It made her uneasy. Were they coming after her, too? Why?
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m fine. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, considering the last scrap I was in.”
“You’re talking about AV.”
“Yep.”
Damn. I hate being reminded of him. She squeezed the wheel until her knuckles turned white. Damn evil people. Don’t swear about it. They aren’t worth it. Morning Glory! I hate evil people! That doesn’t exactly work, either. “You’ll be fine on your own, I assume?”
He shrugged. “I think Fat Sam and Guppy have a Christmas tree.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I just haven’t been out for Christmas in a while. And I know a few places that make a decent home-cooked-like meal. There’s this one place called Humphreys. It’s all pine walls, stone fireplaces, and baskets of buttered hot rolls.”
“It sounds wonderful.”
“It would be if I was with my family.” He tapped on the dash. “But it’s better alone there than in the hole in prison. You know, I never thought about it, but it’s always possible this could be my last Christmas. After all, you never know what this new mark, uh, what’s her name, Black Bird? No telling what might be in store for us, considering what we ran into the last time.”
What he said made her mad. Not because of him but because her heart ached a little. It made her think of the first time she had missed Christmas with her family. It had been her first military mission, and she had thought she would never make it home ever again. “Fine,” Sidney said in almost a growl, “you can come with me.”
“I appreciate it,” he said, nodding. “So, I take it Sally’s a good cook?”
“Yes, very good.” Sidney floated the car down the next exit and re-entered the interstate, heading north. Her mom would have a hundred questions for Smoke. And even more for her. “My mom’s pretty nosy, so keep it professional.”
“I will,” he said. “So, can you tell me a little more about what she said on the phone about Drake?”
“Edwin Lee. That was the man’s name.”
Smoke produced a phone from his pocket and started to text.
“What are you doing?” Sidney said.
“Checking in with Fat Sam and Guppy. They worry about me.”
“That’s a load of crap,” she said. “You don’t share confidential information.”
“That’s not confidential. It wasn’t in the file, was it?”
“No, but I have another file, my trust file, and you just broke it. I’ll check into this with my own sources. ”
“Aw … I’m sorry. But you can’t trust your sources. That’s how they track what we do.”
“Tough. No more sharing our information.” She held her hand out. “Now give me the phone.”
“What?” he pulled it away. “No, it was hard to get this burned.”
“Hand it over.”
“No.”
“You just lost my trust,” she said. “Do you want to earn it back?”
“Maybe.”
She made his window go down. The icy air battered the cabin.
“What are you doing?” Smoke said. He tried to roll up the window, but she had it locked.
“Chuck it.”
“Why?”
“I told you why. Now chuck it.”
“You’re being a bit extreme, aren’t you?”
“I have trust issues.” She glowered at him.
Smoke sighed and tossed it out the window.
Good boy! “Excellent,” she said, rolling up his window. “If I want you to have a phone, I’ll get you one. Do you understand?”
“No, no I don’t understand, but I’ll live with it, your worshipfulness.” He glanced at the semi-truck passing by. Its wheels were kicking up slush and salt from the road, coating the windshield. “Say, that truck … can you see the logo on it?”
Sidney turned up the wipers. “No. Why?” The semi-truck, passing on the left, swerved into her lane. She pumped the brakes and rode onto the berm.
The truck kept coming, sideswiping the Interceptor. Wham! Metal groaned and popped.
Sidney slammed on the brakes. The car’s front end caught up underneath the trailer, and the semi-truck wheels ran over the hood, crushing it. The car did a three-sixty, spun across the road, and careened into a ditch. The air bags deployed with loud pops, busting her in the nose. Stunned and bleeding, she heard Smoke saying, “Are you okay? Are you okay?”
CHAPTER 9
The engine caught fire, and the interior started to fill with grey smoke. Sidney’s fingers fumbled over her seatbelt as the heat rose. It wouldn’t unbuckle.
“Hang on,” Smoke said.
