Chapter 16

“Okay, looks like you have one last group of visitors before you’re released. I don’t know why they couldn’t wait to meet you at home or somewhere else, but here they are. The Lanier family. Pierre, Angelique, Monique, and Jacques. Her parents and siblings,” Nora made sure that I actually wanted to speak to them prior to release, given how close I was to being discharged.

“Oh, go ahead. Let’s get this over with, and in a setting where they have to behave themselves,” I smiled, as Nora nodded and opened the door to let in Jeannie’s family.

“Mr. Konrad Gottlieb, alive and in the flesh! I don’t want to sound accusatory, but I must ask if you knew that our girl is pregnant? There is a substantial chance that you’re the father. Much to our surprise, she didn’t lose the baby, despite severe trauma from third-degree burns to her feet and some possible lung damage from smoke inhalation. She could need an oxygen tank if they can’t mitigate it enough.

“Also, they might have to amputate her feet entirely, the tissue damage is so extreme. I want you to be honest with me, Mr. Gottlieb ... when were you last intimate with my daughter?” Pierre started a little confrontational, but that was a common reaction from a father.

“Save it, please. We both know that it’s my baby, Mr. Lanier, don’t we? And even if it isn’t, it is,” I told him, making him scratch his head.

“I don’t follow you, Mr. Gottlieb,” Pierre told me.

“Anyone else in her life who might have impregnated Jeannie would be bad news. Who do you think out there would take good care of a cat burglar and her baby? More cat burglars? Drug dealers? Pimps? Abusive cops? All kinds of unsavory folks, most of whom would want something really big out of a burn victim or footless woman before they would take her on, trust me, in that dog-eat-dog world out there on the streets. I fully intend to claim the baby as mine, regardless of actual paternity. Is she staying with you right now? I’m more than willing to let her stay with me instead,” I elaborated a bit.

“So, what exactly was the deal between you? From what little I’ve heard, you were a not-quite boyfriend, maybe a ‘friend with benefits.’ I was half-afraid that she was turning tricks and that you were her pimp. But you’re claiming that she’s a cat burglar instead. What gives? What was your pact or agreement or understanding, especially since it seems that you stopped fucking her, for lack of a better word,” Angelique now spoke frankly about her daughter.

“She was a cat burglar, at least. I don’t think that she has too many career options in that field anymore. That line of work is basically foreclosed to someone who’s disabled. Look, I basically gave her an ... outlet for her needs. She would climb up to my upstairs window, which was kept unlocked for her, grab what she wanted, and then let herself down by the same window with whatever she could carry with her.

“I stopped keeping anything of strong sentimental or economic value to me there, I didn’t file any insurance claims for it, and I didn’t involve the authorities. I took the losses, so that she could make a living and not harm any real victims. We had a strong disagreement because of, quite frankly, her desire to make me her faithful boyfriend and my desire to get her out of this life of crime entirely.

“I’m not a one-woman man and I’m not even limited to women in my inclinations, if you catch my drift. Lying to her would only cause her pain. As for her quitting this life, she wasn’t ready to do that, either. We were at something of a double impasse, if you will. I could never be faithful and she knew it. She could never quit ransacking houses and I knew it. Well, now she has no choice, does she?

“Short of that, this was my solution. Sacrificing some of my own, less valuable goods to her career choices. I offered to let her crash with me. I was even prepared to give her a housesitting job, for a home that I increasingly left alone. Let’s be frank here. At any point, I could have turned her in, but I refused. Some of that is due to understanding what it’s like to have a very difficult past, if you will, one with real dangers and ghosts that can cancel out any rewards.

“I’m now retired from it, was already semi-retired, but I, too, did things in my past that crossed some boundaries for people. My previous vocation ... well, it got people killed. That’s the point of it. She robbed people? I killed them. Legally, I might add. With the full sanction of governments, two of them at least, not counting our own. I was a private military contractor, a soldier of fortune,” I explained to the Laniers now.

“A mercenary,” Jacques finally broke his silence.

“Yes, to be blunt, I was exactly that. A mercenary. I’m pretty sure that’s why she’s hurt, too. I’m not gonna lie to you about that. I should have sent a stronger message that I was inactive, as that might have stopped them trying to burn me alive in my own house or put a hollow-point round in my flesh. My enemies, that is. They wanted me dead, so your daughter got hurt, simply from being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” I continued while sipping some orange juice.

“What sort of ... enemies?” Monique now asked me, breaking her silence as well.

“Drug lords, cartels. I fought for the Mexican and Colombian governments, never for the DEA. I don’t approve of the domestic ‘war on drugs,’ you see. I’ve seen how many American as well as foreign lives have been destroyed by it. That was part of any deal with those two governments. No collaboration, direct that is, of any kind with the DEA or anything of the sort. I worked with those governments, because I knew that their motives were just to protect ordinary citizens, not to keep the prison industry in the black,” I replied, getting some rather surprised looks from the Laniers.

“So, some wannabe Pablo Escobar types are responsible for the burns on my daughter’s feet, the smoke in her lungs? All for revenge on an American merc who refused to work with the other gringos? They really wanted you dead, but if that’s so, why did you have to jump in front of that bullet, anyway? Why wasn’t it aimed at you in the first place? I’m a little confused by that and the fact that you weren’t home, so they came after you in two different places at once?” Pierre inquired further, as it didn’t make sense to him.

“Because they wanted to cover their bases, but their marksman was a rather lackluster shot. I doubt that he was much of a trained sniper at all, just some vato who thought that he’d rise in the ranks for this. Instead, he’s gonna do some hard time. I think that they doubted the reports of my being here, considered it a diversion, and refused to waste their best sharpshooter for it. They thought that their arson was the main line of attack. That’s the conclusion that I reached last night while tossing and turning about it,” I answered him, getting nods from the Laniers in response.

“Thank you for being so ... candid with us, Mr. Gottlieb. Tell me, though ... what are your actual feelings toward my daughter?” Angelique cornered me on that.

“If you’re asking me if I love her, yes. Does she love me back? Possibly. Are there wedding bells in our future, well, sorry, but no. I’m already engaged and there is a considerable difference between Jeannie and me. My fiancee, you see, isn’t quite the jealous type. Not like Jeannie.

“However, Jeannie is more than welcome to stay with me, regardless of who she does or doesn’t sleep with ... at all. She can crash at my place and recover from her burns or amputation or whatever else happens. Whoever her future is with, Mrs. Lanier, I want it to be brighter than what it is. She’s still young. She can still start over ... and she should. She has that baby to think of, for one thing,” I reassured the Laniers to the best of my ability that I was no pimp.