“Boss, we’ve got trouble.”
“What kinda trouble Max?” I whistled for Jared, Tommy and the others as I headed for my ride. They didn’t ask any questions, just ran to their rides to follow. “Three men just showed up here posing as Children’s Services.”
“Where are my wife and kids?” I knew to stay cool until I got the whole story.
“Everyone’s safe, they don’t even know they were here. Kat’s upstairs with Cody and the others were in the basement taking their defense classes.” I eased my grip on the bars and breathed. “Tell me.”
“They weren’t expecting us, so it’s a toss up whether or not they were watching the place or not. When I answered the door there was a look of surprise. Then they tried selling me their spiel but when I asked more questions than they could answer they left.”
“Which direction were they headed in?”
“Josh slipped a tracker under the wheel well, they’re headed out towards DuPont.”
“Make, model and license number.” He gave me the info I needed as I changed tack and headed in the opposite direction away from home.
“I can give you blow by blow directions if you wanna follow. I have them on my screen as we speak.”
“Give it to me, and Max, my wife never hears about this.” I listened to his directions until I got a bead on where they were headed. “I know where they’re going. There’s an airfield about five miles from there. Go take care of my family ‘til I get there.”
I sped up and my boys followed. I called them on the headpieces in their helmets and relayed the news. “We go in hot. I don’t know what we’re gonna find there so be prepared for everything.”
By the time we got there- there was one plane on the runway and a blue SUV pulling in. I directed half my guys towards the plane while the other half followed me towards the vehicle. I drew my piece even before the wheels on my ride had stopped turning.
They saw us coming but it was too late for them to do anything since my boys had their guns out and pointed at their heads through the closed windows. I dragged the driver’s door open, pulled him out and pushed the nozzle against his temple, while my guys took care of the rest. “Looking for me? What the fuck were you doing at my house?” I looked around for a place to shoot the fuck without all the eyes I was sure were on me watching, but there was none. “Get in.”
“Jared follow us to the slaughterhouse. You move over.” I spoke to one of the men seated in the seat behind the driver. I climbed into the very back with the other two in front of me. “Drive.” I gave him directions while they tried to explain their bullshit away. “Do you have any idea what you’re getting yourself into? We are here on direct orders…”
“Shut the fuck up and drive asshole. One more word out of you and I’ll pop your friend here.” The asshole in question grunted when I stuck the gun in his ear. I took their measure as we drove. I could tell from the quiet fuck in front of me that he was the one in charge. He hadn’t said a word since the whole thing started, but he never stopped looking for a way out. Even with his back turned, I could see the tenseness in his body. Fight or flight.
“I wouldn’t risk it asshole, you even twitch and I’ll blow your head off.” He went even more still but I didn’t ease up. We reached the warehouse in less than ten minutes and I dragged him out first. “Bring them in.”
The warehouse was our little playhouse. It’s where I take offal to deal with if I was planning more than a little threat. “Start talking, who sent you to my house?”
“Mr. Lyon I presume.” This fuck thought he was on a movie set or some fuck, if the smirk he gave me was anything to go by. “Yeah that’s me, now talk.” He fixed his cuff and looked around like he was in charge. If I didn’t need him to tell me who the fuck was on my ass, I would put one in his head and be done with this shit.
He was dead the minute he walked up to my door, but for now, I’ll let him play at being the man. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. My colleagues and I work for the government. We were simply there to follow up on a report of child endangerment in your home.”
“A complaint from who?”
“I’m not at liberty to say. Suffice it to say we were carrying out our duties…”
“You’re a lying fuck. Since when does the division of children’s services send goons to make house calls?”
“Colt, I found something.” Jared had gone through the van and found an attaché case under the driver’s seat. He had it open on the table rifling through it while Tommy and the others held the other goons against the wall at gunpoint.
“What you got?” He held up a handful of photos that turned out to be some kind of surveillance on my family. “What the fuck?” They even had Mengele in there-fuck that-not my little girl. “Anything in there, about who these fucks work for?”
“Nope, but they have a shitload of stuff on you.” I turned my attention back to asshole number one. “So, what exactly were you gonna do with my kids if my men had been dumb enough to fall for your ploy? You know what, don’t answer.” The shot to the leg wasn’t meant to get anything out of him. I hit the femoral artery. His ass ought to bleed out in five minutes or less. “Finish them.”
I walked away without looking back. Looks like the battle had just begun. I didn’t wait around to see about the clean up, my boys knew what to do. Whoever had sent them could figure out what the fuck had happened to them when they didn’t turn up, but I wasn’t too worried about it. These fucks want to fly under the radar. I’m the right motherfucker for their ass.
I’m not in the habit of giving an account of my actions to anyone but I wrestled with the idea of calling the others and letting them know what was going on. In the end, I decided not to. Just like sixteen years ago it wasn’t just my head on the block. I wasn’t about to jam up my guys for having my back.
