A/N: After 20 chapters, we are finally getting into canon (sort of—like pre-canon. Whatever, I think it counts). I'm all about the long chapters lately. Sorry/not sorry.

July 20, 2016

"Stop closing your eyes when you shoot. You'll never get approved for field duty if I can't trust you to keep your eyes open when you have to pull your gun," I said as Stephanie blew out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm trying not to," she said. "I just really hate guns."

"You don't have to love them, but you have to be comfortable enough to use them when necessary. You're the one who wanted to be field trained. This is the first step. If you can't pass this, then there's no further training," I reminded her.

"Is carrying a gun really necessary for something like bond enforcement?" she asked. "I've seen some of the guys take down the skips. They never pull their guns. Couldn't I just do that?"

"I don't let them take you out on the jobs that are likely to require it."

Stephanie muttered under her breath as she picked up her weapon. "I want to try again. I'll keep my eyes open this time."

I watched as she reset the target and then proceeded to fire five more times. She kept her eyes open, but two bullets didn't even hit the target, one nicked the edge of the paper, one went into the arm and one grazed the neck. Her body jerked with the kickback from the gun, which moved her aim with each shot. I had done this with her in my last life, but our shooting lessons had been spread out over years and I'd eventually stopped being the one to do them because the lessons usually ended prematurely in favor of a different kind of lesson in my bed.

Rowan had done two lessons with her on gun safety before he had to take a leave of absence last week due to his wife having emergency surgery. And since I'd decided I needed Stephanie's help with Carmen, I needed to have her at least somewhat competent with a gun.

"Your posture is all wrong," I said, demonstrating the movements with my own body. "Shoulders back, arms straighter, slide your right foot back half a step. That will help with the kickback."

Once upon a time, I would have used the opportunity to touch her as I moved her body the way it needed to be. But now there were three very good reasons why I shouldn't. First, I was a happily married man. Second, I was her employer. Third, I was afraid of getting too close, both physically and emotionally. Sometimes I found myself getting lost in memories of what we'd had in my last life and missing her. Not that I wanted to be with Stephanie or that I'd ever want to leave Julio, but some small part of me was still drawn to her. I'd caught myself a few times almost touching her, like I was being driven by muscle memory to tuck her hair behind her ear or hold her hand. I was afraid I'd slip up somehow and do something that would give away my secret or, more importantly, damage my relationship with Julio.

She followed my instructions and this time her aim was better. She managed to hit the paper target with all five shots, though they were scattered. I had her try several more times until I felt like she had found her rhythm. I knew she was a good shot, and it was starting to show now.

"Much better," I said as we packed up. I clicked the button on my fob and disabled the camera feed for the gun range. "I need your help with something, but I wanted to see you shoot before I brought it up."

Stephanie's eyes lit up. "What is it?"

"I have a job tomorrow night. It's off the books. No one but Julio knows about it, and it has to stay that way. I can't let it get out that I had anything to do with any of it. There are too many questions I can't answer if people find out. Questions that I can't even answer for you. Can you accept those terms?"

Stephanie's expression turned anxious. "Is it illegal?"

I shook my head. "I have no intentions of doing anything illegal, but I can't guarantee it. I can tell you that if the need arises, I'll do it myself as long as I'm able. I won't ask you to do anything illegal unless I think it's life or death."

She considered this for a moment. "Okay, I can accept those terms. What's the job?"

"Do you know who Benito Ramirez is?" I asked.

She shook her head. "He's a boxer. A good one, but he's also a psychopathic rapist," I told her. "Women press charges, they go missing, the charges get dropped. I have it from a source that a guy named Ziggy Kulesza cleans up after him. His manager, Jimmy Alpha, isn't much better. He knows exactly what Ramirez is and keeps him out of trouble because he needs Ramirez to launder money for a Jamaican drug ring. There's an investigation ongoing with state and federal law enforcement into the ring and Alpha's connection, but they aren't closing in on them fast enough to prevent some terrible things from happening. That's why we will be trying to save a woman's life tomorrow night."

"Who's the woman?"

"Carmen Sanchez, Ramirez's girlfriend. She's a stripper at the Step In and does some sex work on Stark. He's going to try to have her killed tomorrow night, and she's going to try to call the police about the drug ring. But we can't let any of that happen."

"Why can't she call the cops?" Stephanie asked. "If they already know about the drug ring, then what's the problem? Shouldn't we be going to the cops if we think someone's going to kill her?"

"That's one of those questions I can't answer," I told her. "I just know we can't let it happen."

Skepticism and confusion lined her face. "Why can't you answer the questions?"

"Because people can't know how I came about this information."

"Not even me?"

I shook my head.

"Does Julio know?"

I nodded.

"So why can't I know? I'm not going to tell anyone, if that's what you're worried about," she said.

"I'm not worried about you telling anyone. It's more complicated than that."

She waited expectantly, but I didn't elaborate.

"Fine. We have to save Carmen Sanchez's life. How do we do that?" she asked when it became clear I wasn't telling her anything else.

"We'll wait outside her apartment for her to come home from Ramirez's place. We'll tell her that we know someone is coming to kill her and we want to help. I have a safe house for her to spend the night and then we'll work on getting her out of town until Alpha and Ramirez are out of the picture. She'll be skeptical— you don't survive working Stark Street by being gullible. I originally planned to do it alone, but I think she might be more trusting if a woman is with me. Plus, I can't run on my leg yet and I need someone who can in case we get in a bind."

