way,” she replied cautiously. “My grandmother set up money for me, but it’s not in the name that he knows me by, so he hasn’t been able to find it. Yet he has a ton of money himself,” she added quickly, “so I don’t know if he cares so much about money as he does about power and control over me.”
Bullard nodded. “Have you seen these documents he supposedly has?”
“No, I haven’t. Nobody will let me see anything,” she stated bitterly. “And they’re all signed, sealed, and delivered by lawyers. I’m sure Dad paid plenty for them, and yet, when I was a minor, he probably didn’t have to do much of anything, but, as I grew up,… everything changed.”
“And this is yet another instance where he’s trying to maintain that control, which is interesting.”
“I think it’s also partly because he doesn’t want his good name sullied with the craziness I bring.”
“Hey, all families have at least one crazy among them,” Bullard declared. “It’s part and parcel of it.”
She snorted at that. “ Great , that makes me feel so much better,” she muttered, glaring at him.
“I didn’t mean that you were crazy,” he corrected. “However, if you look at any of the wealthy old-money families, there’s always a skeleton somewhere. The fact that your father is trying to hide it just means that something even more is going on.”
“Like?”
“Does he have some of these abilities himself?”
She stared at him. “I don’t think so. Why would he act like that if he did?”
“Maybe the abilities terrify him, or maybe he found something that he didn’t like in his future.”
“I don’t know. He would never have talked to me about it anyway, so it’s not as if I’ll get answers.”
“No? I’ve got people making inquiries into it right now,” he shared, “and we’ll see what they come back with. They are quite discreet too.”
“Inquiries into this nonsense with my father?” she asked in astonishment. “Why would you spend your resources on me?”
He nodded. “You help me, and I help you,” he stated. “That’s the way the world works.”
“Usually it’s not,” she argued, staring at him. “Usually it’s you help somebody, and they just get up and run.”
He laughed. “That’s why Damon and Trevor are here. We needed help, so we put out the word, and they came running. In my world, that’s what families do, and that’s what friends are for.”
“I don’t know about that,” she said. “That’s not the kind of friends and family I’ve ever known.”
“Except for Trevor and your grandmother.”
At that, her heart softened, and she nodded. “Trevor is a friend. And my grandmother is definitely an exception. Some people are just solid gold, and that was her.”
And, with that, Bullard led her back into the kitchen, where Dave was.
He looked at her and asked, “Hungry?”
She shook her head. “I’m okay now, though I wouldn’t mind some more coffee.” She sat down near the sideboard, and, just as she was about to take a sip, he stepped out with a trayful of cinnamon buns. She shook her head. “Jesus, you must do nothing but cook.”
“My partner and I both do,” he admitted, with a chuckle. “She runs a catering business that we work together on.”
Reeni smiled at him. “I’m glad to hear that. How are you finding life these days?” she asked impulsively.
He looked at her. “It’s great, as always.”
She nodded slowly. “It’s a change for you, right?”
Bullard sat down beside her, looking at her curiously, and then back over at Dave. “If you mean Dave’s been through a lot in his life, the answer is yes.”
“I can see that, just one of those precog flashes. Two little boys?”
Dave looked at her, then shook his head. “I lost one of each.”
She stared at him and flushed. “Oh.” She looked over at Bullard.
He stared at her for a moment and then started to grin. “Seriously?” he asked.
She shrugged.
Bullard looked back at Dave. “So, is she pregnant?”
“Who?” Dave asked, walking over with his coffee in his hand, and sat down beside them. “I’m not sure what you’re even talking about.”
Bullard chuckled. “You heard about Reeni’s announcement earlier today, didn’t you?”
“What announcement?” he asked. “I’ve been in the kitchen all morning.”
Reeni shrugged. “It was just something that popped up when I saw Leia.”
Dave looked around and asked, “Is she okay?” He turned to Bullard, with a frown. “I know she’s been really tired lately.”
“With good reason, as apparently she’s pregnant, according to this one at least.” Bullard nodded at Reeni.
Dave looked at her in delight. “Is Leia pregnant?”
“She is, but I guess she didn’t know, so I feel bad for being the one to announce it.”
