Hammer nodded. “I dragged her into this mess, I’m going to get her out of it.” He paused as he thought. “Do the cops have some kind of windowless van we can move her in? He knows where she is. He could be waiting tomorrow when she’s released and pick her off right outside the hospital, or through a car window. We have to keep her out of sight until we can button her up.”
Carl nodded. “I’m sure I can scrape up something.”
Hammer offered his hand. “I’ll keep her safe, Mr. Donovan, or die trying.”
Carl took the open palm. “That’s all anyone can ask.”
###
“How’re you feeling?” Carl asked as Lily’s eyes fluttered opened.
“Hey, Dad. Drugged,” she murmured.
Her eyes flicked around the room until she located Hammer. She smiled and reached for him. He stepped to her side, took her hand, and held it.
“The doc said nothing was broken,” Hammer said softly. “They’re going to keep you overnight then release you in the morning.”
“Good,” she replied, her voice thick and slow. “Doesn’t hurt at the moment.”
“That’s because they have you on the good stuff,” Hammer said and gave her hand a squeeze.
Lily looked back to her father. “Some officer I am, huh? You worked forty years as a cop without a scratch. I’m on the job one day and I’m in the hospital.”
Carl chuckled and rubbed her arm. “Don’t worry about it.”
She looked to Hammer and then back to her father. “He saved me.”
“I know.”
“It’s Robert,” Hammer said.
She nodded as she blinked slowly. “How do you know?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. Everyone thought the Souls was the target, but it’s not. I’m the target. He’s trying to hurt me. He is hurting me, by hurting those I care about.”
Lily stared at Hammer for a moment, but let the comment slide. Following up on what he’d said was for later—when her father wasn’t around. She nodded.
“Now that we know who he is, we’ll get him.” She smiled and blinked at him lazily. “I have a few things I want to say to him.”
Hammer nodded in agreement, though he didn’t believe it.
Her meal arrived, and she recounted her adventure to her father as she ate. Hammer smiled but said nothing as Lily, intentionally or not, built him up to an almost super-human level of bravery.
They chatted for about another hour, Hammer listening more than talking, as Lily and Carl discussed how the police could go about catching Robert McBride.
“Lily, I need to go. Joe, nice to finally meet you,” Carl said as he rose, offering his hand again.
“Nice to meet you, Carl,” Hammer replied, shaking his hand.
“Take care of yourself,” Carl as he moved to his daughter’s bed and kissed her softly on the forehead. He gave her a gentle pat on the arm again and smiled down at her. “I like him,” he whispered as Hammer stared out of the window to give them a little privacy. “Just be careful.”
She smiled back at him. “I will,” she whispered in return.
After Carl had left the room, Hammer stepped to her bed and brushed her hair out of her face. “I’m sorry you’ve gotten involved in this,” he said softly. “I should have guessed before.”
“How would you have known?” Lily asked, grimacing as she pushed herself higher up in the bed.
He leaned in and kissed her tenderly. “I’m going to find him, Lily. I’m to going find Robert, and I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done. I owe it to Motor, Stilts, Mike and Wheels. I owe it to you.”
She felt a warmth flow through her, but she couldn’t condone vigilante justice. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret. Let us handle it.”
“If the cops come at him, he’ll fade away into the night. You’ll never catch him. And even if you do, then what? Can you arrest him just because I think it’s him?”
“No, of course not.”
“Even if you find him, what are you going to do?”
“The same thing the police have always done. We’ll gather evidence, build a case against him, and then put him away.” Hammer nodded, but she could tell he didn’t believe her.
“That’s not going to work for him. How are you going to prove it’s him if nobody has seen him? Even if you find him, how will you arrest him? He’s killed four people already. Do you have even one shred of evidence? Anything at all?”
“No,” she finally admitted.
“No,” he repeated. “You can’t arrest him, or if you do, you’ll have to release him, and he’ll be back on the street. At the very least, you’ll tip your hand that you suspect he’s the shooter and that will make him even more careful. And you might be safe, for a while, but so long as Robert is free, you’re in danger. You’ve experienced firsthand what he’s capable of. What’s preventing him from trying again?”
“Nothing, I suppose, but I can’t do my job if I’m going to be afraid of my own shadow.”
“Lily! Robert McBride has no respect for life. It doesn’t matter to him if you’re a cop. I saw him shoot a woman carrying a baby in her arms. He said he thought it was a bomb.” He shook his head. “He’ll never stop. He missed you once. I can’t see him letting that go. He’ll come after you again. I guarantee it.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Tell us what the cops know and let us handle it.”
Her eyes narrowed. “The Souls? And then what? You’ll kill him?” Hammer said nothing. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
“Better him than you.”
