Code Blue Ch. 68- Meet the Parkers
Summary: A chapter introducing Craig's family on the maternal side, a London-based Irish mob.
*Chapter Warnings* DARK, GRAPHIC. Language, angst, injury, blood, domestic violence, mentions of drugs, murder, guns, death, hit and run, graphic depictions, self-criticism and harm, cutting, mentions of childhood abuse, Agoraphobia, mania
Stories Stories Stories Masterlist
March 25
Sezincote, England - 2 PM
Five hours ahead of Salem, MA, the Parker crime family of Irish origins sat in the kitchen of their brick built country estate in the Cotswolds that centered upon endless acreage, discussing the call between first cousins Tommy and Craig and the don of the family, Pierce Parker, was immensely ire about it.
Appearing much younger than his age, the seventy-one year old man with short, salt and pepper strands and black brows, known as the silver fox, angrily gestured his hands about during his rant in a whispery voice much like the Godfather as his exasperated blue-gray eyes fixated upon two of his three sons, Paddy, the eldest and Ray, the youngest. Maeve, the Irish kingpin's gun moll sporting long, silver strands, quietly observed in the distance alongside one of their many henchmen. The woman was venomous. A silent but deadly water moccasin slithering through the swamp with no fear of the alligators.
"Nonsense! This family will not have any part in my nephew's war with his diabolical cunt of a father. All ties have been severed with Cyrus Renault after what he did to my little sister and niece and it will remain that way for their sake!"
Paddy attempted to speak, only infuriating Pierce even more "Dad..."
"Shut your hole when I'm speaking to you boy," he snapped and then pointed at Ray as he continued his scolding eye glare at Paddy, "You know, I would expect this from Ray. He's a fucking hothead, smartass just like Craig, but not from you or Tommy, whom by the way better get his arse here real soon to explain himself. I am at my wits' end with all of you!"
With a hand slap to the table, Pierce became silent and leered up at his two sons who dared not speak because they knew he wasn't finished.
Pierce took a sip of his steaming tea, then slouched back in his chair with a hearty sigh. "Now," he began in a more relaxed tone, "it's very imperative that not a word about your aunt Penny or Wendy is ever spoken of to Craig or anyone else for that matter, but you knew this now didn't you? Yet here I am having to remind you of common sense. I didn't go to all the lengths I have went to to keep them hidden just for them to be found because if Craig knew they were alive, he would be on the first plane over here. He's precipitant and unstoppable when he's emotional and that will ruin everything I've done to protect my family."
Ray, standing six foot five and built like an ox, politely spoke in his deep voice. "Dad, respectfully, Craig and Brando are family too and so is Blaise, whom you need to know is missing. Tommy said Craig believes Cyrus is behind it."
Pierce's eyes bolted to Paddy's for confirmation in which Paddy nodded, his greenish-blue eyes sorrowful.
Leaning forward, elbows on table, the mob boss softened from the shocking news as he gazed down at the table, his eyes pained, to tell the detailed story of a past he had never spoke of.
"It was around thirty years ago back in Dublin. It was just a usual rainy, blustery night by the fire with some Irish whiskey and a cigar and just as I was dozing off in my chair, the telephone rang. It was a call that I dreaded one day would come. On the other end was Wendy, a hysterically crying eight year old little girl telling me that her daddy had tried to drown her in the pond and that mummy got hurt and was bleeding from saving her. Somehow my sister had managed to escape and flee with Wendy and they made it on foot to a trusted friend of hers. I went to pick them up, literally. I literally had to pick my bloodied sister up off the floor where she had collapsed. She had been beaten and stabbed in the face and all she could say to me as I held her head in my hands was 'save my babies' because she thought she was going to die.
Cyrus knew all of her friends so I had to get them out of there and I couldn't take her to the hospital. It was the first place he would look. Since I already knew that Penny was injured, I called our private physician and had him meet us at one of my safe houses, a remote cabin in Belfast, where I then took them. Wendy screamed and cried for the entire ride as her unconscious mum laid beside her in the back seat. 'Mummy's dying!' That shrill sound still haunts me to this day.
