DADDY AT THE ALTAR

by Claire St. Rose

  “Helping the police catch his guy is helping protect her.”

  “It’s not enough. I want to get her out of town.”

  “Hammer, I don’t know what happened after I left the hospital, but she doesn’t want to see you right now.”

  “You’ve talked to her?”

  “Yes, after I found out the department is struggling.”

  “Then you get her out of town.”

  “She doesn’t want to go.”

  Hammer closed his eyes. He liked her fire and kick ass, “take no prisoners attitude,” but now wasn’t the time. “Then you need to convince her. Get her out of town, and I’ll stay and help the police as much as I can.”

  “Can you come to my house tonight, say about four? I’ll get Lily there, and we’ll try to work out something everyone can live with.”

  Hammer was quiet for a moment. “I’ll be there.”

  “Good. I’m trusting you, Hammer. I know what your club does. Show me you’re more than just hired thugs.”

  Hammer nodded even though Carl couldn’t see him. “We’re on the same side on this, Carl. You can trust me.”

  “I’ll see you at four,” Carl said and gave him his address, then hung up.

  Hammer looked at his phone then tossed it aside and started his truck. He didn’t like being trapped in a cage, but it was too dangerous to be riding. He put the truck in gear and pulled out of his parking spot, going to the first location he wanted to check.

  ###

  Robert sat in his Honda, watching through a spotting scope as the two officers escorted the Donovan chick to a patrol car. The police were swarming around like ants. He’d watched them as they scurried about and he smiled to himself. They were always at least two steps behind him. Part of being a good sniper was striking when and where you were least expected. It was part of the terror campaign that made snipers so effective.

  They expected him to hit at her apartment, the hospital or the police station. He’d toyed with the idea of doing just that, just to show he could, but then decided that being predictable wasn’t in his best interest. He was watching, to keep track of her movements, but his was just another car in a parking lot full of cars.

  He’d hurt Hammer. He’d killed five of his friends, and a little girl. That had to be eating him alive, knowing that he was the cause of her death. He’d seen the news and the town was now against him, with everyone calling for his gang’s arrest on principle. That was a bonus.

  The only thing that wasn’t going perfectly was the Donovan woman who didn’t have the decency to die after he’d shot her. He’d hit her, but as soon as she went down, he’d known it wasn’t a kill. The 30.06 just didn’t have the range to reach out and touch someone like his sniper rifle did, and he hadn’t allowed enough drop. It would have still been a kill had she not been wearing armor, but she was.

  Having Lee come out of nowhere to drag her to safety… that had been a surprise. How he’d missed Grimes arriving he didn’t know, but that had convinced him he had to get out of there. With Grimes there, there was a very real risk that he, or the police, would discover his hide. He’d decided the risk of staying was greater than the risk of fleeing, so he had slowly crept along the edge of the hedges until he had reached the point with the most cover, then had risen, tucked his rifle under his long coat along with his net, and calmly strolled away. That was why he’d waited until the weather had turned cold to exact his revenge. Bulky clothing and long coats gave him plenty of options to conceal the tools of his trade.

  Robert stayed well back from the cruiser giving Donovan the ride home. He knew where they were going, he only had to keep them in sight to confirm. But then they didn’t turn where he expected. Surprised, he worked his way closer so he wouldn’t lose them. He didn’t like following too close with the police on alert, but he had to keep them in sight. He’d replaced the Texas plates on his car with one he’d removed from another white Honda Accord as he worked his way across South Carolina. He’d stolen two plates and was keeping an eye open for another Accord like his own so he could pick up another one, but he was still in danger of being spotted.

  He had to assume they knew what he looked like, so he’d grown his beard out and dyed his hair, but being in so close still made him nervous. Still, this was a break in routine, and that often made for an opportunity.

  He followed the cruiser, staying as far back as he could, dropping farther and farther back as the traffic thinned until he’d seen the patrol car pull into a drive. He’d turned at the next intersection, and then driven around the block to appear at the intersection on the other side. He had the house, now he had to figure out if he could set up, and where. He may have to try to do what he’d done with Morgan… get in close and shoot from his car.

  This was a scramble, but he wanted that Donovan chick. He wanted to give her the Finger. He smiled, remembering how his company had started using the term for a kill, playing on his nickname. She’d gotten lucky once. She wasn’t likely to have that much luck a second time.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I’m not leaving town, Dad!” Lily said firmly. “This is my home, and I’ve sworn to protect it.”

  “I know,” Carl said. “I understand how you feel. But if McBride is as dangerous as Hammer says, you’re taking a lot of risk by staying.”

  “I think you’ve helped me enough, don’t you?” she asked, her eyes flashing in anger.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You, talking to Dare.”

  “I did no such thing!”