Stephanie studied the air by my left elbow as I spoke, nodding her head slightly. "Okay. I can do that. I can be persuasive when I need to be."

"Good. I'll pick you up tomorrow night at eight-thirty. I want time to get you set up before we start the stake out. Because once we see her, we have to move quickly. We won't have much time."

"Why can't we get to her earlier in the day?"

"I can't answer that one either."

She let out an annoyed huff and rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"We need to make ourselves as indescribable as possible. All black clothes, no logos, nothing memorable. Your curly hair stands out—make it as boring as you can. We also need to go by different names. I don't want trails leading back to us."

"Do I get to pick my own name?"

"Yes. It needs to be something you'll respond to, but not so closely related that it's easy to follow back to you."

"Diana," she said immediately. "I always wanted to be Wonder Woman when I was a little girl."

I nodded. "I'll be going by Leo."

"Like Leonardo? Da Vinci or Ninja Turtle?"

I couldn't help but smile. "Like my zodiac sign."

Stephanie's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. "You're into astrology?"

"I'm not. That's the point."

My plan had two parts that had to work simultaneously; get to Carmen before she called Morelli and make sure Morelli couldn't receive her call just in case the first part failed. Stephanie and I were working on the first part, and Julio would be doing the second. I had been brainstorming ways to keep Morelli engrossed so he wouldn't be paying as much attention to his phone, and there was only one way I could think of that would keep Morelli invested enough not to ask Julio to leave because it was late. I wasn't crazy about it, and had no idea how Julio would feel about it.

"I have an idea on how to keep Morelli distracted," I told Julio as we crossed the river into Pennsylvania later that evening. "But I don't know if you'll want to do it?"

Julio looked over at me, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Are you pimping me out? Want me to seduce Joe while you're out playing hero?"

"You wish. It is exploitative, but not sexually. I was thinking we use your alcoholism as an excuse," I said, glancing over to gauge his reaction. "I'll have to work late, and you're struggling with the urge to drink. I'll suggest you meet me and then ride along while I patrol, but something will happen and I'll need to wait to meet you. I'll call Morelli and ask him if you can hang out until I'm done. He'll say yes, then you can stay there and make sure he can't take her call. I'll send a frequency jammer with you."

I could see Julio's mind working and I wondered if I had taken it too far. His drinking was a serious issue and not something I'd ever want to take lightly, but I also knew it had to be something that Morelli would take seriously.

"If you don't like that idea, we'll figure something else out. It just has to be serious enough to hold Morelli's attention," I added.

Julio shrugged. "I don't love it, but it'll work. And if it helps save a woman's life and keeps Joe from getting arrested, then it'll be worth it."

I headed north once we were in Bucks County and weaved through Morrisville to a small storage facility. It was a mom-and-pop operation tucked towards the rear of a lot behind a diner and a laundromat where people didn't ask questions or look too closely. It was so innocuous and off the beaten path that it didn't even have a security gate.

"What are we doing here?" Julio asked as I drove to the back of the property.

"It's where I keep things I don't want to keep at home or the office," I said. "I've been meaning to bring you here, and I need to get a few things for tomorrow night."

The lock on the door was a numerical lock with a six-digit code. I rolled the dials to the correct position, showed the code to Julio, then opened the garage door. We stepped inside and I pulled the string on the exposed lightbulb in the ceiling before pulling the door down behind us. The walls, ceiling, and back of the door were padded to help soundproof the room. A silver Honda Civic sat under a tan cover in the center of the room and storage containers and work benches lined the walls on either side. I gestured for Julio to follow me, and I started at the first storage cabinet to the right of the door.

"Hopefully we never need any of this, but if we ever get in a position where we have to lay low, we have what we need. This is where you go if you're in a hurry and only have a few minutes to grab necessities," I said and opened the double doors. "There's a prepaid cell phone and card, three days' worth of clothes, and some food and water in each bag," I said, indicating the backpacks hanging on hooks in the back. "You're the green backpack, I'm the blue."

I pointed to the top shelf. "Glocks and extra ammo in each box. Doesn't matter which one you take." I pulled a case of bottled water from the bottom shelf and knelt down. "There's a false bottom down here," I said as I pulled at the edge of the bottom shelf, and it lifted away, revealing a compartment filled with multiple silver bags. "These are the most important things in here. This is where we have new identities and money to get us far from here."

Julio's eyes went wide. "New identities? Like spy shit?"

I grabbed all the bags and took them over to the nearby work bench. "Each of these is labeled with a one or a two. You're number one, I'm number two," I explained. I opened the pouches and pulled out the documentation inside. "We are Marc Pardo and Raúl Pardo. We have dual Mexican and U.S. citizenship, so we have two passports. We have high school diplomas and work histories. We can tell people we're related, but the type of relationship would depend on where we are. If it's safe, we can be openly married." I pulled out a fake marriage license that showed Marc Pardo and Raúl Rodriguez had married on January 3, 2016. "It not, then we'll just keep this hidden and say we're cousins. We don't look alike enough to be brothers."