Penny wanted me to get her boys and I wanted to do it. More than you know. Brando was merely a baby. But it was all easier said than done. By the time we had a well devised plan to attempt retrieving them, Cyrus, Craig and Brando were gone. He had moved them to New Zealand but I didn't learn of their location until many years later. It's not exactly that simple to find someone when they leave the country which is one reason I moved us here to Gloucestershire. When I finally found them, Brando was eighteen and Craig...I found out he had just left him there with that monster."
Ray gritted his bearded jaw, unable to contain his judgmental thoughts. "Is that not what you did? You just left them both there with that cunt of a monster? You had time to go in and get them before they vanished. In fact you knew Cyrus would run because Penny got away and Craig ended up taking the beatings on her behalf. Craig told me everything and in his defense, he tried to get Brando to leave with him but he wouldn't."
Pierce's eyes narrowed upon his son who was twice his size and like the snap of a whip, he stood and cracked the table once again with his hand. "Did you forget I had a family of my own to protect???!!! You boys, aside from Paddington, were still young and dependent upon me! Thomas was only a teenager and you, Raymond, were half that and I was going to be a father again too or did you forget that your dearly departed mother had been eight weeks with child?? If I had done as you feel I should, it would have ignited an all out mob war you fool!!! It all turned out just as it should have but do I have regrets and feel incredibly guilty??? EVERY SINGLE DAY SINCE."
He choked up as he continued. "It ate me alive to leave those young boys, especially seeing what it was doing to their mother, not knowing where they were and it was far worse when I found out their whereabouts because I had to keep it from her or she would have ran off after them and saving her would have all been for nothing! That is why you, Paddy and Tommy will keep your mouths shut!! Until Cyrus is dead that is and we will take no part in taking him down. We have enough on our plates with the Stevenson family. It breaks my heart about Blaise but I know Craig. I've kept tabs on him. He will find a way to get his daughter back and he has plenty of manpower to do it without our involvement!"
As Pierce silently sobbed in departure, Maeve and her olive martini in hand followed, daring to place a comforting hand upon her husband as Paddy viewed from the doorway.
Knowing the master manipulator that she was after a recent power play on her part that caused him immense heartbreak, Pierce turned on her like a lion. "Get your fucking hand off me woman!"
His rebuff incited her forked tongue. "I would have to agree with your son. You call Cyrus a monster when you're the one who created him. You brought him into your drug and gun dealing underground and taught him everything he knows. You should feel guilty for what's happened to your family and you would have had much more to feel shamed about, had I not recently exposed your traitorous childhood friend Archie over the fentanyl purvey."
Pierce glowered down at her, his teeth grinding. "The only thing you exposed is your deceitful ways. I regretfully created you too. You should feel lucky I don't dig up his grave and place your dismembered body parts in there with him. It would be rather fitting after you cut up the innocent Stevenson boy's remains without my knowledge or consent and stuffed him in a suitcase to be discovered by our rival family. He was merely twenty! Just a boy! A foolish power play on your part! You seem to have forgotten who runs this family as of lately!!!!"
"And you seem to have forgotten who has stood faithfully by your side for nearly three damn decades and a lover for two of them. I did it to protect Paddy's son or have you forgotten that too? That innocent Stevenson boy saw Eddie stab a bouncer at a nightclub."
"Oh I have not forgotten. The question is, why was my grandson enjoying a night out with his rival in the first place?? Odd don't you think dear Maeve? And fucking forbidden. Oh that's right. It's because you orchestrated the entire thing behind my back yet once again. Your plan all along was for the Stevenson boy to be offed and you allowed Eddie to do it!"
"Eddie is a part of this family is he not?? He's of the same age your boys were when they became involved in the business and he was more than ready and willing to prove himself worthy. It's all to protect you and this family's position of power by eliminating the sole heir of Richie Stevenson."
"Your protection has incited a mob war woman! You had no right! It was not your place to initiate Eddie. It was Paddington's!"
Pierce bolted his eyes of ire to Paddy. "And you better straighten that boy out. The job was sloppy! Stabbing the Stevenson kid almost sixty fucking times??? Not to mention it was unwarranted to stab a bouncer in a crowded nightclub! Now do you see why this family cannot afford to be involved in Craig's mess when we have an entire shitshow here to deal with???"