I headed for the house to put eyes on my wife and kids. This killing shit was getting too easy, but I wasn’t gonna lose any sleep. I wasn’t about to split hairs over anything that comes of this. Taylor Porter started this shit the day he put hands on what’s mine. Doesn’t matter that she wasn’t mine then, scratch that, she was born mine. It doesn’t matter that at the time his raping ass went after her I hadn’t yet staked my claim, and anything that came behind my ending that fuck was a write off as far as I’m concerned.
Now his parents and an uncle were out for revenge, that’s their right. But it’s also my right to fuck their shit up for coming into my space. I’ll help the others when my deal was over, but the die had been cast.
***
Kat was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on dinner. I stood in the doorway watching her as she hummed to herself and moved from the stove to the fridge and back. I could hear my kids tearing my fucking house apart with their shit, but I’d rather hear that sound everyday for the rest of my life than lose one of them.
“I know you’re there Colton, what’s wrong?” She turned to me with a smile and I was quick enough to hide my true thoughts from her. “Nothing, just enjoying my favorite sight.” I pulled the flowers I’d stopped on the way to buy her from behind my back and sighed at the dreamy look that came into her eyes as she moved to take them.
“Pay me first woman.” She grinned as she got up on her toes and wrapped her arms around my neck. “They’re beautiful, thank you.” I tried not to put too much into the kiss, she knows me too well. So although I wanted to draw her in close enough that she became a part of me, I held myself in check.
With her little head held gently in my hands, I fed on her lips until she needed to breathe. “How are my babies?” I ran my hand over her tummy and kissed her forehead. “They’re coming along fine.” She covered my hand with hers and rested against my chest.
“And you, my favorite girl? How are you doing?” If any of this ever touched her, I’ll level the nation’s capital, swear to fuck. She didn’t seem upset in anyway so Max had done his job well, she was still insulated.
***
***
I know Colton Lyon is up to something. Ever since he got back from Law’s place, he’s been acting like a bear with his paw caught, and even more irrational than usual. Then after the holidays, he went from bad to worse.
I’d finally talked him into letting the kids go back to school after keeping them home for days, but the crazy man had the people’s school surrounded. I don’t know what excuse he’d given them but one of the boys’ teachers had told me that Colt’s argument had been that his kids were just as important as the President’s and the asshole movie stars’, as he’s fond of calling them. She thought he was cute the way he carried on to get his way; little does she know.
Now, he’s talking about making a run somewhere. Uh huh, rare parts my ass. I know my man and that is not the look he wears when he’s after parts for one of his specials. That’s his ‘somebody’s about to get fucked’ look.
I know very well that Colt likes to take matters into his own hands, but we’re both getting too old for this shit. I didn’t even bother fussing at him as I watched him walk back and forth getting his stuff together for his little impromptu ride.
By mutual agreement, we don’t discuss the pregnancy, though Colt steals rubs of my tummy and at night he sleeps with his hand over our girls. But this evening after dinner, he’d been mumbling about leaving me with the babies, like he was wrestling with his conscience.
I bit my tongue and didn’t say a word of what was going through my head. Like the fact that my house was still surrounded by half of his crew from sunup to sundown, and the fact that these men were now taking up residence in our guest house and my damn basement.
“Daddy…”
“Well shit.” I held my hand over my mouth to cover the snicker that threatened to escape at his reaction to our youngest daughter’s interruption. “Yes Catalina.” He stopped what he was doing to look at her. Even with my mind in turmoil, I knew this was going to be good, it usually is where these two are concerned.
“How long is uncle Max going to be here?” Max was one of the crew that Colton had staked out in our basement. No one was talking, which was not surprising and the one time I tried making an end run around Colt to get some information, he gave me one of his looks and I got the screwing of my life that night. He’s still very territorial, still doesn’t like men around me no matter who it is. Which made the fact that they were here very suspicious indeed. And he wonders why I’m always on his case.
“Why?” He barely contained the huff that was never too far when dealing with his baby girl. I guess it’s poetic justice that he has a kid who’s his carbon copy. The fact that it’s one of our girls and not the boys was just the icing on the cake. I have to get my kicks where I can, living with Mr. Crazy, and these little skirmishes never disappoint.
“He’s taking up all my space.” Her little hands went to her hips, which was something she’d picked up from her grandmother lately and which gives her daddy fits. “What space, you pay rent?” Oh this ought to be good.
“Daddy, don’t be silly. So when’s he going home?”
“He’s not, what is it that you’re doing down there anyway?”
“Stuff.”
“Stuff? What stuff, you’re five years old you don’t have any stuff.” She rolled her eyes and hopped up on the bed for a cuddle.
I pulled her in close for a smell of her hair. Her sister was getting too old for mommy time, which was heartbreaking, but I still had my little terror and her new baby brother. She studied her fingernails and toes, which were full of sparkles from the mani-pedi set my mom had given her for Xmas. Something else that had caused world war six in my house when Colt first saw it, but was also one of the things that tipped me off that he was up to no good.
He’d been working up a good head of steam when he got a good look at her fashion statement. You’d have thought the child was committing a crime the way he’d carried on, but all she’d had to do that time was bat her lashes at him and tell him how all her little friends were doing it, and Colton Lyon had melted like a puddle of goo. Uh huh.