Dave burst out laughing. “It’s probably better this way, since Bullard here wouldn’t have been terribly impressed either way.”
“Yeah, but, since it’s a fact already,” Bullard said, with a shrug, “you know we’ll deal.”
“Of course you will, and you also know that she wanted several children,” Dave reminded Bullard.
“According to our guest here, who apparently gets these intuitive precogs, we have three more in our future.”
Dave smiled at her. “That is wonderful news,” he declared, with a big grin.
“That’s why I’m mentioning your boys,” she added.
Dave shook his head. “Sorry, what do you mean?”
“She means you,” Bullard pointed out, his grin wider and deeper than before. “I think she’s saying you’re about to become a daddy.”
He stared at Bullard, then back at her. “What?”
It never ceased to amaze her how it could be a complete surprise, but she shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, twin boys.”
He didn’t know what to say, just bolted from the room.
She groaned. “This is why I should keep my mouth shut.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Bullard countered. “Since you let the cat out of the bag in my personal life, I think it’s only fair that other people get the same surprises.”
She glared at him. “That’s just because you’re happy to share the pain.”
“The pain was the delivery and the nightmare at the same time,” he replied. “The compound was under attack then too.”
She stared at him, her mouth gaping open. “And here I thought your security would be better than that.” He shot her a hard look at that. She shrugged. “Okay, so you don’t like hearing that, but—”
“Yes, I know, but you’re still right. We’ve obviously had another lapse in here, and that is something I’ll get to the bottom of very quickly.”
“You let in a repairman who isn’t your regular,” she noted. “That’s all it takes, somebody who supposedly was nice and easy on the eyes because it’s something you had to get done anyway.”
“The generator’s too big to lift,” he explained, “and I’ve been traveling a lot, so I okayed it. I don’t even remember who I okayed to go ahead and get it done.”
“Does it matter? They weren’t responsible.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “It worries me that our family here has expanded so much. I just don’t want to find out I brought in someone only to have them be part of the betrayal.”
“Nobody here was part of it,” she stated. “I’ve checked everyone here.”
He nodded. “How can you be so sure?”
“Energy.”
“But you work with electrical systems.”
“Yeah, I know,” she muttered, with a sigh. “Yet, for some reason, what I’m getting here is a whole lot more. I don’t have the slightest idea why.”
“Maybe because you’re opening yourself up to more,” Bullard suggested. “Just something I’ve learned from Terk.”
“Maybe,” she muttered, “but that’ll just confuse the issue. If I don’t know what I’m getting, it will just be harder for me to decipher what I’m seeing.”
“Or maybe you’ll just end up getting a whole lot more information, and you’ll be fine. But I have one more question. What about other team members who haven’t been here at the compound? Have you read their energy?” While they sat there, Bullard’s phone rang. “Eton,” he barked into the phone. “What did you find out?… Wait. She’s right here. I’ll put you on Speakerphone.”
“Your father definitely does have paperwork in place,” Eton began. “The doctor who helped him set it up has his own clinic.”
Bullard nodded. “Yeah, I’m not surprised.”
“Whether he helped him legitimately, thinking she would be a problem, I don’t know,” Eton added, “but it’s definitely in place.”
Bullard looked at her, then at his phone. “Eton, what’s the atmosphere around her father?”
“Nobody likes him, for one. He’s definitely a hard-ass. More about the bottom line and not particularly fussy about methodology. He’s big in the business community and worth several hundred million, so I doubt her money would make any difference to him. So it’s probably more about control and image. There’s something odd about the mother. She was in a sanatorium as well, whether that’s because she needs it or because it was more convenient to get her out of the way, I don’t know,” he shared.
She stared at Bullard in horror. “My mother?’
Bullard nodded. “That’s what it sounds like.”
“That’s right,” Eton confirmed. “The mother is definitely there, and I heard some talk that the sister may not be very stable either.”
“Yet she’s very stable,” Reeni proclaimed bitterly. “At least as stable as anybody can be, considering they’re dealing with him.”
Eton’s tone was apologetic as he replied, “Sorry, I’ve obviously got more digging to do on much of this.”
