Virginia Safehouse
Frank Plum
This cluster of houses that is serving as the safe house for Stephanie, Ranger and the rest of his crew is picturesque. If it wasn't for the sentry at the gate to the cul du sac, you would never even suspect that the place was on lockdown. The cement barricade wall was covered in ivy for the fist eight or nine feet, so it was almost hidden. And the houses and gardens could have been features in those magazines Helen is always looking at.
"Mr. Plum, is Stephanie expecting you, sir?"
"Son, I believe Ranger may be the only one who knew I was arriving today."
"I'm sorry sir, but I need to confirm that."
"It's fine, son, do whatever you need to do per protocol." The last thing I want to do is get the young man jammed up.
He picked up the phone, and I heard his side of the conversation.
"Sir, it's Diaz, Mr. Plum is here…. Yes, I checked his ID… Yes I am sure it's him, sir. I know him from Trenton sir."
He listened for a moment and disconnected.
"Someone is on the way, sir."
Tank was on the way, I saw him emerge from the second house had jog over. After introductions, he spoke to the young man. "Sybo, Mr. Plum will be with me." To me he said, "Welcome, Mr. Plum. Stephanie will be delighted to see you, but she is working with Lester at the moment on her hand to hand combat skills. Is it possible to offer you breakfast while we wait for them to finish up."
"That sounds good to me. I don't want to interrupt the routine here."
At breakfast, I got to see Charlotte and Melvin, and we were able to catch up on their lives since my wife and I hid them in our house from that crazy Oswald Wednesday character. They confided that they were expecting their first and I promised to tell Helen and Edna. It would be happy news and Lord knows there was little enough of that to go around.
I shared that Valarie was getting ready for twins this go round, and I promised I would have Helen check in with Charlotte, as I was sure Helen would want to send a little something for the baby.
I was introduced to the RangeMen and a few looked familiar. Melvin explained Chester Duce, Martin Romero, Roger King and Vince Gomez were all working in the cyber division alongside Melvin and Charlotte.
"You met Sybo Diaz at the gate. He and Fredrick Rodriguez and Halo guard the perimeter."
"Birdman and Alamo, they left with Gabriela Rose yesterday, anyway, they are hoping to be back by tomorrow, but a couple of the guys are coming down for evaluations. Manuel Ramos, you might know him from Trenton, he will be checking us off on marksmanship, and Eagle who is coming down from Boston is reviewing our hand to hand combat skills, and Bones of course will do all the physicals and clear us for field work." Melvin explained. Charlotte cleared her throat. "I mean, the security team will be cleared for field work." Melvin hurried to add.
Clearly it was a topic of disagreement for the couple. I wisely did not comment.
After breakfast, Charlotte took me over to the house they were sharing with Ranger and my Pumpkin, set me up in the living room with the morning news, and went to work, stating Ranger would be back in under a half hour from his Physical Therapy appointment.
The news was just ending as Ranger came in.
"Good morning, Mr. Plum."
"Please call me Frank."
"Then you need to call me Carlos, sir." He made his way to the coffee maker and poured a cup, offering me a refill.
"Only if you stop calling me sir… though I think that may be a lost cause for you and your colleagues. The military does drill that home pretty ferociously."
"The do that, certainly. Frank, I know that Stephanie will be delighted to see you, but can you tell me why you are here?"
"Have you heard about Kenny Martin and the sentencing?"
"My understanding is that Terry Gilman put him in prison for the rest of his life, and that he never gave up the people who put him up to shooting Vito."
I snorted. "He wouldn't have lived long if he took the deal he was offered. Vito deserved better. It's sucks that his own nephew did the shooting. What an idiot." I poured myself more coffee. "Funny thing is, I am sure Vito would blame it on Kenny being half English. I can hear him now, 'My sister should have known better than to marry some British guy when she was studying in Oxford. Dopey broad.' He was old school in that way, I think."
"I didn't realize you knew him so well."
"Vito ran most of the numbers racket in and around Trenton. And he has lived in the Burg his whole life, as have I. And I had a conversation with him after Morelli started up with Pumpkin, to make sure she was safe. It was never a secret about him and Terry and I had to be sure my girl wasn't in the crossfire."
"I never realized." Carlos was amazed by this quiet man.
"Well, that is part of why I am here. I got word from our esteemed mayor that when Terry Gilman showed up to testify, she had a baby in arms."
"Morelli?" There was menace in Carlos' voice. I think Joe Morelli needed to be grateful he was in WitSec.
