Uncaped Crusader

by Willow Morgan

  Dark Avenger Book 2

  Uncaped Crusader

  By Willow Morgan

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  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s

  imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 Willow Morgan – All Rights Reserved

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Other Titles by Willow Morgan

  LIVE FIRE BOOKS 1 - 6

  The White Death (Free)

  Death Trap

  Lost

  Cataclysm

  The Outlaws

  Police Officer

  DARK AVENGER BOOK 1

  Mystery Ghost

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Free Exclusive Gift

  About the Author

  Follow Me

  Chapter 1

  Jo McGee strolled into the hospital room to find a young doctor standing over the bed. Her husband, Nate Fricks, sat on the mattress, kicking his feet into his shoes.

  The doctor checked something on his clipboard. "No nausea or lightheadedness when you stand up or sit down?"

  "Nope," Nate replied. "Nothing."

  The doctor tore off a scrap of paper and handed it to him. "Here's a script for painkillers. Don't be shy about using them, but if you find yourself using more than two a day, contact the duty nurse, and we'll bring you back in. Don't try to be stoic about it, either. If you got an infection, you could lose your leg."

  Nate pocketed the slip. "I'm not using 'em now, so I'm sure I'll be fine."

  The doctor rotated around and glanced up at Jo. "You can take him home now, Detective. Take him out for regular walks, but don't let him overdo it."

  Jo glanced down at Nate's left leg. "Are you sure we don't have to push you down to the car in a wheelchair?"

  He snorted and got to his feet. He teetered for a moment before he took a step. "I'll be hobbling for a while, I guess, but I've still got two good arms to hold you with." He put his arms around her and kissed her right in front of the doctor.

  "You better." She kissed him back and leaned into his bulk. He felt good after two weeks in the hospital. She didn't like living alone.

  The doctor retreated. "You two get out of here. You're taking up space."

  Nate looped his arm around Jo's neck and limped resting his weight on her, but as soon as the doctor left, he shot her a questioning glance.

  "Don't worry," she murmured in his ear. "The Mustang is fine."

  He puffed out his cheeks. "Thank goodness." He started walking again now that they cleared up that detail.

  "Molly Christensen is fine, too, by the way," she added. "Chief Bates moved her to a secure location before those guys blew up her house."

  Nate cast another sidelong peek at her on their way to the elevator. "Did he, now? If that's true, then....."

  She shook her head while they waited for the elevator. "I know what you're thinking. I hate to burst your bubble, but there's no way Chief Bates could be the Dark Avenger. He was at the Police Station surrounded by about a hundred officers both times the Dark Avenger appeared in public during the daytime. There's no way. It has to be someone else."

  Nate cracked a grin, searching her eyes. "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry! My condolences."

  "Yeah." She tossed her hair out of her eyes. "Bad theories die hard, but the evidence is incontrovertible."

  "I wonder who it could be." They stepped into the elevator.

  "I still say we should focus on his martial arts skills. There are only so many people in Soledad who could jump around the way he does."

  "I'm afraid I have to disagree with you there, Munchkin," he returned. "We don't know if he's a local. We do know he has a beef against Gabriel Kingston. We should concentrate on that."

  "You sound like Chief Bates."

  "Well, he did order us to ignore the whole Dark Avenger mystery and concentrate on busting Kingston," Nate pointed out, "so that will be an added bonus."

  "I guess so."

  They exited on the ground floor. Kat Ingram and Blake Cartwright met them in the lobby. Blake barged up to Nate and clapped him on the shoulder. "There's the conquering hero! Where's your wheelchair?"

  Nate bared his teeth at his friend. "I am NOT listening to wheelchair jokes all day long."

  "Who's making wheelchair jokes all day long?" Kat chimed in.

  "That's only the second one today," Jo remarked. "You can look forward to at least another twenty before we're through."

  The others laughed. Nate took a long time to drag himself across the lobby to the parking lot. He paused at the exit door and scanned the vehicles lined up in spaces. "Where's the Mustang?"

  "Are you insane?" Blake returned. "We put that in the damn, Smithsonian."

  "You need an NSA security clearance just to get in the same room with it," Kat added. "You can forget about touching it."

  Jo snickered into her sleeve. Nate glared at her. "That isn't funny."

  "Lighten up, brother." Blake jabbed him with his elbow. "We wouldn't drive your car behind your back. What do you take us for?"

  "So, how are we getting out of here?" Nate asked. "Don't tell me you came to pick me up in a squad car. I would die of mortification."

  "Naw, dude. You're riding with us." Blake opened the back door of a grey sedan near the exit door. "Your walker is waiting for you at the Police Station."

  Jo and Kat choked, suppressing laughter. Nate reared back from the open door. "If you don't cut it out, I'll walk to the damn Station. I don't care."

  "We're just having fun here," Kat told him.

  "At my expense," Nate grumbled.

  "Of course," Kate replied. "You're the easiest target."

