Sorry for the delay... Let me know what you think :)

Still don't own, still make no money.


Chapter 54: Spit Shine

Bobby's survival instincts kicked in, and while he knew the women in front of him were about to draw blood, he pulled the only thing in between him and them that could stop their advance. "Do you ladies really want to do this right now?" He asked as he dragged Craig to stand in front of him, but he dropped his arms around him in a protective stance, holding him close.

"How can you destroy two cars in one night Bobby?" Camille cried out. "I mean, really, how?" She was still focused on Bobby.

Sofi nodded her head in a quick motion. "If it involves fire, you can count on Bobby to be close by." She cried out.

"I did not do this." Bobby's put more tension in his voice as he pointed to the burning building. "I had to get Jerry and Angel out of there, they were trapped inside and there was no way for them to get out. I'm sorry about the car, but I got them out. Ain't they just a little more important than a car?" He concentrated on Sofi for a moment. "Oh, yeah, I did it on purpose because I knew that the fucker would blow and drop an entire wall on you little 'Tonka Toy' over there. Explain how I managed to do that you crazy, loco senorita." He spoke sarcastically and pointed to the remains of Sofi's V.W.

Both women silenced for a long moment. That was when Camille looked at Craig and the anger seemed to melt from her. "Oh baby, look at you," She stepped forward and pulled Craig from Bobby's arms, giving him a motherly hug before pulling back and wiping at the dirt smudges on his face with her fingers. "You okay? You must have been scared out of your mind, watching all of this." She pulled a tissue out of her pocket and started licking it before holding it up to be used to clean the dust away from the boy's features.

"Bobby," Craig tried to pull back, but Sofi joined in, brushing at some of the dirt that had gathered on the leather coat, and talking quietly to him.

Craig turned and looked at him, and at first he seemed to be begging him with his eyes to make them stop. When Bobby smiled at him, he was sure the look changed to one promising a threat. "Yeah, you ladies take care of him for a minute." Bobby spoke quickly, taking advantage of Craig's situation to get some business taken care of. He'd have to make it up to the kid later. The fire chief was still looking at them, and though he appeared a bit dazed by his encounter with the women, it seemed as if there was something he wanted to say.

Bobby stepped over to the man, glancing back for just a second to see Camille and Sofi pulling Craig to the rear of the ambulance to sit him down on the bumper there.

Angel managed to climb down from his perch in the back of the ambulance, and join Jerry and Jack at Bobby's side. "You wanted to tell us something?" Bobby spoke to the Fire Chief.

"Yes, I did." The man shook his head slightly as if to clear his brain.

"Yeah, they have that effect on people." Jack glanced back at the women for a second before turning back to the man in front of them.

"We are going to have to do a thorough investigation on the cause of this fire. We're certain it's arson, but we need to find the source of the explosions." The Chief spoke carefully. "Was there anyone else in the building that you were aware of?" He studied all four faces in front of him.

"No, just the two of us," Jerry pointed to himself and Angel.

The fire chief sighed. "We located a body, badly burned." He informed. "So it is possible the arsonist didn't make it out alive."

"At least one of them didn't make it out alive." Bobby muttered to himself and felt a hint of satisfaction stab at him. He turned and looked at the car across the street, still hooked to the back end of the tow truck. There were police officers walking around it. Macks may have gotten away, but his car and his partner, whoever it may have been, were both left behind.

The wheels in his brain were turning, thinking as much like a street thug as he could manage to at that moment. It was hard to fall into that mind set with Jack standing right next to him. He sighed and looked at the man. "Can we go now? Do we need to stay for anything else?" He pointed to Angel. "His head is messed up and we've all had one hell of a night."

The firefighter shook his head and went into a long speech about how they could go, but the whole block seemed to be a crime scene and none of them should try to return any time soon, until after the Fire Marshal had cleared it after his investigation, and the police had finished with it on their end. He directed them to check with the police officer in charge of the scene before actually leaving. He finally turned and walked away, leaving the four brothers to discuss what they needed to do next.

"We need to get a hold of Green." Angel spoke up, looking at Bobby.

