My Last Act

Upon returning home, the shit hit the fan. Danny was arrested for smuggling at his studio when a van full of Mexican meth while I was sleeping from my long flight. Elizabeth went looking for bail money in my secret hiding place behind the master bedroom dresser. I woke up to my gun in my face held by a woman who found my FBI badge. She shot the pillow and I begged her not to shoot me. Danny’s arrest was not my fault. She backed away towards the door as I tried to get up. Tears fell down her cheeks as she explained she had to do this. She fired two shots into my chest and I thought I died. I heard her run out the door. Silence filled the room. Then my cell phone went off and I knew the guys listening in on the bugs heard the shots. I laid there for a long time waiting for a higher spirit to take my soul. I blacked out. I woke up to my undercover friend shouting at me the bullets hit my ribs. I was going to be fine if I didn’t bleed to death. Cameron came home from a neighbor to find paramedics in his living room. My undercover friend took Cameron to Francie’s and put the family in protective custody. His cover blown up by now, he left with them assuring I was going to survive. I woke up again in the hospital with my parents, my grandparents, and daughter happy I was still with them. Happy New Year. When I was released from the hospital, I went to visit Danny. After he was bailed out by Constanza and told I was FBI, Danny went to his apartment to pack up his stuff to go into hiding. Elizabeth took off to one of her hiding places. Constanza was packing with him when Nico arrived asking if he were going somewhere. Danny sent Constanza out for cigarettes.

Danny knew what was coming and they had a standoff pointing guns at each other until Nico fired at him. They exchanged shots and Danny got hit in the head. Nico suffered a collar bone wound and was arrested the hallway. Constanza returned to see the police outside her apartment building and people talking about The Crow being shot. She ran to where Elizabeth was hiding with the cigarettes. Danny was in a coma for week. The agents got to him in time to save his life, but when he woke up he couldn’t speak. I assured him that his girlfriend and daughter were safe and in the protective custody with my undercover friend he knew. He seemed at peace with his situation in the prison wing. I knew he was simmering with anger at his close friend who helped him dispose of a body was a false friend who wanted him in jail. I told him Elizabeth and Constanza had fled the country on a chartered plane and I had a feeling she went to Paris because that business associate would certainly hide her. When the agents asked me where would Elizabeth go when I was in my hospital bed, I called the Paris contact to leave a message for Elizabeth to let go of Esperanza affirming she wouldn’t understand what was happening to her. Someone dropped her off at a police station with a note in French stating Americans were looking for her. I actually apologized to Danny for deceiving him for so long, it was my job. I did care for him and rather see him in jail than have The Don kill him for employing the enemy. I finished explaining how I knew about the stabbing death of his mother, how Mickey poisoned Elizabeth’s mother, discovered he was raped as a kid, and the mysterious men who shot his rapist. His eyes grew realizing I knew the truth about his deep, dark secrets. I said I was sorry he didn’t have much of a chance to live a good life because being a gangster was the only way he was ever going to succeed. I wiped the sweat off his face and walked away.

Once he formed words a month later, I asked him to cooperate with the authorities because the evidence was really stacked up against him. All he could say in return was “You put me here.” I was determined to visit him to use his hatred for me to drive him to walk again. I was there when they presented him with the parallel bars. I could tell he hated me viewing him as weak. He grabbed the bars and slowly struggled across them. Half way across he fell. I helped pick him up and carry him back to the wheelchair. He wanted to try again. We stood him up and he struggled across to make it only half way. The therapist continued building his muscles. After the therapy session, the nurse brought his food and struggled with the spoon. I opened his pudding pack and fed it to him. I said he had every right to hate me and wouldn’t blame him if he put a hit out on me. I told him about preparing to testify against The Don. He refused to testify, but did agree to a deal with the prosecutor. He was brought to the judge in a wheelchair. He stuttered that he understood the deal presented to him and agreed to the terms. I was offered a chance to speak. It was the first time Danny heard my real name.