“I can’t believe you just said that. The stories are true, aren’t they? You’re nothing but hired thugs and killers.”
Hammer leaned in close. “You listen to me, and you listen good,” he said, his voice cold and hard. “There are bad people out there, people who think the rules don’t apply to them. Robert is one of those people. He has no conscious, no remorse. He’ll laugh in your face if you try to handle him the same way as some accountant who killed his wife’s lover in a fit of rage. He’s an assassin, Lily. He’d rather kill you than talk to you.”
“That doesn’t mean you can just go out and kill him!”
Hammer stood up and glared at her. “Would you rather he kill you? Because he will, Lily. Eventually, he will… unless he’s stopped first.”
“No. But if I condone what you’re talking about, I’m no better than he is.”
“Would you shoot a man in cold blood?”
“Of course not!”
“But you would shoot a man to prevent him from shooting someone else. Because that’s what we’re talking about.”
“There’s one problem with your argument. You don’t know the killer is Robert McBride.”
Hammer pursed his lips. “I know,” he said softly. “If he’s here, it’s him.”
“You don’t know that! You have no proof!”
“I’m not going to let him hurt you again, Lily.”
“I’ll arrest you myself, Hammer. Don’t do this.”
He looked at her then smiled. “Okay. I had to try,” he said.
She watched his face and saw the lie in his words. “I’m tired,” she said, wanting to end the conversation. He had been so charming, laid-back, and fun, she hadn’t believed the rumors… until now.
He nodded. “Get some rest. You’re safe for now.”
She held his gaze as he looked at her, his face a mixture of sorrow and anger. After a moment, he seemed to make up his mind. “Maybe I’ll see you around,” he said with a curt nod before he stepped out of the room.
She watched him leave then closed her eyes, a single tear crawling down her cheek. She sniffed and wiped the tear away. She was in pain, but no amount of medication could take away the ache she felt in her chest.
Chapter Nineteen
When the nurse arrived with the wheelchair, Lily looked around. There were four uniformed officers as her escorts, but the person she really wanted to see
wasn’t present.
Her mind had been playing havoc with her all through the night, replaying their conversation over and over again, trying to find another explanation, any other way to interpret what Hammer had said, but failed. She wanted to see him, to see if maybe in her slightly drugged state she’d misread him and taken something the wrong way, but his absence confirmed that he’d said what he meant, and meant what he’d said.
Having Hammer willing to go to such lengths to protect her both warmed and horrified her. She couldn’t condone the killing of another person in cold blood and without a trial, no matter the provocation. She’d sworn an oath to uphold the law and she couldn’t, no, wouldn’t break it, even if it meant her life. To do so would make her oath meaningless, and that was worse than death.
Lily and her entourage stopped at the front doors of the hospital, the nurse pulling the chair into a corner away from the panes of glass. She pushed herself out of the wheelchair, grimacing in pain, as Officer Wincutte left to fetch the van. When the windowless black Chevy with the police shield on the door rocked to a stop, Officers Singleton, Ryder and Cullen surrounded her as they hustled her out of the building and carefully bundled her into the back. Cullen and Ryder crawled into the back with her, sitting on the floor, as there were no seats, while Wincutte and Singleton sat up front.
“I can’t leave you alone for even a minute without you getting into trouble, can I?” Hunter teased as the van accelerated away.
Lily grinned. “I guess not. I think you forgot to train me on the part about avoiding being shot.”
Hunter smiled at her, but there was no humor in it. “I’m glad you’re okay. When I heard what happened, I nearly shit myself. I came as soon as I found out, but you were in x-ray or something.”
Lily took his hand, seeing how upset Hunter was. “It’s okay.”
Hunter nodded. “I would have never forgiven myself, and your dad would have killed me if anything had happened to you.”
Lily squeezed his hand in support. “I’m a big girl. You don’t have to protect me.”
He nodded, but his eyes had a haunted look about them.
They rode in silence the rest of the way to the station. Wincutte pulled the van onto the sidewalk with the sliding door facing the building. The four officers surrounded Lily and hurried her inside. Lieutenant Dare was waiting for her.
“How’re you feeling, Donovan?”
“Fine sir. A little sore, but ready to return to duty.”
“That’s good to hear. I need to speak to you in my office.”
Lily felt the chill of impending doom but said nothing as she followed Dare into his office.
“Have a seat, Officer,” Dare said as he closed the door behind them.
Lily sat, her heart pounding in her chest. Dare was being very official, and that didn’t bode well for what was coming.
He sat behind his desk then leaned forward onto his elbows, interlacing his fingers in front of him. “I’ll come straight to the point. I’m placing you on administrative duty until further notice.”
