Chapter Four
Present
Jay dials Tucker’s number as he paces back and forth in the living room.
“Yo,” Tucker answers.
“Boooooy, did you see the news?”
“What?”
“Turn on the news.”
Jay waits patiently as Tucker does so. He smiles.
“Boooooooy,” Tucker says.
“Right? Hang on. Lemme call Kendra.”
Jay hangs up on Tucker before dialing and calling his other friend.
“Ken, did you—”
“I was already watching it, Jay,” Kendra says. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna get this.”
“You’re not?”
“Jay, Tom said there’s no guarantee of anyone surviving the process.”
“Who the hell is Tom?”
“The anchorman.”
“Oh, well,” Jay looks around at the room as he rubs his face in disappointment, “I gotta go.”
Jay hangs up and redials Tucker.
Tucker answers. “Dude, you didn’t say bye.
“What?”
“You didn’t say bye. People only hang up on others in movies.”
“I was calling you right back.”
“Still. You saying bye makes me feel all fuzzy inside.”
“Shut up.” Jay looks up and smiles as his mother walks in. He runs up to her and hugs her tightly. She hugs back. “Hey, Mom.”
“Ah, Moms is there. We can talk later,” Tucker says.
“Keep talking to your friends. We’ll chat later,” Jackie says.
“Well, okay then,” Tucker says. Jay watches his mom walk off before refocusing on his conversation with Tucker.
“Can you believe Ken wasn’t onboard? She has the money to do it!”
“I mean, I’m not crazy about it either. Dyin’ doesn’t sound too fun. Plus, I can’t leave Eva behind,” Tucker says. “Plus, the whole being-expensive-as-shit thing.”
Jay walks to a window and stares outside. It feels empty.
“Dude, Kendra and I have seen you hangin’ around the Durante family. Everything good?” Tucker questions.
“Yeah…it’s just I needed the money. Didn’t have anywhere else to turn. Rent was due,” Jay sighs.
“Damn. I wish I could’ve helped.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it.”
“If I knew you were stuck, I would’ve tried to help. You gotta tell me what’s going on when you run into problems, man,” Tucker presses.
“It’s cool, Tuck.”
“There’s always another option.”
“Well,” Jays says, “what would you have done?”
Silence. Jay’s heartbeat speeds up at the thought there could have been another out and questions if he chose wrong. He questions if he used paying rent and the hospital bill as excuses when he really just wanted to be involved and a part of something.
Tucker speaks up, “Good question. Can’t answer, Eva’s here. I’ll talk to you later, dude.”
“Yeah.”
“Bye.”
Jay hangs up the phone and shoves it in his pocket. He continues to stare out the window. Instead of seeing nothing, he focuses on his reflection frowning in the window.
#
The next day, Jay gets home and opens the mailbox. He looks inside and sees a bill. He frantically opens the envelope and stares, his hand shaking from at the amount.
Ms. Crawford exits her side of the house and locks the door behind her. She turns and sees Jay.
“Ah, Mr. Jones,” she says. Jay doesn’t look up from the bill. “Rent is still due. It’s been almost a full week. One more day and—”
“Yeah,” Jay cuts her off.
“I would hate to—”
Jay looks up from the bill and glares at Ms. Crawford as if his look could pierce through her soul.
“I get it,” he says. He walks back into his house, leaving Ms. Crawford standing motionless.
#
Jay sits in front of Durante, who chews on a cigar. Isaic stands behind the boss with his arms folded. Ignitro is nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Matteo?” Jay asks.
Durante pulls out a lighter and lights his cigar. “Out. Meetin’ with someone, I think. Shame I gotta light my own cigar.” He looks at Jay as he continues to light it.
“Um…” Jay stalls. “I could use a favor…sir.”
“Thought we were already doing you one,” Durante says. “I just paid you.”
“You are, and you have, boss. But it’s just…”
Durante squints at Jay. “Just what, kid?”
“It’s not enough. There are, let’s call them deadlines, coming up.”
Durante leans forward. “Deadlines for?”
Jay takes a deep breath before speaking. “Rent’s due. And we just got a hospital bill in the mail today. My mother was mugged, and she had a heart attack.”
Durante stares at Jay. “Shame. How much you need?”
“Ten thousand total.”
Durante leans back and pulls a drawer out from his desk. He digs around before he pulls out a stack of cash.
“Fifty thousand cover it?”
“Uh…that might be a little much,” Jay says.
“Nonsense, kid. Not for the stuff you’ve done. I mean, it’s exceptional. You haven’t even fought on the jobs I’ve sent you on, and you fit right in! You might have a gift.”
“I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”
“Speakin’ of gift.”
Ignitro walks in. Jay gets up to leave.
“Ah-ah,” Durante says. Isaic steps from behind Durante’s desk and walks to Jay. He hands Jay a raincoat and leather gloves.
“Go with Matteo and Isaic. They’ll brief you on the way.”
#
Jay sits squished in the backseat of an SUV, with Ignitro on his right and Isaic on his left. Jay looks back and forth between them.
“Durante said you guys would brief me.”
Ignitro sighs. “There’s no need for that.”
The truck slows to a stop.
“Out. Now,” Ignitro commands.
Ignitro steps out with Jay following behind him. Isaic gets out on his side. It’s dark outside, with the only light coming from flickering, dim, yellow streetlights. They are near a highway underpass, but Jay can’t hear any cars or people nearby. The only noise he hears is a dog barking and the constant thrum of the flickering lights with the combined humming Jay believes to be cicadas.
