The Last Call (MMG Book 5)

by Hilliard, R. B.

  “I want kids, Sarah. You know I do, but first, I want time with you.” I had no idea where this was coming from, but something told me it was important. As I flipped onto my back, I thought about how to respond.

  “Okay, are we talking weeks, months, or years?” I asked.

  “I was thinking a year,” he quickly responded. Obviously he’d given this some thought. To be honest, I wasn’t ready to start a family right this moment either, but I’d do it if it was what Cas wanted. “There was no natural progression in my marriage with Alexandria. I married her because she was pregnant. I want to do this right with you. I want time for us before we have kids,” he explained.

  I ran my fingers over his scruff. “A year sounds good.”

  His brow shot up in surprise. “Are you sure, because if you’re not…”

  “No, seriously, a year is fine. If we get to that point and you decide you want to wait longer, we’ll talk about it then.” He gave me a relieved smile and kissed the tips of my fingers.

  “I fucking love you, Sarah Ashford,” he growled.

  Emma stirred in my arms and I drifted back to the present conversation. No way in hell was I going to listen to this group of mother hens badger me for the next year about babies, so I gave it to them straight. “Cas and I are waiting for at least a year before having kids.” I held my breath as I waited for one of them to blast me.

  “Good for you,” Isabella praised.

  “I think that’s a great idea. Had I known that antibiotics could nullify the effects of birth control, Max and I would have waited,” Ellie admitted.

  “Whatever,” Joss said, and then promptly changed the subject. “Guess whaaaat? she sang. “Kurt and Dillon are talking about buying a lake house.” Isabella clapped her hands, and sighed when the noise woke Leo.

  “I’ll get him. Does he need to eat?” Ellie asked.

  “Not for another forty minutes,” Isabella answered. Then she turned to Joss and said, “We have to find a house big enough to accommodate all of us for the weekend.”

  “I agree,” Joss said.

  “Have they named the bar, and when do we get to see it?” I asked.

  “They haven’t picked a name yet, and Kurt said no one can see it until opening night,” Joss answered.

  “I like the name Iron Butterfly,” Isabella said. The looks of horror on everyone’s faces when she said this was comical.

  “Um no,” Joss said. “I was thinking more of a combination of their names.”

  “Like Killon!” Piper exclaimed.

  “Or Durt!” Ellie chimed in.

  “Oooooh, what about Greenakers?” Isabella suggested. Not able to keep it in any longer, I started laughing. Pretty soon we were all laughing.

  God, I loved my friends.

  * * *

  Cas

  “J.D.’s on the phone! He says he’s got news for us. Will one of you call Max and Gage and either find a time to meet, or tell them we can conference them in!” Garrett shouted from his office.

  “On it!” I called out. Hopefully J.D. had good news. I was more than ready for this case to be over.

  Max and Gage strolled in about an hour later. You could practically taste the excitement in the air.

  “I really dislike that guy,” Max muttered, once we were all seated.

  “Oh, I don’t know, he’s kind of growing on me,” Gage responded with a smirk on his face. Max scowled at him and he laughed. I had to agree with Max. Marty Birch was a giant pain in the ass. He may be good at what he did, but I was far from convinced that he was the right fit for LASH.

  “Piper would’ve been more fun,” Bobby said.

  “Piper would have gotten us all killed,” Tut responded. I did not disagree with him. Piper Blackwell was a loose cannon if I’d ever seen one. She made Sally look tame.

  Gage let out a bark of laughter. “Now, now, that’s my woman you’re talking shit about.”

  “Enough from the peanut gallery, let’s see what J.D. has for us,” Garrett said. He punched in some numbers. Once the phone started ringing, he activated the speaker and placed it on the table.

  “J.D. Harness,” J.D. answered.

  “J.D., it’s Garrett. We’re all here, now. What do you have for us?”