I looked up to ask Julio if he had any questions and found him standing there with his mouth agape, staring down at his photo on Raúl Pardo's passport.

"What?"

"Is this for real? You made up whole new identities for us?" Julio asked incredulously.

"Yes. Marc Pardo is an identity I had in my last life, so it was easy to set up again, and then I made up another for you," I said. "You think it's paranoid, and maybe it is, but I'd rather have it and never need it than the other way around."

"What do you think's gonna happen that we need stuff like this?" he asked. "You planning to commit a bunch of felonies and we have to run for it?"

"I had two occasions in my last life where I had to lay low. One time I was a suspect in a murder because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The other was when Julie was kidnapped, and I let myself be the suspected kidnapper on paper to weed out the real one. Those situations won't happen this time around, but something else could happen in their place. I'd rather be prepared."

Julio shook his head. "Jesus Christ."

"There's fifty grand in each of these bags," I continued, deciding to move ahead while he processed the information. "That's enough to get us far from here and hold us for a while until it's safe to access some other accounts. I have another storage unit like this in Columbus with a similar set up, except it doesn't have the passports. We only have one copy of those. These bags are fireproof and waterproof, so we don't have to worry about the contents getting damaged in less-than-ideal circumstances."

I replaced the bags and put the cabinet right before closing it and moving down the line. "There's more food, water, and clothes," I said, pointing to storage totes. "Larger weapons and ammo over here," I said, opening another cabinet to reveal several different types of rifles and shotguns. I indicated that we should walk around to the other side of the car.

"Over here is everything you need to get the car running. The key is already in the ignition. There's extra oil and other fluids if you need them and enough gas to get you about fifty miles. There are also some tools and other materials over here for any repairs."

We ended at a cabinet in the back corner. "Here is where I keep extra electronics," I said. "It's insulated so everything should be fine."

There were a variety of cell phones, radios, laptops, cameras, sensors, tracking devices, outlet covers that were actually listening devices, frequency jammers, and pagers. I grabbed several items and put them in a black bag.

"We need to make sure Carmen can't call Morelli," I said, holding up a frequency jammer. "You'll have one on you and you'll activate it when I give you the go ahead. I'll have one as well in case I need to interfere in Carmen making the call." I held up a pager. "This works on a different frequency range and won't be affected by the jammer. I'll send a page, and it'll vibrate. It'll be nothing you need to read, but it'll be your cue to turn off the jammer. The less time it's on, the less chance of Morelli getting suspicious."

Julio hadn't said anything for the last several minutes as I'd gone through the room. He had followed me around seemingly in a daze, but he was listening.

"Too much information or questioning whether you want to spend the rest of your life with me?" I asked.

"You should've warned me," Julio said. "Damn."

This was probably the first time he was truly grasping the gravity of the way things had gone in my last life. I didn't even try to tell him that this was tame compared to last time. I slung an arm over his shoulder and guided him to the door. "Think of it this way. If you get sick of me one day, you could kill me, transfer all the money to offshore accounts, and be on the other side of the planet living Raúl Pardo's best life before anyone even finds my body."

Julio just shook his head and climbed back into the car. "It's a good thing I love your paranoid ass."

I arrived at Stephanie's apartment at eight-thirty the next evening. It was odd to knock on her door and wait for her to answer. I'd spent years letting myself in and had been about to reach for my keys when I remembered myself. She was dressed in head-to-toe black and her hair was pulled back in a tight braid.

"I have Kevlar for you. You don't need to put it on now, but I'll want you to put it on by the time we get to the apartment."

"This feels serious," she said.

"It is. There's a chance this will go into overnight if she goes along with my plan, so grab anything you may need for the next several hours and feed Rex before we leave," I said.

Stephanie paused in the process of grabbing her messenger bag. "How did you know my hamster's name?" she asked.

Shit! "What?" I asked. I had to buy myself some time to think this through.

"You said I should feed Rex. I didn't think I'd ever told you I had a hamster, let alone that his name is Rex."

Damn it. She hadn't mentioned him at all. "I just said that so you'd do anything important, like feed a pet or something. I didn't realize you actually had one," I said. That sounded ridiculous even to me. "You named your hamster Rex?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I've always heard dogs can be a deterrent to people who might be trying to case your place to rob it. I figured if I said I needed to get home to take care of Rex, people would think I had some big dog and stay away."

"Why not just get a dog?" I asked as she went to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of bottles of water and some granola bars.

"They're a lot of work. Rex is easy."

We left the apartment without further discussion of Rex, though I couldn't tell if she'd bought the lie or just given up asking questions. She had done that with me in my past life. It had been part of our problem because I wasn't one to easily offer up information and she took that to mean I wouldn't tell her. If she would have asked, I would have answered. She'd never been afraid to ask Morelli questions, but with me it had been different, and I'd never really ascertained why. Morelli wasn't exactly an open book himself.

