Sorry it's been so long! I hope you like, please let me know, and thanks to all of you who are still reading :) I will get past this little slump I seem to be in, I promise.

Do not own, make no money.

Chapter 28: Intruder

Craig sat in the bed and watched while Angel held up a uniform for Sofi to criticize. "Well, what do you think?" His grin widened when Sofi reached out and took the skirt in her hands.

"You want me to wear this? You expect me to put this thing on? Do I look like a slut Angel? This thing is two sizes too small for me." Sofi's voice sounded deceptively calm. An undercurrent of her temper boiling deep could be detected by anyone who knew her well enough. Craig had heard it a few times in the past, but it had only been directed at him once, when she found out about the painting on the school. Granted she had calmed down after the first initial shock and had even liked it after she'd given herself a chance to study it a little. It was that first burst of bitchy that caught a person off guard when it came to Sofi.

Angel looked worried right then, as if he hadn't expected this, when it was obvious that he should have known better. Sofi was unpredictable. She might go out and buy a leather mini skirt for herself, but if her man expected her to wear something too revealing she wouldn't take it well. It wasn't as if the skirt Angel had gotten her was really that bad, it was just short, very short, and Sofi was known to wear some revealing clothes at times, but it had to be something she wanted first or it wouldn't go over well with her.

Bobby plopped back down on the bed in between Jack and Craig, obviously amused by the distress Angel had brought down on his self. He elbowed Jack in the ribs and gave his head a nod towards Angel, who seemed to be thinking hard about how he might be able to get back in his woman's good graces. The grin on Bobby's face widened when Angel swallowed hard and stuttered out a few short phrases before his mind kicked in and he was able to actually talk.

"It was the only uniform I could get, Baby, come on. You are the sexiest lady I know. You can make this work, I know you can." Angel held the top half of the uniform out towards Sofi who shook her head quickly.

"I refuse to wear that thing." She looked down at the blue jeans she was wearing and then thrust the skirt hard into Angel's chest while grabbing the blouse quickly. "I can make this work though." She looked thoughtful while she shrugged off her coat and let it fall on the empty bed next to her. "I'll be right back." Still clutching the large bag that hung from her arm, she brushed her way past Angel, into the restroom, and pushed the door closed just short of a slam.

Angel looked disappointed while he held the skirt up. "Damn, this was the best part of the whole get-up."

Bobby started laughing. "That's what you get, little brother. Trying to bullshit me into letting you drag her down here, and then trying to bullshit her into wearing that get-up." He looked over at Jack. "Shit, you might do okay with her in there with you; maybe her crazy shit will is just what we need."

Jack gave Bobby a glare. "I'll do fine with or without Sofi in there." He muttered.

"You know what to do once you're in, right?" Bobby asked.

"I think I can handle it Bobby." Jack stood and moved to the window. "Give me a little credit, will ya?"

"I give you all the credit I can Jackie. But this ain't a fuckin' game." Bobby looked as if he were about to lose his patience.

"Look, he knows, okay? Just leave him be Bobby." Angel took up Jack's defense while he dropped down onto the other bed, facing his brothers. "But Jack, Sofi is gonna do most of the talking." He turned his attention to Jack.

"What do you mean she's gonna do most of the talking?" Jack started to argue. "I think I can manage this Angel. You're as bad as Bobby."

"Don't get all defensive. You have to admit you ain't too great at pulling shit off the top of your head when you're nervous, Jack. You just keep your mouth shut and let her do the talking. She's gonna go in saying she's there to clean and you are checking on the thermostat because there has been some complaints from other guests. You just stand there and act like you're working while she pokes around in the other rooms. She's gonna find a reason to get him out of the room if she can, so you can look through papers or anything that might be laying around that might help us out." Angel turned and looked at Bobby, "We need to get a hold of Green and tell him to let Harris call Winston as soon as you're in the room. Maybe he'll say something that will help us out within earshot of Jack or Sofi."

The three of them fell silent. Jack finally stood and walked over to crack open the window. He dug another cigarette out of his wrinkled pack. His hands were shaking, but just slightly. "How am I supposed to know what to look for if Sofi does get him out of the room?" He kept his eyes downward, focused on his unlit cigarette. Craig though he looked worried, or angry, or maybe a little of both.

"I didn't see anything lyin' around, but Jerry might have, he looked around a little more than I did. We should have asked him before he left." Bobby spoke up. "Call him Angel." He motioned towards the hotel phone.

