Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the reviews. I greatly enjoy them. It's so nice having feedback. It really forces me to put the words in my head on the page. This chapter is a little hurried, and I admit I'm not as experienced writing Jakes and Johnny so their voices aren't as clear to me. I am hoping to have life back in control soon, to have some more free time to write.
Next shipment comes in next Tuesday. Make sure the feds have somewhere else to be. My sister says hello.
Johnny sits on his bed staring down at the text on his screen. He looks up and the ceiling in frustration and then back down at his phone. He feels like he's drowning, because he knows Carlito has him in an impossible situation. Not impossible. Just impossible for him. Briggs would know what to do, but Briggs is in jail. Mike's dead, Paige is off in her own world these days, and he can't burden Charlie with this shit in her state. No he has to deal with this on his own. What is he going to do?
"So what's your plan?"
"My plan? Plan for… plan for what?" Johnny's head jerks up guiltily, to see Jakes leaning in his doorframe. How the hell does he do that? What does he know?
"For once they close down this sorry ass house, and we all gotta move on. What's your plan?" Jakes grumbles, swaying slightly against the frame.
Johnny breaths a sigh of relief that Jakes can't secretly read minds, but he's a little embarrassed that was the first place his mind went. Stupid thoughts like that are why he's never going to be as good an agent as Briggs. Hell, Mike probably accomplished more in his two short years as an agent than Johnny will be able to accomplish in a lifetime. Which given his current situation with Carlito, Johnny's lifetime may not be much longer than Mike's.
"Yo, Johnny. What's your plan?" Jakes repeats to the distracted agent.
"I don't see nobody boarding up the doors." Johnny insists. "Until they physically lock me out, I'm gonna proceed like it's business as usual."
"Come on, you know that it's coming." Jakes laughs cynically, taking another swig from his bottle. "Charlie's pregnant. Briggs is in jail. Mike's in the ground. You, me and Paige can't keep this place going by ourselves."
"They could bring in new agents." Johnny says stubbornly.
"Oh yeah? Who would want to live in this madhouse?" Jakes challenges.
"Alright, don't go acting like Graceland doesn't matter. I ain't buying that shit no more from you. Because for all your talk, when you were down and out this is the place you wanted to be. Hell we lost Zelanski because you couldn't live without us." Johnny doesn't bring up Jakes drinking again. For a while the older customs agent had been sober, but with all the recent despair, it seemed like he was turning back to old coping mechanisms.
"Yeah, well that was before the agents inside all started killing everybody." Jake finally walks into the room and stands in the middle, looking around like he's never been there before.
"Yo man, you don't really think that Briggs killed Mikey do you?" Johnny asks in a serious voice.
"I don't know, Johnny." Jakes took another frustrated swallow of his drink, "I don't know Mike didn't deserved it either."
"Alright man, I know you're drunk, so I'm gonna pretend you didn't just say that." Johnny says to Jakes. Sure Mike could have a stick up his ass, but how could Jakes say that about the friend they used to live with?
"Everybody's got skeletons Johnny." Jakes says, "There was a lot of rumors flying around before he went."
"You think Mike Warren actually went crazy and gunned down an entire household of cops at Solano's? You think he burned an innocent girl's body?" Johnny challenges. When did everyone in this house turn against each other? This was Mike Warren they were talking about.
"Paige thinks he does." Jakes says dryly.
"Yeah, I'm not talking about what Paige thinks, you Jakes. Do you you actually believe Mike and Briggs could have done all those things?" Johnny stands up in a huff from the bed, ready to drag Jakes out of his room if need be.
"Here's what I know. I know Mike was obsessed with Sid, with the buses and this case. You saw him. He set up a bank robbery. He did something that sent Paige off the deep end-"
"Paige was locked up in a warehouse as a sex slave with a mad man. That's enough to make anyone go a little crazy. We don't know that Mike was the one-"
"We know he kept it open. What we don't even know is how he went from knowing nothing about the sex trade to suddenly showed up with a meet already setup to buy Paige-"
"Ok, you are not holding that against him. That information saved Paige's life-"
"Don't you wonder how he got it though Johnny? Where'd he get the money to buy her-" Jakes yells back.
"Ok, THAT I know. I went to the bank with him and he pulled it from his own retirement account. Cashed in everything he had to go get her. That is the guy whose memory you are tarnishing right now." Johnny says angrily. He hopes Jakes feels like shit for disrespecting the dead, especially after learning the sacrifices Mike had made, but Jakes just keeps on talking.
"Fine. But admit it. The boy is obsessive. About Paige. About the buses. About Markham. We know he went down to Solano's after the op was called off-"
"He may be obsessive but you got to admit the dude's almost always right!" Johnny asserts, then corrects himself, "With the exception of thinking Briggs killed that guy and was Odin..."
"Yeah, I'm not so sure Mike was wrong about that one…" Jakes says darkly.
"Dude, you're drunk and talking crazy." Johnny insists, beginning to backpedal, "This is Mike and Briggs! Those two are like the Batman and Robin of the FBI world."
"It wouldn't be the first time Batman thought about killing off Robin." Jakes says to himself before he can think about what he's saying.
"WHAT?" Johnny is dumbfounded by this news. Jakes can't be saying what Johnny thinks he's saying.
"Nothing. I'm drunk. Pretend you didn't hear that." Jakes realizes his mistake and curses himself.
"No, I did hear that! What are you talking about Jakes?" Johnny yells. He is so sick of everyone leaving him in the dark. He is always the last to know anything! Why don't people come to him with information. "Tell me what you know!"
"No, I'm not going to tell you because then that's one more person who may have to perjure himself at Brigg's trial." Jakes says practically, even through his drunken haze.
"Briggs actually killed a federal agent?" Johnny's voice is a mere whisper as he sits back down, dumbstruck, on his bed. It's the practicalness of Jakes not telling him, that makes Johnny believe whatever it is Jakes knows, it's not good.
"Possibly two." Jakes mutters sitting down defeated on the bed next to Johnny.
"You think Briggs killed Mike?" Johnny's voice still has disbelief in it's tone, but it's not directed at Jakes anymore. More at the situation as a whole.
"I don't know what to believe anymore, man. Everything's so fucked up." Jakes admits quietly.
The two sit in hushed silence on the bed next to each other, both lost in their own thoughts of despair, trying to figure out where everything went so wrong. It's Jakes who breaks the silence first with an awkward clearing of his throat.
"You know, the place I rented when I thought Cassandra and I were going to…" Jakes trails off awkwardly, and then attempt to rephrase. "Daniel's not going to use it anytime soon If you need a place to stay." Jakes clumsily admits.
Despite everything, Johnny has to laugh to himself that Jakes is drunk enough to actually offer to have Johnny as a roommate willingly after Graceland closes down. He knew somewhere deep down that crotchety bastard loved him. As tempted as Johnny is to agree to it, and watch Jakes freak out once he's sober and realizes what he's done, he decides to simply be touched by the gesture.
He shakes his head, his voice taking on a reassuring tone, "Nah man, you gotta keep the room open for when you get your kid back. Thanks though."
"See that's the Johnny I know. You never give up hoping." Jakes toasts Johnny with his empty beer bottle as he stumbles out of the room in search of another.
"It's all I've got left." Johnny says to the empty room after Jakes leaves.