DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR ANY OF
S. MEYER'S CHARACTERS… UNFORTUNATELY.
I JUST PLAY WITH THEM.
Blood In The Snow Chapter 4
Previously….
I would go to the police, with the books and demand protection in exchange for my testimony. When it was all over, I would fly to Seattle to bring them home. Now, if my plan for getting the books works…
JPOV
Monday morning, I get up as usual, have my coffee and get ready for work. My dad was supposed to call me today and tell me all about the 'vacation' he and mom were going to take and ask me to house sit for them. This would give me the perfect excuse to pack up some of my clothes without out raising suspicions.
I have a meeting with a representative of a local charity on Wednesday that I will use as a cover to get the books and get out. I knew the representative would be bringing a presentation that would require a large easel. I would make sure the easel was set up so that it blocked the view of the camera trained on the safe. After the presentation, I will invite the representative out for lunch and 'forget' to move the easel. While the representative waits for the elevator, I will run back to my office to grab my briefcase… and the books... having him hold the elevator for me. With a little luck, I will be at the police station and under wraps before they have any idea there is a problem. If everything goes according to plan…
Dad's call worked perfectly. I was on another line when he called, so he chatted to my secretary while he waited for me. Telling her all about their plans for Mexico, he knew she'd tell everyone. They are leaving early Tuesday morning. I am so glad he got it worked out so quickly. That means my plans for the Wednesday meeting could go ahead.
When I talked to my dad, I offered to take them to the airport… I want to be sure they get safely away. We agree on the time I will pick them up and get off the phone as I have a meeting with a new client.
The day seems like it will never be over. Finally, it was five. I gather up my coat and briefcase and head for the elevators. Aro was coming down the hallway. "Jasper!" He threw his arm around my shoulders. "Glad I caught you. Do you have any plans for this weekend?"
"Nothing in particular, why?"
He let go of me and pulled his wallet from his pocket, flipping it open to some pictures. He hands it to me, open to a photo of a pretty girl. I look at him with questions in my eyes. "Pretty girl. Family?"
"My niece. She's flying in from Italy on Friday." He looked up and down the hallway, but we were alone. "I would appreciate it if you would show her a good time this weekend. You know… take her around the city... show her the sights. Maybe take in a show, dinner…"
Oh great. This was the sort of request that you really couldn't refuse. Ah well… I should be long gone by then. "I'd be honored, Aro." He grinned like I'd agreed to marry the girl. "What does she like to do?"
"Ah… young girls… who really knows?" He shrugged. "But I'm sure you will take good care of her.. I will have Rebecca email you her arrival and contact details. " He slapped me on the back. "I see you are heading home, so I won't keep you. Good night, Jasper." He turns and walks down the hallway.
"Oh, Aro! What is her name?"
He chuckled. "I suppose it would be good if you knew that! It's Isabella."
"Pretty name. Thanks! Good night, Aro." I head for the elevators. Aro just gave me the perfect cover. By agreeing to take out his niece, I just pulled myself right off his radar.
I stop in at one of my favorite 'hole in the wall' diners downtown for a bite to eat before I went home. Digging out my disposable cell phone, I decided to call a Detective I know downtown. I need to know the best way to go about doing this.
It rang three times before he answered. "Black."
"Jacob, its Jasper. How are you?"
"Jasper! Been a long time."
"Yeah, it's kinda hard to keep in touch with Aro Volturi around."
"I imagine so. So… what can I do for you? Ready to turn state's evidence?" He laughed at his little joke.
"Yes." His laugh turned into a choke.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, I am. I can't take it any more."
"How can I help?"
Well… you can tell me where to go… can I give the evidence to you? Will you give me and my parents protection?"
"Slow down." He is quiet for a minute. "Okay. When do you want to do this?"
"I have to do it Wednesday."
"Day after tomorrow, right… not next week."
"Right."
"Okay… first of all… do NOT go to your local precinct. Come downtown to the main headquarters. My office is on the fourth floor. Just tell the desk sergeant that you have an appointment with me. I'll be sure that you are on the list. Bring as much evidence as you can with you. I'll take care of everything."
"Okay. What about protection?"
"I've got a couple of safe houses. I can put you and your parents up in one of them."
"Right now, it's just me… but they may need it, too… eventually."
"We'll deal with it then. What time should I expect you Wednesday?"
"After lunch… around two."
"Okay… Jasper?" He hesitated for a minute. "Man… be very careful… Aro's not the forgiving kind."
"I know. Thanks, man. I will be. See you Wednesday."
