She smiled back at him. “I will,” she whispered in return.
After Carl had left the room, Hammer stepped to her bed and brushed her hair out of her face. “I’m sorry you’ve gotten involved in this,” he said softly. “I should have guessed before.”
“How would you have known?” Lily asked, grimacing as she pushed herself higher up in the bed.
He leaned in and kissed her tenderly. “I’m going to find him, Lily. I’m to going find Robert, and I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done. I owe it to Motor, Stilts, Mike and Wheels. I owe it to you.”
She felt a warmth flow through her, but she couldn’t condone vigilante justice. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret. Let us handle it.”
“If the cops come at him, he’ll fade away into the night. You’ll never catch him. And even if you do, then what? Can you arrest him just because I think it’s him?”
“No, of course not.”
“Even if you find him, what are you going to do?”
“The same thing the police have always done. We’ll gather evidence, build a case against him, and then put him away.” Hammer nodded, but she could tell he didn’t believe her.
“That’s not going to work for him. How are you going to prove it’s him if nobody has seen him? Even if you find him, how will you arrest him? He’s killed four people already. Do you have even one shred of evidence? Anything at all?”
“No,” she finally admitted.
“No,” he repeated. “You can’t arrest him, or if you do, you’ll have to release him, and he’ll be back on the street. At the very least, you’ll tip your hand that you suspect he’s the shooter and that will make him even more careful. And you might be safe, for a while, but so long as Robert is free, you’re in danger. You’ve experienced firsthand what he’s capable of. What’s preventing him from trying again?”
“Nothing, I suppose, but I can’t do my job if I’m going to be afraid of my own shadow.”
“Lily! Robert McBride has no respect for life. It doesn’t matter to him if you’re a cop. I saw him shoot a woman carrying a baby in her arms. He said he thought it was a bomb.” He shook his head. “He’ll never stop. He missed you once. I can’t see him letting that go. He’ll come after you again. I guarantee it.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Tell us what the cops know and let us handle it.”
Her eyes narrowed. “The Souls? And then what? You’ll kill him?” Hammer said nothing. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
“Better him than you.”
“I can’t believe you just said that. The stories are true, aren’t they? You’re nothing but hired thugs and killers.”
Hammer leaned in close. “You listen to me, and you listen good,” he said, his voice cold and hard. “There are bad people out there, people who think the rules don’t apply to them. Robert is one of those people. He has no conscious, no remorse. He’ll laugh in your face if you try to handle him the same way as some accountant who killed his wife’s lover in a fit of rage. He’s an assassin, Lily. He’d rather kill you than talk to you.”
“That doesn’t mean you can just go out and kill him!”
Hammer stood up and glared at her. “Would you rather he kill you? Because he will, Lily. Eventually, he will… unless he’s stopped first.”
“No. But if I condone what you’re talking about, I’m no better than he is.”
“Would you shoot a man in cold blood?”
“Of course not!”
“But you would shoot a man to prevent him from shooting someone else. Because that’s what we’re talking about.”
“There’s one problem with your argument. You don’t know the killer is Robert McBride.”
Hammer pursed his lips. “I know,” he said softly. “If he’s here, it’s him.”
“You don’t know that! You have no proof!”
“I’m not going to let him hurt you again, Lily.”
“I’ll arrest you myself, Hammer. Don’t do this.”
He looked at her then smiled. “Okay. I had to try,” he said.
She watched his face and saw the lie in his words. “I’m tired,” she said, wanting to end the conversation. He had been so charming, laid-back, and fun, she hadn’t believed the rumors… until now.
He nodded. “Get some rest. You’re safe for now.”
She held his gaze as he looked at her, his face a mixture of sorrow and anger. After a moment, he seemed to make up his mind. “Maybe I’ll see you around,” he said with a curt nod before he stepped out of the room.
She watched him leave then closed her eyes, a single tear crawling down her cheek. She sniffed and wiped the tear away. She was in pain, but no amount of medication could take away the ache she felt in her chest.
Chapter Nineteen
When the nurse arrived with the wheelchair, Lily looked around. There were four uniformed officers as her escorts, but the person she really wanted to see wasn’t present.
Her mind had been playing havoc with her all through the night, replaying their conversation over and over again, trying to find another explanation, any other way to interpret what Hammer had said, but failed. She wanted to see him, to see if maybe in her slightly drugged state she’d misread him and taken something the wrong way, but his absence confirmed that he’d said what he meant, and meant what he’d said.
Having Hammer willing to go to such lengths to protect her both warmed and horrified her. She couldn’t condone the killing of another person in cold blood and without a trial, no matter the provocation. She’d sworn an oath to uphold the law and she couldn’t, no, wouldn’t break it, even if it meant her life. To do so would make her oath meaningless, and that was worse than death.
