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Make at least five thousand dollars per month working only three or four hours per week!!!

Monica stared at the multiple exclamation points at the end of the subject line on the email she’d printed out yesterday. She had known it would be too good to be true. But she’d called the number indicated in the email anyway, and to her surprise she had reached a live person, not a recording.

“Anderson Enterprises.” answered the drone on the other end of the line. “Can I help you to achieve your earning potential today?”

What a line. Still, she’d answered with a sarcastic “Yeah, why not?”

They’d asked her for her name, age, phone number, cell phone number, and whether or not she had a criminal record.

Monica Deets. Twenty four. (555)462-9825. That was her cell phone number, she didn’t have a home phone. No.

Only the last answer was a lie.

She was fairly surprised when they asked if she could start right away, but what the hell, she needed the cash. Fast. “Sure,” she’d answered. “What do I do?”

She was even more surprised by their answer. She was to meet an Anderson Enterprises rep at Sandham Park the next day at lunchtime, at which point she’d be given her first instructions.
That was half an hour ago. She’d met a woman named Sheila from Anderson Enterprises at the entrance to the Park. Sheila had a little girl named Charlotte with her, presumably her daughter.
Sheila had handed Monica an envelope with a hundred dollars in it. “Your first payment.” she had said. “You’ll get the rest later today when you’re done with the job.”

“And that job is…” Monica prompted.

“You’re to take Charlotte here out to lunch in the north section of the park. There are some benches there, made out of concrete covered with tile mosaics. You can’t miss ‘em.” Sheila handed Monica a brown bag stamped with the name of a popular deli.

“Babysitting?” Monica asked, aghast.

“Not for long. I’ll meet you there in half an hour to pick up Charlotte and give you your next instructions.”

“That’s it?” Monica was not particularly pleased by the assignment, but a hundred bucks wasn’t bad for a half hours’ work, even if it did involve babysitting.

“For now.” Sheila said, turning. “Oh yeah,” she turned back, remembering one more thing. “When I come to get Charlotte, get up and give me a big hug, like I’m your best friend in the world.”
Monica knew better than to ask questions where money was concerned. Sheila turned again and walked out of the park. The little girl didn’t seem very upset by her mom’s departure. She simply put her little, sweaty hand into Monica’s and said “We have turkey subs for lunch. Do you like turkey?”

“Whatever.” Monica said, removing her hand from the small child’s grasp. “Follow me.” She’d led the girl to the north section of the park. It was a very quiet part of the park, far enough away from the playground and the fountain that not many people came there. She picked one of the two mosaic benches to sit at and plunked down on one side as Charlotte jumped up on the side opposite her. They ate their turkey subs in relative silence. Charlotte asked her a few questions like “What’s your name?” and “Where do you live?” but when Monica declined to answer she turned her attention elsewhere, watching the pidgeons in the grass and the men playing chess at a wooden park bench about twenty feet away. It had been a half hour and Sheila wasn’t back yet. Monica took out the email that had advertised this stupid job. There had to be a much better way for people to get babysitters these days, especially ones that were willing to pay that much money. She hoped that Sheila didn’t expect her to stick around much longer. She had no reservations about leaving the little girl here. There were plenty of adults around; she’d just tell her to find one and say she was lost.

A few moments later, Sheila appeared. She had another bag from another deli which she plunked down on the table between Monica and Charlotte. From the sound of it, there was one heck of a heavy sandwich in there. Monica remembered her instructions, and jumped up saying “Sheila! How are you!” while she gave the woman a big bear hug. The woman hugged back, and Monica felt her put something in her back pocket while she did so.

“I’m going to take Charlotte to the playground. Why don’t you meet us there when you’re done eating?” said Sheila in a voice louder than was absolutely necessary. She grabbed Charlotte’s hand and they headed away. Monica could hear Charlotte ask “What is that other game those men are playing?” while they walked away, and her mother’s answer of “I don’t know, maybe checkers?”. Then they were gone. Monica took the note that Sheila had slipped to her out of her back pocket. She smiled a big smile. Now this, this was more like it, she thought, as she slid the new deli bag over to peek at the contents.

———————————-

Jack stared at the two games on the table, wondering why the heck this guy Tomonori guy wanted to play chess with his boss before he was willing to sell him the stuff. His boss was doing pretty well with the chess game, but he’d been thrown by the other game on the table. Tomonori had given him brief instructions on how to play, but Jack could tell his boss was just winging it. It didn’t matter. Tomonori had the bag with him. Even if his boss didn’t win the games, they had other ways of making him hand it over.Jack glanced around the park. There weren’t a whole lot of people around, just some lady and her little brat having lunch at the concrete bench off to the right. If they were smart, they’d eat up and get the hell outta Dodge. And if they weren’t… well, hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

———————————-

Detective Johnny Berent’s knees were hurting. He was crouched in the shade behind a row of bushes, watching the three guys at the park bench about a hundred feet away. Johnny had recently been promoted to detective, and this was his first job. He couldn’t complain, especially to the senior detective crouched beside him, so he gritted his teeth and waited for whatever it was that his new partner was waiting for. He wondered what Harry was up to. The old codger wouldn’t tell him much, just that the Asian guy facing them was a dangerous criminal — the more so because he was slightly crazy, and that the other two were part of a Latin gang that had just started getting more active in the city. Harry was convinced that the Asian guy — he called him Tomonori — was using the chess game as a cover to move product out in the open. Harry had told Johnny to be ready for anything. Johnny had been warned by some of his new colleagues that Harry’s methods could be… unconventional. He wondered if he’d find out exactly what they had meant by that today.Johnny watched as a woman walked up to the bench behind the mobsters. She hugged another woman who had been sitting there with her kid, having lunch, and then she walked off with the little girl in the direction of the playground in the middle of the park. Johnny sighed with relief. He had been worried about what might happen to the little girl if anything did happen in the next few minutes. It was good to have her out of the way. Hopefully the other woman would follow shortly.

They waited in silence for another ten minutes or so, his knees aching more and more by the minute. Finally, it looked like something was happening. The Asian man had tipped one of the last pieces on the chessboard over — presumably his King. He reached down to a small white tote bag that was on the ground next to him, and held it out to the two men sitting opposite him. “Get ready.” Harry warned.But Johnny wasn’t ready for what happened next. Suddenly, the woman who had been having lunch at the concrete bench further down stood up, a brown bag in her hand. She reached into the bag and pulled out a gun, carefully aiming for the Latin guy in the white shirt. The man sitting next to him yelled “Get down” as he went for his own gun. A shot was fired, but before Johnny could tell who shot who he heard his partner yell “NOW!” and they both leapt out of the bushes as the two other teams that had been in hiding also appeared, guns drawn. It was over quickly. Detectives Brown and Morris arrested the Latin mobster and his sidekick, Worden and Smith got the Asian, and Harry had brought down the girl.

“Good work, Detective Berent.” Harry said to him as they got in the car, the handcuffed woman sitting behind them, swearing like a madwoman. They’d run her info — her name was Monica Deets, recently released from prison after doing time for armed robbery and attempted homicide. She’d gotten out early for good behavior. She wouldn’t be so lucky this time around.
“Thanks, Detective Anderson.” Johnny said with a smile as they turned out of the park, toward precinct headquarters.