Pearce Hudson: #1 My Italian Devil

26.Burnt

Ross and I pulled off the desk from Jones, who sat up.

"Hey, hey lie down," I pushed him down. "I need to see you were injuries."

I gently pressed up and down his body. He moaned or groaned letting me know where it hurt.

"What happened?" Ross asked.

"I opened the cage door to give James the Witsec papers to sign. He jumped me. He pushed me off and we fought. Some chairs broke and I think we hit the car. I didn't have my gun on my but had me pinned under the desk after he broke a chair against my wrist."

"Well he didn't break it but its certainly bruised. I think it's sprained but you do need an X-ray or MRI," I told him. "Your head wound isn't that bad we can wrap that up."

"Pearce! Ross!" Jake called out.

"By the cage!" I shouted back. The lights turned on and we saw the mess of the warehouse.

"God! What happened?!" Jake exclaimed.

"James, he refused to testify," I replied, then turned to Derek. "What happened after?"

"He ran off I guess," Derek shrugged.

"Holy shit!" I heard Jessica's voice, she was followed by Green and Crawford. Ross explained what happened.

"You know what we need to do right?" Jessica asked. "Tell me I'm not the only one thinking this?"

"You're not the only one thinking this but you're the only one willing to do," Green replied.

"Willing? We have to do it!" Jessica shrieked.

"Hold on! No we can't abort the mission!" Crawford cried out. "We've put too much work into it!"

"What work?" Jessica asked. "No red ledger. No witnesses. No testimonies. The only progress we did make was getting Pearce close with him."

"We have some things. We er I have an informant. We have the strip club. We have the death of Kevin Smith, we have dirty cops!"

"We've made more progress than any other team will ever make," Ross added.

"We pull the plug now and Pearce goes back to DC. Never again will Dante trust her," Green added.

All eyes were on Derek. He was leading this mission so it was up to him.

"We should pull the plug. It's going to be so risky," Jones said. "James had a half an hour head start. So whatever we have to do we should do now!"

"Let's not pull the plug okay? Let's wait this out," I pleaded. "If anything would've happened it would've happened by now. Maybe James went to see his mom."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Jessica questioned.

It was Green who spoke up, "Let's load up the SUV with the money and guns, ammunition and whatever we have and take it to the office. Whoever made contact with Dante, will have to go somewhere else for the night."

"That would be me, Ross, Jessica and Jake," I counted off.

"You can stay at Jessica's suite," Will offered. "Probably the safest."

"Jake can't go though," Jessica said. "His name is on the apartment lease. If Dante comes over to Pearce's place and knocks on Jake's door too, to find it empty. Bit suspicious don't you think?"

"Won't he be more suspicious if he found out Jake was her neighbor and co-worker?" Green asked.

"Dante wouldn't give him a second glance," I spoke up quietly. "You spin him a story of how you moved in next door and needed a place to work, and I got you a place at my firm. He'll buy it."