Devoted Defender

by Rachel Dylan

  Gabby sighed. “Look. I know this is all a lot for you. You’re not in law enforcement. Caleb told me you don’t have experience with firearms either and only know basic self defense. So that’s why I am here.”

  That was only the partial picture. The one experience with guns she did have turned out to be awful. Thoughts of pulling the trigger flooded through her mind.

  Gabby kept on talking. “So you need to rely on the professionals to keep you out of harm’s way.”

  Annie nodded. “Are you always like this?” she asked before she realized how it sounded.

  “Like what?”

  “Always so serious.”

  Gabby actually laughed. “I’m on the job right now. So I’m going to be focused on that. But I don’t work twenty four seven every day of the year. Be glad that I’m not taking this lightly. My brother told me to keep watch, and that’s what I’m going to do.” Gabby looked at her watch. “Caleb should be home any minute, though. Maybe that will make you feel better.”

  “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’m thankful for all of your help.” Annie wanted to ask more questions to get to know Gabby but figured it was better not to push things.

  She took a moment to pat Buddy’s head, and he looked up at her with his soulful dark eyes. Her heart melted. She’d never been able to have any pets growing up, and she’d always begged her mom for a dog. But in retrospect she understood that her mother was a complete mess and wasn’t even able to take care of her—much less an innocent animal. She pushed back the thought that one day she could have her own dog and a normal well-adjusted family. Because that just wasn’t going to happen.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

  Gabby jumped up from the navy armchair with her gun drawn. “Stay put. I’ll check the door.”

  Her heartbeat started thumping wildly. What if Gabby was right? What if they weren’t safe at Caleb’s house? What if there was an army of Silva’s men right outside waiting to kill them both.

  Gabby looked through the peephole of the front door. “Who’s there?” she asked.

  It obviously wasn’t someone she knew.

  “It’s Phil Perry.”

  At the sound of his voice, fear gripped her again. Phil had come looking for her.

  “I need to find Annie Thomas. It’s very important,” Phil said in a strained voice.

  “About what?” Gabby asked.

  “I want to help. I don’t want to hurt her. I promise. I’m here with information. I’m in trouble, too.”

  Annie shook her head and made eye contact with Gabby pleading with her not to open the door. But it appeared Gabby had other ideas. She pulled out her phone and sent a message. Annie presumed it was to her brothers.

  “Show me your hands. High. If you make any sudden moves, I will shoot. I’m armed.”

  Gabby slowly opened the door and motioned for Phil to come in. But she had the gun pointed directly at his head. One false move and Annie was certain that Gabby would make good on her threat.

  But when Phil walked in, he looked to be anything but a threat. His shirt was untucked and had blood stains on it. His hair was disheveled and he had a large purple bruise on his left check.

  He looked over at her with bloodshot eyes. “I’m so sorry, Annie. I’m in way over my head.”

  “You tried to kill me, Phil.”

  The door was still open and Caleb walked in. When he saw what was happening, he pulled out his gun.

  “It’s okay, Caleb,” Gabby said.

  “What in the world is going on here?” Caleb’s blue eyes were questioning Gabby, but then he looked at Annie. Then at Phil. Keeping his gun trained on Phil with his right hand, he used his left to take out his handcuffs. Phil didn’t put up a fight.

  “You can cuff me. I need your help. I’m not a threat to you. Do whatever it is you need to do.”

  “Phil Perry, you’re under arrest.” Caleb proceeded to read Phil his rights.

  Annie couldn’t believe what was happening. She watched as Caleb took Phil into the kitchen and sat him down at the table. Phil was completely compliant. And he didn’t look like the confident, outgoing man she’d come to know. He looked more like a wounded animal.

  Gabby and Caleb were talking, but Annie realized that she’d been in a haze watching the scene unfold. She’d followed them as they went, but then she took a few steps closer until Caleb lifted his hand in a stop motion.

  “That’s close enough,” he told her. “Please sit down at that end of the table.”

  She wanted to argue since it was clear that Phil wasn’t currently a threat to her. But she didn’t.

  “I’m going to check outside to just be sure the area is secure and then do some recon. I’ll check back in later. You have this situation under control.” Gabby said. Then she walked out leaving her and Caleb with Phil.

  “Start talking,” Caleb said.

  But instead of Phil looking at Caleb, he directed his attention back toward her. “Annie, again, I’m so sorry. I know what I did was unforgivable, but this whole situation has gotten out of control. I’m a coward.”

  “Phil, the best thing you can do now to help me is to answer Caleb’s questions. He’s the chief of police here in Maxwell.”

  Phil nodded. “I don’t even know where to begin, though.”

  Caleb sat down across from Phil. “Let’s start with what you know about your father’s relationship with Silva.”

  Annie waited as Phil took a few deep breaths. Even though this man had tried to kill her, she felt sorry for him.

  “My father met Silva through a mutual acquaintance a couple of years ago at a charity event in Atlanta. At that time, my father had no interest in Silva’s business.”

  “Which is?” Annie jumped in and asked.

