Slaughter (The Agency: Young Guns Book 5), page 10
“Great. I have practice in an hour so I’m leaving the key to the front door under a big pot of flowers at the front entrance.”
“Were there flowers at the front door before?”
“No, I bought them for you.”
“Thanks, Neil. That was nice. I’ll unpack my stuff while I wait for you and then we can go shopping for the house stuff you want.”
“I’m so happy you decided to move in with me, Montana. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Neil. That’s why I had to give up my job. Because I love you and I don’t want to lose you.”
Tommy told me what was going to happen.
Neil ended the call and he could tell by Montana’s voice she was unhappy. “She’ll be okay when she settles in and feels at home here in the house. I’m not used to it yet myself.”
As he walked towards the door with his equipment bag, Neil could feel the emptiness in the house. Every room was large and with the high ceilings, they needed a lot more of their own personal stuff to make this big place into a real home.
Montana could make that happen.
Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.
Annie knocked on the door of the garage and then walked in and called, “Mick, are you in here?”
“I’m here, Annie.” Mick sauntered out of the back room where he kept his clothes and personal belongings. He slept back there on a cot with the dogs.
He had a bunk at the safehouse but he hadn’t slept there for a long time. He only went down to the house on the river to eat. Most of his time was spent in the garage.
The two dogs, Rambo and Argus, ran towards Annie bouncing and wagging their tails. Mick was behind them.
“You want me, Annie?”
“I’m in a bind, honey. With Tyler in the hospital, I need you to watch the pool hall for me tonight. Tyler fired Shane.”
“Shane was a prick and a smart-ass, Annie. The regular pool players didn’t like him.”
“They’ll like you a lot better. Has Gillette stopped playing pool with Liam? I haven’t seen her lately.”
“She comes sometimes and he meets her there.”
“As long as you’re okay with it.”
“I’m good, Annie. I don’t think about her too much anymore. I like Neil’s girlfriend better. She’s nicer than Gilly.”
I can’t believe he said that out loud.
“Montana is nice, isn’t she? Can you hang in the pool hall tonight and stop any fights for me?”
“Yeah, I guess I could do that.”
“Thanks, sugar. That will help me out a lot. I’ll hire a new person as soon as I can.”
Annie was running back towards the house when Chuck Rogers called. “Annie, are you coming up to the game tonight?”
“I wish I was, Chuck, but I can’t. I’ve got huge labor issues at my roadhouse and I’ve got to work the bar.”
He laughed. “Get a bartender, Annie. You’re missing Neil’s game.”
“I’m working on just that, Chuck. We’ll talk soon.” Annie ended the call and made a face at her phone. She had no interest in Chuck Rogers.
Saint Michael’s Hospital. Austin.
Farrell picked Tommy up at ten and drove him to their Aunt Gail’s house. She was Tommy’s mother’s sister, but she’d always been Farrell’s Aunt Gail too—in a way.
“Hey, my truck is here. I was worried about it sitting at the package store. Figured it might get ripped off.”
Dusty and Jimmy Jeff had been sent to the crime scene at the liquor store to clean up the witness interviews and they’d brought Tommy’s truck home for him the day before.
“You can’t drive,” snapped Farrell. “Don’t you go trying it and have some fuckin wreck. You’ll be worse off than you are now.”
“See how I am tomorrow,” said Tommy. “I figured while I’m off work, I’d drive to Travis’s place and hang with Lukas. I need to spend more time with my brother.”
“You could do that,” said Farrell, “but I don’t think you can do it tomorrow. Too soon and too fuckin far to drive. You’re walking on crutches and you shouldn’t be driving with your leg just out of surgery.”
“I’ll see how bad the pain is tomorrow.”
Farrell shook his head. “Bad idea. You are so fuckin hard-headed I want to throat punch you.”
Laughing at his cousin, Tommy struggled to get out of the truck. He stood on one leg like a flamingo while Farrell handed him the crutches.
