Super Series (Book 4): Supervised (9 page)

“I think we should call it a night.” His voice was quiet but his words were clear.

“What do you mean? The food’s about ready. You don’t want to eat anymore?”

“I don’t want to eat with
you
,” he clarified. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, Audrey. I feel like you’re lying to me a lot. You’re hanging around with some guy. I think you just faked cutting yourself so you could go in the bathroom and text him.”

“Come on, man!”

“Let me see your hand.”

I instinctively put my left hand behind my back. I couldn’t let him see it. It would look like I had been lying about the one thing I hadn’t been lying about. “Look, Mike—”

“No.” He got up and opened his front door. “I want you to go home. Don’t come back around until you’re ready to tell the truth.”

I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Well, that’s not true. There were a few things I could say but none of it would have made sense. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to say them anyway. So I just left. And for the first time in my life, I was too ashamed to ask for a doggy bag.

*****

A couple of hours after I slunk out of Mike’s apartment, there was a hard knock at my door. I opened it to see Mike standing at my door. “Did you run a red light in my car?”

“Huh?” I was playing dumb to buy time. I heard what he said the first time.

Mike held up an orange envelope that I recognized from when I used to have a car. It was a ticket. “So you’re saying this isn’t you?” His voice had taken on a strange quality. I was getting a taste of what he was like in the interrogation room.

He handed the ticket to me. There was the photo the red light camera took on the bottom of the ticket, under the information about the time, date, and location. The resolution wasn’t great. The photo was fuzzy but you could still make out the driver and it was obviously me. I sighed. “Mike, I—”

“Save it,” he interrupted. “I don’t want to strain yourself with yet another lie.” And he stalked up the stairs.

I looked down at the ticket, again. As much as I wanted to make things right with Mike, I was kinda glad that he cut me short. I couldn’t have that fight with him at the moment. I had just realized that the red light hadn’t just caught me. The intersection must have been particularly large because the photo showed the car in front of Mike’s, too. It was the black sports car that El Gato got away in. And I could just make out the license plate in the picture.

My fingers shook as I dialed Nathaniel’s number. It was late but he answered on the second ring. “Hello.” Even the way he answered the phone was self-assured.

“Hey, it’s Audrey. I think I know how to find El Gato.”

Chapter 14

I tried to go to sleep but that was impossible. On one hand, giving that information to Nathaniel was thrilling. After losing El Gato, I needed to prove myself to him more than ever. It wasn’t just the probation thing. I wanted his approval. I wanted to be a part of this thing.

Nathaniel’s reaction to my information was promising. I lied when he asked me where I got it because I didn’t think he would be that impressed knowing that I’d gotten a red light ticket in my “neighbor’s” car. Instead, I told him that I’d been writing down license plates of the cars while on lookout duty and I matched the plate to the type of car that I’d seen him driving. He seemed skeptical but he thanked me. He said he had some connections that could run the plate and he’d get back to me.

On the other hand, Mike was probably not in any hurry to get back to me. I understood. I’d embarrassed him in front of everyone and I couldn’t explain why I’d disappeared liked that. And it
did
look like I was too busy texting my other boyfriend in the bathroom to come out. I couldn’t explain that, either. Honestly, it sucked. Maybe I wasn’t ready to commit to anything but that didn’t mean I wanted Mike to hate me.

After stewing there for a while, I got out of bed, threw on some clothes, and took a walk. I didn’t even realize where I was going until I saw the sign for the ATM in the window of the bodega. I withdrew the money from the ATM and bought an envelope from the counter. When I got back to the building, I grabbed a pen from my own apartment and then took the stairs to 3A. I wrote
I’m Sorry. Please don’t hate me
on the envelope and slipped it under his door.

The next morning, I didn’t hear from Mike. I didn’t know that I really expected to until I realized how disappointed that he hadn’t reached out. I’d already made my gesture of peace. I’d just have to wait for him to be ready to receive it.

