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Chapter 29: The Rush
Jack crushed his cigarette out on the sill and let the butt drop down into the snow beneath. He pushed the window closed and turned to face the room just as Sofi stepped out of the restroom, finally. Angel shot up off out of the chair on the other side of the room, and Bobby even let out a low whistle.
Given that Sofi hadn't had much to work with she had managed to pull off a look that should get her into Winston's suite with no problem. She looked like a hotel employee with the uniform shirt Angel had snatched for her with the top three buttons left open. She had apparently carried a few items in her own bag that helped pull the whole thing together. She had a name tag pinned to her lapel that read 'Rosa', and her hair was piled up on top of her head with a bandana covering it. She had applied more makeup than she usually wore, and her jeans seemed tighter than normal for some reason. She looked at Angel. "Where is my cart?" She asked the question quickly.
"Where is your what?" Angel didn't move towards the woman.
"The cart that has all of the cleaning supplies. Even I know I need a cart, Angel, how am I supposed to look like I'm a maid if I don't have one of those carts? You didn't get one, did you? You thought to get that fucking skirt, but you didn't think about a cart." Sofi planted her hands on her hips and glared at Angel.
"Baby, my mind was on so many other things at the time, I didn't think about one of those carts. I just…." Angel apparently didn't realize the hole he was slowly digging for himself. Jack and Bobby both snickered at the look that came over Sofi's face.
"You had your mind on other things? What other things Angel? Like the skirt?" Again Sofi's voice was deceptively calm. Angel should have been able to read this woman better by now. Hell, he was going to marry her, wasn't he?
"No, not the skirt, and just for the record, I did not get that skirt too small for you on purpose, it was the only thing I could grab at the time." Angel's back straightened up. "We were all working on the spur of the moment to try to get a plan of action together. I did the best I could and I knew that no matter what you of all people would be able to make it work." His words came with strength to them.
Sofi's eyes softened slightly, and it seemed she was starting to consider putting on the garment. "Give me the skirt." She held her hand out.
Angel was still holding the thing in his hand. He gave Bobby and Jack a quick smirk before handing the skirt over to Sofi. He looked triumphant, as if he had known he would get to see Sofi wearing the skirt eventually.
Sofi smiled and without hesitation ripped at the skirt until it tore into two halves. "These make good dust rags." She stuffed them into her back pocket, letting the hotel emblem embroidered on the one half hang out, and then she turned back to the restroom. "I'll be back. They usually put extra trash bags in the bottom of the waste basket."
Angel's mouth dropped open as the restroom door slammed shut yet again. "Damn." He muttered.
Jack had to laugh. He found his brother's misery a good diversion from what he was about to do. He was nervous, but he didn't dare let anyone else know that. His nerves were already raw from the long day, and his mind kept running through what was about to happen. He had insisted to his brothers that he could do this, but that didn't mean he was finding it easy. He was still pissed about what Harris had done to him that afternoon, and he was pissed at Winston for putting them all through more shit. He mentally told himself that anger was what he needed to concentrate on. He was going to do something about it this time, he wasn't going to sit on the sidelines and watch his brothers take action.
Jack looked at Craig, who was lying on his side, looking detached from it all. He hadn't said much since Bobby's last talk with Jerry on the phone. He hadn't shown much emotion when Bobby had explained to them that someone had been at the house and they'd taken the rabbit. Now the kid looked as if he'd lost his best friend. Jack understood why Craig was so attached to the animal. It had been the only constant in his life. It had a connection to his birth mother, something to tell him that the woman did care about him, no matter how screwed up she was. It also had a connection to Evelyn Mercer. It proved to him that no matter what, his adoptive mother had understood him on a level that no one else ever had and never would again.