Gail walked down the porch steps with tears in her eyes. “I’ve always been afraid you’d get hurt.”
“Yep. Always a risk, Aunt Gail, and I’m not happy about it. I wouldn’t be shot if my partner was doing her job, but she wasn’t. That’s all I’m say’n. I told her I was glad it was her last fuckin day.”
Farrell hadn’t heard the details so he had no idea what Montana did or didn’t do at the scene. He’d have to wait for Tommy’s official report on the shooting to be filed.
All Farrell knew for sure, was Tommy shot both of the robbers after he’d been shot himself and he should get a fuckin medal for that. Tommy was an excellent cop.
Farrell helped his cousin up the steps and into the house and he stayed long enough for coffee and chocolate cake with Aunt Gail. She was far more stable than her sister Judy—Tommy’s mother—had been, and she held Tommy together. Farrell was grateful for that.
Buchanan Dam.
Driving along Route 29, Casey said to Blaine, “Slow down. I think we’re here.”
“Looks like it,” said Blaine. The side of the highway was lined with all manner of police vehicles. Crime scene unit, sheriff’s squads, medical examiner’s van.
Misty had been quiet on the long drive to the scene and Blaine knew why. Carmelita hadn’t been feeling well, so they had to bring Forest with them.
Forest was excited about the trip but Misty had warned him he wouldn’t be getting out of the truck.
She was more upset about their son being so close to the scene itself. Forest had amazing psychic abilities and being so close to a death scene wasn’t what Misty wanted for the little guy. She had brought books for him to read while he waited. “I’ll stay with Forest until y’all come back,” said Misty.
Blaine and Casey scrambled down the embankment to the bottom of the ravine where the body was resting. The victim was wearing only a pair of boxers, his clothes nowhere in sight.
“Why would the kid want this man’s clothes?” asked Blaine.
Casey shrugged. He didn’t get a chance to touch the body like he wanted to. He was too late. The ME and his assistant were finishing up the preliminary examination and struggling to get the victim into a body bag.
The next problem would be toting the body up the steep hill to the van.
The forensic team arrived and took over the scene. The techs waved everyone away from the spot where the victim had been dumped so their evidence wouldn’t be destroyed.
Blaine and Casey headed back up the hill and it was slow going for Blaine. He had to stop twice to rest and catch his breath. His breathing had improved after surgery, but he would never breathe normally again.
When they got back up to the highway, Blaine glanced down the two lane road. “I wonder where Malcolm is headed next.”
“They’re staying in an area close to the hospital,” said Casey. “I mean relatively speaking—like they ain’t whacking people in Oklahoma.”
“You said they. That means you think the two boys are together.”
“I feel they are together and could be Malcolm’s confidence was boosted by his friend joining him. That’s what triggered this kill.”
“Jeeze,” said Blaine.
“I’ll go back to the truck and stay with Forest so Misty can come walk around with you, bro.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Casey climbed in the back seat and sat next to Forest in his car seat. Misty got out and walked along the shoulder of the highway to join Blaine at the top of the ravine.
“Did you see the man, Casey?” asked Forest.
“What man?”
“The man with no clothes.”
“Uh huh. I saw him. Do you know where his clothes went, Forest?”
“The boys took the clothes and one of them dressed up like a policeman for Hallowe’en. He pinned the star on his shirt and laughed. The hat was too big for his head.”
“Yep, I bet that’s what happened,” said Casey.
“The boys were laughing when they took the police car. The one with the flashing lights and the siren like you and Daddy have.”
“Wonderful insight, Forest. Thanks for that.”
“What’s Mommy doing, Casey?”
“She went for a walk with Daddy.”
“I want to walk too. Can I unbuckle my belt?”
“Nope. You sit right there and I’m going to tell you a story.”
Forest laughed. “You don’t know any stories, Casey.”
“Sure, I do. I know a good one that you’ll like.”