"Later." With that, Jacob hung up his phone and I closed mine, putting it back in my pocket. I motioned for the waitress to get my bill. I toss some bills on the plastic folder and head home. I have some packing to do. I couldn't take it all at once without arousing suspicion.
I pack up a couple of boxes of clothing, carry them down and put them in my car to take to my parents' house while I 'house sat' for them. I decide I will spend the night at their place tomorrow night. Taking my overnight kit into the bathroom, I set all of my shaving paraphernalia out so I'll remember them in the morning.
The night drags on… I toss and turn, unable to sleep. Finally, around five, I give up, get out of bed and go into the bathroom to get ready for my day. I figure I will take my stuff over to my parents' house on my way in to work. Today will just be another day at work. Tomorrow… well, not so much.
My day passes quickly. No meetings, so I can focus on the books. At least it looks like I am focusing on the books. In reality, I am making sure that I know exactly where, in the safe, the different sets of books lay. I will only have about thirty seconds to get them, put them in my briefcase and get to the elevator. I have decided to make a stop on the way to Jacob's office tomorrow. I am going to put the briefcase in a locker at the rail station. I think I might need a little insurance, even with the cops. During lunch, I will excuse myself and go to the men's room. I'll take my briefcase and take a few pages from both sets of books to show Black and use the rest of them as a bargaining chip. If there is one thing I learned from my dad, it was never give away everything for nothing.
Five o'clock finally rolls around and I pack up my stuff and head out. Nodding to people in passing, I wait for the elevator. The bell dings, the doors open and I step in, alone.
The trip to my parents' house is uneventful. Walking into the house, I see the light on the answering machine flashing. I poke the button to listen.
"Hi Jasper!" My dad's voice sounds happy. "We made it here just fine. Mexico is beautiful. Wish you could come down and spend sometime with us. You'd love it. Call you later! Your mother says to tell you she loves you. Bye."
Smiling, I delete the message. It was one we devised for him to let me know that they had arrived safely and are doing well… just not in Mexico. It is a huge relief to know they got away safely. Now, I can concentrate on my end of this.
Poking through the refrigerator, I find my mom has emptied it, so I find the take out menus and call for some Chinese to be delivered. While I wait for the food, I pour myself a drink from dad's bar and settle on the couch to see what is on the TV tonight. Twenty minutes later, I am contently settled, eating my Kung Pao chicken and watching my favorite sitcom. Around midnight, I decide to call it a night.
I didn't expect to sleep at all, but surprisingly, I sleep like a log. Maybe finally putting my plan in motion eased some of the stress. The sun shining in through the window wakes me. I lay there, stretching for a few minutes, as my mind runs over my plan for the day once more. Have I not considered something I should have? Don't think so. Don't over think it, Whitlock, I admonish myself. Just stick with the plan. Sliding out of bed, I head into the bathroom to get a quick shower and shave before getting dressed for work.
As I pull into the parking garage, I see Aro is here already. I had thought about leaving my car elsewhere and taking a cab in today, but decided that keeping to my normal routine was a much better idea. No sense in drawing attention to myself. I ride the elevator up to my floor, chatting with a couple of the secretaries. As I step out, my secretary hands me a cup of coffee and follows me into my office, her appointment book in her hand. "Your first appointment today is with the representative from the Children's Network. He's due in at eleven o'clock." I nod. He is my ticket out of here. "Then at two, you have the meeting with Aro to bring him up to speed on the various charities we're donating to this year."
"Okay." Aro liked giving to charities. He thought it made him look better in the community. He always is sure to have the press come out to cover the actual handing over of the checks. "I'll need an easel brought in for the presentation."
"I'll call and have someone bring one up. Do you want coffee and sweet rolls for this meeting?"
"No, I think I'll take him to lunch after the meeting."
"Need reservations?"
"No, I don't know what he likes yet. We'll just keep it casual. Thanks." With that she returned to her desk and I started getting together the information I will need for this meeting. Since it will be the last thing I do around here, I want to give them as much money as I can.
The morning passes quickly. Before I realize it, it is that time already. My secretary is buzzing to let me know my eleven o'clock appointment is waiting. I get up and walk to the door, opening it to invite him in.
"Hello. I'm Jasper Whitlock." I shake hands with the man. "Come on in my office."
"Jasper. Bill Conde."
Gesturing to the chair in front of my desk, I invite him to sit down as I settle into my chair. Mr. Conde has prepared a lengthy presentation and happily makes use of the easel I have set up. By the time we have finish discussing the needs of the charity, we come to an agreement, which makes Mr. Conde beam. As he is packing up his materials, I invite him to lunch and he happily agrees. I tell him not to worry about the easel, that I'll have it removed later this afternoon, after I show the charts that are on it to Aro. We head out of the office to go to lunch and just before we make it to the elevators, I realize I've forgotten my briefcase.
