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  “Hello?” I answered.

  I rested my head on the chair beside the table, eyes closed as I listened to the deep cadence of Nico’s voice say, “I need a ride.”

  “I can’t walk,” I explained.

  He snorted. “They need my cruiser because one of theirs broke down. I need to take it in, and they can’t come get it or they’ll be short on patrol. Would you mind meeting me at the station in fifteen minutes?”

  I sighed. “But I smell.”

  He laughed. “I’ll take you home and get you clean. No worries.”

  “That means nothing to me. Chocolate means more to me right now,” I informed him.

  He chuckled quietly.

  “I’ll see you in fifteen minutes. I’ll stop by the new bakery and buy you some cookies,” he bargained.

  “Make it a burger and then the bakery, and you have a deal,” I retorted.

  “They don’t serve burgers until ten. It’s a quarter until eight,” he laughed. “I’ll see you in fifteen. I’ll find you a burger.”

  With that he hung up, and I walked to my car with noodle legs.

  ***

  I pulled into the police station just as what I’d come to think of as Nico’s cruiser pulled out. A young man at the wheel.

  It looked weird to see the man that was supposed to be in it not in it, but I shrugged off the bad feeling and waited for the man I now saw in front of the station talking to two men I didn’t know.

  One was a tall man that reminded me of Richard Geer in his younger years. He had nearly white hair with a few stray hairs of gray interspersed throughout the white.

  His eyes were the color of mud, but they were extremely animated, and curious as he caught site of me.

  The other man was dressed in black slacks and a royal blue shirt. His arms were crossed tightly across his barrel chest, and although short, his personality was huge.

  His stare intimidated me. I knew he was a cop without even being told. I’d found that cops had a certain ‘air’ about them. You could definitely see the integrity on the way they carried themselves. The way they held themselves in higher regard to society. They’d give you the shirt off their back if they felt a person was in need of it.

  They also saw things that normal civilians did not. Could sense danger.

  They were also very curious, because much the same as the other man, I could see interest in the older man’s eyes.

  I got out when Nico’s attention turned to me after the older man gestured in my direction.

  I got out of my car and walked towards them, extremely aware that I wasn’t dressed to meet people. I was still in my skin tight running clothes, and I was fairly sure that my hair was still plastered to my forehead, having dried from the massive amount of sweating I’d done.

  When I got close, I smiled at the two other men, stopping a few inches to the left of Nico’s shoulder.

  “Georgia, I’d like you to meet Chief Rhodes,” he said gesturing to the barrel chested man, “and Detective O’Keefe.”

  I nodded to them, “Gentlemen. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Their stares were unnerving as they both stared at me. It went on so long that I nearly took a step back, but then they both stepped back and laughed.

  “Told you she wouldn’t flinch,” Nico muttered, amusement very clear in his voice.

  The Chief snorted, “It takes a strong woman to put up with our shit, darlin’. I just wanted to see what you were made of.”

  Detective O’Keefe nodded his head at me, and I tilted my head. There was something very familiar about him.

  “Do I know you?” I asked curiously.

  He smiled sadly at me. “Yeah, honey. Well, not know me, per say, but you’ve seen me before.”

  Although I thought that comment weird, I turned my attention to Nico as he discussed who was going to pick him up in the morning for his shift.

  It was when we were leaving that I finally placed Detective O’Keefe’s face.

  It hit me in a flash of memory…where I’d seen him before.

  ***

  I panted, drawing shallow breaths to keep the pain from becoming too severe.

  My brothers were all looking to me, knowing that my hands had become loose enough for me to slip free.

  The fire raged around us, and I fell face first into the floor when I tried to stand.

  The explosion of pain in my midsection was nearly debilitating, but I went to my hands and knees anyway.

  I crawled straight to my father, knowing he always had a knife in his pocket.

  I ignored the fact that half his face was missing as I reached into his pocket and removed the Old Timer pocket knife he kept there at all times. He, of course, had to have a way to open all those beers.

  I found it easily and went to Darby, cutting his hands free in swift movements. Callum, Banks, and Ace were next.

  It killed me, but I didn’t even bother to check my other two brothers.

  They were dead, and had been for some time now.

  They’d died within minutes of my father shooting them. The same with my mother.

  “Can you get out by yourself?” I heard my brother ask Banks.

  I heard Banks croak, “Yes.”

  The next few minutes were a blur.

  We went out the side door that led to the mudroom, and then finally to the carport.

  Our father had set fire to the front and backdoor, as well as the stairs that led down to the root cellar. We only had the one option, even though it was the furthest to get out through.

  I think we all passed out once we reached the driveway, and my last thought had been how dark our blood was when it puddled on the white concrete beneath us.

  I’d come to with a man standing over me. One with white and gray hair.

  “You’re gonna be okay, sweetheart,” he said.

  ***

  “You were the one who found us first,” I said in awe.

  He looked pained as he agreed. “Yes, I was.”

  I walked up to him, staring him in the eyes as I went.

