Hunt and Prey (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 8)

by Kaylie Hunter

  Everyone exhaled.

  Charlie walked over and looked at me. “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what?” I asked, tossing the dishrag into the sink.

  “Don’t let him get into your head. Tyler and Uncle Hank will keep the kids safe. There’s a team of security here watching them. Hell, there’s two trained attack dogs that follow them everywhere they go. They’re safe.”

  “I know…” I looked away, my eyes threatening to tear up. I blinked rapidly to clear them. “It’s just, we’re here… In Florida. And I—” I shook my head as I swallowed my tears.

  “I know. We all know. But Nicholas is safe,” she said, rubbing my arm. “Nola’s dead. Nobody is after Nicholas. You made sure of it.”

  “But…”

  “No, buts,” Wild Card said, stepping behind me and wrapping his arms around me. “You have human traffickers to hunt. We have a murderer to find. And while a dozen guards ensure their safety, the kids have a giant-ass heated swimming pool to entertain them.”

  Maggie walked into the kitchen and opened the dishwasher. “The kids are in good hands. Tyler promised to teach Anne and Sara how to dive before his shift starts while I teach Nicholas the breast stroke.”

  Several chuckles broke out.

  “Get your mind out of the gutter, boys. You know dog-gone well I was referring to swimming.”

  I laughed and looked toward Anne. “You don’t know how to dive?”

  Anne shook her head. “I’d never even been in a pool before yesterday. Swam in a lake a few times when I was young, but that’s been the extent of my swimming experience.”

  “Tyler’s not teaching you how to dive. No way. No how,” Whiskey said, narrowing his eyes at the man who sat across from him. “I’ll teach you myself.”

  Anne shrugged, not seeming too concerned with who taught her.

  “And you?” I asked Haley.

  “I’ll be sunning by the pool until one of you comes back needing stitches.” Haley sauntered out the French doors, stripping her t-shirt off as she went. Her bikini top was barely within the threshold of being allowable to wear in front of the kids.

  Maggie shut the dishwasher door and pushed the start button. “Holler if anyone needs a Fed. I don’t fly out of Miami until four.” She walked out, stripping off her beach cover up.

  Based on the looks Anne threw in their direction, I was guessing she was feeling self-conscious to be out in the pool area with them. I could see the straps to her conservative one-piece swimsuit under her tank top. She stopped looking toward the patio and glanced down at her own body.

  “You’re a knockout,” Wild Card said to her. “If Whiskey ever screwed up the relationship, there’d be a line at the door waiting to replace him.”

  “And I’d beat them to a bloody pulp while I begged for you to take me back,” Whiskey said, leaning over to kiss the top of her head on his way into the kitchen.

  The kids, Carl, and both dogs came tearing down the stairs. The kids wore their swimsuits and dragged their beach towels across the floor behind them. Jager continued after them.

  Beast stopped to look at Charlie, whining with his hind end swaying back and forth.

  “No. Sorry, buddy, but I’m driving the Mustang today. Wet dog and expensive leather don’t go together.”

  He whined again, flopping himself onto the floor by her feet as he pouted up at her.

  “It’s best if we take two vehicles,” Wild Card said on his way out of the room. “I picked up my rental on our way back from the finger-chopping event last night.”

  Charlie looked over her shoulder at Wild Card as he walked away. “Are you saying he can swim and then ride in your SUV?”

  “Might as well,” Wild Card answered without turning around. “My deposit is already a lost cause after yesterday.”

  “Quick,” Charlie said to Beast as she pointed toward the door. “You’ve got two minutes.”

  Beast barked twice, jumped to his feet, and ran outside.

  “Ahh,” Charlie said. “He’s so happy.”

  I raised an eyebrow at Charlie. “You know he’s a dog, right? That he doesn’t really know what you said.”

  “Leave me alone. After all these years, I finally have a partner I like.”

  I shook my head at her as she walked out.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  CHARLIE

  Tuesday, 8:15 a.m.

