"The library?" Tucker wondered why they would be going to a library.
"After we drop you off, of course." Chance gave tried Tucker a reassuring smile.
It didn't have much of an effect. "Drop me off?" He questioned nervously.
"We can't go into the meeting with you. Unless you really do want to die."
If Chance or Fait or Koty or anyone else was caught with Tucker, he very well could die. He was told to come alone and Chance had no intention of letting anyone violate that expectation.
"R-right." Tucker still wished he could just run away and go into hiding. The trouble was that they knew about Rita.
"You met with the guy before. He didn't do anything to you then."
"I hadn't failed yet. What if he is really just planning to get rid of me?"
"Don't worry about it. Just agree to kill me and everything will be fine." Chance tried to make light of the situation.
"What about my wife?"
"We've sent someone to handle it. Relax."
....
And sent someone they had. Fait had delegated the matter of protecting Rita to Roy.
Roy still had some contacts from his previous 'employment' that owed him innumerable favors. He figured now was a good time to claim some of those favors.
All he had to do was make a few phone calls and wait. An hour after the first phone call, he received confirmation that there were half a dozen men guarding both Rita and her parents.
Of course his favor to Fait didn't come for free. She had interrupted his precious family time and would have to provide adequate compensation.
When she called, he was waiting in a line at the zoo with his wife and daughter. Eve wanted to see some peafowl and take pictures to use as reference material for work.
Since they hadn't been on an outing as a family in a long while, Roy decided going to the zoo would be the perfect opportunity to spend time with the two most important women in his life. And then his phone rang...
As soon as Eve heard the first few notes of the ringtone, she coldly waved him off.
She knew that particular ringtone was unique to Fait's number. Fait only called if it was extremely important. Otherwise, she would just send a text message or email for him to answer later.
The intrusion could be forgiven, for now. If it turned out to be a waste of time, the score could be settled at a later time. For now, she was going to enjoy the time she had with Genevieve.
"Go ahead and answer it." She took Genevieve's hand and moved ahead in line.
"Bye-bye Papa." The little girl smiled at him and then walked off with her mother.
"I'll catch up as soon as I can. I promise." He sighed as he watched the pair walk away.
He swiped the screen on his phone and answered, "This had better be important."
Since he had skipped the greeting and went straight to the point, she decided to reciprocate and reply in kind.
"Sorry, Roy. Whatever you are doing now will have to wait. I need your help with something."
She quickly filled him in on all the details they had regarding Tucker and Rita. From her condition to his miserable attempt in betraying Chance.
"So, you want me to help this Malone fellow?" To Roy, this was very out of character for Fait. She was very much an eye for an eye kind of person.
"More specifically, Chance would like for you to ascertain protection for Mrs. Malone."
"I see." He would have to have a long talk with Chance about who was deserving of second chances and who was not.
From Fait's explanation, there was really no reason to cooperate with Tucker and the mysterious man who had hired him. They could just wait for the guy to show up at the meeting place and then grab him. That, in Roy's opinion, would be a much better use of the favors he could call in.
"Give me two hours, I should be able to give you an update by then." Before he hung up he added, "You owe me."
"Shouldn't this debt fall on Chance."
"Nope, this one is on you. I was out with my wife this time." Before she could refute him, he hit the call end button and started scrolling through his contacts.
After he completed his round of phone calls and sent the information to Fait, he put away his phone and went to look for Eve.
Thankfully, and somewhat frustratingly, she was never too difficult to find. He just had to look for the nearest bunched up group of people.
Roy knew his wife was beautiful and he knew people would stare but he had never expected her to attract them on the scale that she did. Men, women, butterflies, and bees would all swarm around her as if they had never seen such a woman before.
Factor Genevieve into the equation and the pair easily attracted a crowd of admirers.