We pulled up to the four-story apartment building on Shaw at nine, parking in a spot where I had a view of the entrance to the alley behind the house and the front door. I was driving a black Charger with tinted windows, specifically chosen because I'd seen several similar cars parked along the street when I had previously driven through the area. Carmen's apartment was on the second floor and her living room overlooked a smaller building to the west and her bedroom window overlooked the alley. The living room window was dark and nothing in front of the building seemed amiss. I climbed out of the car to walk around the building while I called Morelli. I pulled the hood on my sweatshirt up over my head and the slight limp I still had from my injury helped me blend in a little better with the locals. I walked down the street past the building, then up a side street to the alley while I gave Morelli the story about Julio's struggle with his addiction, my fabricated work issue, and asked if he could hang out with him until I'd taken care of things. Morelli agreed and I said I'd send Julio that way. I called Julio as I passed the building in the alley and told him to head to Morelli's. Carmen's bedroom window was dark as well, so I was ninety-nine percent sure she wasn't home yet.

"Everything looks quiet," I told Stephanie as I climbed back into the car. "We'll keep an eye on the front door and her living room window. Hopefully she comes to the front door, and we don't have to worry about it. But if we see lights on, it means she came in the back door. We hurry in and try to get her out as quietly as possible. We don't want the neighbors to get the wrong idea."

"What exactly are we telling her?" Stephanie asked as we settled down in our seats.

"That we know Ramirez is sending someone to kill her and if she doesn't leave with us, she's dead. She'll know the name Ziggy Kulesza. She'll probably tell us to fuck off and she doesn't need our help because she plans to call the police. We tell her the police already know what's happening, but they haven't moved yet. They aren't likely to do anything because they don't need her."

"And if she still doesn't want our help?"

"Then we stop Ziggy Kulesza."

Stephanie squirmed in her seat. "And how are we doing that exactly?"

"If it comes to that I'll take care of Kulesza. You'll be responsible for getting up to Carmen's apartment and trying to convince her to leave since her would-be assassin is downstairs."

We sat in silence for a while, each of us lost in our thoughts as we watched the area. I wasn't sure what she was thinking about, but I didn't imagine she was questioning the mysteries of the universe. Stephanie openly admitted to not being a very deep thinker. I was trying to focus on the job at hand and wondering how Julio was doing keeping Morelli occupied rather than remembering the many times I'd done this very thing with Stephanie in my last life.

Carmen appeared on the sidewalk next to the car shortly after ten. She was staggering, beaten and bloody, and crying. There was a cut on her cheek, her left eye was swollen, and marks around her throat showed where she'd nearly been strangled. Her blue skirt was ripped up her hip and a white shirt seemed to be hanging on by a thread. She had a black purse clutched protectively to her chest with one hand and the other was used to support herself against a chain length fence as she walked. I caught sight of her in Stephanie's side mirror and motioned for her to get out of the car to help her. I sent the text to Julio to indicate it was time to turn on the jammer and made to get out of the car.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Stephanie asked as she climbed out of the car.

"I'm fine. Leave me alone," Carmen muttered, moving away from us.

"Carmen, you're in danger," I told her as she tried to move past us. She looked up at me through swollen eyes with distrust. "Benito and Jimmy Alpha are sending Ziggy Kulesza to kill you, and if you don't leave with us right now, you'll die."

"Fuck off!" Carmen snapped, though the force she used to say it made her sway on the spot. "I don't need your help. I got connections."

"The cops won't help you. They're onto the drug ring already, so if you think you'll call the cops and get protection, you aren't giving them anything they don't already know," I told her. "They won't protect you."

Carmen reached inside her purse and pulled out a switchblade. She flipped it open and swayed but pointed it in my direction. "How do I know you aren't here to kill me?" she asked. "And how do you know so much?"

"I have connections. If you get in the car, we'll take you somewhere safe tonight. Tomorrow, you can get out of town," I said, holding my hands up in surrender. Stephanie did the same.

I could see the wheels turning in Carmen's head. She was hurting and scared and suspicious of us, but she was smart. She knew what Ramirez and Alpha did to people who got in their way. She had also grown up in a world with little trust.

"Why do you wanna help me?" she asked. "What's in it for you?"

"I want Ramirez and Alpha out of the way, and I'm waiting for the police to make their move. They interfere with my interests. But I also have a conscience and don't want to stand by and watch an innocent person get killed if I can help it."

Carmen flinched and swayed again. She had probably never been called innocent a day in her life, having been born into a world of prostitution, poverty, and addiction. She didn't want to trust us, but she knew we were probably right.

"We can get in the car and watch your building for Kulesza to show up," I suggested. "If that makes you feel better."

She stared at me, ragged breathing and the brightness of her eyes being the only indication of how much pain she was in. She glanced at the car and jerked her head.
"I'm keeping this on you," she said weakly, waving the knife in the air. "If you even blink funny, I'll cut your fucking throat. Get in the car."

I nodded and we climbed into the car. Once Stephanie and I were seated and our doors shut, Carmen opened the back door and slid inside. She closed the door behind her and winced as she scooted across the back seat to sit behind me, the sharp edge of the knife against my throat.

"There's a first aid kit in the pocket behind my seat if you want to use it," I told her quietly. I saw her eyes flick towards it in the rearview mirror, but she didn't move. I could feel her trembling and knew that she was so weak my nearly eighty-year-old grandmother could have disarmed her. But I didn't move, just sat there calmly while we watched the apartment building. She needed to trust me and doing anything other than what she said right now would ruin that.

