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Chapter 17

"Hey, pop," Frank greeted as he walked through the kitchen door, sniffing the air appreciatively while looking forward to a hot meal after a long day.

Henry stood from where he'd been bent over the open oven door checking on his roasted chicken. "Francis! You're home. I thought I'd be seeing the kids before you," he said while checking the time on his wrist watch.

A frown appeared across Frank's face as he slipped out of his coat and loosened his tie. "They're not here?"

"No, not yet. They left earlier in the afternoon to meet up with Danny, then they were headed home to clean up the mess they assumed would be left behind by the department techs. But they said they'd definitely be back for dinner and to spend at least one more night here," Henry explained as he finished setting the kitchen table.

"I would have thought that they'd be back by now," Frank commented as he came to a stop in front of his father, hiding his hands in his trouser pockets as he did whenever something began to niggle at him. He hoped he was just being overly paranoid, but couldn't help but feeling that something wasn't right.

"Me too. Give them a call and see where they are because dinner is ready," Henry instructed as he got the rest of the meal together. "Maybe we can convince them to stick around here a bit longer. I'd feel better having them here with us while that creep Sanfino is still running around out there."

Frank pulled his phone from his pocket and hit one of the speed dial icons on his phone, bringing it up to his ear as he waited for his youngest son's warm tones to greet him. "So would I, pop, especially with as long as Sanfino has managed to drag this out. Jamie said it's unlike him to be so patient and calculated. He tended to be more impulsive and careless during the time he was running around with him." Frank's frown deepened as the call went to voicemail after several rings and more so when he got the same result after trying his daughter-in-law's phone.

"Well, unfortunately, I guess being tucked away in the middle of the country somewhere has taught him a thing or two about patience."

"The worst part is not knowing what he's planning. What's his end game with all of this?" Frank wondered out loud as he tried Danny next, fearing that his gut was right about something being wrong as he thought back to that day when Jamie could have still walked away from the undercover assignment. Jamie had a gut feeling back then that Sanfino was different than the rest of his murderous family, but Frank was starting to doubt his son's instincts in that respect.

"It was pretty brutal," Jamie admitted, shifting nervously from one foot to the other as he waited for his father and brother's reactions. He still couldn't get over having to watch the dealer snort a medley of drugs without the ability to put an end to it, fearing that Noble was going to kill the guy right in front of him. What was worse was having Richie look pleadingly into his eyes, begging him for help; Jamie could do nothing more than turn away and smile in Noble's direction as if amused by what he was witnessing.

"Guy's okay?" Frank asked. He hated the idea of his youngest running around with mobsters and with no immediate back up in case things went south.

"Yeah, he's in King's General, stable."

"I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the family tree," Danny joked, earning a smirk from his father. He was tempted to tell Jamie to run for the hills, but he knew his little brother wanted an opportunity to shine on his own.

"That's the thing, though," Jamie said, still not understanding who Noble Sanfino was in all of this. "Isn't the wise guy way like, 'you put one of ours in the hospital, we put one of yours in the morgue'? Noble didn't do that," he pointed out. He didn't want to sound like he was defending the guy or anything, but it just didn't make sense. He really thought he'd be witnessing a murder last night and while what Noble did was still pretty horrible, if the dealer had sold the bad drugs to anyone else in the Sanfino family, he'd most certainly be a goner today.

"What are you getting at?" Danny puzzled, trying not to roll his eyes at what he perceived as Jamie's giant bleeding heart. If anyone had even a fraction of an ounce of good in them, his little brother would always try to sniff it out.

"Just that this was more 'an eye for an eye.' Biblical, not gangster," Jamie explained himself, sensing that his older brother was afraid he'd brush Noble off as a lesser threat than he had the potential to be because of his perceived good deed for not killing the guy.

"Still pretty damn sadistic," Frank concluded. If that's what Noble did to a dealer that sold him bad drugs, what would he do if he made Jamie out as an undercover cop?

"Yeah," Jamie agreed, letting his bewilderment over Noble Sanfino go for the moment.

"All right, so what are you gonna do about it?" Danny asked, wanting to hear only one thing - that his kid brother was done playing with the mob. He could see the kid was nervous just talking about it.

"Only thing I can do," Jamie shrugged, "wait for OCCB to put me back in." His stomach may still be tied up in knots, but he really wanted to do this.

"You still have a choice," Frank reminded him with a pointed look. "You can still walk away." Like Danny, that was what Frank also wished Jamie would do.

Jamie shook his head. He was a cop and he wanted to make a difference. Was he a ball of nerves last night who only by the grace of God managed to not throw up when pulled aside by Phil Sanfino for a chat or while watching the dealer OD right in front of him? Hell, yes. But he had a job to do and he wanted to make a name for himself through his work and not because of who his father was. "Not if I want to really contribute."

"Dinner!"

