Another One Bites the Dust Read online

  “Molly got into the road. The car hit her, and didn’t even stop!” Bennett all but yelled.

  That got everyone’s attention.

  “What do you mean it didn’t stop?” I asked him as I scanned for the dark car.

  “That’s what I mean. Whoever it was didn’t even stop.”

  “License plate number is 57H-G6H7.” Brandon, another cousin and former Seal, said from the street side.

  A Texas State Trooper was questioning my brother as he tried to make sense of what we’d witnessed. Max surrendered me to my father, and we both watched as Max pulled his cell phone out and called someone. Once the phone call was done, he spoke with the Trooper, and then we went to the hospital and waited.

  Four hours passed before we heard that Molly was going to be just fine. Aside from a mild concussion, surgery on her broken arm, and scrapes covering her face and arms, she was doing great. Her spirit was high, and she loved the funny nurses that worked on the pediatric ward. Her room was covered in fairies, which she absolutely loved.

  We left the family smiling and laughing, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong. Max wasn’t acting right, as if something was wrong other than the obvious.

  I finally got tired of his silence once we were lying in bed that night. “Tell me.”

  The silence stretched out awkwardly, and I was just about to open my mouth again when he blew me out of the water. “O’Hare almost killed a freakin baby.”

  “What?” I asked confused, and then understanding finally dawned. “That was her?”

  I absolutely lost it. What sick person would run over a little girl on purpose? At first, I wasn’t aware that it was anything more than a horrible accident, but the more I thought about it, the more the details became clear. Granted, Molly was close to the road, but she wasn’t in it. Where she was hit was a flat road, and had a speed limit of thirty miles an hour due to the school that was located across the street.

  I remembered the driver running the stop sign. Also, I remembered hearing the revving of an engine.

  The driver was definitely not going anywhere close to the speed limit. “You have to do something.” I demanded.

  “I already did. I don’t think it’ll be very pretty either.” He said thoughtfully. “We got some information right before the reunion. I was going to tell you when we got back, but now I think I’ll keep that to myself.”

  “What did you do?” I asked.

  “I won’t be telling you. Go to sleep sweetheart.” He said and snapped the bedside lamp off.

  The room plunged into darkness, and I debated whether to ask him what he was going to do. However, I replayed what he said, and how he said it, and knew that he wouldn’t tell me no matter how much I begged.

  I would just have to trust him. I would have to trust that he wouldn’t get himself killed.

  What I could do was make love to him, and that was what I did. Soft and slow, I loved him, as he needed to be loved. I worked him until he was begging for release, muscles and tendons straining, and still held off until the last possible moment. We both peaked together, and I knew that that would be the last time we would have to spend some alone time together for a while.

  It was only when I was nearly asleep that he finally spoke.

  “Please don’t hate me.” He whispered against my hair.

  Chapter 14

  Only trust people with big butts. They cannot lie.

  T-shirt

  Max

  “You’re going to end up in jail, or worse, dead.” James said from his position beside me.

  “I don’t really know what else to do. If we leave it like it is, I’ll end up dead anyway.” I reminded him.

  “She’s got them in her back pocket.” James tried again.

  “I know.” I said softly.

  “Watch Payton for me. I’m pretty sure you promised me when we were in fifth grade that you would marry my widow and take care of my kids if anything ever happened to me.” I teased.

  “No, you have it all wrong. I said I would comfort your widow. I didn’t say anything about marrying her. At least I don’t have to worry about getting her pregnant for a few months.”

  Even knowing he was joking around set my guts on fire. I wanted to punch him in the face, and give him a hug at the same time. James knew me better than anybody, even Payton. We grew up as best friends. We lost our virginity on the same night. We went to boot camp and Ranger school together. We’ve killed together. We’ve done everything together. Now that knowledge of each other was about to be put to the test; at least on James part.

  We were sitting in an abandoned building’s parking lot on the South side of town directly across from Detective Dick Wilson’s house. James drove me in his truck since I was sure I wasn’t going to be leaving here in a cop car or an ambulance.

  Sam and the others were working behind the scenes trying to connect the dots. Now that we’d received the information we’d been looking for, it would only be a matter of time before the house of cards that O’Hare carefully stacked crumbled.

  “She’s going to kill me. And you. And all of us.” James muttered.

  I yanked open the door to the truck and started my trek across the street. I knew Dick’s place as well as I could under the circumstances. I knew it wouldn’t be but ten minutes before the cops would be there to stop the altercation. I just hoped I was able to get everything I needed out of him in such a short time.

  I ignored the doorbell and went right for forced entry. That would get me where I wanted to be faster. Taking the heel of my booted foot, I raised it up to just under the door knob, and kicked the door in. The force of my kick sent the door banging in hard and planting the doorknob into the plaster behind it.

  Dick jumped up off the couch, and reached for his forty caliber Glock that was in an ankle holster on his right leg.

  “Don’t move.” I demanded as I raised my forty-five and aiming it at his chest.

  He froze, and slowly lifted himself up until his hands hovered in the air at head level. “Turn around and put your hands on your head.” I demanded.

  He complied reluctantly, and I handcuffed his hands together. “Turn back around.”

