Owen

by Barton, Kathi S.

  “Yes, I guess. What did I miss?” He told him the highlights. “So, this dead guy, he’s here to warn Clare about her mom and dad? That’s nice of him. Why would he do that?”

  “Brownie points. I guess when you’ve been a prick in real life, then you can make up for some of it by coming and telling about something you know. There isn’t enough that this guy can do to make up for leaving his wife and kids without much in the way of support. Nor for letting them think he was dead all this time. But we listen and make notes. If things come up, say something that he might have said was useful, then we take that into consideration.”

  Owen nodded. “I’ve been thinking about something. It’s really far out there, but what if we got in touch with this Boone person and told him that we know where his employees are.” Gabe stared at him. “Listen, we know that the Feds are after all of them. And someone has to want her dad and mom, dead or alive, wouldn’t you say? And I don’t know about you, but dead for real sounds better to me than them hanging around a jail cell just waiting to get out.”

  “Yes, I can understand that. But the Feds, you think they’d take them in quietly? I mean, I can see a real shootout between them and this couple.” He said that he could too, but that only opened up chances for them to be only wounded and not killed. “When did you get so cold and heartless, little brother?”

  “I’m not. I have a wife to protect now, and her brother. And that’s what worries me the most. How Con and Ava can just make these plans to kill one of their own children, as well as a bunch of other people, like they’re nothing at all to them. And to collect on insurance that they just want.”

  “Yes, I heard through the grapevine what sort of house they’re living in. It has a view to die for. Not to mention it’s right on the beach.” That wasn’t what concerned him; what concerned him was them getting away to return here. “Owen, I like your idea, but you’d have to sell it to not just Clare, but her brother too. These are their parents.”

  “I know. I’ve been thinking about that too, how to ask them.”

  When he looked up, Rayne was talking to Clare as they made their way to them. Owen smiled when Clare waved at him, just as a man sat with him and his brother. Before he could gather his thoughts on asking him to leave, a gun was laid on the table between them. That was when he noticed that the restaurant was completely empty, with just them inside. He might have noticed it before, he thought, but his mind had been working on details. Owen pulled his own gun out of the holster on his ankle and laid it on his lap. If this shit got real, he was going to go down shooting.

  “Please have a seat, Mrs. Winchester. Both of you.” They sat down, and he held Clare’s hand while Gabe held onto Rayne’s. “I don’t want trouble with any of you, but I’m here to ask you a few questions.”

  “Mr. Boone, I presume?” The man nodded at him and said he was. “We didn’t want any trouble either, but you fucked that shit all to hell by doing just the opposite. What the fuck do you think you’re doing by coming in here and holding us hostage with a gun? Or were you thinking at all? Being wolves is one thing, but we’re also the alpha’s family. You’re fucking with the wrong people here.”

  “I know, and I do. And I have asked your brother, the alpha, to join us, and his wife as well. When they’re here, we’ll have a nice conversation and I’ll leave you to your day. I have no intentions, at this point, to kill any of you. My fish, as they say, is still out to sea.” Owen was sure that was meant to be funny, but he didn’t have much of a sense of humor where this man was concerned. “There’s the alpha now. Right on time.”

  “You all right?” He nodded and so did the rest of them. Then Caleb turned his considerable anger on their host in all this. “You mother fucker, you’re lucky that I don’t have you killed right where you sit. And in the future, roughing up my butler is not going to get you any points with me. A simple phone call would have been good, but hitting him then leaving a message is not the way we do things around here.”

  “I think that we can begin now.”

  The man was dense if he thought that ignoring Caleb was going to get him anywhere. Before he sat down, Caleb did something that Owen had never seen him do before. He drew back and hit Boone in the face with his fist, then sat down as if nothing had happened. Boone fell to the floor. It might have been comical if he wasn’t afraid that he was going to hurt one of them over it. But Caleb just waited without offering his hand to help the other man up.

  When Boone was seated, he looked at Caleb. “You, I suppose, think you owed me that. And I will allow it. This time.”

  “To be honest with you, had it been my wife that wanted to take you on, you’d be a dead pup right now. She was as pissed off as I’ve ever seen her when she found Howard on the floor of the kitchen. Don’t fuck with her.” Owen looked at Quinn, who was dusting her nails off on her shirt. She looked calmly pissed. A terrible combination. “Oh, your man outside, he’s going to need an ambulance before too much longer, if not a body bag about now. When he grabbed her arm when we arrived, it pissed her off to be touched without permission. As I said, don’t fuck with her.”

  Mr. Boone looked behind him and the man with him went out to check, he thought. When Caleb started laughing, Owen laughed as well. Things were not going as planned by the man, but he wasn’t being pissed off. Instead, he thanked Quinn for showing his men not to underestimate a woman.

  “Not any of us, I think.” Quinn looked around the table as she continued. “Right now you should be aware that Owen has a gun pointed at your balls, and Rayne and her husband have a few tricks up their sleeves as well. Oh, and my husband is the alpha. You make the wrong move and he’ll tear you in two. And I don’t mean that figuratively. Not that you haven’t fucked up a great deal already, but for now at least, we’re going to listen to what you think was so fucking important that you had us brought here.”