Carmen had set her purse down on the seat next to her and I saw her reach into it. When I saw her pull out a phone, I quickly turned on the frequency jammer hidden in my sweatshirt pocket. Even though Julio had a jammer on at Morelli's end, I didn't want Carmen to be able to leave him a voicemail that he would find after the fact.

She tapped on the screen and put it to her ear, but the car was so quiet I could hear the unmistakable beeping that came with an incomplete call. She swore and tried again.

"Damn it," she muttered when the call failed again.

"You should really turn your phone off," I suggested. "They might be using it to track you."

Carmen's eyes flicked up to mine in the mirror. "They can't do that. They don't know how."

"Someone like Ramirez isn't going to have any problems with that. He doesn't need to know how to do it himself. He just needs to know who to call. And he'll have someone."

She took a few ragged breaths before I saw her hold the button down on the side of her phone and the screen darkened a few seconds later. She stuffed it back in her bag and I turned off the jammer in my pocket.

"What's your name?" she asked Stephanie after a few minutes.

"Diana," she said automatically.

"And you?" she asked me.

"Leo."

"Those your real names?"

"Does it matter?" I asked.

Carmen took a shaky breath, and I felt her pull the first aid kit out of the pouch. She struggled to unzip it one-handed, but eventually flipped it open. I saw her pull out a packet of pain reliever and use her teeth to tear it open.

"Here's some water," Stephanie said, holding out a bottle. "It's unopened."

Carmen stared at it suspiciously. "Open it and take off the lid," she said, dumping the pills from the packet into her mouth while still holding the knife to my throat. Stephanie did as requested, and Carmen took the bottle in her free hand and drank. She swallowed hard, wincing at the pain.

"Did Ramirez do this to you?" Stephanie asked cautiously. Carmen nodded, her eyes trained on the front door of her building.
"He's a motherfucker," she whispered. "But there's no getting away from the Champ. I tried once. He did worse than this that time."

We only had to wait another ten minutes for Kulesza to appear. He climbed out of a green Ford Explorer and walked up to the building, letting himself in with only a quick glance around. I heard Carmen's intake of breath when she saw him. A light turned on in her apartment window a couple of minutes later and she swore.

"Son of a bitch," she said.

The light went off a minute later and Kulesza reappeared on the street another minute after that. He was talking on his phone and looking around the neighborhood. We were several cars away so he wouldn't be able to see us from where he was, but then he crossed the street and started up the sidewalk Carmen had been on twenty minutes earlier, headed in our direction. If I drove away now, it'd look suspicious and he'd probably follow.

"Carmen, lay down in the floor," I said, as I started unbuckling my belt and unbuttoning my pants. "The windows are too dark for him to see you back there." I powered my seat back a little and grabbed Stephanie's arm as I heard Carmen move in the backseat. "Put your head in my lap," I said, tugging her down. She didn't ask questions and even started to move her head a little as Kulesza got closer. I kept my head down as though I was watching Stephanie but kept him in sight. I knew the moment when he realized there was someone in the car.

"Hold on. I see someone in a car," I heard him say on his phone. He got closer and looked in Stephanie's window at us. I looked up at him, keeping my face hidden as much as I could under the hood on my sweatshirt and gave him the finger. He stepped back and headed back down the sidewalk. "Never mind. Just some guy getting a blow job from a hooker. No, some white chick."

"Wait a second," I whispered to Stephanie as Kulesza disappeared into the darkness half a minute later. "Okay, we're in the clear." Stephanie sat up and I fixed my pants. Carmen dragged herself up from the floor and laid across the backseat.

"Fuckin' hell," she muttered. The adrenaline she'd been running on was waning and she looked like she could barely keep her eyes open.

"You ready to go?" I asked her as I texted Julio's pager the all-clear signal. She nodded weakly and I put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb.

"You can drive me to a friend's house," she said as we turned off Shaw. "She lives on Garver. 1249. Gray house."

"I have a place to take you," I told her. "Somewhere they can't find you. They'll look at your friends' places."

"I'm not goin' anywhere alone," she said weakly, the trauma of the evening taking its toll. "Take me to Lula's or dump me on the side of the road."

Lula. I hadn't been under the impression that the two had been close. Maybe they weren't, but she wanted to use Lula's plus-sized body and extra-plus-sized personality as a shield. I headed towards Garver and pulled up in front of the two-story gray house with 1249A and 1249B in black lettering by the front door.

"Which one is she in?" I asked Carmen, whose eyes were barely slits.

"Top floor," she mumbled. "I can get there," she tried to say, but her voice slurred.

"Go get Lula," I said to Stephanie. "Tell her what's happened and bring her down here."

Stephanie climbed out of the car and hurried up to the house, disappearing through the front door a few seconds later. I watched Carmen in the rearview mirror and listened to her ragged breathing. I had a doctor I could call for such situations but wanted to have Carmen somewhere safe first. It felt like we were sitting ducks. It was only a matter of time before they started checking out some of her coworkers at the Step In and the other women who walked Stark Street with her. I didn't want to be anywhere nearby when they did.

Stephanie reappeared a couple of minutes later with Lula behind her, dressed in an oversize t-shirt and spandex shorts that left nothing to the imagination. Stephanie opened the backdoor for her and Lula peered inside.

