“Does anyone know what this film is about that Jeremiah is in?” Chase asked.
Jeremiah had invited us all to come out to Los Angeles for his big movie premiere. It was the first time we were all going with our girlfriends and wives. It was actually the first time we had all hung out in a very long time.
“Where is Jackson?” Chase asked.
“He and Roxanne are on their way. They just got in from Italy and are changing planes to join us.”
“I’m excited to see Roxanne and Jackson,” Ana said.
I knew she would be excited to see them. It was mostly the two of them who had helped rescue her. Chase and I had only been there for manpower and to help where we could. Jackson was the one trained in tracking people down and he was much more willing to get involved in illegal activity than I was. Except when Stephano was concerned; I had been more than willing to turn to the dark side to get rid of that asshole from our lives.
We didn’t talk about Stephano anymore. It was a part of the past and there was nothing to talk about anymore. Officially, none of us knew what had happened to him. We only knew what we had seen in the news: Stephano Copal was shot dead in a drug deal gone wrong.
The death of Stephano had triggered an all-out gang war across southern Florida. Each gang blaming the other for the incident and none of them taking credit for what had happened until the news started saying that the person who killed Stephano was the most powerful person in all of the gangs. After that story came out, dozens of people took credit for Stephano’s death, and many of them ended up dead after they announced that they had murdered him.
Stephano’s death may not have been a legit kill of a bad guy like I had done while I was overseas or protecting clients, but I never lost any sleep over it. Sure, I hadn’t pulled the trigger myself, but I had issued the order and paid a man very well for his skills in that area. It was my fault that Stephano was dead. Actually, it was Stephano’s fault he was dead. If he hadn’t been such a horrible person, nothing would have happened to him.
“Let’s get this party started,” Roxanne yelled as she climbed the steps to the plane.
Roxanne was a vivacious red head who had a personality just as strong as her red hair. There wasn’t anyone else on earth who I thought could actually handle Jackson; the two of them were paired up perfectly.
She and Jackson had been like water and oil when they had first met while trying to find Ana. But over the years, the two of them had practically molded into one person. They were both outrageous at times and had strong backgrounds that guided them in what they were doing.
“I need a drink, stat,” Jackson said as he climbed on board as well.
“I’ll grab you guys some rum and Cokes; you must be exhausted,” I said as I went back to the stewardess to get the drinks started.
“Ana, oh my God, you look so fucking amazing,” Roxanne said as she sat down next to Ana and the two of them started talking like they were sisters.
It was Roxanne who had given us all the information we needed to find Stephano and she had given up her life to hunt him down. If things hadn’t have went as well as they did, Roxanne would have been the one dead. We were really lucky
that she had met Ana and wanted to help her when we arrived at her place of work.
“She does look pretty damn good, doesn’t she?” I said as I slid my arm around her and pulled Ana close to me.
Ana was a strong, independent woman who was taking on the world one step at a time. She had insisted on being part of my new company and I really couldn’t tell her no at all. But since we were talking about getting married and having children, Ana decided to help run the home office while I signed up new clients. We even agreed that I wouldn’t be deploying much at all, and instead hired on some of the best guys I knew to work for me.
Of course, Baller and Sandbag came to work for me. After everything that had happened in Syria, there was no more business for Blankenship and a lot of workers came to work with me. Blankenship retired and sold me his client list, so I had a built-in group of clients without having to start from scratch.
“Is Jeremiah still dating that nineteen-year-old?” George asked.
George didn’t seem happy at all; not even going to a movie premiere could make him smile. It was going to be a long trip if George didn’t get his act together and start participating in life. He was the one of us who had been living life. He got married first, had children, and was doing all that domestic living stuff well before any of the rest of us. I had been looking forward to asking for advice from him, but I figured he probably wouldn’t be interested in giving advice out now that he was going to get a divorce.
Divorce wasn’t anything I ever wanted to be part of. I was going to make sure I picked a woman who I loved no matter what, so I wouldn’t have to get a divorce.
“No, I think he’s single now. His filming schedule has been pretty crazy for the last few months.”
“He texted me last week and said he was dating a starlet or something, that he’s filming his own stunts,” Chase added.
“What? His own stunts?” I was not happy about that.
The movie industry was notorious for making stars film their own stunts and then having them get hurt in the process. One of Jeremiah’s friends had actually been killed while filming a shooting scene, and somehow there had been an actual real bullet in the gun instead of a blank.
“Yeah, he seemed pretty stoked about it though, so don’t be a downer, Nate.”
“Chase, since when did you become the guy who wanted to stop people from being downers? I thought you were the new uber professional who was in charge of everything and had everything in perfect order now.”
“Yes, Nate, I am that person. But Jeremiah is having fun and you don’t need to ruin that.”