Dilemma

"I'm not doing 'intimate', Billy. I do, however, think we need to meet."

"That's what I was hoping to hear, Allie."

A little after noon, Allie parked in the covered section of the mall parking garage and took the stairs to the second floor of the mall. She walked to the center of the mall and entered the food court, then found a table in a back corner and sat with her back to the wall. Again, she looked around for anyone she may know. She didn't see anyone, but it really wouldn't have mattered, she could always explain away a lunch with Billy at the mall.

Billy arrived a few minutes after her and sat across from her. "Hello, Allie, it's really good to see you. You look lovely as always."

Billy could certainly be a charmer. She knew in hindsight that the best thing that ever happened to her was Billy breaking up with her. Back in high school, she had believed he was the love of her life and they would be together forever. Now she knew that he was a mess inside, and would never be really happy with any woman he was with. "Billy, I'm begging you to reconsider. I don't love you anymore like the way I did then."

"Allie, slow down. Are you hungry? What can I get you for lunch?"

"I'm not hungry, Billy.."

"OK, I'm gonna grab a salad. I'll be right back."

"Will you grab me a Diet Pepsi, Please?"

"Anything for you, beautiful."

Billy returned a few minutes later with his salad and two drinks. "OK, Billy, What do want to talk about, as if I didn't know."

"Allie, It's going to be OK. I promise. Stan will never find out, and the love we shared will resurface. OK, here's what will happen for our special weekend. I'm gonna fly out to Philly on the 4th, like I'm supposed to. I'm gonna stay for a few days and send back some selfies and make some calls so everyone will know I'm there, then fly back here on the 6th. Stan will be out of town by then, so there won't be any problems. We'll have our special weekend, then I'll fly back to Philly on the 9th and make some more calls and take some more selfies, then return here on the 12th. The only thing that sucks is that it won't be over Valentine's Day weekend."

"Billy, Valentine's Day is my anniversary, if you believe for one minute that I would spend it with you instead of Stan, you are sadly mistaken. Other than that though, You think you've got it all figured out? You don't see any problems with this?"

"No problems, Allie. It'll be fine, I promise. Stan will be protected, and we'll be able to have our relationship back. I'll never do anything to jeopardize your relationship with Stan, I swear."

Allie was starting to come up with a plan. She would need to get ahold of Lennie, but until then she would have to go along with Billy's plan, or at least let him think she was considering it. "You promise that you will never hurt Stan?"

" I swear, he will never find out, Allie."

"I couldn't live with that, Billy. If that happens, it would kill him, and that would kill me."

"Allie, I know this sounds strange, but I will never hurt him, not just because I care for him, but because of how much I love you. I know that hurting him would hurt you."

"I have to think about this. We'll talk soon." With that, she got up and walked away.

Billy was actually happy with their short talk. Alli was considering his plan. She was coming to see how important she was to him and that everything would work out, once they rekindled their relationship. He knew she would come around eventually, it was just a matter of showing her it was doable.

********^********

"Lenny, are you busy?"

"No, Allie, what's up?"

"Can we meet again?"

"Same place, 30 minutes?"

"Perfect, Lennie, thank you."

"You're welcome, Allie."

Allie was sitting at the table with her mint tea and a plain black coffee when Lenny walked in. She waved him over and stood up to give him a hug. Lenny gently hugged her back and could feel her shaking a little. "It's gonna be Ok, Allie. We'll work it out."

After an extended hug, Allie stepped back and sat down. "Lenny, he told me what his plans are for that week." She recounted what Billy told her about his travel plans. "I think I have the beginning of a plan. You go to Philly and meet him there, and somehow keep him from coming back on the 6th."

"Allie, I could do that, but he'd see me and know what happened. What if he gets mad and shows Stan the pictures?"

"You're right," she sighed, "The answer's there, Lenny, we just have to figure it out."

"OK, for now, we'll plan on me going out earlier than Billy and trying to figure something out while I'm there."

"OK, Lenny, I don't know how to thank you for helping me."

"It's what friends do, Alli. Billy is not your friend. He wouldn't be doing this if he was your friend. He has to go."

"He's sick, Lenny, but you're right. I can't let his problem become my problem. I will not let him destroy Stan's and my lives. Just, please, don't hurt him if you can help it."

"Allie, he isn't my friend anymore. Anyone who does anything to you isn't my friend. If this all falls through, and he does what he threatened, I'm gonna hurt him."

