Highway Butcher – Chapter Seven

NOT EDITED

Chapter Seven

9:01 AM; LOS ANGELES TRAUMA CENTER, CARE ROOM SEVEN

Jamal had stayed with Bridget until Bo’s parents turned up. At the very least, she wouldn’t be alone during Bo’s medicated slumber. He wanted to stay until Bo was awake, but truthfully, even he knew Bo was likely still better off not seeing him.

Out in the hallway, after Bo’s adoptive father walked into the room, his mother stopped Jamal, arms crossed over her chest. Jamal didn’t really have to do much scanning of Renee Austen’s face to determine the stop was anger-induced.

“Good morning, Renee,” Jamal said.

“Are those really the goddamn words you wanna throw my way, Jamal?”

Jamal let out a breath. “No. I’m truly sorry about what happened with him this morning, Renee.”

“You should be. I spoke to David. I spoke to Bridget. He intentionally put himself in harm’s way with a man drunk and high beyond words. A man with a knife, Jamal.”

“I know.”

She uncrossed her arms to shove at his chest. Jamal took a step back. Whether she wanted space or satisfaction at shoving him, he’d give it to her. “If you hadn’t treated him like he was a worthless pile of shit—”

“He might have felt differently about the way he handled the… situation this morning. I know.”

“If I lose my son—”

“You won’t. I have the best doctors in California here, Renee. He’s under very good care and very knowledgeable people.”

“I’m not just talking about today, Jamal,” Renee whispered.

Jamal cleared his throat. “You won’t. Bo will be… safe. You have my word.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“Now that I know where he is? I certainly can.”

Renee stared so intently into his eyes that he was a little worried she was still planning an attack. Instead, she nodded. “Of course. You were lying when you told me you weren’t the one following him.”

“Not… necessarily. It wasn’t me. It was one of my men.”

“So your man’s job is to sit back and watch him get shanked? Did he at least take good pictures of the incident for you?”

Jamal cleared his throat. “My man is relatively new to this. Bo is his first… client. Your son got the drop on him and escaped his tail. This is unfortunately how we re-discovered where he was. That isn’t exactly how I saw it going, but my guy won’t lose him a second time. He’s now personally aware of Bo’s smarts. That kind of lesson sticks a little better than reading about it.”

“Well, that definitely sounds like my Bo,” Renee said quietly. “This man. Why is he stalking Bo?”

“He isn’t stalking him. Consider him… a bodyguard from afar.”

“Sure. When he knows where my son is, anyway.”

“This is his first time… misplacing Bo in entire six months he’s been tailing him. He’s doing a damn fine job, Renee.”

She only shook her head. “What have you done, exactly, that requires you to have a secret bodyguard for my son? What have you done to put him in danger?”

“My intentions aren’t to protect him from any danger because of my… affiliations. Bo’s in danger because of himself, and he will not…” Jamal cleared his throat again. “I will not let Bo die thinking he does not belong on this Earth. My man’s job is to make sure Bo doesn’t die, even at his own hand.”

Renee closed her eyes for quite some time before meeting Jamal’s gaze again. “A bodyguard isn’t enough to help him. He gave me Acamas. His cat? He said she deserves better than having him as an owner. That she needs someone full of life to take care of her. He needs help, Jamal. Not a fucking bodyguard from afar.”

“I know he does,” Jamal said, his voice soft. “I’m working on it. The last time I offered, the last time I begged to let me help him, he didn’t want it. As much as I hate it, I can’t help him if he doesn’t want to be helped. But I’m working on it.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Jamal nodded toward Bo’s door. “He’s been sedated, so he’s mostly asleep. I’ll find out when that should wear off.”

“Thanks,” Renee whispered. She gave his arm a gentle squeeze before walking past him and into Bo’s hospital room, closing the door behind her. Jamal drew in a long breath, slowly letting it back out as he smoothed his hands down the front of his suit jacket. He needed to speak with Jensen, and then he’d come back and find out what they sedated Bo with and when he was expected to wake up. In the meantime, based on everything David and Jensen had relayed over the last six months, the man needed that sleep—medically induced or not—more than anyone would ever know.

In the parking lot, Jamal made his way to the far end, where the car was parked. Franklin leaned over the center console to open the passenger door before Jamal could grab the handle. He slid into the seat and pulled the door shut behind him.

“Is he okay?” Jensen asked the very second the door locked. “I’m so sorry I lost him, sir. This never should’ve happened. I’m so sorry.”

Jamal twisted in his seat to face the young man. “Jensen, there is no universe in which this is your fault. I don’t want you thinking for a single second that I lay any blame on you for this.”

“Y-you don’t?”

“No. Bo was there with two cops, Jensen. Two. He locked one in the car and begged the other not to come out. All he needed to do was get into the car himself. He chose not to, and I think you know why.”

“Yeah,” Jensen whispered.

“Bo… went out looking for trouble with a man he knew was trouble. When you have a man on a mission like that, there’s no stopping him. I know it. Franklin knows it. Now you know it. You wouldn’t have been able to change anything.”

