Tam
"Thomas. Why aren't you shadowing my nephew?"
I fall into line beside Pete as he strides past me behind a distraught looking man and woman, his tone clipped as he addresses me.
"Sorry, boss. I thought Chord and Scar could use a little privacy. I know they won't leave the hospital under the circumstances -"
"It's fine." Pete cuts me off, his eyes on the couple in front of him as they rush down the hallway towards the OR. The man's short blonde hair is starting to grey, and the wrinkles around his mouth and eyes suggest a lifetime of laughter. But he isn't smiling now, he has no reason to be happy tonight. The woman is immaculately dressed in designer clothing, and her long, wavy blonde hair is styled to perfection. I know these are Jax's parents; Madison and Will Archibald. If I wasn't switched on enough to tell already, Madison's piercing lilac eyes would be a major give away.
"Let me." Pete says to the couple gently as they approach the locked double doors leading into the OR. Pete presses the attention button on the intercom and Will wraps a supportive arm around his wife as they impatiently wait for a nurse to allow them entry into the theatre. When the doors buzz open, they sweep through immediately without a word to my boss. He doesn't follow them, he turns on me.
"Where are they?" He asks evenly.
"Chord said they were going down to the cafeteria." I inform.
"Call him, get him back up here."
"I can't, he gave his cellphone to Penn -"
I stop talking as my boss sighs in irritation. He can be pissed with me all he likes, I made a judgement call letting Chord and Scar go off on their own and I stand by it. She's been through hell tonight and she wants to talk to him, only him. She doesn't need me floating around in the background.
"Jason." Pete speaks evenly again, his eyes staring straight ahead. Pete has an open line of communication with all of us at all times. He only needs to speak into his earpiece to command our attention.
"Waiting room outside the OR, now."
I don't say anything while we wait for Jace to get out here, and neither does Pete. I stand ready, awaiting any further instruction. In moments, the double doors open again and Jace joins us. He doesn't wait to be questioned by our boss, he provides a progress report immediately.
"The surgery is going well; they're hopeful she's gonna pull through. The bullet has been removed and they've managed to control the bleeding. But there was some internal as well as external bleeding. She's gonna be in here for a while and there's no telling how soon she'll wake up after the procedure is complete."
"How long?" Pete asks.
"They're closing her up now, then her wound will be dressed. After that, it's up to her." Jace shows no emotion as he says this, and I remind myself that it isn't my place to get emotionally invested in this either. As much as I like Jax, I'm here because this is my job. I'm not here to celebrate the success of her surgery or to cry over the potential coma she may end up in.
"You need to talk to her as soon as she wakes up." Pete deadpans, his eyes on Jace. "Don't leave her side, and remember what I told you earlier."
Jace nods his head before disappearing back into the OR. Pete turns his attention back on to me.
"Find Chord and Scar. Get them up here. It's quiet and we need to get this story straight now." He instructs, and without delay I turn away from him and walk down the hallway towards the elevators.
My other boss, Bryce, is with Officer Malloney at the police station, and I already know that they've come to an agreement on Pete's behalf. I also know that the police station is now flooded with reporters eager to hear the story of what happened in the Radium Room, and eager to finally unmask the infamous South Bridge Stalker. In about a half hour, Officer Malloney is going to issue a statement to the press. It will read roughly as follows;
Earlier tonight, two young girls and one young man were abducted and held hostage at gun point in a building on Pennsylvania Avenue, formerly known as the Radium Room night club. Two of the hostages were shot by the suspect, and the other was badly assaulted. I can confirm that the suspect was shot dead at the scene and that the three victims are now being treated for their injuries at South Bridge General. We wish them a speedy recovery, and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.
For the avoidance of speculation and doubt, I want to clarify that the now deceased suspect has been confirmed as the so-called 'South Bridge Stalker'. Investigations have been concluded and further enquiries are not being made, meaning I can issue the long awaited details regarding the SBS attacks. However, the deceased will not be named at the request of his next of kin. I realise that protecting this mans identity will be frustrating for many, especially those who were attacked by him over the past twelve months, but I can say this: He had a lengthy criminal record as well as underlying mental health issues and substance misuse issues. The motivation behind all of his random attacks remains unclear, however we are confident that he was an opportunistic criminal with an unpredictable personality, and profiling tells us that this can often result in such irrational and seemingly unstructured behaviour.
Regarding the incident earlier tonight, enquiries lead us to strongly believe that the deceased was targeting Chord Moore, son of Patrick and Jamie Moore, who was recently reported to be living in our neighbouring town of North Bridge. The motivation behind this was purely monetary. The deceased abducted friends of Mr Moore and planned to lure him to the Radium Room, however this plan was poorly executed and did not come to fruition. That said, Mr Moore's friends have been subject to a terrible ordeal tonight, resulting in lasting trauma and unneeded injury.