*******^*******

That night, lying in bed, Allie was thinking about her problem. Stan was sleeping quietly next to her after a lively bout between the sheets. One thing about Stan, he was insatiable. As socially inept as he was, he was a different person around Allie. He worshipped her and was as passionate as any man could be. She was sure that when she went off the pill she would be pregnant within a week.

Wednesday, January 28th********^********

It was Wednesday, January 28th. She had one week before Billy left for Philadelphia. Lenny would be leaving for Philly this coming Sunday, the 1st. She had already made all the travel arrangements for Lenny and put him up in the same hotel, the Marriott at the Philadelphia airport, that Billy would be in. On the fourth, he would leave that hotel and stay in a different hotel not far away. She had reserved a car for him as well.

She was hoping Lenny would figure out a way to delay Billy without letting him know he was there, otherwise she would have to really think on her feet when he got back. There were several ideas floating back and forth between herself and Lenny. One was Lenny trying to hire an escort to distract him, but ultimately that would just delay the inevitable. That was actually the problem with every idea they came up with, they all delayed the inevitable confrontation of Billy trying to 're-forge' their past relationship.

Alli considered trying to blackmail him back, but his marriage was already in the shitter. If it fell apart completely, he would be around her even more. Until she was able to get rid of the pictures, she would have to carefully string him along.

Alli had given Lenny plenty of money to use for whatever opportunity came up. They had also bought burner phones to communicate with while Lenny was in Philadelphia. The phones only had the numbers of those two phones programmed into them.

Sunday, February 1st. ***********^*********

On Sunday evening Lenny landed at the Philadelphia international airport and went to the car rental counter to pick up his car keys. He drove over to the Hotel and checked in, then went into the city. He went to South Philly and checked out the kinds of places that Billy was likely to go. While Lenny was a little slow, he certainly had some street smarts. He had also made some friends during the years working at the Navy Yard, and many of them could be not nice guys when they needed to be. The only problem was that Lenny didn't really want anyone to know he was in Philly.

As Lenny was walking in the South P{hilly area, he rounded a corner on a small street, there was a small alley on his right. He heard the unmistakable sounds of a struggle and the voice of a younger woman screaming. While many people would have walked by and minded their own business, Lenny wasn't one of them.

As Lenny got to the end of the alley he heard the scuffle behind a dumpster that was blocking his view. he heard "shut up BITCH!" Then the sound of a fist hitting flesh. As he walked around the dumpster he saw a young Latina girl falling to the ground. Three Hispanic men turned at the same time and looked at Lenny.

One was within reach and the other two were about eight feet away. It was obvious that the one within reach was the one that had punched the girl. Without even thinking, Lenny punched him in the temple and he went down like the proverbial bag of rocks. The girl was moaning, but not moving, laying next to the man on the ground that Lenny had just hit.

"White boy, I don't know what you're fuckin' thinkin', but you just suicided yourself. First, you die, then the chick dies...after we have some fun with her."

Lenny wasn't too worried, at six foot six inches and 280 lbs, he probably outweighed both of these two guys put together, and they weren't showing guns. He figured he had a pretty good chance. One of the men lunged at Lenny and the fight was on. The two hit Lenny several times, but it didn't really phase him, At one point Lenny was able to grab one of them and smash his head into the steel edge of the dumpster. One to go.

The last one lunged at Lenny and Lenny was able to grab him by the jacket with one hand and his throat with the other. His reach was so much longer than the attacker, that he couldn't hit him back. The only thing he could do was hit Lenny's arm. Lenny walked his captive up to a wall and held him a foot off the ground. He could hear the girl moaning, but nothing from the other two. He was angry, and he was starting to squeeze his captive's throat, when he heard several more voices behind him.

"Holy shit, that's G on the ground! That's enough white boy! Stop now or I'm gonna fuckin' shoot you in the back! Juan, go see if she's OK. Bring him down white boy."

"I'm not letting him go," replied Lenny. "He was gonna hurt her."

"What are you? You a fuckin' superhero? Why would you give a shit?"

"Because he was gonna hurt her, so I helped her."

Lenny could hear the girl known as 'G' coming around and Juan was helping her up. Lenny was now holding the last of the first three attackers in a chokehold with the bad guy between himself and the one doing the talking. Juan got G to her feet and she started yelling at the one laying on the ground who had punched her, and then started kicking him. "Gianna, stop. What the fuck happened?"