  “No? He said he talked to you.”

  “Well, I did talk to him, but all I did was pass along information. I gave the same information to the detectives too. I had nothing to do with you being assigned to administrative duty.”

  “Righhht,” Lily said, drawing the word out in a long drawl. “The most decorated police officer on the force in fifty years just casually mentions how dangerous some guy is, and poof, suddenly his daughter is a desk jockey.”

  “And I’m telling you I had nothing to do with it. Are you suggesting I withhold information that might be vital to the investigation from the police?”

  “No. I’m suggesting that I’m a big girl and can make my own decisions.”

  “Yes, yes you are. But are you willing to put your fellow officer’s lives in danger?”

  “That’s low, Dad,” she growled, her hands bunching into fists.

  “No, it’s not. It’s the truth. This McBride asshole almost shot a little girl just because he could. If he wants to take you out, you think he’s going to have any problem shooting a hole in your protection detail? I don’t.”

  “I never asked for that.”

  “I know you wanted to go right back on the streets. That’s admirable. But you need to start thinking strategically, not just tactically.”

  “What I think is I could be a lot more use out there trying to catch this guy, instead of filling out paperwork.”

  Before Carl could answer, there was a rap on the door. He rose from his chair and moved toward the door. Despite knowing McBride wasn’t going to knock, Lily’s heart began to pound. Carl opened the door, Hammer stepped in, and Carl quickly closed the door behind him.

  “What’s he doing here?” Lily demanded.

  “I asked him to come. He’s agreed to help the police track down McBride.”

  “Oh, he has, has he?” She glared at Hammer. “He just wants to know what we know so he can find him first. Did you tell Dad what you told me?”

  Carl looked at Lily then at Hammer. “What did you tell her?”

  “I told her that I was going to find him and make him pay for what he did,” Hammer said, his voice firm. “That’s even truer now after he shot Goose and attempted to get his little girl too. I told her that so long as Robert was free, she would have a target on her back.” He paused and met Carl’s gaze. “And I told her I wasn’t going to let him hurt her.”

  Carl held Hammer’s gaze then looked at Lily. “H
e wants what everyone wants—McBride off the street.”

  “You’ve got to be shitting me! Didn’t you hear what he said? Do you honestly believe ‘make him pay for what he did’ means a trial by his peers?” Lily asked.

  “What I hear is a man that wants to get a dangerous killer off the streets. I also hear a man that wants to make sure my daughter is safe.”

  Lily made a guttural noise as she threw up her hands. “So we’re into vigilante justice now? Might as well disband the court system. We don’t need them anymore. We’ll just let the mob decide who lives and who dies. I can’t believe you’re onboard with that, Dad! You were a cop for almost forty years!”

  “I may have been a cop for forty years, but I’ve also been your father for twenty-six. I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect my daughters, and like it or not, you’re one of them. If you think I wouldn’t shoot this bastard myself before he had a chance to kill you, you’re wrong.”

  “That’s different, and you know it!”

  Carl pursed his lips and sat down. “There are three kinds of people, Lily. Wolves, sheep, and sheepdogs. You’re a sheepdog, Lily, just as I was. I think, in his own way, Hammer is one too. We may not approve of his methods, but sometimes, doing the wrong thing for the right reason is the right thing to do.”

  Lily felt like she’d just been punched in the stomach. She remembered thinking those exact words when she was getting Hammer’s story from Motor. It wasn’t until this moment that she realized where she’d heard them first.

  “You’d condone killing a man without a trial?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

  “No. But I’ll condone whatever measures are necessary to protect my daughter. Let’s go to the cabin,” Carl suggested. “You haven’t been there in years.”

  “You have a cabin?” Hammer asked.

  Carl looked at him. “Yeah. A couple of hours from here, in Tuckasegee, North Carolina.”

  “Never heard of it. Small place? Someplace where everyone knows everyone?”

  “I’d say so, yeah.” Carl turned to Lily. “I see what he’s driving at. It’s a good plan.”

  “I can’t just leave work, Dad,” she protested. “I can’t go running away every time the job gets dangerous. What kind of cop would that make me?”

  Carl sighed. “I know. This is all you’ve ever wanted to do, and you’ve worked hard for it. You’re going to make a fine officer, Lily. I’m so proud of you. But if you’re dead, you can’t protect anybody.” Carl’s face tightened as he fought his emotions. “When Dare called and told me you’d been shot, I was so scared. I’d thought I’d lost you.” He looked at Lily then removed his glasses and wiped his eyes. “I can’t lose you again.”

  Lily softened and moved to her father, going to her knees in front of him. She took his hands. “It’s part of the job, Dad. You know that.”

