Chapter 11

As jay drove through the gates of his complex he could see his house sitting down in that little bowl below him. The desert landscaping was well trimmed and nearly blooming. He was reminded how hard he and his wife had worked to be able to live there. His wife was now completely content at long last. He worried that this perhaps, final adventure, would disrupt or destroy their marriage but he felt he had no choice. If he didn’t solve this problem of his nephew’s, they could be next in line or so he thought.

Jay could smell the aroma of the desert as he pulled into his garage. He climbed out of his car, closed the garage door and walked into the dark, cool kitchen. His wife sat in the den in front of the large television watching the news again. He thought that might be a good sign. If she was so concerned about this issue with the family then she might be convinced that this tact of his was the right avenue to follow. He would downplay his role in the whole scenario and make her think that he was simply helping the police at their request. He had connections after all.

“Hello dear,” Jay said as he bent down to kiss is wife’s cheek. How are you?” “Fine dear she said as if he wasn’t really there. She stared intently at the television and watched the lips of the attractive blond woman move as she spoke. “They are still no closer to solving this attack than a week ago dear.” Jay saw his chance and took it.

“The chief has asked me for some help on this case. He knows that I might be the only person that Billy will talk to honestly and I he knows that I still have some connections in that world of drugs and criminals. They don’t have the time to develop the connections that I have made over many years. They want me to be a conduit of information for them while they work on developing other leads.

“I’m not sure about the sound of that. Are you going to go undercover and put yours self in danger again to search out new clues or are you simply going to take calls from your informants and pass them along?”

Sadly, I don’t think it will be that simple. I will have to go out into the field to meet with some new connections to find the links that will help us track down the perps and build a case against them. It shouldn’t be that risky,” he lied.

“Well, you know the best way to handle this situation, I guess. But if you get hurt you will have more problems than those coming from the cartel. You will have more on your hands than you could ever imagine. I will come at you like never before. These are our retirement years you are talking about. The years we worked so hard to plan out with all the trips and pleasures we were to enjoy together. If those are lost, you will wish you had never met me. Do you understand me?” Jay thought for a moment about his wife and who she was. He understood that she had been a very accommodating wife over the years but not due to lack of strength of character. She had played her role as needed in the marriage. Now, as always, she was making her feelings very clear.

“Yes dear. This will be a short stint and completely safe. I promise. I will be very careful and take no unnecessary chances. You know that I am a good cop. I won’t let you down dear.”

“I am going along with this reluctantly and with reservations dear.” Jay kissed her again and left the room for his office. He had several details to work out to start this venture.