"These three assholes dragged me down here, Trey! They were gonna rape me! I was screaming when this asshole punched me. I don't know what the fuck happened after that. Who's the white boy... he's got the other one that was with'em."

"Did the white boy help you?"

"I don't know. I guess so."

"Hey," Lenny said, "they told me they were gonna kill me for helping her, then kill her after they got done fuckin' her. I helped her."

"OK, white boy, don't let go of him yet. Juan, go get the car, quick. White boy, you just helped the kid sister of a very important man. He's gonna wanna meet you. These three are gonna go for a ride with us. You should come with us and meet Julio."

"That's OK, I'll just take off."

"No, white boy, you're gonna go with us. If you're telling the truth, you got nuthin' to worry 'bout. You lyin', you got lots to worry about."

Just then an old Ford Crown Victoria backed down the alley and the trunk popped open. Trey and Juan threw the two still laying on the ground into the trunk, then Trey told Lenny to throw the last one on top of them.

"OK white boy, get in the front seat passenger side. Jus' so ya know, I'm right behind you. Anything stupid get you capped."

Lenny got in without a word and sat quietly. Juan got back into the driver's seat, Trey got in behind Lenny and the girl got into the back seat behind Juan. They drove to the west side of the city, one of the worst areas of Philly, and pulled into another alley near 63rd and Girard ave. At the end of the alley a garage door opened and the Crown Vic pulled inside.

The garage was really big and was loaded with cars in different stages of being dismantled. Lenny guessed it was a chop shop. At the far end of the garage, with cars on both sides, the Crown Vic stopped. Lenny stayed in the car as the other three got out. Trey walked up to the passenger side window and tapped on the glass. "Come on white boy, time to meet Julio." They left the three attackers in the trunk.

They walked into a long hallway at the end of the garage, and at the end of the hallway was a large office. Trey rapped on the door twice and waited. Ten seconds later, everyone on the outside of the door heard "come in."

The man sitting behind the desk was a Latino male who looked to be about 29 or so. He was dressed casually, but not what you would expect from a street punk kind of guy. "This the guy you were texting me about, Trey?"

"Yep, big mother-fucker, ain't he?"

The man behind the desk stood up and walked around the desk. He was about five foot ten and not thin, but certainly not overweight. He held his hand out to Lenny. "Julio. Pleasure to meet you."

"Jimmy, nice to meet you."

I've been told by G that you helped her out of a bad situation. Why?"

"She needed the help."

"Of course she did."

"What are you gonna do with them?"

"You probably don't wanna know. Don't worry, you're cool. I owe you a favor. You local?"

"Nope."

"You like a Boy Scout? Just go around helpin' people?"

"Nope. Just saw she needed help. You gonna beat'em?

"You really wanna know?"

"Yep."

"What would you say if I told you I'm gonna do the same thing to them that they were gonna do to to G."

"You're gonna fuck'em?"

"That's pretty funny. No, I'm gonna kill'em."

Lenny stood in silence for about 15 seconds. "You serious about payin' me back for helping the girl?"

"Absolutely, what can I do for you, Jimmy?"

********^********

"Hello?"

"Allie, it's me, can you talk?"

"I know it's you, Lenny. I can talk, what's up?"

"You're not gonna believe what happened, You gotta get me home as soon as you can."

"Hold on, Lenny, let me check."

Lenny could hear her working on her computer. "OK, Lenny, I can get you on a flight that leaves tomorrow at eight in the morning."

"OK, I'll explain when I get home. Stan's gonna be gone when I get back, right?"

"Yep."

"OK, try to see if Billy can get together with us Wednesday night. Just the three of us."

"OK, I won't tell him it's the three of us. I'll let him think it'll just be me and him, then you can show up. Otherwise, he may want to bring Alice."

"OK, Allie. Don't cancel any of the rooms or the car. I'm gonna have to come back."

"Ok, Get some paper and write down this flight information. Thank you, Lenny."

"See you tomorrow night, Alli"

Alli disconnected and picked up her regular cell phone and made another call. "Andrea? I may need a huge favor."

Monday, February 2nd********^********

Lenny stepped off the plane and called Allie's burner phone from his burner phone. "Allie, it's me."

"I know, Lenny, you're the only one with this number," Allie laughed.

