Chapter Eighteen #2
Mars grinned at me and patted me on the back. “Candy forgot to mention that while Raven and Miguel cleaned up the bathroom, they added something for ya.”
I furrowed my brow. Now I was really curious. “Okay.”
Candy turned on the microwave and then followed Mars and me as I wheeled down the hall, through my bedroom, and into the en suite bathroom.
I saw it, the minute I rolled in. The tub’s glass enclosure was wide open and inside, I immediately noticed the grab bars someone had installed on the tile walls.
Someone had put a sturdy plastic seat inside the tub so that I could position myself right below the shower spray.
I shook my head and glanced back at my two friends who smiled from the doorway.
“Miguel and Raven did this?”
“Yeah. In case you’re alone in the house, you can take a shower,” Candy said, walking into the room.
He scooted past me and pulled the newly installed handheld showerhead out of its cradle, handing it to me.
It was one of those long ones with a flexible cord and a large rainfall showerhead.
“Just turn on the taps and you don’t have to stand to use the shower. ”
I marveled at the thoughtfulness as I leaned over and set the shower head back in the cradle, feeling my eyes blur with tears. I deliberately didn’t look either man in the eyes as I cleared my throat.
“That was real nice of the guys. I gotta call and thank ‘em.”
“There’s also a grab bar for the toilet,” Mars said, pointing out the bar which had been added to take the place of the tissue roll.
The toilet paper was now sitting in a brand spanking new holder which sat on the floor within grabbing distance of the toilet.
I could picture myself using the bar to help move from the wheelchair to the toilet seat.
“Wow, that’s amazin’.” I swallowed hard and looked at the guys, trying hard not to lose it entirely in front of them. I cleared my throat again. “Well, let’s see if them empanadas are hot.”
The three of us sat at the table and ate the most delicious food I’d probably ever had.
I was silent throughout the meal and after all the dishes had been washed and put away, the two men headed for the front door.
I buzzed along behind them, stopping when they did.
Candy turned, glancing around the house before looking back at me.
“It felt strange leaving you here to fend for yourself, so you’re gonna have company in an hour or so. ”
“Company?”
Candy nodded. “Alain is going to be moving in for a few days, just until you feel confident in getting around on your own.”
I shook my head. “Candy, that ain’t necessary.”
He exchanged a look with Mars before glancing back.
“The whole team made an executive decision about it, so there’ll be no arguments, Monroe.
Oh, and you should know he’ll also be around to do errands whenever you need him during his off hours, once he moves out.
You know his apartment is right around the corner. ”
“That’s real nice, Candy, but where’s he gonna bunk? It’s a small house.”
He grinned. “I forgot to mention the guys cleaned out that spare bedroom you never use and made the bed up with fresh sheets.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out my phone, holding it out to me.
“I almost forgot to leave this with you. I retrieved it with your other belongings in your hospital room closet. Someone must have found it on your person when they brought you to the ER. It’ll need a good, long charge.
Keep it with you and don’t even hesitate to call Alain… or any of us if you need help.”
I was so damned humbled it wasn’t even funny. “Thanks, Candy. You guys goin’ back to the office?”
He nodded, looking at his watch. “Yeah, but you can expect Alain in about an hour, like I said. Oh, and I’ll be back with Raven and Judy this evening.”
I frowned. “What for?”
“To go over the raid we have planned for tomorrow night.”
“What?”
“I—ah—sorry, I forgot to tell you. We’re raiding the office building tomorrow night.” Before I could ask more questions, he patted me on the shoulder. “Full briefing at six p.m., okay?”
It’d been a day of pleasant surprises. “Yeah, thanks, guys, and please—” I cleared my throat again. “Tell the team what they done for me, was real nice.”
“You’d do the same for us, Rex,” Mars said.
He was right. They were all like brothers to me.
They walked to the door, saluting smartly before heading out.
I closed it behind them, locking up, and turning the chair around.
The house was completely silent and only then did I realize how weird it felt to be completely alone.
Then again, if I hadn’t been such a stubborn asshole, I wouldn’t be alone at all.
Alain arrived an hour later, just as Candy had promised, with a smile on his face and a duffel slung over one shoulder. I grinned, glad of the company and showed him back to my spare bedroom. Just before six that night, my doorbell rang. Candy stood on the stoop with Judy and Raven.
