Barshan (Bratva Blood Brothers Book 3)

by K. J. Dahlen

  Bull and the others watched as the car drove away. “That son of a bitch.”

  “We really need to end that fucker’s career.” Judge growled. “Not only for his part in the drug trade but also for Pony and Blue’s murders.”

  “Amen to that,” the others all agreed. “We just have to prove it. That’s the tricky part. We need to prove it in a court of law or a military tribunal.”

  Judge turned to Charlie and searched her face for a moment. “You told Bull you witnessed a murder of an FBI agent and got caught shortly after that.”

  Charlie nodded.

  “What was he doing there?”

  Charlie paled and began to sweat. She looked over at Bull then back at Judge. Swallowing hard, she knew she would have to tell them, she just prayed they would believe her. Wrapping her hand around her throat, she told them, “He was searching for two other agents who disappeared three months ago.”

  Judge stared at her then looked at his men, then back at her again. “So there are three agents missing, presumed dead now?”

  Charlie shook her head. “Three agents dead. The Ratz killed the first two months ago. Then they killed the third one a few days ago.”

  “Can you prove it?”

  Charlie nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know where the bodies are buried.”

  “Damn, no wonder the Ratz want her so bad.” Hawk whistled.

  Charlie shook her head. “They don’t know anything for sure. When they were beating the hell out of me, they kept asking if I had seen the third man only. They have no idea I know where the first two are. No one does.”

  “Damn Commander, “Hawk pointed out. “The government is going have a hay day with the evidence she’s got. She’s not only a witness to the death of three FBI agents; she’s got a link between a street gang, a drug runner and the cartel, plus the cartel and a member of the government of Texas. They’re gonna want her in WITSEC for sure after they bust everything up and the trials are over.”

  Charlie backed away and began shaking her head. “No, I won’t do it.”

  Bull went over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Hush now,” he told her gently. “We have a lot to do before that can happen.”

  Charlie turned to him and with tears running down her face she whispered, “I can’t testify. I won’t testify. I can tell you where the bodies are buried and what I know but I can’t go to court.”

  “Why not?” Judge demanded. “What else are you hiding?”

  “I’ll never be safe.” Charlie insisted. She couldn’t tell them the real reason she was afraid. She could never tell anyone that. “You don’t know these people. No one does and that scares me. The cops can’t protect me for the rest of my life and any one of them could come after me. Maybe not tomorrow or even the next day, but someday in the future, after the government declares me safe. Then they would come after me. I can’t put my life on that kind of line or I won’t live very long. As it is I probably won’t live very long and I don’t want to die before I’m twenty one years old. I have a baby boy to protect.”

  “A baby that isn’t even yours to protect,” Judge insisted.

  “His mother is dead and I won’t turn him over to his father.” Charlie snarled as she pulled away from Bull’s embrace. “He doesn’t deserve him. He doesn’t even know the boy is alive and that’s something I never want him to know. That’s the only reason Braden is safe. His father doesn’t know he’s alive and I’m going to keep it that way.” By this time, her throat was on fire and the bandage was turning red. She felt the strain and her words dwindled to nothing more than a bare whisper.

  Bull hauled her into his arms and tried to hush her. “You shouldn’t talk. You’re hurting yourself by pushing it.”

  Charlie struggled to break free but Bull held her tighter. Then she brought up her knee and hit his groin. Bull sucked in his breath and doubled over releasing her. Cupping his balls, he groaned as he slid to the floor.

  Charlie stepped away from him and growled, “Don’t tell me what to do.”

  She raised her eyes to Judge and glared at the other man. “You don’t get to tell me what to do either. Braden is mine to protect and I will protect him. The only way I know how to do that is to live long enough to see him grow up and that doesn’t mean being a blabbermouth. I have already said too much.”