  “Silva’s network is extensive. Drug trafficking is his primary business but he had his hands involved in money laundering, gun running and I don’t even know what else. Plus it expands all throughout the southeast. He has a business partner who runs part of the region and then his cousin runs the Florida operations. I know they have a complex drug network in south Florida.”

  A chill shot down her back. Annie was all too familiar with the dark side of life in south Florida where she had grown up. Her mom bouncing from random apartment and even more random men. And most of the men were involved in some sort of drugs or other criminal activity.

  “What changed to make your father want to get involved?” Caleb asked.

  “My father started to have more time on his hands. He’d largely turned over day to day operations of his investment firm to my two older brothers. I have a percentage of the company but no managing control at this point.” Phil slumped down in the chair. “Looking back maybe that was part of the problem. Part of why I turned on him, because he had excluded me. But back to your question. My father started doing side investments. Some gambling and other things. And I think he thought investing in Silva’s business would be fun. He’d live on the edge a bit and make a stellar return.”

  “Because of the illegal nature of the business, he stood to make more money,” Caleb said flatly.

  “Exactly. And there was the thrill of operating outside of the law that I think was attractive to him. My father was so rich and powerful he thought that he was above the law and could do pretty much whatever he wanted. It started with my father making investments. But then about six months ago, he and Silva became closer. My father wanted to understand more of the business. And at that point, Silva trusted him. But my father was too smart for his own good. He tried to cozy up to some of the players and suppliers and siphon off business for himself. Cutting Silva out of the equation.”

  “And when Silva started sniffing around, that’s when he came to me.” Phil looked at her again. “I realize all of this in hindsight. I was such a fool. If I would’ve kept my big mouth shut, maybe none of this would’ve happened. Maybe my father would still be alive right now.”

  “What did y
ou do?” she asked.

  “Like I said. I was upset that my father chose my two brothers over me. I was basically third in line to run the business. And given our ages, there’s no way that I would’ve ever been a major player in father’s investment business. Yes, I have some percentage ownership which means I get a part of the profits, but only a fraction of what my brothers get.”

  “Silva used you,” Caleb said.

  “Yes. He knew my father’s weak points. He knew my weak points. And he capitalized on them. He came to me with what I thought was an amazing offer. But now I can see that he totally tricked me.”

  “How so?” Caleb asked.

  “He made up a story about some new business venture he had with my father and how he wanted to bring me in, but that he needed some information on my father’s current contacts. When I gave him the names of those my father was dealing with, I think it confirmed to Silva that my father was going to cut him out. And when I finally figured out what was going on, it was too late. The damage had already been done and there was no going back.”

  “How did you find out about your father’s death?” Caleb leaned forward in his chair.

  “My older brother found him. When I heard of the suspicious circumstances, I knew right away. I met with one of Silva’s men who told me about how things would play out. They were still willing to work with me as long as I did my best to get rid of you, Annie. That’s a loose end they didn’t want to have hanging out there.”

  “But now you think they’ve changed their minds?” Annie asked.

  “Yes. I was roughed up by one of his guys after you got away from me. Then last night I was run off the road. I don’t believe it was an accident. They’re going to try to kill me too. I obviously know too much. I was a greedy idiot for thinking I could come out of this on top.”

  “And now you’re in trouble.” Annie didn’t want anything to happen to Phil. But she didn’t know how Caleb would handle all of this.

  “He is in trouble, but you’ll be safe in a guarded cell in the Maxwell jail.”

  Phil nodded. “I figured you’d want to lock me up. But don’t you think I’d be more valuable to you on the outside?”

  Caleb shook his head. “Even putting aside the fact that I’m charging you with attempted murder and assault, it’s for your own good. You already said that Silva is after you. That’s the only way I can guarantee your safety.”

  “All right. And there are a couple of other things I need to tell you.”

  “What?” Caleb asked.

  “Silva has a source inside law enforcement. I don’t know who it is, but I know he gives Silva intel and that Silva relies on him.”

  Annie watched as Caleb’s expression remained unchanged. But she already knew about the suspicions Caleb and Mac had about a mole inside the FBI. This solidified that theory.

  “And you don’t have any further information on his identity?” Caleb narrowed his eyes at Phil.

  “No. Just that he’s law enforcement.”

  “And what else did you want to tell us?”

  Phil looked at her and then back to Caleb. “There’s been talk about Silva expanding out to some of the smaller towns to handle some of his operations. And Maxwell was on the list.”

  “Are you sure?” Caleb’s voice came out raspy.

  Annie knew that this bit of information had taken Caleb off guard.

  “I can’t say that I know it’s happening, just what I’ve heard from some of my contacts.”

  “Okay. I’m going to escort you to the station. Annie, I’ll call in another officer to stay here with you while I’m gone.”

  “No,” she said quickly, before she even realized it.

  Caleb looked over at her, confusion in his blue eyes. “Are you all right, Annie?”

  “I’d just prefer it if you stayed here and got another officer to escort Phil.”

  “Sure.” He looked at her. “That can be arranged. I’ll call my deputy Mike now.”