"Shit, Carmen," she said, sliding in next to her. "Girl, what happened?"

"Benito," she whispered. "They wanna take me somewhere."

"I have a safe place for her until she's strong enough to get out of town," I told Lula. "Ramirez won't stop until she's dead."

Carmen moaned something that sounded like no and money.

"And how's she gonna get by when she leaves town? She ain't got no money, and she has regulars here. She'll lose her corner in no time." Lula said as an interpretation. "What you gonna do about that, Mr. Tough Guy?"

"I have money for her. It'll be enough to get her through for a while."

Lula huffed. "You ain't takin' her nowhere without me. You got enough money for me too?"

"If the only way she'll leave is with you, then yes, there will be enough money."

Lula grunted. "I'm gonna grab some stuff and then we'll leave. And if you try to leave without me, I'll find you and pop a cap in your ass."

"Hurry up. I want to be out of here in five minutes," I said. "And leave your phone inside. I'll get you a new one." Lula jumped out of the car and hurried back inside. Stephanie climbed back in the car and shut the door.

"I didn't think I was going to get her down here," she said. "She thought I was trying to kidnap her to join a cult."

I bit back a smile and looked out the window at the dark street. Lula was always entertaining, if not necessarily reliable. I hadn't intended to bring her into Stephanie's life because she had abandoned Stephanie multiple times in the field and had been the cause of more than one disaster, but the universe once again seemed determined to set things on a certain course. I had no idea if we'd see Lula again after this, but the fact she was here now felt significant.

She reappeared exactly five minutes later carrying two large duffle bags and a purse. I had no idea how she'd managed to pack that much so quickly. She had changed into a lime green tube top and still had on the black shorts. I climbed out of the car and helped her put the bags in the back.

"Did you leave your phone?" I asked.

"Yes, I did. You better get me a nice one. I just bought that phone and if someone breaks in and steals it while I'm gone, I'm not gonna be happy," she said, strapping into the seat next to Carmen, who slumped against Lula's shoulder.

Lula talked quietly to Carmen while we drove through Trenton. It took about fifteen minutes to get to the safe house in Lawrence Township. It was a three-bedroom house hidden back in some trees on a quiet, dead-end road. I pulled into the driveway and we got Carmen and Lula inside. I called the doctor to come check on Carmen and he said he'd be there in half an hour. We had just gotten Lula's bags into the house and assured her that someone was on their way to look at Carmen when headlights appeared in the driveway. I peeked through the curtains and relaxed.

"It's fine. He's with me," I said. "I'll bring the doctor in when he gets here."

Stephanie and I headed back outside, where Julio's dark blue Porsche Macan had parked in front of the Charger. He was leaning against the hood and pushed off it when he saw me.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"Not bad. We had to bring her friend, but that's probably a good thing. She's pretty beat up, and I doubt she's in any shape right now to take care of herself," I said. "Any issues on your end?"

Julio shook his head.

"What are you doing here?" Stephanie asked him. "I thought this whole thing was hush-hush."

"Julio had his own role to play elsewhere," I replied.

"Which was?"

"None of your business," Julio replied shortly.

I gave him a look that wasn't easy to see in the dark and nodded towards the car. "We'll wait here until morning and see how she's doing. If they need more time, I'll have someone relieve us. The doctor should be here soon to examine her."

"I'll stay with you," Julio said. "I've got nothing else going on, and it's better for our story if I'm here."

Stephanie climbed into the passenger seat of the car, but I pulled Julio aside. "Can you be nice if you stay?"

Julio snorted. "No, but I won't start shit."

Julio and Stephanie had never been able to get along. Their first encounter in the office had just been the beginning of snide comments and dirty looks from both sides. I had hoped things would smooth out once I started healing from my broken leg, but nothing had changed. Julio believed Stephanie was jealous. I thought Stephanie had been defensive since the accident because Julio had been rude to her the first time they met.

We rearranged the cars in the driveway so Julio's Macan was hidden in the back and the Charger was beside the house. It was a neighborhood of hard-working blue-collar people, and a Porsche would stand out. We had only been in the car ten minutes when the doctor pulled up. I took him inside, told him to do whatever he needed to do, and bill me for his call. When I went back out to the car, both Julio and Stephanie looked annoyed, but neither spoke. God only knew what they'd been saying to each other while I'd been in the house.

It was after one by the time the doctor left and the lights went out in the house. Stephanie had been squirming in her seat and cracking her knuckles. I saw Julio roll his eyes in the rearview mirror.

"How long do you plan to stay?" I asked Julio.

He shrugged. "I don't have anything else to do." Interpretation: he wasn't budging.

"If you want to leave, you can take the Charger home and I'll pick it up tomorrow," I offered to Stephanie. "It should be pretty quiet."

"No, I'm fine," she said. "I want to get my field training in. This is part of it."

I refrained from sighing as I continued watching the dark neighborhood. If Julio and I were alone, he would talk. If Stephanie and I were alone, she would talk. But neither of them were talking in front of the other, and while I typically preferred this, it wasn't a comfortable silence.

Stephanie fell asleep around two, her head resting against the window. Julio was in the back seat looking out the side window. I was watching the front and thinking about the Huntwell contract. I had signed the finalized contract on Monday, so we now had access to the full scope of Huntwell's hospitals. As I'd suspected, nothing had surprised me.