  She had tears running down her face by the time she was done. By then, she could barely be heard and her throat was raw. She could feel something slick running down to her chest but she wouldn’t reach up to contain the blood. Instead, she turned and went back to the small bed she’d been using. Laying down on the mattress, she turned her back to the men standing behind her. Reaching for the blanket, she pulled it up over her shoulders and closed her eyes.

  Bull slowly got to his feet and stumbled over to the table. Sitting down gingerly, he glared at Judge. No one said a word but then they didn’t have to. Everyone knew they’d just lost Charlie’s help in this investigation.

  * * * *

  It was midafternoon before Charlie got up and made her way to the bathroom. After taking care of business, she stared at herself in the mirror. Her throat hurt like hell and she knew the dried blood would not help matters at all. Looking around the spacious bathroom, she noted the first aid kit sitting on the chair. It was open and the items she needed to rewrap her throat were laying on top.

  Wetting a wash cloth with hot water, she pressed it on her throat to loosen the gauze around her wound. Again and again, she did this until she felt the gauze give way. Taking up the small scissors, she cut the old gauze and threw it in the wastebasket.

  Wetting the cloth again, she dabbed at the wound. It was red and swollen but not bleeding anymore. That was in her favor. Taking up a clean cloth, she dried the wound the best she could. Going back to the first aid kit, she found the antibiotic cream and fresh gauze and rewrapped her throat.

  When she was done, her eyes caught the small dark red birthmark on her left wrist. She never knew what it was until now and now whenever she saw it she wanted to cry. Taking up the gauze again, she wrapped it around her wrist until the birthmark was no longer visible.

  Her fingers brushed the tears away and she glared at the mirror again. She’d never known who her father was until now and she hated the man. When she lost her mother all those years ago, she thought she was alone in the world. And now as far as she was concerned, she still was.

  Just then, her stomach growled. She felt weak but she didn’t know if it was due to still recovering from the beating or lack of real food for several days. Either way it wasn’t good. Cleaning up after herself, Charlie opened the door to find Bull standing there.

  She just stared at him without saying a word.

  Bull reached out and grabbed her hand. He didn’t say anything either as he led her to back to the table.

  There was a protein shake waiting there for her. Taking her hand back, she sat down and began to sip on the drink. The liquid was cool on her throat and she welcomed the feeling. The coolness soothed the fire in her throat. She stared at the table rather than meet his eyes, or any of the other men’s eyes.

  Bull grabbed a notepad and wrote something on the paper then pushed it toward her.

  She looked briefly at the two simple words he’d written then closed her eyes.

  “I’m sorry.”

  A moment later, she opened them again and reached for the pen. “Me too.”

  “How’s your throat?” he whispered.

  “Not so good at the moment.” She wrote. Pausing she added, “How are your balls? Sorry for the cheap shot but I didn’t want to be there.”

  Bull chuckled. “I had it coming I guess but please don’t make a habit of doing it. It hurt like hell.”

  Charlie hesitated then wrote, “I meant what I said, I won’t testify and I won’t put Braden at risk. I’ll cooperate to a certain point but no future.”

  “I know and Judge knows that too.” Bull insisted. “He was wrong to push you the way he did. But
he’s been after this drug dealer for longer than any of us knew about. When we lost Pony and Blue, it cut us all to the quick. Judge made it his business to find out why two good men had to die, why they were sacrificed for some poison. There isn’t enough money on this earth to cover the cost of their lives.”

  “I’m sorry for your friends and I’m sorry I can’t help more than I am but I have to protect Braden.” Charlie wrote

  Bull smiled sadly. “He knows that and so do I. I just wish it were different.”

  “Me too, but it isn’t.” Charlie lifted the pen for a moment then added, “What are you going to do about Bane?”

  Bull raised his head and stared out the window for a moment before he finally looked at her. “I don’t know yet. But I do know one thing, I won’t fight for him.”

  Charlie exhaled. Then groaned as fire raced down her throat. Closing her eyes, she mouthed the words “Fuck that hurt.” Then with tears in her eyes, she stared at him for a moment then put the pen to paper and wrote, “Then you might have to kill him before he kills you.”