She started coughing. Smoke sawed at her belt with a knife. “Get the folder. The folder’s in my bag!” she said. The belt came loose, and Smoke dragged her out through the passenger door.
Whoosh!
The entire car went up in flames.
“The folder,” she said, coughing. “Put me down. We need that file folder. It’s in my bag.” She rushed back toward the car.
Smoke caught her by the arm. “Let it go,” he said. “It’s over. We’re lucky to be alive after that hit.”
Sidney watched the Interceptor go up in flames. Bright orange flames and black smoke rolled out from under the hood and through the windows. She had thought about torching it herself on more than one occasion. It was a good way for a bad car to go. Still, it shouldn’t have caught fire and burned like that.
“Here,” Smoke said, handing her cell phone to her. “I saved this.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking it and sliding it into her pocket. “Say, what were you saying before that truck ran into us?”
“I was saying that the truck, the black semi, was marked Drake Transportation Industries.”
***
After the first fire engine arrived, it took four more hours to clear the scene. Covered in a blanket, Sidney was cold, stiff, and sore. She rubbed her head. Speaking to the officer on scene, she finished off the last of her statement. “Mind if I take a look at what’s left of my car?” The tow driver was loading it up on the trailer. “Sentimental, you know.”
“I don’t think there’s much left to see,” he said, taking the report. “And you probably should go to a hospital.”
“I’m okay.” She limped toward the tow truck, grimacing. A fireman in a yellow coat and hard hat was standing there. “You see many cars after a wreck go up in flames like that?”
“It happens all the time in the movies but not so much in DC—or on a Crown Vic. Those are pretty safe cars. That’s why cops used them. A decade ago.” He tipped his hat at her. “But I’ve seen stranger things happen.”
“Thanks,” she said. She turned to the tow truck driver. He was a burly roughneck in dirty overalls. “What about you? Have you seen many cars go up in flames?”
He spat juice on the sludgy ground. “It happens. But it’s odd how some of the metal just melted. Like there was an accelerant or something. I’ve seen paints and coating that burn like hot welds.” He spat again. “That was back in my military days.” He winked at her. “Hush hush. You didn’t hear it from me.” He hopped into his cab, hung his waving arm out the window, and said, “So long.”
The tow truck pulled away, revealing Smoke standing on the other side. He had his duffle bag strapped over his shoulder. Patting it and saying, “Fireproof,” he walked up and handed her what was left of her satchel. “Not fireproof. I peeled what I could off the carpet.”
The satchel was charred leather, but a few pages from the file folder remained intact. She rubbed her head. “Are they trying to kill us or scare us?”
“I don’t think it makes much of a difference to them.”
Angry, she set her jaw. “Well, it makes a difference to me.”
The police officer from a moment earlier was waving them over to his sedan. He said, “Do you two want a lift or not? I’ve got things
to do.”
Sidney sulked in the back seat. At her side, Smoke was oddly quiet and staring out the window. She’d given the policeman directions to the storage yard that housed her Dodge Hellcat. On Smoke’s advice, she’d sent a text to Ted stating that the accident was only a fender bender and she had other means of transportation. Screw ‘em, she thought. They aren’t completely honest with me, so I won’t be completely honest with them.
It was 7:32 pm when the officer dropped them off. “Are you sure you don’t need anything else?”
“We’re fine,” she said. “Thanks, Officer Parrish.”
“No problem, ma’am.”
Within the next five minutes she had the Hellcat pulled out and was speeding down the highway. She passed the spot where they crashed. Better their car than mine. RIP Interceptor.
Sidney fumed inwardly in silence the entire ride home. Someone was coming after her, her family, and her friends. It was personal now, and all she could think of was Congressman Wilhelm’s last words. “Watch your step.” Perhaps I need to pay him a visit.
“We’ll take it to them, Agent Shaw,” Smoke said, resting his head against the glass and closing his eyes. “You can count on it.”
She eased the car off the highway and onto a gravel road dusted in snow. It winded two miles deep through the woods until they passed by two stone pylons. The gravel road jostled Smoke from his snoring.
