"Manny. We'll talk about this later," Jake interrupted.
"No, it's cool." Manny looked around at his friends.
At the people he had known for a long time and at Morgan who was new to his world. When he signed up for Sanctuary he knew that possibly one day his past would catch up with him. Jake knew all about it. Jake was the one who'd bailed him out and took him under his wing. He owed Jake. Hell, Jake had made him who he was today. He was a mentor and a friend. "I could pull up an old persona.
I have an in with organized crime. A link to a cousin of the former head of the Altosinno family."
"What kind of an in?" Nik asked when no one else seemed to want to ask.
"The cousin I'm talking about was my dad."
CHAPTER 4
Jake paced from one end of his small office to the other and then stopped, turned to Manny, and opened his mouth to talk. Manny waited for the usual lecture but suddenly all the energy left Jake in a rush and he slumped down into his chair. That single action was both worrying and reassuring.
"Manny," he started. Then he stopped the talking as well.
Manny watched his boss and friend and sighed inwardly. When Jake had found Manny, so many years back, the event had been the turning point in Manny's young life. Twenty, and for the first time away from his family and in some respects the Family, he was at MIT and cruising his degree. Jake wanted someone to help expand his dad's fledgling foundation, something called Sanctuary, and he went straight to the best. He called an open interview for graduates but as soon as Manny hacked the system and added himself to the list it was over.
"Do you remember that first interview?" Manny asked carefully.
Jake smiled fondly, despite the concern etched on his face. "You mean MIT? The one you should never have had?"
"Do you recall what I said to you?" Manny waited for Jake to process the question and knew exactly when Jake put two and two together.
"Besides the fact you told me you didn't need MIT
because you were past what anyone there could teach you?"
Jake said dryly.
"Besides that."
"You told me that one day you would be great in spite of your family and not because of them."
"Even then I was full of shit." Manny laughed.
"Can you believe that was eight years ago now?"
Jake said. He leaned forward on his desk and his expression was tight. "You're my friend, Manny. I don't want you doing this. Hasn't eight years of working with Sanctuary settled whatever debt you feel your family left?"
Manny sighed. "As a kid I always imagined I would go into the Bureau, or maybe turn into some kind of masked vigilante and make things right." He laughed.
There was no way he wanted Jake to see what was really going on in his head. Fear. Apprehension. Maybe even a sense of inevitability. "No, I think I've done enough. Still, I'm not volunteering for this because of who I was, but because of who I am now."
"You're not making any sense." Jake was
frustrated—that much was obvious.
"I need to approach the family, with the usual backstory in place and some kind of hint that I want to re-establish the Altosinno footprint. What if he goes for it?
Then we'd have someone on the inside. We can see who's pulling the strings now that Gregory is dead and Alastair is looking a sentence in the face. If it's the senator, then let's face it, he's the last domino of the three to fall."
"Imagine for one minute I would sanction this. How the hell will you get in there?"
"Pay my respects for my dead friend Greg Bullen.
Who's to know that I didn't actually ever meet the guy? I have the backstory in place. The Altosinnos are long gone, reduced to nothing but some thugs who make a living off the street. They've lost any of the real power they wielded.
I'll approach whoever is running the Bullens and talk about how I wish things were different. If it's the senator then I offer him my skill set in the stabilization of his brother's activities. If it's Alastair himself, then I'll go for information."
"They won't fall for it. The senator is still playing the whiter than white guy for the masses. And what would Alastair gain? He'll just shut the door in your face."
"We won't know until we try," Manny insisted. "I'll need an apartment, not too flashy, I'm thinking Sanctuary eleven. Seven floors up, panic room, good view of the Capitol—"
"And a cover story," Jake interrupted. "A damn good one."
"Already done." Manny felt relief wash over him.
Jake was going for this. They were talking over each other and a curl of excitement flickered inside him.
"I have something else to run by you," Manny added. After his conversation with Josh and feeling the way he did about his own family, he had made a decision that he hoped Jake would go for. "I'm taking Josh into S-eleven as my backup."
"No. I'm sending him back to Jennifer. He should already have gone." Jake was adamant and his tone brooked no argument. "Nik is transporting him—"
"Wait. Listen to me, Jake. He's where I was eight years ago. He wants to be involved. He's not going to sit there and deal with the shit as an afterthought. He'll just get out of the safe house again and cause trouble. He wants to be part of it—"
"No—"
"Yes. Jake, come on. He can be my tech support, my handler. He won't leave eleven, he'll be as safe there as anywhere. I just think he needs to be there doing something."
"If this gets back to his dad, that we are using his son—"
"He's doing it for his dad. He's taking the power back."
"Fuck, Manny. You sound like some kind of crappy motivational speaker." Jake shook his head.
"I know." Manny grinned. He knew he had Jake where
