It took nearly forty minutes for Rafi to tell Martin and Danny all that he knew about Malique Thompson and his brother and cousins and their connections to Alvaro Montoya.
"So let me get this straight…" Martin looked at his notes. "Montoya wants Mia as 'compensation' because Parker has disrupted his operations by getting Malique arrested and locked up for having sex with a 14 year old girl… what exactly is he planning to do with her?"
Rafi raised an eyebrow and looked Martin over "Is Opie here kidding?" he asked Danny. Martin's clean cut, all-American, boy-next-door looks belied his true life experiences and knowledge. It was often something he played on to get the information he needed to solve a case.
"No I'm not kidding" Martin said shortly "I have a pretty good idea but I need you to say the words."
"According to Malique…" Rafi looked Martin in the eye "Montoya is going to make a 'pet' out of her… I'd heard he does that… if someone crosses him or owes him… he takes their wife, their girlfriend, their daughter… hell he'd probably take their mother…"
"Where does he take them?" Martin pressed.
"Different places…" Rafi shrugged "I don't know really, I never wanted to know. But it's always for the same thing… the 'pets' are made to perform… to entertain clients, sometimes they are given as a reward for a good score… or loyalty, sometimes to one guy sometimes a group… depends on his mood… Parker cost him big time, Mia is really going to pay for it."
"Like hell she will" Danny muttered.
Rafi looked at him "You still love her don't you?" Danny didn't answer "I know you do, and I love Sylvia… when Montoya finds out I've been talking to you… and he will if he doesn't already know… promise me you will protect her…" he leaned forward and reaching across the table he put his hand on Danny's arm. "Please…" he looked at Danny searching for the right words. "You got every right to hate me and turn your back, but Sylvia, Nicky… Sophia…" he had to stop and take a breath "Danny please don't let something happen to them because I was an idiot."
Danny looked down at Rafi's hand and put his own over it. "I promise Rafi nothing will happen to them or to you." he said quietly. "You protected me as best you could when I was little… now it's my turn…"
Martin looked at the two brothers and felt his chest tighten. "Right" he said quietly "Let's first get Rafi into protective custody and see about moving you out of Rikers… Is there somewhere Sylvia and the kids can go for a few days until we get things figured out?" he looked at Rafi.
"She's got an aunt in Syracuse who's always begging her and the kids to come and live with her." Rafi nodded
"I'll call Sylvia and see about getting them moved as quickly and quietly as possible." Danny said "We'll try and get you transferred up there too."
"As long as they are safe I don't care about me…" Rafi shook his head.
"I do" Danny said his voice barely a whisper but Rafi heard it, loud and clear.
Martin stood up, he watched as Rafi and Danny got up too. The pair looked at each other for a few awkward seconds before Rafi reached out and hugged his little brother. Martin could see Danny was emotionally raw when they separated. "I'm going to call Jack and bring him up to speed." he said quietly.
"I'll go call Sylvia" Danny said and cleared his throat hoping to take some of the gruffness out of it. "After we get you into protective holding." he said to Rafi.
Rafi nodded and followed Martin as he opened the door. There weren't many inmates in the corridor, most were in the visitors room or out in the yard. Martin noticed the young tattooed inmate still leaning against the wall. The guard moved when the door opened. "Would you take him to secure holding" Martin pointed to Rafi, "Keep him solitary he will be coming with us" he turned to Rafi "We'll see you in a few". Martin and Danny started to walk back up the corridor but Rafi didn't move he was watching the young inmate. He noticed he was toying with the seam on the leg of his jumpsuit and staring at Danny. Rafi recognized the tattoos on his arms and neck.
"Let's go Alvarez" the guard sighed wondering what the feds wanted with Rafi.
As the guard reached out to take him by the arm the young inmate started to move towards Danny. Rafi saw the shank in his hand. "Danny look out" Rafi shouted and before anyone could blink he was between the sharp shank and his little brother. Martin, Danny and the guard charged forward as Rafi held on to the other inmate. He felt the sharp burn of the blade sinking into his side but he refused to let him go. There were shouts and suddenly alarm bells were going off and guards were running in from all directions. As Martin and Danny pulled Rafi away the guards were wrestling the young inmate to the ground. In the commotion Danny's phone started ringing but not one of them could hear it.
"Rafi!" Danny held onto his brother , staggering backwards as his weight slumped against him. He and Martin eased Rafi to the floor. Danny could feel the warmth of Rafi's blood soaking into his shirt. "Hang on Rafi… just hang on I've got you" he said it over and over.
Rafi was breathless but he managed a smile "Nothing changes does it, I'm still saving your butt" he tried to tease Danny. It was a reflex, he'd always done it. When they were little he'd take Danny into their room and tease him and tickle him trying to keep him distracted from the sounds of his drunken father beating their mother. It hadn't really worked back then either but Danny loved the effort even now.
"Yeah well you're going to have to let me have a turn some time." he blinked back tears as he held onto his brother for dear life.
