"Maybe he does. Regardless, we have to keep our involvement under wraps as much as we can, at least until we've got something the cops can charge these guys with. You know, hard evidence, stuff that can't 'get lost' in a police station."
"I agree,” Ben stated. “But Mr. Mask, if he is working with Captain Smith, he's gonna tell him about you and me. He knows we're on his tail, and he's gonna want all the protection he can get."
I wondered if Ben had any idea what had happened last night.
"Ben, did Panetti message you last night?"
He looked surprised. "No, I didn't hear anything from him. Why? What happened?"
I let out a long, slow sigh.
"There was some, uh, drama last night."
"Drama? How so? What happened?" Ben asked.
"Panetti messaged me about a deal that was about to go down. Said I had a good chance of catching Mr. Mask. I just assumed that he’d told you as well – I guess he hadn't, though. And I was an idiot – I didn't bring my phone with me. I got so caught up in things that I raced off to the place and left my phone behind."
"Where was this?" Ben questioned.
"The same apartment building we scoped out."
"Ah, alright. And what happened there?"
"I uh, I got shot…by Mr. Mask," I informed him.
Ben's jaw dropped with surprise. "You what? You got shot?!"
I nodded. "I was lucky. It’s just a flesh wound. I have a friend who is a, well, a vet."
"You mean someone who works on dogs and cats? That kinda vet?" he posed.
"That kinda vet, yeah. He stitched up the wound."
"Everett, you didn't go to a hospital?! Are you crazy?! You let a freakin' vet see to something as serious as a freakin' gunshot wound?!"
"Relax, Ben. Like I said, it wasn't a serious wound. Look at me; I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about?! Listen to you man! Now we’re getting shot at? I’d say that's plenty to worry about! I want to stop these guys, don't get me wrong, but I don't want to get killed doing it. I don't know, Everett, I don't know. Maybe we should rethink this. We aren't cops, and we aren’t trained soldiers. And this seems to be turning into a war zone. Maybe, maybe we're getting in over our heads here."
"Ben, if we don't stop these guys, who will? Look at Captain Smith! He's not going to do a damn thing about this. Hell, it's obvious he's likely in on the whole thing! He doesn't want to catch these guys. Look, I understand you might be scared. I mean, sure, any reasonable person would be. And... and I understand if you want to bow out now. There's no shame in that. You're right; you're not a soldier, you're not a cop. And yes, we're in way deeper now than we thought we would be. But me? I'm not giving up. I'm not going to allow this Mr. Mask scumbag and his henchmen to walk all over us, to ruin the lives of the kids at JFK High. If Captain Smith isn't going to do anything about it, well, someone has to. And that someone is gonna be me. I won't sit back and watch these guys destroy so many young lives. I don't care what the risk is to myself; I won't sit back and let it happen."
Ben nodded, his jaw tightening with determination and new courage flaring up in his eyes.
"And that's why we got you here," he said with quiet determination. "That's why we got you here. You're right. We're the only ones who can do this. And we have to do it. We have to save these kids and stop these bastards. I'm sorry for being a coward. I'm with you all the way, Ev…all the way."
I put my arm around his shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"You're no coward, Ben. Not at all. You're braver than many men who carry guns every day. I guarantee you that."
"Thanks, I appreciate you saying that. I just want to do what's right, you know?"
"I know, I know. We're both on the same page," I told him.
"Well, what did you find out last night then – besides how it feels to get shot?"
I chuckled dryly. "Yeah, that wasn’t my favorite part of the evening. The dealer in the building, I saw him hand over a big briefcase filled with a ton of cash to Mr. Mask who, in turn, handed him a bag full of drugs. I wanted to kick myself; if I had caught that on camera, it would have been the hard evidence we need. Unfortunately, I didn't – and that's when I got shot."
"Well, you must have at least spooked them. Now they know we're aware of where they're dealing from."