Gabe: The Alvarez Security Series (29 page)

“I bet if you tell her that you’re sorry, she won’t be mad anymore.”

“Well, that lady wanted to put on a show for everyone around and if I’d been mean to her then a lot of people wouldn’t have understood that. But that’s not an excuse. I hurt your sister. I just hope she’ll hear me out the way you have.”

Not willing to stay in the room eavesdropping anymore, she stepped quietly into the tiny hall. She could see Gabe sitting on the sofa, facing her way. His hand was on Ross’ neck, holding him as they talked. Man to man.

A tear slid from her eye, down her cheek. Sucking in her lips, she felt her breath catch in her throat.

Gabe’s gaze looked over Ross’ head and met hers. “So buddy, do you think your sister will forgive me for not protecting her last night?”

Ross, oblivious to Jennifer’s presence, said, “She’ll forgive you. You just tell her like you told me and she’ll be okay. She loves you, you know.”

Looking back down at Ross, he asked, “So are we cool again?”

In typical little boy fashion, Ross threw himself at Gabe and gave him a hug. This time Gabe was surprised. Feeling Ross’ arms tighten around his neck, he felt the profound emotion of helping a child. A child that he loved. His gaze went back to Jennifer as Ross continued to hug. Slowly, as he disengaged from Ross, he stood up.

With a sob, she ran the few steps into the room and launched herself into his arms. Holding on as tightly as Ross had been, she wrapped her legs around Gabe’s waist. “I love you, honey,” she cried.

Gabe’s heart melted as he let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “I love you too, babe.” He felt something against his thigh and knew that Ross was holding on as well. Gently lowering himself to the sofa again, he curled one arm around Ross as he held Jennifer close. Protected. Safe. Loved. Together.

*

Hours later, back
in Gabe’s apartment when Ross had gone to bed, Gabe and Jennifer settled down on his sofa. Pulling her into his arms, he said, “Okay baby. You need to unload everything on me.”

“Unload what?” she asked in confusion.

“All the shit that’s swirling around in your head and in your life. Everything that’s going on that needs to be sorted out.”

Sucking in a deep breath, she said, “Oh honey, there’s just so much going on. But I’ll deal with it all.”

“Not the right answer, sweetheart.”

She laughed, repeating, “Not the right answer?”

“I fucked up big last night. I didn’t take care of you and you’ve no idea how much that sucks for a man like me. You do so much for everyone and part of my job of loving you is to make your life easier.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. “Nope, not hearing excuses. Just want to hear problems.”

It had been a really long time since she’d had someone to unload her problems to.
Maybe, must maybe…it’ll help.

“Sometimes I feel like a juggler who has too many balls in the air. And if I’m not careful, then they’re all going to come crashing down.” She shook her head, sighing. “Gabe, I teach people how to problem solve and yet, I can’t seem to break down my problems right now into manageable pieces.”

“So let me help. Let’s start with work,” Gabe encouraged.

“I went to that stupid event last night because the Senator and his wife invited me, but the enticement was that I would meet some others to support the cause of elder housing. Nope. The ones I met just wanted to see the
stars.
And every time I try to go see him, his assistant Monty seems to make it his business to try to keep me from progressing.”

At this, Gabe’s senses began to go on alert, but he kept quiet since it seemed as though she was on a roll.

“And it’s not as though my co-workers, who I might add are actually friends, are helping. Roy didn’t have my phone number to call me when something was important and Sybil sent the wrong papers with me. On top of that, my boss Chip may be working against me as well. I found some phone doodles in his office that looked like he was talking to someone about the center.

“Then there was the man from the City inspectors who threatened to shut us down but when I called my inspector from the state, he didn’t know who this man was. Throw in the stomach virus that has gone through the city, hitting the residents and now Ross, and top it all off with Alicia Morgenstern’s boobs publicly stuck to my boyfriend…what else can go wrong?” she ended, throwing up her arms.

Sucking in a deep breath through his nose before letting it out, Gabe processed everything she had said.
Work the problem. Treat it like a mission.
Lifting her chin so that she was looking directly into his eyes, he started, “There is no more Alicia. She’s done. Contract’s over. No more. And Tony’s not putting me on escort detail again…I didn’t even have to tell him, although I did. No more nights like last night.

“The flu sucks but so far the residents are recovering and Ross will too. He’s young and will bounce back quickly. We need to keep him hydrated and comfortable, but he’ll get better. Right now, I’m more concerned about your work. This Monty character, your co-workers, and why the fuck didn’t you tell me about this man who came there?”

“Because in the past week, we’ve both been so busy we’ve barely seen each other,” she retorted.

Calming his voice, Gabe said, “Okay, give me his name and I’ll do some checking.” He looked at her tired eyes and said, “Enough tonight. You need to sleep and I want to be here to make sure you do. And we’ll keep our door open and Ross’ open in case he gets up in the night.”

