Chapter 6

"Too close Andre, too close. We can't have anything like this. I told you early on that you must be careful, we can't afford any slip ups. Now what part of that didn't you understand?" Raymond circled Andre, watching him squirm under his scrutiny.

"Look, Raymond, you hired me to be this guy, not to lead the whole fucking brigade! Can I help it if these . . . things found out what we were doing? Which, by the way, I have no clue how they did. No one followed us, no one saw us! You were suppose to take care of the details, not me." Andre crossed his arms across his chest. Raymond couldn't blame him for any wrong doings, he wasn't in charge of this operation!

"No, Andre, that's where you're wrong. We couldn't have our men following you 24/7. We hired you, intrusting you could take care of this thing by yourself for a minimal amount of time, but it's obvious you can't. All you had to do was secure the house. No one leaves, no one enters, remember?" Raymond glared at Andre. He had never liked the man much, but there was no one else who could fill the position, so he had dealt with him.

"Tough Raymond. This is your problem, not mine. I'm just an . . . actor." Andre nodded at the term.

Raymond held his temper back. The man had no real idea of what he was suppose to be doing. "Well, we have bigger problems now. Not only did the girl come back unexpectedly, she's now been taken, presumably by the creatures. But we have you to blame for that, now don't we?"

"Me? What was I suppose to do? Let them crash the whole thing? I couldn't do that, or else I wouldn't get paid." Andre laughed meekly. "You never told me what to do in a situation like that."

"Because there wasn't suppose to be a situation like that!" Raymond yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.

Andre held his hands out in defense. "Hey now, go easy! Like I said it's not my fault, so don't try to place the blame on me. Face it, you screwed up . . . pretty bad too."

"Out!" Raymond bellowed. "If you weren't a crucial part in this operation, I'd-"

"All right, all right. I'm going, but next time be more prepared." With that, Andre slipped out of the office.

Raymond shook his head. I really hate that man . . . He circled his desk and sat down in the leather executives chair, rubbing his temples with his hands.

Just then, the phone rang. Raymond let it ring a few times before deciding to pick it up.

"Raymond." He said dryly.

"Do we proceed?" The caller asked.

"Yes, but find the girl . . . before the police. We can't have this operation uncovered."

"Yes, of course. Is that all?"

"Yes." Raymond set the phone back in the cradle and sat back again. This was going to a much larger hassle then he first anticipated.

The tapping turned into a long, ear splitting scratch and continued until Casey reluctantly rolled out of bed. He pulled on a pair of jeans over his boxers and staggered sleepily to the window.

Sure enough, Rene perched on the window sill, scratching to be let in. Casey smiled to himself and opened the window.

"Yeah?" He stood so he blocked her from entry.

"It's me Casey, lemme in." Rene pushed his shoulder gently, as if trying to push him aside.

"Rene, it's three in the morning, don't you sleep?"

"What? I can't even drop by to say 'hi' to my good buddy anymore? What's this city become . . . " Rene muttered sarcastically, shaking her head.

Casey sighed and stepped aside. "Maybe you should start using the front door."

"Oh yeah, that'd go over well." Rene jumped down onto the floor and proceed to the living room.

Casey pulled on a T-shirt he found piled in the corner and followed. "So really, why ya here?"

"Ah, ya know . . . same 'ol same 'ol" Rene threw her hat and coat over a chair and opened the fridge.

"And by that do you mean Lia, Mickey, or Donna?" Casey crossed his arms and stood in the bedroom door way. Rene usually came over to talk about her problems, which were many and rather often, so it wasn't too hard to guess the reason for her visit.

Rene sighed and pulled out a long-neck bottle of beer. "None, believe it or not. We picked up a new one!"

"A new one? Whadda ya mean?" Casey pulled out a chair and prepared to listen to a lecture.

Rene sat down across from him and popped the lid off the bottle. "One 'a Lia's little ideas. Ya know, see somethin', anything, happen and we hafta go save the day! Just because some woman poisons her husband doesn't mean we gotta get involved."

"Whoa! I think ya guys left me out somewhere!" Casey said, suddenly becoming confused.

Rene laughed and rested her chin on the neck of the beer bottle. "It's not that we left ya out, it's that you been workin' so damn much!"

"Yeah, I know. I thought that havin' my own business would gimme more time! Whatever possessed me to think that I do not know."

Rene smiled and took another swig of her beer. About a year ago, Casey had opened his own auto-repair shop on Amsterdam and they hadn't seen much of him sense. Rene did miss their midnight rendezvous to 'fight crime' and such, so she had been hanging out at his apartment a lot lately.

"So what's the story?" Casey asked, interrupting Rene's thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, right, well . . ." She went on to explain the ordeal with Sandra, her mother and the possible con-artist. She also told him how they attempted to secure the family and alert the police, but failed each time.

Casey nodded, assimilating her story. "But everyone's ok, right?"

"Yeah, everyone's fine. Lia got banged up pretty bad though, but Kutter says she'll be alright. 'Sides that . . ." Rene shrugged, implying everything was fine.

"That's good. Ya know how much I hate to see you girls break a nail . . ."