  He did as I said and I instructed him to sit down at the kitchen chair closest to him. Once he complied, I moved to stand directly in front of him. “So how’d you do it?”

  He glanced around the room, and then to my eyes, and quickly away again. “How did I do what?”

  Sighing in aggravation, I made quick work of duct taping his hands and arms to the chair. I stared at him, not blinking, until he started to squirm in his seat. “Dick, I’m not here to play games. I know you were expecting me eventually, so I know the silent alarm has already been tripped. I’ve planned for it. Trust me. Now tell me what I need to know.”

  He licked his lips nervously, still not saying anything, and I smiled. “So this is how you want it to go?”

  He sucked his lips between his teeth; my guess was because he didn’t want to die. Most likely O’Hare had threatened him if he said anything. The good thing was that I only needed O’Hare to think I was out of the picture. I only needed her to think that I was tucked in jail, blissfully unaware of the danger that lurked at my door while I was away.

  The good thing was that I did know. I knew everything now. My slow brain finally caught up. None of this was really about me. She just needed a scapegoat. Someone to take the fall for the mission failure that happened in Iraq. She need her fall guy to get her own ass out of hot water with the damn terrorist she’d hooked up with when her own government had turned its back on her.

  When I had arrived in Iraq, I’d disrupted a mission that was nine months in the making. She was about to be let go from the CIA, and she was pissed. So pissed that she decided the best thing to do was to go to the one organization that would take her in without question. An organization that would help her get revenge on the country she loved, the country that had betrayed her in her own
mind.

  “I don’t really need you to talk. It would be nice if you did, though. You’re going to die. O’Hare won’t let you live when she thinks that I got all the information out of you. She doesn’t need to know that we had an anonymous tip come in; she doesn’t need to know that you kept your oath.” I said giving him a manic smile.

  I wanted him to think all was lost. I wanted him to think that I would spare his life if he gave me something in return. It wouldn’t help, but I would make him think it would. So, I started walking towards him. Reaching into his shirt pocket, I extracted his cell phone and started it recording.

  “Now tell me, Dick. What did you do to get rehired after you were fired so publicly?” I taunted.

  Going behind his back, I ripped the white shirt he was wearing at the neck until most of his back was bared to me. Then I walked to his front and pulled out my pocketknife.

  “I just sharpened her this morning. This won’t hurt a bit.” I said and then walked behind him.

  I snickered to myself when he started babbling for me not to hurt him. “Its okay, Dick. These first ones will only be superficial. I’m hoping that you decide to talk.”

  Closing the knife, I put it back into my pocket silently and withdrew a paint pen. One that would leave a wet and cold feeling if drawn upon the skin. For even greater effect, if you held it down long enough, paint would start seeping out of the edges of the tip and run down, eluding to the feeling of “blood.” I’d seen this on a TV show when I was younger, and when I interrogated my first suspect, I’d used this idea, and it worked brilliantly.

  Taking the cap off silently, I set the tip against his back, letting him feel the wetness. “Come on, Dick. Tell me.”

  His whimpered, very unmanly like, but still held his mouth pinched closed. “Alright, my boy. If that’s how you want to play it.” I said and then smiled.

  I made sure to press down hard with my red paint pen, and then drew it along the length of his spine. I went so slowly that once I was done, rivulets of red ran down his back at a fast clip, disappearing into the ripped remains of his t-shirt that was tucked into his jeans.

  His sharp inhalation let me know that he was rattled, but still not enough to talk. Again and again, I ran the pen over various parts of his back. Knowing that he wasn’t going to speak until I did something he deemed life threatening, I grabbed ahold of his slicked back hair, and drew his neck up taught until the line of his neck was exposed.

  “Last chance.” I said and set the pen against his out of control fluttering pulse.

  I held it down just so he could get the feeling of the paint running, and then stopped. He finally burst. “Okay! Okay! Stop!” He pleaded repeatedly.

  I smiled and let his head go, before dropping the pen back into my pocket. “Go.”

  He really did look a sight. Red was running down his back in lines, resembling shallow cuts. “She came to me the day I got fired. She said that if she got me back on the force, she wanted something in return. She wanted all the information we had on you, and she wanted constant updates. I did drive-bys of your work, every fifteen minutes on my day off. I switched cars at least once an hour. I swear that’s all I did. It was only information.”

  I already knew all this, but it was nice to have it on tape so I could send it to James, who would then get it to O’ Hare. She’d take care of the problem, and then I’d take care of her. Red and blue lights seeped through the blinds at the front of my house, and I sat down in a kitchen chair across the table from Dick. Placing my hands on my head, I waited for the count of five, and then they were coming through the door, weapons drawn.

  There was no preamble since Luke was informed, he came straight to me, and took in the scene. “What’s going on here?” He asked for effect.

  Dick of course started rambling on and on about how I cut his back and throat. Given, it was a gruesome scene, but once you really looked like it, it was blatantly obvious that it was paint and not real blood. The boys started snickering behind him, but they still ‘arrested’ me and led me to the closest cop car.

