Alex sat in the back of the SUV with a scowl on her face. She looked at Joe in the seat beside her ever so often as Tommy drove the SUV back to the office buildings on Haywood. I don't know what he expected out of me. I was doing well at dodging Shiropolli's goons until they had to knock me out with tranquilizers to get me. It wasn't as if I was a sitting target. Now I have a cop who could very well possibly be my father and on top of things he thinks I can't do anything on my own. Alex ran her hands through her curls in frustration.
"As soon as we are finished, I'll probably be back to come get you." Joe said.
"A piece of paper doesn't prove anything." Alex looked at Joe. "What do you think you'll possibly learn by finding my birth records at this place?"
Joe leaned closer to her. "For starters your real name, who your mother was, your birthday. Would you like me to continue?"
Alex looked out the window, she felt Joe move his arm around the back of the seat and his hand into her hair placing it on the back of her neck.
"Listen Alex, this isn't going to be easy. You haven't had a real good role model when it came to adults in your life. I want you to give me a chance. I thought that was what you wanted. Why else would you ask me to go to China with you?" Joe asked.
"Maybe too much adrenaline; too many things happening too fast." She turned to look at Joe. "Do you always have to be in control of everything?"
"I'm Italian and I'm a male. Those two things combined produce a very strong compulsion for me to want to control things that are within my right to control." Joe said. "But it doesn't mean I'm going to let you do things that are going to get you killed. Once everything settles down and it's proven I'm your father, I'll ease up some. Don't expect me to give you full reign on what you want to do all the time though, that won't happen, ever."
Alex studied his eyes as they bore into hers. Damn! I'm going to have to rethink how to do this. He's dead serious about this. "How much is some?"
"I'll give you enough rope to hang yourself, but not enough that it's going to let you get seriously hurt. We can discuss this later when we have time to sit down and think things through. I'm not going to tell you what you have to do in life. But I'm not going to take a backseat and watch you throw your life away either."
Alex looked away and closed her eyes. She never had any of this, not like this, not from someone who was dead serious about being there. "I know what I want to do. I've been doing it for six months already and I'm good at it." She looked back at Joe, "I want to keep teaching karate, where I've been teaching it."
She saw a flash of anger in his eyes and then everything went blank. "I'm glad you found something you're good at and that you like doing, but I think a different school would be the best route to take though."
"Why is that? What can you actually tell me about that school?" Alex asked him.
Joe moved his thumb back and forth across the back of her neck. "I don't want you working for James Spragget. He misused his authority in your case and crossed the line. If he did it once, he'll do it again Alex."
"You don't even know James. He's not like that. I already told you it was my fault and it shouldn't have happened."
"I may not know him personally but I know plenty about his kind. You are underage. And it wasn't your fault. He should have stopped, but he didn't. He'll do it again, and who's to say you were his first mistake? Have you ever thought about that? You need to stop defending him and actually put blame where it belongs because it's not with you." Joe said.
The SUV stopped at the gate to the underground parking at the office building. Alex turned and faced forward, she could still feel Joe's thumb on the back of her neck as he rubbed softly. Tommy pulled into one of the empty slots and parked.
"Later Lester." Tommy said.
Paco gave him a nod as Lester opened the door and got out, he turned and looked back inside. "You ready Alex?"
Alex started to move and she felt Joe's thumb push on her neck applying slight pressure. He released her and got out and looked out the garage opening and then back inside the SUV. "Come on." Joe told her. He looked at Tommy, "Give me a minute."
Alex got out of the SUV and Joe put his hand back on her neck as they followed Lester to the elevator. He leaned down so he was close to Alex's ear. "I want you to think about what I said. If you want to teach karate, I'm all for it. But I won't give my permission for my daughter to go back into the same school where she was taken advantage of."
"I might not be your daughter." Alex said.
"We'll know soon enough and you know where I stand on this issue. That isn't going to change." Joe said.
The elevator door opened and Lester stepped in. Joe released Alex and she stepped inside and looked back out at Joe. Joe tossed Lester the controller to Alex's ankle monitor. "Your shift," he told Lester and then looked at Alex. "Next time you see me, I'll make sure you know exactly who you are. That's a promise."
POV Change
Joe watched as the elevator door closed and as soon as it did he hung his head. Shit! That little shit is just like me. He turned and went back to the SUV and climbed in. Joe gave Tommy the address to where the records were kept and eased back into the seat.
"How long do you think this will take?" Tommy asked.
"A couple of hours or possibly through the night until morning." Joe answered.
Joe rubbed his face with his hands trying to get the feeling of dread to go away that had settled in his stomach. I've never been more afraid than I am right now. She's just like me and God help me. My parents couldn't control me, how the hell am I going to be able to control her. Jesus she's going to be wild.
Paco turned and looked back at Joe, "Records aren't that hard to find."
Joe looked up. "These will be that hard to find. They were deliberately tampered with to hide her identity."
Paco looked over to Tommy. "Maybe we should call in more guys, get this done quicker."
"We aren't authorized for that. Let's just see when we get there and then we can call in reinforcements if needed." Tommy stated.
The SUV pulled behind the back of the records storage facility. Tommy turned it off and looked at Morelli. "Stay here for a minute, let us get a good look at what I'm going to have to get us into. I need to disable some systems if they have any up."
