Signs and Wonders….
The phone rang four times before "they" picked up. "We need to talk" was all Jack Reese needed to say. He listened as "they" told him where and when, then he terminated the call. Tucking his cell in his pocket, Jack announced to his wife "I'm going out" and she held up a hand to stay him as she spoke to Dani on their phone in the kitchen. Jack rolled his eyes, but held still while she completed the call.
"I see" she said "and your doctors are sure it is safe for you?" Roya questioned her daughter.
"Yes, of course, well as long as he is there - I know you will not overdo things" her mother chided.
Jack gritted his teeth knowing the "he" his wife was referring to was Charlie Crews. His wife had a decidedly different impression of Crews – she actually liked the man and chatted amiably with him at the hospital, while Jack shot Crews daggers, hoping he'd somehow developed the ability to kill with a look in his sleep. It never worked.
"I love you, Dani" Roya told her only daughter as she hung up the yellow kitchen phone on the wall and stepped out of the tangle of eighteen foot long, stretched out cord, a by product of Dani's teenage years and her many hours of testing the limits of the phone cord to achieve privacy from her parents. Jack remembered when his stubborn daughter would still abide by his decisions, even if she slung attitude about it, fondly. If only she were fifteen again he thought.
"She okay?" Jack questioned. Despite being determinedly unhappy about Dani's choice in partners and her bull headedness - he still loved his daughter and came by his worry fairly. Dani was in shark-infested waters with no idea what lurked below the surface. And despite his cheery smile, Jack knew Charlie Crews was capable of great violence if adequately provoked. He did not want his headstrong daughter around the man and was going to do everything in his power to get her out of this ill conceived partnership.
"She's been discharged from the hospital" Roya pronounced with a smile. Dani made a rather swift recovery - partly because of her level of fitness and youth and in no small part due to her daughter's reluctance to be confined to bed for any period of time. When Dani was a child, she had to be on death's door to stay in bed and subsequently rarely if ever missed a day of school. Roya believed Dani bright enough to be a doctor or a lawyer, but ever her father's daughter Dani had never wanted to be anything but a cop, since she was eight years old.
"I'll get the car and we can pick her up" he offered reaching for his cell to push back his meeting. Dani came first; his family always came first.
"There is no need. Charlie is taking her home." Roya told him.
Jack's eyes narrowed at the mention of the man's name. Roya insisted on "Charlie" - not Crews, Charlie- and Jack was fairly certain she did it just to annoy him. He made no secret of his distaste for Dani's soon to be replaced partner. His wife on the other hand was quite fond of the young man and welcoming of his presence within their tight knit family circle. It chaffed Jack but he was in the doghouse already so he kept quiet on the subject, Roya already knew his feelings about the man. It seemed the tall, handsome, disarming red haired man could charm the socks of all the Reese women, which really pissed Jack off.
"What? Taking her to whose home?" Jack said shocked. "She'll need someone to watch over her, to help her out….she's not ready to be left alone" Jack counseled having seen his fair share of on the job injuries in his 25 years with the department.
"She will not be alone. She will be with Charlie" Roya smiled sweetly at him. Jack turned his back and slammed the door on his way out of the house muttering curses under his breath and Roya could have sworn she heard him growl. Unlike her husband, Roya shared the unshakeable faith Dani had in Charlie Crews. She knew the man would protect her daughter with his life and appreciated that Dani bowed to his will - a feat virtually unachievable for anyone else. This alone spoke volumes to Roya about her daughter's connection to her partner, with the checkered past. Sometimes people, like things were not at all what they seemed.
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"Sergeant Seever" Tidwell called his favorite Cylon officer "I need your help with a special project" he spoke into the phone.
"Sure Captain, what's the job?" Jane Seever asked eager to help the Captain of Detectives.
"I need you to find everything in the archives about the Bank of LA" Tidwell said actually unsure of what he was fishing for.
"The robbery?" Seever asked.
"Uh….yeah…" he bluffed "That was when? I forget" he continued the ruse.
"1991 - $18 million stolen, all five bank robbers shot dead and the money never recovered" Jane recited the facts everyone who grew up in LA knew by heart. "Still unsolved as far as I know"
"Yeah…" Tidwell smiled. He had found the right woman for the job in Jane Seever. She was tenacious, meticulous and scary smart. "Get everything – and Seever – this is close hold. No one but you and I are to know about this – you got me?"
"Got it Captain." Seever agreed. He knew the minute they hung up she would begin digging and would leave no stone unturned. If there was something to be known about the Bank of LA robbery, Seever would find it for him. Seever was relentless and efficient, just like a robot, only she smiled a lot – like someone else he knew – the tall red haired detective who was absent from his desk yet again.
Tidwell knew better than to ask; Crews was with Reese. It was becoming increasingly difficult to find them more than eight feet apart ever since the shooting. Tidwell grimaced "Not good for Tidwell, not good at all" he told himself.
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Jack Reese pulled his champagne Cadillac Sedan Deville to the curb. Charlie Crews was not the only one with good taste in cars he thought as he flipped down his visor and examined himself in the mirror. It seemed like he'd aged fifty years in the last ten. Gone was the handsome dark haired black Irishman he'd been in his youth and prime. An old man stared back at him from the mirror. Old he thought but not dead, not yet anyway and still capable of protecting his family from his "friends", the department and if necessary, from Charlie Crews.
He noticed the moment the dark sedan pulled around the corner behind him and followed it with his eyes all the way to the curb. His old friend climbed from behind the wheel and walked to the rear of Jack's car. The man opened the passenger door and climbed into the backseat.
"This is dangerous Jack. It had better be important" his old friend warned.
"It's Dani. She's way too close to this thing, way too close to Crews. I need you to split them up… to get her assigned somewhere away from him." Jack demanded.
"We put them together because you said she could be controlled. Are you telling us you can't control your daughter, Jack?" the man said in a threatening tone.
"Look, can you help me or not?" Jack said biting back an outburst.
"We expect your daughter to be there for us when we need her Jack" the man continued insidiously "can she be relied upon or not?" he asked - all business.
Jack realized this man was never his friend at all. He was being used and "they" wanted to use Dani. This was incredibly dangerous for his daughter, not because of anything Crews had done, but because of him – her own father and what he'd done all those years ago.
"Jack?" the man prompted him for an answer "can your daughter be relied upon?"
Jack adjusted the mirror to look the man in the face "not by you" he sneered.
"I see" the man said studying his nails. "If she's not an asset to us, then we must make the assumption she's become a liability, Jack. And you know how we handle liabilities?" he left the veiled threat hanging and looked up making eye contact. "Get control of her Jack, or we won't be responsible for what happens to her" he threatened before climbing out of the car.
The man leaned back in and added "Oh, and don't call me again. If we need something, we'll let you know" before shutting the door and walking away.
Jack waited until the car pulled away before releasing a string of expletives that would make a sailor blush and repeatedly pounding on his steering wheel. Jack Reese climbed out his car and paced along the sidewalk like a caged beast. He ran his hand through his thick white hair trying to think of some other option beside the one he was contemplating. Jack was madder than a werewolf at midnight on a full moon. There was really only one thing left to do to protect Dani.
He would have to ask Charlie Crews for help and that was something Jack Reese wasn't prepared for, thought he'd never have to ask – or had told himself he would never need. It actually physically turned his stomach to think about it. But only someone tough enough, stubborn enough, resilient enough to survive twelve years in prison might stand any chance of protecting Dani from his former "friends". Jack Reese swallowed hard realizing he was about to change sides again, this time perhaps for the last time.