"Is she asleep?" Julio asked, leaning up to look at Stephanie.

"Yes."

"Is she getting paid to be here?"

"Yes."

Julio gave me a perplexed look in the mirror. "What the fuck, Carlos? She fell asleep working."

"It's fine," I said. "It's quiet—,"

"No, it isn't fucking fine," Julio replied. He gave Stephanie a not-so-gentle shove on the shoulder. "Hey, wake up."

She startled awake and shifted in her seat. She looked around confusedly for a second before she seemed to remember what was happening. "Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep. Did something happen?"

"No, but something could have happened, and you wouldn't have known it," Julio replied. "Because you were sleeping when you're supposed to be protecting these women and having my husband's back."

Stephanie whipped around to glare at Julio. "It was a mistake, okay? Besides, you're here and he's pretty good at taking care of himself. I don't think I'd be much help."

"That's not the point," Julio shot back.

I climbed out of the car and yanked the back door open. "Your car. Now."

Julio climbed out and we went to sit in the Macan.

"You said you wouldn't start shit," I said once the doors were closed. "Yet here you are, starting shit. Why?"

Julio threw his hands up in exasperation. "Because she fucking fell asleep!" he cried. "She's supposed to be watching your back and she's sleeping."

"It's the middle of the night, and I didn't warn her that we may go all night on this one until I picked her up. If I'd told her, she could have gotten some sleep beforehand. That's my fault."

Julio made a disgusted noise. "You're making excuses for her. What about last week when I came to the office, and she was sleeping at her desk?"

I rubbed my right temple with two fingers. "That was one time."

Julio looked like he couldn't talk without yelling, so he stared angrily out the window at the Charger. "If one of your men did that stuff—fell asleep at their desk and then fell asleep in the field— what would you do?" he asked after several minutes of silence.

"They wouldn't do that," I replied. "They know better."

"Exactly. So why are you letting her get away with this? Is there one standard for her and a different one for everyone else?" he asked. "You were so damn insistent that you be the one to train her in the field because you wanted her to be safe. Is falling asleep while murderers are looking for your clients safe?"

I stared ahead at the Charger, where I could see Stephanie's silhouette move occasionally. "She was like that in my last life too," I said. "She gets bored with office work and sitting still like this. She needs to stay busy. I thought maybe introducing her to the office part first would help with that, but I don't think it has."

"What did you do when she did this?"

I shrugged. "Nothing."

"And how did your men take that?"

"It wasn't an issue. They knew she was important to me, and she never really felt like an employee. It was more like favors than work. She would need money and wouldn't just accept it from me, so I gave her a job. And sometimes I needed a favor and offered to pay her if she seemed unsure about it."

"But she is your employee this time," Julio said. "Things were different then because she was your girl. Don't you think the guys are gonna start seeing her get away with this stuff and think they can too?"

"No, I don't think they will."

A soft snort was all the response I got. "When I was at my first duty station, my Staff Sergeant had seven people to supervise. Six men and one woman. He was hard on us men. Rode our asses about everything. But not the woman. She did whatever the hell she wanted, and he never said anything. You know why?"

I closed my eyes as I realized what he was implying. "He was sleeping with her."

"Exactly. We never knew for sure when I was there, but I heard after I left that he knocked her up. And that's what your men are gonna think if you keep this up. I'm sure they all know you two had a thing in college. You really want them thinking their gay, married boss is sleeping with his female assistant?"

"I never thought of it that way," I replied, and I meant it. I knew what Stephanie meant to me, both currently and in my last life, as did Julio. But no one else knew. And from their perspective, it wouldn't be hard to arrive at those conclusions, no matter how wrong they were. Especially tonight. I would be alone with her on an overnight, off-the-books job after I'd insisted I be the one to field train her. That practically screamed affair. I leaned back in my seat and stared ahead. "I have a blind spot when it comes to her."

"No shit."

I chuckled and reached over for his hand. "I'll take care of it."

He pulled my hand up to his lips to kiss it. "You'd better. Because I'll tell you right now, if you ever get seriously hurt or killed because she fell asleep or did some other stupid shit, there's no place on this planet she can hide from me."

That brought a smile to my face. "Babe. So overprotective. That's kind of sexy."

"I've had to worry about you getting killed at work for six years. I worry less when I know you have someone competent watching your back," he said.

"Understood. Now go home and get some sleep. You're always irritable when you're tired, and I can't stand much more of you two bickering."

He pulled me close and kissed me deeply. He pulled back after half a minute and smiled. I glanced up at the Charger and saw Stephanie's head move. No doubt she'd seen us.

"Marking your territory?" I asked Julio as I reached for the door handle.

"You bet I am. 'Cause I still think she's jealous."

"And you aren't?"

"No. I know you aren't leaving me. You like this dick too much."

I laughed as I opened the door. "And I like the man it's attached to even more."

Julio drove his car around the Charger and left once I was back in the car. Stephanie visibly relaxed and fidgeted with a gum wrapper in her hand. "I'm sorry about falling asleep," she said. "I really didn't mean to."