  Annie didn’t trust being alone with any other officer right now. The stakes were too high, and she’d been betrayed before.

  **

  Later that night Caleb sat on the couch beside Annie with Buddy curled up between them. She was stuck in the complicated and highly dangerous maze, and it was up to him to ensure her safety. Annie was an innocent woman caught in the crossfire. She didn’t deserve any of this. Caleb had seen enough in his career in law enforcement to realize just how dangerous organized crime networks were.

  He realized that he was starting to care more about Annie than he should, which didn’t make any sense to him. Normally, he had no problem building up a wall around him when it came to women. It was his MO. But Annie seemed to shake up his entire viewpoint without even trying. She didn’t even appear to understand that she was having any impact on him.

  But there was something else going on with her. She’d had a visceral reaction when he’d told her he was going to leave her with another officer while he escorted Phil to holding. She hadn’t had any issue staying with Gabby. He didn’t want to push her into the conversation, but he also needed to understand where she was coming from. Was there a part of all of this that she had kept hidden? He needed to know.

  “Annie.” He looked over at her. “How are you holding up?” First he needed to see how she was doing. Most people wouldn’t have been able to handle even a part of what she’d lived through the past couple of days.

  “Better than Phil,” she said flatly.

  “You’re a strong person. I can see it in your eyes and how you’ve handled yourself. On the other hand, Phil has probably been used to having it easy his whole life.” He paused, thinking about the best way to start this topic of conversation with her. “But there’s something else going on with you, Annie.” He wanted to provide her with a chance to explain what was bothering her—besides the obvious.

  “Caleb, I really can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me. Stepping into a dangerous situation when you didn’t have to. You’ve saved my life and been next to me each step of the way through this terrible ordeal.”

  “You can tell me. Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll understand.” He wanted her to know that she could be open and frank with him.

  She broke eye contact with him. “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “Give it a try.”

  “I don’t have faith that other police officers would treat me the same way that you do.”

  “And why is that?”

  “If I tell you why, then it will probably change how you see me. And not for the better.”

  He had no idea where she was going with this. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”

  She nodded. “Before I begin, I need to tell you a bit about my past, if that’s all right?”

  “Sure. I want to hear all about it.” And that was true. He wanted to know more about this woman.

  “I had a very rough childhood. My mom was a complete train wreck. She had an awful track record with the wrong men. I never even knew my dad. We didn’t live anywhere long and they were all pretty bad places in totally sketchy neighborhoods. I was often left alone between my mom working and then out partying.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Yeah, after having met your two siblings, I can tell you that I had nothing even coming close to resembling that type of family. The way the three of you have each other’s backs, the love and loyalty that is there, is a totally foreign concept to me. It was just me and my mom, and most often, I was more like the parent than the child. She’d go off on binges and it was up to me to provide for myself. To get myself to and from school. To try to focus on doing well, even when there was so much strife back at home. Because when she was around it was usually to bring home a guy.”

  “Where is your mom now?”

  Annie’s eyes misted over, and he immediately knew the answer before she responded.

  “Her lifestyle caught up with her. She died of a drug overdose a few years ago. I c
an’t even say that I was surprised. I had tried to break through to her, but nothing ever stuck. She grew up in a troubled environment. That was all she knew.”

  Caleb couldn’t help himself as he reached out and grabbed onto her hand. “I’m so sorry, Annie.” Saying he was sorry seemed like such an inadequate response, but that was all he could say.

  “She had so many issues and personal demons. She always told me that I wasn’t like her, that I was meant to be able to get out of the vicious cycle that she had lived her entire life, and that I could be something more one day. It’s one of the things that motivated me to become a trained chef. I wanted to be independent and secure. To know that I could stand on my own two feet, and not seek out help from others.” She paused. “But none of that explains my hesitancy about the officer earlier.”

  “If you don’t want to talk about it now, I understand.” She’d already opened up some pretty deep wounds. He knew how hard it was to talk about these things.

  “No, it’s better this way. Just to get it all out there right now. Like I said, my mom picked the wrong type of men. Not just guys that weren’t a perfect match. I’m talking about men who were involved in drugs and worse. Guys you did not want to cross. The guys she dated did have money, but it was dirty money. My mom flitted from one bad guy to the next. I don’t ever remember her dating normal guys. I tried to shield myself from it the best I could. But then one day it all caught up to me.”

  “What happened?” A million awful thoughts ran through his mind.

  “I was seventeen and was just about to finish up my senior year in high school. I was at home in the apartment by myself. And my mom had given her boyfriend a key. From the moment he stepped inside the front door, I knew he was strung out on drugs and had been drinking. He demanded to know where my mom was. She hadn’t gotten off her shift at work yet. Then he started to go on a rampage. He roughed me up a bit. I tried my best to fight him off. Then he started throwing things around the kitchen. While he was trashing the kitchen, I ran to my mom’s room and grabbed her gun out of the nightstand. I’d never used a gun before, but I was so afraid. He was so full of rage.” She paused and took another breath. “He’d already hurt me. I thought he might kill me. I was just a child. I shut the door to my mom’s room and locked myself in.”