"I ain't gonna call him on that phone." Angel shook his head. "We don't want any of our numbers coming up on the hotel phone."

Bobby looked confused. "You called Sofi on that phone." He reminded, just as Angel reached the door.

"They won't connect her phone with us; she's using her brother's phone." Angel waded up the skirt and tossed it from one hand to another. "I really need to talk to her. I think she can use this skirt." He spoke quietly as he stood and walked towards the restroom.

The creases deepened across Bobby's forehead. "Why the hell does she use her brother's phone?" He asked just as Angel opened the restroom door.

A long string of swearing pierced the air as Sofi gave Angel what-for, just before slamming the door shut on him. Angel stared at the door for a long moment before turning back to Bobby. "She uses his phone so no one who don't know her can trace phone calls back to her. She's always used her brother's phone." Now Angel looked as if he was in pain.

Bobby laughed at the wounded expression on his brother's face. "You sure are pissing her off little brother, maybe you need to back off a little and let her take care of business."

Angel gave Bobby one of his threatening glares before turning to Jack. "You need to call Jeremiah."

Craig watched and listened while his brothers continued to bicker back and forth about what they needed to do next. Bobby tried to lecture Jack about what was safe to say, and what he shouldn't say, and Jack just rolled his eyes and nodded his head at the appropriate times, obviously just letting Bobby talk so the man could work out his own frustration.

"Bobby, maybe you should lay down there and take a nap? You are too damn cranky." Jack finally muttered while he pulled out his phone. "I'm calling Jerry."

Jeremiah walked into the front door of what he still considered his mother's home. He flipped on the light in the living room and sighed as he looked at bits and pieces of what was left of the woman's life. It hadn't seemed too bad before. His brothers were all alive and doing as well as could be expected after all that happened. The house had been patched and the bullet holes covered skillfully, but if you looked hard you could tell the place had been shot up just a few weeks earlier. A mental inventory ran through his head as he looked at the shelves his mother had once filled with figurines and candles. More than half of them had been destroyed by bullets. No amount of drywall mud and paint could replace the empty spaces left behind by the missing items. The rest of the items had been displaced by the intrusion earlier that afternoon. The home Evelyn Mercer had left to her sons had been invaded and violated, that was the way it felt. Nothing was going to be the same, without their mother, but to have her home turned upside down and her personal belongings moved by strangers seemed to make it all worse. Sorrow blended with anger tugged on the man's heart as he pushed himself past the living room doorway, up the stairs and into Craig's bedroom.

The clothes that had been hanging on the rack in the corner were now lying on the floor at the foot of the bed. Jeremiah sighed as he stepped past them. The mattress had been moved, but was still mostly in place. Craig had said he'd put the stuffed rabbit under his mattress and Jeremiah prayed it was still there. The suits hadn't trashed Craig's room as bad as the rest of the house, but they had done some damage. He lifted the mattress and found nothing but the box springs. He didn't realize he'd been hoping so hard until his heart fell. He grabbed the foot of the bed and gave it a hard pull towards the dresser. It wasn't heavy, but he put more force behind it than was needed. When he let it drop it hit the floor hard, bouncing slightly. That was when he noticed a tuft of blue bounce from the gap between the wall and the box springs, disappearing from his line of site as it fell silently to the floor. He didn't bother trying to move around the springs, he crawled across them to the head of the bed and reached down to the floor. He grabbed hold without looking and pulled the stuffed animal up into the light of the room. His heart lightened. Maybe things were going to turn around for them all now and they would be able to put all the shit behind them.

Jeremiah was half way down the stairs when his cell phone rang. He'd already taken one call from Jack with a list of messages from Bobby. Bobby had been in the background yelling for him to bring Craig's pills, and for him to call Johnson or Green and tell them what was going on. Bobby had also wanted to know if there was anything worth checking in Winston's room, thinking he may have seen something significant while he was snooping around earlier. Of course he hadn't noticed anything, if he had he would have told Bobby already, but his brother didn't seem to think that was good enough. Jeremiah had spent most of the drive back to the house insisting to Bobby, through Jack, that while his older brother was holding a gun in Winston's face, he'd found nothing more than some old pictures, like the one of Winston's mother that he'd pointed out at the time. Bobby had finally relented and let Jack hang up the phone.

