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Family Matters - Part 8By Susan EvelynHe picked up his mobile phone; he turned the slim metal object over and over inhis hands. A frown creased his forehead etching deep furrows between his eyebrows.The blue grey of his eyes was arctic, and fathomless as those winter-lockednorthern waters. All warmth seemed to have been drained out of the surroundings.He had not turned on the light; the gloom from the low night lights spread longshadows across the bare floors. Taking the stairs one at a time, he draggedhimself to the bedroom area. With a contemptuous glance at the end of the bed, hesat heavily on the side overlooking the lower room. His feelings were mixed andchurning like a maelstrom in his stomach. He looked at the phone in his hand oncemore and, with a grim set to his jaw, flipped it open. He punched in numbersdredged from the back of his memory and counted the rings.Brreep 1... Brreep 2... Brreep 3...The line clicked open. There was some muffled sound from beyond. A thought flashedacross his conscious mind. He hoped the number was still valid.“Sam!” he called loudly into the receiver before the other party could speak.“Huh?” a befuddled voice responded. It sounded like the right voice, but it hadbeen a long time.“Sam!” he shouted again. “It’s Nick.”“Nick?”“Yeah, Nick. Remember? Nick Davis.”“Nick?” the sleepy mind was still processing the unfamiliar name.“Come on Sammy. Nick! David Brandt”“Oh! Dave!” sudden recognition flared through the drowsiness. “Dave? What the …”Nick heard a pillow hit the floor and the movement of bed sheets. He could imaginethat Sam, his one-time FBI supervisor, was now sitting upright in bed. “How areyou, man? Geez, what time is it?”“It’s time you got your scrawny black butt over here. There’s a dead man in mybedroom. How do you think I am?” Nick shouted into the receiver. “What? Where? Why?” the still sleepy brain tried to process the information.“You heard me. My apartment. And I think he’s one of yours,” Nick’s voice wascallous and cold as he snapped off the answers.“One of mine?” Sam was waking up fast. These were the sorts of calls he dreaded,specially in the early hours of the morning. “Just a minute. We don’t have anyoperations on at the moment.”“Well, someone does, or this guy’s gone solo. Just get over here. Now!”“Keep your shirt on. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”“Make it sooner,” Nick growled as he broke the connection.
 
Sam unfolded from his crouching position shaking his head and rubbing his handover the back of his neck. Nick recognised the habitual actions and guessed whathe was about to say.“Well, I don’t know,” Sam announced predictably. “I mean, yes, I know who it is,but he hasn’t been FBI for… aaahhh …. ‘bout as long as you.”Sam had arrived quickly, as promised. The electric kettle had not boiled by thetime he had knocked softly on the door. With a curt nod in recognition Nick hadshown him straight to the body.Sam took quick mental note of the situation, and particularly the body. Nick hadobviously not moved it other than to take off the hat to see the face. The man hadbeen expertly dispatched, a knife to the throat had cut all the major arteries andpenetrated the spinal column. Death would have been instant, as evidenced by theway the finger was still on the trigger. Cautiously he removed the gun andreplaced the safety catch.“Make a habit of losing agents?” Nick asked humorlessly.“Uh, no. I mean… Ummm, he was like you. Only he had infiltrated the Mafia. He gotthe same deal as you, a warning and a ticket out of the country.”“Well now he’s back. What for? To finish the job?” Nick was still shouting,getting angrier by the minute.“I don’t know,” Sam tried to stay calm hoping to diffuse the situation. “But lookat the clothes. Those aren’t local. Sicily, I’d guess.”“Since when are you so up with Mafia fashion?” Nick demanded. “The FBI stillworking in cahoots with them?”“I can’t answer that, you’ll take it the wrong way,” Sam searched for words thatwould not inflame the situation more. “But I can tell you for a fact that we arenot in collusion with the Mafia. They have become a serious problem in this city.Think they own the place.”“So where does he fit in?” Nick flicked his eyes towards the body.“I heard that some Mafia people had recently arrived from overseas. He must havebeen with them.”“What?” Nick was shouting again. “What sort of intelligence are you getting thesedays? You should have known for sure. With photos, names and addresses by now.When did this happen.”“Hey, hang on. I’m not with that area now.”“Well get in touch with someone who is. I want this cleaned up. Like it neverhappened. And I want my name left out of it.”Sam made a call. He spoke quickly and quietly.“Done,” he said simply as he put his mobile phone away. “But it will take time.About an hour to put the team together.”
 
Nick rolled his eyes and sighed with exasperation. He moved to the stairs.“What happened to you, Dave?” Sam asked gently as he followed him downstairs. “Youdidn’t use the ticket I gave you. You just … well… disappeared. Like you fell offthe planet or something.”“I disappeared from your world,” Nick answered coldly. “Became part of a world youcan never understand. And the name’s Nick. Coffee?”“Uhh, yeah. Okay. Nick. So now you are living the cover story?”“It became the real story, the only story.”Nick handed him a mug of coffee. Sam noted that it was the way he liked it. SoNick had not left everything behind.“You’re yakuza now? I don’t buy it. Come back to us. The FBI is your family.” .“Family looks after it’s own. It doesn’t set them up to be killed.”“It was never meant to go down like that,” Sam spoke forcefully. “Hey, man, I’msorry about your girlfriend, but it had nothing to do with us.”“Don’t talk about her,” Nick’s eyes flashed a warning. “That’s the past, itbelongs in the past. I have a new family, and a new job.”“But Da.. Nick, they’re yakuza, … you know, … the bad guys.”“Not any more,” Nick turned and looked him in the eye. “Yakuza is about justice.It may not be American “law” and it may seem brutal at times, but we are justice.In some places we are the only law keepers. And we have the means to move fast,react to change. And we look after our own.”“Guns? Drugs? Prostitutes?” Sam was looking incredulous.“Don’t confuse us with the Mafia, or the Triads, or your petty street gangs,” Nickwas contemptuous of the lack of knowledge Sam was displaying. “We are big businessnow, legitimate. We are not the enemy. I tried to tell you before, but no-onelistened. We are family, and there is honour and commitment.”Sam looked at him blankly for a few moments, digesting the veiled threat.Finishing the last of the coffee he put the mug on the counter and checked hiswatch.“They’ll be here in about 10 minutes. Probably best if you aren’t. I’ll do what Ican to keep this under wraps,” he told Nick.“You owe me that much,” Nick said coldly. “At the very least.”Nick let himself back into her apartment. Just inside the door he paused,listening. He did not expect to hear anything out of the ordinary, but wasrelieved to find everything was as it should be. Quietly he moved up the stairs toher bed. Stepping out of his clothes, he watched her sleeping peacefully, stillwrapped in the comforter from his bed. He slid in beside her, nestling against hersoft warm body.
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