Upping the Ante – Chapter Five – emersli1

Reading Time:
10 Minutes

Chris was angry.

It was generally said about Christopher Diaz that he was bright, cheerful, and loving.  And he was all those things.

But right now he was mad.

His papa had finally come home, and instead of them getting to do fun stuff together Chris was dumped at Tia Pepa’s house and Daddy and Papa were somewhere else doing something they didn’t want to tell him about.

And somebody had beat up his new Aunt Maddie, and Chris had Things to Say about that… but there was no one to say them to.  Aunt Maddie was asleep in the spare room with Abuela keeping watch over her.  Chris was bunking in with Luis, which might have been fun in other circumstances…but tonight it just felt like…

It felt like Daddy and Papa didn’t trust him.

Sighing, Chris rolled off his cousin’s bottom bunk and meandered out into the hallway.  Maybe he could get a drink of water and worry in the kitchen for a while.  At least it would be better than staring at the bottom of Luis’s top bunk.

Just as Chris got to the cabinet where the glasses were kept the kitchen light flipped on.

“Trouble sleeping, sobrino?”  His Tio Paco stood in the kitchen doorway with his hand on the light switch and a knowing look on his face.

Chris nodded and then watched as his uncle got him a glass of water and nodded towards the kitchen table.

Once they were both sat down Chris took a drink of his water.  Putting the glass down he looked up at his uncle.  Tio Paco had always been kind.  Even when Chris had been naughty, Tio Paco had always explained why what he had done was wrong before sending him to the sofa.

“Daddy and Papa think I’m too crippled to help!  They’re treating me like a baby!”  His worries and frustrated anger burst out of him.  “Somebody hurt Aunt Maddie and nobody will tell me ANYTHING!  And everybody else is helping, but I’m just…”

Paco reached across and took his hand.  “You are just being treated like a child.  Not a baby.  Not ‘too crippled’, and don’t think we won’t be discussing that, but…”

The man sighed.  “When your daddy was about your age, your abuelo took a job that required him to be away from home a lot.  He told Eddie that HE was now the man of the house.  If things went wrong, he was responsible for them.  If his mother or sisters needed something it was now his responsibility to take care of it for them.  And failure was unacceptable and dishonorable.  And punished severely.”

Tio Paco looked at him somberly.  “Was that a fair or good thing for a father to do to his son?”

Chris knew the answer to that.  “No.”  He deflated a little bit and scowled.  He could see where this was going, and he didn’t like it.  “But they didn’t even TELL me what was going on!  And everybody else knows, and that’s not fair.”

“I agree.”

Chris was shocked out of his sulk by his uncle’s unexpected agreement.

“But this life is frequently unfair, and part of growing up is learning to deal with that.  It isn’t fair that your tia was hurt by someone she trusted.  It isn’t fair that your papa was left to think his sister had abandoned him, when that very much wasn’t the case.  It isn’t fair that instead of getting to enjoy this time with his novio your daddy is having to help him handle a possibly dangerous situation.”  Tio Paco kept his eyes steadily on Christopher as he spoke.

“And it isn’t fair that as the youngest, you have not only lost this time with your papa but have been denied the same information as the rest of us.  But it has nothing to do with the trust your papa and daddy have for you.”

Paco seemed to think hard for a moment.  “You know that Evan and Eddie both were in the military, correct?”

Chris nodded.  “Yes.  Daddy was in the Army and Papa was in the Navy.”

“That’s right.  And did you know that I too was in the military?  That I fought for my country, learned many of the same skills your daddy and papa learned?  Have many of the same abilities?”  Paco studied his little nephew intently.

“I didn’t know that.  Were you in the Army like Daddy, or the Navy like Papa?”  Chris asked eagerly.

Paco smiled a little.  “Neither Sobrino.  I am a Marine.  And yet, I am here instead of with your Daddy and Papa.  Why do you think that is?”

Chris gave the matter due consideration.  “Because you are old?”

Paco sputtered for a moment.  “For your information, cheeky one, fifty-four is not OLD.  But no.  I am here because I have a more important job.”

His tio let go of his hand and reached behind himself.  When his hand came back into view, he held a gun.  Laying it on the table with his right hand, Paco pulled his left hand into view displaying a large, wicked-looking knife.

“I am the last line of defense.  If the enemy does something unexpected…if he finds this house… I am the one who will stop him.  And I am capable of doing that.”  The weapons disappeared again.  “You also have a more important job, one that your daddy and papa are trusting in you to do.”

Chris leaned forward eagerly.  “What is it?  What is my job?”

“Your Tia Maddie has been hurt, not just to her face.  She has been hurt to her heart, and to her soul.  Being surrounded by people whose main job is to protect or take care of her is not good for her.  She must have someone who can be normal with her.  Not protective.  Not on alert.  She struggles with dark thoughts, Sobrino.  Someone must help her lighten them up.  I cannot be that person.  Neither can Pepa or Abuela.  It is a job only you can do.”  Paco now looked shrewdly at the little boy sitting across from him in the dark kitchen.

“And did your daddy and papa not tell you this before they left, hmmm?”

Chris considered the question.  “Yes, I guess they did.  Papa told me it was my job to cheer up Aunt Maddie, and Daddy told me to just be myself.  But I didn’t know that was a REAL job.”