In the meantime, I kept myself busy by paying bills and running errands. Hy didn’t pay me a lot of money but I’d been a lot better about my finances. Less than a year before, I wasn’t even opening bills and now they were actually getting paid. I did some cleanup around the building. I did a couple of loads of laundry. I even cleaned Crash’s bowl. He darted back and forth in excitement when I put him back in there. It was the happiest I’d seen him in a long time.

My phone rang. I dove for it and I answered it before looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Audrey, if you had a choice between lemon and chocolate, which one would you choose?”

It was Mellie, not Mike. I tried to keep the disappointment from showing in my voice and focus on what she was saying. “Um, what? Like between a piece of chocolate and a lemon?”

“No!” She sounded frustrated. I could hear someone talking in the background and I recognized Bridget’s voice. “Like for a cake. A wedding cake. Chocolate or lemon? Or wait. Maybe carrot?”

“I don’t know, Mellie. I like
all
cake. You can’t be mad at cake. What kind of cake do you and Kevin like?”

Before Mellie could answer, I heard Bridget in the background wailing “Chocolate is boring. Anyone can do chocolate. And it is an allergen. Have you checked everyone’s dietary restrictions?”

Mellie ignored her and talked to me. “I don’t know. Kevin wants chocolate but he’s not even here. We’re at the cake tasting and I thought we were going to go with chocolate but Bridget is worried about it killing someone at the reception. At this point, I couldn’t give a fuck about the cake.”

“Then get chocolate,” I said, trying to sound like someone who should be giving advice about such things. “If Kevin wants chocolate and you don’t care, get the chocolate. And then when there’s something
you
care about, you can say ‘I let you decide the cake so I’m going to name all our kids after the cast of original cast of
Ghostbusters
.’ Or whatever it is you feel like doing.”

Mellie chuckled. “Right. Thanks, Audrey. That was the perfect answer.” As she hung up, I could still hear Bridget talking about chocolate cake in the background.

As soon as the phone call disconnected, it buzzed again. I picked it up, thinking it was going to be Mellie, again, or maybe even Mike but it was a picture text from Nathaniel. It was slightly distorted in the way that it looks when you take a picture of a computer screen. I could also see that the picture was part of a driver’s license with the picture being centered and the rest being cropped out.

Another text following almost immediately:

Is this the man you saw in the car?

I squinted hard and looked at the picture closely. A person’s driver’s license didn’t exactly cover their essence. Nobody looks their self after sitting in a waiting room for two hours, dealing with red tape and paperwork. It was a young Latino guy, clean-shaven, with longish hair and a cocky look on his face. He couldn’t have been more than twenty or twenty-five. He did kinda resemble the artist rendering that Nathaniel had passed out the other night. I closed my eyes and tried to remember back to that night in front of the warehouse. I definitely got a good look at him when our eyes locked in that moment. But was this him?

Well?

I took a deep breath and just made a decision.

That’s him.

For a moment, I thought maybe he didn’t get the text. But then my phone buzzed again.

Good work. I’m picking you up tonight at two. We’re going to get this guy.

*****

I’m on the roof.

Nathaniel’s text woke me up from my sleep. I knew I wouldn’t be any use to him that night unless I got some sleep. So I struggled into my Super suit and lay down on my couch for a nap. 

For some reason, it never occurred to me that Nathaniel was going to fly me to the mission that night. Looking back, I also couldn’t imagine he’d pick me up in a car, either. I didn’t even know if he owned a car. Maybe I wasn’t thinking at all. But when I got that text from Nathaniel, I jumped up from the couch, threw a hoodie over my Super suit, and headed to the roof.

When I opened the roof door, Nathaniel had his back turned to me, looking out into the horizon. He was wearing his own Super suit. It was sleek, black, and hugged him in all of the right places. With his silhouette against the city backdrop, he looked like a comic book page come to life. “Hey, Nathaniel.”

He turned to me. He looked a lot happier than he had the last time I saw him. He actually smiled at me. “Tonight it’s just you and me.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’d already sent the others out on something else when my contact got back with the registered owner to that plate you gave me. But I think we can do this alone. El Gato, or Lenny DeLeon as he is better known, has been hiding out since the warehouse bust. His financial records show he has a house in the Flushing area of Queens.”