“Is there any way to break what he’s got in place?” Bullard asked.
“Sure, there always is. Reeni, the mother, the sister, they would all have to be tested of course, but, as long as each are of sound mind, then there’s absolutely no reason the paperwork couldn’t be rescinded. It’s done all the time. Sometimes people are appointed a guardian to look after all this, and sometimes that works out, and sometimes it doesn’t,” he pointed out, with a wry tone. “Think of all the popular singers and pop stars and how that doesn’t work out sometimes.”
She snorted. “The only interaction my father wants with me is to control me. I don’t think my money matters, since its nothing to him, although everybody else in my family gets an inheritance too,” she explained. “His mother bypassed him and gave her money to me and my sister. Then my mother’s family has a trust set up to go through my mother, so I don’t know how that’ll work out for Dad.”
“It could be why he’s making sure that he locks everybody up tight, so he can keep you all under his control just to get at the total inheritance,” Bullard pointed out.
She frowned at that. “I suppose.”
“Have you ever seen any of the wills?”
“No, only what I’ve been told. Dad’s mother left nothing to Dad, so her estate goes to me and my sister directly. Then my mother’s family left everything to us—to my mother and my sister and me,” she shared, “So we have zero contact with any of it because my father controls it all.”
“Any way to find out if there’s been a change at all along those lines?” Bullard asked. “Because it’s quite possible that when you and your sister turn a certain age, you are supposed to get something.”
“When I turn thirty,” Reeni stated.
“When you turn thirty, what happens?”
She shrugged. “My grandmother told me it was all coming to me.”
He whistled. “When you say, all ?”
“I don’t know what that means. I don’t know if that’s just my grandmother’s money or my mother’s trust money,” she shared. “Again… I haven’t ever seen anything.”
“But that’s a really good angle to go on,” Eton noted. “I’ll be back in touch as soon as I find out anything.” And, with that, he ended the call.
Bullard looked at her. “How are you doing for money?”
“I’m fine. I have a special fund that my grandmother set up,… his mother.”
“Maybe your grandmother set up something else too.”
“Not if he knew about it. It must be something she did on the sly. She was all for protecting me, for providing for me, but my father had her under lock and key by the end of her days.”
“But she did bypass him once, as you mentioned, so she could have managed it a second time. And you mentioned it’s his mother?”
She nodded. “Yes, but she was very good friends with my mother’s parents as well. They were best friends for a long time.”
“Then what happened?”
“My mother’s family, several of them, were killed in a car accident,” she explained. “Then a couple people in the family had cancer, and all sorts of diseases started popping up, things like that. I don’t even know how many are left at this point.”
“But maybe your dad does, and what if the family money all comes to you, and you’re the one he can’t control?”
“All the more reason to stay free of him,” she muttered, “because, as soon as he finds me, I’ll end up in the same place as my mother, maybe not even the same place. At least there I could see her.”
“Would you want to?”
Reeni frowned at that. “I don’t have any way to know how much she’s had to do with any of this. Maybe she had nothing to do with it at all, and it’s all been my father’s doing,” she suggested. “So I don’t know what the answer to that question is. I would really like a chance to ensure she’s okay—and my sister as well.”
When she explained more about her sister’s marriage, Bullard stared at her in shock. “That’s very feudal.”
“It’s very much my father,” she stated. “He will fight tooth and nail to maintain control. It would make more sense if some massive inheritance was coming to somebody. I just don’t know who.”
“How old is your sister?”
“She would have turned thirty last year,” she replied.
“In that case, he probably has that one locked down, at least for the moment. Maybe now he wants to ensure that yours is locked down too.”
She winced, then nodded. “Yeah, that sounds very much like him.” And then she stared at Bullard in anticipation. “So, is there anything we can do to stop it?”
Bullard gave her a beaming nod. “Of course something can always be done. He won’t like it much.”
She stared at him, a sliver of hope unfurling in her chest for the first time in a very long while, and she whispered, “That sounds even better.”
*
Trevor was accompanied by Damon and two men of Bullard’s, Jerome and Kano.
Those two looked at Terk’s men and asked, “So now what?”
