Page 6 of Mimosa

Chapter Three

Whentwointhemorning came, Sonny felt like his head was going to explode with the headache nagging him. Everything piled up in his mind to the point it was physically hurting him.

It couldn’t be helped. It was the nature of the job, and he’d wanted the job since he could remember. Hearing all the stories from his uncles and cousins, how his father had been killed by a dirty cop…

Santiago Aguilar Sr., killed ten days before Sonny’s birth. Raised by these stories, it was no wonder he’d wanted to be a cop over the cops, to find and burn those who used their badge as a shield to hurt people instead of protecting them.

His mother had remarried and he had a new father, the only living one he’d ever known, but he was raised with a picture of his real dad next to his bedside, those dark eyes wrinkled at the corners from his smile, and he never forgot.

The worst of the worst, that was the BBC. He’d been asked to go undercover when he first applied. It was well known in the city who killed his father. The man had been a plague and hedied by a bullet when Sonny was nineteen. Just out of junior college, headed to the police academy.

With his mother devastated by the loss of her husband, it was up to Sonny’s Uncle Ben to try to sue the city for the death of his unarmed brother. It was Ben who’d made all the right contacts that led Sonny not only into IA, but also into undercover work, so he could bust the worst of the worst.

Sonny didn’t hate those that took a little drug money off the top of a bust. He didn’t fault those that did a few side jobs that weren’t exactly legal. What he couldn’t stomach, however, was those in power exploiting people to the point of selling them to scuzz bags who forced them to rent out their bodies. Killing people, threatening, prostituting and using power to take and take, never giving unless it was fear and pain.

He looked out of the window of the cheap apartment near the highway, seeing little more than the wall between the residential homes and the noisy four lane. The tops of the trees to the west, the starless city sky and far from them were the mountains where his family would camp each summer.

Uncle Ben called, knowing his nephew would still be awake even as Ben was getting up for work on the city street crew. “Hi, Uncle.”

“My little nephew, what have I told you about sleep? If you don’t get enough, you can’t keep your wits around you.”

“I know, Uncle. I know, but…what I’m in right now, it’s bad. It’s real bad.”

“I don’t need to know. Anyway, how’s my sister-in-law?”

Finally, a smile crossed his lips. “Mom’s good. Shirley is giving her a new grandbaby, so she’s over the moon.”

“Shirley. That sister-in-law of yours loves making those babies. That’s five now?”

“Six. The last birth was twins, remember?”

“I can’t keep up with my grandkids, let alone hers. Your dad would have been over the moon to have so many little ones. He liked babies.”

The smile faded quickly. “Well, Mom’s sure happy.”

“What’s wrong, honey? What has IA got you doing?”

“You know I can’t say. But…it’s what I need to do. That’s enough for me.”

“I’m proud of you, kid. And I know your dad is too wherever that asshole ended up landing after he passed. Listen, I just wanted to check in, but I gotta get to work. Traffic is nasty already over here on the west side.”

“Be careful, Uncle Ben. I’ll talk to you soon.”

As he sat the phone on the little table near the tiny kitchen, he sighed and decided to forget trying to sleep. He got a pot of coffee on and watched the sunrise a couple hours later, wondering if it would snow.

Snow, at least, made all the dirt in the city clean, at least for a little while.

Before noon, he was traveling with Sandy to the city where they’d meet again with Taran. They went into a little bistro after feeding the parking meter for two hours worth of parking, and found Taran smiling like he’d won the lottery.

“What are you so happy about?” Sandy asked him.

“Finally got time with my guy,” he said simply. “I haven’t seen him for weeks.”

Sonny felt a surge of jealousy and that wasn’t like him. “At least you have one.”

Sandy whispered, “Wow, that was…”

“Sorry. I didn’t sleep and I’m in a mood. This entire fucking thing is getting to me.”

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