  “Well, shit,” J.D. said with a long, drawn out sigh. My stomach instantly dropped. I could tell by his tone that whatever he was about to tell us was not going to be good. “I don’t know of an easy way to say this,” he continued. “After we hung up yesterday, I forwarded the photos to a contact who owed me a favor, and he pulled some strings for me. As it turns out, the Feds already had something in play concerning Neel Garrison. Let’s just say that the photos were very encouraging, so encouraging, in fact, that they decided to accelerate their timeline. They raided Garrison’s around two this morning.” We all stared at the phone in complete shock.

  “They got him?” Gage finally asked.

  “There was nothing to get,” J.D. responded.

  “What do you mean there was nothing to get?” Tut challenged. “There was an entire fucking bay full of stolen bikes.”

  “They didn’t find a damn thing. The place was completely cleaned out. According to my source, all that was in the back of the building were extra tools and stored parts, and the parts had legitimate serial numbers on them.”

  “Nothing?” Garrett asked.

  “Nothing,” J.D. confirmed.

  “Did they also raid the warehouse in South Carolina?” Adam asked.

  “They did not,” J.D. answered.

  “Damn,” Bobby hissed. The air in the room was so thick with disappointment I felt as if I could choke on it. What the fuck happened?

  “Look, guys, I know this is a huge let down. I’m as pissed as you are about it, but right now my ass is swinging in the wind. I’ve done about all I can do, so I’m pulling back.”

  “The pictures didn’t lie,” Tut growled.

  “It doesn’t matter. The pictures were obtained while trespassing and without the bikes, there is nothing to corroborate your story,” J.D. stated.

  “Fuck!” Gage shouted.

  “Garrison must have been tipped off,” Max said.

  “It looks like it,” J.D. agreed.

  After thanking J.D. for his time, Garrett disconnected the call. We were left in silent disbelief.

  “How in the fuck did he do it?” Gage asked. Before anyone could answer, Max’s phone rang.

  Max jerked it off the table and glared at the screen. “Motherfucker,” he hissed. All eyes shot to him, and he held up his hand to silence the room. “It’s Garrison,” he announced. Then he hit the speaker, and said, “I’ll give you this. You have balls.”

  “I’ll take that as praise,” Garrison chuckled. “I just wanted to call to wish you better luck next time.” It was obvious by his tone that he was enjoying the shit out of this.

  “How did you know?” Max asked.

  “I would love to discuss the particulars with you, but it would be rude of me to kiss and tell.”

  “It’s only a matter of time,” Max warned.

  “Yeah, well, as I said before, good luck with that.” Garrison let out a cackle of laughter before disconnecting the call.

  I could tell by Garrett’s clenched jaw that he was pissed. We all were pissed. This guy had managed to stay one step ahead of us and I had no fucking idea as to how. Who did he have in his back pocket? In order to get word of an FBI sting before it happened, it had to be someone on the inside.

  “Well, that’s that,” Gage said, patting the table in resignation.

  “Tut and Adam, I want eyes on the warehouse,” Garrett ordered. “Bobby, see what else you can dig up on Garrison’s wife and her brother.” He stabbed his finger at Max and Gage. “This is not over until I say it’s over.”

  Max grinned over at Gage and Gage returned it with one of his own. “Well alright then,” Max replied.

  * * *

  Two days later…

  “What the fuck happene
d?” I heard Garrett shout all the way from his office. From the sound of it, he was beyond pissed. “Tell me you got the camera placed. No? What do you mean no?” I stepped into his office and he activated the speaker so I could hear.

  “When we drove up, the place was dead. I’m talking zero activity. We decided to have a look inside, and that’s when one of Garrison’s guys got the jump on us,” Adam explained.

  “Did I say to look inside? No, I didn’t. I said to get fucking eyes on the place. What the hell were you thinking?” Garrett shouted. “Not only have you compromised the team, you’ve tipped our hand. Get your asses back here right fucking now! I’m letting you two clowns explain to Max and Gage why this is over. Fuck!” he shouted, and ended the call.

  We collectively decided to push the pause button on the Neel Garrison case in an all hand’s meeting later that afternoon. I had every confidence that we would eventually take him down, but in light of recent events, I agreed with Garrett. It was time to take a step back and reevaluate.

