Nick heard laughter coming from upstairs as Deke greeted him. “It sounds better than I thought it would, Dekester. Did you intercede for the Daughter of Darkness?”
Deke muttered an under the breath humming grunt while burrowing his head into Nick’s lap as his human master crouched near him.
“I bet no one thought to give my dog brother a beer… did they?”
Deke went wild in place, all four paws marking time, with tail wagging so fast it blurred to the human eye. Nick roughed his head with amusement. “Okay, lead the way. I-”
Deke streaked up the stairs before Nick could finish a thought in words. He grinned and followed Deke upstairs. In his enclosed balcony, family and friends watched the Jean show as she pantomimed one of her teachers at school who had recess duty during the week. She walked, talked, and recited clichéd lines so well, Sonny couldn’t breathe, he was laughing so hard. Jean wound her act down as Nick entered, going to the bar and pouring Deke a beer in his bowl.
“I’m glad this latest ten-year-old’s surveillance gig ended today. What have we learned today?”
“Never trust my Dad not to rat me out to Mother Gorgon?”
“Why you little turd!” Rachel went after Jean, but then returned to her seat without initiating an attack when Jean crouched behind Deke. “How did it all go with Neil, Muerto?”
“Very well. I told him John recorded the event. I’ll be sending him our files on Jean and Sonny’s case. He said there would not be any repercussions. I even got to keep my Colt. I won’t have to testify unless one of the accused makes a scene at the station.” Nick paused, putting a hand on Jean’s shoulder. “I recognize your impersonation. I’ve met that teacher with the Full Monty of liberal ideology you were disrespecting at the PTA meetings. I don’t know what she’s capable of in a classroom. I hope she’s sticking to covering the subjects she’s assigned to teach. Public schools are getting weird.”
“I know kids in her class,” Jean said. “Ms. Nazari teaches the five pillars of Islam. She encourages prayer rugs and beads! I thought teachers couldn’t teach religion in school.”
Sonny regained his voice at the reality message Jean imparted. “Ms. Nazari is in charge of recess. She doesn’t like Jean.”
“I make fun of her in ways she can’t get back at me for,” Jean admitted. “I do stuff like I was doing when you walked in. She only realized I was imitating her when the kids started laughing.”
Nick took a deep breath, looking longingly at the Bushmill’s bottle. He remembered making a Nazari family member his reentry into the Company when he killed Sheik Abdul Nazari in the sand. Rachel came over and poured him a drink from the bottle in spite of his reservations. “Relax at the table with us, Muerto. I’ve gotten over the unknown surveillance operation under my own nose. Gus and John explained you three cartoons were watching out for the kids. This Nazari bitch pisses me off too. She seems to think she’s in an Afghan cave. Insisting on wearing a headscarf, of course, even in the classroom, Florence ‘Islamic idiot’ Nazari isn’t teaching kids… she’s indoctrinating them. Jean drives her crazy which is the only reason she isn’t grounded until turning eighteen after hatching the protection racket, gang surveillance plot with her Igor.”
Nick sipped contentedly while listening to Sonny’s denials of being in thrall to the ‘Daughter of Darkness’, much to the amusement of his audience. He sat down at the table next to Rachel, glad his two thousand word goal in the new novel wasn’t hanging over his head. The new scenes with Fatima entrapping Diego, Jed, and Leo in a Caribbean gang plot unfolded on Nick’s keyboard in less than two hours during the day.
“What’s the ramifications of Viper’s assaulting Florence each day? I imagine she’s a new convert, having married a foreign Islamic national, right?”
“Oh yeah,” Rachel answered. “She’s one of those wild-eyed newbies, dedicated to screwing the rest of us female non-believers. Jean can tell you. I’ve arrived at the school in an attractive dress for working at the Monte Café, only to get the beady-eyed stare of retribution. You know how well I take to that. The first time, I didn’t give it a thought. The third time she eyeballed me, I went right into her face.”