As Paddy's eyes lowered in submission, Pierce brought his attention back to Maeve. "Do you have any idea what you've done? The power, the money, it's all went to your damn head. I AM the strategic mastermind of this family, not you! All was going well until your interference. Let me make this as clear as possible. I do not want NOR need your help. I never have and never will. Any next times and there will be dire consequences."
Maeve snickered. "You certainly needed my help all those years ago when you had a nervous breakdown after being left a widower to raise your three boys alo..."
Pierce's eyes turned to pure fury. "Don't you speak to me of Joanna!!! That's a line you don't want to fucking cross Maeve! She...she was...she was pregnant for Christ's sake!!"
Doubled over, Pierce gasped for air. The wind had been knocked out of him as the triggered memory of his one true love flashed before his eyes, punching him right in the gut. It was a hit and run. The sound of the impact was still etched inside his ears. His late wife Joanna whom he called Jo, had been heinously mowed down by a truck right in front of him and left to die in the street.
The vivid images remained of her broken and bloodied body lying limp in his arms as she drew her last breath. All over again, he had felt the desperation, pain and fear he had felt as his sister laid in his arms only one year prior, but with his wife, he knew there would be no miracle. He had then sworn into her lifeless, staring eyes that he would avenge her death but that day never came. The driver had just simply vanished.
At one point, he even suspected Cyrus with his motive being a wife for a wife, but once his grief of fog cleared, Pierce knew it wasn't Cyrus, for he knew if it had been, Cyrus would have sent some sort of boasting message to show his power and rub salt in his wounds. That was his sadistic style.
Paddy aggressively took Maeve's arm and growled. "That will be enough from you harridan."
The scrawny old woman jerked her arm free, then swallowed down her vodka and glowered at Paddy. "Ingrate," she snarled as she slithered away.
Feeling somber, Pierce pulled heavy feet up the stairs.
"Dad...," Paddy called to him.
"NO!" he snapped and disappeared into the upstairs hall.
Paddy returned to the kitchen and came to a scuffled stop before his brother with a sigh. "It's time to find Tommy."
Without a word, Ray slowly grinned.
Paddy dialed the number and it rang much too long for Ray's liking. "Why the fuck ain't he answering?"
Paddy motioned a hand to silence his impatient brother. "Hold on."
With a soft snore, Tommy was sleeping off the prior night's hangover in the office chair of his father's business when the endless buzzing of his cell phone finally awoke him. "Paddy. What's up?"
"Dad's on a warpath over Craig's call. We need to meet up. Now. At the yard."
Instantly alert, Tommy sprung up and rushed to the door. "On my way."
Oxford, England
One hour Southeast of Sizencote was Oxford, the middle point between the Parker's estate and their London West End territory and it was also where Penny and Wendy resided in a sizeable and luxurious, two bedroom flat overlooking the River Thames. Pierce provided their current living arrangements which had been one of many over the years, for it was important to not remain in one location for too long. He also provided everything else they needed to survive under Cyrus' radar such as their false credentials, naming Penny as Laura and Wendy as Lesley which were just random names with no personal meanings. The mother and daughter duo had become so accustomed to their altered identities that their birth given names seemed foreign to them when mentioned or thought of. Penelope and Wendy Parker were ghosts of the past and dead to them just as they were to the world.
Lesley was a petite woman, standing merely five foot two. She tended to wear heeled shoes a lot for that particular reason because it helped her to reach things more easily and so she could see into the bathroom mirror where she then stood picking herself apart. It was an uncontrollable habit, finding flaws in her physical appearance. Laura believed it to be psychological. A trauma response from her abusive childhood at the hands and words of her own father who never wanted her and over the years, it had only progressed, bringing her self-esteem to an all time low and her stress to an all time high with constantly living in fear and then there was the relentless nightmares of drowning.
Berating thoughts juggled though her mind as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. The dark brown eyes gazing back at her were her father's. The stress induced strands of silver in her long, blonde locks reminded her of him as well, for she had been shown recent photos of him just so she would be aware of his presence since she had not seen him in decades. Even her smile disgusted her.