  Owen put his gun on the table, just as Boone had. Owen had had enough too. This was supposed to be a good day, not one that was marred by guns and dead men.

  “What is it you want? And don’t fuck around with how you want to make us aware of a few things. We know that Con and Ava are in town. We also know why. Whatever you have to tell us, get on with it. I have things to do.” Owen looked at Gabe when he cleared his throat. But he didn’t heed the warning, if that was what it was. “You are so fucked right now. I’m not sure what else could befall you, but I’m betting that there is nothing you can say to get out of this one.”

  “Did you know that there were bombs all over the home where the older Macintosh was staying? That his parents want him there to claim an insurance policy on him?” Caleb said they knew about the policy, and about the bombs. “They’ve been taken care of as of an hour ago. The police were very happy to find them. They have evacuated the place and are now taking care that they’re all found. Nasty stuff, bombs.”

  “Thank you.” He nodded at Clare. “There is more that you should know as well. They’re here under the name of Roger and Jane Moore. My father always considered himself the handsome agent sort. But that’s what they’re going as. Also, and this might surprise you, there are Feds here as well. We didn’t call them in, they were here when my father and mother arrived. I think they might have been waiting on them.”

  “Do you know why?” Everyone shook their heads. “I see. I wondered about that, to be honest. Why they’d not been taken in as yet. They’re more than likely waiting on me or someone like me to show up and kill them both. And I will. I’m sorry, miss, but they’ve gotten away with something that I cannot allow.”

  “You mean like the murders that you have done?” He said nothing to Gabe. “Have you ever heard of the Death Watcher, Mr. Boone? The person who decides who goes and who stays around here after they’re dead? My wife is that person. And we can both see the people, and know the names of those that you’ve killed. I’d really hate to have them found with you right where they can arrest you. And the bodies will be found, very soon. So, if you don’t
do as we ask, you’ll be arrested when they arrive to dig them up.”

  “Blackmail? That’s very unsporting of you. What is it you think I’m going to do for you? I’m sure that you think you have me over a barrel, but I must tell you, I’m a man with large resources.” Gabe laughed and said he was as well. “What is it, man? You want something from me, tell me, and then I’ll tell you no and we’ll part ways.”

  “Leave the country. I want you to leave as soon as the end of the week, or I’m going to let the dead take care of you. And in order for them to do that, in case you didn’t understand, you’ll be dead as well. They need to be let go from the trappings that you have them in, and the only way to do that is having someone dig them up. Burying them on your estate means that they cannot leave, cannot move on. You leave your estate, now, and I’ll not tell the Feds where you might go. But the seventy-three people that are now behind you waiting their turn with you will have peace.” Boone laughed, but it was a nervous one. “You think that I’m joking?”

  “I do. You wish for me to turn and look. To make sure that there are no ghosts behind me.” Gabe only shrugged. “And that’s quite a high number, don’t you think? I mean, yes, I will admit to you that I’ve taken a few lives, but it’s not possible for the number to be that high.”

  “You remember James O’Neil? The first man you killed? He’s been keeping track. He told us that he’s buried under the new pool that you put in fifteen years ago. Along with two house maids and a butler. And then there is Roselee Perkins. She was carrying your child when you killed her. Knocking her down the stairs.” Boone stood up, and so did Gabe. “By the end of the week, or face the consequences. And don’t worry about Con and his wife. We have it well under control.”

  When he left them, Owen looked at his brother in a new light. Gabe turned to him and smiled. “I liked your idea a lot, but this one will help so many people. Don’t you think?”

  Nodding, he left with his family. The man out front hadn’t made it, it looked like. His neck was broken, and he had a nasty wound to his head. Owen had to remember not to fuck with Quinn either. His family was fucking scary.

  Chapter 6

  Ava looked at the pretty dresses in the window. It was difficult for her not to go inside again, but she was on a mission. Also, she knew that things were going to be tight while they looked for Conrad. She didn’t think that having things on layaway counted as spending money. Conrad needed to be taken care of so that she could have some pretty things.

  “Fatty.”

  Ava looked around when she heard that word. She’d not been fat in a very long time, and hated that word. There wasn’t anyone near her for blocks, so she thought it was the wind. Looking up at the hotel window where she thought their room was, she saw Con. Christ, he looked like he was trying to fly down to her, he was flapping his hands so hard. Making her way to him with the grocery bags full of food that she’d picked up, she heard the word again when she got off the elevator.

  The room they were staying in looked out over the street. As she put in her key card to open it, the door was snatched open by Con. He not only dumped the food on the floor, but her card was snapped in half as well.

  “What is the matter with you?” He told her to shut up and watch. “You can’t talk to me like that, Con. I’m your—”

  “Shut up, Ava. This is important.” The volume to the television was turned up, and she saw that someone was standing in front of an old building. Before she could ask him why she should care, she saw the sign, Sherman Oaks. “They found them. All of them.”

  “You mean the bombs? They found them how, Con? Who would have told them?” He said that he didn’t know, and started to pick up the oranges that she’d gotten for her cheeks. “This is bad, Con. We didn’t even take any sort of precautions when we planted them. We didn’t figure that the place would be in one piece when they went off.”