  With the top down on the Mustang, wearing my oversized sunglasses, and the speedometer about ten over the limit on the inner-city highway, I felt more relaxed than I had in days.

  Bones wasn’t quite as relaxed. His head swiveled in every direction. He’d finally stopped complaining about the top being down, but he wasn’t happy. What could I say? This was Florida. Sunshine over safety was the state’s slogan.

  Wild Card drove behind us in his rental with Beast’s oversized head sticking out the front passenger window. From the rearview mirror, I could see Wild Card using exaggerated hand gestures as he conversed with Beast. I wondered if their conversation had to do with girls or food.

  I glanced over at Bones. “How does Wild Card stay in a good mood all the time? Even when he’s mad, it’s short lived.”

  “I wish I knew,” Bones said, looking over his shoulder behind us. “The man’s entertaining as shit until someone pushes him too far. Then he morphs into a scary mother-effer.”

  “Mother-effer?”

  Bones sighed as he leaned forward and selected a pair of shades from the cup holder. “I’m sick of doing push-ups. Decided I’d try to quit swearing.”

  “And mother-effer passes as not being a swear word?”

  “As long as Hattie’s not around.”

  My phone rang as I slowed for a red light. I saw the display indicating Spence was calling and pressed the green phone button on the steering wheel. “Where are we meeting?”

  “The diner on the corner of 9th and Paradise Avenue. I’m starving.”

  “We already ate. And I’m not leaving Beast in the car. Order takeout and meet us at the park on the south corner.”

  “That’ll work.” He disconnected.

  I glanced over at Bones who was grinning. “What’s so funny?”

  “Just remembering how I met Spence.”

  “Was it in the military?”

  “No. It was in a bar. Been friends ever since.”

  I’d had plenty of conversations with strangers in bars but not once did any of those conversations result in a relationship lasting past dawn. “You going to share the rest of the story?”

  “Nope.” Bones glanced over at me. I couldn’t see his eyes because of his sunglasses. “Light’s green.”

  I floored the accelerator at the same time the stream of cars behind us started blaring their horns. That’s just how it was with Florida drivers. You had about one and a half seconds after a traffic light turned green to get through the intersection or you were the monster keeping everyone from moving forward. And if something unfortunate happened, like a flat tire, be prepared for a mega headache.

  The aggressive horn pressing of Floridians probably had to do with the heat being unbearable when you were sitting still. Or maybe it was because no one wanted to waste their time driving when there were too many fun things to do. Either way, I’d adopted the habit without even meaning to after living in the state for less than a month.

  I saw Wild Card shaking his head as he looked in his rearview mirror. A smile flashed as he pressed his brakes and stopped in the middle of the highway. Car horns blared. He laughed as he hit the gas to catch up with me.

  I also laughed.

  “Is he messing with the traffic?” Bones asked. He continued facing forward, watching the cars and nearby shops around us.

  “Yeah. He must be bored.”

  I turned right at the next light. Two blocks down, I turned into a city lot and parked. A public park with a few tables and benches sat adjacent to the lot. I spotted Spence wolfing down a container of food at one of the tables and started s
trolling his way. Beast saw him and barked twice before running ahead to greet him.

  “He’s supposed to be on a leash, you know,” Spence said as he stopped eating long enough to give Beast a two-handed body rub. “State law.”

  “He doesn’t like it,” I said as I sat across from him. “You got backgrounds for me?”

  He slid two files toward me. “Colby Brown. Age fifty-two. Height six foot four. Weight two-hundred and fifty the last time he was arrested. And he’s been arrested nine times. Two of those arrests landed him in prison. The first stint was for two years. The second for six. Assault. Robbery. Extortion. Probably a shitload more crimes the cops could never pin on him.”

  “What about employment records?”

  “Both times he was on parole, he worked crap minimum-wage jobs to keep from going back to prison. And both times, the day after his parole period ended, he went off the grid.”