Rage brewed at her image as tears rolled over her high cheekbones. Gripping a bar of soap, her hand trembled as she erased her face in a frantic frenzy.
"I hate you!" she cried and lifted up her shirt, then picked up a razor blade and inflicted a long and painful incision near her belly button where other scarring remained from previous self-mutilation. Her thighs were a victim too and would be scheduled for a future meltdown.
"Lesley?? I'm home," Laura called out as she closed the door and immediately locked the three deadbolts and reset the alarm system.
Startled by the silence breaker just as she was startled by everything in general, Lesley jumped, then frantically wiped away the tears and blood.
After years of study, she and her mother had even traded their Irish accents for American. "In here momma. Coming."
Lesley leaned on the doorway, watching her mother in envy as she unbagged the grocery items she picked up for the week. Laura was so beautiful and perfect to her. She was a woman in her sixties who could easily pass for mid fifties with her flawless skin, thanks to her uncle Pierce who paid for the extensive plastic surgery she had to undo the scarring inflicted by Cyrus. She had sandy strands that fell in wispy layers over her shoulders but was longer in the back and unlike Lesley who dressed more casually, Laura seemed to enjoy more formal attire with hose and heels. Her smile was big and bright and her eyes were big and blue and her heart was even bigger. She was born to be a mother but Laura would argue that over her guilt of failing her sons.
Lesley moved to the large bay window, placed her palm upon it and peered down at the busy water world with her favorite viewing being the dragon boat racing. The glass portal is where she found herself at most days, on the inside looking out, wishing she could be like the rest of the world below, strolling about their normal lives without the constant fear of every face in the crowd turning around to be the beady, black-eyed devil.
Laura sighed at the sorrowful sight. "I picked you up a box of hair color, although I'm not sure why since you refuse to go anywhere. I really wish you would go to therapy with me. I really feel you may have Agoraphobia or something similar. You know...he hasn't seen you since you were a child Lesley. I don't see how he could possibly recognize you now."
Beginning to sob, Lesley faced her mother. "How could he not recognize his own face??? Sometimes I wonder how you can even look at me."
Frowning, Laura's heart broke. "Sweety, he is the last person I see when I look at you. I see my daughter and a beautiful young woman. Do you remember last week when I was able to coax you to sit with me by the river? I must have seen more than a dozen men gawking at you. Pretty sure women were ogling you too."
Both women stared at each other for a moment and then cracked up laughing.
"Ok mom. If you say so."
"I do say so Lesley Lu."
Lesley pulled two recent photos of Craig and Brando out of her hand bag and lovingly traced their faces with her fingertips. "Just look at them momma. Those vibrant blue eyes. They look so much like you. Why couldn't I too?? I feel so bland and dirty with that monster's genes in me. I just want to cut him out somehow."
"Ok now you listen to me Lesley Lu. You are NOTHING like him. You're a good person with a good head on your shoulders. Your brothers are good men too from what my brother has told me. Your paternity means nothing as to who you really are inside AND out."
"I...I miss them so much. It's so crazy to me that, if it weren't for these pictures, I wouldn't even recognize them if I were to pass them on the street and vice versa too because we were all just kids. They don't even know we're alive. I can still remember how Craigy tried to protect me that night and how Brando just cried and cried. God, mom, it's so surreal. Craigy's a father. I'm an aunt now and you're a grandmother. I want to meet Blaise. I want our family back mom. I'm sick of being alone. I mean, don't get me wrong. I know we have each other but we need our whole family. We can't even stay with or see uncle Pierce much due to the risk of exposure all because of who he is. I'm just sick of all of this. The constant moving, the hiding, the fear. I'm sick of looking over my shoulder all the time. We're wasting our lives! I'm going crazy. I wanna live momma!! I want my family back!!"
Laura took her daughter's hands and looked her sternly in the eyes. "Lesley, you listen to me. Some day, that will happen but not right now. Not while that man is alive. Even when he was in prison, we weren't safe but now that he is out, we have to be even more cautious and just wait it out. Just a little longer my girl. I briefly spoke to my brother while I was out and he said Craig and his people are dealing with taking him down. Until then, we stay here. I won't let him hurt you. Ok?"
