Chapter 12
"Your brother is totally badass you know" Mike said bringing a smile to Joe's lips. "Of course he is, look at who he has for a brother" Joe quipped imagining the eye roll that Frank would undoubtedly be sporting. Mike chuckled "I mean it pal. Look at what he has done sitting in a chair in some random office. He has brought me in without even being here and mind you I have been looking for an opening every which way. I repeat your bro is a badass" he reiterated and Joe grinned. "Okay I give up" he said throwing up his hands. "No arguments there pal. He is the best big brother a person can have, he is my rock" he admitted softly adding "but are you sure that I am not more badass than my bro? He teased taking the conversation onto safer ground. There had been enough mushiness lately according to him.
One hour later with dinner taken care of an exhausted Joe was plonked on the bed with the ubiquitous phone in his hand. His brother's face looked out from the monitor and Joe was beginning to feel guilty for the worry that Frank seemed to be permanently carrying these days. "It's okay Frank" he reassured for the hundredth time as roles were reversed and Frank was fuming on the other side. "I am going to bring down that policeman if it's the last thing I do" he vowed and Joe shifted trying to ease into a more comfortable position. "In any case that guy is corrupted so feel free to go after him" he offered in return and added "and what is the next course of action by the way?"
Frank looked pensive for a moment before he answered "Alex is not going to be able to peddle drugs for a while. He might want to lie low after hits on his areas but it also means that his bosses are going to be very pissed at him. Drugs are big money that they are losing and at this point I think we can safely assume that Alex has his bosses to report to, possibly even some of the upper echelons of the ring. So he would have to do something on another front which leaves only the guns" he said heavily.
"Yeah I thought the same …what do you think? The guns are coming in or going out? And it's really irritating to not know anything about those agents yet. I am beginning to wonder if we are even in the right gang at this rate" Joe griped. Frank sighed aloud "I don't know but the end of the day is not so great for brainstorming. I suggest we sleep on it and break our heads in the morning when we are both not so tired. Now remember to take the meds and remove your contacts before sleeping. And talking of... how are the stitches holding up?"
Joe yawned lending credence to Frank's speech "yeah it held up and now I really have to crash. Talk to you in the morning and give my regards to the ladies okay?". "Yeah sure" Frank affirmed before bidding goodnight to his exhausted beaten up brother. He then made his way to his own bed and lay down mulling over the events. The lack of information on the agents was beginning to grate on his nerves as well, they seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Where could they be incarcerated? If they had been killed the bodies would have surfaced by now unless they had cremated the bodies or something. He grimaced at the thought..that was not something he wanted to think about but he had to consider all possibilities. What were they missing? He wondered as he drifted off into sleep and a vague idea took shape in his mind.
When he woke up in the morning the nagging idea at the back of his mind came into sharp focus. He called Joe and sounded off the thought "Joe remember when you were casing the warehouse for fingerprints?" he asked as Joe responded with a "hmm..yeah.. Seems light years ago. What about it?".
"I don't know if you remember but you mentioned a door at the back of the warehouse which you never got a chance to check out. What if the agents are being held there right under our noses and no one knows?" Frank questioned. Joe sat up straight his mind going on over drive "it's a bizarre thought but makes perfect sense. I get it that I didn't get a chance to go there but what about the others? Wouldn't someone like Sam or Chris for that matter ever go there? It seems to be a place anyone can stumble into but come to think of it that's exactly what's weird…I have not seen a single soul use that door. If not anything else it is worth checking out" he admitted running the words over in his mind.
"But not right away" Frank butted in "God knows we don't need them to suspect you again. Tell you what, I have an idea to check that out so leave that to me. I will fill you in once I get some things in place and definitely give it a few days. In the meantime you make sure not to get tempted or be anywhere near that door and just keep doing what you have been doing" Frank said. Joe chuckled and added "yeah I will improvise even if I am not Macgyver or as badass as you" and Frank laughed aloud. "Tell Mike a treat's on me when we are done with this" he said eliciting a further chuckle from Joe.
"Fine, now that that's settled let me get my day going and you do too. God! I miss talking to Vanessa. Actually I think I will call her now. Just do your geeky thing and wipe out my call records okay?' Joe said and Frank nodded. "Sure I will do that. You go ahead and talk to her and Joe?" he paused as Joe answered "I know Frank. Aren't' I always careful?" and Frank sighed "now that's what I am worried about. Anyway take care and we will connect tonight as usual" Frank signed off leaving Joe looking at the phone in his hand. After much deliberation over whether he should call his girlfriend or not he decided that it had indeed been too long. A video call was out thanks to the bruises on his face, now that would totally freak her out but just hearing her would do wonders for him.
A few minutes later he heard the voice he had missed so horribly the last few days. "Hey baby how you are?" he said and even he could hear the heaviness in his tone and knew that Vanessa would know immediately. "Joe!…gosh I am so happy to hear your voice. How are you baby? I am okay, thinking about you. Missing you and god knows I just want to see you, to hold you" she replied with equal fervor going a mile a minute. Joe smiled, the familiarity was soothing "Trust me, I know what you feel, it's the same with me. I can't wait for all this to be over and be there with you. Soon,..I will be with you soon but just not yet" he admitted softly.