"Bill, hold the elevator for me, would you? I've forgotten something. Just be a minute."
He nods and I hurry back to my office. Edging quickly behind the easel, I open the safe and scoop all the books into my briefcase that I had purposely left back there. I close and lock my office door and hurry back to the elevator. Mr. Conde is standing inside it, his hand holding the doors open for me. I step in and the doors immediately close and we are off to lunch. We take our own cars, as I have told him that I have a meeting after lunch and will not be coming back to the office. He follows me to the restaurant, where we have a good lunch. As planned, after we finish and are waiting for the check, I excuse myself to the men's room. I put the pages that I pull out of the books into my jacket pocket and go back to the dining room. I take care of the check, say my good-byes to Mr. Conde and we part company.
Driving down the freeway to Jacob's office downtown, I put the key from the locker in my pants pocket. Glancing at the clock on the dashboard, I see it is nearly one-thirty. In half an hour, Aro will show up at my office only to find me not back from lunch yet. I decide to call my secretary and have her move the meeting with Aro to Thursday morning. "Tell him a pipe broke at my apartment and it's flooding." That will buy me a little more time before anything is discovered.
"Okay, Mr. Whitlock"
I close the phone, taking the exit for downtown. I pull into the parking area under the building. I'm thankful that the elevators open underground and I can get into the building unseen.
After giving my name to the desk sergeant, he directs me to Jacob's office. Jacob is waiting at the elevator for me. Guess the desk sergeant called up to let him know I was on my way up.
"Jasper. No problems getting here?" Jacob ushers me into his office, indicating that I sit across from him.
"I think I might be okay until tomorrow, when I miss a meeting with Aro."
"Well, by then we should have you safely out of town and settled in the safe house."
"Speaking of which, got one in Seattle?"
"Actually, I think that can be arranged. Why?"
"Aro has connections all over, but the Pacific Northwest, no so many."
Jacob nodded. "Okay. Seattle it is. Now, show me what you have." I laid out the four pages I had. He looked them over closely and then gave me a calculating look. "Where's the rest of it?"
"Hey, my daddy didn't raise no fool!" I grin at him. "You get more of it when I am safely in Seattle."
We go back and forth, ironing out the details of what I have in the way of the books and my testifying. Finally, Jacob had me wait in his office while he went to the Chief and made arrangements with the Seattle PD to use one of their safe houses. After nearly an hour, he strolled back in with airline tickets and a big grin.
"What's with the grin?"
"Looks I get a trip to Seattle, too. I'm your escort." He reaches into a closet, pulling out a duffel bag. "I always keep an emergency bag ready to go. I'll stay there just long enough to get you settled into the house and then I'll come back here, by way of a weekend in Florida." He grins at the prospect of time in the Florida sun and the girls in bikinis on the beaches. "The flight leaves in three hours."
We head down to the garage to get my stuff out of the car and transferred from boxes into the bags I had in the back seat. "What about my car?"
"Leave it here. I'll have it moved to the lower level and covered until you get back."
I nod and indicate for him to lead the way to his car. It's not far from mine. We get loaded up and head out to the airport.
The flight passes uneventfully and finally we land at Sea-Tac . The sun is just coming up as we leave the airport. Jacob has a rental car waiting and we head downtown to the main police station. "I've worked with the Seattle PD before", Jacob told me. "They're good."
"I guess I'll have to take your word for it."
As soon as we got to the police station, we were shown in to a detective's office. He stood and shook both our hands. "I'm Det. Charlie Swan"
"Jasper Whitlock."
"Jacob Black."
"Have a seat. My chief tells me that you're taking down Aro Volturi."
"That's the plan." Jacob grins at him.
"You are aware that he has holdings in Seattle?"
"No. When did this happen?"
"Couple of months ago. Nothing too big right now, but they're working on it. We're keeping a close eye on them."
I look at Jacob. "Great. Now what?"
"We stick to the plan."
"My parents are here. I need a new cell phone so I can keep in touch with them."
Det. Swan pulls an envelope out of his desk drawer and hands it to me. "Here's your new identity, house keys and cell phone already loaded with my private numbers."
We spend an hour or so discussing the case, and then Jacob and I head out for the house. The directions are good and we pull up to a nondescript looking house in a quiet neighborhood. He helps get everything into the house and makes sure I am set before he heads back to the airport and sunny Florida. I give him the key to the locker so he can get the rest of the books.