Tonight's events, while tragic, have brought about the ending to what has been a troubling and unsettling year for this great city. No questions will be taken, and this case is officially closed. I am sure you will join me in wishing Mr Moore, his friends and his family all the best in the days to come and going forward. Thank you for your time.
So that's what everyone will be told. The press, the people of North and South Bridge, Chord's parents, Jax's parents (Pete has already talked to them and fed them this story), Scar's mom, Chord's friends - Dash, Drake and Ryan. Everyone. The only people who know the truth about Joaquin are the involved employees of MKV Security like myself, the police officers who were involved, Chord, Scar, Jax and Penn. Jess knows the truth too, of course, but she's in police custody so Pete isn't worried about her. The only slight worry is Axel, the boy we would know absolutely nothing about if it weren't for Scar and Penn's eye witness accounts. The police weren't able to find him and Jess hasn't mentioned him, so as far as criminal responsibility goes, Axel has completely gotten away with this. It's frustrating to say the least, but it doesn't mean it's over. We'll look for him after the dust settles, and hopefully we'll find him.
For now, making sure this story is straight with Chord, Scar, Jax and Penn is what's important. Pete will probably come down on me like a tonne of bricks later for allowing Penn to walk off on his own and then for allowing Chord out of my sight, but I don't care. Pete may be Chord's uncle, but he hasn't spent the time around him that I have since we moved to North Bridge. I've seen such a change in Chord ever since he met Scar, and while I've never had anything against the kid, I didn't like him all that much before. He was my assignment and nothing more, but now? Now, I really do consider Chord a friend. Since he started college and since he met Scar and since he met Penn, Drake and Dash, he's gone from an angry, immature little boy to a man. The girl he loves could have wound up dead tonight, so if allowing them fifteen minutes on their own is going to get me into trouble with my superiors, fine. I'll gladly take the heat later.
I walk into the cafeteria and give Chord and Scar a small smile as they both turn to face me where they're sitting at a table together.
"Is she awake?!" Scar is on her feet instantly at the sight of me. She thinks I'm here to update them on Jax's condition.
"Not yet, but her surgery is almost over. Jason said it went well." I tell them, and I see relief flood Scar's features. Chord's eyes are on her, and I can see the comfort her relief is bringing him.
"Chord, your uncle wants a word with the two of you." I say to him seriously. He nods his understanding as he gets to his feet too.
"Is this about the fake story of how Joaquin was after Chord?" Scar asks casually. Chord must have filled her in on this already.
"Yeah, it is." I confirm. "He wants to get the story straight with you guys before Officer Malloney issues a statement to the press. It sounds good and I think the media and general public will buy it, they'll hear the names Chord, Jamie and Patrick Moore and they won't question the rest. The challenge here will be your friends and your family."
"My mom won't question it." Scar informs me as the three of us head out of the cafeteria together.
"I don't think my parents will either." Chord says. "Of all people, they know how fucking famous they are. They'll probably just be shocked that no one ever tried to abduct me and my friends sooner."
"Your friends are gonna have questions." I point out. "Including Lyra."
"I can handle Lyra, I know exactly how to spin this to her. Same goes for Jonah, Luke and Liam." Chord answers me. "But what about Aaron? He's out of the country on assignment, but he's still a colleague of yours. Will you guys tell him the truth?"
"No." I confirm. "Pete's made it clear already; no one knows the truth about Joaquin, Jess, Axel and Penn besides the people that were there. Oh, and Mark of course. He's done a lot of legwork. He ordered the background check I ran on Penn, you know."
Chord laughs at this like I knew he would. Of my three bosses, Mark is the most elusive. He's unbelievable with computers (his technological brain rivals even Jonah's) so he doesn't work in the field anymore like Pete and Bryce do. He's remote, but he knows what's going on at all times.
"You ran a background check on Penn?" Scar asks me accusingly.
"Yeah, after I met him. I wasn't sure about him." I explain. Scar doesn't question this any further. She doesn't wanna know what that background check turned up, but she knows most of it anyway. Besides the details of Penn's father.
Back up in the OR waiting area, I leave Chord and Scar to talk to Pete. While they're firming up all the details, I can talk to Jace. He's getting himself a coffee from the vending machine when I approach him.
"How is she?"
He shakes his head as he pulls the plastic coffee cup out of the machine. "I'm not a doctor, Tam. But she doesn't look good. They say the surgery couldn't have gone better, though. It's really about whether or not she wakes up now."
"She's a fighter." I say, more to myself.
"I think she is." Jace agrees. "I talked to Lyra not long ago, by the way. She was freaking the fuck out. I told her everything."
"Everything?" I ask with raised eyebrows. Jace smirks at me while sipping his coffee.
"Everything she needs to know."
He told her the fake version then, as instructed. Understood.