  Bull’s eyes got hard as he turned his stare to her. “That might happen anyway. The way I feel right now none of these bastards are gonna live very long.”

  Charlie closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, she smiled.

  * * * *

  The smile lit up her whole face and Bull couldn’t help but stare at her. She was beautiful even in her beaten state. He almost couldn’t wait to see her without the black and blue on her skin.

  Hawk came over to the table and sat down with them. He sat quietly for a moment then offered his own apology, “I think we got off on the wrong foot before.” He shrugged. “It’s just that we’ve been tracking this group for a long time now and not making any connections, then you come along and boom, suddenly everything becomes clears. It kinda blew us away from a moment.”

  Charlie stared at the man for a moment then shrugged. Then she put pen to paper. “What do you want me to say?”

  Hawk read it and shook his head. “There isn’t’ anything you can say. But what I said earlier is true. We have to take this to the authorities. We have to do this the legal way so they can’t wiggle out of it. We need justice for Pony and Blue.”

  Charlie shook her head. “You won’t get your justice through the courts.” She finally wrote. “They think they can buy their way out of any charge brought against them. They’ve done it before and will again.”

  Hawk tightened his lips and glared at her. “We don’t do vigilantly justice. That’s murder and we aren’t killers.”

  “But Bane and Paolo are.” She wrote. “They sure as hell aren’t going to court to try to beat the charges. They’ll come after you first, and they won’t stop until the threat is gone. They’ll keep coming after you until they are dead or you are. That’s just the way they are.”

  “They won’t find us so easy to kill.” Hawk growled.

  “Is your pride worth another of your men’s lives? Maybe even your own?”

  Chapter Eight

  It was late afternoon when Charlie got tired of Judge staring at her all the time. She was sitting at the table with Bull most of the time since she’d gotten up. His eyes seemed to follow her wherever she went and it was creeping her out. She’d felt everyone’s eyes on her at some point during the afternoon but it was Judge’s eyes that bothered her the most. Finally, she took the paper, wrote another note, and shoved it at Bull.

  Bull read it and chuckled. He looked up at her then turned to his commander. “She wants you to quit staring at her, she says if you have a question ask her or leave her alone.”

  Tank made the mistake of chuckling and got a hard head slap for his troubles. He glared at Judge while the other man stomped over to where Bull and Charlie were sitting. Pulling out a chair, everyone heard it scraping across the wooden floor.

  Flopping down in the chair, Judge glared at both of them for a moment then finally said, “I don’t appreciate you telling Hawk to kill a man.”

  Charlie stared at him for a moment before she shrugged. “It will be him or you in the end.” She wrote. “And you fucking know it, if you hesitate for one second you and your men will be dead before you can pull the trigger.”

  “How do you know?” Judge demanded.

  “Because that’s the sort of men they are. I’ve been watching this men for three years now and I’ve seen both their eyes, neither one of them has a soul or any redeeming qualities. They both come from the pits of hell and they both need to go back into the fire.”

  Judge read the words she wrote and crumpled the page they were written on. Then he glared at her and growled, “And I won’t become like them. I won’t murder a man just because he needs it. I won’t do that.”

  Charlie shrugged and continued to stare at him. After a few minutes she wrote, “Then be a better man than they are but you won’t win this fight. Neither of them knows you guys are here at the moment, so they don’t think there is any threat yet, but once they know you and your men are out there, they will hunt you down and take you out. They won’t get their hands dirty by doing the deed themselves but they have scores of men willing to shed blood on their behalf. You won’t even see the bullet with your name on it and by the time you do it’ll be too late. That’s just how they roll. ”

  Judge pushed to his feet and swore at her, “Fuck you bitch. You can go to hell yourself.” He then turned and stomped away from her. He went over to the brick wall and threw his fist into the cement and mortar. When he was finished, he cradled his hand and there was a good sized blob of red left on the wall.