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  He nodded and touched the top of my head with the tips of his fingers. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  I was glad I was okay, too.

  When we left ten minutes later, I wasn’t aware I was lost in my head again until Nico’s voice cut through my thoughts. “You okay, niña?”

  I smiled sadly at him. “Yes. I just never really put much thought into the fact that someone might still be around after what happened.”

  “There’s actually quite a few of the cops around still. At least ten that I know of. Niña,” he hesitated. “That was a big thing for our small community. That changed the course of many people’s lives. Y’all were missed after you left. And it broke nearly everyone’s hearts.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I guess I just tried not to think about it.”

  I didn’t really want to talk about it anymore. I didn’t like remembering. It was easier that way.

  His large, callused hand found mine, and he brought my knuckles up to his lips, then kissed them one by one. “I’m here if you want to talk about it.”

  The rest of our day was spent running a few errands around town, grocery shopping and getting grain for the horses.

  We went to eat at The Back Porch where I took another trip down memory lane with the man who used to own the butcher shop where my mom had sold bread at.

  Luckily, he’d been in a hurry, otherwise I’d have had to endure another trip when I most definitely didn’t want to.

  We ended our day with a phone call. One that had taken Nico’s good mood and shattered it into a million, tiny pissed off pieces.

  ***

  Nico

  Rob Johnson’s dead. It was supposed to be you.

  Rob Johnson was the officer who’d taken my car because his own had been in the shop getting the new KPD stickers placed on it.

 
Rob Johnson’s dead. It was supposed to be you.

  Those were the last words Luke had said to me over the phone.

  “Someone shot Johnson. Straight through the back glass. The sniper shot from the old water tower on Fuller Road. There was a note addressed to your parents explaining why. It was supposed to be you. He would’ve known it wasn’t you if he’d looked at the front, but from the back he couldn’t tell you from Johnson,” Luke explained for the third time.

  I was numb.

  My hands had lost feeling shortly after he started talking from my hands being clenched too hard.

  “The note?” I rasped.

  Luke handed me a piece of paper in an evidence bag.

  My eyes scanned the note with a growing dread.

  An eye for an eye. We take care of our own. Your son took my daughter, it was only fair to take his life too. Repayment.

  The note wasn’t signed, but I knew exactly who it was from.

  I knew going into that night I helped Luke that it’d be a mess. I just never thought it’d be like this. I never thought innocents would pay for my transgression.

  Who else had I put into danger because of this?

  “It’s Alexi Artem. I know it,” I said.

  Alexi Artem was in prison for laundering money.

  The CIA had put Reese’s ex on the job undercover. He had faked a marriage with the daughter of Alexi Artem, and been charged with watching Anita Artem to see if she ever tried to contact her father. In the interim, he’d cheated on his ‘wife’ openly, and Anita had started to get suspicious.

  Except when she’d realized he’d been cheating, she’d wrongly assumed that it was Reese he was cheating with, and not the woman that he’d actually been cheating with.

  It also didn’t help that Anita had been pregnant. Not only was she emotional, but she was hormonal.

  The agent in charge had wanted to keep perpetuating the lie, wanting to catch Anita now that he’d had evidence that she’d been in contact with her father again.

  Luke and Reese had reluctantly gone along with it, even going as far as staying away from each other for weeks.

  I’d been charged with watching over Reese, as had all the other members of the SWAT team. Sure we could’ve had another cop do it, or one of Special Agent Nathan Lawrence’s men do it. We liked to keep it between us, not wanting to bring the rest of the force into it if we could help it.

  The too high levels of hormones and emotions from Anita didn’t mix, and she’d started killing people.

  It started with killing a police dog then went on to killing Reese’s ex-boyfriend and then his current girlfriend.

  Finally, she was going to kill Luke and then Reese.

  She’d settled with Luke first, shooting him while him and Reese had been eating at a restaurant.

  I’d been watching over Reese when Luke had been shot, and I’d sent her to the police station and stayed with Luke.

  Luke had been shot twice in the head, and I’d taken the only action I could at the time.

  I’d shot the pregnant woman.

  Then I’d kept her alive long enough for paramedics to take over.

  They’d been able to save the baby, but Anita had been lost.

  And it’d been haunting me ever since.

  And now this.

  “Rob’s wife…did anyone go talk to her yet?” I asked.

  Luke nodded. “Mary took it pretty hard. With all that’s happening over the city, the shooting a few weeks ago. She’d been understandably worried. Now, though, she’s pretty devastated. I bet she’ll have a hard time of it for a while. The guys have started a collection at work to pay for his funeral.”

  I felt sick to my stomach.

  And I was seconds away from losing it.

  It wouldn’t do to let them see me cry.

  “I’ll be at home,” I said gruffly.

  We’d met at the station, but the station had been flooded with news cameras and reporters, and we’d decided to take it back to Luke’s place.

  Luke walked me to the car, and he watched as I drove out of his driveway and straight to the one place that would give me clarity. Would give me the comfort I needed right now.