Jeremiah had then made the phone call to Johnson and updated him, passing the word to let Harris call Winston, or Nicolas, whatever the hell his name was. He had explained their plan, what little bit of a plan they'd pieced together so far at least, and that Winston had been instructed to tell Harris to sit tight with the cops. Johnson hadn't been happy to hear what the Mercers were doing, and he was sure that as Johnson was sharing the information with Green, he could hear the Lieutenant in the background groaning out that it was a bad idea. That was okay though, because Jeremiah hadn't been happy to hear that the other two goons, William and James, were at the hospital. He was worried that they might slip away and turn up at the hotel, or call Winston and ruin everything. Johnson assured him that they had police escorts and they were officially under arrest, so they wouldn't be going anywhere. Jeremiah knew he should call Bobby with that bit of news, but he'd gotten to the house and hadn't taken the time to make the call.

Now it seemed Bobby felt the need to check in with him again, because it was Jack's cell phone number the flashed across his phone. He sighed as he headed for the kitchen in search of Craig's pill bottles. He let the phone ring a couple of times before answering it. Maybe if Bobby had to wait a few extra seconds he'd have time to think about how another phone call would delay him just that much longer.

"What now?" He asked the question as soon as he flipped his phone open.

"I need to know what the fuck is taking you so long. Jack and Loco Ono are ready to play their little number on Winston." Bobby announced with impatience that probably had built up in the few extra moments Jeremiah had made him wait.

"I'm on my way. I just gotta grab the kid's pills." Jeremiah set the stuffed toy on the counter top, opened a drawer and pulled out a plastic grocery bag while he held the phone between his chin and his left shoulder. "You don't need me there for them to go in." He opened the cupboard and started pulling out the pill bottles. He checked each label before dropping them into the bag.

"We need you here for this Jerr'." Bobby spoke just as loud as always. "I need to be sure we have enough people here for back up, just in case. Besides, I want to know what's in that rabbit. You did find the rabbit, didn't you?"

"I'm moving as fast as I can." Jeremiah spoke the words slowly. "It's hard to do much when you keep callin' me and giving me more shit to do."

"Oh, yeah, did you get a hold of Green or Johnson? Did you tell them what the hell was going on with Winston and what we were doing? Did you find the fuckin' rabbit?" Bobby's voice rose slightly as he repeated his question about the rabbit.

"Yes, yes, and yes. Look, I'll tell you everything when I get back there, okay?" Jeremiah let the cupboard door slam closed and tied the top of the plastic bag to keep the bottles secure inside. He turned and headed back towards the front door, but remembered the blue stuffed animal that he'd dropped on the counter. He turned back to the kitchen, his line of sight falling on the back door as he snatched the stuffed animal off of the counter. He froze in his spot. Eyes and a face were looking back at him. He was sure they looked familiar, but they were blurred by the glass in the door, and the darkness masked most of the detail. The eyes ducked back into the darkness just as Jeremiah noticed them, and that sent chills down the man's back.

Bobby was still rambling on about something over the phone but Jeremiah didn't hear what he was saying. "Fuck." He dropped the bag, the rabbit and his phone onto the counter while his legs carried him towards the back door. "Fuck!" He cried out again while he fumbled with the lock on the door. Bobby was yelling his name over the phone, but he ignored it.

The ice on the back steps caught Jeremiah off guard, nearly sending him face first into the refrozen ground below. He recovered his footing quick enough and looked around for any signs of the form he'd seen staring at him through the back door glass. He was sure he heard retreating footsteps at the far end of the garage and headed that way, leaving the back door standing wide open since he had no plans of actually chasing anyone very far. He only hoped to catch another glimpse and be able to identify the person.

The icy mist that had descended on Detroit earlier that evening seemed to have cleared away, but if it was possible the temperature had dropped a full twenty degrees. Jeremiah reached up and pulled the collar of his coat around his neck in an attempt to stave off the frigid air. His boots crunched loudly against the crystalline ice beneath them. He reached the end of the garage and peered around the corner, then turned to focus his gaze down the street. There was no sign of anyone, no tracks in the ice crust covering the ground.

The night was quiet and still, as if the entire world had frozen solid; nothing moved despite the wind that still blew past his face. He stood there for a long moment, waiting, but not sure what he was waiting for. Perhaps he'd see movement, or hear ice crunching in the distance to signal the retreat of whoever it was that he'd seen; anything to let him know that someone else was still out there with him. He turned back to the house when his nose started to sting from the onset of numbness, and moved a little slower as he closed the distance between him and the back door.