He was talking to me as if I were an equal. It was a complete 180 from the other night. I tried to nod and ask smart questions. “How do you know that he’s there? It might be in his name but he’s hiding out somewhere else.”

“Good question. You’re right. El Gato didn’t get to where he is by being stupid. Which is why I wanted you to confirm that the person who registered that car was the same one you saw that night. Then I did a bit of surveillance on today. Based on that, it looks like it’s just him there, with a revolving door of women coming in and out.”

“Maybe he’s not as smart as he thinks he is. If you’ve confirmed that it’s him, why not just call the cops and let them know?”

“I’ve confirmed as much as I can but until I actually lay my hands on him, I’m not bringing in any civilians,” he explained. “Are you ready to do this?”

I should have asked why he hadn’t asked offered me a ride the other night, but I didn’t want to push my luck. Instead, I threw my hoodie down on the one of the chairs we kept on the roof for the tenants. “I was
born
ready.” He was probably talking about the mission. I was definitely talking about the flying. “How do I do this?”

Nathaniel stood next to me and put his arm my waist. Then he took my arm and snaked it around his waist, until we were linked together. “You don’t have to do anything. I’ll handle it all. Just hold on tight.” I was afraid that if I spoke, I’d throw up all over us. So, I just nodded. He gave me nod back and suddenly, we were rocketing into the sky.

I’ve dreamed all my life about flying. My imagination file had plenty of scenarios ready to go whenever I had a few minutes to daydream about the one thing in life I’d always wanted. Actually feeling the night air rush all around me, seeing the city move below me, it was all much more than I’d ever imagined. In fact, compared to the real thing, my imagination sucked. Sharing the experience with the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid eyes on didn’t hurt, either. I tried to savor the experience but most of my energy was being spent trying not to shout with joy.

It seemed like it only took for three or four minutes to get to Queens, but I think that was because I was high on the experience. Nathaniel brought us down lightly on 71st Ave in a residential area of Flushing, Queens. Row houses dotted the street on tiny parcels of land. At this time of night, it was quiet. Nathaniel looked at me tentatively. “Are you OK? The first time can be a little rough. You look a little. . . funny.”

Um, that’s because my mind was just blown to pieces
, I thought. But I just said “Oh, I’m great!”

“It’s just over here. We’re going to go in the back. I saw a vulnerability in security there. They have a doggie door. You go through it and then unlock the door for me—”

“Wait. A doggie door? Why can’t we just bust down the door.”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “Because then he’d hear us coming. That’s the problem we had the other night. We tried to force our way in, and in the chaos, he was able to slip out.”

“But what about the dog? If they have a doggie door, they’ve got a dog, right?”

Nathaniel shook his head. “The dog died a couple of months ago. I checked. Once you let me in, we’ll make our way to the back room, which is apparently where he spends most of his time. We’ll get eyes on him and I want you to confirm that it’s him. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Follow me.” Nathaniel walked swiftly through the underbrush and hopped the chain-link fence that surrounded the yard. Then he kept low as he crossed the yard. I followed behind him, mimicking his movements with a lot less grace. We made it to the back porch and he turned to check that was close enough to him. He pointed to the door and I saw a doggie door he’d mentioned earlier. And that’s when I panicked.

“Nathaniel, I can’t fit in there!” I whispered. He had vastly misjudged my size. That door was about the size of my head. I didn’t know whether to be happy he thought was that small or worried that I was about to put an end to the mission.

“You’ll fit,” he whispered back aggressively. “Just do it.”

His tone made it clear I didn’t have any choice. I got down on all fours and tried to make it work. I pushed my head through the plastic door and looked inside. It was completely dark in there. I couldn’t see a thing. I pushed one of my arms through the door and then had to deal with my chest. I was trying to work my other arm and my boobs through when I felt two hands on my waist and a hard push through the opening.

I felt something pop in my shoulder.
Fuck!!!!
I screamed in my head. I don’t know how I refrained from screaming out loud at that moment but I did. My shoulder was burning with pain and I was sure I’d dislocated it. Another push from Nathaniel and I was all the way in. I stood up through the pain then used my good hand to unlock the two locks and the chain on the door.