Now he was facing a reality without that connection. Jack understood it, but he wasn't sure how to help him. He sighed and looked over to Bobby to find the man staring down at Craig. Bobby hadn't said a whole lot since he'd talked to Jerry. He had taken in Angel's predicament and laughed along with Jack, but he hadn't really said much else. Jack didn't like it when Bobby got quiet. It meant the man was thinking, and that wasn't a pleasant prospect for any of them.
The door opened and Jeremiah walked in. He looked like shit. Jack tried to remember if Jerry had looked that bad when he left, or if his encounter at the house had done it to him. He knew all of them were tired, and anxious, but Jerry looked almost beaten. Jack tried to shake off the thoughts that were running through his head. "Finally, what the hell took you so long?" He didn't mean to sound shitty, but his nerves seemed to twist up even tighter at that moment.
"Well I would have been back here a whole hell of a lot faster if I wasn't getting phone calls every three minutes." Jerry held up a plastic bag and gave it a toss towards Bobby. "So, where is Sofi?"
"Restroom," Angel, Jack and Bobby spoke in in unison, the mixture of the voices sounding out in a strange harmony.
Bobby fingered at the knot in the bag. "You okay, Jerr'?"
Jack understood why Bobby would ask, with the way Jerry looked at that moment. All of them were tired, but Jerry looked as if he were struggling harder than any of them.
"I just can't seem to warm up, that's all." Jerry shrugged off his coat, let it fall onto the bed next to him and then dropped down next to it. He rubbed his hands together. "It's cold out there. I ain't felt this kind of cold in years."
Jack was about to ask Jerry if he was sure that was all it was, but the restroom door opened and Sofi walked out again. Nothing about her had changed since she went in the last time, except the trash bags hanging out of her other back pocket, and she seemed willing to be ready. Everyone's attention shifted to Bobby, as if they were waiting for instructions for what to do next.
Bobby got the bag opened and started pulling out bottles, setting each on the table next to him. He took his time, apparently unaware that he was the center of attention. Or, maybe he was well aware of it and was purposely keeping them all waiting until he had all of the bottles set out. "Okay, I guess we're ready to do this." He stood and walked to the rest room. "Jack, you got your part down, right?"
"Yes, Bobby, I got my part down. You don't want me to say anything." Jack rolled his eyes and held in the sigh that was begging to escape. "I will keep my mouth shut and let Sofi do all of the talking."
Bobby returned a moment later with a glass of water. He nodded his head slowly while he grabbed Craig's arm and pulled him to sit upright. He didn't say another word while he gave the teen the pills, one at a time. When he was done he set the glass on the table next to the pills and seemed to focus on Craig. "You are going to stay in this bed. If you want to watch TV, that's fine, but you are not going to move off of this bed. Do you understand me?"
Realization seemed to spread across Craig's face. "You're gonna leave me here?" His voice was tight.
"Not really, we're gonna be here, just not in this room. I need you to promise me you will stay in this bed, and that you'll stay awake. You're good at staying awake when I want you to sleep so this should be simple enough for you, right?" Bobby was about to turn all business, Jack knew that. He needed to be able to concentrate on what was going down around him, not on whether the little brother was okay.
Jack sighed, shifted from where he was next to the window, and stepped over next to Bobby. "Maybe you should let someone stay with him. We don't all have to go. Me and Sofi are the only ones going in…"
"I want Angel outside the door, and I want Jerry with me down the hall. We are gonna stay close to you on this. One little thing goes wrong, and we are coming in for you."Bobby voice turned hard cutting Jack's words off. He didn't look away from Craig as he spoke to Jack, but his eyes shifted towards him for a quick glance before he focused on Craig again. "Now, you are gonna stay in this bed, right?" He let his voice drop back down as he addressed the teen.
