BELONGING: Hope, Truth And Malice (Beauty 0f Life Book 3)

by Laura Acton

  “What’s the situation?” Nick asked.

  “Charlie Team is on scene in Rouge Park, responded to a shots fired call. Sergeant Harmon is reporting a gang war in progress. More than two dozen active shooters dispersing in multiple directions,” Tia explained.

  “Alpha Team en route. Call in any available members of Bravo and Delta. With so many active shooters and the size the park we’ll need all available officers,” Nick commanded as Alpha Team raced to the vehicles.

  Outside Bennie’s Gas Station – Near NRB Vehicle

  Unknown to the team, NRB Agent Richard Donner glared furiously at the back of Dan Broderick and silently fumed. “I’ll bring that cocky son of a bitch down a notch or two. He doesn’t deserve to wear a TRF uniform. He’s nothing, but a killer,” he muttered under his breath.

  Kendall Stevens was standing nearby and heard Donner say something but couldn’t make out the muted words. She walked over and said, “Some day they’ve had, huh? And it sounds like it might get worse with multiple active shooters. They’ve got a hard job. I don’t know how they do it—but I’m glad we have good constables like them to keep us all safe.”

  Richard looked at Kendall. He didn’t like her much. He tamped down on his hatred of Broderick, hiding it from view. “We have a hard job, too. We have to keep the police accountable. I’m afraid some of the TRF officers think that their badge is a license to kill.”

  Eyeing Richard carefully, Kendall asked, “Why do you think that?”

  Donner turned towards the car, opened the door, and sat down. “Cause some of them seem to kill a lot of people.”

  “Who?” Kendall asked not believing the words coming out of Donner’s mouth. He was making statements that got her hackles in an uproar.

  “Broderick, for one. He’s been with TRF only a year and he’s had more kills than any other constable. He likes to tell all the gory details when I interview him. Goes on and on—says he needs to paint the picture. He enjoys the kill so much, it’s sickening. I swear, if he weren’t a cop, he’d be a mass murderer.” Donner pulled the door closed, effectively ending the conversation.

  Kendall stared as Donner drove off. She’d felt something that made her shiver. There was such malice in his words about Broderick. She wondered why Donner disliked Broderick.

  Was there something to Donner’s words? Was Broderick a bad seed? Realizing that the team would be busy with the gang war for quite some time, Kendall decided she’d head into the NRB office and do a little investigation into the interviews of Constable Broderick. She hadn’t gotten the impression that he was a bad seed—but her colleague certainly didn’t care for him.

  Afghanistan – General’s Office – 11:30 p.m. (3:00 p.m. Toronto)

  General Broderick paced his office. The hour was late, but he was waiting for word from Mike. He wanted to know if they had apprehended Pletcher. This had gone on too long—the man had been on the loose for over three damned months.

  William wanted him captured and brought to justice for hurting his daughter and for selling secrets. He wanted Pletcher to never see another day outside walls of a prison. Well … if he was honest, part of him wanted Pletcher dead for hurting Becca … but he would settle for prison.

  He had tried to call Daniel to warn him that Pletcher could be in the area, but every call went straight to voicemail. His gut was churning and he thought that perhaps he should’ve asked Erik to call Daniel and warn him. His gut was raging so much that he had called Walter to give him a heads-up, but Walter hadn’t answered his call. He knew his friend wouldn’t ignore him lightly and assumed Walter was occupied with work, but that was hours ago.

  William knew he couldn’t leave a message on the voicemail for Walter—it was too sensitive for an unsecured line. So he decided that he should try calling again. He pulled out his phone and was about to call when his phone rang. He hoped it was Walter, but it was actually Galloway. He answered, “Broderick.”

  Mike wasn’t looking forward to this call. “Sir, we confirmed Pletcher landed in Vancouver. But he was lost shortly after he arrived at the airport. I suggest that the best course of action is to relocate Hestia and Phoebe.”

  William couldn’t help the small smile that came to his face. Mike had given Yvonne the code name of Hestia, the Goddess of hearth and home. Becca’s code name fit her too, Phoebe the moon Goddess, was described as bright and golden crowned.

  But the seriousness of the situation reasserted itself and his smile faded. “Agreed. You say that Pletcher was actually in Vancouver?”