Joe nodded. He watched as Tommy and Paco slinked off into the dusk. Night was starting to fall and he could see the storm clouds rolling in off the Pacific. He got out of the SUV and leaned against it. He was nervous, he had never broken into a place like this for the sake of himself. It had always been before when he was working and he justified his actions. This time he knew he was stepping over the line where his job was concerned, but he had to know. He had to find out exactly who Alex's mother was and he couldn't wait until the morning to find out.
The pop of a tire hitting a pot hole grabbed his attention and Joe jerked his head off in that direction. He saw the dark colored Acura two lots over as it circled around the buildings, its headlights off. Joe hated the slight rancid taste that started filling his mouth, he moved back to the front of the SUV. He didn't like the feeling he was getting from that car. His cop senses were on edge. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed dispatch, he told them about a suspicious vehicle in the business lots and gave a description of the car as best as he could see it from where it was parked by the dumpsters. Dispatch said they would send a unit over. Joe hung up his cell. Tommy came back around the building and came over to Joe and looked over to where Joe was still watching.
"What's up?" Tommy asked softly as the first drops of rain started to fall.
"Not sure, just a bad feeling. A unit is coming by. I suggest you move the SUV where it can't be spotted." Joe said.
"Door on the side is open. The security units have been disabled. We have some time until the relays reset. I'll meet you inside."
Joe moved to the side of the building as Tommy got in the SUV and moved it. Joe met Paco just inside the door. They were in the main storage room.
"Sweet place, the security stinks here though. The company that runs it doesn't look too hard into alarm switches going off and back on." Paco told him.
When Tommy walked through the door he turned and locked it to reset the alarm but turned off the motion sensors. Joe led them as best he could back to the old coot's office to get the key. He found it hanging beside the door and took it down. His gut was still churning and his mind kept going back to the Acura and he couldn't explain why it had unsettled him so. He had hated having these feelings, but it came with the job. He led them back to where the old files were and unlocked the gate. He moved to the desk that still held the folder and showed them the numbers and how to read the bottom of the papers to which file he wanted.
They set out to work with each splitting up and flipping through the pages looking for the record that would tell them who Alex was.
POV Change
Alex and Lester exited the elevator, he looked at Alex. "You want to grab something to eat?"
"Why not?" Alex said.
Lester moved towards the break room. Alex stopped. "I'm gonna change first." She turned and then headed up the stairs to the fourth floor. Lester followed her upstairs and then let her inside the room she was staying in. Alex came back out five minutes later in a black tank top that had eat shit written on it, with a pair of faded black gi bottoms, that looked more like jeans from the use and wear it had gone through. She had her hair pulled back and braided instead of the curls that had been there moments before.
She looked at Lester. "What?"
"Nothing." Lester stated. He couldn't help it that he thought she looked more like a little street punk dressed that way. They went back downstairs and Lester opened the door to the break room.
Lester got a grin on his face as he saw Bella digging in the refrigerator. Jose was sitting at the break room table patting the back of Rodriguez. "It was my fault, I should've kept a better eye on Booboo."
"What happen to Booboo?" Lester asked.
Lester realized his mistake when Rodriguez went into a crying fit. Jose kept patting his back. "Booboo broke into the locked goods cabinet and got his fix on a bunch of TastyKakes and sweets. He died three hours ago. The vet said it was a heart attack due to sugar rush."
"It was just too much for his little system." Rodriguez said through gulps of air and his crying.
"Sorry about that." Lester said.
Bella came back out of the refrigerator with a salad and water. "Hello Lester."
"Hello Bella, how have you been?" Lester asked.
"Moo'" Alex said in a hardened tone.
Lester turned and looked at her, this was the first time he had ever heard her use ghetto. "I'll move when I'm ready."
"Carlos paying BG's now? He trying to clean up the world one at a time?" Bella asked.
"You some slit frog?" Alex asked.
Lester grabbed Alex's tank top and moved her to the wall. "Watch your mouth."
"What's a slit frog?" Bella asked.
Lester was looking into Alex's ice blue eyes. "You don't want to know Bella." I'm not telling Bella Alex just asked her if she was a sleeping whore who jumped from bed to bed.
Rodriguez pulled his head off the table. "I can't believe Booboo is dead." He wailed.
"Who's Booboo?" Alex asked.
"Booboo was Rodriguez' pet spider monkey." Jose said. "Come on Rodriguez. Let's get you upstairs."
Lester turned and went over to the refrigerator and heard Alex.
"Lay off Ruby Red." Alex growled. Lester turned in time to see Alex yank her arm away from Bella.
"That's it." Lester growled. "I told you to watch your mouth." He moved over to Alex and reached to grab her.
Bella stood up. "Back off Lester. This little piece of shit baby gansta has a problem with me and I'll settle it."
Lester moved over to the counter and leaned against it. Bella does not have a clue what Alex is. Damn! She shouldn't have changed into those clothes. It's like she morphed into a little street hoodlum.
"I ain't no BG, TG, or Fangsta either." Alex growled at Bella.
Lester watched as Bella came up to Alex, Alex had Bella by a good three inches. Bella was a short, hot head, Italian woman. Bella had Alex by about twenty pounds though.
"Then quit talking like a little thug. If you aren't a baby gansta, or tiny one, or a female one; then why the hell are you talking like it and using their slang?" Bella asked. "What is Ruby Red?"
Alex smirked. "A bitch."