Always for You:Jack(5)

Deciding he'd answered enough questions, he asked his own. "What happened to him, and how bad is it?"

Detective St. John glanced at Detective Daily, who nodded. "Richard is  currently in surgery to repair a broken arm. He also has a few other  more minor injuries. He refused to tell us who attacked him. The reason  we came here is that your card was the only thing the kid had on him  other than a bogus driver's license."

"No missing person's report on him?"

"Not that we can find, at least not under that name or fitting his  description. Until he wakes up and tells us what's going on, we'll hold  off doing any more searching."

Good. At least they were smart enough to know that the last people the  kid might need right now is his own family, especially if one of them  was responsible for his injuries. At least their delay would buy Jack  some time. "Which hospital is he in?"

Detective Daily hesitated. "I'm guessing you want to head over there to check on the kid."

Jack widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. "I do. You got a problem with that?"

His mother chose that moment to get involved. "Jack, please. These  officers don't know you, and they have good cause to be concerned about  your young friend."

She was right. They didn't deserve his anger. He met her gaze and  offered her a small nod, both as an apology and to acknowledge she was  right. "Sorry, gentlemen. Given my own past, this has stirred up some  unpleasant memories for me. Yes, I would like to be there when Ricky  gets out of surgery. He'll do better if at least one familiar face is  there when he wakes up. Kids with experience similar to his and mine  rarely respond well to being surrounded by police uniforms."

"No, they don't," Detective Daily admitted. "Just so you know, we've  already notified Child Protective Services, so they'll be getting  involved in the case."

"I'd expect no less."

Poor Ricky. Dollars to dimes the boy already had more than a passing  knowledge of how the system worked and hadn't liked it one bit. Jack's  gut feeling was that Ricky had been put into foster care at some point,  but it hadn't worked out. Either that or the authorities had sent him  right back into the same environment that had netted the kid those  bruises in the first place. The only question was if Ricky was  protecting someone with his silence and, if so, why? Until he was ready  to risk trusting someone, it would be hard for anyone to get a straight  answer out of him, but Jack stood a better chance than the cops did.

"If he tells me anything useful, I promise to share."

"You'd better." Detective Daily softened the remark with a smile and  then glanced in Marlene's direction. "I knew your husband, ma'am. Joe  was a good man. We shared more than one beer at the veteran's hall over  the years. I'm sorry for your loss."

As always when her husband was mentioned, Marlene's grief peeked through. "Thank you, Detective."

The cop turned his attention back to Jack. "Your dad was damn proud of  his sons. I'm putting my ass on the line by telling you where Richard  is. Don't screw me over."                       
       
           



       

Yeah, Jack could see how this man would've been friends with Joe. "I'll do my best not to, sir."

The cops each shook Jack's hand and left after giving him the name of  the hospital. He waited until they pulled away before saying anything.  Jack needed to get dressed and head out. But before that, he was going  to need to enlist his mother's help to get past all the rules and  regulations that would otherwise prevent him from parking Ricky's ass  right here in this house.

"Will you help?" Although he already knew he didn't really need to ask.

She nodded. "I'll be ready to go in twenty minutes."

"Thanks, Mom."

He took off running to take a quick shower and get dressed. Twenty  minutes wasn't long, and it should only take another twenty to reach the  hospital at this time of night. Throw in parking and finding Ricky's  room, and they should be with him in just under an hour. Even so, that  was too long. Sixty minutes in the life of a terrified kid was an  eternity.

-

"Are you sure about this, Jack?"

He tore his eyes away from staring at the bruised and battered kid in  the bed to meet his mother's gaze head-on, letting her see for herself  that he was serious as death about his decision.

She kept her voice low when she spoke. "As I recall, you were only going  to finish up the few jobs your father had on the books and that would  be it. You shouldn't take on responsibility for a boy like Ricky if  you're not willing to be there for the long haul."

When he started to protest, she held up her hand to cut him off. "I've  kept up my foster care credentials all these years, but I'm too old to  take on a boy his age for more than a short-term emergency stay. That's  not what he needs any more than it was when you and your brothers came  to stay with Joe and me."

Damn, he hated it, but she was right. As he thought over all the  ramifications, he couldn't help staring at Ricky. The teenager did need  stability. Even more, he needed a place where he could feel safe. Time  for some hard truths. "I look at him and see me, Mom, not to mention  Tino and Mikhail. There's no way I can walk away from that kid now, not  after seeing him like this. If that means staying here and keeping Dad's  business going, then that's what I'll do."

Marlene circled around the bed to stand beside him. "Okay, then. I'll  talk to his caseworker and see if she will assign him to me for now. If  she's willing to do that, then you'll have to have Joe's infamous Talk  with him."

For the first time in hours, Jack smiled. He and his brothers had always  thought of the conversation they'd each had with Joe right after they'd  come to live with him and Marlene as the Talk, with a capital T. That  was when Joe had laid out the details about the deal he was offering  them. What was expected of them and what they would get in return. To  this day, Jack didn't know why he had accepted the offer, but he'd never  once regretted that decision. He hoped Ricky would feel the same way.

He hugged his mother, needing that physical connection with one of the  two people who had saved his soul. "If he's as stubborn as the three of  us were, this could prove interesting."

"But so worth it, Jack." She gave him a hard squeeze before stepping  back. "And one more thing. You'll need to get approved for foster care  yourself. I've raised my sons. This one is your responsibility."

A flutter of panic settled in his gut. Suddenly he felt like the raw  recruit he'd been at eighteen when he had asked Joe if he thought Jack  had what it took to be a good soldier. Just like then, lives depended on  the answer to that question. "Do you think I can do this, Mom? Or maybe  I should be asking if I ought to? After all, what do I know about what a  kid needs?"

They both watched Ricky, who was starting to stir a bit. "Son, no one  knows better than you what a boy like him needs. Your father and I only  read about what you'd been through. You actually lived it. Like anyone  taking on the role of parent, you don't have to be perfect. You just  have to be there for him."

Suddenly, Ricky's eyes popped open, and a whole slew of emotions flashed  across his pale face: confusion, pain, fear, and then more confusion.  Marlene immediately left the room to fetch the nurse, who'd asked them  to let her know when Ricky woke up.

Meanwhile, Jack stepped closer to the bed. "It's all right, kid. You're  safe. The doctor told me that he did a bang-up job on your broken arm.  You've also got a whole new crop of bumps and bruises, so you're going  to hurt some for a while. Right now, you're still dopey from the  anesthesia. Just so you know, that woman who just left was my mother.  She went to track down the nurse to let her know you're awake."                       
       
           



       

The fog in Ricky's eyes started to clear, and he struggled to sit up, wincing in pain. "Jack? What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Lie still and let me help you. And watch your language when my mother  comes back in. She doesn't much like anyone cursing around her." Jack  pressed the button to raise the head of the bed. "As far as the rest  goes, the cops found my card in your pocket when you were brought into  the hospital. They came to the house to see why you had it and if I knew  you."

The fear was back. "What did you tell them?"

"That I was your friend, but they're going to be back and want some answers to their questions."

He gave Ricky a minute to assimilate that much before going on. "I don't  know how much you remember about what happened. Evidently, the cops got  an anonymous call from a burner phone that someone was badly hurt. When  they found you, there was no one else around. It was raining so hard  that they figure any evidence probably got washed away or compromised.  They also ran the driver's license you were carrying, but it's bogus. No  hits on it or the name. Right now that's all they know."