Craig nodded his head, barely. Jack could see that glint in the boy's eyes, that piece of him that wanted to argue with Bobby but was holding back. He didn't want to be by himself, and who could blame him? The day had been one from hell for all of them, but the kid had been ripped away from his home and lied to all day by the assholes working for Winston. Jack was sure the events had effected the fourteen year old in more ways than he was letting on. Jack knew how it had affected him, and he was an adult. He could still smell the stale air from inside the holding cell he'd been in; he could still hear the voice of Paul, the asshole corrections officer and the feeling that he didn'thave any control durring that time made him feel sick inside. He could only imagine how Craig felt right then. Jack could at least deal with the threats with a more mature thought process, Craig didn't have that advantage. He'd been lied to and threatened, and he was still scared. The kid was liable to never fully recover from everything that had happened to him so recently.
Jack glanced at Jerry. "Let Jerry stay with him?" He spoke quietly. "He doesn't look too good, so maybe he can just sit this one out with Craig."
Jerry scowled deep and looked up at Jack. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Bobby's eyes closed and he drew in a deep breath. "Jack, I'm gonna explain this once, and then we are going. You are gonna call Jerry's phone, and then you're going to set your phone for speaker. You can do that with your phone, right? So, if there's any problem we will be able to hear it. Now, if Jerry is sitting in here with his phone then how in the hell are we gonna be able to hear shit?" He opened his eyes and looked up at Jack. "You understand what I just said?"
"You could take Jerry's phone with you." Jack challenged.
"Yeah, me and my fucking phone skills and you want me to work one of those things on my own?" Bobby shot back at him. Jack had to admit his brother wasn't the most cell phone coordinated person on the planet.
Jack looked over at Jerry and Angel, hoping for some kind of help from them. When none was offered he turned back to Bobby. "Craig doesn't need to be alone right now." He was sure he could get Bobby to see the logic in his thinking. "He's scared." He spoke quietly.
Bobby looked at Jack for a long moment. "I know that." He turned to Craig, and as he spoke his voice lowered and he spoke in what could be described as a calm tone, as calm as you could get from Bobby. "I do know that, and trust me, if I didn't have to, I wouldn't leave you alone. You understand that, don't you?"
Craig didn't answer right away. He finally nodded his head and muttered something that Jack couldn't quite make out.
"This shouldn't take long. You don't open the door for anyone, and you don't get out of the bed." Bobby stood and adjusted the blankets around Craig's legs before turning to Jack and Sofi. "You both know what you're supposed to do, so let's do it."
"One thing has changed here." Jerry stood slowly, blocking the path to the door.
Jack watched as Bobby stopped walking and all eyes turned to Jeremiah. "What's changed?" He asked the question, afraid of what the answer was.
"We had an intruder at the house, and the son of a bitch took the toy. Hell, for all we know, the guy is in there with Winston right now." Jerry looked at Bobby. "Maybe we shouldn't send them in like this."
"I don't think Winston would be stupid enough to have his henchman come here." Bobby shook his head. "We need to do this." He insisted.
Jerry sighed and stepped over to the door. "Okay, but if this guy shows up, I'm sure he's gonna know what Jack and Sofi both look like. He's been watching the house; he knew it too damn well."
"If Winston has that rabbit now, then is this going to do us any good at all?" Jack asked the question as it hit him. "I mean, what's the point? He thought we had something to hold over him before, but now…"
"He still has to deal with us, no matter what." Bobby shook his head, "You getting' cold feet sweetheart?" He turned to look at Jack straight on.
"No, I'm not getting cold feet." Jack sighed. "I just thought…"
"We still need to find out what's inside that fucking toy. We need to know how it got there and why it's so important. Now let's move, we ain't got all fucking night." Bobby lost his calm as he pointed to the door.
Jerry led them out into the hall. Jack waited for Angel and Sofi to follow, and then pushed his way out past Bobby, taking a quick glance back at Craig, who wasn't looking at them. He noticed Bobby checking on the kid as well. His big brother hesitated before pulling the door closed behind him.