Lily felt like she had been slapped. “Yes, sir,” she said, pursing her lips in anger and frustration.
“At ease, Officer,” he said. “This is no reflection on your performance.”
“Then why, sir?”
“Several reasons. First and foremost, you’re a target. Carl told me what was going down. Until we apprehend McBride, or whoever the shooter turns out to be, putting you back on the street simply paints a target on your back.” Dare smiled. “It reflects poorly on me if one of my officers gets killed, and I’d like to avoid that if possible. The second reason is you’re not one hundred percent by your own admission. The final reason is because we don’t have another vest for you. We don’t keep extra female vests in supply since we have relatively few female officers.”
She didn’t like it one bit that her dad had meddled. “Once my new vest arrives, and I’m back to one hundred percent, I can return to duty?”
“Lily, you’re not being suspended. You’re being temporarily assigned to administrative duty. It’s for your protection, and before you say anything, yes, if any other officer were being targeted like this, I would pull them off the street, male or female. We go out every day with the chance of being shot or killed. I’m not going to put any of my officers at extra risk unnecessarily. If we have the shooter in custody, you can return to patrol as soon as your vest arrives.”
“When will that be, sir?”
“About a week.”
She relaxed. She was toughing it out, but her chest did still hurt like a bitch. In a week, she should be back to full speed. “But if McBride isn’t in custody by then?”
Dare frowned. “Then, I’m sorry to say, you’ll remain on administrative duty until we either catch the perp, or we’ve determined you’re no longer in immediate danger.”
“And if he starts targeting officers at random?”
“So far he hasn’t been targeting officers, except for you. If that changes and he begins to fire on other officers…” Dare paused, his mouth going hard. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“But if he does?” she pressed.
“If he does… then we’ll need all the help we can get, and you’ll have to take your chances just like all the other officers.”
She nodded in understanding, and then licked her lips. “Any leads?”
Dale grimaced and leaned back in his chair. “Only the name you gave us. It looks like a solid lead. We contacted the Paris PD yesterday, and they did some checking for us. Seems Mr. Robert McBride hasn’t reported to work for almost six weeks and nobody can remember seeing him, or his car, for about the same amount of time. We’re throwing everything we’ve got into bringing this… guy… to justice.”
She nodded and gave a weak smile. She had the impression Dare almost called McBride something other than “guy.” They had a lead to be sure, but even if they caught McBride in Amberton, that didn’t constitute proof. As much as she hated to admit it, Hammer had a point about not being able to hold him. They needed something, anything , to tie him to the murders, or in her case, attempted murder.
“Understood, sir.” She didn’t like it, but his reasoning was sound. As long as he didn’t keep her on administrative duty forever, she could live with it.
“Any questions?”
“No, sir.”
“Very well. See Sergeant May for your assignment. Dismissed.”
She stood, came to attention, then pirouetted on her toe and walked out. Cullen had brought her uniform to the hospital, and she was technically released for duty, so she didn’t have an excuse to not work.
As she stepped out of Dare’s office, all the patrol officers and most of the administrative staff were standing there and began to clap. Somebody had printed an Ironman mask and glued it to a piece of cardboard with cutout eyeholes and an elastic band. Beaming, Hunter stepped forward and slipped it over her face.
“Okay, everyone, remember! If we’re in a firefight, everyone stand behind Lily!” Ed said, causing everyone to cheer as he stepped back.
She smiled behind the mask, allowing her brothers and sisters to have their fun, using the time to gather herself so she wouldn’t cry. When she thought she had enough control, she pushed the mask to the top of her head.
“Oh my God! Ironman is Lily Donovan!” an officer cried out in mock surprise.
Lily grinned as she pulled off the mask. “Know what you call Ironman without his suit? Stark naked.”
The assembled officers laughed, groaned and made disparaging remarks about her sense of humor.
Dare stepped out of his office. “Is there anyone out there protecting the good citizens of Amberton?” he asked, but his tone was mild, and he was smiling. “Back to work, people. Officer Donovan has some filing or something to do. Cullen, Ryder, you’re on protection detail today.”
“Yes, sir,” Cullen said then looked at Lily. “Be back in few hours to take you home. Don’t go anyw
here.”
Lily looked around as the group began to break up. “Where am I going to go?”
###
“I have a name,” Hammer said. The Souls was meeting in one of the private rooms of Pioneer Grille. “Robert McBride. I want him. I want him bad.”
“Who the fuck is Robert McBride?” Knife asked as he looked around the room to see if anybody recognized the name.
DADDY AT THE ALTAR Page 40