The front door opened and Stephanie walked in.
"DADDY!"
My girl flew into my arms and hugged me tight. Best feeling in the world bar none.
She broke from the hug and turned to introduce me to Lester Santos. "We were working out and both of us need to shower. It is so good to see you! How are Grandma, Mom and Valarie? And the kids and Albert? I can't wait to catch up about everyone."
"Shower first, Pumpkin. I'm not going anywhere."
"Great. Lester, you can use the shower downstairs."
They both headed off and I got a good look at my daughter as she retreated. "She looks really good."
"She is working hard to be physically in top shape." Carlos said, admiration in his voice. "Sir, I want to marry her."
"Are you asking for my permission?"
"More your blessing."
"Well, you have that of course. But she is going to need time after I tell her about Morelli and the baby."
"Sir, there are other issues on my side as well, that we should discuss when Steph gets back. Until all of it is resolved…"
"Does this have to do with RangeMan's involvement in protecting Trenton's government and businesses from the cyberattacks?"
"Tangentially yes, sir."
"So you know what the Russians are looking for." A statement.
"Sir, I know who the Russians are looking for… I am their target, sir."
"And why are you so important to them?" I ask, dread reaching deep down.
"There are a lot of moving parts to it, sir, but the crux of the matter is that they are looking for my son. They suspect I am hiding him."
"I know you have a daughter. I thought that she was your only child." Stephanie had been involved a few years back in recovering the girl. She never mentioned Carlos having a son.
"It has only recently come to light that my college girlfriend…" And Carlos filled me in on Ana and all the events that led up to the shootings. Holy hell!
Stephanie
When I got done showering and dressing and rejoined Dad, Carlos and Lester in the living room, Carlos was just getting to the discussion we had with Connie yesterday to try and find clues to where Carlos' missing son could be hidden.
"And you think Sal Bava was protecting the boy and the woman posing as his grandmother."
"That is our supposition."
"Have you looked in the Boston area." My father asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"Boston?" Carlos and Lester both looked surprised. Boston was not on our radar as far as Bava was concerned.
"A few years back, I took Bava in the cab up to Boston. We stayed overnight. Bava was adamant there be no record of him traveling there. That's why he didn't rent a car or fly. I booked the hotel rooms under my name. I earned enough in that couple of days to put a new roof on the house." Daddy looked at me. "I never asked what he was doing there, but I don't think it was anything to do with Vito."
"Well, Tank and I are going to Boston in a few days to do evaluations at the office there. Daddy, do you remember where you stayed?"
My father told us everything he remembered and then Lester and Carlos headed over to let Bobby and Tank know and to wait for Manny to turn up for firearms qualifying.
"Beautiful, we should consider having your dad go with you to Boston."
Lester wasn't wrong.
Once Carlos and Lester were on there way, I turned and asked, "So Daddy, what brought you here? It is great seeing you but I have a feeling there is more to your visit."
"Pumpkin, I have a couple of updates from Trenton. Do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"Good first please."
"Joe Juniak told me that both Carl and Eddie made detective."
"Oh that is good news! Do you know where will they be assigned?"
"Eddie will take over for Morelli in Homicide, and Carl is going to Major Crimes."
"They must be delighted."
"I know Eddie is. I think it takes some of the pressure off, financially. Shirley was on with your mom about it. I do wonder how she will manage Eddie's irregular hours."
I laughed. "That might be Eddie's favorite part of the job. Okay Daddy, so what is the bad news.?"
And my Dad sat beside me, held my hand and told me that Joe had betrayed our relationship. For a moment I felt anger, and then it eased away. I would never have to worry about what Joe and I once were to one another, all the things he didn't say before going, the whole messy history of us. It was in my rear view mirror, no need to ever look back. And then I thought of something I hadn't before.
"Joe has a son?"
Daddy nodded.
And Carlos had a son.
Odd symmetry that…
Between his mother selling the family home heading to Italy with Bella and him giving up his dog and going into WitSec with Terry, Joe had really jumped off a cliff.
Damn.
"So not only does he not have his mom to feed him, or his job as a detective, he also doesn't have anyone to help with baby care AND he has to live with Mobster Barbie is small town USA for the rest of his life doing some menial job?"
My Dad nodded. "That nicely sums up what his life is right now."
"Carlos knows?"
"Yes, Pumpkin."
"Joe always was an idiot." I got up and called for Bob. "Let's go for a walk."
