Call Back
"How is he?" Walter asked, sitting across from Carter in a private table in a rooftop restaurant, well out the way of all the other tables like Carter had requested. It had been a week since Punk had been airlifted to Mexico, still in critical condition.
"He's hanging in there." Carter nodded, "He's got a medical team working around the clock for him, provided by us, of course." He said, "But he's not getting up on his feet any time soon."
"You shouldn't have moved him so soon." Walter said, "I can't believe he's still hanging on." He admitted, reaching for his water and taking a sip.
"He's a tough kid." Carter complimented, "How did the funeral go?" He asked as Walter nodded.
"Yeah, it was fine." Walter waved his hand, having a hard time accepting all of this, "I came here to talk about what you're planning to do now that you have him and everyone thinks he's dead." He said as Carter nodded.
"He stays with us. Under our watch. Until we say so." Carter said.
"You realise what you're doing is illegal?" Walter said, "Trying to… trying to cover-up this… this highly intensified crime, just because it looks bad on the outside world." Walter said, "You're just as bad as they are."
"It will be better for everyone." Carter said, "And if we let Phil go back home, ultimately they would come back and try to kill him again. So even though our motive isn't to protect him, we're still protecting him." He said, "He's better off hidden. For his own sake."
"No, you just feel threatened that he and the rest of my officers at the station are smart enough to uncover all of this." Walter said, "The public will always have something to say. This is dangerous people walking amongst us and they have to be taken down. We can't just ignore it." Walter shook his head, "Hiding people and hiding facts isn't going to help anyone."
"My job isn't to help people. It's to keep the truth hidden. That's why it's called a cover-up." Carter said, "I work for the government, ok? And if they say this is what's best, then I'm going to follow orders. I'm not allies with these men, ok? I'm not encouraging them, I'm just… simply ignoring it, and making sure no one finds out about it, no one as in Phil Brooks."
"You're just as bad then." Walter shook his head.
"Has the girlfriend been looking around? I know she's a curious one." Carter said.
"No. She's not been at work. She's not actually came out of her apartment besides the funeral." Walter said, "She's heartbroken." He sighed.
"She'll move on. They all do." Carter said.
"Do you have any decent bone in your body?" Walter spat, "I don't care if you're working for the government or if you're working for yourself, what you're doing is wrong, and it's not what's best." Walter said, "What's best is having every uniformed cop out there looking for these men, arresting them, and getting Phil back to his family, where he belongs." Walter said, "Don't you see the wrong in all of this?" Walter asked.
"Like I said, I'm just following orders as are the other agents I work alongside." Carter said, "This is what happened, we kept a close eye on these men, this cult if you will, we know what they're up to, what they look like, where they are, and then they shoot a cop. That's when we have to make the move to clear every vulnerable link in the equation."
"To keep this… group safe? You'd rather keep this gang, these awful men safe than your own countries police officers?"
"No. Because I'm keeping Phil safe right now. Aren't I?" Carter said.
"Whilst tearing apart his entire world." Walter said, "How can I live with this?"
"Because I'm telling you to." Carter said, "Things will be taken care of in the future, but it's best for everyone if we keep this quiet."
"You're not going to take care of it at all, are you?" Walter said, "What are you going to tell him?"
"We're telling him that he's in protection and that he has to stay there until we find these men." Carter said.
"All the while you're doing everything in your power to make sure no one finds them?" Walter spat as Carter nodded, "This is some bullshit. Never have I came across something so absurd." He shook his head.
"Look, Phil is in a bad way right now anyway. He's like a skeleton. He might not even make it past this week, or the next. He still isn't breathing on his own." Carter said, "But if he pulls through it, he'll stay under our supervision and our watch for as long as we say." He said.
"You don't care that he has a family? He has a baby and a girlfriend." Walter said.
"This has to be done." Carter said, "And you have to do as I say, or else your job is on the line." He warned as Walter sighed, shaking his head, "We're not the bad guys here. We're just trying to make the world seem like a better place."
"You're not the bad guys?" Walter laughed, "You might not be, but you might as well be with what you're doing." Walter shook his head, "This will come back and bite you in the ass one way or another." He said.
"No, it won't." Carter said, "Just you keep your officers in line. You do your job, we'll do ours. Simple." He said as Walter sighed, looking across at him.
Punk had been driving all through the night until he had to stop for gas, pulling in and filling up the tank, thankfully remembering to put money aside for gas in the case that he got his hands on a car. He couldn't believe he managed to convince the man at the car rental place to give him the car for fifty bucks without any ID. He promised he'd go back and buy the man a whole new car if he wanted, just to show his appreciation for giving him the car.
He filled up the tank, paid for the gas at the slot, returned back to his car and took the phone out again. He knew AJ wouldn't be at the station, so he didn't want to call there again, and he assumed she'd changed her cell number since the last time, but he figured he'd give the house phone a try. He knew it was late and she'd probably be in bed, but he just wanted to talk to her, to let her know he was ok. Maybe phoning wasn't the best idea considering she thought he was dead for all these years, but he couldn't hold off any longer.
Meanwhile back in Chicago, after AJ had called animal control, and Rocky had come around to comfort her after the distress of having a snake dumped on her doorstep, which was obviously a message from someone, she managed to get to bed. Rocky had left about half an hour ago and both AJ and Nova were completely out cold, until the house phone rang from inside the living room, where Ace immediately sat up.
