All familiar characters are Janet's. The mistakes are mine alone.
I kept one eye on Stephanie sitting at my desk, the other on Julie and Olivia who were both lying on their stomachs on the floor as they each got in some tummy-time that my instincts are telling me will lead to more adventurous play. And my mind is fully on the information Steph is bringing up. All while I continued the conversation I'm having with Tank via phone.
"You want me down there to watch Steph and the girls?" My second-in-command asked me.
Some would say that question showed where his priorities are. And it did. He knows my life would essentially end if something happened to my wife and children, so ensuring their safety means I can focus on mine.
"I have Shiv tucked away on four, Steph is willing to indulge my need to keep her here and safe, and Olive stays with her wherever she is, and both she and Olive are watching Julie. I'm putting Amias, Bay, and Branch, on Julie and the Martine home despite the fact that my family and I aren't the targets ..."
"But you could be," he interrupted. "I can be there in three hours."
I looked to where Olive's doing rocking push-ups with Julie's bent head encouraging her forward. Their faces are over a decade apart in age, but being only millimeters apart now and so similar in beauty ... my chest felt tight with love and worry for them. Add in Steph's darting glances between our girls and me and then back down to either the notepad or keyboard in front of her, had me saying what I hadn't intended to.
"Make it two hours start to finish," I told him.
Steph will relax more believing Tank is here watching my back, and I'll rest marginally easier knowing he's here to protect my ladies.
"I'm leaving now. You gonna tell them I'm coming?"
"No. I'll let you surprise them."
I disconnected and considered smiling at how Julie was shaking Olive's carnation inches in front of her baby sister to try to turn Olive's imitation of a fish stuck on land into a productive mode of transportation. As much as I'd like to see Olivia's accomplished grin when she manages to get from one end of the building to the other faster than a butt-scoot will allow, I will miss each phase she leaves behind as she grows up. I can't keep my daughters children forever, but that very thought is a tempting one.
"If you're done talking to Tank," Steph said to me while also watching the girls, "I now have three potential addresses to check out, but it looks like Espada's on the move, so my list of highways/byways could prove useful. My gut is pointing in one direction more than the other. I'm pretty confident that we'll get this a-hole today."
I'm not worried. Wherever he is, I will find him, if only to get Shiv out of my building and back annoying people other than me.
"I trust your instincts almost as much as my own. Speaking of, how did you know it was Tank on the line?" I asked my wife.
"One, because he's family and you always call him when you're worried about yours. Plus, he's your second-in-charge ... and if Hector knows something's going on here, obviously so does Tank. Considering he sees you as his brother, he'll want in on it."
That Morelli thought this woman was stupid or crazy is crazy in of itself. Her mind is frightening, but in all ways beneficial to me and my company.
Olive saw us looking at her as we talked, and our baby released another string of vowels in an excited tone as she used her hands to turn her upper half in our direction.
Julie sighed in resignation and we could hear her say ... "No, Olive, you're not getting it. We're supposed to sneak away from the parents ... not crawl to them."
Steph was going to say something to that, but the phone - formerly known as mine - rang, so she blew our daughters a kiss as she answered the call with a "What do you have for me?" Her eyes lit up as her smile turned evil. "Thanks, Vince," she said before hanging up. "We got him. Our Trenton guys have been working with those still in Atlanta ... and I was right. We now know Espada's still in Georgia but is currently moving north towards South Carolina."
Julie sat up in defeat, scooping Olivia up and setting her on her lap. "See, I knew it!" She said to her little sister. "We never had a chance of making it out of this room with your Mama and our Daddy on the job."