He used more caution as he ascended the back steps and wished he had his gloves on his hands when he grasped hold of the door knob to open the barrier that separated him from the warmth of the house. That was when he realized, he hadn't closed the door as he'd ran out.

Jeremiah peered through the glass of the back door, but there was no sign of the intruder. He turned the knob slowly and eased his body into the warmth that had always felt like home. He stood in silence for half a second before Bobby's warped voice cut the air. He remembered his brother had been on the other end of his phone when he'd seen the ghost of a face through the door. He also remembered that he'd left the house with no explanation to his brother. He knew Bobby's imagination, and the man was probably thinking the worst had happened. Although he would have preferred to avoid trying to explain to Bobby what he'd seen right then, he took the few steps to the counter and picked up his phone. "Bobby, stop yelling." He spoke quickly.

"I ain't yellin'. What the fuck just happened?" Bobby was yelling, despite his denial.

"I thought I seen someone outside the back door. Apparently I didn't." Jeremiah tried to sound convincing. The last thing he needed was for Bobby to get paranoid; it was obvious he was already paranoid enough for the both of them. "I guess my nerves are worked up, that's all. I just imagined the whole thing." There was quiet on the other end of the phone, but not for long.

"So who did you see? Harris? Was it one of his goons? I knew Johnson wouldn't hold them like he said he would." Bobby went on, and Jeremiah let him ramble for a few seconds.

"No, it wasn't Harris or his goons. I don't know who it was; it might not have been anyone. It was probably just my imagination; you know with my nerves all worked up, I just seen something that wasn't there, that's all. I went out and didn't find a damn thing, okay?" Jeremiah picked up the plastic bag full of pill bottles and stared at the counter where the stuffed animal should have been laying. "Shit."

"Shit? What?" Bobby picked up on his statement quick enough.

"The rabbit is gone." Jeremiah muttered.

"What do you mean the rabbit is gone?" Bobby sounded pissed.

"It's gone. I left it right here with the pills and my phone and now it's not here." Jeremiah stepped back and checked the floor.

"Shit." Bobby echoed Jeremiah's previous statement.

"So much for imagination," Jeremiah muttered more to himself than to Bobby.

"Someone was in the house." Bobby's tone turned hard. "Someone was in our damn house Jerr'. You sure they aren't still there with you?"

"I ain't sure of anything right now Bobby." Jeremiah sighed. He'd have to admit to his brother now that he'd left the back door standing open when he'd run out into the yard in search of the barely visible face that had been looking in at him. "Let me check the rest of the house. Maybe I dropped it and didn't realize it."

"No. You didn't drop it Jerr', you ain't that fucking clumsy. If it was Jackie, well then I wouldn't be so sure. You just get the rest of the shit together and get your ass back here. Obviously Winston was one step ahead of us on this one. I'm sure he sent someone around there to look for that toy. I guess he ain't one to give up so easy. I don't want you checking shit out alone, there's no telling what kind of fucking low life might still be in there but they got what they wanted and I'm sure Winston didn't send them there to clean us out. They'll leave as soon as you are gone."

Jeremiah ignored Bobby's voice on the other end of the phone. "I don't want to leave until I'm sure no one is still here." He muttered the words and moved towards the dining room. It was more out of curiosity than anything else. He wanted to see if he ran into the same face he'd seen at the door. He was sure he would know the person if he got a good look at that face. He hit the light switch on the wall as he passed it, illuminating the room. He left it on behind him as he moved to the living room. He made his way upstairs, hitting every switch he passed, checking closets and any other obvious hiding spot in the house. The whole time Bobby's voice carried over the phone, telling him to stop playing around and get the hell out of the house, each time he repeated the words he sounded more pissed than the last. He would just have to deal with Bobby when the time came. He wasn't Craig; he was a full grown adult who knew how to handle situations like this, even if Bobby didn't like to admit that he wasn't the only one who grew up with some street smarts. Some of the Mercers just learned how to turn their street smarts into common sense, a concept Bobby Mercer hadn't caught onto yet.

Okay, Jeremiah had to admit, in the past few weeks Bobby's way of doing things had paid off in the long run, but he couldn't always expect to be the one calling the shots. He had to let go of some of his misconceptions of the world and allow his brothers a little room. Something Jeremiah was going to be discussing with him as soon as this whole mess had been straightened out. His marriage was starting to suffer, and he wasn't about to lose the most important part of his self to Bobby Mercer.