Jack concentrated on sucking in deep breaths as he followed his brothers through the halls towards Winston's suite. This was it, he was about to have his chance to prove to his brothers that he was able to do more than carry a gas can, or he was gonna make a fucking idiot out of himself, like always. He just hoped he didn't talk over his own tongue. That's what usually happened when it came to something like this. He would get nervous and say stupid shit. He had watched Angel and Bobby both work people, saying just what they needed to get what they wanted. They were able lie to people and it would sound so sincere. He had never been able to do that, not with total strangers.
This wasn't just any con though. There was more at stake here than money, and Jack was determined to be a part of taking Winston down. He had to have some control over what was happening to him. There could be no more sitting back and letting his brothers take care of him, he wasn't a kid anymore, and it was about time he stood up for himself.
Jeremiah and Bobby held back at the end of the hall, and Angel followed them as far as the small alcove that sheltered some vending machines. Jack pulled his cell phone out and dialed Jeremiah's number. As soon as Jerry answered the phone he set it on speaker and clipped it to his belt carefully. He felt his stomach turning dizzy on him and his fingers started to tingle.
Angel took Sofi's phone and dialed Johnson's number. He spoke quietly to the detective, letting him know that Jack and Sofi were about to go into Winston's suite. When he ended the call he pointed to a door half way down the hall. "That's Winston's suite. Okay, just stay calm, and remember, you let Sofi do the talking." Angel spoke quietly. "If you have any kind of problem, you need to let us know. We'll come busting though the door Jack."
"I'm fine Angel." Jack muttered, but the truth be told, he could use a cigarette at that moment. He flexed his fingers nervously, trying to get the numb feeling to go away.
"I'm just saying that if you feel like backing out, now is the time. Now would be…." Angel gave him a look that told Jack he didn't trust him to do this, and that wasn't the best confidence builder.
"I'm fine." Jack spoke with more strength to his tone, determined not to let Angel see his fear. "Don't talk to me like I'm a little kid. Believe it or not I'm all grown up, Angel. I'm going to find something in there we can use, okay?" He adjusted his hat and looked at Sofi. "Are you ready?"
Sofi nodded her head and gave Angel a sideways look. "Don't pay any attention to Angel; he's just being an ass because I wouldn't wear the skirt." She winked at Jack before turning to walk towards Winston's suite.
Jack followed Sofi without looking back at Angel. This was his chance to do something for himself and for his brothers and there was no way in hell he was going to back out. Somehow the fear that he'd been feeling seemed to lessen. He knew his brothers were there to back him up. He had Sofi with him, and she had done this kind of thing before. He just had to concentrate and let it happen.
"Jesse Nicholas." Jessup Winston stared at himself in the mirror while he answered the cell phone. He still wasn't used to using the name. He didn't feel like Jesse Nicholas. He felt like Jessup Winston, the self made man who had a life to be proud of. His brain had been working thousand miles an hour since the Mercers had left. He'd been pacing, walking from room to room, clutching his cell phone, trying to figure out his next move. Every time he tried to sit down and work on anything substantial his mind would start to wander, and then he would start wandering too.
"It's Harris." The man's voice cracked over the line. Winston wasn't sure if it was actual static or if the FBI agent was letting some emotion cross over the line. He had assumed Harris wasn't capable of much emotion, but he had seen a lot of things lately that led him to believe he wasn't the best judge in people. Hell, he'd definitely figured the Mercers wrong.
All of that was neither here nor there at the moment though, he'd been waiting for this call; hoping it never came, actually. "What's going on Harris?" He spoke quietly, still eyeing his own face in the reflection above the bathroom sink. "What exactly went down tonight?"
"From what I've been told, you've already talked to the Mercers. You know what went down tonight." Harris sounded as if he were talking through a straw. The sound of the words in his ears caused his teeth to throb as it brought back the memory of the recent dental work he'd had done.
"Where are you right now?" Winston needed to hear it from Harris.
"You know where I am, I'm being held by the locals." Harris snapped. "Are you gonna do something to get my ass out of here?" He kept his voice down to a low hiss.
