The Homecoming

by Jordan Silver

“No reason. How long ago did he leave?”

  “A couple hours, again why?”

  I left on the run. My first call was to her brothers as I made my way out of the building to my jeep.

  “I can’t talk right now so I’ll make this quick. Carter took your sister. I have a tracker on her, I’m about to activate the trace right now.”

  His roar got cut off when I hung up.

  Chapter 27

  SHANIA

  “Where are you taking me?” We were headed deep into the woods through the back roads. I was wondering how he’d planned to get me away from here, looks like he knew more than I thought.

  “Some place where we can talk.”

  “Why couldn’t we talk back there?”

  “Don’t be stupid Shania, that bloodhound you’re fucking barely lets you out of his sight, how was I to know he wouldn’t be stopping back there anytime soon?”

  He must’ve been watching us to know what our routines were. I have to admit he’d chosen the perfect place to commit his crime if he was brining me out here to die.

  I don’t think anyone ever came out here, I know we hadn’t as kids. He stopped in the middle of nowhere and I tasted bile in my throat.

  It was better when he was driving, that way I could see his hands and knew I still had time.

  He slammed out of the car and was around the side before I could get the door open and jump out.

  “Let’s go, and don’t try anything or I’ll use this.” He waved the gun in my face before pushing me ahead of him.

  “Why did you come back here anyway, this place is a cesspit? I can’t believe you’ll give up your life in the city for this, or is lover boy?”

  I didn’t answer him just watched his every move. Okay Shania, do what you do best; your life depends on it.

  “I don’t think this is about our failed relationship so why don’t you tell me what this is really about?”

  His sly grin made my skin crawl but I held my stance, not giving away any of the fear that was gnawing at my gut.

  “You always were too smart for your own good. You’re right sweet Shania.” I dodged the hand he reached out to me and it angered him.

  “I knew you would catch on, knew that it was too dangerous. Had I known you were going to come back here I might’ve done things different, then again, had I known that asshole would be such a screw up I would’ve done a lot different.

  Who was he talking about? I bit my tongue to keep from asking. Any good interviewer knows how to read her subject, and I knew if I spoke, he might not give me what I needed, but if I let him run the show, he’d spill his guts.

  “Do you know what this is?” He held up a little microchip under my nose. “This is my future, do you know how I got it?” I didn’t like the grin on his face; it actually made me take a step back.

  “You, it was all you.” My look of confusion propelled him on with his story.

  “Do you remember that expose you did on the space program over a year and a half ago? It was right before we met, remember?

  I read your little story, heard all the talk about how good you were at what you did. So I bided my time.

  That day we met; it wasn’t an accident like I pretended. I was waiting for you. I set the whole thing up to get to you.

  Of course you weren’t about to give up the goods to a complete stranger, so I knew I had to be in it for the long haul.

  I set about wooing you and it was easy, you were starved for it. Still you were a tough nut to crack. You’d let me in but only so far.

  That’s when I started fucking sweet little Maryann.”

  I think I’m going to be sick. I put my hand on my queasy stomach as his words hit home. How could I have been so terribly wrong?

  “She was only too happy to share, I think she got a kick out of fucking me in your bed. That day you found us, wasn’t the first time, not by a long shot.

  I fucked her all over your apartment on a regular basis while you were playing hard to get. Though by then I was growing quite fond of you I must admit.

  By the time I was done, or rather, by the time you found us out, I’d collected pretty much all the info I needed.

  Riley had worked with the bureau before, so it was easy to get an in with him. A little background digging and I knew where to turn the screws to get him to cooperate.”

  “I don’t understand, if he was working with you, why did you kill him?”

  “Because fifty million, is better than twenty-five. The cost of living has gone up babe. Anyway, I convinced him that it would be in his best interest to get me what I wanted. It took some doing, but in the end he came through.

  I had a buyer or should I say, buyers on the hook already, I just needed a way to get rid of him after he brought the information out.

  I remembered your telling me about this place. I visited here a few times before choosing Clarence to do the deed.

  Just one conversation with him was enough to reveal his greed. He was perfect for what I had in mind; a down on his luck druggie with no prospects and no hope of life getting any better.

  I offered him a pittance, which to him was a king’s ransom to put a bullet in Riley and steal the goods.”

  “But I don’t understand, why would he come here?”

  “Because he thought he was meeting a buyer. That took some skill on my part. It took weeks to clean that piece a shit up to the point where he could be useful.

  After he did the job I supplied him with all the drugs he could ever want. I should’ve given him a bad batch the fucking idiot.

  The body was not supposed to ever surface.”

  “So who are your buyers? How do you see this all playing out? You can’t believe that you’ll get away with it.”

  “I already have, I’ve covered my tracks. There’s no connection between Riley and me except a working one. No one has ever seen me around here before, because obviously I wore a disguise on my jaunts into your old backyard.