"I understand and you forget about everything else but the case. You get me Mister? I need you to concentrate on the case and come back to me safe okay?" Vanessa's voice had never sounded so serious and for the first time in his life Joe could not find it in himself to make a funny comment. Listening to her voice had awakened a depth of feeling in him that he could not even fathom.
It was overwhelming and he was besieged by memories, memories of parties and hanging out with loved ones, of happier times. "I promise" he whispered half knowing that he might be making a false promise for all he knew but he could not bear to hear her less than happy. "And you know what? You will be happy to know that my physique is getting better and I will be coming back as an improved version" he joked wanting to hear the laughter in her voice.
"Only the physique? I am disappointed but as long as you are able to fit that big head through the door it's ok" Vanessa joked back with a false pout. "I need you Joe, improved or not but I also need you whole and happy. Until then I will wait and I have complete faith that whatever you are doing out there you are rocking it. I can hear the pride in Frank's voice you know when he passes on your messages" she added eliciting a smile from Joe.
"I know" he replied simply and added "I love you and I really miss you. I am trying my best to wrap this as fast as I can and I am sure that I will be there soon. Until then please be careful and take care of yourself okay. I am not there to protect you and I can't bear it if something happens to you" with feeling in his voice. "I love you too baby and you take good care of yourself you hear? I will be okay and you need to stop worrying about me" Vanessa assured him making him smile with pride.
"Alright and now as much as I don't want this conversation to end I am afraid we both have jobs to get to. Sorry babe, I gotta go" Joe said regretfully and Vanessa gave a tinkling laughter. "Yep you are right, talk to you soon and the next time let's make it a video call okay? Now go and stay safe. Love ya" she said blowing him a kiss which Joe heartily returned and reluctantly disconnected the line.
That evening Frank's guess was proved right with Alex's words and also brought with it the next bomb. "The bosses are not happy with what happened. Our deals are effectively shut down for the next few days and they now want us to shift the weapons to a different location. It is also fairly obvious that things are getting risky here and until we know why things are happening the way they are we have to lie low. So we have a new plan"
"I will be taking four of you with me, two of the old boys and two of these newcomers and we will be shifting the weapons out of the country" he declared leading to protests from the assembled group. One of the boys shouted what seemed to be the common sentiment "why the newbies? Don't you trust us? Especially considering that all the trouble seemed to be cropping up only after he came into the picture" he spat looking at Joe venomously.
"Enough Chad "Alex commanded "I don't have to explain myself to you but I will considering you have earned it. I am taking the newbies for two reasons, one is the fact that they have a clean record which will make it easier to escape notice and the second reason is that I want to keep a close eye on those two. I want them under my scrutiny at all times" he smirked while the crowd calmed down. "Ha! Screw them over good boss" the youngster mocked as the crowd laughed aloud and another one shouted "give em hell boss" making Joe roll his eyes.
"The rest of you can do your own thing until the summons comes and I do not have to stress the need to lay low. If you get into trouble don't expect me to bail you out. That aint happening. Now Al, Joshua, Nick and Barnes I need to talk to you. The rest of you can leave" he said dismissing the crowd. When only the four of them were left he turned to them "okay here is the deal. Pack your stuff we are leaving the country day after tomorrow. Settle all your affairs by then. It's not exactly the neighboring country you will be going to and if I find that you have told anyone about this it will be your corpse that leaves the country" he warned.
"Listen I am a bit lost here. I am dragged into this one fine day and now you tell me I am leaving the country. I don't know anything about you man, just leave me alone. I swear I won't say anything, I will in fact move to a different place or something. If not can I at least ask where is it I am going to be taken to. Or when we will get back for that matter? I will be getting back…right? I so didn't sign up for this" Mike ranted sounding hysterical enough to even convince Joe. Joe made a mental note to tell the guy to look at an acting career if he ever wanted out.
"Oh cut out the dramatics" Alex snapped "it is only for a few days and you will be going to Borneo. Now that is all you need to know so I suggest you get the hell going" Alex bit out as the others nodded. "How do we get there? We can't exactly take a commercial flight if we are taking weapons?" Joe asked tentatively eliciting an annoyed look from Alex. "You leave the details to us pretty boy and zip your mouth. You just do what you are told and you will get back fine. Now scram and assemble back here when you get the message" he said walking inside the warehouse.
Joe shrugged and gestured to Mike to follow him "hey you want to walk with me?". Mike nodded "might as well, I got to get back to the diner" he muttered and started following Joe out of the area. Once they were out of hearing range Mike turned to Joe "well what do you think?" he asked. "Let's call Frank and discuss this. At my place" Joe said and quickly made his way to his apartment.
Once inside they didn't waste any time in calling Frank. "Hey you got all of that right?" Joe asked getting right to the point. Frank nodded solemnly "guys I am seriously considering asking you guys to get out" he said and held up a hand to stave off the argument coming his way. "Just hear me out alright. Your initial assignment was getting those two operatives out, ones we haven't heard the slightest whisper of so far. By now you have already busted their drug deal to a large extent and also put a lead on the weapons deal. So you have the option of getting out if you want to….and I have put across what Russell wanted me to" he said holding Joe's gaze.