Trevor winced. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we knew,” he muttered. He looked over at Damon. “She didn’t give any specific directions, did she?”
Damon shook his head. “I didn’t hear any.”
Trevor asked him, almost grinning, “You want to contact her?”
“Nope, I sure don’t. That’ll likely set her off.”
“What’s the point in working with people if they’re so touchy?” Jerome asked. “I get she’s supposed to have some skills, but I’m not sure the skills are that valuable if you can’t count on them.”
Surprised, Trevor turned to him. “That would be because you don’t understand where she’s coming from and what she’s been through, so please don’t judge her. Yet the reason that we have any intel at all and were brought to this apartment in the first place is because of her. We never had a chance to inspect this apartment, so, from my perspective, that is something that we should have done regardless.”
Damon nodded. “That’s a good point. We can sit here and judge as much as we want, but it doesn’t change the fact that she did bring us here in the first place. It’s obviously a place that we needed to look into. If anything remains here, as she says it does, then we must find it and find it fast.” With that settled, Damon led the way up to the apartment.
“What are we doing about the cops if they show up?” Jerome asked at his side.
He looked over at him and smiled. “I’m not sure how long you’ve worked for Bullard, but I highly doubt the cops being here are much of an issue.”
Jerome shrugged. “I haven’t worked for him that long,” he replied easily. “However, as a citizen of the world, it’s not as if we can just walk around and do what we want to do.”
“No, we sure can’t,” Trevor agreed, studying Jerome with a nod. “But, when local law enforcement doesn’t know how to handle people like us, Damon and I and the rest of our team get called in.”
“What exactly do you do?” Kano asked curiously.
Trevor shrugged. “It’s hard to explain. Let’s just call it woo-woo stuff.” And, with that, he moved forward, determined to shut off the conversation. He hadn’t gotten any off feelings from anybody on Bullard’s team up until now, and he had to admit that even being questioned like this was uncomfortable. As a matter of fact, that wasn’t even much in the way of questioning. It was just somebody who was being asked to go into a building that had been full of bomb-making equipment.
Of course he would have some questions, and he would ask them, as well as question the mind-set of those who prodded them into going back here. That Trevor trusted Reeni said a lot about where he was at. That Damon trusted her said a lot about her energy. Trevor looked over at Damon to find him frowning at the elevator.
Damon shook his head. “I’m not sure about you but no elevators for me.”
Trevor laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
The others looked at him, and Jerome asked, “Why?”
“Because that’s the last place you want to be if something goes wrong.”
At that, Jerome’s face thinned, and he nodded. “Stairs it is then.”
As soon as they started walking up, Jerome lagged behind. Damon looked over at him, scrutinizing his face. “You okay?”
“I am,” he said, with a shrug. “Funny how even that little bit of questioning makes Reeni’s back go up, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, it certainly gets mine going,” Damon agreed, with a laugh. “Still, I understand Reeni’s frustration. Yet, if you don’t create a reasonable explanation, you’ll always struggle to be believed. So she dives right in, not necessarily in the most efficient manner. She let Bullard know that there was a problem. Now, whether or not he appreciated her delivery,” Damon stated, with a smile, “her intel was quite accurate.”
“I don’t think he appreciated the manner or the fact that she couldn’t explain it. Plus, it didn’t help that she wasn’t part of our team,” Jerome added.
At that, Trevor nodded. “Oh, I get that. Terk’s team does have that woo-woo factor,” he agreed, with half a laugh.
Damon nodded. “When we were working for the government, we were free and clear of all kinds of questions as we were black ops. We could do things without having to justify ourselves. So, if there were problems, we could make a phone call and get assistance in getting out of it. Nowadays we don’t have that same umbrella, yet we still expect it. After all, we have certain needs for it, depending on the circumstances.”
“This is one of those circumstances,” Trevor pointed out, “mostly because we are dealing with local law enforcement on this one. So there’s just no way to justify going in here without it. Do you think Bullard cleared this?”
“I hope so,” Damon muttered, with a laugh. “Otherwise we could find ourselves answering a few more questions than we might want to.”
Trevor winced at that and nodded. “I guess that would be fair, wouldn’t it?”