  “Yes, Sir. We have him on video exiting the plane, but then he just disappeared. It was like someone tipped him off that we were zeroing in on him,” Mike explained.

  William didn’t like this one damned bit. “We have a problem if Pletcher got wind that they were in Vancouver and if someone tipped him off. I want your full unit in charge of Hestia and Phoebe. No communication to anyone except your unit, Sutton, and myself. Take them to the unknown.”

  Mike nodded. He was aware of where the General wanted him to take Mrs. Broderick and Becca. The unknown was the Guardian’s safe house near Yellowknife. It was a closely guarded secret, its location was unknown to all but the General, Colonel Sutton, and himself. Mike stated, “Sir, what about Phoenix?

  William thought about Daniel for a moment. If Pletcher was in Vancouver, Daniel was safe enough right now. He responded, “The threat is undefined to Phoenix. He’s capable of watching his back for the moment with Pletcher in Vancouver. I’m not sure who else I can trust right now.”

  Mike knew it wouldn’t be a popular suggestion, but he said it anyways. “Sir, there’s always Blain’s unit. They’re in Ottawa training.”

  The General’s gut twisted when he thought about how Blain, Simons, and Shea had turned their backs on Daniel. But he answered, “I’ll keep that in mind if the situation warrants it. For now, focus on keeping Hestia and Phoebe safe. I’ll talk to Sutton about putting Sergeant Walker’s unit onto Pletcher’s trail.”

  “Hammer’s unit can be trusted, Sir. Good men all of them. If we have a leak, its elsewhere,” Mike stated with confidence.

  “Contact me only if there are issues with Hestia’s health. Otherwise it will be safer to maintain blackout protocol,” William stated as his heart broke. He wanted his wife and daughter safe and if that meant he couldn’t speak to Yvonne, then that’s what it would be. Their lives were the priority.

  “Wilco,” Mike responded then hung up. He headed into the other room to break the news to Mrs. Broderick that he was moving her and her daughter to another safe house. His mind started working out details on how to get them out of Vancouver unseen.

  An old memory surfaced and he grinned as he thought, fish bait. Getting Dan out of Makhachkala in the fish bait box had worked, but that wouldn’t work here. Ah, but his other idea at that time would. He chuckled as he thought of seeing wild, party girl Becca dressed in a nun’s habit. Miss Fashionista was not going to be very happy with him—but that didn’t matter so long as he kept them safe.

  Chapter Sixteen

  July 15

  En Route to Rouge Park – 3:00 p.m.

  “Tia, Alpha Team’s ETA is twenty-five minutes. What’s Echo Team’s ETA and were you able to recall anyone from Bravo or Delta teams? I’ll be switching to channel three in a moment to coordinate with Sergeants Winter and Harmon. The rest of Alpha Team will remain on channel one,” Nick said as he entered the SUV.

  “Sergeant Winter says Echo Team’s ETA is fifteen minutes. Was able to recall all of Bravo Team, except their rookie, Devon Hodges, he’s out sick. I got in contact with Aaron, Frank, and Kirk of Delta Team, but the rest of Sergeant Turpin’s team is out of town on vacation. ETA for everyone recalled is between ten and twenty minutes,” Tia replied.

  “Copy that, switching channels now,” Nick replied.

  As Dan reached the truck and swung open the passenger door to jump in, he was surprised to see a large brown bag on the seat. He grabbed it and swiftly got
in. On the outside of the bag written in bold black marker was Proper Care and Feeding of Dantastic.

  He gave Lexa a quizzical look. What the heck is this? He opened the bag. Inside he found a large sandwich, two energy drinks, half a dozen power bars, and three bottles of water. Also, two aspirin tablets with a note from Jon that said, Take these now, Broderick. that’s an order!

  Dan grinned. “Aw guys, thanks. When did you get this?” The gesture truly touched him. He was really hungry, so he quickly took a huge bite of the sandwich. His head, chest, and shoulder did still hurt—not that he would ever admit that to the team. So he complied with Jon’s order and downed the aspirin with a swig of the energy drink.

  “We had a chance to grab something to eat while you were getting checked out. We thought you might like something, especially since you think brushing your teeth is more important than eating breakfast,” Lexa said glibly.