Casey was about to make up a tall tale to amuse Forest when Misty and Blaine returned to the truck.
Before Blaine got in, Casey jumped out the back door to have a talk in private. “Walk away from the truck.”
“Okay, why?”
“I don’t want Misty to hear what Forest told me. Get us all in trouble.”
“Did he see something?”
“The dead guy in the ravine with no ID is a cop. The boys took his uniform and one of them is wearing it. They also took the cop’s squad. Chances are, they dumped the stolen camper not far from here.”
“Jesus,” said Blaine. “There was no ID on the body.”
“The boys had no money that we were aware of,” said Casey, “but now they have some—whatever was in the cop’s wallet.”
“Calhoun is right,” said Blaine. “This is going to bring the feds down on us.”
“Yep. Won’t be long now.”
East Arlington.
Neil got home from practice and his heart thumped in his chest when he saw Montana’s blue truck parked in the driveway.
He ran inside, found her in the kitchen and pulled her into a hug. “I’m so happy you’re here. Today, we’re going to celebrate our new life together, Montana.”
“I made coffee and sandwiches. You bought a lot of food for two people, Neil. The fridge is full of stuff.”
Neil laughed. “I filled a cart at the market. There’s a nice one not far from here.”
They sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen and ate the sandwiches Montana had made. When she finished eating, she told Neil about Tommy getting shot and it being her fault.
“You can’t say it was your fault for certain,” said Neil. “It might have happened anyway. You can’t be sure that if you’d been right behind Tommy you could have prevented it from happening.”
“Tommy is sure,” said Montana. “He is so mad at me. He told me he’d never be my partner ever again.”
Neil nodded his blond curly head. “Tommy has a temper and he’s not particularly concerned about other people’s feelings. He was raised pretty rough.”
“Rough or not, I made a mistake and I feel bad.”
Neil smiled at her. “I’ve got something that will make you feel better.”
“Don’t think so.”
Neil pulled the ring box out of his pocket and gave it to Montana. “A little gift I bought you to celebrate moving in together.”
Montana opened the box and her blue eyes filled with tears. “My birthstone. It’s so beautiful, Neil. Thank you.”
Neil took the ring out of the box and slipped it on Montana’s finger and he kissed her. A long passionate kiss.
“We should go into the bedroom and celebrate us being in our new house together,” she said. “I want to check out the bed you bought for us.”
Neil smiled. “That’s a fantastic idea. Let’s do that.”
Sidewinders. San Angelo.
“Do you know what the guy looks like you have to buddy up with?” asked Lukas.
“Yeah, I pulled up his sheet and took a look at his mug shot.”
“You can get into the police shit?”
“I’m a black ops kind of guy,” said Travis with a smirk. “I’m not your regular law-abiding citizen.”
Lukas smiled. “Okay, you know what he looks like. Let’s find him and see if he wants a new buddy.”
They hung around the bar for hours and there was never an opportunity to get close to Sawyer Kidd. Not until closing time.
When the bar closed up, the last of the hangers-on spilled out into the parking lot. Travis didn’t see how it started but there was a lot of yelling back and forth and two guys were suddenly beating on Kidd.
“Now’s our chance,” said Travis.
He and Lukas jumped into the fight and thumped the crap out of the other two guys. When it was all over and Travis helped Kidd to his feet, he wiped the blood off his face and said thanks.
“No problem.” Travis and Lukas walked to the truck and jumped in.
“He knows you now,” said Lukas. “Tomorrow night you can say something to him.”
Travis turned his head and smiled at Lukas across the console. “Tomorrow night we ride our bikes.”
Lukas grinned. “Yeah, we do.”
Chapter Ten
Sunday, June 4th.
Fisher Lake Trailer Park
“Did you think Santana suspected anything last night at the meeting?” asked Glen.
“Nope. He never even looked at you. I was watching him. You’re gonna be a full member now.”
“Has to be voted on,” said Glen. “Don’t forget the vote.”