Winston remembered Bobby Mercer's warning. Harris was to stay with the cops. It was the only guarantee the Mercer's had that Winston wouldn't double cross them. Without Harris to do his dirty work, he was effectively cut off from his contact to the outside world. Apparently they didn't know about William and James though. The man sighed. "Just relax Harris. You let the police feed you and put you up for the rest of the night, and come morning, this should all be over." He wanted to say more, but he didn't know who else might be listening on the phone. "They've got nothing to hold you on, not really. The Mercers are bringing the item to me. I'll have it in my hands soon enough and then you can walk out of there with no problem."
"The Mercers don't have shit." Again Harris' words had that familiar lisping sound to them. Winston remembered his first encounter with Bobby Mercer, and the teeth he'd lost as a result.
"They knew about the rabbit, they have it, and they are bringing it to me. Once we have it, we can all leave town and forget about the Mercers." Winston was ready to forget about his struggles in Detroit, not just the Mercers. He wanted it to be over. Hell, he hadn't wanted any of this to start with, but sometimes you have to finish what you start.
"They don't have the fucking rabbit, they are bullshitting you." Harris still kept his voice quiet. "Trust me on this."
Winston sighed and walked out of the restroom, making his way back to the sofa. He shook his head, though no one was around to see the action. "They knew about the rabbit and about the key. The kid must remember more than we gave him credit for. It doesn't matter, though. They are going to bring it to me, and then we are going to leave them the hell alone. I knew we should have approached them from the start, we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble…." He had tried to tell Harris from the start, but the man had talked him into doing it his way.
"I'm telling you, they don't know what the hell has been under their noses all of this time. They don't have the fucking key or the code. They don't know about the inheritance. They would have already been staking a claim on it if they knew shit. They have the kid; they would get it all if they fought for it. Don't fall into the same trap your father fell into." Somehow Harris managed to lower his whisper until it was barely audible.
Winston was about to sit when he heard knocking on the door, followed by a shrill, heavily accented feminine voice, "Housekeeping."
Winston looked at the clock. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning. "What the hell." He muttered. "Hold on Harris." He headed for the door.
He pulled the door open while Harris was still speaking in his ear. He forgot about Harris for the moment, pulling the cell phone away while he looked at the housekeeper standing in front of him. She was a cutie, but the long, lanky man next to him through him off balance. "What the hell?" He repeated the words, but directed them to the couple in front of him.
"Your heat is going out?" The woman didn't smile, in fact, she looked quite unpleasant.
"No, my heat is fine." Winston managed to keep his composure. He wanted to slam the door closed on them, but he didn't want to be rude. "I was about to go to bed for the night." He tried to sound convincing, despite the fact that he had a cell phone in one hand.
"The other rooms on this floor are having problems with their heat. This is Paul; he will need to look at your thermostat." The woman motioned to the man towering over her. "It will not take long at all; he only needs to check some wires." She was one pushy broad.
Jessup Winston didn't have the time for this, he had too many other things going on, and he needed his privacy. "No, you can come back in the morning…." He started to shake his head and tell the woman in front of him to schedule a time to do the work, but realized there wouldn't really be a good time for anyone to be in his suite. He sighed, never finishing his sentence, and stood back from the door. "Make it quick."
"While we're here I can check your trash and see if you need any fresh towels." The woman pushed her way in, and the man followed quickly, giving Winston a quick shrug and half a smile as he passed. He looked as if he wanted to say something.