“Oh, I don’t know about fair,” Damon clarified. “I don’t like answering law enforcement questions at the best of times, but I am getting better at it, and I do it more often now than I ever have. As we build relationships around the world, some of that’s getting easier too.”
“Yet at the scope that you’re dealing with, it must be massive,” Trevor noted.
Damon nodded. “Yep, and as long as we know that we have some backup, such as MI6 for example, that helps. However, we’ve done several jobs where they couldn’t be involved. So we just had to get the job done and then get the hell out without anybody knowing because, if someone does find out, you’re on your own.”
Jerome had been quiet for most of this conversation, until now. “The thing is, being on your own with a team like my team behind us is a whole different story than really being on your own because we have all kinds of skills. What’s interesting is we don’t have anybody quite so… very erratic, and I don’t know if that’s her actual energy or if it’s just the way she perceives things. To think that she has an affinity for electricity is one thing, but I would think that would be something she could carry over to energy as a whole.”
“I’m pretty sure Reeni can. She just doesn’t know it yet,” Trevor interjected, giving him a smile. “So being around Terk and his team, plus your team, she could learn so much more. However, until she can deal with that asshole father of hers, I’m not sure she has the capacity to handle much more. She’s already keeping up a ton of energy around her, just to keep him away from her, purely for protection. She just doesn’t know it.”
“Ah, now that,” Damon noted, “would explain the energy I find around her on a regular basis. It’s very much of a stay-away thing, but it’s very personalized.”
“Yeah, personalized for her father, I would think,” Trevor agreed. “And, from what we know of him so far, that is with good reason.”
“Yeah, you’re not kidding. We need to take care of this daddy business before we’re done here too.”
“It would be good if we could,” Trevor stated. “I would go it alone, but I’m not sure that I have the right tools to do so.”
“No, don’t go it alone,” Damon said. “I’m pretty sure that Terk, Bullard, Levi, or somebody has the clout to handle this one in a much better way than we could. It’s not so much an energy problem. It’s all about power and might and the long reach of justice, so that’s a whole different story. The fact that her father goes around having people institutionalized is creepy to begin with, yet I don’t find anything unstable mentally about her at all.”
“No, neither do I,” Trevor stated.
Jerome stared at them. “Are you serious? She appears to be completely unstable from where I sit. Honestly, if it wasn’t for you guys, I probably wouldn’t be listening to her at all.”
Damon shrugged. “In Terk’s world, an awful lot is going on out there that we don’t know about. Reeni is just one more part of it.”
“Maybe,” Jerome muttered. “It still doesn’t feel right though. Why would you listen to any intel from somebody who’s obviously not all there?”
Trevor felt his own back going up at the criticism and at the disdain Jerome had for Reeni. It was fair enough that he should have an opinion. Everybody was entitled to that, but having it leveled at her in such a way didn’t feel right. “I didn’t realize you felt so strongly about it,” Trevor said, gazing at Jerome, still a few steps behind them all.
Damon shot Trevor a hard look, silently reminding him where they were and what they needed to be doing. That was fine, but Trevor didn’t have to remain silent and let this young man forget the fact that he was still alive mostly because of Reeni. Jerome obviously didn’t see it that way, which was yet another fault line in this whole perception thing with Jerome. “She’s saved your life once already.”
Jerome looked at him and snorted. “I get it. You’re sleeping with her, which honestly seems kind of daring of you in the first place, but definitely not my thing.”
“That’s fine if it’s not your thing,” Trevor replied calmly. “And, for the record, we’re not sleeping together. We’re friends.”
“Maybe not yet, but you want to.” Jerome huffed. “Same diff.”
Trevor stared at him in astonishment. “Wow, that’s an interesting mentality you’ve got there.”
Kano didn’t say anything, but he frowned at Jerome.
“It’s hardly the same thing,” Trevor muttered.
“Sure it is,” Jerome argued. “If you want to sleep with her, that’s your problem, but you don’t have to involve the rest of us in your risky endeavors.”
At that, Damon halted and turned to face Jerome. “We don’t criticize someone unless they are here to defend themselves. That way faulty thinking like yours can be corrected, and we can all move on as a team, whether one single team or a merged team. Obviously you’re not the right person to come here for this job, and it’s just as obvious that you are stressed out about going up to the apartment. Why don’t you go back outside? You can be on watch duty.”