  He pulled one of his hands out of hers and gave it a pat. “I know. But this is different. This man targeted you once. I agree with Hammer. I think he will try again. I don’t want him to have another chance.”

  Lily sighed. “I don’t have any vacation.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ll clear it with the chief if I have to.”

  “A week,” Lily said, returning to her chair. “My new vest should be here in a week. After that, I return to work, okay? And I don’t want you talking to the chief, either. I’ll talk to Lieutenant Dare. He has to approve it without your meddling. If he says no, I don’t go. Agreed?”

  “Agreed.”

  Carl looked at Hammer. “How are we going to handle this? You know how this guy thinks, right? Will he be watching her? If he is, if we go to the mountains, won’t he just follow us? The cabin is on five acres, on the side of the mountain. He’ll have unlimited hiding places to take a shot at her there.”

  Hammer thought for a moment. “I don’t know if he’s watching her or not. I think we should assume he is. I’d suggest that she goes to work tomorrow, just like normal. Don’t break the routine. Once you get it sorted, meet her and have her go out the back somewhere, get in your car, and go straight there. Call me when you’re ready to pick her up, and I’ll make a sweep, just in case.”

  “We can get some officers to help,” Carl suggested.

  “No. That will only tip him off that something’s up if he’s watching. We want it to look like a normal day with the same routine.”

  “Why won’t you tip him off?” Lily asked.

  “I might, but he won’t know why I’m snooping around. I’ve already been doing it.”

  “You’ve been watching me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s stalking, you know.”

  “Get over it.”

  She smiled, secretly pleased.

  After he ran across the parking lot and dragged her to safety, despite being unable to condone his killing of McBride, she still looked at him as her guardian angel. Knowing he was watching over her softened her feelings toward him.

  “How am I going to get home? Want me to have a unit pick me up?”

  “I’ll take you home, if you’ll let me,” Hammer offered.

  Goddamn him. She wanted to break it off with him. She’d had her fling, and even had started to have some feelings for him, but this only showed how wrong they were for each other. But dammit, his seeming unwavering dedication to protecting her, despite how she treated him, was making him irresistible.

  “It’s too cold to ride on the back of your bike,” she tried. “Dangerous too.”

  “Good thing I came in my truck, huh?”

  She stared at him and then smiled. “Okay, fine. I still don’t approve of what you said, though. And I meant it when I said I’d arrest you myself.”

  He nodded. “Every brother still alive is willing to go to prison for murder to get his guy for what he’s done. Myself included. Anyone that tries to shoot a kid deserves anything that happens to them. You do what you think you have to.”

  She’d meant what she’d said, but she’d issued the threat in teasing this time to remind him. It also gave him an out, a chance to deny he’d kill McBride if given the chance. His response wasn’t what she expected. She’d expected him to back off on his statement about killing McBride so they could both pretend what he’d said in the hospital was said in the heat of the moment. But rather than backpedal, he’d doubled down. While she appreciated his honesty, she didn’t want him to go to prison.

  “Just help us find him. We’ll make sure he pays for what he’s done.”

  He hadn’t talked to his brothers about it, but maybe that was another way. If the cops could put him away, the Souls could arrange an… accident… in prison. He would talk to Knife about it tomorrow and see what options they had—kill McBride if they could get away with it, but if they could get their justice without having to sacrifice another brother, that would be a better play. He made up his mind.

  “Okay. I’ll do my best to help the police to find him.”

  She suspected that was the best she was going to get out of him, and she was suspicious that he’d given in so easily, but she’d take it. “Hammer. Don’t do something stupid.”

  He didn’t smile. “You worry about keeping yourself safe. I’ll worry about finding McBride.”

  “It’s settled then. Lily, you talk to Dare, and I’ll wait on you to call me. I think this is the best plan we’re likely to come up with until we get another lead. But Hammer, how are you going to protect your people?”

  Hammer pursed his lips. “We’re staying on the move so he can’t predict where we’re going to be. That’s the best we can do.”

  “Your people could lay low and let the police handle it,” Lily suggested.

  Hammer shook his head. “No. I’m not even going to suggest it because the brothers would just ignore me. Better for us to coordinate our efforts. But his is a two-way street, right? If we tell the police what we know, the police will tell us what they know? You need us. People might talk to us rather than talk to
the police.”

  Carl nodded. “Leave that to me. I’ll convince them that working with you is in everyone’s best interest.”

  “Good enough. Are you ready to go?” Hammer asked, looking at Lily.

  “How about a beer before you go, to celebrate the cooperation between the police and the Souls?”

  “You’re optimistic,” Hammer said.

  “If you’ll hold up your end of the bargain, I’ll see to it the police uphold theirs. I still have friends on the force. I can’t promise the information will come through official channels, but I promise you’ll know everything there is to know.”