He sat up. “Are you a farm girl or something?”
“I think you probably already know the answer to that is no.”
Ahead, some red and white lights were flashing. She wheeled around the curve and came to a stop on the edge of the gravel driveway to her parents’ home. An ambulance was parked in front of the garage.
“Good Lord,” Sidney said, rushing out of the car. “What now?”
CHAPTER 10
Sidney rushed into the house. Her first fear was that her sister had overdosed. Instead, she found her father sprawled out on his recliner, surrounded by two paramedics.
“Will you get away from me!” Keith wore a brick-colored flannel shirt under a pair of jean overalls. The sleeves were rolled up. His grey hair was a frizzled mess. “Sally, why did you do this? I’m fine, I tell you. I’m fine.”
Sally stood nearby wringing her hands. Her frosty blonde hair was up in a bun, and she wore a plum-colored apron. “You hush, Keith. I’m not having you die on me.”
“I’m not dying,” he growled back, rolling his eyes. “It’s heartburn, I tell you.”
“You’re all clammy,” Sally argued.
“You need to clam up. I told you I was fine.” Keith rolled his thick neck around and saw Sidney. “Sid!” His face brightened. “Will you arrest these men?”
“Sidney!” Sally exclaimed, rushing over and grasping her arm. “Talk some sense into him.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“He collapsed on the sofa.”
“I did not,” Keith said. “I just tripped because I felt a little dizzy, and your mother went into a panic.” He glared at one of the blue-clad paramedics. “Let me go.”
“His blood pressure is high,” one of the paramedics said. She was a no-nonsense burly woman. “But the heartbeat is strong. We need to take him in and run some tests on him. Be on the safe side.”
“Of course my blood pressure is high. It’s the holidays, isn’t it. And you, ball breaker, aren’t making life any easier. Now get in your death wagon and get out of here.”
“Keith!” Sally said. “You settle down right now! And apologize to that young lady. They’re trying to help you.”
“No, they’re trying to take my money.” He pulled his arm away from the man who was taking his pulse. “Well, guess what? I don’t have any money. No insurance, either.”
Sidney walked over to the paramedics. “Give me a minute.”
“And you are?” the woman paramedic said, eyeing her.
“A lot more difficult than him if you care to find out.”
“We’re just doing our job,” the woman said, stepping aside.
Sidney kneeled alongside her father and clasped his calloused hand. It was warm but not clammy. “What’s going on, Dad?”
“Nothing,” he said.
Keith was a retired deputy sheriff with over thirty years on the force. Hard as nails. He once cut the tip of his finger off and tried to stitch it back on himself. Now he had a missing finger to show for it, down to the second knuckle.
“How do you feel?” she said, rubbing his palm. “Really?”
Keith looked away. “Crowded.”
He looked tired, too. His grey eyes sagged a little, and deeper creases were in his face. Decades on the force had caught up with him and perhaps something else too. Allison. Sidney’s stomach sank. Allison was wearing them down.
“Dad, do you really think you’re all right?”
He nodded her over and whispered in her ear. “Don’t tell your mother, but I think I forgot my medicine.” He choked. “Don’t let them take me to that hospital, Sid. I won’t go. Mortimer died the last time he went. I won’t go, I tell ya. I won’t.”
Mortimer was his younger brother, her uncle, who had died the year before from the flu. They’d taken him in for fluids, and he’d never come back out again. It had sapped a good bit of her father’s hardened resolve. Her iron-clad father had become mortal.
“All right. Just sit tight.”
She led the paramedics outside. “Did you pick up anything serious?”
“No,” the woman said, “but you never know.”
“He says he didn’t take his medicine.”
“That’ll do, but I still advise caution,” the lady said. “But I see your mind’s made up, and I’m pretty sure his is too. We’ll get on out of here.”
Sidney handed her a business card. “Thanks. And if you can, send this bill to me.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Back inside, Sidney’s mother was sitting on the couch talking with Smoke.