  “Yeah, well … priorities. Just sayin,” Dan replied as he gave Lexa one of his WOW smiles then took another huge bite of the sandwich. He loved the little flash of fire that his smile brought to her eyes.

  He’d have to be careful, though. They were at work and he really didn’t know where this was going—or more accurately what this was now. When he woke up this morning next to her it had felt good … right. But he didn’t want to blow it because he had a sense that he really wanted it to go somewhere.

  Lexa tried not to react to that smile—it was hard not to, though. She blew out a small breath and focused on driving as she banished thoughts that his smile brought forward. However, a few minutes later Lexa couldn’t help but glance at Dan again as he ate. She noticed that he’d managed to inhale the sandwich, two powers bars, and down an entire energy drink. “Impressive!”

  “What?” he queried, opening a third power bar and another energy drink.

  “How do you eat that fast?” she asked.

  “Training.” Lexa looked at him confused, so Dan continued, “In the field, never knew when the next meal would be or how long I had to eat. So it was either go hungry or develop the habit to eat as much as I could as fast as I could when the opportunity presented itself.”

  “Wow, you’ve got skill. You could probably win an eating contest.” She smiled at him, but sadly thought, He’s had too much practice with that, as he downed the fourth power bar. She noted that Dan tucked the remaining two bars into his vest and opened a bottle of water.

  They were about ten minutes from the scene when Jon said, “Hey, Dano, I want you to join the tactical planning session. I think your Special Forces experience and your tactical assessment skills will be valuable in developing a plan in this environment.”

  “Copy that,” Dan responded. He was shocked, yet pleased that Jon had asked him. Things had gotten a lot better between them in the past few months, but to have Jon’s acknowledgment of his abilities like this felt really good.

  Today was turning out to be a major study in contradictions with wide emotional swings. Dan experienced the highs of his profound happiness, sense of belonging, and making a difference. He’d also felt the gut-wrenching lows of memories of Brody’s death, sharing his torture, the loss of Sara, and taking lives. This pendulum ride was screwing more than a little bit with his head.

  Dan knew he needed to put all that in a box and deal with it later because right now he had a job to do. A gang war in acres and acres of woodlands with over a dozen active shooters—this was going to be exhausting. So he closed his eyes, leaned his head back against the seat, concentrated on breathing slowly, and mentally prepared himself.

  Rouge Park – Command Post – 3:25 p.m.

  Alpha Team was the last to arrive on scene. Nick, Jon, and Dan headed directly to the where Commander Gambrill, the other Sergeants, and the Tactical Leads had converged and were already discussing the tactical plan. The remainder of the team geared up then quietly walked over to where the other teams had assembled.

  The gathered TRF constables were broken into small clusters and engaged in various conversations. Bram, Lexa, Ray, and Loki stopped just behind and slightly away from the three Delta Team members who were still in town and had responded to the all-hands page. Still lost in their own quiet mental clearing of the slate, they were slow to register the conversation taking place until they heard Dan’s name.

  “What the hell is Broderick doing with the TLs? He’s a rookie and has no business being there,” Aaron Plouffe, the sniper of Delta Team, said harshly.

  “Maybe the cocky, ex-special ops guy thinks he knows more than our experienced TLs,” Delta Team’s newest rookie, Kirk Henson, parroted things Aaron had shared previously about Broderick.

  “Don’t really know, but it’s none of our business. Dan’s a good officer and he’s been here a year, so he’s not really a rookie,” Frank Hudson stated firmly trying to shut down Aaron and warn Kirk to drop the subject.

  Frank didn’t like the way Aaron continued to bad-mouth Broderick. It was getting annoying and Frank didn’t want Aaron’s attitude tainting Kirk like it had tainted Cooper back in April. Luckily, Cooper had wised up quickly and changed his attitude. But Kirk had only been with Delta Team for two weeks and his chumminess with Aaron could become a problem.

  Kirk didn’t take Frank’s hint that Broderick wasn’t up for discussion. “If Broderick’s such a good officer, then why is his tactical lead always pissed off at him? I heard Hardy yelling at Broderick a few times my first week here. Maybe Hardy’s just keeping him on a short leash?”