Fighting the tears, Lesley nodded with a half smile and the two embraced as Laura felt sick to her stomach, knowing more than she had outwardly revealed to her daughter regarding the call from her brother.
Southwest London
In the office of the West End docks, Paddy rambled and ranted to Tommy as Ray worked out to ease his frustrations.
"I'm sure I don't need to describe to you what dad's reaction was over Craig's call and if that wasn't enough, he and Maeve were at each other's throats as usual. I so wish he would make good on his threats and end that old shrew, especially after tricking him into offing Archie but he just doesn't. I don't what he sees in that hag. And then she had the fucking nerve to go and mention Mum which Dad almost had a heart attack over. He's right you know. She's sparked an impending war with the Stevenson's over butchering their boy that she conspired with MY boy to do. I should just end her myself!"
"What you need to do is get Eddie in line or I will."
"What the fuck does that mean??"
"It means the boy is a fucking hothead, just like the oversized oaf over there. Nothing good comes from it."
Offended, sweaty and panting, a shirtless, sculpted and tattooed Ray paused his regimen to riposte the hypocritical remark, for Tommy was a bit of a brawny brute himself, it just took a lot more effort to trigger his temper and he was a bit more rational in his retaliations and decision makings.
"Speak for yourself."
"I'll handle my boy, " Paddy continued, " but right now, what are we going to do about Craigy? Dad has forbidden us to get involved because of our current situation with Richie."
"Fuck that," Ray snapped. "and fuck Richie. Craig's family. We can't just abandon him like Dad did."
Paddy sat back and shook his head. "Dad didn't do it intentionally. You were there were you not? When he told us what happened and why he made the choices he made. Look how broken up he was over it. We're not going to abandon Craig. We just can't go jumpin in feet first like you always do. And right now, my boy is a target. He comes first. They know he did it. I guarantee you that, since the Stevenson kid was last seen with Eddie at that club and Cyrus...he won't be as easy to deal with as Richie. Richie's in mourning right now and that makes him vulnerable. I say we take care of him and then we head out across the pond. Dad doesn't need to know and we can deal with the repercussions later."
Tommy chimed in, setting forth the rules. Although he was the middle son, he was in charge of the decision making. "Richie's vulnerability, if anything, makes him even more dangerous so to say that handling him will be easy is rather foolish but I do agree. He needs taken care of first. We can't leave Dad here to deal with it. We're essential to this war and Eddie's now a target as you said. We call Craig back and tell him what's going on. That's all there is to it. He will understand."
"Agreed," Paddy sided, then got up to refill his and Tommy's mugs with water and as he turned the water on, it streamed red. With a grimace, he turned back to Tommy.
"What's with this fucking tap pissing bloody water?? It was fine earlier."
Tommy looked up from his phone, his brows furrowing at the rusty waterfall, then his brows fell back into place followed by a grim expression. "It means exactly that. Blood is going to pour.."
An eerie silence filled the room as the three brothers exchanged looks of concern and then hearts thumped as Paddy's phone rang.
"Dad? Everything alright?" paddy asked as he swiftly answered.
"I need you all back at the house now. Council of war. We've been invited to a funeral."
Pierce hung up, leaving Paddy frazzled. "Well fuck me. We gotta go. He's called for a council of war."
Tommy quickly stood and put his jacket on before they all sped off back to headquarters. "And so it begins."
Dusk- Back in Oxford
Laura had taken a Valium to calm her nerves after her talk with Lesley, but it was mostly because of her call with Pierce. She hadn't relayed the entire conversation with her daughter about how she had learned that Craig's little girl was missing and he was going after Cyrus in due time. The thought of her granddaughter, whom she had never even seen, going through the things her children had went through with that beast of a man made her physically and emotionally ill and knowing the pain her son was enduring was just too much and to top all of that off, she was also withholding the knowledge from Lesley that Brando was working for Cyrus. She understood why because she knew better than anyone from the influence and power that man had had over her once upon a time, so she could only imagine what it must be like in the shoes of her youngest son, but Lesley...she knew she wouldn't understand.