"Jerry, did you hear a fucking word I just said to you?" Bobby's voice echoed off the walls as Jeremiah worked his way back down the stairs.

"Yes, I heard you." Jeremiah lied. He had been lost in his own thoughts, concentrating on trying to find anything else out of place, but that was impossible to determine after an afternoon of perfect strangers ransacking the place and helping themselves to bits and pieces of all of their lives.

"Like hell you did. You ain't listening to a word I'm saying. You got no back up there Jerry. Get the hell out of the house now. Winston obviously knows we ain't been there all night, and he's got someone messing with us. You just get the hell out."

By now Jeremiah had gone through the entire house. He hesitated at the bottom of the steps and looked around the foyer for half a second before walking back towards the kitchen. "I'm leaving all of the lights on." He muttered as he realized he hadn't turned a single one off as he'd gone from room to room.

"I don't give a fuck, just get out." Bobby pushed his voice to the point that the words cracked under the pressure. "Someone could off you right now and where the hell would that leave your family? You got no one there to watch your back, just get out."

Jeremiah thought Bobby was exaggerating, he had checked the whole house and there was no sign of any intruder. He sighed with a small bit of relief as he stepped back towards the kitchen. As he passed the basement door, the hinges let out a groan and the door shifted out, away from the jam, just an inch or so. Jeremiah froze in his tracks. The door should have been closed and the bolt secured. His eyes shifted upwards to the bolt lock towards the top of the door, though it was obvious it wasn't secured. He swallowed at the worry that returned full force and had to make an effort to continue walking. His instincts were itching at him to pull the door open and check it out, but Bobby was nearly screaming over the phone that if he didn't listen to him he was going to beat some sense into his thick skull. He decided Bobby's words were starting to have some validity to them. He felt his grip on the plastic bag tighten and turned on his heels, back towards the front door. "Okay, big brother, calm down. I'm leaving now. I should be back there in about twenty minutes." He spoke quickly. "I'll call you if anything else comes up." He flipped the phone closed as he walked out the front door, not giving Bobby the chance to say anything else.

Jeremiah slid in behind the steering wheel of his car and dropped the plastic bag onto the driver's seat. He looked up at the front porch, not sure what he was looking for. It wasn't as if he was about to go back inside if he did see any movement in the well lit windows. He sighed, started the engine and pulled on his seatbelt. His eyes scanned the street around him. There were no strange cars parked in the immediate area. Whoever was in the house hadn't parked close by. His brain strained to put a name with the face he'd seen, but it just wouldn't come. He finally groaned at himself for dwelling on it any further. He knew he needed to forget about it. It didn't matter who the hell it was; they knew it was someone working for Winston.

Bobby was right, Winston had been thinking ahead of them. How the man had known they wouldn't be home, he had no idea, but he had definitely picked the right night to send a scavenger in to hunt for the rabbit. If Jeremiah hadn't shown up and found the damn thing when he did, it would have been safe and sound, still tucked away where Craig had stashed it. The Mercer luck hadn't changed any in the past few weeks, of that he was damn sure. The harder they fought to end the bullshit, the more of it that was shoveled at their feet. He thought about the effect it was having on his marriage and how tired he was of running into the same fucking walls at every turn in his life. He needed a break, his family needed a break. He'd always believed a man had to work hard to get those kinds of breaks, but he'd been working his ass off and things weren't getting better, they were getting worse. How much more could they all take? There had to be a breaking point, right? A point where either they overcame the obstacles that continually littered their path, or they tripped over them and lost it all.

"You aren't feeling sorry for yourself, are you Jeremiah?" A familiar voice echoed in his head. Those were the words his mother would throw at him anytime he felt defeated. He couldn't stand to hear her say them; it made him feel like a small child pouting. He sat up straight in his seat and gripped the steering wheel a little more firmly.

"No, I'm not feeling sorry for myself." He spoke the words aloud, filling the emptiness of the car with his own voice.

"That's more like it." Evelyn's voice rang in his ears. "Now, instead of wallowing in your own worries, why don't you do something about it?"

"I am, Ma." Jeremiah barely got the words out. Okay, he hadn't figured out just what he was gonna do, but he was going to do something. As soon as he was able to get a grip on exactly was going on, he was definitely going to do something.