So much for introductions.
“Sidney, you didn’t tell me you had a handsome new partner?” She patted Smoke’s leg. “And he’s a nice one. Tall, dark—”
“Mom, I think I smell something burning in the kitchen.”
Sally jumped up. “What?” Her bright eyes widened. “My pies!” She shot a look at her husband and rushed into the kitchen. “You burned my pies.”
“I didn’t burn them.” Keith let out a breath and watched the ambulance back out of the driveway. “Ah, I feel better already. Say chief,” he said to Smoke, “toss me that remote. And Sid, think you can grab my pill case from the medicine cabinet?”
She started down the hall. Megan, dressed in pink and purple pajamas, wrapped her arms around Sid’s legs.
“Aunt Sidney! I didn’t think you were coming until tomorrow.” She sniffed and looked up at her. “Why do you smell smoky? Is that blood on your nose?”
Sidney hoisted the little girl up on her hip. “You know, you’re going to make a great detective some day.”
“I want to be an FBI agent like you so I can waste the bad guys.”
“Oh, and where did you hear I did that?”
“Grandpa,” she said cheerfully.
“Well,” said Sid, carrying Megan into her parents’ bathroom with her. “I’m certain that you’re going to grow up to be whatever you want to be.” Inside the medicine cabinet she found a plastic pillbox with each day of the week. Half of the cabinet was filled with prescriptions. Do I have this to look forward to? Insane. She handed the pill case to Megan. “Take this to Grandpa, and don’t let Grandma see. Okay?”
Megan nodded yes. “You can count on me.” She saluted and disappeared into the bedroom.
Wish I could say the same about your mother. She rummaged through the cabinet. There were pain pills, muscle relaxers, high blood pressure pills, cholesterol regulators, and anti-depressants. Geez! She checked some of the dates. They were recent. Allison! She snapped the mirrored cabinet shut and began washin
g her face off. She scrubbed her hands with vigor.
Allison! Allison! Allison!
Her younger sister had begun the art of parental manipulation at an early age. Her being the youngest, her parents let her get away with it. Allison was every bit as charming as she was conniving. She used her beauty shamelessly to get whatever she wanted. Most mortal men found it impossible to tell her no. Hussy. Where is she anyway? Sid had just finished drying her face off when she heard her sister’s concocted laughter coming from the living room. Sidney threw the hand towel down on the sink and headed out there.
Smoke sat in the middle of the couch smiling. Megan was on one side. Allison was on the other. Long legs crossed and brushing against his, wearing only a flimsy pink top and white cotton yoga pants, she left little to the imagination. She tossed her hair and laughed some more. “You are so funny,” she said, twirling her finger in her hair. “Much more than the last one. What was his name?”
Shut up, you hussy!
CHAPTER 11
“Cyrus,” Sidney’s father answered.
“Frosty,” Smoke said, perking up.
Sidney cut between them. “Time to change the subject.”
“Cyrus Tweel?” Smoke said to Sidney.
“So you’ve met him,” Allison said. “Too bad for you, I’d say.” She checked her nails. “But he was a good match for my sister.”
“Drop it, Allison,” Sidney warned through her teeth.
“Oh, get over it. That was years ago, but it seems like it was yesterday.” Allison giggled as she eyed Smoke. She leaned forward, offering a generous view of her ample boobs. “I was sitting right here, nursing Megan—”
Sidney closed in on her sister. “Stop it, Allison.”
Allison put her hand on Smoke’s thigh and let out a haughty little laugh. “You know what he looks like, right?”
Smoke nodded.
“Well, the little worm got down on one knee and proposed to my sister in front of everybody. Ha. You should have seen the look on Sidney’s little face. She looked like she swallowed a rodent.”
“It made for a frosty summer day,” Keith said, shaking his head. “I’ll never forget it.”
The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files Collector's Set: Books 1-10: Urban Fantasy Shifter Series Page 18