Though he didn’t look entirely convinced, Jensen nodded.

“Once Bo is released, I would like to switch gears a little. Now that you’ve made contact with him, I’d like you to again. Intentionally, this time. It will give you time to come up with something far more believable than you being a reporter. He saw through that the instant you said it.”

“Well, do you have any ideas for something ‘far more believable’? Because I don’t really see any good reasons for stalking him for the last six months.”

“Tell him that your mother was murdered or that you’re Katherine’s son.”

“But those aren’t lies.”

“Exactly. You’re a terrible liar. The fewer things you’re hiding from him, the less detectable your lies will be.”

“Umm, you don’t know that I’m a terrible liar.”

Jamal chuckled. “Oh, I definitely do, kiddo. That is but one of many reasons I didn’t want you making contact with Bo yet.”

“Rude.”

From the driver’s seat, Franklin snorted. “It does get easier. The lying. Coming up with the lies, the backstories. It gets easier, and you get better at hiding your tells. But it takes time and practice. Until then, sticking with a story that’s easy to remember and easy to tell is the best idea,” he said.

“But… talking about Mom isn’t easy. I mean, it…” Jamal glanced up at the rearview mirror. Jensen had turned his head toward the window slightly, a faraway look in his eyes that Jamal knew a little too well. “It’s not a story that’s easy to tell.”

“He doesn’t mean like that. Just that your words about her won’t have to be lies. You won’t have to think about everything you’re going to say beforehand because all of it will be the truth. What you decide to share about her, about her death, when you share it, the hesitation in your sharing. All of that will be honest. That’s the easy part. The honesty,” Jamal said.

“Yeah,” Jensen said quietly. Eventually, when the freckle-faced man blinked his way back into the present rather than the past, he met Jamal’s gaze in the mirror. “How would telling him about Kathy help?”

“Well, you could chat about the wrongdoings she’s done to both of you.”

“She saved me.”

“Yes, technically. But it’s the one and only positive thing you can say about her.”

“That’s not true.”

“Name a second.”

Jensen stared at him for an absurdly long amount of time before leaning back in his seat, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

“You’re allowed to think highly of her. You’re allowed to love her. You can call her your adoptive mother, you can call her Momma K, you can say she’s the best woman in the whole world. It just… doesn’t change the fundamentals of who she is. Katherine has always been like a daughter to me, and she always be. But it doesn’t change the fact that she treated me like the most inconvenient part of her life from the very second I gave her the first thing she asked for. From then on out, she knew how to use me, how to get what she wanted, and she did. She knew how to use you too. And she did. She did the same with Dallas, the same with Bo. She did it with her children.” Jamal cleared his throat. “It’s hard to let the image of someone you love be tainted. And that’s okay. You don’t have to let it be. But if you ask me a question, I’m going to answer it.”

Jensen grunted his response, head turned toward the window.

“What you tell Bo is your choice. The fewer lies you have to share, the easier it will be for you and the harder it will be for him to see right through you. My only real requirement is that you don’t tell him you work for me.”

“Okay.”

“When you have successfully bonded with him, we’ll be moving onto a secondary mission of getting him the help he needs. He won’t accept my help, but if it comes from someone else, he might.”

“Why not ask Detective Quinn? Or Detective Decker? Or Dallas?” Jensen asked.

“Because I already have. I’m hoping a new person in his life, a person who doesn’t know what he used to be like or how he used to be, suggesting he get help will be a nudge in the right direction. As is, people who already know him are… are people associated with me,” Jamal said. “And I don’t think that’s helping.”

“Which is why he can’t know I work for you.”

“One of many reasons.”

“Mm.” Jensen cleared his throat. “You know earning his trust isn’t going to be easy, right? I mean, up until last night, he hadn’t left that hotel in a month. He’s not exactly a sociable guy looking for new friends.”

“As long as you do everything you can to keep him alive, I don’t care how long it takes. You do the job, you get paid for the job.”

“My concern wasn’t the money. My concern was the low probability of completion.”

“Do your best, or I will hire someone who is capable of it. I do not give a shit how you do it as long as you fucking do it. Am I clear?”

“Fucking crystal.” Jensen practically threw open the door and slid out of the car, slamming the door behind him.

“You’re an ass,” Franklin said.

“I’ll hire someone capable of doing your Goddamn job too.”

Franklin snorted. “I’d like to see you try.”

Unfortunately, his past temporary firings of Franklin were more than enough proof of the man’s job security. “Do you know how hard it is to not be an ass when all you can think about killing the next motherfucker that stands in the way of you and two fingers of Scotch?”

Franklin cleared his throat as he reached out to start the car. “I know that it’s—”

“No, you don’t know shit, Franklin. Are you a fucking alcoholic? Ever been one? Are you recovering?”

“No, sir.”

“You don’t know shit,” Jamal repeated. He closed his eyes, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “Could you please go inside and find out what they sedated Bo with and let his mother know when to expect him to wake up?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.”

Franklin nodded. “Of course, sir.”

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