"What do you say?" Joe spoke and a pained expression crossed Frank's face "when have we ever backed off before the mission is complete?" he asked ruefully. Joe smiled "bingo, now that's my brother talking and we do have a mission to complete. I am not backing off until we know what happened to those agents. But seriously Frank it's like they have gone off the grid and now they have sprung this Borneo thing on us which doesn't give us any time at all. What do we do now?" he asked.
"I have a plan, only problem is now I have to implement it immediately. Damn! I was hoping to get some time and spare you the heat but they are pushing the timetable. I will do something tomorrow" he said. "Do you think they might have been taken to Borneo?" Mike busted in and Frank shook his head "no, no… definitely not. That makes no sense. Why take them all the way there, it would be much simpler to get rid of them. No, they are very much here where they can keep an eye on them or they have already got rid of them In which case we would have known by now. In any case we will know for sure when we check out the back door tomorrow. For what it's worth we don't lose anything by trying and I really hope we are in time. With Alex leaving the country they might decide to kill the agents even if they had not planned to earlier. Whatever…we will know soon one way or another"
"Okay…now what about this Borneo thing? You are coming there right?" Joe asked and Frank smiled. "You bet…I am your secret ace in the hole so how can I not be there? I will put together a small team and fly in too. I am also thinking of asking for a chip where we can see what is happening instead of just listening in. It might help, I might notice things you miss and also probably work on identifying them".
Joe frowned "Okay if that is possible go ahead although it is going to be super weird to know someone can see all that I do. Just make sure you don't do see when I am in the bathroom or something, now that would be super awkward" he joked. Frank smiled "don't count on it, this might be a good opportunity for me to stack up on my blackmail material" he quipped back eliciting a mock glare from Joe.
"Just remember what you do comes back and I warn you with interest. The risk is yours for the taking so don't say I didn't warn you" Joe mock threatened and Frank raised his eyebrow. "Are you challenging me by any chance?" he asked with a mischievous glare as Joe hastily backtracked "No of course not". But Frank simply smirked "But Joey you cast an aspersion on my blackmailing skill and that too in front of Mike. Now I absolutely have to take it as a challenge" he teased relishing the frantic look in Joe's eye.
"Hey, you don't have to prove anything" Joe started but Frank cut in "no, I have to and the matter is non-negotiable" he pronounced. Joe groaned and gave an exaggerated sigh while Mike gave him a commiserative look "well, I say it again your brother is a badass" he said and Joe just groaned aloud with a pained expression. "I am so ditching you out there, you can hope that your badass hero comes in to save you" he said attempting to look mean but the effect was spoiled by Frank "don't worry Mike I am there to save you and the drama queen" he quipped as Mike laughed aloud.
"Geez you two, I am going to die laughing. Anyway Frank what's this plan you got cooking?" he asked. Frank just gave a mysterious smile "oh! A group of architecture students are researching the different kinds of structures in the city and warehouses are one such. They will be doing a tour of the warehouses for purpose of research" he said with a smirk. Joe listened with a frown "Frank we should not put anyone in danger. Are you seriously thinking of legit students?" he asked.
"Come on, give me a little credit. A mix is what I am thinking of, legitimate students with a couple of our people thrown in. After all they are going to be escorted by their teacher and this will be when no one is in the building preferably. Plus they dare not touch students, it will become an incident and they cannot afford any more interest from the police. In fact right now I am banking on that factor" Frank explained.
"Are you going to go?" Joe asked and Frank promptly replied "Much as I am tempted to I think I will send Paul. I need to be in form for Borneo and I cannot risk chances of an injury. So relax and I will let you know in the morning how everything is going to pan out ok? Now just go to sleep and get some decent rest. Your body is still in healing mode you know" Frank admonished and Joe grimaced. "Believe me I know, my body has been reminding me of it regularly" Joe muttered as he signed off the call and turned to Mike. "So if you want camp out here for the night you are welcome to. We can head out for breakfast together and take things from there" he offered. Mike thought over the suggestion and shook his head in the negative "it's tempting but I got to go. I need to report in the diner, keep my cover and give them a heads up about my absence or at least set something up in place. I do not want them to report in a missing person for me" he said and reluctantly headed to the door "Come by the diner in the morning for breakfast will ya?"
Joe nodded "hey Mike" he called halting Mike in his tracks "you are one hell of an actor dude. If you ever want to get out of all this consider an acting career okay?" .Mike laughed aloud "noted and will keep it in mind. You are not bad yourself by the way. Good night and take care dude" he said as he stepped out closing the door behind him.
Author notes: First of all let me apologize for the delay. The last week was so darn hectic and I just couldn't get to the laptop. So sorry! Having said that let me also thank everyone for the super duper reviews you guys leave me. You rock! And yeah…keep doing that please! I need my batteries recharged and they will drag me back from my business and kitchen to the laptop. So here's hoping you are still enjoying the story and stay tuned for more action to come!
