Bring Her Home

Jimmy

Brian paces backwards and forwards with his hands behind his back, muttering something under his breath as Zacky works furiously at his computer, fingertips tapping against the keyboard at almost lightning speed. Bianca hadn’t said a word about this mysterious Violet, aside from letting Brian know what her name was and the fact that she was his new favourite girl’s older sister, which left us to do part of our job and snoop around a little until we got the information we needed.
“Can’t you go and ask her some more things about this Violet person, Brian? Anything that gives us a start to her trail?” Matt asks frustratedly as he peers over Zacky’s shoulder at the computer screen, trying to decode the strange technological language that’s appearing in front of him.

Brian pauses for a moment and shrugs, glancing over at me for help, though I can barely help him. I don’t know anything more about this situation than anyone else in this room, but I appear to be the calmest member of our gang currently.
“She’s sleeping, Matt, and she’s taking care of the baby. Their health is the most important thing to me right now, I’m not going to disturb her just for some identification process we don’t even know is going to work” he spits bitterly and returns to his pacing, gazing down at the hardwood floor beneath his feet.

I know that Bianca is probably awake with Athena, keeping her calm while the five of us work together to try and work out what’s going on. Matt rolls his eyes and returns to muttering with Zacky, whose wearing such a look of forced concentration that I watch him work with such admiration for a moment that I almost forget that I’m meant to be helping. I’m itching to get out onto the streets and start killing, the victim card having already been sent through to us so we know exactly who to shoot. But there’s a horrible inkling at the back of my mind that I already know what my brothers are trying to find out, and I’m beginning to wonder whether Bianca’s been intertwined with our world a lot longer than we think she has.

“All we know is that she has a sister named Violet who was killed by a group of assassins, but that could be anyone we know in this world. It’s not going to help us if we can’t connect her to any of the other problems we have around here” I murmur softly and Brian flops down onto the couch next to me, running his hands through his porcupine hair and groans, his hands itching to do exactly the same as mine are.
“I know Jim, but I always worry, you know? What if there’s an enemy of Violet’s who’s trying to come after Bianca, or even us and Athena?” he frets softly and I place a calm hand on his arm to try and keep him relaxed. Zacky suddenly cries out in triumph and every eye in the room turns to stare at him, awaiting the new information. He flips the computer screen around and begins to point at the different boxes of details across the page.

“Her name was Violet Suzanna Ellis; she was twenty seven years old when she died. She graduated from UCLA with a Masters in Criminology at twenty three, and has two known siblings, younger sister Bianca Ellis and…holy fucking shit” Zacky trails off, his bright jade eyes widening as he reads the last line of the sentence. I’m almost on the edge of my seat and I can feel Brian gripping at my arms in the anxious wait.
“What? What is it?” Matt whispers, breaking the silence in the room and Zacky swallows a large lump in his throat and stares directly at the man next to me.
“And her older brother, Matthew Tuck”

For a moment, the room transcends into silence and Brian stands up, his face paling entirely. All that it explains is that either Bianca doesn’t know that Tuck is her half-brother, or she’s been keeping it a secret from all of us for all this time. Family ties are so important in this business, and there seems to have been some coming from right underneath our noses.
“Print off the sheet Zacky” Brian orders darkly and without question Zacky hands him the piece of paper with all the details on it, and he nearly bounds out of the room, fists clenched and eyes swirling with a strange kind of evil that I only ever see whenever he’s about to put a bullet in someone elses head.

Signalling to Matt, the only person who can drag Brian away from just about anything, the two of us run after him, listening for the horrible noises that Bianca could make if Brian starts to lay into her. There’s the sound of the door banging against the wall and a loud roar from our old friend and we speed up, skidding to a halt in front of the bedroom door and grabbing Brian by the shoulders. With Athena cradled protectively in her arms, Bianca is stood up, shaking, and in her hands is a black handgun, something none of us even knew that she had on her person. Not many people can have the balls to hold a baby in one hand and a gun in the other, but then again- I don’t know many people. Her hands are quivering and leaving Matt to sort out Brian and calm him down slightly, I step forward towards Bianca, holding my hands up in surrender. The gun aim never leaves Brian’s path and I pat Brian’s arm to try and relax him quickly before I make my way over to Bianca, whose eyes are darting all over the darkly coloured bedroom.

“Bianca…put the gun down and we can talk about this, OK? Calm down, come on it’s OK- it’s just me, Jimmy, give me the gun Bianca, give me the gun and give Matt Athena…it’s OK” I soothe quietly as I take baby steps towards her and as soon as I get close enough to touch her, I prise the gun out of her hand and place it on her bedside table and then take the scared little baby out of her arms and place her in one muscular arm of Matt, who kisses the top of her head gently as he coaxes Brian out of his maniacal state. And almost as though she’s been in a trance, as soon as the objects are removed, she lets out a high pitched sob and collapses down onto the bed, tears trickling down her cheeks. With a confused look in Brian’s direction, I wrap my arms around her and comfort her slowly, her head burying into my neck as she clenches her fists shut.

“I-I-I thought he was someone else. H-he was so m-mad, I could h-hear him coming” Bianca sobs in my arms and I send a death glare in Brian’s direction, the same man whose sobered up slightly and has whispered to Matt to take the little girl in his arms away from such a traumatic scene.
“Who else did you think it was, Bianca? Who else would be in here?”
“I-I-I thought that he was T-Tuck. After everything he’s d-done” she chokes and Brian slips into the seat next to her, clasping their hands together and kissing the knuckle as she holds on tightly, her watery eyes staring up at him. For a moment the two of them just stare at each other, and when she notices the name of her sister on the piece of paper clenched in Brian’s hand, her eyes widen slightly.

“Bianca, I know that this is going to be hard, but we need to know all of these things. I’m here, we’re here to protect you, Bee, and we can’t do that if you don’t tell us what’s going on. Please, Bee. Tell me the truth” Brian whispers to her, almost pleading with her for the truth. Everything he’s saying is true, but I know all he really wants is to get a reason to sabotage Matt Tuck and make him pay for everything. She swallows, choking back a few more sobs before she lets go of my waist and sits up properly, wiping her eyes with the back of her wrist.

“It’s true. Matt is my older brother, Violet was my older sister. Matt and Violet didn’t get along because of me. As the oldest sibling, Matt wanted to follow in Daddy’s footsteps, into this business. He ran away, left us, ratted Daddy out to you guys. But at the same time, they wanted to keep me safe and they both wanted me on their side. So the family split. Violet went with Matt to Bullet and I was forced to come here”
“And then what?” Brian murmurs soothingly, watching as she leans into his chest and closes her eyes, his arms falling around her protectively. It’s almost as though they’re as close as Vee and I.

“Violet had a daughter, born out of wedlock. It was a one night thing and only she and Matt knew who the father was. On the night before she was killed, Matt took her daughter and tattooed her chest, in order to make sure he got custody of the child when Violet died. I don’t know if he planned her death or if he didn’t- all I know is that he never got the child” Bianca finishes softly and stares up into our eyes, the cool crystal blue and the dark chocolate brown that stare back down at her. She’s had to suffer through a torturous brother, a possible arranged murder of an older sibling, and now she’s suffering our judging gazes. I’ve already put two and two together, but I know Brian will hit the roof when he finds out.

“Who got the baby? Where did they go?” Brian asks softly, squeezing her hand and she sniffs again, staring pointedly over to the crib on the other side of the room.

“You did. You got Violet’s little girl”

Notes