  Home.

  Home where Georgia was waiting for me.

  Chapter 12

  Life sucks then you die.

  -Coffee Cup

  Georgia

  “I’m going to stay with him for a couple days. They put him on administrative leave pending further notice. He’s upset,” I said, shoving things into my bag.

  Ace nodded, leaning against my doorway.

  “Okay. Make sure you let your job know what’s going on,” he said, eyes fastened on the amount of stuff I was packing in my bag.

  “I already did. Other than the one meeting I had scheduled with a potential adoptive couple, I’m free for the next three days,” I explained.

  He nodded, but kept staring.

  I stopped and looked at him. “What?”

  He took a deep breath, his chest puffing out, then he let it out before he said, “Darby’s gone again. Hasn’t done any of his chores this week. And I’m pretty sure he’s been gone since last night. He went out dressed for a night on the town, and he’s not answering his phone.”

  I sat down heavily on the bed and looked down at my hands, flexing and unflexing them.

  “Change the locks,” I said, not knowing what else to do.

  He nodded. “That was going to be my suggestion to you. I don’t want to do it, but if he brings home the same shit he tried to in Houston, we’ll never get him out of it again. I don’t even care enough anymore to try.”

  I nodded, my eyes starting to water.

  Standing, I walked into my brother’s arms, locking my hands around his thick chest.

  His shirt smelled like dirt and hay, as it had his entire life.

  Even when we’d lived in Houston he’d worked on a farm.

  It was in his blood and always would be.

  Darby, though… I didn’t know what was in his blood. Definitely not hard work.

  He didn’t try at all, to be honest. He’d been a royal asshole from the moment he became a teenager.

  He’d even seen multiple therapists for his PTSD…something we all had done.

  Darby though, hadn’t benefitted one bit from the therapy. Instead going off the beaten path…down a dark alley…then straight into a fuckin’ lion’s den.

  It took us a while to see what was going on, and by that time he’d already been in the thick of it.

  And he hadn’t just chosen any gang. He’d chosen the worst gang in Texas. The freakin’ Blue Slayers.

  “If he comes around, call the cops. Leave all of his belongings at the end of the driveway in some plastic trash bags. Make sure you label what they are so the trash doesn’t pick them up,” I sighed.

  He nodded his head against mine, rubbing his beard along my head.

  I smacked him and stepped back. “Let me know if you need anything, Ace. I love you little brother.”

  He ruffled my hair and followed me outside, staying on my heels all the way to my car.

  When I went to shut my car door, he stopped me. “Just…be careful, alright?”

  At my confused look he explained. “Obviously there’s more to Nico’s story, and you need to get yourself up to speed on those matters. Weigh the cost with the benefits. Just know that there’s something dangerous out there…and that something has Nico in his sights. And also know that we love you and we’d be broken without you.”

  A tear squeezed past my stronghold, and he grinned. “You’re such a girl.”

  I slammed the door, then gunned the engine, kicking up dust and smoke around him.

  As I turned out of our driveway, I could see him coughing and laughing.

  Dork.

  When I pulled into Nico’s driveway, I was surprised to see if full.

  There were six trucks as well as t
wo police cruisers.

  Instead of walking inside where I knew the crowd was, I walked to the barn.

  I shook my head as I got close, seeing the huge panel that had replaced the old one.

  Nico had told me about all the work he was going to do to the barn so the horses were never put into jeopardy again, and I was relieved.

  I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed Nautica until I saw her again.

  I’d thought that she was sold along with all the cattle we’d had at our place after the deaths. I hadn’t let myself feel how much it bothered me until I realized that she wasn’t gone after all.

  After staring at the panel for long moments, trying to figure out how it worked, I finally decided to start punching in numbers.

  The first one I tried didn’t work. That was my birthday. The second didn’t work either. That was his birthday. The third, however, did work. It was the day I came home. 05152015.

  The door’s lock clicked, and I pushed inside, closing it and re-arming it behind me.

  I knew, for a fact, he’d have a cow if I didn’t re-arm it. I didn’t know what he’d do if he wanted one of the horses to come out. It wasn’t as if they were toys that only came out when you wanted them to. All four of the horses, Nautica included, needed daily exercising, as well as pasture time each and every day.

  There was no way he was going to be able to arm the entire pasture. He couldn’t keep the horses safe all the time.

  Or my brother’s cattle.

  Which tended to not like gates when the grass was greener on the other side.

  Nautica nickered as I made my way inside, knowing it was me instantly.

  I stopped by the large fridge kept in the corner of the room, withdrew the bag of carrots, and walked to the stalls.

  As I passed Nico’s horses, I handed them each a carrot.

  The three of Nico’s were all roans, and very beautiful.

  They were also all female.

  Seemed Nico was partial to the females.

  They snuffled thankfully, scarfing the carrot as if they’d never had anything so delicious before; something of which I knew differently, since I’d seen the apples in the fridge as well.