  * * *

  One week later…

  “Right there…a little harder…oooh, baby, that feels so damn good. To the left a little…yes, right there.”

  “I was thinking,” Sarah said as she continued to scratch my back, “how do you feel about us getting a dog? Or even a cat, but I’m more partial to a dog.”

  Just to tweak her, I said, “I prefer reptiles or arachnids.”

  She paused in her ministrations long enough to say, “I don’t do spiders, Cas…as in ever.” I nudged her with my shoulder and she resumed scratching.

  “What about reptiles?” I asked.

  “Snakes no, lizards maybe,” she answered. Little did she know, but I hated both arachnids and reptiles.

  “Or we could just get a puppy,” I shrugged.

  She let out an exasperated huff, and I smiled. “Are you messing with me, Cas Ashford?”

  “Now, why would I do that?” I teased, and laughed when she pounced on my back. As I flipped her over my shoulder, I followed her down and kissed the hell out of her. Her squeal of surprise was swallowed by a hum of arousal, and my cock danced a happy jig. I heard my phone buzz from the top of the dresser just as things were about to get more interesting.

  “Don’t answer it,” Sarah said between kisses. A minute later, it rang again. “Okay, get it, but make it quick,” she warned.

  I shot across the room, snagged my phone, and saw that it was Garrett calling. “Make it quick,” I answered.

  “Get to Presbyterian Hospital now. Max and Gage have both been shot. I’m warning you, it doesn’t look good.” Before I could get more information, he hung up.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Max

  ‡

  If I’d learned anything from the incident with Dooley Shane, it was to steer clear of certain types of people and to know when to cut my losses and walk away. When Garrett called the meeting to explain how LASH had been compromised, that Neel was onto us, and he was shutting down the case, I should have been angry. Neel Garrison was a worthless scab. He was that guy who’d probably been bullied as a kid, and as a result, had grown into a vengeful shit-head. I wanted him taken down, but not at the expense of my family or my friends. I’d already been there once, and it had almost cost me everything. So when Garrett said we were done, I was cool with it. I had enough to deal with. Plus, if Bobby’s calculations were correct, Neel had most likely taken a big ass hit when the FBI raided his shop. As long as he was on their radar, he’d be stupid to resume his illegal activities. Hopefully the fucker was bleeding money.

  “Are you ready to go?” Ellison asked. No, I wasn’t ready to go. In fact, this was the last thing I wanted to do today, but this wasn’t about me. This was about my brother, and for him, I would do just about anything.

  After Cole had given the go ahead, we hired a cleaning company and a realtor to help us sell his childhood home. After only a week on the market, we got a decent offer. Before we could close on the sale, we had to clean it out. Today we were sorting the house, which would most likely stir up a lot of my little brother’s memories. I was not looking forward to it.

  “I’m ready. Where’s Cole?”

  “He’s already in the car. Now, Max, you need to be sensitive today. He wants you to think he’s strong, but he needs closure,” Ellison lectured.

  After telling the babysitter good-bye, I walked Ellison to the car. Before opening her door, I promised to be good and gave her a smack on the lips. As we pulled out of the driveway, I noticed Cole huddled in the backseat. The poor kid looked fucking miserable.

  “You sure you want to do this? If not, I can hire someone to do it for you,” I offered.

  “I’m good,” he said. With a nod of my head, I steered us in the direction of his house. Whether I liked it or not, this was happening.

  I was surprised by how long it took to weed through thirteen hundred square feet of personal shit. Cole managed to stay strong until he came across a box under his mother’s bed. In it was a stack of pictures of his mom and my dad with Cole as a baby. The perfect fucking family. Cole completely lost it and I wanted to tell him what a shit our dad really was. I wanted to rage, but what good would it do? Cole was an innocent victim in all of this. To tell him the truth would strip him of his innocence. I may be a dick, but I wasn’t cruel.

  We finished up around dinnertime. After loading the boxes of things that Cole wanted to keep in the bed of the truck, we picked up burgers and headed home. I was restless after dinner. Mac was asleep and Cole was in his room playing video games. Ellison could tell I was hanging on by a thread and suggested I get out of the house for a while. I decided to take her up on her offer and called Gage. Since Piper’s car was being serviced at MMG and she’d taken Gage’s truck to Dragonfly for her shift, I offered to pick him up at his house.