"Gonna be hard to do. Green was shot today." Jack gave Angel and Jeremiah a serious look.

"Shot," Jerry looked confused for a moment. "Is he….?" He looked scared. Bobby couldn't believe that except for the desperate final prayer his brother had been offering up when he'd reached him in the burning warehouse, this was the only time his brother had really looked scared that entire night.

"It didn't kill him outright, but we don't know. He was in the hospital." Bobby shook his head. "I was gonna have Green run a check on your buddy Jones, that's how we found out. We also found out Green was contacted by a reporter who knew more about the Jordan case than he should have. We tracked him down and he told gave me Jones' name. Were lucky he didn't run the story. He called Green instead. Whether you believe it or not, Jones is Macks, and we need to go after the fucker before he comes after us, again. He did this and he's gonna keep coming." Bobby looked at Jack as he echoed the same words his younger brother had spoken just a short time before.

Angel looked over to where Sofi and Camille were still making over Craig. Bobby looked at the scene as well. The kid looked miserable, trying to duck from the spit soaked tissues Camille continued to wipe at him with.

"They found a body in that pond." Angel looked over at Bobby. "How the hell could the man still be walking and talking? He's some kind of fucking ghost?"

"No, he just got fucking lucky. We all knew there was something off, with that mystery phone call that Jack got, we all knew." Bobby met his brother's stare full on. "Now we need to get lucky. He's a man, just like us, and he's made of flesh and blood, and he can die. He will die. Now, let me see what the fuck you pulled out of that car, jar-head." He held his hand out towards Angel.

Angel relinquished the papers quickly and handed them over. Bobby started unfolding them while his brothers moved in closer to look with him. "Bill receipts," Bobby muttered as soon as he seen the names of the utilities companies each envelope held. He opened the envelope for the cable company and pulled out the receipt, staring at the name of the account holder, stuck in a moment of surprise that quickly churned around in his head, morphing into anger.

"Look at who they belong to." Jack reached out and pointed to the name. "Bradley Jordan."

Jordan. Bobby felt his insides twisting. "Looks like Jordan found himself a sugar daddy. Paying his bills and everything," He shoved the papers deep into his coat pocket. "He's at Jordan's house." His jaw set tight on him. "He has to be."

Angel stared at him. "Well let's go get him then, before he comes back for round two." He looked anxious.

"You are going to the fucking hospital and getting that head of yours checked." Bobby met Angel's gaze. He needed Angel and Jerry to get close to Green, and Angel needing to get his head checked was as good a reason to get them close to him that late in the evening.

"The hell I am, I'm going with you on this." Angel was quick to argue.

"You need to get that head checked little brother, or you ain't gonna be worth shit to me." Bobby shook his head. "We ain't goin' after him tonight. We got the kid to think about. He ain't gonna be around for this. Don't you worry, you'll be there when this son of a bitch bites it, but I need you with your head in one piece."

"You do look like shit Angel." Jack spoke up.

"Just what do you have in mind Bobby? You know we can go to the cops with this." Jerry spoke quietly. "Green might be out of the picture, but if Macks shot him, then the cops are gonna want to get him just as bad as we do."

"The hell they are. Have you noticed anything about Macks? He keeps himself removed from the shit he does most of the time. He has other people doing his dirty work and taking the fall for it. He didn't shoot Green himself, he had someone else do that for him." Bobby looked at Jerry. "I ain't gonna talk about this right here. We need to let them to haul Angel off to the head doctor and Craig needs to go home."

Bobby listened to Angel arguing for just a short time before cutting off in mid sentence. "Look, you go to the hospital, you get yourself checked over, and then you and Jerry check on Green. If he's got enough sense about him, you can talk to him and maybe find out what the fuck happened. We need to find out. Macks didn't pull no fucking trigger and shoot Green, he had someone else do it, and maybe that someone else is the charbroiled long pork they're dragging out of that warehouse, but I doubt it."

"They ain't gonna let us see Green, man, it's late." Angel countered.