That, coupled with the fact that he’d had us under armed guard for weeks now was more than enough to put me on high alert. I’d asked him more than once what was going on, but each time I’d just get his patented ‘nothing for you to worry about Katarina’ like that was gonna work. This time I knew exactly what to do though.
“Scram kid, I need to talk to your mom.”
“Eww daddy, you just wanna do more of that kissing stuff.”
“I what, what the hell?” He really needs to take it easy before he gives himself a coronary.
“It’s okay daddy, I know all about it, my boyfriend…”
“Catalina Lyon, if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life locked away somewhere you’d stop right there.”
“Geez daddy-it’s just a kiss-just lips touching-people do it all the time, it’s like…saying hello.” She waddled off the bed on her little spindly legs reminding me that for all the words that were coming out of her mouth, she was still little more than a baby.
“Kat we gotta do something.” He actually looked distressed when he plopped down on the mattress next to me. “Aww poor baby, you know she’s just a little more curious and just a tad bit smarter than the others, but there’s nothing to worry about.”
“You won’t be saying that when we’re knee deep in teenage pregnancies, what the fuck have you and Elena been doing around that kid? I find it strange that Caitiebear who was practically raised by me doesn’t do any of that shit, but the one I left to you and my mother is twisted as fuck.”
What could I say to that enlightening piece of logic? There was no talking him down when it comes to her anyway so why bother? “Poor Colton, she scares you doesn’t she?” I dared not laugh because that would just send him off on one of his tangents again.
“You think this shit is funny, don’t you? Well we’ll see how funny you find it when you’re collecting her ass from Juvie in a few years.” He hopped off the bed mumbling something under his breath about Mengele’s experiments or some other such thing.
***
I stood in the doorway smiling and waving all the while formatting my words in my head. As soon as he cleared the street and I heard the last engine disappear I hightailed it to the nearest phone. I had to be careful though because I didn’t want anyone to hear.
This has got to stop. For weeks, things have been crazier than usual around here, and since meeting the other women, I knew something was definitely up, but their men were no more forthcoming than Colt was. I knew enough to know that whatever this was, it had more to do with us as a family than Colt was letting on. Now Caitie was getting strange emails and I knew that more than anything else would send my husband over the deep end.
I checked on the baby one last time before sneaking into the walk-in closet with the cordless. “Law, where’s Colton going?” No sense in beating around the bush.
“What do you mean what did he say?”
“He said he had to get parts in Arizona.” His ‘oh fuck’ did nothing to ease my suspicions and his next volley of questions didn’t do any better either.
“How long ago did he leave?” I gave him all the information I had growing more anxious by the silence on the other end. I guess I was expecting him to tell me not to worry, but I knew that whatever was going on had started at Law’s place and this wasn’t looking good. The last thing I heard after he told me he would take care of it was him whistling for his men.
***
LAW
***
“Creed, Law here, we’ve got trouble.”
“What’s up bro, the fuck is going on now?” We’ve been pretty much on alert ever since the little powwow a few weeks ago. I was trying to get shit cleaned up in my own backyard before heading to Georgia, but it looked like Colt, the fuck, wasn’t gonna give me the chance.
“Colt’s on the fucking loose is what’s going on. Just got a call from Katarina
and he’s headed to the desert.”
“Oh shit.” Brandon, Travis and Clay joined me just in time to hear that last part.
“We’ve got to head him off and we don’t have much time, he’s on the move.” I need this shit. Dana Sue hasn’t stopped throwing her guts up in three fucking weeks, the asshole sheriff has been making noises since we burnt out the fuckwit hate brigade and now this.
“Fuck, do we know which way he’s headed?” There were a few routes from his neck of the woods to Arizona but only one that would take a lot less time. I gave Creed the particulars before deciding on the best place to meet so we could head this fuck off.
“I’ll be there. This shit goes back to us doesn’t it? The shit we did when we were in.”
“It looks that way, only I don’t see why he’d go after the women. As far as I know Khalil has always gone for more of a direct attack.”
“That’s just it isn’t it? We don’t know what the fuck this is.”
“Does it matter Creed? We know enough that we have to protect our own. Let’s go get Lyon and then I think it’s time we head down south. I don’t think those boys wanna wait around any more than we do.”
“Sounds good to me. Let me make sure my woman is safe and I’ll head out.” After hanging up with him I turned to my cousin and our friends.
“What’s the deal Law?”
“Lyon has decided not to wait, he’s headed to the desert.”
“We knew that was coming, I’m surprised he held back this long.”
“Yeah Travis you’re right, but this might throw shit off. Hardheaded son of a bitch.”
I barely had time to set shit right on my end, making sure my place was secure before heading out. I should’ve been prepared for this, should’ve known that Lyon wouldn’t be able to hold his shit in. But the last time we saw him, he gave his word. Something must’ve happened. I guess I’ll have to wait until we meet up to get the particulars.
Cord SEAL Team Seven (Book 5) Page 12