He only had known me as Jake Connor. I recited a tale of befriending him and his best friend, building him a studio, fixing a fight, doing their laundry, selling his drugs, playing games with his kid, and helping him dispose of a body. On his good side, he cared for his girlfriend’s son before and after she died even though he didn’t have to. He even gave some of the formula that was used to cut heroin to the baby Cameron when his mother was tripping. He cared for his daughter and saw her every Sunday for lunch. He is about to become a father to a son soon. This man is not evil. This man didn’t have much opportunity to succeed outside the ghetto that was his home. Living in the apartment for months, I have grown to care what happens to him. He is not a statistic to me. I would testify against him and keep him in jail if only to keep him safe from his boss who sent an assassin to kill him. The judge accepted the plea deal of fifteen years with parole in eight. I knew Danny was still angry with me, but I think he was accepting me as someone who really did care about him, but at the same time wasn’t a doormat he was used to. When The Don’s trial produced a guilty verdict, he got twenty-five years to life. Nico went to jail for attempted murder and sentenced to fifteen years.

By the time Elizabeth was arrested in Paris and extradited back, Danny was able to walk again using a walker. He used silverware awkwardly, but could feed himself. He remained in a special area to keep him isolated from other prisoners. Anyone of them could kill him and make The Don very happy. I continued to visit him and give him letters from Francie with photos of the children. He smiled when Constanza named their son Jose after her father and stared at his son’s picture a whole minute. I told him Elizabeth had been caught in Paris. She was picking up stolen jewels from her French contacts and the law found her walking down the street after her subway restroom ruse. They followed her a block and then cut her off to arrest her. She was extradited within two months and I went to visit Elizabeth shortly after her arrival. I had gotten in a tussle arresting smugglers the day before at the airport and had my left arm in a sling from a torn tendon. She was being interviewed by the agents when I arrived. She refused to looked at me while I explained how the bullets hit my ribs to save my life. I apologized for deceiving her for so long, it was my job. She wiped her face so I wouldn’t see her cry. She asked me to leave. I refused. I asked why she was crying, was she happy I survived? She turned towards me and announced she was pregnant. The doctor in Paris said the conception date was around the time we were in Sydney, Australia. I promised I would see her again soon. Her lawyer from The Don came and ended our conversation. He gave her an envelope with a message from The Don. The envelope contained a powder she promptly snorted and rapidly went into convulsions. The doctor gave her an adrenaline shot for the overdose and saved her. Her recovery in the hospital wing involved being chained to the bed. I visited her again to beg her cooperation, the authorities have tons of evidence against her and the attempted murder of a federal agent would put her away forever. I would testify against her if only to keep her safe for The Don. Nobody told her what happened to Danny. I showed her a video I had of him telling her to be strong. When she was released from the hospital wing and put in isolation, I visited her again. This time she asked if anything of our time together was real. I told her that baby she was carrying was real. My caring for Cameron and Constanza was real. My encouragement to get Danny walking again was real.

She commented how the Bishop at their church said to her once that I was not all that I seemed. Did I tell I him I was an undercover agent and was warning her of my deception? I told her no. I had met with him in the confessional and confessed affection toward her was not part of The Plan. I explained how terrified I was to fall in love with someone I couldn’t have a future with. We are completely different people from different worlds that would only collide. The bishop was warning her of my infatuation of her. She was relieved that our time was real. She felt a little better handing over our baby to me when he or she was born. I kissed her good-bye. I heard she took a deal and I was sent over to speak at her sentencing. At the sentencing, I spoke of a girl who tried her best to survive, she made money where she could, and absorbed the lifestyle of people who took care of her. I explained she was pregnant with my child and believed her to be a loving mother who visited her children every Sunday at lunch while caring for someone else’s kid when she didn’t have to. She understood well how hard it is for children to raise themselves. She protected Constanza when she knew she was in danger of getting killed by The Don and then turned her in to the French police when I requested it. She never really had a chance to succeed outside the ghetto that was her home. I finished with stating that I petitioned the family court for custody and willingly committed to raising the child. The judge accepted the plea deal of fifteen years, parole in eight.

I only had a few more months to wait for the birth of my son Jacob named after my middle name I used as my undercover name. My daughter enjoyed my pictures of her half-brother and my ex-wife allowed her to visit us near Atlanta where I moved into my grandparents’ vacation house. My grandfather’s Parkinson’s disease got worse and they moved into a retirement community with assisted living area. My parents moved into their Antebellum house in Savannah when my father started his retirement. I transferred to take a desk job transcribing bugged conversations onto documents on my computer. I teach karate at the local community center and visit schools to teach self-defense to youngsters. My son seems happy with his nanny and learning to open doors now. We are preparing to visit his mother and Danny for Christmas. Naturally we are picking up Francie, Constanza, and the kids in the Midwest to take with us. Then we will take them down to Savannah to join my daughter and my parents in celebrating the New Year. Life is not perfect, but I’m happy with it.