  The information on Colby wasn’t all that helpful, but in police work most of the information gathered was just noise. The remaining nuggets were the reason a good detective kept digging. “What about Xander Hall?”

  “Ghost. Doesn’t exist.”

  “Damn. Back to square one.”

  “Don’t be so quick to doubt my mad skills,” Spence said, grinning at me. “I went back and took another look at Evie. I backtracked to where she lived and worked in Atlanta. Spoke to former coworkers and her old landlord, that type of thing.”

  “Quit talking yourself up and spill already,” Bones ordered.

  Spence laughed. “You’re no fun,” he said to Bones before turning back to me. “I suckered her old boss into digging through their security footage. He found us a picture of Evie’s mystery man. It’s not great, but it’s better than nothing.” He slid a picture from a folder and handed it to me.

  I stared at the image of a middle-aged man walking into a building. He had dark hair, either brown or black but the picture was black and white so I couldn’t tell. His skin tone was somewhere between cream and light brown, but I couldn’t make out any ethnic identifiers because of the large rimmed driving sunglasses. His suit was expensive. That’s it. A lean man, with dark hair, and expensive taste in clothes. “How does this help?”

  “Hey!” Spence said, sounding offended. “It’s a start. Maybe we’ll get lucky and someone will recognize him.”

  Bones snorted, taking the picture. “Not likely. You couldn’t get a photo without the sunglasses?”

  “I was told he always wore them when he was there, which wasn’t often.”

  “Makes me wonder,” Wild Card said, taking the picture and studying it. “Kid, can you think of a reason why someone would wear sunglasses inside a building with security cameras?”

  The lightbulb snapped on. I grinned over at Wild Card. “He’s hiding from facial recognition software.”

  “That’d be my guess,” Wild Card said as he used his phone to take a picture of the photo. He texted it to someone.

  “I don’t understand. What am I missing?” Spence asked.

  “Feds,” Bones said. “No one wears sunglasses indoors unless they’re hiding from the Feds and don’t want recognition software to ID them.”

  “That’s a bit over the top. Most of that stuff is make believe TV crap.” He looked at each of us. “Right?”

  I shook my head. “It’s out there. My niece programmed recognition software for a retail store. It’s a real thing. You bet your backside the Feds are using it.”

  Wild Card’s phone rang. He answered, replied a few words, then hung up. “Maggie says she needs the picture scanned. Then she’ll have Genie run it through the Fed database, but she doubts it will work based on the quality of the photo.”

  “Who’s Maggie?” Spence asked.

  “Fed. But also a friend of the family,” Bones answered.

  “Mind blown,” Spence said as he gathered up his Styrofoam container and plastic silverware. “Well, it’s been fun, but I have two adultery cases and a corner store register that keeps coming up short. And when I clear those, I’ve got three new cases waiting.”

  “Don’t forget to bill me,” I told him as I stood. “And that includes your hours babysitting me yesterday.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Spence, she’s loaded,” Bones said. “And she knows the difference between friendship and business. She doesn’t expect you to do the work and not get paid, man. That’s not how she rolls.”

  “Yeah. What he said.” I smiled over at Spence as he threw his trash away.

  “Okay. I’ll bill you for the background work, but I’m not billing you for the night at the gas station. Beast and I volunteered to ride along because we were worried about you.”

  I pointed my thumb over my shoulder at Wild Card and Bones. “How’s that any different than the security jobs these guys do?”

  “It just is,” Spence said as he walked away.

  “Man,” Bones said on a chuckle. “He’s got it bad for you.”

  “Poor guy,” Wild Card said.

  I sucker punched him in the arm.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  KELSEY

  Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.

  Parked half a block away on the opposite side of the street, Ryan and I sat in the car observing the construction crew at the dentist office. We were only forty-five minutes into the surveillance and I was already bored. Trigger at least was able to walk around. He’d circled past the building twice already, meandering around the block.