  I gave James a nod; he saluted me, and continued to watch the scene before him. Dick was bellowing like a water buffalo asking for an ambulance, but they ignored him. He was released, and then he came straight for me, threatening bodily harm.

  “I want him fried!” He roared at Luke who had stepped in front of the door that was still open.

  “We’re taking him to the clink. Not much more we can do for that. Maybe you should go shower. That paints drying. Does it itch?” He provoked.

  Dick’s nostrils flared, and he turned on his heels in a huff. Can anyone say drama queen? “The cell phone is under the table leg.” I told Luke quietly.

  “Got it.” He said and walked away.

  I was taken down to the slammer. Again. Payton was going to freaking kill me.

  “Take him to I1.” The chief said as I was processed.

  I1 was interrogation room one. He knew and I both knew what I did wouldn’t hold me for long, but if what I thought would happen, happened, then I would be here much longer than what was warranted.

  I was led to a rickety chair, in a sickly green room, and left there for twenty minutes. Pillowing my head on my crossed arms, I snoozed until The Chief finally came in to the room.

  “Tremaine. I hope you know that we have a very pregnant, very frantic, woman in our lobby right now. She’s threatening to kick everyone’s asses if we don’t let her innocent husband go. She of course was made aware of why you were arrested, but she insists that it was just a prank. Any idea why she would say that?” He goaded.

  I kept my mouth shut. Having Payton frantic didn’t sit well with me, but I just knew this would work if I stuck to my plan. James had better be here with her though, or when I got out, I’d make him wish he was born a girl.

  “I knew you wouldn’t cooperate.” He huffed and sat.

  He lifted a Christmas Tree Little Debbie out of his front pocket, and promptly started eating it, making sure to make all the appropriate noises one should make when eating those little delicacies. My eyes narrowed on him when he fished the cold bottle of chocolate milk out of his other pocket.

  “Payton told me to give you this, except I was too tempted. See, Fancy doesn’t let me have this sort of stuff anymore. Not since I was told I’d die if I didn’t start eating right. It’s been six years now that I’ve survived on rabbit food. Do you know how hard it is to buy something in this little town? Every single thing gets back to her.” He groaned and then licked his fingers.

  “You bastard!” I hissed.

  He laughed and then took the other tree out of his pocket, opened it, and the placed it down in front of me. I didn’t hesitate in snatching it up and shoving it into my mouth whole.

  Damn these things were good. Of course, they only came out around Christmas time, so I gorged myself on them during the two months they graced the earth with their presence. Licking my fingers, I went for the unopened bottle of chocolate milk he’d placed in front of me, but he held it out of my reach.

  “Tell me. No cameras.” He instructed.

  Therefore, I did.

  “Mother fucker. You have to be kidding me! I’ve been wondering for four months how he managed to pull that shit off!” He fumed.

  Then he smiled an evil smile and got up from his chair, and left the room.

  The smile slid off my face when Payton entered the room. The Chief didn’t stay as a buffer either. She glared at me, crossed her arms above her belly, cocked her hips, and slowly tapped her foot. Then her finger got into it when she didn’t get the desired effect.

  Then a tear slipped out of the corner of her eye, and I was on my feet in an instant, gathering her up and cradling her against my chest. I felt her hand sneak up the front of my stomach, come to a stop just under my nipple, and then she twisted the ever-loving shit out of it.

  “Motherfucker!” I yelled and jumped back from her.

  Her fingers held on though, and twisted
even harder until finally her fingers slipped the hold she had on my nipple. I rubbed it trying to get rid of the sting, and glared at her.

  “I cannot believe you did this to me! Do you have any idea how awful it is to be watching the news at work, and hear the news anchor say that your husband has been arrested for beating up a cop?” She yelled, waving her hands wildly.

  “I did no such thing!” I ground out.

  “Then why are you in here?” She said slightly less shrilly.

  “It was only breaking and entering. I might or might not have held him prisoner, but I sure didn’t hurt him!” I explained.

  “Like that’s any better!” She fumed.

  Okay, she might’ve been right, but I had to do it, otherwise O’Hare wouldn’t make a move. Walking slowly towards her, I gauged her reaction. Seeing that she wasn’t protesting my nearness, I snuck my arms around her tiny frame, and pulled her roughly into my body. Her belly kept her from getting as close as I would have wanted, but feeling the baby squirm in between us was completely worth it.

  “Trust me.” I whispered into her ear.

  “You’re going to miss our first Christmas.” She cried.

  “Honey, that’s a week away. I’ll be home in three, four days tops.” I guaranteed.

  “Okay. Will they let me have a conjugal visit?” She asked as she squirmed.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. This woman sure did know how to make everything better. My day could have been for the birds, but one cheesy joke or one sappy text message from her and my world would be right again.

  ɸ

  Payton

  I hauled my gangly self, belly leading the way, out of my car. Taking stomping steps, I made my way into the main office and slammed the door shut behind me. Sam, James, Jack, and Elliott were all doing various things, and froze when I entered. Gabe brought up the rear, closing the door quietly behind him, glaring at me for shutting the door in his face.

  It wasn’t my fault he wouldn’t leave me alone. “Tell me.”

  “Tell you what?” James feigned innocence.