"I should have prepared you better," I said. "I should have told you this could be an overnight gig so you could have gotten some sleep. I'll own this one, but you don't get any more passes, either in the office or in the field. You can get someone killed by not paying attention out here, and I wouldn't tolerate anyone else sleeping at their desk either."

She nodded. "I get bored and then I daydream and accidentally fall asleep. I don't really mean to, I swear."

"You're almost thirty-one, Stephanie. Don't you think it's time to grow up a little?"

"Excuse me?" she said indignantly. "Are you calling me immature?"

Way to go, Carlos. "I'm just saying that you aren't the only one who gets bored on the job sometimes, but that's no excuse to fall asleep. If I can't trust you to be sharp in the field, then you won't be in the field. I'm not willing to risk the lives of my men because you can't power through your boredom."

I thought about the time Tank got shot while working with Stephanie guarding the Greenwell building. She'd been asleep on the floor when the guy came back for his drugs and shot Tank through the window. Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference, but maybe it would have. Regardless, Julio was right. I couldn't have a different standard for her, no matter my feelings.

She stayed awake for the next several hours as we watched the house. When I saw movement in the kitchen, I headed inside to check on the women. Lula was in the kitchen, hair standing on end, wearing the oversized t-shirt from the night before and a thong that had completely disappeared save for a miniscule portion of bright pink.

"How's Carmen?" I asked.

"She's still in bad shape. The doc didn't think there was any internal bleeding, but she's still hurt real bad. We talked last night. We're gonna go to Detroit to visit some of my cousins for a while."

"That's a good idea. When do you think she'll be ready to leave?"

"She wants to go today. She don't wanna stick around here waiting on Benito's boys to find her. Neither do I."

I nodded. "There's a car in the garage. I'll get it ready for you. I have your money and will give it to you when you're ready to leave. But make sure you stay gone until I tell you the coast is clear. No corner is going to matter if you're dead."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lula said with a wave of her hand. "Get the car ready. I'll get Carmen up. But we need some breakfast. Go to McDonalds and get us some breakfast before we leave. We need fuel and I don't just mean for the car."

I headed outside and motioned for Stephanie to get out of the car. "They want breakfast. Run to McDonalds and get them something," I said, pulling cash from my pocket. "I'm getting the car ready so they can leave when they're done."

I grabbed the bag with the money and cell phones from the trunk of the car before Stephanie left and headed into the garage to get the car ready. I was starting it up for the first time when Stephanie returned with the food. I parked the car in the driveway before heading back inside. Carmen was sitting at the kitchen table looking like someone who had the shit beaten out of her the day before. She had two black eyes and some swelling on her cheek. She was wearing a purple sequin tank top and shorts that were both obviously Lula's. Not just because of the colors, but also because they fit Carmen perfectly despite being about sixty pounds lighter than Lula. She was gingerly chewing her food and drinking a cup of coffee.

"There's twenty-grand in here. That should last you a while. Hopefully the police will make their move soon and you can come home," I said, handing the bag to Lula. "Here are your new phones. My number is programmed into both. I'll reach out when it's safe to come back. You can call me if you run into problems. Do not reach out to anyone from Trenton until this is resolved. It only takes one phone call for them to catch onto your trail."

"I don't got anyone besides Lula to call anyway," Carmen said, accepting her new phone.

"All I got besides Carmen is my friend, Jackie, but she'll understand," Lula said, accepting the new phone. "Huh, this isn't the latest model."

I stared at her, and she shrugged before stuffing the phone in her bag. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, why you doin' all this?" Lula asked. "And you better not be expecting favors from us. Carmen isn't up for it, and I don't do freebies."

Stephanie snorted as she tried to hold back a laugh. "Sorry," she said. "I'm just tired."

"As I told Carmen, Ramirez and Jimmy Alpha interfere with my interests. I want them out of the picture as soon as possible, and I didn't want to stand by and watch them kill her if I could prevent it."

"What are you some Mexican Robin Hood?" Lula asked.

Stephanie looked confused and I wasn't entirely sure I followed her myself.

"I don't think that's exactly the right analogy, but let's go with it anyway," I said. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah, is Leo you're real name?" Lula asked. "Because she sure as shit don't look like no Diana."

Stephanie let out an annoyed huff and I fought back a smile. "Our names aren't important. You getting out of town is. Are you ready?"

We loaded the car with Lula's bags and watched as she typed Detroit into the GPS on her phone. We watched them leave and locked up the house and garage once they were out of sight. My job was done; Morelli wouldn't shoot Ziggy Kulesza while trying to help Carmen Sanchez, who had survived Benito Ramirez unlike so many unfortunate women before her.

"Do you think they'll really go to Detroit?" Stephanie asked as we climbed back in the Charger.

"I can track their phones and the car. I'll know where they went," I assured her. "Carmen got hurt badly enough last night that I don't think she'll risk it. She saw Kulesza show up at her apartment. She knows they'll keep looking."

It was eight-fifteen when I dropped Stephanie off at her apartment. "What time do you want me in today?" she asked.

"I don't want you in today. Get some sleep. I'll see you Monday," I told her. "And I meant what I said earlier. If you're serious about field work, you need to up your game."

She nodded somberly and climbed out of the car with a wave goodbye. I waited until she was inside and pulled away. All I wanted now was some food, sleep, and Julio, and not necessarily in that order.