  As to the town’s deadbeat, there’s nothing to connect me with him either, so you see, I’m clear, except for one little thing. How much does Chase know? I know he’s been snooping around, so just how far did he…”

  He broke off and we both turned to the sound of leaves rustling. I’d bee standing in front of him while he told his tale of murder and treason but now he grabbed me and pulled me in front of him with the gun to my head.

  “There’s nothing there, it’s just the wind.” As if to confirm my words, a strong gust of wind blew just then and I felt him relax.

  DONOVAN

  “Hold it Chase.” I shrugged off Matt’s hand as I watched that asshole put a gun to her head.

  I’d called them as soon as I’d tracked her location but they were already on the road.

  They’d had the good sense to leave the chief at home with his wife, both of them still in the dark for now.

  “I can take him from here.”’

  “Wait until he let her go, I don’t care how good a shot you are, we’re not risking that shit.”

  “Tell me that shit when it’s your woman with that shit at her head.” I knew it made sense but I was sure I could take the fucker from this close.

  The other Spalding boys weren’t saying anything but their eyes were glued to the spot where their sister stood with a gun to her head

  I should’ve followed my gut, why hadn’t I followed my fucking gut? I watched as he released her and she slumped in relief.

  I couldn’t look at her face. I didn’t want to see the fear I was sure would be there. I just needed her to move a little to the left and I would have a clear shot, yeah, right there.

  As if she’d heard me she bent over to tie her lace or some shit and I took the shot. I wasn’t aiming to kill, that was too easy.

  Instead I shot a hole in his gun hand and was on the move with the others behind me before his howl of pain cleared the air.

  Justin snatched her up as I went for the asshole. “Get her out of here.”

 
; “No, Donovan let him go. Matt don’t leave him here alone with him he’ll get himself in trouble.”

  “Justin get her the fuck out of here.” She fought him like the she cat that she is but he was able to drag her away though I knew he would rather be in on this.

  “No one touch him, he’s all mine.”

  “Sorry brother, no deal.”

  “Sean, fuck.” I knew he’d been too quiet the last few weeks. He had the asshole in a chokehold and was choking him out before I stepped in.

  Why the fuck was I saving his ass? Because I didn’t want my friends going to prison, I’m a cop I’ll just claim the fuck resisted or some shit.

  “He’s not leaving here alive.”

  “Agreed, but it’s mine to do.”

  “You can’t kill me, you’re a cop.”

  I punched him in his mouth, busting his lip and breaking his teeth. “Think again asshole.”

  The four of us took turns stomping his ass because they wouldn’t leave me to it, until a whistle rent the air.

  “Okay boys that’s enough.”

  “What the fuck?” MIB had finally shown up, or more like they were finally making their presence known.

  Two of them came out of nowhere, badges drawn, dark shades and military cuts with wires hanging from their ears. Fucking spooks.

  I got one last kick in. Which made the taller of the two, grin. “Dorian Carter, you’re under arrest for murder, the commission of murder and oh yeah, treason against the United States of America.”

  “You’ve got it all wrong, they were trying to kill me, I…”

  “Save it.” Tall man pressed a button on some little doohickey he had in his hand and Carter’s voice came through loud and clear telling Shania about his little crime spree.

  “Where did you guys come from?” I think I saw more of them moving around in the trees.

  “We’ve been following him for months, he was good at covering his tracks, but not good enough. We didn’t know just what it was that he was up to, but by the time we figured it out, Riley was dead.”

  “Why the fuck didn’t you arrest him then instead of letting him come here and do this shit?”

  Now I was ready to punch him in the fucking face. She was probably going to be traumatized for the rest of her fucking life.

  “Calm down Chase, we couldn’t take him then because he wasn’t the one to pull the trigger and we didn’t know who or where the chip was.”

  “And today, did you see him take her?” Now Matt and Sean had their hands on me, ready to hold me back.

  “We weren’t sure what part she played in this, she was the one who did the story a while ago, and as you know, she was once engaged to our suspect.”

  “You…” now I was the one holding them back.

  “You don’t have to worry about him anymore. Where he’s going, I doubt he’ll ever see the light of day again.”

  Carter started struggling anew, but he was losing blood from the wound in his hand and he was weakening.

  “I would’ve loved to end the fuck but I guess this is just as good.” I leaned over in his face as they cuffed him.

  “You got off easy asshole, but then again, while you’re rotting in whatever hellhole they throw you in, think about this. She’s going to be extremely fucking happy with me.

  After today, I’ll see to it that you’re nothing but a dark blot on the tapestry of her life. One that I mean to erase completely.”

  He pulled against his restraints and tried to get at me, swearing and threatening me the whole time.

  What an ass. I guess he was only just realizing what he’d lost.

  “If you guys need anything from me it’s gonna have to wait. I have to go see about my woman.”

  Epilogue

  Ten minutes-that’s all I need-ten minutes. Everyday is the same thing. I don’t know why I thought today would be any different.

  I closed the door behind me and snuck over to the crib. My little angel was three weeks old, and each time I looked at her, it was like reliving that moment when she fell into my arms from her mother’s womb.