"Just take care of my kids… Sylvia…" Rafi was struggling to breathe.
"You'll take care of them… just hang on Rafi… please" the paramedics had to pry Rafi out of Danny's arms. Martin pulled Danny back into the interrogation room as they worked on Rafi and prepared to transport him to the hospital.
"Danny are you ok?" Martin had his hands on Danny's shoulders. Danny ran his hands over his face and looked down at his ruined shirt. He nodded "Ok we need to call jack and regroup, this is getting out of hand."
"I need to call Sylvia, she should hear this from me…" Danny said taking his phone from his pocket. "Oh great…" he showed Martin the phone "A missed call from Jack"
Back at the Javitz Center Jack Malone was in his office with a big bottle of Motrin in his hand. He tipped several of the pills into his and before popping them into his mouth and swallowing them with a quick sip of water. He laughed sarcastically to himself, certain if he had to deal with Victor Fitzgerald on a daily basis he'd be popping Percoset from a Pez dispenser.
He sat down at his desk willing his headache to go away and looked over his notes about Montoya and Malique Thompson. He couldn't get Victor's words out of his head.
Victor Fitzgerald was the deputy director of the FBI and he was not accustomed to anyone below him in the Bureau treating him with anything less than deity like reverence, anyone that is except Jack Malone. An hour earlier, Victor had walked into Jack's office without knocking as was his usual. Jack seated at his desk was going through reports. He didn't look up or even acknowledge the other man.
"Hello Jack" Victor said with his usual self satisfied tone, certain that one day Jack too would either worship at the alter or leave the bureau for good.
Jack looked up slowly, just to needle him a bit. "Deputy director Fitzgerald" he said simply. The rest of his greeting "What the hell do you want now?" was written in the forced smile on his face.
"I hear you are asking about the Malique Thompson case" he sat down knowing Jack wasn't about to invite him to take a seat. "Why?" he smiled.
"Because it's relevant to an open investigation." Jack said calmly.
"How so?" Victor smiled.
"There is a connection to the victims… Steven Parker and Michael Cortez, his brother Darnel Thompson was one of the last people to see both of them… after having an altercation with Parker he then went straight up to visit his brother… we need to talk to Malique."
"There is no connection…" Victor started to say then decided instead of arguing over Jack's investigative skills, something he knew from experience would not end well he opted to fall back on being an over bearing boss. "Look Jack we're getting some heat from the US Attorney General you need to leave it alone… that's not a request…" he held up his hand "This is coming from Washington… Malique Thompson is a key witness in a major operation to take down one of the biggest drug lords since Escobar." he stood up "Let it go Jack, just let it go"
"And what do I tell Parker's daughter." Jack asked "I'm sorry but the US Attorney General thinks some two bit dealer is more important than your father…" jack shook his head "I'll give Martin your regards" he dismissed Victor turning his attention back to his reports.
"Yes thank you tell him I'll be in touch" Victor said and walked out of Jack's office still unclear if he had won that round. He hadn't.
"What a piece of work" jack muttered to himself as his phone started to ring. He looked at it before answering "Sam… what going on?" he asked.
"Jack, good news and bad… we've got Parker and the kid." Sam said quickly. "Parker's been stabbed and but he's stable and on his way to Bellevue. Mikey is scared and shaken up, other than a lump and a cut on his forehead he's ok, Viv is taking him and Father Orlando to Bellevue too…"
"Ok that's the good news, what's the bad." Jack said.
"Montoya has a hit out on Danny and has plans to 'take' Miss Parker as 'compensation' for Parker costing him members of his crew and money." She quickly explained about Quintanilla and all they had learned.
"Ok great, stick with parker and the kid, I'll get hold of Martin and Danny." He hung up. "Shit" he spat as he hit the button on his speed dial set to Danny's number. It rang and rang before going to voice mail. "Danny it's Jack call me we got major problems" he hung up and was just about to dial again when an agent came running over to his office and barged in without knocking. "What the f… when did I develop an open door policy?" Jack barked.
"I'm sorry Agent Malone, it's just that we got a call from Agent Fitzgerald at Rikers, an inmate tried to stab Agent Taylor…"
"Is he alright?" Jack snapped.
"Yes another inmate… the one they had been questioning… he got in the way and the guy stabbed him instead… he's on his way to St. Vincent's. Both Taylor and Fitzgerald are fine, they just couldn't get through to you."
Jack was just about to thank him and dial Danny again when another Agent came hurrying over to his door. He skidded to a halt and was about to knock when Jack waved him in. "I'm sorry Agent Malone but there is a problem at safe house 243" he said "Agent Franklin has failed to check in. When we tried to contact the detail in the street we found no agents anywhere in the street… and tech received a garbled transmission before all contact was lost…"
"What? When did this happen?"
"Literally in the last few minutes." The agent said.
"Right get a team together we are going over…" Jack said. The other two agents scrambled out of the office as his phone started ringing. It was Danny returning his call. "Danny… I've heard about Rafi but we've got even bigger problems…"