  I was beginning to wish Trigger had stayed in the car with me instead of Ryan. Ryan seldom spoke unless it was job specific or when his wife was around. He wasn’t the most ideal partner on a stakeout. So far into my many attempts to initiate conversation, he’d answered yes twice and no once. Still… His short, clipped answers were better than the times he just glared at me without answering.

  I was beginning to think he had two personalities: One for his wife Tweedle. And one for the rest of the human race.

  “Did you see that?” Ryan asked, breaking the silence so suddenly that I jumped in my seat.

  My barely warm coffee slopped, covering my hand. “Damn it. You made me spill my coffee.”

  I set the cup in the holder and took the napkin Ryan handed me, his attention still focused intensely on something across the street.

  “What did you see? The guy carrying boxes inside?”

  “No. I saw Trigger cut behind the building into the alley.”

  “He’s fine.”

  “How are we supposed to know if he needs help?”

  “When Trigger gets himself into a mess, you can see it a mile away.”

  Ryan glared sideways at me.

  I rolled my eyes and pointed to my ear. “I’ll know if he needs help.”

  “You have an earpiece?”

  “Yes.” I decided to answer him with a one-word answer to see how he liked it.

  “Mind sharing?”

  “No.” I picked up my cup and took another drink. I waited until I saw anger overtaking his normal, annoyed expression. Laughing, I grabbed another earpiece from my bag. “You’re going to regret asking for this.”

  Ryan secured the mic in his ear and then looked at me. “What’s he doing?”

  I smirked. “He likes to sing. But he’s really bad at it.”

  “He sounds like a dying pig.”

  “Why do you think I’ve been trying to engage you in conversation?” I said, throwing my hands up. “Has anyone ever told you your social skills are horrendous?”

  One corner of Ryan’s lips curved up a fraction. Just a fraction. It quickly morphed into a scowl when he asked, “What’s that clunking noise?”

  “That’s the sound of Trigger doing something stupid.”

  “Meaning?”

  “He’s climbing on top of something, probably a dumpster. He likely spotted a way to sneak inside.”

  “But it’s daytime. And there’s people—everywhere.”

  “Yup.” I shrugged. “I know. But tha
t’s how Trigger rolls.”

  “Aren’t you going to stop him? It’s a two-way earpiece.”

  “Ordering him to stop wouldn’t do any good. He’d say ‘okay’, but still do it.”

  Ryan’s eyebrow shot upward. “And you haven’t fired him yet?”

  “I punish him in other ways. Like the last time he got arrested, I let him sit in jail for two days before I sent someone to fix it. He behaved for almost a week after that.”

  “Why do you keep him?”

  “Wow. This is the most I’ve ever heard you talk.”

  He shook his head. “I’m completely baffled.”

  “Give it some time. It’ll make sense, eventually. If not today, maybe by tomorrow. You’ll be Team Trigger before you know it.”

  “Unnecessary risks are dangerous in our profession.”

  “Agreed. But what we would deem risky, doesn’t register the same for Trigger. And his methods are effective.”

  “He’s breaking and entering… into a building full of people… in the middle of broad daylight!”

  I smiled over at Ryan. “But he’ll have a good reason.”

  Ryan looked at me like I had two heads, but ten minutes later Trigger rounded the corner of the building, smiling to himself, and started singing again.

  “Hey, Boss,” Trigger whispered. “I’m going to hang around at the side of the building until two guys in suits come out. Let me know when the guy in the dark gray one exits. Then relay his distance until he reaches the sidewalk.”

  I switched the mic on for the earpiece. “Copy. Waiting on dark gray suit to exit.”

  “What’s he planning?” Ryan asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  “You don’t make him run his plans past you?”

  “What would be the point? If it’s something stupid, he’d just lie.”

  Trigger snorted, hearing our conversation, then continued singing as he leaned against the cinder block building and fiddled with a cigarette. He usually kept a smoke handy so he could pretend to be looking for a lighter if anyone questioned what he was doing. He didn’t even have a lighter. He didn’t smoke.

  I looked at Ryan. “You might want to slip out and make a loop around the block. Be ready if needed.”