Jerome shook his head. “Hell to that.… No way. I’m coming,” he declared. “I’m allowed to have an opinion on this whole nightmare. That is not something you get to stop. Besides, I don’t have to listen to you anyway. You’re not my boss.”
At that retort, Kano chipped in, standing beside Jerome and towering over him. “Maybe not, Jerome, but you do have to listen to me, and I agree with Damon. Your attitude right now isn’t conducive to the job, considering we’re about to walk into an apartment that could be loaded with bombs. So you’re back outside on watch duty, just like Damon said.”
Jerome glared at Kano. “That’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair about it?”
“That you’re defending that psychic chick,” he replied, “when it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
Kano stared at him in astonishment. “What are you talking about? They’re all part and parcel of the same team, the same skill set. We’ve utilized their services and worked together many, many times. This is nothing new, so why are you so hyped up now?”
“Yeah, them , not her,” Jerome repeated in disgust. “Anybody can see that something is seriously wrong with her.”
At that Damon added in a threatening tone, “Look, buddy. Either you’re leaving now or I’m calling Bullard to come get you.… Your choice.”
Flushing in anger, Jerome turned and headed back down the stairs. As he left and went down several flights, Trevor waited until he was out of sight, then he turned and asked Kano, “How long has he worked for you?”
“Not long enough, apparently,” Kano grumbled, his tone tight. “Sorry about that. His behavior is not the kind that any of us would condone.”
Trevor added, “Which is also why it’s interesting that he’s spouting it the way he is because he obviously has pretty strong feelings about it. I guess now I’m wondering if he could have anything to do with this whole nightmare.”
At that, Kano stared at him. “Just because he doesn’t like Reeni?” he asked in astonishment.
“No, because he was getting so volatile and angry. I read his energy. His anger rose the higher up we got to the apartment.”
Damon nodded. “I have to admit I had the same thought.”
“Jesus,” Kano muttered. “Yet you know not a lot of people would choose to come up here right now.”
“True, but it was more than that,” Trevor explained. “He was getting visibly agitated and taking it out on her, as if anything that happens should be blamed on her. Blaming her is one thing, but blaming her without justification is an entirely different matter, because that also means that he’s got an ax to grind in this deal.”
Kano stopped, let out a slow deep breath, then grabbed his phone and called Bullard. As soon as Bullard answered, he said, “We’ve got a problem.”
With that he put it on Speakerphone and let Damon and Trevor explain. An ugly deep silence came from the other end, as Bullard digested it. “Okay,” he replied, “You all do you and let me look into Jerome. I’ll get back to you.”
Kano added, “But somebody needs to come here and sort it out. He exploded with way more fury than any of this warranted.”
“You know that’s not behavior I tolerate at any point in time,” Bullard snapped. “What the hell? Kano, have you seen this kind of thing from him before?”
“No, but they’re right. The higher up we got, the more nervous Jerome became. I’m not sure it has anything to do with the issue with Reeni as much as he’s just incredibly uneasy about coming up here at all. Either way, he’s currently not fit for duty for this assignment.”
More silence came as Bullard digested that statement. “All right. I’ll come see for myself.” And, with that, he ended the call.
Damon smiled and nodded. “That’s probably for the best, and Bullard can get to the bottom of it. Hate to cause trouble,” Damon said apologetically, “but we have to call it the way we see it.”
“You call it any way you want to,” Kano noted. “If it’s nothing to worry about, we’re all good, and Jerome will learn from the experience. If it is something to worry about, I don’t care who he is. I would rather find out now before somebody else gets targeted, or our home base is under attack. I’ve got family and friends there too,” he shared. “We’re all one big family, like you guys, and keeping the predators out is always a problem.” He held out a hand in peace.
“Thanks for understanding,” Damon replied, shaking the man’s hand. “No worries.… Let’s get to work and see if we can figure out what the hell’s going on at this apartment.”
And, with that, Trevor gave them a nod and led them the rest of the way up into the apartment building.