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Fatone Compound - Lance's Office 5:18pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lance rubbed his eyes tiredly. It wasn't as bad as he had thought. Young Mr. Timberlake was just an informant. From the way that Joey had told Lance about their tiny exchange, he had entertained the possibility that Justin was a department mole. He was sure that the information that Christopher had given him could be trusted to be the truth, any undercover assignment would have been kept under wraps, except from the 'need-to-knows'. Lance knew that title didn't fit his informant. On top of it, the information was all officially dated and stamped and Lance was sure he recognized one of the cases that Justin had helped the department build.
He had all the information too, juvie record, fingerprints, a full list of all the cooperation he gave to get time cut off his sentencing. They could control Justin, that wouldn't be too much of a problem. The Family would just have to keep an eye on his out of house activities. Lance assumed that the cop who had come for Janine had been one of those to whom Justin had talked in the past and that they were most likely just surprised to run into each other in such a place.
His headache disappeared at the thought of the police department. That had to be a first, but he couldn't get the blue eyed detective, Joshua, out of his mind. He found that he really didn't want to get him out anyway. Joshua had invited him out to dinner on Wednesday and Lance looked forward to seeing him again. There would be a big risk involved, but there was something about the older man that drew Lance, he wanted to know what it was and what it might mean.
His thoughts were interrupted by Joey appearance in his doorway, "Tony says that dinner will be ready in about half an hour." Joey paused at the small smile gracing Lance's face. No one had really smiled in anyway that wasn't psychotic since the 'incident' there was too much stress to find time for being happy. "So, what's the good news? You look happy."
"Who wouldn't be. I get to keep you around for awhile longer. I found the person that was hired to take care of you by Pearlman. I bought his contract and now you can walk around free for a little while." Joey had sat down in the chair across from Lance and he looked at the dayrunner sitting open on Lance's desk.
"So, who's this Joshua guy? A new contact? You know that I'm looking to get back some of what left with Steven and we do have some people who I am still worried about the exact nature of their loyalties."
"We're working on that problem now Joe. Things will be better than ever as soon as we finish cleaning up the ranks." Lance stared at his hands and counted down from ten.
At three Joey interrupted his countdown, "So. Who is this Josh?"
"You aren't going to let this go are you."
"Not when it looks like Lanciepoo has a date. You know you have to be back by curfew and of course I have to meet the boy before he takes you anywhere." Joey's voice was filled with mock horror as he added, "You know that there are a lot of people who would take advantage of a sweet little thing like you."
Lance ducked his head to avoid looking embarrassed and his eyes graced Justin's file again. "Joe, we need to talk serious about something." Joey dropped himself back into his chair and waited for Lance to continue. Rather that speak, Lance pushed Justin's file slowly across the desk. "My friend at the department dropped this off today." He sat back as Joey flipped through it.
"It's not that bad. You think that we keep an eye on him and then keep him and that cop apart?"
"I think so, but I wanted to check with you to see what you thought."
"We can keep him busy. You know, send him and Dre on errands." Lance and Joey were set to make a list of all the stupid things they could set Justin to doing while Janine was still in question when Wes called to tell them that dinner was ready. "It'll work out, man. We just keep going." Joey said pulling Lance to his feet.
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Fatone Family Operating Headquarters - Two Days Later 4:25pm
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Justin had never been inside 'Anthony's' before. Even in his role as an aide to Joseph, he hadn't been permitted to see the inside of the careful secured and exclusively private restaurant. From the outside it looked any Mom-and-Pop Italian Restaurant, but anyone wanting to enter would be told that reservations were required and that the restaurant was booked indefinitely. Inside were only Family employees and Joey's bodyguards.
Dre let him in and lead Justin to a table in the far back of the restaurant, well away from windows and the prying eyes they involved. Joey and Lance sat with Wes and an elderly man Justin didn't know. The table was filled with poker markers as the four went about their game. When the had was played, Joey pulled the markers into his pile.