As Laura snored in her medicated slumber, Lesley paced about in the living room, talking to herself in a manic moment with thoughts of jumping ship.
"Ok, ok think Lesley Lu. You know how to do this. You've done it so many times. All the moving from place to place. You have a passport and access to all the money you could possibly need. It can't be that hard to find your brothers in Salem. Just pack a bag and go buy a plane ticket."
Her pace increased as she nibbled her nails. "Oh god, wait...what about all the people?? You're going to freak the fuck out because mom won't be there with you to keep you grounded like all the other times."
Her eyes widened as she froze. "Noooo. You can't leave momma here alone!! Fuck...what am I going to do? Think harder Lesley!"
She resumed her pacing. "Ok, you just have to do it. Momma will be fine. Just leave her a note so she at least knows you weren't kidnapped. You HAVE to get out of here before you lose your fucking mind."
She stopped again as she passed a mirror. Backing up to look at herself, she chuckled. "Yep, you've already lost it. Alright," she sighed and with eyes closed, she took in a deep breath and exhaled. "it will be fine. You've got this. Just keep your hoodie up and your eyes down. You've already researched the trip. A flight to from here to Boston is roughly eight to eleven hours. You'll be there before midnight on the American East coast time if you go now. That's less than a day and then you'll be...."
She gasped, beginning to slightly panic. "You'll be within arms reach of the devil himself."
Her mother's words echoed in her mind. "He hasn't seen you since you were a child. I don't see how he could possibly recognize you now."
Lesley then continued her debate with herself. "She's right Lesley so just go. Besides, you can just stay in a hotel in Boston. That way there's a much lesser chance of running into that creep and when you want to go to Salem, you can just take the ferry back and forth. OK, yes. Yes, that's what I'll do and then figure the rest out once I settle in."
Zipping up a duffle bag, Lesley slipped on a hooded sweat jacket and scribbled out a note for her mother.
"Dear Momma,
Please don't be angry with me or worried. I needed to do this for me. I'm drowning momma. I need to breathe. Please just let me go. I'll be alright. I love you more than anything."
Tears dripped upon the paper as Lesley laid the pen down, then she quietly slipped out the door and soon found herself choosing darkened streets to make her way to the closest airport, which by car was an hour away She hadn't planned on walking but once she saw all the city life and lights, she panicked and couldn't bring herself to call for a black cab. She decided the walk in the cool night air would do her good anyways so she would have more time to prepare her nerves for the busy airport and all the people she would have to speak to and sit with.
About one hour later of scuffling down a quiet road of light fog and forestry, Lesley sat down upon a large mossy log to rest and checked her cell. Sighing in relief to see no calls from her mother yet, she stretched out her legs and indulged in a bottle of water, then she decided to just shut the phone off so she wouldn't be tempted to answer it when her mother did call. She wasn't going to let anything or anyone deter her from her path and she knew her mom could easily talk her into coming back.
Just as she had powered the phone down, headlights appeared from around the bend, giving her no time to react and hide. The beams shone directly upon her, leaving her frozen like a deer in the headlights and then, the vehicle pulled over.
Her heart raced and palpitated, thinking her mom had called in the reinforcements of her family to locate her but then she realized it couldn't be because her mother would have still blown up her phone with call after call.
Realizing the pickup truck wasn't going to leave, Lesley took in a deep breath and forced her legs to take her to the passenger side window. As she approached, the window rolled down.
"You alright young lady?" a middle aged man asked as his two excited, tail-wagging labs barked at her from the backseat. He seemed harmless so she thought to herself, why not ask for a ride since she had made it that far without running away.
With a shaky smile and a struggle for eye contact, the words flowed right out as she tugged the top of her hoodie down out of habit.
"Could I... get a ride?...Please?"
"Sure. Hop on in! Don't mind Peter Pan and Wendy. They're good old dogs and love company. Where to miss?"
She stared at him for a moment and then at the panting dogs. The dog's name being Wendy couldn't have been a coincidence, she thought. It had to be a sign that she was making the right choice.
With another smile, a genuine one that came naturally, she happily answered.
"To the airport please."
@redeemer46