Frank and Danny each looked Jamie in the eyes before walking away, Danny unable to hide the concern on his face. It wasn't what they wanted to hear, but Jamie was his own man and a very capable officer. They had to trust him to do his job and to know when he was in over his head.

"Dad," Danny answered the call in a tone that had Frank cursing his gut before he got any other words out. "We've got a problem."

"What's wrong?" Frank asked, immediately drawing the attention of his father.

"I'm on my way to Jamie's building. A 911 call came in about an unconscious female found in the stairwell. The unit sitting out front heard the call and went in."

Frank's stomach tightened, already fearing the worst. "Is it Eddie?"

"Baez is on the line with one of them now waiting for confirmation, but Jamie and Eddie aren't answering their phones. The other officer was on his way up to their apartment...I don't have a good feeling about this, Dad," Danny confessed.

"Neither do I," Frank replied honestly. "I'll meet you there. You call me as soon as you know anything, Danny." He lowered the phone and stared at it before taking a deep breath.

"What's happening, Francis?" Henry asked softly, afraid of the answer he would receive.

Frank explained the situation as he instructed his detail to turn back around.

"Dear Lord," Henry sighed as he watched his son get ready to head back out, sending a prayer up to the heavens for the safety of his grandkids. "I'm coming with you."

"I'd feel better if you stayed here, pop. In case we're overreacting and they're already headed back home," Frank requested.

"If you thought that was possible, you wouldn't look the way you do, Francis," Henry countered sadly.

It was impossible for Frank to hide anything from the older man, but he still prayed that Jamie and Eddie were safe and just stuck on the bridge headed out of the city. "Let's hope for the best," he replied as he walked out the door with his coat clenched tightly in his hands.

The street was lined with RMPs by the time Frank's dark SUV arrived in front of Jamie and Eddie's apartment building. A dizzying array of lights bounced off the building's brick facade as several officers milled around, each standing at attention when they noticed the PC's arrival. Frank was rushing through one of the rear doors before the vehicle came to a complete stop, his long legs quickly carrying him to the building's front entrance where a pair of EMTs were wheeling out a stretcher with a small, trembling woman safely secured on top. Frank's brow furrowed as he stared at the sobbing woman, part of him relieved it wasn't his daughter-in-law while the other part still worried if his kids were safe.

A sudden movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and Frank turned to find the concerned face of his son approaching. "What do we know? Who is that?" he pointed at the medics.

Danny sent a knowing look to Baez who'd been walking alongside him, but instead of joining her partner to report back to the PC, she followed the EMTs and their patient to the awaiting ambulance.

"That's the woman that was found unconscious," Danny said, worry now permanently etched on his face.

"Who is she?" Frank inquired again.

"Leah Daubert. She's Eddie and Jamie's next door neighbor. And," Danny paused to let out a heavy sigh as he motioned for his father to follow him back into the building, "apparently she's been dating Eric Weller for the past several weeks."

"What?!" Frank asked, dutifully following behind his son, desperate to understand what was going on.

A number of officers were scattered in the lobby taking statements from various residents as their PC walked by making his way to the rear of the building.

"Yeah. Dad, that's not the worst of it. Jamie and Eddie, they're gone," Danny announced as he came to a halt at the building's rear stairwell near the back exit which stood open.

Frank could see flashlights moving about the darkened alley, making Danny's words more real, but he could do no more that stare back in shock.

"Baez is going to head to the hospital with the neighbor to finish getting the rest of her statement, but he ambushed them back here using her as bait and took off with them in her car. I already got a BOLO out on it," Danny explained.

"How the hell does that happen?!" Frank snapped out of concern for his kids.

"Sanfino has been in and out of this building this whole time we've been looking for him, dad. He must have been looking for a way in, spotted this Leah woman coming or going one day and talked a good game."

Frank's jaw clenched tightly as he battled to maintain his temper, the father in him wishing Jamie had let fate deal with Noble Sanfino instead of offering him a chance to save himself all of those years ago.

"And she turns out to be their damn neighbor. Jesus, this is a giant clusterfu-" Danny growled.

"There's been nothing but a wall separating them all of this time," Frank muttered in frustration.

Danny nodded, tormenting himself with thoughts about what Noble Sanfino was really capable of. "We're still waiting to get more out of the neighbor," he said as a thought hit him. "Dad, this guy, he reached out to that dealer he tortured that one time. He bought the same stuff he forced down his throat."

Frank didn't need Danny to say anything else. Neither of them wanted to think about what Sanfino could do to Jamie and Eddie while in his clutches, much less with a collection of narcotics in his possession, remembering well the incident with the dealer after Jamie first went on assignment. "You get whoever you need on this case, Danny. I want them found before Sanfino does anymore harm. And this time he's going to end up behind bars like the rest of his family."

"Yes, sir."