  It was the most fulfilling moment of my life. My heart was crazy for this little replica of my wife. She was pure Shania from head to toe, and there were moments when I wondered how my poor heart was going to hold all the love I had for the two of them, it was so full.

  I knew her routine so I knew that she would be getting up from one of her many naps any minute now.

  Which meant that one of her grandparents will soon be here to grab her, and it’ll be late night before I see her again.

  I wiped my hands off on my pants to make sure there was no excess water from my earlier hand washing, and then lifted her tiny sleeping form.

  Fuck there’s no other feeling like it in the world, except maybe when her mom cuddles into me at night.

  “Hey daddy’s little princess.” I held her close to my heart as I walked through the connecting door from the nursery to the master bedroom.

  Kicking off my shoes, I climbed on the bed and whispered to her until her little eyes opened and she looked up at me.

  “There she is, hey there pretty girl.” She did that cute little stretch and curl that babies do before settling into my arms.

  Her little fist found her mouth and she started to fret. Damn, it’s the one thing I can’t do for her. It always foils me, because her mother is as much of a baby hog as her grandparents, and I know once I give her up, that would be it.

  I kissed her little face and talked to her the way I always do, like she understood me. She stopped fussing and just stared at her dad like she was really concentrating on what I was saying.

  “Guess what daddy did today? Daddy helped put a very bad man away for the rest of his life.” I’d spent the day giving a deposition in the case against Carter.

  Since the government wanted to keep this shit as hushed up as possible, they were doing things a little different.

  With all the evidence, there was really no need for a trial. Add the fact that he was being treated as a homegrown terrorist because of his crimes and he was pretty much sewn up tight.

  I was just glad that my wife wouldn’t have to face that ass in court. I’d thought that after her ordeal that day that she would be withdrawn, scared, but she just brushed it off and went back to wedding planning.

  She said she was too happy to let him take anything else from her, so we went on with life. I still watched her to be sure there were no residual feelings, but she seemed to really be over it.

  I’d gotten my way in the end and our wedding was held in our backyard three weeks later, to the chagrin of our mothers.

  In the end it was a good deal, because it wasn’t long after that that she missed her period.

  I was a complete mess the whole pregnancy. I hated letting her out of my sight even to go to work, and when her tummy got too big for her to see her own feet, I was a wreck.

  That’s the only reason I wasn’t kicking our families out of my house, because I’d called on them so much for back-up during her pregnancy, that it would seem ungrateful to send them packing now.

  I actually got to spend a few minutes with my girl before she really started fretting for her mom’s tit.

  I changed her right there on the bed, because the changing table scares the shit out of me.

  I always feel like I’m going to reach for the powder or something and she’s gonna roll right off.

  Downstairs it was like they had radar. As soon as I hit the landing they came out of the woodwork. “She’s hungry.”

  “You woke her again didn’t you?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She held up the monitor, one of the many I insisted we have around the house, no matter how everyone laughed at me.

  “Damn, I forgot about those.” That means she heard me mention the case. I studied her face to be sure she was okay, but she had eyes only for our baby.

  She headed back up to feed the baby and I hung with our parents fo
r a bit. Her uncles weren’t here today but I’m sure one or more of them had been in and out at some point today.

  One thing was for sure my poor kid was going to have a hell of a time growing up. Shania had already threatened them with bodily harm if they tried treating our daughter the way they had her while she was growing up.

  She wasn’t going to get any help from this corner, I agreed with them wholeheartedly. In fact, we’ve already been working on our game plan.

  Justin the ass was the worst though. He actually made a graph of all the male children born up to ten years before her; I kid you not.

  At the top of this chart of his were the words, ‘Little fucks we have to keep our eyes on.’ We each had a copy.

  It was pretty well understood that this was something we were each gonna have to do for the other when they got married and had daughters of their own; kind of a Chase-Spalding family tradition.

  After the others were gone and it was just the three of us, I sat on the couch with the two of them wrapped in my arms, while I watched my two girls nod off.

  “Come on baby, it’s time for bed.” She cringed when I took the baby from her arms.

  “What’s the matter, what hurts?”

  “Callie didn’t take enough milk and I’ve already expressed enough for tomorrow.”

  “I’m on it, just let me put the little princess down and I’ll take care of you.” This was one of my favorite things about her new plumper body.

  Her breasts are monuments of magnificent beauty; in which I find hours of pleasure.

  We put the baby down together and stood looking down at her to make sure she was really down, before leaving for our room.

  With the greatest of care, I removed her clothes before taking her down to the bed. I’m always extra careful with her now, never forgetting what she’d just been through to bring my child into the world.

  “Which one hurts more love?” She pointed to her left nipple, which was already leaking.

  I propped her up on the pillows for comfort and then leaned over and started to drain her aching breast.

  I always get hot as fuck when we do this, but I know I can’t have her for at least another month, so I concentrate only on taking care of her.