Chapter 7: Secrets

Frank picked up the phone and began dialing Boyd's number. He knew this would not be a pleasant conversation, that Boyd would be angered and reluctant to even tell Sam about Andy, let alone to pull him out of the UC early. He waited as it rang, on the last ring Boyd answered.

"Boyd…" he answered.

"Boyd, hey, its Frank Best from fifteen. I have some news you need to hear."

"What? Does this involve Swarek? He's finally starting to get me intel and I'm not letting him out until this is over."

"Boyd, Andy McNally is three months pregnant," Frank told him

"That's not my problem, Frank."

"She's his wife, you have to tell him," Frank knew where this was headed, and was trying desperately to hold his temper.

"Listen, Sammy will be home before the kid's born, why worry him and throw him off his game when everything is fine."

"Doesn't work that way, Boyd. If you won't tell him I'm going to Elaine Peck."

"Ok, I'll tell him, but I'm not letting him out early, this is my last chance to catch this guy."

"I'll be checking in to assure you do. Goodbye, Boyd."

"Yeah, whatever."

The call ended, Frank didn't know whether Boyd would keep his end of the deal.

Boyd was pissed. This was going to ruin his operation. He almost considered not telling Sam and facing the consequences later, after he had a big arrest under his belt, on the other hand, he knew Frank was serious about talking to the superintendent and Boyd didn't want the higher-ups breathing down his neck, especially since he had just gotten some of his freedom back.

"What was that about?" Detective Lario, Boyd's supervising detective, asked walking in as Boyd slammed the phone down.

"Frank Best called to tell me Swarek's wife is pregnant. I have to tell him and he's going to want out."

"If he wants out, let him go."

"And ruin everything I've worked for in the last few months, once Defraine finds out we're trying to get a guy in, he'll take off."

"That's not our problem. Look, I want to catch this guy as much as you do Boyd, but Swarek has the right to be there for his wife and kid."

"Whatever," Boyd answered, "I don't like it."

"Play by the rules, Boyd, you're already being watched."

"Are you threatening me, Lario?"

"No just making sure you understand what's at stake for you, I recommend you lie low and go by the book. Lot of people at central would like to see you go down."

"You one of them?"

"Maybe I am. Don't play dirty this time, Boyd, and you'll have nothing to worry about."

Sam stared at the sight in front of him. The place was filthy. There were young women, the majority looked to be between mid-teens to early twenties. They were dirty and emaciated, most looked like they hadn't eaten in days. They're faces were tear-stained, and most had appeared hopeful when he'd first come down the stairs. Men were rushing around, trying to keep the girls quiet until the final patrons had left the bar upstairs.

Defraine started talking, "Sammy, this is my little side business. The bar wasn't doing to good so we started this little company to bring in a little extra revenue. You understand, right?"

"Uhh… yeah. I mean you gotta do what you gotta do."

"You're new job is to meet with my major buyers, get them what they need, keep them happy. If they have a problem, you have a problem, so fix it. These are my big spenders, they are the ones who come around several times a month, and make several purchases each time. I don't want to lose them." Sam could hear the barely concealed threat. "Of course you will also still be on the bar to keep up appearances, but this is your first priority now, got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, take tomorrow night off, rest up. After closing tomorrow night you are going to meet your first client, Sully will be going with you until you get the hang of it, but you'll be doing all the talking."

The three went back upstairs. Sam left and began the walk back to his apartment. He knew he had to schedule a meet-up with Boyd soon, but he really wasn't looking forward to seeing the man face to face, but he pulled out his phone a few blocks away from the bar anyway, and dialed the now familiar number.

"Sammy, buddy, listen, about what I said before…"

"I don't want to talk about it, I have info… meet me at the café at seven tomorrow night." Then he flipped the burner closed, and the call ended as quickly as it had begun.

Andy sat on a park bench and watched her girls run freely and laugh, they were excited to be here. She hadn't brought them here since Sam had left, as it was something they did together, as a family. That morning though, the girls had begged and she had finally relented. She almost envied them, the way they could forget about Sam, and their ignorance about how dangerous this UC really was for Sam, but at the same time she was glad she was able to shield them from this, that they didn't have to spend every waking moment wondering whether their father would come home.

"Mommy, come push me," Dani cried from the swing set. Andy pushed herself up off the bench, she was beginning to feel the early effects of the extra pregnancy weight.

As she walked over to the swing set she heard Lily laugh, "no Dani, you have to learn how to pump your legs to push yourself," as she demonstrated for her younger sister.

Andy had to laugh at Dani's attempts to copy Lily's movements but her small body didn't have the necessary coordination quite yet. So her movements just caused the swing to twist a little. Andy reached her daughters and stood with them pushing Lily for another 15 minutes before deciding it was finally time to go home.

"But mommy… I don't want to go home," Lily started.

"Yeah mommy… we just got here," Dani finished.

Andy laughed. "Ladies, we've been here for an hour and a half, we need to eat."

"But I'm not hungry," Lily responded quickly.

Dani was quick to echo, "Yeah, I'm not hungry, either."

"I'm hungry, and so is the baby," Andy answered.

"Oh… ok. Mommy?" Lily asked.

"Yes?" Andy answered.

"I think that the baby wants pizza for lunch." Lily replied.

"Okay," Andy agreed, "pizza it is."

Sorry it's been so long, I've been trying to register for classes for the upcoming year and all the classes I wanted were full, I am going to try to do better, I want to finish this before going back to school. Sam will find out in the next chapter. You'll have to come back to see how he reacts and how it goes down.