“Nice to see they finally gave you an electric wheelchair, Rex,” Judy said.
“Yeah, it’s great.” I rolled forward. “I thank God I have hardwood floors. Otherwise, gettin’ around would’ve been a damned challenge.”
She chuckled, walking by my side as she rested one hand on my shoulder. “We brought you a toy, so you’ll get to watch the raid right here from the safety of your own home tomorrow.” She hefted the large FBI secure laptop.
“All the guys will be wearing helmet cams, so you’ll get a firsthand view in real time,” Candy said.
“Oh, yeah?” I smiled. “Can’t wait to hear what’s happenin’.” I led the way to my dining table. “This is probably the best place to set up.” I glanced at Candy. “I can assume someone’ll be here in case I lose connection.”
He nodded. “Judy will be here with you tomorrow night, but Mathis and Joy will be participating in the raid with us.”
“I’ll come back after we’re done, old chap,” Alain said, patting me on the back.
It felt shitty to know I was in no condition to provide sniper cover for my teammates.
I had no doubt Mars would be in a sniper nest somewhere, but I couldn’t help but feel left out.
It really was nice that Candy wanted to include me in some small way.
Judy sat down beside me and opened the laptop while the others took seats across the table.
As I looked at the screen, she began punching keys.
The screen suddenly divided into four separate blank screens.
“This software allows me to pull up feeds from as many helmet cams as I want,” she said.
“Right now, the helmets are in storage but once the raid begins, these screens will be filled.” She looked over at Candy.
“I’m guessing you’ll want one from the guys rappelling from the roof, one from the front door of the office when it’s raided and how many others? ”
The boss looked thoughtful. “Let’s do two cams from the office door ingress since individual teammates will be looking in different directions.
I’ll need one since I’ll be on point, and Mickey will be bringing up the rear as we breach; do one on his helmet cam also.
Maybe one more on Patsy’s helmet cam since he’s going to be rappelling down from the roof with Napoleon and perhaps only one other from Mars since he’ll be in the sniper perch across the street.
You’ll only need to switch to his helmet cam if one of our targets somehow manages to get out of the office since he’s going to be watching for that.
I like to think we learned our lesson from the last time we raided a high rise. ”
“That sounds good.” She shut the laptop and smiled at me. “All set. I’ll get here tomorrow about…” She glanced at Candy. “What time?”
“The raid here is scheduled to begin at nine when we know all the players will be here. It’ll be eleven p.m. in Lima and since we’re timing our raid to coincide with theirs, that’s what time everyone wants to begin.
You should be here by eight, just in case there are issues with the Internet connection here at the house.
” He looked at me. “Don’t worry about us getting a secure line.
Judy and Raven already have that all set up. ”
I glanced at Raven. It sounded like they’d thought of everything but since I really had no idea of all the raid’s particulars, it was hard to say. “Is someone gonna fill me in on exactly what’s supposed to be happenin’? You said somethin’ about all the players bein’ here.”
Raven nodded, and Candy slid over the file folder he’d brought with him. Flipping it open, he pointed to a photo of a tall building’s roof.
“I’ll get to the players in a second. I wanted to show you this first.” He tapped the picture. “This is an overhead satellite view of the sixteen-story commercial building in Studio City where Tawantinsuyu Imports is located. They’re on the third floor like I explained before.”
There were several buildings lined up in a row on the north side of the street where it was located.
There were also a number of buildings on the opposite side of the street but one in particular, appeared to be shorter with a bigger footprint.
He glanced at me to make sure I was following. I nodded as he went on.
“Directly across the street beside a Gelson’s market, located here—” Candy pointed to the short building, “is another office building of almost the same number of stories.”
“Lucky for us, the third through fifth floors of that building have been temporarily vacated since the entire building is undergoing earthquake retrofits which are significantly overdue according to the manager. They’re apparently going floor by floor so they don’t have to evacuate a bunch of tenants at once,” Raven added.
I smirked. “Since there was a major earthquake in the San Fernando Valley in the early 90s, I should say they’ve been takin’ their sweet time, but what do I know?”