Lily and her entourage stopped at the front doors of the hospital, the nurse pulling the chair into a corner away from the panes of glass. She pushed herself out of the wheelchair, grimacing in pain, as Officer Wincutte left to fetch the van. When the windowless black Chevy with the police shield on the door rocked to a stop, Officers Singleton, Ryder and Cullen surrounded her as they hustled her out of the building and carefully bundled her into the back. Cullen and Ryder crawled into the back with her, sitting on the floor, as there were no seats, while Wincutte and Singleton sat up front.
“I can’t leave you alone for even a minute without you getting into trouble, can I?” Hunter teased as the van accelerated away.
Lily grinned. “I guess not. I think you forgot to train me on the part about avoiding being shot.”
Hunter smiled at her, but there was no humor in it. “I’m glad you’re okay. When I heard what happened, I nearly shit myself. I came as soon as I found out, but you were in x-ray or something.”
Lily took his hand, seeing how upset Hunter was. “It’s okay.”
Hunter nodded. “I would have never forgiven myself, and your dad would have killed me if anything had happened to you.”
Lily squeezed his hand in support. “I’m a big girl. You don’t have to protect me.”
He nodded, but his eyes had a haunted look about them.
They rode in silence the rest of the way to the station. Wincutte pulled the van onto the sidewalk with the sliding door facing the building. The four officers surrounded Lily and hurried her inside. Lieutenant Dare was waiting for her.
“How’re you feeling, Donovan?”
“Fine sir. A little sore, but ready to return to duty.”
“That’s good to hear. I need to speak to you in my office.”
Lily felt the chill of impending doom but said nothing as she followed Dare into his office.
“Have a seat, Officer,” Dare said as he closed the door behind them.
Lily sat, her heart pounding in her chest. Dare was being very official, and that didn’t bode well for what was coming.
He sat behind his desk then leaned forward onto his elbows, interlacing his fingers in front of him. “I’ll come straight to the point. I’m placing you on administrative duty until fur
ther notice.”
Lily felt like she had been slapped. “Yes, sir,” she said, pursing her lips in anger and frustration.
“At ease, Officer,” he said. “This is no reflection on your performance.”
“Then why, sir?”
“Several reasons. First and foremost, you’re a target. Carl told me what was going down. Until we apprehend McBride, or whoever the shooter turns out to be, putting you back on the street simply paints a target on your back.” Dare smiled. “It reflects poorly on me if one of my officers gets killed, and I’d like to avoid that if possible. The second reason is you’re not one hundred percent by your own admission. The final reason is because we don’t have another vest for you. We don’t keep extra female vests in supply since we have relatively few female officers.”
She didn’t like it one bit that her dad had meddled. “Once my new vest arrives, and I’m back to one hundred percent, I can return to duty?”
“Lily, you’re not being suspended. You’re being temporarily assigned to administrative duty. It’s for your protection, and before you say anything, yes, if any other officer were being targeted like this, I would pull them off the street, male or female. We go out every day with the chance of being shot or killed. I’m not going to put any of my officers at extra risk unnecessarily. If we have the shooter in custody, you can return to patrol as soon as your vest arrives.”
“When will that be, sir?”
“About a week.”
She relaxed. She was toughing it out, but her chest did still hurt like a bitch. In a week, she should be back to full speed. “But if McBride isn’t in custody by then?”
Dare frowned. “Then, I’m sorry to say, you’ll remain on administrative duty until we either catch the perp, or we’ve determined you’re no longer in immediate danger.”
“And if he starts targeting officers at random?”
“So far he hasn’t been targeting officers, except for you. If that changes and he begins to fire on other officers…” Dare paused, his mouth going hard. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“But if he does?” she pressed.
“If he does… then we’ll need all the help we can get, and you’ll have to take your chances just like all the other officers.”
She nodded in understanding, and then licked her lips. “Any leads?”
Dale grimaced and leaned back in his chair. “Only the name you gave us. It looks like a solid lead. We contacted the Paris PD yesterday, and they did some checking for us. Seems Mr. Robert McBride hasn’t reported to work for almost six weeks and nobody can remember seeing him, or his car, for about the same amount of time. We’re throwing everything we’ve got into bringing this… guy… to justice.”
She nodded and gave a weak smile. She had the impression Dare almost called McBride something other than “guy.” They had a lead to be sure, but even if they caught McBride in Amberton, that didn’t constitute proof. As much as she hated to admit it, Hammer had a point about not being able to hold him. They needed something, anything, to tie him to the murders, or in her case, attempted murder.
“Understood, sir.” She didn’t like it, but his reasoning was sound. As long as he didn’t keep her on administrative duty forever, she could live with it.