"Yeah, right, just got off the plane. Are you in the lot?"

"Yep, just go outside, I'll see you."

Lenny walked outside and waited patiently by the curb. About five minutes later Allie pulled up in her Beemer and hit the horn. Lenny squeezed into the passenger seat and could barely contain himself. "Allie, I swear to god, you are not gonna believe what happened."

"Ummm, you gonna tell me?"

"It was crazy! I was walking past an alley and I heard this girl screaming. She was being attacked by these three gangbangers. They knocked her out and were gonna rape her then kill her. I beat up the three guys, then friends of the girl, her name is Gianna but they call her G, well they showed up. They made me help take the three bad guys to some chop shop where the older brother of G said he owed me a favor. he said he would do anything but let those three guys go. I figured out an answer to our problem."

"What are they gonna do with those three guys, Lenny?"

"Well, he promised he ain't gonna fuck'em."

"Lenny, did you kill any of those bad guys?"

"Nope, is Billy coming over tomorrow?"

"Yes," she said with a little disdain in her voice. "Five o'clock."

"OK. Don't be there when he gets there. Call him and tell him you're running late but you'll get there as soon as you can. I'll wait till he goes into your house before I go in, but only by a couple minutes."

"I don't want to hurt him."

"I'm not gonna hurt him. I AM gonna knock him out for a while, but I'm not gonna physically hurt him. Here's the plan..." Lenny proceeded to tell Alli part of what he had planned. He figured the less he told her the better.

After Lenny got done explaining his idea, Alli made another phone call. "Hey Andrea, it's me. I need to do what I was thinking. You'll be able to stay at my house for the weekend? OK, it's not set in stone yet, but it's a distinct possibility. You don't want to know. Yep. Maybe someday I'll tell you. Thanks, Andrea, I owe you big time.

Tuesday, February 3rd********^********

At five o'clock the following afternoon, Lenny watched Billy pull into the driveway of Alli's house from where he was parked up the street. He waited ten minutes, then pulled into the driveway and parked behind Billy's car. He walked through the open garage door and entered the mudroom very quietly. He could hear the tv on in the living room.

Lenny went back to the door between the mudroom and the garage and slammed it. Then he called out to Billy, "Billy? Where are you? I brought some Chinese."

Billy showed up in the kitchen as Lenny was entering from the mudroom. "Lenny, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, I know that Stan left yesterday, so I figured I would come by and keep Alli company. I guess you had the same idea? I saw your car out front."

"Ummm...yeah."

"OK, I just talked to Alli on the phone, she's hung up at the animal shelter. I told her I got us some Chinese and she said to go ahead and start eating without her and she'll get here as soon as she can."

Billy had a sullen look on his face as he turned and walked into the dining room. "Fine, Lenny, I'll have a beer."

Billy set out the Chinese food on a large platter and took it into the dining room. "Here, you go, Billy, go ahead and start, I'm gonna get us a few beers." He got three glasses down, two that matched, and one that was a little different. He put some powder into the one that was different, then filled all three with beer.

He took the three glasses into the dining room and made sure that Billy got the one that was different. Thirty minutes later they had worked through much of the food and Billy was getting noticeably groggy.

"Let's go sit in the living room," said Lenny.

"Sounds good to me, I'm exhausted," replied Billy. "What time are you leaving, Lenny?"

"In a little bit, can't stay late tonight."

Billy sat on an overstuffed couch and laid his head on the armrest. After about 20 more minutes of small talk, Billy was snoring.

Lenny called Alli on the burner phone. "Alli, it's me."

Alli couldn't help but giggle. "I know, goofy. Is he out?"

"Yep, you know what? I'm not gonna need you here. Go ahead and go back to the shelter. I'll call you soon."

Alli disconnected and drove away.

Lenny went out to his car, then returned a few minutes later with a small backpack. He put the backpack down and pulled out a box of latex gloves. He put some on, then he pulled out a black knit hat. that he put on Billy's head and pushed it around, then he took the hat off Billy and put it into a plastic zip-lock baggie. He took out another pair of latex gloves and put them on Billy.

Lenny hoisted Billy over his shoulder, without much effort, and carried him downstairs into the expansive basement. He took him into a room in the middle of the huge basement and laid him on his back on the floor. He went back upstairs and returned with the backpack. He went back upstairs again and found some large bedroom pillows and a few blankets and a comforter.