It was a long list of names and family members. Didn't Manny actually know his family? Suddenly Manny stopped.
"I'll be wearing an earpiece," he said to Josh.
"I don't like that," Nik interrupted. "If they search you—"
"Leave that to me," Manny said firmly. "I'll need you on comms this end, Josh. Can you do that?"
"Yes," Josh answered immediately. He wasn't sure what being on comms entailed exactly but he was determined he could do it.
"You'll need to have information for me if it sounds like I need it. If whoever we get a meet with is anything like how my dad talked about his dad then we're in for a lot of reminiscing."
"I can do that."
Manny nodded. "Nik made the call back as my representative. The meet is scheduled for ten am. Pipers, the bar on Fifth. I need everything you have on anyone working out of Pipers; families, gangs, physical and geographical location. Literally anything. Also any intel we have on the place itself, exits, the patrol route it sits on for cops, the cops that walk that beat, arrest records, crime profiles. Can you do that?" Manny had this ice cold expression on his face, totally focused and concentrated.
"Yes." Josh scooted past Manny with a nod and then slid into the main central chair. Flexing his fingers, he began. Page after page of detail slid past him and he pulled out pertinent information, schematics, history, and photos.
Pipers was a nothing place. No direct links to gangs or drugs, but after enough digging he connected the dots and had it as being run by a company that itself was owned by Selby Corp. Run at a loss for the last twenty years, the small place wasn't exactly what Josh expected for some kind of Mafia-type showdown. He turned in his seat to comment but there was no one in the room. Blinking as his focus adjusted from screens to real life he realized the room was in darkness. The only light was from the bank of monitors. A quick glimpse at the time showed it to be just past two am. Hell, he'd been at this for hours and had clearly done his usual blocking out of everything around him.
Stretching and yawning he knew he needed to catch a few hours' sleep. He had reached information saturation point and he had a good grasp of the material for Manny.
Speaking of whom, he wondered where Manny was. A quick investigation had the kitchen area empty and he had just been in the comms room. That left Manny's bedroom but when a quick look showed that vacant as well then either he was in Nik and Morgan's room, which there was no way Josh was going to interrupt, or maybe he had gone out for a walk.
After pouring a glass of water he went into his own room and stopped dead at the door. Flat on his back in the middle of Josh's bed was Manny Sullivan, wannabe Mafioso, and he was snoring gently. Still fully dressed he could not be comfortable, hell he even had his boots on.
Considering his options, Josh finally placed the water on the bedside table and moved to the end of the bed. Gently he tried to remove Manny's laced walking boots but there was a good amount of huffing and puffing since the sleeping Manny wasn't exactly helping. Finally the boots were off and then the socks. Manny had discarded his jacket and lay in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. The top three buttons were open and Josh leaned in to have a closer look at the intriguing tattoos. What seemed like a random tribal ink from the visible parts now took on a clearer shape. Pushing the tee aside, he waited with his breath in his throat for Manny to complain. When he didn't, Josh looked closer. The edges of two rings and a straight line from a letter M. M for Manny? The tattoo spread from the neck to disappear down his arm. He wondered what it meant.
"A ring for each of them." Manny's voice was gruff and heavy with sleep and Josh leaped back in surprise. He felt guilty for looking when Manny was asleep and embarrassment flooded him. Manny held out a hand and Josh instinctively took it, allowing himself to be led to sit on the bed next to the former sleeping man. "One for my mom and my dad, and the other is for my sister." Releasing Josh's hand he wriggled a little to pull the tee up and over his head. Josh inhaled deeply at the warm-toned skin; so much of it on display. The rings of the tattoo were open to view and he had been right when he had thought there was an M.
"Is the M for Manny?"
Manny nodded. "It was a fresh start for me; another name and this new me is connected to my family." He trailed the long tail of one of the M's down to near his elbow. On the line, if you looked closely, there were small marks, or nodes that left the line; almost like thorns on a rose stem. "And this is my path. The road I travel. Each extra mark is a time in my life that is important to me. This one here is the accident, this one for the day I met Jake, and this one, well this one is a private thing," he laughed softly.
Josh was immediately intrigued. He wasn't going to push though. Maybe one day Manny would tell him. Hell who did he think he was kidding? Once this case was over they were going their separate ways.