"Did I say to ask for permission?" Bobby cried out. "You track him down in there and find out what you can. You can probably get Sarah to help you out with that. She knows you both." He fought off the temptation to change his line of thinking and go along with them as he thought about the cute nurse that had helped tend to Jack when he was in the hospital. "Jerry, you ride with Angel in the ambulance. Sofi and Camille can drop us off at the house, and then meet you guys at the hospital."

"You're goin' to the house? For all you know that fucker is already there, waiting for you." Jerry cried out. "You don't know that he didn't head straight there. What's stopping him?"

"I'm pretty damn sure he didn't." Bobby couldn't explain it to his brothers at that moment, but he was sure there was someplace else that Macks would go. He would need someone to pick him up off the street before the cops spotted him, and he was sure he wouldn't have them drop them off at the Mercer house or involve them in making direct contact with them. He just had that feeling. All three of his brothers were giving him that look. That look that seemed to come when they thought he was losing his fucking mind. "But don't worry, I'll check out the house first to be sure." He cried out. "Now let's get shit taken care of so we can get the hell out of here."

Jeremiah looked up at Angel just as Bobby turned away from them and walked back towards where the women were still dusting and wiping at the youngest Mercer. He was surprised by the way Craig's eyes narrowed as he stepped into his range of sight. He was sure he'd have to make it up to him later, but he'd gotten what he needed; a chance to talk to his three older brothers out of the kid's earshot, and get a plan started in his brain. It also got the Camille and Sofi out of his way for a few minutes. He flashed a smile at the boy and reached out. "You look like you got a good spit-shine." He tried to joke, but Craig's jaw set.

"Yeah, I did." He spoke quietly, his voice came out tight.

Bobby grinned, amused by the fact that his little brother seemed to have recovered from the state he'd been falling into before their talk in the back of the cop's cruiser. He tried to tell himself that it was a good thing, but he coudn't help but wonder how long it would last.

Kids seemed to be able to snap back from the shit the world threw at them easier than adults. But he knew, deep down that it wasn't going to last forever. The kid felt comfortable with Camille and Sofi. He knew Camille well, and he'd been getting used to Sofi being around. Whether he'd ever admit it or not, he was soaking in the motherly attention, he'd been missing it. Concentrating on ducking the spit soaked tissues coming at him in Camille's hand was a distraction for the moment and nothing more.

It wouldn't be long and he'd fall back into what was becoming a normal state of mind, being afraid and confused and finding simple things hard to deal with. He understood the anger the kid had to let loose from time to time too. Hell, he had dealt with shit the same way his whole life, getting pissed and fighting back. The problem was Craig kept the anger buried inside and it would build until it finally blew up in his face. He got pissed and didn't know what to do with it. That would change with time; he just had to make sure Craig learned how to fight back the right way. He wasn't gonna let him make the same mistakes he had made when he was young and had no one to show him what to do with all that anger building inside of him.

"Can we go now?" Craig ducked from another attempt at Camille to brush her hand through his hair.

"We need to talk to this cop over here and then, yeah; I think we'll be able to leave. You gonna come with me or would you rather stay here and spend some more quality time with the mother hens?" Bobby held his hand out towards him.

"That ain't funny Bobby." Camille called out as Craig moved towards him with no hesitation.

"What the hell do you expect me to say? You're trying to rub spit all over his face." Bobby pulled the boy close and walked him towards the cop.

Jack caught up to him while Angel and Jerry stopped next to Camille and Sofi, talking to them quietly. He hoped they were explaining to them what the four of them had decided their first step should be.

Bobby was surprised that the officer he spoke with dismissed him quickly, only telling him to be sure they were all available if they needed to answer any more questions. He kept looking at Craig as he spoke, so Bobby chalked up their quick license to leave to the kid.


Macks stood in the alley, watching the scene taking place in front of him. The fire trucks, the police cars and the emergency squads seemed to fill up the entire block. In the uneven flashes of red and blue lights he could see the forms of the Mercers, talking to firemen and cops as if they were best friends with them all. He felt a growl forming in his throat, but held it in. He had circled around to the other side of the block in order to watch and keep an eye on the situation, hoping for a chance to make another move.