"What about the others? Chord's friends? Should I get in touch with them?" I ask him. He shakes his head slightly.
"Lyra said she'd talk to Ryan. He'll tell the boys." Jace confirms.
"And - did she buy it? Does she believe the stalker was after Chord?"
"She had a lot of questions." He sighs to himself. "She wanted to know how Penn wound up in the building, she questioned the fact that the stalker attacks started over a year ago, she asked me who the stalker was, who shot him, a bunch of shit."
"Did you tell her Penn pulled the trigger?" I ask. He nods his head.
"The people closest to Chord, Scar, Penn and Jax need to know the truth about what happened, they just don't need to know why it happened." Right, they don't need to know that this was all about Penn. "We can keep the fine details out of the news, but friends and family need to know these things. I told Lyra that Penn shot the stalker, but that's all. No details about Joaquin, Jess or Axel."
I nod my understanding. And that's how it's gonna stay.
"Pete's talked to Chord's parents now, too." Jace informs me. "They're in Spain, they just woke up."
"How'd they take it?"
"Reasonably well, Pete didn't get into it of course." I smirk at this. Pete won't tell us any more than is absolutely necessary. "They know that Chord wasn't in the building, so they're fine. They're glad Pete's here with him."
"Is he gonna stick around?" I ask, looking over my shoulder at Pete, Chord and Scar where they're sitting engaged in their hushed conversation.
"Not for long, no." Jace says. "Bryce is dealing with the police, Pete only came because Chord was involved."
It is highly unusual that both Bryce and Pete responded to the code black tonight, but I guess it isn't that weird. Bryce came because he was closest, and Pete came because he received a code black alert in relation to his nephew. Of course he was gonna drop whatever he was doing to be here.
"Any word on Penn?" Jace asks me.
"He won't be far. He wanted to be alone. I'm gonna call him when Jax wakes up."
Jason throws me a slightly bemused look which I choose to ignore. I know what he's thinking. Jax could be in a coma for an undetermined period of time, there's no guarantee that she'll wake up tonight. I know that already, and I'm gonna call Penn within the hour regardless of Jax's condition.
Because we can't allow him to wonder around on his own. He killed a man tonight and there are consequences for that; I already know that the police are planning to charge him with involuntary manslaughter. I also know that they're gonna push for a community sentence, most likely involving probation and court ordered engagement in some type of behavioural change programme, focused specifically on violence. This will be Penn's second manslaughter conviction, and that can't be ignored. He's lucky to be avoiding a murder charge in my opinion, and he's extremely lucky to be avoiding a custodial sentence.
"He's not a murderer." Jace says randomly. I level my eyes with his and find him looking lost in thought. "I've come across a lot of cold blooded murderers in my time, and Penn isn't one. He's a kid that was dealt a shitty hand in life, and he's found himself in horrendous circumstances. He doesn't deserve to go to prison."
"I agree -" I say, but I stop short and whip my head around towards the double doors leading into the OR theatre. Jax's dad, Will, has just burst through the doors. He's smiling in disbelief as he yells 'Pete! She's awake! She's awake!' at my boss before rushing back through the open door. Pete is on his feet in moments as Scar hugs Chord in glee. Jace and I walk to Pete without delay.
"Jason, go see if they need anything. Anything, cost doesn't matter." Pete directs Jace. Cost doesn't matter? I know Madison and Will are old friends of Chord's parents, so Pete isn't worried about who's actually paying for our services tonight. Whether it's Jax's parents or Chord's, someone is footing the bill. Jace abandons his coffee and walks to the doors without another word as Pete turns his attention on me.
"I don't want an emotional scene with Penn. Not while Maddie and Will are here." Pete says to me seriously. "Call him and tell him she's awake, but make sure he doesn't come barging in here. She needs time with her parents and Jace needs to talk to her about the Radium Room. Give them a half hour at least."
"Understood." Pete nods at me and turns to walk back over to Chord, but he turns back to face me once more before he goes.
"You've done good, Tam." He says with a genuine smile. "I know my nephew can be tough work, and that's why I assigned you to him in the first place. Keep it up."
"Thanks, boss." I say coolly. I got into the security business because I wanted to serve and protect. It's cliche, but I'm just doing my job. I appreciate his praise though, of course.
"I'm gonna talk to Penn about all of this myself." Pete adds. "Stick with Chord. I'll see you later."
"Bye, boss." I say as he walks off.
He's gonna talk to Penn himself. That's probably a good idea, he is absolutely the best man for that job. I look on as Pete approaches an extremely happy Scar and an equally happy looking Chord. Jax is conscious, she's gonna be okay.
I know I shouldn't be emotionally invested in these kids, I should be professional at all times.
But that doesn't stop me smiling to myself as I turn my back on them and pull my phone out, preparing to call Penn and tell him that Jax is awake.