“Did you see that big guy with the black hair jump in to help Kidd in the parking lot? The guy with him was pretty tough too.”
“Yeah, I saw the fight. The guy with the black hair was a brutal fighter. Wouldn’t want him beatin on me.”
“Who were the assholes who started it?” asked Dean. “Did you get a look at their cuts?”
“B-team. They think they own the whole fuckin world. They should stay the hell away from Sidewinders.”
“Yeah. They’re all like that. Those fuckers are always off their own turf looking for trouble.”
East Arlington.
Neil opened his eyes and was grateful to wake up next to Montana. He loved her a lot and figured she would get used to her new life with him in Arlington. They were going to have a great time together.
He cuddled into her warm body and held her close to him.
“Is it time to get up?”
“Not yet. We can be lazy for a while longer.”
“I’m feeling bad about Tommy. I wonder if he had a lot of pain in the night and couldn’t sleep.”
Neil sat up and reached for his phone. “I’m going to call him right now. I should’ve called last night to check on him. My bad.”
“Do you think he’ll be up this early?” asked Montana.
Neil shrugged and called anyway. “Hey, Tommy, how are you doing?”
“I’m okay.” A sleepy mumble.
“Me and Montana want you to come up and stay with us while you’re off work. Lounge by the pool and catch some of my games.”
“Yeah, for sure I want to do that, Neil. First I’m going to see Lukas and then I’ll come up there and hang out with y’all.”
“Great. We’ve got tons of room for you.”
“I’ll do it. I want to see some games.”
Neil ended the call and said, “We’ve got to buy more bedroom furniture and set up a guest room before Tommy gets here.”
“We’ll do power shopping today,” said Montana. “I’m happy he said he’d come up here. I figured he wouldn’t want to be in the same house as me.”
Neil smiled. “You’re being a little hard on yourself, sweetheart. Ease up a bit.”
“Maybe by the time Tommy comes up here, he won’t be so mad at me.” Montana let out a breath.
Cherrywood. Austin.
Aunt Gail fussed over Tommy at breakfast. “It must have been hard for you to manage the stairs on those crutches.”
Tommy laughed. “Yep, it was. I started down and figured I was going to take a header to the bottom.”
“I hate to see you suffering, Tommy. Does your leg hurt a lot?”
“Woke me up a few times in the night but I’ve got pain meds to keep me going. Neil called before I got up and asked me to stay up there in Arlington with him and Montana. He bought a monstrous house up there.”
“That’s nice of Neil, dear. You won’t be able to drive for a while.”
“I’m going to try to get to San Angelo today, Aunt Gail. I want to see Lukas now that I have the time off.”
“Today? I don’t think you’re ready, dear. I wish you’d give it a few more days. I wouldn’t want to see you have an accident on the way. San Angelo is a long drive.”
“I think I can do it,” said Tommy. “I might have to stop a few times and rest my leg, but I can do it.”
Aunt Gail didn’t look convinced. She looked worried.
Tommy was afraid she was going to try to talk him out of driving, but she was pretty good at letting him decide.
Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.
Annie headed for her office totally focused on Farrell’s wedding plans. She wanted the Vegas house to be perfect for Farrell’s honeymoon and was thinking it had sat empty for so long, she might need to have it cleaned professionally.
While she was worrying about how she’d manage the roadhouse while spending days in Vegas for the wedding, Farrell called.
“I was just thinking about you, sugar.”
“Hope they were good thoughts, Mom.”
“Always good. You call for a reason or just to chat?”
“I have a question.”
“Sure. Maybe I can answer it. What do you want to know?”
“I had a call from Travis and he was asking me who I knew in the Devils.”
“Why would he ask you that?”
“So, you don’t know what’s going on?”
“I don’t, sugar, but I’ll find out for you.”
“Let me know, Mom. It’s bothering me. I don’t want Travis messing with the Devils. Especially if Lukas is staying with him.”
