Page 56 of Jobe

“Something you want to tell me?” Rose asked, her lips curving into a smile.

Eyes widening, she whispered, “How can you tell?”

Throwing her head back in laughter, “Oh honey, it’s just a mom thing.” Settling her gaze once again on Mackenna, she said gently, “And it looks like you’re going to be finding out all about mom things.”

Mackenna rose from her seat and the two women embraced. Tears filled Mackenna’s eyes as she pulled back away from the older woman. “Oh, my goodness. It seems like I keep tearing up.”

“That’s normal,” Rose said, patting her hand. “How’s Jobe?”

Shaking her head, she gushed “I swear, he’s over the moon with excitement. We’ve only known a week and haven’t told our parents yet. I wanted to wait for a bit to make sure that things were going well.” Sitting back down in the chair as Rose settled in the other one, she continued, “In fact, you’re the only one who knows!”

“Then you’d better stay away from your moms because they’ll ferret it out of you as soon as I did. Have you thought about down the road? With this place, I mean?”

“Not really. My first concern right now besides finding a new location is keeping these girls safe.”

The two women looked at the computer screen for a moment together as Mackenna scrolled through the options she found. “There’s actually a house that is currently being used as a battered woman’s shelter and they’re moving. So…I think that it might be perfect. There are five large bedrooms, and with bunks in there, we could house ten women at a time.”

She glanced up at Rose’s smiling face and asked, “Would you come with us?”

“Oh honey, you couldn’t keep me away.”

“I would like to give up the running of the shelter, though,” Mackenna confessed, then seeing the distress on Rose’s face she quickly added, “But I’d like to just focus on the counseling.”

Rose’s face immediately melted into a smile again, as she leaned over and patted Mackenna’s leg. “That’d be perfect for you,” she agreed.

“By the way, don’t tell anyone else, please. At least not now,” she begged.

Standing, Rose moved toward the door looking back over her shoulder and said, “I promise.”

* * *

“That center bitch is knocked up,” Jazzie said as he came into the room, out of breath.

Tito looked up sharply, his mind immediately working through the information Jazzie had blurted out. “How’d you find out?”

“I got my ways,” Jazzie said. “And it’s by one of those security guys that was hanging around.”

A slow smile crept across Tito’s face. Jazzie noticed and began grinning as well. “Prez, you thinkin’ what I am?”

Tito nodded, “Fuck yeah. We got us a chance for some payback.”

* * *

Jobe, Vinny, Gabe, and Terrence were out once again securing cameras in some of the areas noted by the Richmond Police as heavy with active gangs. Wearing utility uniforms, they worked on installing cameras near traffic lights and, slipping inside several older buildings, they managed to locate some of them on rooftops. Working seamlessly, they made quick work of the task and were heading back to headquarters by the end of the day

Tony had called a staff meeting as soon as they returned, so Jobe phoned Mackenna on his cell as Gabe drove. “Hey doll, are you home yet?” Receiving an affirmative, he told her that he would be a little late.

Gabe asked, “How’s she feeling?”

Jobe, unlike Mackenna, told everyone that she was pregnant immediately. Rounds of congratulations, back-slapping, and “join the club of little sleep” rang out at Alvarez Security. Smiling, he looked over at his friend and said, “She’s great. So far no morning sickness, just a little nausea at night.”

Jobe’s good feelings continued until they reached their destination. Striding into the conference room, the group saw that Tony was standing with Matt, Shane, and…much to his surprise, Jack Bryant. Jack, a former member of their Special Forces squad had retired and started his own protection and investigative services and had recently assisted them when Vinny and Annalissa needed help.

None of the men had happy expressions on their faces.Everyone quickly settled around the table, all eyes on Tony.

“Matt called me today to tell me that they had more news and about the same time, called to let me know that he had gotten a request from the Governor. Jack gave me enough info that I surmised that both he and Matt had some of the same concerns. So I brought us all here together to find out what’s going on and what we can do to assist.” With a nod toward Shane, he turned it over to them.

“The Sixers are different from some of the local punk-ass gangs. A bunch of the others are just teenagers breaking into houses, selling pot, or petty crimes likes smashing car windows, vagrancy, etc. But Tito Montalvo's got a real eye for making a name for himself. He’s smart and has figured out a way to move into the big time.

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