Winston let his head hang for a long moment while he stood at the door. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his head long enough to recall what he was doing before he'd been interrupted. Oh yes, Harris was on the other end of his cell phone. Shit. He pushed the door closed and held the phone up to his ear. He watched as the cleaning woman moved through his suite, checking the trash cans and the maintenance man walked over to the thermostat next to the door that led to the bedroom. He turned his back to the both of them and spoke quietly. "Look, I can't talk right now, but you just sit there and wait with Detroit's finest. We'll get what we want and we'll get the Mercer's off our asses. Don't screw me over like Mack's did, you know how that worked out for him." He kept his voice quiet. "I have to go." He didn't give Harris a chance to say anything more. With a quick motion he flipped his phone closed and turned to find the cleaning woman was no longer in his range of sight. The maintenance guy had the thermostat box pried open and was poking around inside of it. He decided the young man was harmless, but didn't feel comfortable with the pushy little foreign thing going through his room. "Hey, what are you doing?" He called out and maneuvered his way past the worker at the bedroom door. He found the girl emptying his trashcan in the bedroom.
"I'm doing my job." The girl sounded a bit snippy.
Winston frowned. "Isn't this an odd hour for you to do this job?"
The girl flashed a bitchy looking smile at him. "It wasn't my idea. I prefer the easy work that we usually have on the night shift. But Paul doesn't talk much, so I was chosen to walk him around when we started getting the complaints about the heat. He has to find which one of the thingies is broken and messing up the rest of them. They are all connected you know, some kind of computer thing. It won't take him long and we'll be out of your way so you can do whatever people with a lot of money do at two o'clock in the morning." She spoke quickly. "But since I have not been given a choice, I figured I can empty these as we go from room to room and I won't have to do it later. It makes my lousy nine dollars an hour a little easier for me to stomach."
Winston frowned. This was one bitter woman. "Okay, fine, you make this quick and I'll give you a decent tip, okay? I have business to conduct in order make some of that money you seem so damn pissed off that I have." He shook his head and watched while the girl went to the restroom to change the trash bag there. He glanced back to the guy at the doorway, still poking around in the thermostat, before moving to the restroom. He trusted the guy, not the girl. She had an attitude and it wouldn't surprise him if she tried to snatch something of value as soon as she was out of his line of view.
He didn't expect to walk in and find her checking her makeup in the mirror. That was about all he could take….
As soon as they were in the room, Sofi had found a pile of papers that looked important. Since their target was distracted by his phone call with Harris, she took the opportunity to snatch the documents and dump them in the trash can, emptying the bag quickly, and replacing it with a new one out of her back pocket. Damn, Angel was right, she was good. As soon as Winston had followed Sofi out of the front room, Jack let his eyes dart around his surroundings. There were papers spread out over the coffee table in front of the leather sofa, and another stack of papers on the bar on the far side of the room. He glanced around the doorway and could see Sofi had drawn Winston's attention to her. He sucked in a deep breath and swallowed at the nerves binding his stomach. This was it. He had to make a move, or this was all for nothing.
His left foot tried to trip over his right as he moved around the sofa to take a look at the papers. He mentally cursed at his clutzy feet as he reached the table. He fingered through the papers quickly, but nothing looked useful. He glanced back towards the bedroom before moving towards the bar. He found some older documents with Jesse Nicholas' name printed on them. He figured they might mean something; they might help them figure out just what Winston was after, since they looked so old, but held his latest alias. His hands shook while he quickly tapped the papers on the edge of the bar to even them out and then reached under Bobby's loaner shirt to un-tuck his t-shirt. He wriggled the papers down under the belt line of his jeans, tucked his t-shirt back in to conceal them, and then moved back to the thermostat before Winston noticed he as snooping around. His heart was pounding in his chest, his body felt hot. He could feel the blood surging though his body. At the same time his hearing seemed sharper, and his pariphial vision had sharpened emensly.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he peeked around the doorway to see Winston was getting an earful from Sofi. Sofi glanced his way and flicked her eyes towards the desk that set against the wall just on the other side of the doorway. Winston didn't notice the action, and Jack felt a surge of adrenaline rush through his body. He was starting to understand just why his brothers seemed to like this kind of shit. He stuck his face back up to the thermostat as soon Sofi walked into the restroom. He could still see Winston out of the corner of his eye. He knew when the man turned to check on him, and he was relieved when he followed Sofi into the restroom.
