“Good. Sandy, you keep an eye on him here. Let us know if he moves.”
“Got it.”
Jacob paused. “Kat, do you have your gun?”
“Of course.”
“Okay. Let’s find out who this fucker is.”
They put in the earpieces and Jacob went out into the hallway, telling Two-Step to stay in the store on his way out. In the hall, he leaned against the railing, looking out over the garden below.
“Leaving the store,” Kat’s said over the earpiece.
Shortly, Jacob saw Kat on the lower level, making her way to the other end of the garden. He tried to see a black jacket in the corner of the garden, but could not.
“Is he still there?” he asked.
“He hasn’t moved,” Sandy said.
“How’s it going, Kat?”
“Almost there.”
Sandy said, “Wait a minute. He’s getting his phone out. He’s talking to someone. He put his phone away and is walking toward the exit.”
“I’ll follow him,” Kat said.
“No,” Jacob almost yelled. “No. We don’t know if he’s alone. Stay where you are, and we will follow him on the security monitors. If he has any backup, I want to know.”
“He’s already out of the building,” Sandy said.
“Let’s wait a little bit and see if he comes back.”
After five minutes of waiting, Jacob told Kat to come back to the store.
“I want to know what that was about,” Kat said as she walked in the back room.
“I do too,” Jacob said. “Something tells me we are in the middle of something bigger than we thought.”
“That is not a place I like to be,” Kat said.
“Me neither.”
Chapter 34
It felt strange to be back in his hometown. Jacob hadn’t been back since leaving the summer after he graduated from high school, and the experience of seeing a place that should be familiar but had changed just enough not to be was disorienting. He sat in the backseat of Kat’s car, staring out the window as they drove down Main Street, past the building that used to be the internet café where he and Gomez spent countless hours honing their gaming and hacking skills. It was a tattoo and cybernetics shop now.
“That was our old hangout,” Jacob said, pointing to the shop.
“You were into tattoos that young?” Sandy asked from the front seat.
“It used to be a place to get on the net. They had the best connection in town and held weekly capture the flag tournaments. We always won.”
“Glory days,” Sandy said.
The car turned off of Main and headed down a side street.
“We’re almost there,” Jacob said.
“Don’t be so nervous,” Sandy said to Kat.
Kat glanced in the rearview mirror. “I'm not. Not about this. Maybe the other day has me paranoid, but that car’s been behind us since we got off the highway. I want to see if they turn down this street.”
Jacob and Two-Step turned to look. A black Dongfeng sedan turned onto the street behind them.
“The SRS?” Two-Step asked.
“Other people drive Chinese cars,” Jacob said.
“I’m sure I’m being paranoid,” Kat said.
“I didn’t say that. We just need to stay on our toes, but calm. Gomez’s mom doesn’t need us freaking out right now,” Jacob said. “Besides, why would someone follow us in a car instead of using a drone? It doesn’t make sense.”
“You’re right,” Kat said.
Kat stopped the car in front of Gomez’s mother’s house. Jacob got out and watched the Dongfeng turn onto a side street a block away.
“Maybe they weren’t following us,” Two-Step said.
“Maybe,” Jacob said, still looking down the street.
Walking up to the door, Jacob said, “Remember, when she mentions Raul, she’s talking about Gomez.”
“He lied to me,” Two-Step said.
“What?”
“I had a bet with Gomez. I bet him I could guess his first name. I did, and he told me I was wrong. I mean, I cheated and did some research, but he still lied. He said that was his brother’s name. I bet he doesn’t even have a brother.”
“He doesn’t,” Jacob said and rang the doorbell.
Gomez’s sister answered. “Jacob,” she said and hugged him.
“Hey, Lizette. This is Sandy, Kat, and Two-Step.”
“Hello. Everyone is in the living room. Sorry, it’s so crowded. Mom insisted we have this here instead of the church. She said Raul didn’t like church when he was alive, and she wasn’t going to make him go when he was dead.” She paused, her face fighting back emotion. “Anyway, come on in.”
Relatives and a few high school friends filled the living room and the kitchen. Mrs. Gomez sat in a chair in the corner talking to her sister when Lizette led Jacob and the others into the room. Her face lit up when she saw Jacob. He went to her. After his mother died when he was eleven, Mrs. Gomez became his “Second Mom.” That was the title she gave herself, and it stuck, even after he had a step-mother. It made sense because she was more of a mother to him than his step-mother could be and more than his real mother had a chance to be. She would get after him when he and Gomez got in trouble at school; she was there to give advice when he had his first real crush; she gave him advice about college and his future. “Listen to your Second Mom,” she would say, “and if you want to get out of this town and make something of your life, you do it with everything you have in you.” As he crossed the crowded room, she stood to greet him, and when she hugged him, he cried. For the first time since Gomez’s death, he cried. Since that night in the hospital he hid behind an emotional firewall, and now the firewall was down and the torrent of emotion it held back came pouring out. “I know,” Second Mom said through her own tears. The others in the room stood, silent, watching.
Chapter 35
The memorial was a simple tribute to Gomez. Each person took a turn to say something. Uncles shared about