  Gage asked if we could stop by MMG on the way to Dragonfly. Earlier in the day he’d received a text from a prospective client. In order to get the jump on Garrison, he wanted to fax the guy a contract. While Gage was busy with the fax machine, I raided our liquor cabinet. Surprisingly, we had a shit load of liquor left over from the party. That’s when I remembered the cigars in my office.

  When Gage saw the cigars and liquor, his face broke into a smile of appreciation, and the decision to stay was made.

  While I poured the drinks and clipped the cigars, Gage talked about Piper’s decision to toss out her birth control, and how he was afraid it was a knee jerk reaction. I kind of agreed with him, but knew better than to tell him this. The last thing I needed was to have Piper up my ass.

  I told Gage about my hellish afternoon. This led to a discussion about LASH’s decision to drop Garrison’s case.

  “You know what? Let Garrison try and take us down. After what I went through with Dooley, he’s minor league,” Gage said.

  I took a drag of my cigar and contemplated his words. “Are you worried about him telling what he knows…about Dooley and shit?”

  “Fuck him. For all we know he was bluffing. Did you know the fucker made a pass at Piper?”

  “No shit. When?”

  “The night we had dinner at their house.”

  “And she didn’t tell you? I would spank Ellison’s ass for that shit.”

  “After what happened with Dooley, you’d think she would have learned. Fuck, my wife is hard headed. She told me about it last week right after I told her LASH was taking a step back from the case. She said he hasn’t had any contact with her since that night, which is a damn good thing. Otherwise, I’d have to kill him.”

  “No shit. Well, I, for one, am ready to move the fuck on.” I held up my glass, and said, “To better times.”

  “To better times,” Gage replied, and we tapped glasses.

  We had one more drink and finished our cigars before calling it a night. Gage was going home to crash and I was going home to my wife to apologize for being a complete stress case this afternoon, and to thank her for being so understanding. Maybe I would
stop by the grocery store after I dropped Gage off and buy her chocolates and flowers. I needed to start doing more shit like that for her.

  Halfway to my truck, Gage let out a grunt of pain. At first I thought he’d twisted his ankle, but then I saw blood on his arm.

  “What the fu–” I started to ask, when I was almost knocked off my feet. The pain was so excruciating, I nearly lost my breath.

  “Fuck!” I heard Gage yell, but all I could focus on was the pain. I couldn’t even tell where it was coming from. My entire body burned with it.

  The next thing I knew, I was on the ground and Gage was leaning over me. I could see the panic on his face and kept trying to assure him I was okay. In truth, I was pretty sure I wasn’t anywhere near okay.

  I must have blacked out, because when I came to, Gage was kneeling next to me. He had his hand on me, but couldn’t feel it. The pain dulled to a mild burning sensation as the cold crept in. I was so fucking cold. Gage was screaming into his phone, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. His hand holding the phone was covered in blood. I was pretty sure it was mine. I tried to tell him to call Ellison, but I couldn’t get my mouth to work. My last thought before the world went dark was of my wife.

  * * *

  One month later…

  “That’s better, Mr. McLellan. Just two more and you’re done.” Kathy, the fucking ball buster disguised in a nurse’s uniform, was going to be the death of me. With tightly clenched teeth, I did two more leg lifts. Fuck, this was hard.

  It had been a month since Gage and I had been shot in the parking lot of MMG, one long, gruelingly hellish month. Gage had been shot in the bicep. Thankfully, the bullet went through the muscle and out the other side. Even though it was a clean shot, it had done its fair share of damage, and he was still sporting a sling. I wasn’t as lucky. I was shot twice, once on my left leg near the groin, and once on my chest between my left pec and upper ribs. The bullet hit one of my ribs as it passed through, but at least it passed through. The groin shot struck deep and nicked an artery. If Gage hadn’t known to put pressure on it, I would have gone toes up.