Paco took his hand again.  “I assure you that it is.  That your daddy and papa are doing what they must, secure in the knowledge that your aunt is safe and cared for, not just her body, but her heart and mind as well.  They have entrusted us with the wellbeing of someone they love, Christopher.  And there is no greater trust than that.”

Christopher gave the matter some thought as he finished his water.  Paco efficiently took the glass and put it in the sink for morning.

“I think I can sleep now.  Thank you, Tio.”  Chris got up and headed back down the hallway.

“You are very welcome, Christopher.  Sleep well.”

The kitchen light went back off, and Christohper finally fell asleep.

Paco, of course, did not.  

On the other side of the neighborhood, Buck and Eddie sat side by side on the sofa in their darkened house.

In other circumstances, this might be fun.

Tonight, it wasn’t.

After reassuring Maddie that she hadn’t missed the wedding, Buck had encouraged her to take the anti-vertigo medication and go to bed.  Seeing the other medications on the counter, Buck’s heart hurt even more for his sister.

A brief, but intense council with Paco and Pepa led to Eddie and Buck going back home to wait and see what Han decided to do.  

Eddie had used the wait time to fill Evan in on everything, and now Buck was laughing softly.

“She seriously thought I was taking rich tourists out to pet pinnipeds?  Does she not realize how big those things are?  And territorial?  And that they have mouths full of razor-sharp teeth?  Not to mention the fish breath?”

Eddie chuckled a little himself.  “Honestly, I don’t think she gave it that much thought.  She had an image of you in her head, so her brain leapt to an idea that fit with that image.  You realize, Chris is the age now that you were when she first left home?  And you’ve said she didn’t have much contact with you after that point.  If Chris suddenly sent you a postcard with a waving seal on the front and a note on the back about swimming with seals, would you immediately think ‘military’?”

Buck gave the idea some thought.  “Well, no.  Because he’s still actually eight.”  He dropped the levity.  “She said she was working in therapy on seeing me as an adult.”

“Yeah.  I think that’s a real good step in the right direction.  There’s something else though.  She told me she promised herself she wouldn’t lie to you anymore, even by omission.  So she probably is gonna want to talk to you about something once this is all over.”  Eddie sat quietly for a moment.  “Do you think Han is dumb enough to come here with violence on his mind?  He knows I was military.”

“I think when Howard Han gets angry and feels ill-done by, his higher order thinking skills drop off pretty quickly.”  Buck thought of the reckless driving that had led to a rod through the skull.  “He might just hole up and sulk, but I doubt it.”

Buck sighed.  “No.  This is  going to go one of two ways.  Either he’s going to be angry with me and want to beat the shit out of me.  His perception of me would make him think that would be an easy win.”

“Or, he’s going to abuse his access in the LAFD system and track down your next-of-kin wanting to justify himself to Maddie.  He thinks of himself as charming and funny, and he knows she has feelings for him.”  This was the kind of situational analysis Buck had specialized in in the Reserves, and he was fully confident in his assessment.

It all just depended on which way Han jumped.

And for now, they could only wait.

Howard Han was furious.

He didn’t know what he wanted more.  To have it out with Buck, or to explain himself to Maddie.

He kept swinging from one to the other.

For now, he circled another dark, quiet house in a sleeping neighborhood.  No one had been home at the first two places he’d tried, which had just made his anger burn hotter.

Buck was going to regret taking his candy-ass feelings to the police.

And Maddie was going to understand once and for all what a whiny little brat her brother was, and why he shouldn’t be trusted with anything and couldn’t take a joke.

He hadn’t really wanted to tangle with Eddie Diaz.  Unlike most people, the quiet, sober ex-soldier had never really warmed up to him.  Which wasn’t fair at all because he teased Buck all the time too, but whatever.

No.  Eddie had killed people.  That alone made him an uncertain proposition.

But Buck’s loft had been empty.  Really empty, when he thought about it.

His brain skittered off the random thought and back onto his fully justifiable anger.

Everybody underestimated him.  Bobby wouldn’t let him do the cool rescues, and insisted he keep going back for more training…like he hadn’t proved himself often enough.  Privileged meatheads like Buck dismissed him because he was smaller and browner than they were. Ex-military like Eddie felt they deserved special consideration just because they had been too stupid to come up with better career options than being shot at on the other side of the world.   Even Maddie didn’t give him the respect he was due, seeing him as ‘small’ and ‘gentle’.

Well, one way or another they were all going to learn tonight.

Howard Han was not to be overlooked or underestimated.

A quiet tinkle of broken glass sounded in the night as he broke a pane in a back bedroom window.  Climbing through, Han crept quietly towards the door standing ajar, checking to make sure Maddie wasn’t occupying the bed as he went past.  He then slipped silently out and down the darkened hallway.

Suddenly from behind him a thick arm went around his throat as the other hand smoothly grabbed the hand in which he held his weapon, jerking it forward and up as his fist clenched spasmodically around the trigger.  The bullet discharged lodged harmlessly in the ceiling as Howard Han’s consciousness began to fade out.  Down the hallway a light came on, and the last sight he had was of someone holding a gun on him.   Then he fell into darkness.