  “That’s all I’ve been thinking about since it came on the news a little while ago. It’s like there is nothing else going on in the world right now but how we have fucked up.” She didn’t say anything to him about how they’d not mentioned their names in this. He was pissed off enough. “I’m thinking that we need to gather what we can out of this mess and hit the road to home. Nothing here is worth this shit.”

  “Wait. There might be.” He asked her what she was talking about. “I picked up a paper while I was out. It has our kids on the society page. Right on the front. Clare has caught herself a nice big fish.”

  She found the paper under the eggs. They were broken too now, but at this point it didn’t matter. They needed to either recoup their losses, which were big, or they needed to get out of town fast. But Clare could help them better than anyone right now.

  “It says that they had a private ceremony at their home. And that she has taken another Winchester off the market. So? I read that to you yesterday. What does this have to do with us? And how do you know that he has money?” She told him to look it up. He sat at his computer. “Ava, you didn’t buy that dress you were looking at, did you? We just can’t swing that right now.”

  “No, I did not buy it.” She had put it on layaway, but that wasn’t the same as buying it. “Did you find it yet? I swear, you are the slowest person in the world on that thing.”

  “Christ oh mighty, honey. Look at this.” She leaned over his shoulder as he read out loud the stats on this family. “It says that one of them, Caleb, is worth billions, and slated to add more to his portfolio by the end of the year. And one named Tyler has been jetting all over the world looking at his homes for the last several weeks. All over the world, Ava. He’s jetting all over the fucking world.”

  “I know. The one called Dominic, it says that he’s been working with the handicapped since he graduated at the top of his class from Harvard. And that he is using his millions to make some sort of camp for the dummies that are out there. I’m betting that he just loves Conrad, and he’d do just about anything to keep that dumbass from being hurt, don’t you think?” She pointed to the one called Owen. “This is the one that our dearest daughter has found herself hitched to. It’s not a really good picture of him—I can hardly make him out. But, Christ, he’s worth more than some of the deadbeats that we know. And it’s a whole family of them, Con. We could get in good with her, kill them all off, and be the beneficiaries of all of it if we play our cards right in this.”

  Yes, he thought this might work. How, he had no idea, but he could see her giving him some cash for not killing her brother, perhaps. Or her new husband. He would anyway, but she didn’t have to know that.

  “What do we tell her? I mean, you have a plan, honey?” She nodded and smiled. “Oh, this is going to be good. I know it. And when this is done, and we have money from her estate, I’ll let you get your ears dropped like you want.”

  “Really?” He nodded, and she squealed. “This has got to be really good. But we also have to stay one step ahead of the cops. They’re going to come for us soon enough once they figure out that we’re the ones that planted those explosives. So what can we do? I’ll think on it while you whip us up something to eat. Oh, I’m going to only have a salad, no dressing. I weighed myself this morning and I’ve put on a pound and a half. I told you those chips were not fat free. They tasted too good for that.”

  By the time he’d opened the bag of salad fixings and made himself a thick ham sandwich, she’d written down and discarded several options to get the money. Con wasn’t worried. He knew that she’d have a plan so epic that they’d be able to live in style for a long time. Handing her the paper plate, he sat down while she started eating without looking at her food.

  “We have to cozy up to her somehow. I was thinking we’d go there, tell her how we’d been lost at sea or something, and she’d have to believe us. We’re her parents, for Christ’s sake.” He nodded and asked her about Conrad. “He’ll be our second ticket if she’s pissy about that. At first we’ll just take him out for some fun. I haven’t any idea what reta
rds do for fun, do you?”

  “Mess up people’s houses for the most part. Paint their shit on the walls. Shit like that.” She nodded. “Although, I’ve never seen Conrad do that, have you? I mean, for the most part, he was a pretty good kid.”

  “Yes, well, that idea that you had about making it look like he’d hurt Clare was brilliant. We got him out of the house, and she stayed in her room after he was gone. Two birds, one fucking big stone.” They were both laughing when she finished up her salad. “All right. No matter how we have to spin this to get the money, we have to be nice to her and have her let us back into her life. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, I’m worried that I might not want to be seen with her in public. Remember how ugly she was? But short of that, we take her from them, hold her for ransom, and then kill her when we get the cash. She’s really of no use to us once we are rich.”

  “I like plan two if you’re asking.” She said that she did as well. “Good. But like you said, we have to do this quickly or we’re going to be making these plans behind bars. I guess, in hindsight, we should have planned on not getting caught.”

  It took them most of the rest of the night to figure out what they were going to do, how much they were going to ask for, and where to hide her when they got her. They thought about taking Conrad as well, but neither of them could see any good in that. No one wanted to have a retard around, much less pay a ransom for him.

  “I tell you, I wish every day that we’d have done something to him when he was little. You know, had him fall down the stairs or out the window. It would have saved us a great deal of grief, don’t you think?” Ava pointed out that his government checks sure did come in handy. “Yeah, I should have checked on that before we had him put away. I didn’t know they’d take his money too. That really sucked. But like that guy said, we didn’t have to put up with him anymore.”