Ch.3
Once the quartet arrive in Paris, France, Jimmy held up a hand to halt a taxi and they all climbed inside after Jimmy put the bags in the trunk of the cab. They rode to a nearby restaurant called Marino's. Lara looked completely famished & the others were rather hungry as well. While waiting patiently for their food, Jimmy excused himself to make an important call to one Alfredo Fonz, or as he called him, Fonzo. Alfredo worked in the Department of Immigration in Washington DC and had helped Jimmy "transport" people on more than one occasion. But this time it was different. He was trying to bring over a young girl; a young girl who was damaged & whose father was one that was involved in terrible things. Jimmy took in a deep breath and dialed the all-too-familiar number. After two rings, there was an answer.
"Alfredo Fonz speaking." The fifty year old, gray haired man answered, not taking notice as to who was calling him.
"Fonzo. Long time no chat, my friend." Jimmy smiled, tucking his own graying hair behind his ear as he stood out in the warm Parisian air. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon and with the warm heat, you could definitely tell.
The 6'4 man grinned widely on the other end. "Jimmy! To what do I owe this pleasure? Do I need to assist you in moving yet another fugitive? Not another in the Irish mob is it?" Fonzo asked, taking a seat as his cherry oak desk & looked out the window of his corner office, noticing the bright blue skies. It really was a beautiful morning in Washington DC.
Jimmy bit down on his bottom lip as he tried to work out how to ask Fonzo for his help. "Well, uh, not exactly no. I do need your help though; getting someone into the states and a new identification and such." Jimmy said squinting his eyes as the warm sun shone down on him.
"Okay, so not a fugitive then?" Fonzo laughed a little nervous.
"It may be worse than a fugitive to you, Fonz." Jimmy replied earning silence on the other end. After a moment, Fonzo answered.
"Uh oh. You're not into the trafficking business now are ya Jimmy?" Fonz asked in a joking manner, though he was really nervous now. What could be worse than a fugitive?
"No! No, nothing like that." Jimmy assured him, and on Fonzo's end, he let out a silent sigh of relief. "No, uh, it's a minor. A little girl."
"A little girl? What, Nathan met a young girl and wishes to marry but her daddy says no?" Fonzo joked with a laugh and a shake of his head. He & Jimmy had quite a unique friendship. Jimmy had saved his life on more than one occasion, so that left Fonz owing Jimmy plenty favors.
"Not quite like that." Jimmy replied, biting down on his lips again, leaving Fonz a bit confused and worried. "You see, Nathan saved the girl, Fonzo. She was being chased by her father. He was trying to sell her off to a Russian man." Jimmy revealed looking around to make for sure no one was listening in on his conversation.
Fonzo's breath caught in his throat at the mention of Russian. The Russian's were people you didn't mess with. "Jimmy, the could be involved with-"
"Oh, he's not involved, Fonzo. Her father is the damn leader of the Russian mob." Jimmy said, cutting Fonzo off. He heard Fonzo let out a gasp on the other end at the revelation. That's what he wanted to do after Lara told him who here father was. He honestly thought about leaving her there, but he knew he would never forgive himself if he did that; neither would Nathan and his wife. Jimmy knew exactly who Malachi was and knew to stay as far away from the man as possible. Malachi Vanderbilt was ten times worse than Jimmy was, and that said something. The man wasn't even Russian, yet he was head of the Russian mob. That was only due to the fact that he had close relations to the former leaders. Every mob man and woman around the world knew of Malachi and knew to stay away from him. No one would ever dare to cross paths with the man. Not unless you had a death wish anyways. He didn't get involved in Russian business, and they didn't get involved in his. That's why he had been second guessing his decision to help Lara since leaving Prague. But in the end, he knew he was doing the right thing. Jimmy just hoped that Fonzo would help him bring the girl across seas.
"So will you still help me?" Jimmy asked, running his hand through his short, graying hair, his blue eyes sparkling in the sun.
"Jimmy, you're talking about taking in the daughter of the leader of the Russian mob." Fonzo answered.
Jimmy sighed and let his hand drop to his side. "So is that a no?" Jimmy asked, looking inside the restaurant at Lara. If he couldn't get her over somewhat legally, he'd have to do it by illegal means, which meant there was a higher chance of getting caught and her father finding out and he'd come after her. He was at a loss on what'd he do. After a minute, Fonzo spoke up
"I'll send you the new identifications as soon as I can. I'll have Tony get my jet and fly them over to you. I need you to send me a picture of the girl. How old is she?" Fonzo asked, opening his computer and clicking on various applications to set up new ID's, a passport and a birth certificate.
Jimmy smiled and licked his dry lips. "She's fifteen. She's maybe five feet, two inches tall. Um, she's got long dark hair, and brown eyes." Jimmy told him with a nod, though Fonz couldn't see it. "Thank you for doing this for me Fonz."
"Not a problem at all Jimmy. You're doing the right thing and I want to help you. Nathan was right to save that girl. Now as soon as you get the picture, send it to me. I'm already getting her a new name and birth certificate. Soon as I have that picture, I can get her a passport, school ID set up and even a Massachusetts state ID." Fonzo informed Jimmy as he continued to type away on his computer. "I'm going to call Tony real quick and give him the details. Call me when you find a drop spot."
"Will do. Thanks again Fonz." Jimmy smiled.
"Anytime Jimmy. Anytime."