  Jo snuggled up to his side. "Sorry, darling. We're just happy to get you back."

  "The novelty of you getting shot will wear off in a few weeks, and then you can start making fun of me the way you usually do," Blake interjected. "Until then, you scuffling along like a decrepit old lady looks too damn funny to ignore."

  Nate snarled something under his breath and wedged himself into the car. When Jo sidled up to the door, Kat pulled down her lower eyelids and stuck out her tongue. She looked like a ghoul, and she made a low, groaning noise.

  Jo had to laugh. When she got into the back seat, and Blake shut the door on her, she heard him mutter to Kat, "Maybe we should stop by the auto electrician and get his pacemaker checked."

  Jo smiled at Nate to stop herself from laughing again. Blake got behind the wheel, and Kat took the passenger seat. They drove to the Police Station, after which Nate took another age to climb the stairs to their desks. Kat and Blake took every opportunity to take the mi
ckey out of him.

  Blake held the door aside. "By the way, we got the bullet they took out of your leg. It's enshrined in a gold-trimmed case upstairs for all the rookies to genuflect in front of."

  "Chief Bates wants to start holding worship services twice a day," Kat snickered. "We now have mandatory Department cheers for our Lord and Savior Nate Fricks."

  "Would you like me to stop by the pharmacy for you to get that script filled?" Jo asked.

  He rounded on her clenching his jaws. "Don't you start!"

  She held up both hands. "I'm just asking."

  He flopped into the chair behind his desk. "So what are we doing here? Any leads on the arms dealer—what's his name?"

  "Mordechai Moishe Berg," Jo reminded him. "He left the country after we saw Kingston pass him the memory sticks."

  "So, where are we up to? What's our next move?"

  "We're looking at busting Kingston for blowing up Molly Christensen's house," Blake added, "and for sending the troops that tried to kill you two."

  "Unfortunately," Jo chimed in, "there's no evidence Kingston had anything to do with the hit."

  "Besides motive, you mean," Nate countered. "He's the one person who had something to gain from stopping us from talking to Molly. He had a powerful motive for silencing her."

  "He's the one person we know about," Kat corrected.

  "She already told the Police everything she knew, and Kingston already got the memory sticks from her," Jo pointed out. "He had no reason to think she would be useful to us."

  "Molly can identify Julian Kingston as the one who kidnapped her and threatened to kill her at the graveyard. You said that" Nate fired back. "That's the whole reason we went to see her."

  Jo shrugged, but Blake interrupted. "Molly did already give a sworn statement that it was Julian at the graveyard. Even if Kingston and Son knocked her off to shut her up, they wouldn't be able to erase her statement. It would look even worse for them both if the only witness suddenly turned up dead. I'm with Jo. We don't know Gabriel ordered the hit—on Molly or you."

  "Then how do you explain the Dark Avenger being there?" Nate asked. "That dude is sticking to Kingston like a fly on shit. He turns up every time Kingston gets ready to pull a fast one. I don't see him materializing out of thin air to save our asses if Kingston wasn't involved."

  Before any of them could reply, Chief Bates strode out of his office and headed for their desks. Blake jerked his chin over his shoulder and waggled his eyebrows to signal the others to cut their conversation short.

  Chief Bates halted next to Nate's desk and scanned him up and down. "You fit for duty, Fricks?"

  "Yes, Sir," Nate replied. "A little slow on the uptake, but I'll deal with it."

  Chief Bates gave a clipped nod. "Good, 'cuz I want you four to take the lead on a raid tomorrow morning."

  Jo's jaw dropped. "A raid! What raid?"

  "We're raiding Kingston's shipping depot at the docks for evidence on the Trenton Warehouse fire." He handed her a folder and pulled out his phone. "I'm sending you digital copies of all the files. I trust you'll familiarize yourselves with the situation by tomorrow so we can get in and get out with what we need."

  He flicked his screen and scowled down at it. A tense silence shrouded the four desks. Jo and her friends exchanged glances until Blake ventured to speak. "Uh...excuse me for saying so, Sir, but aren't we supposed to be running the Trenton Warehouse case?"

  "You are." Chief Bates' thumb traced over his screen, and he furrowed his brow.

  "Um...." Blake faltered again. "If we're running the case, how come we don't have the files already?"

  "'Cuz they just came in. The same anonymous source that tipped us off on the graveyard hit tipped us off that there's evidence on the fire at Kingston's depot."

  Jo glanced around the circle again. This was highly out of order. "What evidence are we supposed to be looking for?"

  "Hard copies of correspondence sent from the FBI to Kingston informing him that he was under investigation for arms trafficking. They would have informed him via email, but they're also required by law to inform him by snail mail. He claims he never received any such correspondence and that he didn't even know he was under investigation—which I think we can all agree is bullshit. According to the tipper, Arthur Christensen and the nine other victims killed in the fire all submitted sworn affidavits to the FBI that Kingston was trafficking through his depot. The correspondence specifically names the complainants. If we find the correspondence, that would prove that Kingston targeted the ten of them for death to halt the investigation."