As soon as he is out of sight, I use the new cell phone to call my parents.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Dad. I'm here in Seattle."
"Jasper!" I could hear my mother in the background asking where I am. Laughing my dad hands her the phone.
"Jasper! Where are you, Honey? Are you all right? When can we see you?"
"Mom! Slow down." I laugh. "I'm here in Seattle at a safe house. I just got here." She begins to cry and my dad takes the phone back.
"She'll be okay. She's been so worried about you getting away safely."
"Let's get together for dinner."
"Okay" We agree on a place and a time and after we hang up I think about unpacking and decide not to. I might just go and stay with my parents. We'll talk about it tonight and decide then.
I had the afternoon to get through before dinner and after the trip I am very tired. I find the bedroom, kick off my shoes and crawl up on the bed. Settling in, I curl up on my side and drift off to sleep.
The restaurant Dad chose was off the tourist trail. My cab pulled up just in time for me to see my parents getting out of their car and going in. Paying the cabbie, I get out and follow them in.
"Hi, Mom."
She gasps, whirling around and grabbing me in a tight hug. "Jasper!"
"Let the boy go." My dad chuckles at her. She released me from the hug, but held on to my hand. Dad gripped my shoulder. "How are you, son?"
"Better now that I'm here in Seattle with you two." The hostess came over and showed us to a booth near the back window. The place was mostly empty, just a couple of diners. We shouldn't have any problem with privacy. After ordering, we get caught up with all that has happened. It was decided that I would move in with them. We'll go and get my stuff after dinner.
The house they'd found was close to Puget Sound. It is in a nice, quiet neighborhood… not fancy, though. It is a simple house, three bedrooms, family area… all the usual. I settle into the far back bedroom. It is late, so I get in the shower and then go straight to bed.
The seductive aroma of fresh brewed coffee wakes me. After I use the bathroom, I throw a tee shirt on with my sleep pants and wander into the kitchen. Mom and dad are sitting at the kitchen table with coffee and a big basket of fresh sweet rolls.
"Good morning." My mom waives me over to sit next to her. She already has a cup out for me. She fills it with coffee and nudges the basket of rolls toward me. My dad nods at me. Like me, he isn't talkative first thing in the morning.
I kiss my mom on the head and sit down, grabbing my cup and gratefully taking several sips.
"Hi Mom. Thanks for the coffee." I nod at my dad. "Dad."
"You're welcome, Honey. Any plans for today?"
"Nope, just gonna hide out for the day." I grin at her. "Although I should call Jacob and let him know about the change in location." We sit quietly, drinking our coffee and reading the morning paper. I haven't had a relaxing morning like this in a very long time. After we all were finished, mom starts cleaning up and my dad suggests he and I go out in the backyard to talk.
"Son, do you have any idea how long this is going to be?"
"Jacob indicated that he will get the information to the D.A. by Tuesday morning. He figures that Aro will be arrested by Tuesday afternoon… and then back out on the street by Tuesday night."
"Out that quick?" He shook his head. "And then he will be looking for you."
"Yeah. But the trial date can be set once he's been arrested and charged. Hopefully, they can get a date not too far off." I shrug. "In the meantime, we sit here and try to be invisible."
"At least he doesn't have anyone here." My dad looked relieved.
"Uh…well, that's not quite true."
"What do you mean?"
"The detective here told me that Aro does have holdings here. Not a lot, but he's been steadily building over the last few months."
Dad looked back at the house. "Let's try not to let your mother know just yet." I nod, agreeing with him. "We will have to keep a very low profile until this is all over." He shook his head, frustrated. "Damn. I thought we'd be safe here."
"Jacob didn't even know about it until we got here." I reach out, laying my hand on his shoulder. "We'll be all right, Dad."
"I hope so, Jasper… I hope so."
Downtown Seattle, in an office building on the thirty-fifth floor, the phone rings. "Volturi Inc."
"Demetri, it's Aro."
"Boss! What's wrong?"
"I need you to find Jasper Whitlock. He's taken both sets of books to the police. I'm headed to the airport, coming your way. My sources in Seattle tell me he's there and possibly his parents are, too. Find them!"
"You want 'em killed, Boss?"
"No. Just hold them until I get there. This one I want to be present for."
"You got it, Boss. I'll get the boys on it right away." The phone goes dead and Demetri knows Aro has hung up. "Felix! We've got a job!"
A/N: Sorry for stopping here…. I'll have the next one up shortly. I really appreciate all the nice reviews ya'll have been sending my way! Thank you very much.