She looked at his face, seeing the fatigue around his eyes as well.
He’s exhausted and yet trying to sort out my mess and help take care of Ross.
Blessing him with a small smile, she leaned in and kissed him, breathing him in and feeling all of the fight leave her body. “Okay.”

Wrapping his arms around her as they both lay in bed, his mind quickly ticked off the things that needed to be done the next day. Number one…find the prick that came into the building and threatened her.

*

Gabe watched the
man leaving the municipal building, walking toward his car. Stepping between the man and the car, he called out, “Mr. Burton?”

The man’s head snapped up, staring at the giant in front of him. “Who…who wants to know?”

“Me,” came the succinct response.

“I’ve been doing what I was told. Ain’t my fault nothin’s happened so far,” Mr. Burton babbled, sweat breaking out on his face.

Gabe eyed him carefully, saying nothing.

“That’s what you’re here for, ain’t it?” he said, nervously looking around.

“You want to tell me why nothing’s happened?” Gabe asked, deciding to play along and let Mr. Burton think he was someone else.

“I don’t know. I just did what I was told and that little lady called in someone from the state, so I got out of there. But I did what I was asked.”

“Now you want to tell me who asked you to do that?”

Mr. Burton wiped his brow as the sweat began to slide down his face. “You mean…you ain’t…?”

Gabe took a step forward, growling, “Answer the fuckin’ question.”

“I…I…” he opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water.

Gabe leaned in closer, clenching his hands into fists.

“I just get a call and make a visit to wherever I’m told to go. And sometimes I write them up for some kind of violation.”

“Who told you to go to the Elder Center on 21
^st
Street?”

Mr. Burton licked his lips nervously. “I don’t know.” Seeing Gabe step closer, he shouted out, “I swear, I don’t know. I just get a call and then afterward I get a payment in an envelope under my car seat.”

“I find out you’re lying to me, it’ll be worse than whoever the hell is getting you to do their dirty work. And I’m telling you right now, you ditch that false report on the Elder Center or I’ll use this and you’ll lose your job and your pension.” With that, Gabe pulled out the miniature recording device in his pocket showing the recording of their conversation.

Mr. Burton’s eyes bugged out of his head once more as he stammered, “Oh, I promise. No more. I won’t bother ’em no more.”

Gabe shook his head in disgust and walked away. Driving back to the office he called Tony. “Got a situation. Need a meeting when we get back. Yeah. Thanks.”

*

Gabe found the
conference room already filled when he walked in. Tony, Jobe, Vinny, BJ, Lily, and several others. Looking around the room in question, the answer came simply from Tony.

“You need us, we’re here.”

Grateful, he nodded before sitting down. “Had a long talk with Jennifer last night and there’s been a lot of shit happening that seemed all unrelated until I lay in bed and started questioning it. Then did a little recon today and now…”

Vinny leaned forward, concern in his eyes. “Let’s hear it, man.”

Gabe began to explain about Jennifer’s grant, the five-year lease that now the building’s owner seemed to be nervous about, the problems with the Senator’s assistant, and then the bogus inspection from a city inspector on the take.

BJ and Lily were on their laptops quickly pulling up information as Gabe was reporting. Lily’s soft voice spoke up. “Martin Burton. Health inspector with the city for the past twelve years. Good record, good job performance.” A few more clicks on her keyboard. “Hmm, looks like he spends more than he earns.”

BJ chimed in, “About three years ago, it seems that his bank account had deposits at various intervals of significant amounts of cash. Could be when he started doing bogus inspections on the side. They correspond with some buildings that were condemned, then sold.”

Lily added, “Montgomery Lytton looks fine, but I’m sure he would have had a background check and security clearance to work for the Senator.” Looking up at Gabe, she said, “Maybe he’s just very protective of the Senator’s time.”

Before Gabe could answer, BJ spoke up. “If you keep digging though, this Mr. Lytton almost looks too squeaky clean. Nobody’s that clean.”

Tony interjected, “You think someone cleaned up his background?”

BJ shrugged. “Don’t know, but I’ll keep digging.”

Gabe looked at concerned faces of his co-workers sitting at the table. Most of them had sat like this, working out the details of a military mission. The addition of BJ and Lily just made the group more well-rounded. Brothers-in-arms then…and now. “I really appreciate it. I mean I’ve got nothing to go on more than her concerns and my gut. But, I’ve got a bad feeling since her attack was not random. The guy Matt and Shane got clammed up real tight. Only way someone like that doesn’t cop a plea is if they know what will happen if they talk.”

“You want me to pull Matt and Shane into this?” Tony asked.

“Not yet. Let’s see if we can find out anything else first,” Gabe answered.

G
etting home that
night, Gabe felt better than he had in several days. He had Alvarez Security working on Jennifer’s problems, he had talked to his mom, convincing her that everything was fine with his relationship with Jennifer, and hopefully he could take some of the stress off of her.