"Ha ha ha, funny." Rene said dryly, glaring across the table at Casey, to which he stared right back. Rene held his gaze for a moment before she broke into laughter.

"I thought you were suppose to be good at staring! Seems you're more human then ya look." Casey said, smiling playfully.

"Oh, is that so?" Rene got up from her chair and walked by Casey, ruffling his hair with her hand.

"Hey! Watch the hair!" Casey said, smoothing down his long, black mane. He followed her to the couch and flopped down beside her.

They sat and watched the tv in silence before Casey noticed Rene rubbing her lower back.

"Looks like you need a good back rub." He said, taking his attention off the television.

"Uh, no. I don't think so. Feels like I have a huge bruise right here." She traced her hand over a spot on her back.

"What happened?" He asked, watching her grimace in pain every time she touched her lower back.

"Nothin'." She said, dismissing the matter with a wave of her hand. "Just ran into some guys trying to rob Joyeria Latina, ya know, that jewelry store between 108^th and 109^th on Amsterdam."

"Why'd you go that way? I thought there were too many people."

"Yeah, well, it's three in the morning" Rene said and shrugged.

"Ah, well, busy night, huh?"

Rene sighed heavily and stretched her arms out, her back making a long chain of popping noises. "Ouch." She said dryly. She relaxed her shoulders and looked over at Casey sleepily. "You could say that."

Casey laughed and wrapped his arm around her. "You poor thing!"

Rene smiled and collapsed over, laying her head on Casey's thigh. "Yes, poor me. Matter-a-fact, I don't think I can make it home tonight. Guess I'll haft bum out here."

Casey laughed and rested his arm on her head, flipping though the channels. "Guess so."

Rene closed her eyes, still smiling. She could honestly say she was happiest when she was with Casey. No one else understood her like he did and no one else seemed to be able to tolerate her either. Then again, she never allowed herself to get this close to anyone before, not even her sisters. When she was around him, she felt she could let her guard down and become friendly, which was unusual for her indeed.

Recently though, they had been getting much closer. Not that she minded, in fact, she enjoyed it immensely. Being friends was just fine, but going a step further was even better.

"So how are ya guys doin' . . . ya know, financially?"

Rene propped herself up on her elbow and surveyed Casey a moment before deciding he was serious. "Good . . . well, no, not good, horrible in fact." She laughed. "When is it ever good for us?"

"Ya know how it's been really busy at the shop lately? Well, that's partially because I've gotta do a lot of the paper work myself. So I was just thinkin' that maybe if you wanted to earn a couple extra bucks, you could come work for me." Casey said, staring straight ahead at the television.

"Are you serious?" Rene asked after a moment.

Casey shrugged, still avoiding eye contact.

Rene sat up and watched the tv for a moment as well before responding with a laugh. "Want me to greet the costumers while I'm at it Casey?"

"Look Rene, if you don't want the job, you don't have to take it. I know how you guys are about 'handouts', so just say so if you don't want the job. I only offered because I could use the help, that's all."

"Ok, fine. I think that'd be cool, but just remember that simple little me has never been to school." Rene said, laughing.

"Oh no, it's just basic stuff. Don't worry, you're not required to know calculus."

"Are you implying that I don't know calculus?" Rene said in a very offended tone.

"Oh, no. Never my intention." Casey played along.

"Good . . . calculus is math, right?"

Casey laughed and shook his head. "All right, I'm gonna be dead tired tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. You gonna stay?"

Rene shrugged. "Naw, I don't think I'll give you the pleasure."

"Aw, damn! And I was thinkin' I might get lucky tonight!" Casey laughed again. "Just make sure to lock the door, or window, or whatever when you leave."

"Sure thing, stud." Rene said as Casey disappeared into his bedroom, closing the door.

Note to self: Get new reading material. She thought, glancing about the room at the other scattered magazine's. Nothing but mindless dribble in her opinion. Why read about famous celebrities or the new trends? It's not like they exactly had the means to stay in style or ever watched the movies these stars were in, so what was the point of it?

She sighed and skimmed through an article about fiberoptics yet again. If you're going to take the time to read something, might as well make it something productive.

One of Donna's major 'quarks' was laziness. She hated seeing her sisters, or anyone for that matter, lounging about getting fat and providing no service or function what so ever. As for herself, she was always doing something. Always fixing, building, maintaining, or cleaning something, not that she complained too much. Just at times, she felt unappreciated for all the work she put into things, but she knew that without her, the others would be in trouble.

She smiled at that thought. If she were to just disappear someday, her sisters would be utterly lost. How could they manage? They wouldn't! She beamed.

She held the thought a bit longer before shaking it from her mind. What was she thinking? She was the last one who would become bitter or self-absorbed! After all, Rene already covered that job pretty well.

She looked up from the magazine on the table and popped her neck. Lia was still out as was Rene. Mickey was 'entertaining' Sandra with the tv, as she usually did for herself, although the way Sandra kept nodding off told Donna that she was slightly uninterested

"Hey Mickey, why don't we call it a night." She said, standing up and stretching.

Mickey slowly turned her head towards Donna, keeping her eyes fixated on the televison. "Huh?"