There was no hesitation this time. He didn't even have to step into the bedroom; he could lean around the door jam and see everything on the desk. More papers, a notepad and a stack of pictures. He snatched up all of it and stepped back into the living room. He repeated his earlier moves, adding the new items to the other papers under his shirt. He reached up and snapped the thermostat closed when he heard Winston yelling at Sofi.
"I don't care! I will talk to the hotel manager first thing in the morning and I will see to it that you no longer have a job. My private suite is supposed to be just that, private. Coming in here at two o'clock in the morning is the most unprofessional practice possible in an establishment of this caliber. If I wanted to stay in a cheap motel, I wouldn't be here, now would I?" Winston slammed a door somewhere.
An endless string of Spanish erupted from Sofi just as she rounded the doorway. "Come on Paul, let's go." She flashed Jack a quick smile and headed for the door. "You can let the next shift finish the work."
Jack had to struggle to keep from grinning at her. The left corner of his mouth twitched while he fell into step with Angel's fiancé, heading towards the door. He felt Winston behind him, but didn't turn to look at him. He was thankful that Sofi got the door opened quickly. As he stepped into the hallway he made certain to grab the handle and pull it closed after him, effectively halting Winston's pursuit. He was afraid the man would follow them into the hall so that he could continue to yell, but he didn't.
Angel was grinning when they reached the alcove where he'd been waiting. "I guess it went okay?" He didn't give them a chance to stop. He grabbed Sofi's hand and led them back up the hall where Bobby and Jeremiah were waiting just around the corner.
"It went very good." Sofi glanced at Jack. "You got the pictures?" She asked.
"Yeah, but I don't know what good they are going to do us." Jack muttered. He really didn't know what good they would be, but he had liked the feeling that had pulsated through his body when he'd grabbed them off of the desk. "I got some papers too."
Sofi held up the three trash bags in her hands. "Me too," She informed. "I just dumped what I could into the trash before I changed the bags. He was so irritated at us for interrupting his phone call that he didn't notice a thing."
Bobby looked at Jack. "You're okay?" He asked the question quickly.
"Hell, I'm great." Jack finally let go and grinned.
Bobby grinned back. "Okay, did you manage to do any fucking good in there? You got anything for us?"
"Wait until we get back to the room." Jeremiah spoke quickly and looked down the hall in the direction of Winston's room, as if he was afraid the man would come running after them.
Bobby rolled his eyes, but he didn't argue. "Let's go." He motioned for Jack to move ahead of them.
For the first time since early that afternoon Jack felt good. He had gone into Winston's room and he was sure he'd come back with something substantial that they would be able to use. If the papers he'd snatched didn't help them figure out what Winston was after, then they might hold information that they can hold over the man's head, or turn over to Green and Johnson. He felt like he was a real part of resolving the problems that had been dumped in their laps. He had wanted to be a part of taking Winston down, and he felt as if he'd accomplished that. Now they just had to spend some time studying the documents to see exactly what they were.
A new worry hit Jack just as they reached their own hall. What if there was absolutely nothing in the papers that he and Sofi had grabbed that would do them any good? What if the papers he'd left lay were what they really needed? He was the screw up in the family, what if he'd actually screwed this whole operation up? He would end up in prison and God only knew what would happen to his brothers. The grin faded from his face as they reached the door to the room where they had left Craig. His mind was playing out all of the ways their night could go bad because of him fucking up; despite that fact that he'd been sure he was doing something to help his family.
Jeremiah used the key card on the door and pushed it open. Jack followed Jerry into the room, but stopped when his gaze fell on the bed where they had left Craig. The boy wasn't there. It seemed the whole group came to an instant stop just inside the room.
"Fuck." Bobby spoke from beside Jack.