A door then squeaked open, little footsteps running out of her bedroom as she rushed to the phone, picking it up with hazy eyes, even though her mother emphasised never to answer the phone or door by herself, but it had woken her up and she wanted it to be quiet.
"Hello, it's night time you shouldn't be calling." Nova answered as the line was silent, "Hello." Nova emphasised on the 'o' at the end, standing in her pyjamas tiredly, but the line was silent, "Call back when we're not sleeping." Nova informed the caller, placing it back down on the hook as she ran back to her bed, "Ace." She whispered on the dog who looked across at her and ran over to her, "Shh, don't tell mommy." She giggled, hugging the dog and letting him lie at the bottom of her bed as she snuggled back down under the covers.
Punk stood beside his car, the phone sitting on the roof of the car whilst he leaned his head along the top of it, his shoulders shaking up and down as tears blinked down his cheeks. He knew the difference between a child's voice and an adult's voice, and he knew that was his daughter who he had just heard. He'd never even heard her say her first word before until right there and then.
He looked up, looking around the empty gas station as he got himself together. He couldn't even bring himself to say anything. He just froze at the sound of her chirpy, frail but adorable voice.
"Hey, man. You ok?" The man behind the slot in the gas station called out as Punk nodded, raising his hand to assure him as he got back into the car, taking the phone from the roof and turning the engine back on, taking a deep breath and trying to find some sort of composure, not being able to get that little voice out of his head as he took off back onto the road.
"Ok, I done you cheese sandwiches today." AJ said the next morning as she put the brown paper bag into Nova's backpack, getting ready to leave for work and school.
"I don't like cheese." Nova screwed her eyes up, "You know that."
"You like mac n cheese, though." AJ shook her head with confusion.
"But I don't like cheese sandwiches." Nova informed her, "I guess I'll just eat them." She shook her head sadly as AJ handed her bag to her.
"I'm sorry, baby. We can go to the store tonight and you can pick some things, ok?" AJ said, feeling a little flustered as of late with everything going on, trying not to let it show with Nova was pretty hard.
"Ok." Nova nodded.
"And don't think I don't know that Ace slept in beside you last night." AJ said, putting her coat on whilst Nova stood waiting on her mother.
"It was after I answered the phone." Nova explained, "So it wasn't all night."
"The phone?" AJ shook her head, grabbing her folders from the desk as they headed out of the apartment, "When did you answer the phone?"
"During the night." Nova explained as she ran down the stairs, jumping down a few, skipping down a few, a ball of energy in the morning to say the least.
"Hey, come here a second." AJ paused after the first flight of stairs as Nova looked up at her, "Who was on the phone? Why didn't you wake me?" She asked.
"It was no one." Nova said, "I heard it and it wouldn't stop so I got up and answered it." Nova said.
"You should have woken me, Nova." AJ said sternly.
"There was no one there." Nova said with frustration, "It must have been a ghosty." She wiggled her fingers at her mother who couldn't help smile.
"Must have been." AJ nodded, "Ok, but seriously… if the phone goes you let me know, ok? Especially at that time of night." AJ shook her head. She must have been out cold to not have heard the phone and it seemed a little strange for them to get a phone call at that time of night. She'd redial the number later when she got home from what was bound to be a busy day at work.
"Let's go!" Nova explained excitedly, holding onto her bag straps as she continued to rush down the stairs again as AJ followed, "Hi, Mrs Keller." She waved to the lady who stayed below and across the landing.
"Hello, Nova." The lady smiled sweetly as AJ also said hello too trying to keep up with Nova, leaving the apartment block and getting to the car where AJ proceeded to drive Nova to school.
Once they got to school, AJ walked Nova in through the playground where her teacher was outside waiting by the door. She crouched down, fixing the straps on Nova's denim overalls she was wearing.
"You take your cap off when you get inside, right?" AJ asked her daughter who nodded, "Do you, really?" She asked again.
"Sometimes." Nova shrugged, "Sometimes it's good cause I don't have to look at people." She said as AJ smiled to herself.
"My girl." AJ flicked her chin playfully, "Ok, Grandpa Dan will pick you up today and take you to his house."
"Will you be late again?" Nova sighed as AJ watched her sad little face.
"I shouldn't be late tonight, baby. I'll try not to be." She said, cupping her daughter's caramel cheeks, "You have the best day, yeah?" She smiled as Nova nodded, "Ok, give me a hug." AJ said, wrapping her arms around her daughter's little body, looking past her shoulder as other parents dropped their kids off, gulping with terror as she spotted the man from the cigar club, the owner of the cigar club, walk hand in hand with a girl Nova's age.
"Nova." AJ said, tearing away from the hug, "Who is that little girl?" AJ pointed over discreetly.
"Uh…" Nova looked up, tilting her head since her cap was in the way, "Oh, that's Cheryl. She's the girl having the sleepover this weekend." Nova turned to her mother as AJ gulped.
"And that's her dad?" AJ said as Nova shrugged.
"I don't know." Nova mumbled, "Can I go now?" She asked.
A part of AJ didn't want to let Nova go, but she was safe at school.
"Yes. Yes on you go." AJ forced a smile, "I love you." She said as Nova ran away, shouting I love you back as she ran off to her teacher whilst AJ got back up to her feet, looking over at the man she'd saw take the money in the cigar club, watching as he said goodbye to what she assumed was his daughter.
A/N: Let me know what you think!