"Mickey!" Donna said a bit louder, this time catching her full attention. "Bed. Let's go." She nodded first to Sandra, half asleep on the couch, then to their bedroom.

Mickey glanced at Sandra and then back at Donna, shrugging. "So?"

"So why don't you get her a blanket or something. Maybe she'd appreciate the use of you're pillow too, seeing as how you won't be using it tonight." Donna crossed her arms and watched Mickey expectantly.

Mickey sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, ok Donna, I got it. I'm comin'"

Donna watched her for a moment more before she left to the bedroom. Sandra stirred then, and slowly lifted her head. She blinked and looked about, realizing that she had nodded off. She sat up and noticed the room was empty.

"Here, you'll probably need these . . ." Sandra whirled around to see Mickey standing behind her hold a pile of slightly wrinkled sheets. She hadn't even heard he walk up! "then again, you might not. It can get pretty stuffy up here in the summer." Mickey dropped the pile of sheets at the foot of the couch.

"Oh, thanks, but you really don't have to-"

"Whada you mean we don't? 'Course we do! I mean, where else would you go? Besides, it gets pretty boring around here, having you around for however long is a nice change."

Sandra smiled, feeling slightly relieved. "Well, I just feel like I'm really inconveniencing you guys. Here I am, a total stranger and you just welcome me! I feel like I should be doing more . . ."

Mickey shook her head and waved the matter off. "Don't worry about it so much! If you feel like you wanna do more, then please, be my guest and sweep the floors anytime you want! God knows it could use it . . ."

Sandra laughed lightly. "Well, I can't say thanks enough for all you guys have done. I don't know what that guy would have done to me had you not shown up."

Mickey shrugged. "Hey, it's what we do. Don't worry about it, really!" She smiled and placed her hand on Sandra's shoulder reassuringly. "You haven't eaten anything for awhile I'm guessing, sure you're not hungry?"

Sandra shrugged. "I'm good."

"If you say so. I'm about to turn in, so if you do decided to eat, foods in there," Mickey pointed to the small kitchen near the ladder. "uh . . . bathrooms right through that door and if anyone should try and kill you through the night, we're in there." She jerked her thumb back towards the door Donna had went through. "Any question, comments, concerns . . . ?"

Sandra chuckled again. "No, I think I'll survive tonight."

"Cool. See ya in the morning then." Mickey turned and proceeded towards her bedroom, but stop before she entered and turned to face Sandra again. "Oh, and don't worry about being quiet, because we'll hear ya anyways."

Sandra blinked at Mickey, confused, but after she caught on she blushed. "Oh, heh, ok."

Mickey smiled before disappearing into the dark bedroom.

Sandra watched the closed door a minute more before finding a light switch and turning out the lights. She settled down on the couch and pulled the sheets under her chin. She stared at the ceiling, even though she couldn't see it in the darkness, and thought about the past events.

From all the years living of in New York, she had learned to block out the noises of the busy city streets and even grown to enjoy them at times. She would lay awake in bed for what seemed like many hours, listing to the familiar sounds of the moving cars, honking horns, security alarms, and just about all noises in between. Tonight was no different. She listened for quiet awhile until the noises nearly lulled her to sleep, when she heard another noise, this one much closer.

Her eyes snapped open as she listened intently to the dull thumps which seemed to come from the roof. She felt the panic rise up in her throat as the sounds neared the trap door in the ceiling

At that moment, Sandra recalled Donna telling her about their many enemies. She swallowed down the lump climbing ever higher in her throat. What if this was one of them, coming to fight? What happened when they found Sandra on the couch? Even worse, what if it was the same people that had killed her stepfather coming for her? Sandra had decided that there was no way her mother could have possibly committed such a horrible crime long ago.

The person or persons above the door began to fidget with the metal lock. Sandra thought about jumping up an waking the others, but she was to petrified to move. She turned just enough to peer over the arm of the couch at the trap door when it suddenly swung open, spilling a patch of moonlight on the wood floor.

Sandra sucked in a breath as a silhouetted figure slowly climbed down from the roof to the ladder, closed the door again, and made her way down to the floor. The figure wore what looked to be a long coat and hat, but despite the bulkiness of the ensemble, the figure moved lightly, making little, if any, noise.

She lay very still, hoping whoever this person was would just . . . leave, but as they neared the couch, chances of that seemed to be sliming.

The figure stopped directly in front of the couch and groaned, rubbing it's back. It exhaled sharply and began to untie the lose belt holding on the coat.

Sandra blinked and began to realize the figure was in fact one of the sisters, but who? She thought for a moment before realizing Rene was the only missing member.

"Rene?" Sandra asked, sitting up on the couch.

Rene stopped in the midst of pulling off her coat and hat. She squinted her eyes, which glowed faintly, at Sandra. "Oh, you're still here?" She asked, pulling off the rest of her gear and hanging it on a hook by the ladder.

"Uh . . .yeah. They said I could stay-" Sandra attempted to explain.

"Yeah, whatever. 'Night" Rene said, walking towards the bedroom.

Sandra blinked, confused. Rene sure hadn't been as kind welcoming as Mickey had.