The building they’re standing in front of has no lights on the outside and is shaped just like a giant, gray cube.
They walk up to the front door, and Ignitro opens it. Isaic trails behind both Ignitro and Jay.
“Stay close.”
There is a flash, and a small flame floats above Ignitro’s hand. They approach another door. Ignitro snuffs the flame before he kicks this door open. A man in the middle of the room jumps from the noise. There is only a single light bulb swinging above the table the man sits at, just as yellow and dim as the light outside.
“Hands on the table,” Isaic bellows.
The man does as ordered. As Jay walks up, he sees the man has already been interrogated, bruises and wounds covering his body. Jay feels his face warm because, in his mind, the man looks similar to Hector.
“Just get what you can out of him,” Ignitro says.
“I told you all I know,” the man says, panting heavily.
“Lies,” Isaic retorts.
“Why do want me to do it? It seems like you already did a number on him,” Jay says.
“Dad wants you to get your hands dirty,” Ignitro explains. “You’ve had it a little too easy. Especially considering the amount he’s paying you. And the pay raise you just got.”
Jay wonders if this was really still for his mother or if he let things get out of control. He was sure this is illegal, and the Durantes might want to use it against him should he ever consider leaving.
And here Ignitro and Isaic were, here to watch him. To make sure he did this job. He felt betrayed considering he was starting to like them as people, as friends even. They’d probably kill him if he didn’t do this. He’s already seen enough that could probably shut down the organization. He needed to make sure they trusted him so they wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt him. This was for survival at this point, but it didn’t hurt that this man looked like the guy who mugged his mother. Maybe that’s why they caught him. Did they know?
Jay grabs the man’s hand. He feels the coarseness of his fingers and more scars he can’t see. They both breathe heavily now. Jay bends one of the man’s fingers back until it breaks.
“GAAAAAAHHHH!!”
Something snaps in Jay’s mind, and he thinks of Hector’s wide-eyed, wide-mouthed smiling face.
“You—” Jay says as he punches the man across the face. He hangs his head low in response. Jay looks at his own bloodied fist.
“Jesus,” the man says.
Jay looks back at Ignitro and Isaic. Ignitro has his arm out, signaling for Jay to continue.
Jay raises a fist and proceeds to repeatedly beat the man in his face, Jay’s knuckles getting bloodier with each blow.
After the flurry of punches, the man speaks through his swollen and bloodied face.
“All right! All right! I’ll talk.”
Jay, his eyes wide and sweat beading down his brow, mouth slightly agape, looks back again at Ignitro and Isaic, questioning what he just did. Ignitro and Isaic smile.
“Good stuff,” Ignitro says.
#
Jay enters his house. The room is dark. The lights are off. He turns to slowly and quietly closes the door behind him.
“Boy, where have you been?”
Jay spins around to see his mother. He holds his chest with a sigh of relief.
“Jesus, Mom, you scared—”
“You don’t think I’ve been scared?” She gets up to turn a light on and stomps toward Jay. “You’ve been sneakin’ out at night. I don’t know what you’ve been doing.”
She grabs and pinches his ear. He winces.
“Now, where have you been?” She drags him to the couch and plops him down. Jay groans and tries to stall. His mother frowns, glaring at him as he tells her.
“The Durantes?!” she shouts.
“Kinda.”
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from them, Jay?”
“Kinda.”
Jackie sighs. “I appreciate you trying to help, but there are better ways to go about this.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know right now. But what I do know is that we need to give the money back to those mobsters,” she says while getting up and heading towards the door. Jay follows her.
“I don’t think that’s the greatest idea,” Jay peeps. She spins around to face him.
“You got a better one?”
“Kinda.”
#
The same night, they find themselves sitting in Durante’s freezing office in front of the boss himself. Ignitro and Isaic are in their normal intimidating spots. Jackie has her arms crossed, frowning, and clearly upset about the entire situation. There is an envelope of money on the desk.
“This was your plan?” she asks Jay. “To sit in front of him and just ask?”
Jay shrugs. “Well, I didn’t know if you were gonna do anything rash, so…”
Durante looks at the envelope before looking at the Joneses. “Mrs. Jones, our transactions are final.”
Jackie leans forward, squinting at Isaic. Isaic avoids eye contact with her at first, then glances from the wall back to her, then the wall again before finally settling on her. She points at him.
“Boy, don’t I know your mother?” she says, leaning back in her chair. “Isaiah, right?”
“Isaic. That’s what everyone calls me now.”
Durante leans forward, his elbows on the desk. “Mrs. Jones, the fact that you might know one of my bodyguards doesn’t get you off the hook. Once you’re in, you’re in.”
#
Jay and Jackie drive back in her sedan. She slaps Jay in the back of the head.
“Ow!” he exclaims. “I—”
“Will stay quiet,” she interrupts. Jay crosses his arms and pouts.
1:30 a.m.
They arrive at home. Jackie walks in, with Jay behind her. She throws the money on a table.
“I need some sleep over this,” Jackie says.
The lights are out. Jay sits at the table, staring at the money.
3:05 a.m.
Jay sits on the table staring at the money.
4:55 a.m.
Jay has his face close to the envelope. He turns to look at the window and sees a slight orange glow from the rising sun. He grabs the envelope and looks at the cash inside. He creeps to the door but takes one last look at the house before he opens it and leaves for the hospital.
