Broken Promise: A Breaking Bad fan sequel

Drawing Breath, Part 2

Kaylee sat at the desk as she heard the knock. Holly looked over, but said nothing. She'd been instructed not to talk.

"Come in," she said. The door opened and in walked Jesse Pinkman and Skyler Lambert, formerly White. They both looked concerned, but confusion was also present on their faces.

"Hello Mrs. White. Hello Jesse. It's nice to finally meet you two. See, I promised Holly was safe." She stood, and brandished a gun, to warn them of what would happen if they crossed her. "I'm glad to see you have my money. Put it on the desk. Jesse, stay where you are." Skyler brought the bag of money over and put it on the desk. Kaylee checked inside. "Thank you. Now, you're going to do exactly as I say. Look over at Holly." Skyler looked over, feeling a mixture of relief and worry. "Look at me. Answer all of my questions, do exactly as I say, and this will all go according to plan. You understand?"

"Y...yes," Skyler stammered.

"Good. Now, Mrs. White, how did your husband obtain his money? Tell Holly."

Skyler looked back at her daughter. "He was a meth manufacturer, and a drug kingpin."

"Why did you change your name?" Kaylee asked.

"To get away from what he'd done. I didn't want Holly or my son to have to live with what Walt had done. I wanted a new start."

"How did you get that new start?" Kaylee kept the gun poised, but her eyes were now on Jesse.

"I traded information Walt gave me about where my brother-in-law was buried. The DEA gave me a deal."

"Then?" she asked, looking at Skyler again.

"Then the Schwartzes gave us some money for Flynn's college education."

"Money which came from...?"

"From...Walt," Skyler admitted softly. "I suspected for years that it was from him, since it was such a specific amount, and we hadn't spoken to the Schwartzes in a long time."

"You've been living off of your husband's drug money," Kaylee said, looking at Holly when she said it. "Money built off the backs of people your father, and this degenerate," she looked at Jesse, "murdered, including my grandfather."

Jesse had a moment of realization. "You're Mike's granddaughter?"

"Oh, it took me a long time to gather all of this information, but I found it. Looking through some of Grandpa's old stuff, I found some of it. Other bits and pieces I figured out by digging a bit deeper. A note saying he had $2 million he was leaving me, records indicating it was seized by the DEA, and evidence that you and White were working with him, until he disappeared. I thought for a long time he'd left us, that we didn't mean anything to him, but then, I noticed a pattern of disappearances and deaths. Emilio Koyama, Domingo Molina aka Krazy-8, Gale Boetticher, Gustavo Fring, Jack Welker, Todd Alquist. All of these deaths, and others, many connected directly to Blue Sky. You two killed them. Which means that you killed Mike Ehrmantraut, too."

"I didn't kill him—" Jesse started

"Shut up! Walter White's dead, but his family gets to live off the money made by work that brought about my grandfather's death. His blood is on that money. Meanwhile, I had to watch my mom die because we couldn't afford the cancer treatments, ones that $2 million could've fixed! She's just another person you killed. Well today, I'm getting what's due to me and my family. I already got the last of the Blue Sky, I have your million, I've destroyed the lie that you built your family's future on, and now, I have Jesse Pinkman." Kaylee looked at Jesse with a rage he'd seen only once before, on Walt's face after Hank's death. "Skyler," Kaylee said, tossing Holly the key to her handcuffs, "take Holly home. Make sure she's all right. Wouldn't want her to suffer anymore from the sins of her father." Holly started to unlock herself. "You," she said to Jesse, "are staying right here." Holly got up. "Go over to your mom, Holly." Holly went over to Skyler, silent.

"What are you going to do?" Skyler asked.

"With you? Nothing. Go home. You've paid your debt. Jesse still has to pay his." She pointed the gun back at Jesse. He put his hands up. "Don't let Holly see this."

"Kaylee," Jesse said, remembering her name, "please. I didn't kill your grandpa. Walt told me he left, he didn't tell me he died."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Gale Boetticher, Joaquin Salamanca, Todd Alquist, Drew Sharp, Hank Schrader, Steven Gomez, and..." he started to cry, "...and Andrea Cantillo. Those are the people I've killed. Each and every one of them haunts me. Every. Single. Day. I'm not a good person, but I didn't kill Mike. I even tried to give you some money, but Walt didn't let me."

Kaylee leaned back on the desk to think.

"I'm sorry, and it sucks. I had to watch my aunt die of cancer. But I promise you, I didn't kill Mike."

Kaylee composed herself, but she was still unsure. "I don't care," she raised the gun, and steeled herself to fire.

"No!" Holly shouted, running over to Jesse and standing in front of him.

"Holly, please don't do this," Kaylee said. Holly didn't move. "See the problem is that you're not tall enough to reach his head." Kaylee raised the gun to Jesse's head. Skyler then ran in and stood in front of her.

"I am!"

Kaylee kept the weapon raised. "Goddamnit; I don't want to do this—"

"Then don't!" Holly interjected, peeking around her mother. "Look, youdon't have to kill any of us. I have an idea."

———

The police got the tip in from someone with a young woman's voice: "She's at Saul Goodman's old office." As they drove there and raided it, someone else called Skyler, who was on her way home. Five minutes later, an unmarked car watched as Skyler drove into her driveway and then garage with her groceries, panic on her face.

All they found there was Holly, alive and unhurt, but handcuffed to the radiator.

Skyler later explained to the police that she had dropped the money off at a drop site around 2:34, one minute before the call came into the police, after having spoken to the kidnapper and gotten the Jesse Pinkman requirement taken away. She'd been told that the presence of any police officers would jeopardize their deal. The police understood. Once Holly was debriefed, she revealed that the kidnapper had told her her name was Kaylee Ehrmantraut, and that she said she wanted "what she was owed." The police figured out that Kaylee was seeking the $2 million she'd lost when the DEA confiscated the account in her name. They promised they would find her, but they never would. She'd be on the run for the rest of her life.

Blue Sky ended up on the East Coast, and even in Canada, and they figured that Jesse Pinkman had started up an operation somewhere, but they couldn't figure it out. There was no clear distribution network funneling it, and soon, it dried up. They never solved James Delban's murder.

Skyler went into hiding again, this time changing their name to Jackson, though Flynn stayed behind, because he'd established himself well at his work. Holly had a chance to say goodbye to Maggie and Jenna, though she could tell neither where they were going or what their new name would be.