  Blake murmured into his collar. "Our mysterious informant knows an unusual amount about Kingston's affairs."

  Chief Bates put his phone away. "You have no idea, but I'm willing to take him at his word. I don't much care for Kingston shooting us the bird every time we try to bust him for something, and this could be our chance to pin him with the fire."

  He walked away and left the four friends looking at each other. Jo's heart flipped in her chest. So the Dark Avenger struck again. Just when the team thought the case was on the verge of dying an obscure death in the cold case vault, he came out of the woodwork with some scrap of worm to sweeten the hook.

  Chapter 2

  Jo's phone chimed, and she opened the email Chief Bates just sent her. Nate didn't look at the documents, though. He cocked his head and squinted toward Chief Bates's office. "Do you notice how all this information comes from the Chief? Don't you think it's a little convenient that he's the one who keeps up communication between us and this helpful informant?"

  Jo didn't look up. "Sorry, honey, but it isn't him. He was in a Department meeting with fifty officers, thirty rookies, and twenty city counselors while the Dark Avenger was shooting down that chopper in broad daylight. Besides, it stands to reason that he would be the one to relay any tips the Dark Avenger gave us. The informant would call the anonymous hotline, and any information he delivered would cross the Chief's desk first. He would naturally be the one to deliver it to us."

  Nate narrowed his eyes at her. "You're singing a different tune these days, you know that? You were the one who said the Chief could be him."

  "That was before." She put her phone away. "Like I said, old theories die hard, but I'm more interested in finding out who the Dark Avenger really is. He can't be the Chief, so I want to look at the other options."

  "What are the other options?" Kat asked.

  Blake scowled at his phone. "It looks to me like the old Dark Avenger is gonna have to take a back seat, while we go storm the castle. This stuff is explosive."

  "He won't be taking a back seat if he shows up at the bust," Kat pointed out. "The back seat is forbidden territory to that dude."

  "Are you guys looking at this shit?" Blake whistled over his phone. "The complainants supposedly found records of assassination contracts, direct orders from Kingston to destroy his competitions' supply lines, and even interference in foreign government affairs."

  "No wonder he wanted to get those disks back from Arthur Christensen," Jo remarked.

  "No wonder Berg was so anxious to retrieve them, too," Kat added.

  "Yeah," Jo returned, "and no wonder he left the country once he got them back. We might not be able to bust him at all. He slipped through our fingers."

  "Taking the evidence with him." Blake stuffed his phone into his pocket. "Did anyone ask the Chief if he posted surveillance around the depot? How do we know Kingston won't remove the correspondence before we get there?"

  "Why would a guy as smart as Kingston keep the correspondence in his depot at all?" Jo asked. "He should be keeping it in a vault somewhere, shouldn't he?"

  Blake pushed his chair back. "If you check the files, Sherlock, you'll find a transcript of the informant's conversation with the hotline operator. He says Kingston keeps all his files related to legal liability in a secure safe embedded in a concrete pad under the depot's receiving dock. He keeps everything there in case he needs to fle
e the country himself at short notice. That way, he can go straight to the depot, collect everything he needs, and skip town with no delay."

  Nate snorted. "Spoken like a law-abiding citizen. Only a dyed-in-the-wool crook would think of something like that."

  "I suggest we get over to the Carter Transport yard," Blake told everyone. "They have heavy equipment for hire along with qualified operators. We're gonna need jackhammers, backhoes, and Christ knows what else to dig up that floor. They're also the closest to the docks."

  "We'll need a few safebreakers, too," Kat added.

  Nate eased out of his chair and sucked his breath through his teeth. Jo studied him with her head on the side. "You sure you don't want to stay here and jockey your desk while we do the heavy lifting?"

  He glared at her with a look of sheer murderous hatred. "Could you possibly word that question in a slightly more insulting phraseology so that I'll be absolutely certain not to stay behind?"

  She indulged in an adoring smile. "I don't think so."

  She moved to his side, but he shoved her away. "Leave me alone. I'm not a corpse yet despite what your friends here would have you believe."

  Blake and Kat laughed at him. They didn't try to hide it. In a way, their antics made Jo feel better. Now that the danger of Nate's gunshot wound passed and everyone knew for certain that he would heal up soon, they went back to teasing him mercilessly. That was their way of showing him and everyone else that they had no intention of letting him off easy.

  He took extra long hopping down the stairs. He winced at every step and made sure not to bend his knee. Once they got to the sidewalk, Blake jerked his thumb behind him. "You want me to bring the car around?"

  Nate ignored him and set off down the street. Kat giggled behind her hand. She and Blake walked behind Jo and Nate. Jo caught them making faces and silent hand signals to each other, but they made no sound.

  Nate set his jaw in grim determination and headed for the docks. He called over his shoulder. "What else did you see in the documents?"