  Aaron snorted. “Personally, I don’t think he’s a good officer. He really doesn’t belong in TRF. No more than he belonged in Special Forces. We don’t need his kind here. Broderick’s just a pretty boy, all show and no go. My uncle said that his daddy pulled strings to get him into Special Forces in the first place. According to my uncle, Broderick was constantly getting transferred to new units because no unit wanted to be saddled with a first-class screw-up”

  “To get into Special Forces you have to be pretty damned good. And Dan’s sexual orientation is none of our business,” Frank countered and shifted, uncomfortable with the topic of conversation.

  “Who’s his dad and how could he influence that?” Kirk asked as he reeled as he put together Aaron’s at Frank’s comments—‘his kind’ plus ‘sexual orientation’ equaled to Kirk ‘gay’. Was Dan gay?

  Frank shook his head. He needed Sarge to deal with this when he got back from vacation—set Kirk straight before Lexa dropkicked him like she’d done to Cooper for bad-mouthing Dan. Part of Frank wished that Lexa had also landed a kick on Aaron—it might’ve taught Aaron a lesson and shut him up.

  “His father’s General Badass Broderick, Commander of Special Forces. My uncle, who’s in Special Forces, told me that Broderick was kicked out of the Army under a cloud. All hush-hush and covered up—something about him fucking up big time and killing one of the guys in his unit. Word was that Broderick had a lover’s spat with his boyfriend and then blew him away with a .50 cal. Bet Daddy Broderick was pretty disappointed to have such a pansy and screw-up for a son,” Aaron said disparagingly.

  “Damn! That can’t be true. They wouldn’t let him join TRF if it were. Right?” Kirk asked as his eyes flicked over to Dan at the command post. He didn’t know what to believe about all of this, but … Dan was very good looking—just the type of guy he was attracted to.

  Kirk’s eyes flicked back to Aaron as he continued to criticize Dan. He’d have to watch himself carefully here. His teammate sounded homophobic and that could be bad for him. Kirk had thought TRF would be different than the guys in his previous division, more accepting—maybe not.

  Aaron sneered, “Word is that his daddy arranged the position for him with Commander Gambrill so the General could save face and say his son left the Army to join the elite police team. Don’t know how Alpha Team stomachs having someone like that forced on them. They had no say in it, just had to accept him. I don’t trust him. He even shot Ray Palomo, one of his teammates.” Aaron laughed, “L
exa dropped Broderick in the locker room for that—he’s such a pansy. Broderick was carted out unconscious by medics.”

  Alpha Team was pissed off to overhear Dan being bad-mouthed in this way. It wasn’t lost on them that they were hearing some things that they had once thought or said. But Dan was now one of them—a proven and valued member of their family and it angered them.

  They had to remind themselves they were all professionals and that now was neither the time nor the place to get into a pissing match to set Aaron straight. They had a job to do and they all needed to focus and work together. However, knowing that still didn’t make it easy to hear the slanderous remarks and they would definitely set it right at the proper time.

  Although, Lexa was seriously contemplating drop-kicking Aaron to teach him a lesson. It wasn’t like Aaron was new—he’d been with TRF the entire time Dan had. Aaron should be aware of the respect that the team now had for Dan. And Aaron damned-well should know Dan wasn’t just a pretty boy or a screw up—Dan was a damned fine officer and his record proved it.

  Having had enough of Aaron’s antagonistic and holier-than-thou attitude, Frank drily remarked, “And you would know all about nepotism wouldn’t you Aaron? Didn’t I see your great-uncle talking with Commander Gambrill when you tried out for TRF? A RCMP Superintendent, I think he is …”

  Aaron glared at Frank and bitterly retorted, “That’s not the same thing.”

  “Isn’t it?” Frank stated as he pinned his glare on Aaron.

  Kirk felt the tension between his teammates. He was unsure what to think now. Was Broderick a screw-up or did Aaron just hate Broderick because he was gay? He decided it was better to shut his mouth until he figured out what was what. If his teammate was homophobic, Kirk might just have to request a transfer. He was so tired of people judging him because of his sexual preference—just because he liked guys didn’t make him any less capable.

  Forcefully, Aaron stated, “No, it isn’t. My great-uncle didn’t have a damned thing to do with my entry into TRF. I earned my spot. I was selected. However, the cocky, worthless, pretty boy, Broderick just waltzed in—”