Lance stood up and introduced Justin to the stranger, "Albert, this is Justin Timberlake, one of Joseph's associates. Justin, this is Albert Madigan." The two shook hands and Wes gestured for Justin to take his place at the table. When Joey pushed half of his markers over to him, Justin noticed Albert look at Lance questioningly. "He's getting room, board, and tuition, no stipend. Anything he wins in Joseph's anyway." Albert shook with silent laughter and Lance smirked at Justin. "Maybe someday he'll get his own contacts." Justin knew that this was high praise from the young hitman. Justin had come to them in the guise of a little know pickpocket off the street. On top of that he had been introduced into Steven's circle, it was only by chance that he was dropped quickly into Joey's lap. Joey had fancied they could make something more of him, but Justin was never sure of what Lance was thinking. He had noticed that he spent more and more time within their circle as time passed.
The were several hands into their game when both Lance and Joey's cell phones rang at almost the same moment. They both stood up and walked in opposite directions of the table, Dre and Was trailing them. Lance's soft exclamation of shit was barely heard above Joey's shout of "No One Does This To A Fatone!"
Lance was the first one to hang up and while Joey continued to rant at his caller, Lance pulled two large ledgers off the bookshelf in the hallway next to the kitchen. He pushed all the chips but Albert's to the floor and dropped both books on the table, pushing the blue one to Albert. "I need you to do some quick math with me, he's going to want these numbers by the time he gets done yelling and realizes what exactly happened. It's these markers," he added pointing to a symbol in the book. "Go back a month and a week, to the time of shootings." The two men silently added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided coded numbers as Justin looked on. Joey's voice wound down slowly and he still looked pissed when he returned to the table.
"Let's hear it."
"Three hundred, eighty thousand," Albert announced.
Lance calculated that last number with his own. "It's two hundred, twenty thousand lost."
"God damit! How could he do this to me? To us?" Joey waved his hand's around. "I want this straitened out. There is no way he can independent without help. Lance, call Wright, I want him to know that if his family picks him up I will not be a happy man. " Joey glanced at Albert, "Time to cash out old timer. James and I are going for a drive."
Lance was already on the phone and could only wave a goodbye. "Come on kid," Joey said as he tossed Justin one of Dre's guns. "No one turns on the Fatone family without realizing the consequences." Wes lead the way to the car, followed by Joey, Justin, and Lance.
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Amber Glass Bar and Grill - 8:30 pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"No, I don't need to add my name to the list. I'm supposed to meet a Chasez here. Is he here yet?" Chris didn't like pushy receptionists and this one was no acceptation. It was one of the reason's he enjoyed Christina's so much, but it was JC's choice to invite him to dinner, so they ended up at one of JC's favorite places.
"Right this way. Sorry Sir." After finding JC's name on the list, Chris was lead to the table where his friend sat, appetizers already waiting.
"Jace, it's your day off and you've arrived at a restaurant early enough to order something to eat, rather than watch TV or do one of those other 'things' you do during days off."
JC frowned at Chris, "Playing the piano isn't a 'thing' it's a talent."
"Only if you have some Jace, only if you have some." The waitress took Chris' order and the two munched in silence before Chris spoke back up. "So, you usually don't ask me to dinner. What's up?"
"Can't a guy want to spend time with a coworker."
"You know there are rules about the way you can spend time with a coworker, outside of work."
"You don't do anything for me."
"Are you sure?"
"One hundred percent."
"I know you didn't ask me here for kicks, after all Sunday is funday. So what's up?"
JC took a deep breath and steeled his nerve. "I want to know about Lance, from Christina's."
"I don't think that the two of you would be good together." His mind was screaming the way it had been two days ago when the two had met, but it wasn't in his hands.
"What are you talking about. You are always telling me that I need to find someone and I think that Lance and I could have a chance."
"He's just not your type, Josh. He's all business and no fun and we know you like your fun." Chris looked at the stubborn expression on his friends face and sighed. "What makes you think that he's gonna work for you?"
"I just do. You know, when our eyes met, I could feel it. He could be the guy for me and I am willing to try and he seemed willing too. We are getting together Wednesday anyway. I just wanted to know more about him." There was no stopping the ball from rolling now. Chris decided he would be better off burying himself with his shovel rather that trying to dig himself out. So, with another sigh, he told JC everything he could, trying to keep terms like 'Mafia' and 'underboss' and 'killer' out of the conversation. Lance was a good heart, he just wasn't living the life of good heart.
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