With that, Jimmy ended the phone call and walked back into the restaurant and placed a kiss on Jenny's cheek. Nate noticed his father's return and gave him a look that said "How'd it go?" Jimmy gave his son a nod & Nate smiled, understand everything in that one gesture. Jimmy smiled back and took a long sip of his whiskey he ordered just as their food came. He just hoped that this decision would not haunt him
Later that evening, Jimmy sat waiting a brew pub not far from the hotel his family was staying at. He had received a phone call phone Tony telling him he was on his way and would be here in 10 minutes. If there was one thing Jimmy Ford did not have a lot of it was patience. It had been 20 minutes since Tony had called and he still had yet to show. As soon as he was about to leave the brew pub, Tony waltzed in with the large envelope in his hands. His olive skin glistened with water in the dim light of the pub. It must've been raining outside. Tony spotted Jimmy immediately and discreetly set the envelope down at the table Jimmy was occupying. Slicking his long, wet black hair back, Tony gave Jimmy a wide smile.
"Jimmy! Good to see you old man!" Tony boasted in his loud voice, embracing Jimmy in a tight hug. He let out a throaty laugh as Jimmy pushed him away, fully knowing that Jimmy didn't like to be hugged.
"Yeah you too Tony. You got my insurance papers?" Jimmy asked with a wink as he looked at the bartender, who seemed to be far too interested in drying out his drinking glasses to be concerned with their conversation, but he could never be too sure.
"Yup. Set them on your table. Now, I have a small finder's fee." Tony joked, rubbing his fingers together, and earned a slap on the back of his head.
"There's your damn finder's fee." Jimmy said, walking to the table and picking up the envelope. "Say hi to your father for me." He called out as he walked out of the brew pub. It was lightly drizzling outside so he put the envelope on the inside of his jacket. It wasn't much of a distance to the hotel from the brew pub, so he had decided to walk. Plus, when he left the hotel, the air was warm & crisp. Now it was moist and quite chilly. After five minutes, Jimmy arrived back at his hotel room. Only there did he feel safe enough to look over the documents. Pulling the papers from the envelope & looking over them, Jimmy smiled to himself. Fonzo was amazing when it came to his work. Jimmy was so focused on looking over the IDs and birth certificate that he hadn't even noticed Lara enter the living room area. It startled him when she called out his name. Turning around in his seat, he saw that Lara had an apologetic look on her face.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." She apologized in a meek voice.
Jimmy smiled and motioned for her to take a seat next to him. "It's fine, Lara. Oh, here's your new birth certificate and IDs." He replied handing her the ID. "Your birthday is July tenth now. Same year, so you're still fifteen."
Lara scrunched her nose up as she looked at her new name. "My name is now Sophie?" She asked, looking at Jimmy with a raised eyebrow and an amused look on her face.
"Yes. Sophie Annalesia Devereaux." He replied with a smile.
Lara took in a deep breath and looked it over once more. This was all a whole lot for her to take in. She certainly didn't look like a Sophie, and she didn't quite like the name. But she knew that it was all Jimmy could do. She was thankful for that because he was helping to save her from her awful father.
"I know it isn't the best name in the world, but you'll get used to it. I've seen many people get unexpected name changes and not quite like the name at first but… they work with it." Jimmy said, fidgeting with his fingers. "I had to do it though, Lara. Otherwise your father could've easily tracked you and once we got to the states, he could've found you."
"I know. It's fine. It'll just take some getting used to, like you said." Lara, well now Sophie, replied looking at Jimmy once more. "So when do we head for America?" She asked tucking her dark hair behind her ear.
"Well, hopefully if all goes accordingly sometime tomorrow afternoon. I really think you'll like America, Lara. And Boston." Jimmy said with a smile.
Lara made a face and laughed. "If I'm going to get used to Sophie, you should probably start referring to me as such." She laughed making Jimmy laugh with her.
"Of course." He smiled. "So Sophie, I should be able to get your room set up in a week or so. Any particular colors you wish to have on your walls?"
"Blue & purple!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement.
The pair stayed up talking about Boston and Sophie's new room for quite some time. It was almost five in the morning in Paris when they both fell asleep. While they were sleeping, somewhere in Russia, one Malachi Vanderbilt stood in his mansion's den, throwing several objects around the room.
"How in the bloody hell does one child simply just disappear?!" He yelled his normally slicked back hair a raging mess. His eyes, dark with fury, darted around the room, looking for something else to throw.
"I don't know sir. We lost her after the train station. We cannot find her anywhere. We have facial recognition running, and still nothing." One of Malachi's underling's, Rico, informed him.
"Well find her! Do anything, just find her! I want her back here now!" Malachi growled. "Oh little Lara, you are going to be in for it once you're back home. You think you've known fury, just wait til I get my hands on you." Malachi said to himself, his voice dripping with venom. Little did he know, his daughter would no longer be in Europe by the end of the day. And with the way Jimmy Ford had everything planned out, he'd never be able to find his daughter.
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A/N: Ah Drama. Gotta love it. Well this chapter wasn't a whole lot of drama, just the ending. So what did you all think of chapter three? I know my chapters aren't that long but I don't want to jam a whole bunch of useless crap into one chapter. The next chapter, they'll finally be in Boston. How will things work out? Well, we shall see. =) Please review! I love reviews. =) Can I get at least 5 more reviews until I post up chapter 4? Please and thanks.