  Bull leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “Boy you sure know how to piss a person off don’t you? I’ve never seen him this mad before.”

  Charlie shrugged. Then she turned to him and whispered, “I don’t want you to die for that sack of shit.”

  “Hush, don’t try to speak,” Bull murmured. “You’ll really hurt your throat.”

  Charlie wet her lips with the tip of her tongue and looked the man in the eyes before she made her move. She’d never initiated this sort of move before but she wanted to now. She leaned in closer and pressed her lips against his. It was supposed to be just a fleeting touch but once they connected, she couldn’t pull herself away from him. The kiss deepened for a moment then Bull broke it off.

  Bull was shocked at the kiss and he froze for a moment then he gently pulled himself back. When he did, he saw red darken her features and she couldn’t meet his eyes. She struggled to get away from him but he wouldn’t let her escape.

  Wrapping his huge arms around her waist, he pulled her to him. “You know a man could get used to sweet kisses like that,” he whispered in her ear.

  More red colored her face and she dipped her head to hide from him.

  Then he made the mistake of looking up at his friends. Seeing their faces made him cringe. There was shock and disappointment on each and every one of them. Then Bull buttoned down his own emotions and let her escape his embrace. He glared at the members of his team and turned his head away from them.

  Charlie scrambled back over to the bed and sat there with her knees pulled up and her arms wrapped around them. She couldn’t look at anyone else in the room.

  Hawk finally came over to the bed and stood there for a moment before he asked her, “You said you knew where the bodies of the FBI agents are located. Can you tell us?”

  Charlie sat there for a moment, then grabbed her notebook. She began to write something and when she finished she handed the paper to Hawk. Then she got up and walked to the bathroom. When she closed the door, the tears began.

  She only let a few fall before she reined in her feelings again. Taking a deep breath she washed her face and straightened her shoulders then went back outside. Going back to the bed, she curled up again and watched as the men worked on finding a map to locate the bodies of the FBI agents.

  She searched the room for Bull and found him staring at a computer screen alongside of Tank. Hawk a
nd Mustang were at another computer and Wild Child was at a third screen. Judge was standing behind them keeping an eye on everything.

  Watching them for a moment, she suddenly frowned as another thought flooded her memory. She hadn’t thought of it since it happened two years ago but now she remembered. Her focus had been on finding the man behind Maggie’s kidnapping but now she remembered something that might help.

  Grabbing up her notebook she began to write. After about twenty minutes, she looked up to find everyone looking at her. She grabbed the notebook tight in her hands then got to her feet, went over to Bull and handed him the papers.

  Bull searched her face briefly then read what she wrote. He frowned as he read it then his frown deepened when he handed the pages to Judge. He came over to her and wrapping his arms around her, he whispered harshly, “That was a very stupid thing for you to do. He could have killed you.”

  “I know, believe me I know,” she whispered back. “I don’t know why I even went there and I didn’t intend on taking anything when I left. I don’t even know why I grabbed it but I did. I didn’t even look at it before I hid it. I just wanted to get to a safe place.”

  “How did you get into his office?” Bull frowned.

  “Yes, please tell us all how the hell you got into Conrad Bane’s office without getting caught.” Judge snarled from behind her. “You are either very stupid or working with him. Is that it? Are you working with that bastard? Is that how you know so much about his operations?”

  Charlie stiffened but didn’t turn around. She could feel the man’s rage slamming her. Instead, she looked into Bull’s eyes. Judge’s words were harsh but they were only words. But his words hurt her worse than a beating. To have them doubt her hurt worse than the beating Jermanio had given her.

  Bull felt her begin to tremble. He’d been about to tell Judge to go to hell then he looked her in the eyes and felt his own heart break. Her welling tears set his blood on fire. He glared over the top of her head at Judge and the others. They had no cause to even think that thought let alone say it out loud. She hadn’t done anything to make them think that.