“Any questions?”
“No, sir.”
“Very well. See Sergeant May for your assignment. Dismissed.”
She stood, came to attention, then pirouetted on her toe and walked out. Cullen had brought her uniform to the hospital, and she was technically released for duty, so she didn’t have an excuse to not work.
As she stepped out of Dare’s office, all the patrol officers and most of the administrative staff were standing there and began to clap. Somebody had printed an Ironman mask and glued it to a piece of cardboard with cutout eyeholes and an elastic band. Beaming, Hunter stepped forward and slipped it over her face.
“Okay, everyone, remember! If we’re in a firefight, everyone stand behind Lily!” Ed said, causing everyone to cheer as he stepped back.
She smiled behind the mask, allowing her brothers and sisters to have their fun, using the time to gather herself so she wouldn’t cry. When she thought she had enough control, she pushed the mask to the top of her head.
“Oh my God! Ironman is Lily Donovan!” an officer cried out in mock surprise.
Lily grinned as she pulled off the mask. “Know what you call Ironman without his suit? Stark naked.”
The assembled officers laughed, groaned and made disparaging remarks about her sense of humor.
Dare stepped out of his office. “Is there anyone out there protecting the good citizens of Amberton?” he asked, but his tone was mild, and he was smiling. “Back to work, people. Officer Donovan has some filing or something to do. Cullen, Ryder, you’re on protection detail today.”
“Yes, sir,” Cullen said then looked at Lily. “Be back in few hours to take you home. Don’t go anywhere.”
Lily looked around as the group began to break up. “Where am I going to go?”
###
“I have a name,” Hammer said. The Souls was meeting in one of the private rooms of Pioneer Grille. “Robert McBride. I want him. I want him bad.”
“Who the fuck is Robert McBride?” Knife asked as he looked around the room to see if anybody recognized the name.
Hammer’s gaze traveled the room, meeting each brother’s gaze for a moment, before moving to the next. They wouldn’t blame him for what had happened, but he still wasn’t eager to admit that he, however inadvertently, was the one that had brought so much death to the Souls.
“He is, was, a sniper in Bravo Company, my old unit,” Hammer said, his voice growing quieter as he looked at his hands on the table in front of him. “I was his spotter, and I had him thrown out. He served some prison time and was dishonorably discharged.”
“You had him thrown out of the army? How?” Goose asked.
“I reported him to the brass for targeting non-combatants, and testified against him.”
The brothers of the Immortal Souls looked at each other. Hammer’s time in the army was an enigma, and with only the little bit he’d just told them, they finally had their first inkling of what he’d done while serving his country.
“What does this have to do with us?” Knife asked.
“Nothing. He’s targeting the people I care about in order to hurt me. That’s just like him. He’s a sadistic son-of-a-bitch, and killing me would be too easy. He wants me to suffer first.” Hammer paused. “He shot Lily yesterday.”
“The cop chick? She was the officer involved in the shooting on the news?” Hilt asked.
“Yeah. That means he’ll target women, and probably children too.”
“Is she…?” Knife asked.
“No. He missed. No, I take that back. He didn’t miss. He hit her square in the chest, but I think he was going for a headshot. He was so far away that the ballistic vest protected her.”
Knife nodded. “She okay?”
“Yeah. Sore, but okay. Unfortunately, if he’s willing to take a shot at a cop, he’ll take a shot at anyone. Nobody connected to me is safe. Not you, not your old ladies, not the club girls, not your children. Those of you that have old ladies and kids, if you haven’t already, you need to get them to somewhere safe. Away from Amberton.”
“Mike, Wheels and Motor’s funeral are in a couple of days,” Knife said softly.
“I know. It’ll be a perfect killing field for him. He has to be staying in a motel, somewhere, and we’re going to find him before then. We’ve got to put enough heat on him to flush him out, and when he runs, we’re going to be there. Knife, take charge of that. I don’t care what you have to do, but make it happen.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to watch Lily.” He could see the disbelief in his brothers’ eyes that he was choosing a cop over his own. “I know what you’re thinking, but there’s a reason for it. He missed her. That’s going to
stick in his craw and I betting he’s going to take another shot at her. When he does, I’m going to be there, watching for him, and I’m going to stick my hand up his ass and rip his fucking heart out.”
Hammer’s gaze went around the room again as he rose up out of his seat. “Let’s make this happen, brothers.”
###
Lily was riding in the front seat of Hunter’s cruiser. It was almost like old times, except she wasn’t on patrol, she was being escorted home. Ryder, in his own cruiser, was tailing along behind them.
PREGNANT AT THE ALTAR: Immortal Souls MC Page 17