"I told you not to go after the kid. You tipped your hand. You had an advantage, they didn't know who the hell was behind the fire, and they would have identified Winston's body and blamed him. But you had to go a fucking ruin everything, didn't you?" Jones spoke to him with disdain. "You fucking idiot."

"Shut the hell up." Macks spat the words out angrily. "You were no help on this job. You just sat back and watched."

"You wouldn't let me do my job. I had everything under control and you went and fucked it up. Why the hell am I even here?" Jones shot back.

"You're here to do what the hell I say, and nothing more." Macks looked to his left, expecting to see Jones standing in the shadows alongside of him, but there was nothing there but another brick wall of another building. He returned his angry stare to the increasing activity across the street. He watched as the Mercers talked to the firemen and the police. He felt his rage boiling as he took it all in. He needed to know what they were telling the emergency responders. Were they being the pussies he expected and telling the cops all about how a dead man set the fire, or were they going to let the official story be that Winston lost his fucking mind and went after them for revenge, the way he had planned it out to take place?

"You didn't plan out shit. It was my plan and you fucked it up." Jones ridiculed him.

"Shut the fuck up, before I get rid of your ass the way I got rid of Winston." Macks hissed under his breath.

"You used to scare me with those threats Macks. You used to scare me good with them, but I have come to the realization that you need me. You can't function without me." Jones laughed as he spoke.

Macks tried to ignore the words. He tried to concentrate on the activity that was building across the way. He needed to get the hell out of there. He needed to get off the streets and stay low for a few hours, until the Mercers felt comfortable enough to think they were safe. He needed just a little time. He pulled his disposable cell phone out of his pocket and called the only person he knew that could get him out of that particular spot at that moment.

Higgins answered his phone sounding pissed.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Macks bit back at his anger. He didn't need to piss Higgins off at the moment. He needed the ride.

"Have you seen the news? You drew plenty enough attention to yourself, torching Mercer's warehouse the way you did. It's all over the news television." Higgins kept his voice quiet, as if there were people around him and he didn't want his conversation heard.

"There are no news crews here." Macks countered.

"In the air, you ass hole, look up." Higgins hissed over the phone.

Macks looked up at the black sky, barely visible through the smoke filling the air. Sure enough, there was a helicopter circling the area from above. Not close enough to pick up people in detail on the ground, but close enough to get an aerial view of the fire. He continued to eye the lights from the helicopter. "So, what makes you think I had anything to do with a fucking fire?" He asked while a smile lit up his face. Hell, this was perfect. His work was making the nightly news.

"I'm no idiot." Higgins' voice held a flat texture to it. "What the hell is wrong with you? Which of the Mercers died in there? They pulled out a body you know?"

"None of them died in there. My bet would be that the person who set the building to blow died in there." Macks laughed. "I need a ride." He let his attention fall away from the air and back to the circle of men, the Mercers, and the fire and police officials that were gathered with them.

"You need a ride?" Higgins asked.

"Yes, I need a ride. Come and pick me up." Macks allowed his short lived good mood to die.

"Where are you?" Higgins asked, though he didn't sound very happy about the idea.

Macks smiled as he thought about the best way to answer. "I'll meet you." He finally sighed, feeling it was better if he didn't let Higgins know he was near the fire. He rattled off a street address and hung up the phone. He'd almost used up the measly few minutes that came with the thing, and he needed to conserve a little.

He took one last look across the street, and his eyes fell on the boy. His son, standing with Bobby Mercer, holding onto the man as if he belonged with him; and it sent a hot flash through his brain. No, he didn't belong with Bobby Mercer. He belonged to Adam Macks, and he was going to make sure the kid remembered that before it was all over with. He would get rid of the Mercers and he would teach his son a lesson or two in respecting his father, and doing what the hell he was told.

He turned and trudged down the alley, making his way to the next cross street, being careful to stick to the shadows and not be seen. All the while Jones was talking to him in the back of his head, trying to tell him what he needed to do. He did his best to stop the voice from rambling on so much, but it did no good. In the end, he had to let Jones come to the surface and take over. He was too exhausted to fight against him. It was probably better if Jones dealt with Higgins face to face anyway; he seemed to have better luck getting people to do what he needed them to do.