“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He looked around, as if expecting someone to come out and help him. “Where did you get that information? From Vance? He doesn’t know shit. I’m working to pay it back.”
“To who?” She couldn’t get a grip on the names that were floating around in his head. He was too stressed out, his mind a jumble of thoughts and rules. “What do you think they’re going to say to you when they find out you’ve broken your cover? They’re not going to be happy with you, are they?”
Moving as close to him as she could without alerting him, she kept searching while she spoke. There wasn’t any way that she was going to get much, not with his mind like it was, but one thing that she did know…he knew it was only a matter of time before Vance and Samuel found out. That was information that she could work with.
But before she could say anything, even if she had known what to say, the police pulled up. He had his gun out and pointed at them when she saw Vance coming up behind him. When Joey turned toward the sound, she nearly rushed him when Vance spoke to the officer.
“You left me.” Vance said nothing, but continued to talk to the cop when Sawyer screamed at him. Whatever they were discussing, the cop seemed hesitant about it. Joey yelled at Vance to tell him where he’d been. “You are supposed to have taken me with you. That isn’t the way partners work. What are you doing now?”
The officer handed the rifle out of his car to Vance. She knew what was going to happen the moment Vance put the gun to his shoulder and aimed it at Joey. The man had this coming, but she didn’t want anyone to be hurt. Looking at Aisha, she spoke to her through a link.
Don’t move. He won’t hurt you, but don’t move. She said she was pissed off. Yes, so am I, but this is going to be a good thing. A problem that Vance needed taken care of for his mission.
You mean he told this man to.... No, he’d not do that. Not Vance. Raven nodded. He’s going to kill him, isn’t he?
The shot rang out, and it was a full second before Joey’s head snapped back. Going to Aisha, she held her in her arms when Joey fell back. It was over in a matter of seconds, and the problem was taken care of for a lot of people.
The other brothers showed up just as the ambulance did. Raven wasn’t sure, but she thought they’d been told to stand back and to let Vance take care of this. He would have been her choice too in having to kill the man. The amount of concentration and precision to kill a man that far away who was holding his mom would have taken a pro. And Raven was positive that Vance was that and more.
The Army personnel showed up just as Vance was being questioned. There was no doubt that he was going to be in trouble for this. The police were there, and had backed up every word that he said. Even her and her mother-in-law had told them what had happened three times before they finally took the cuffs off him. Vance was told he could go home, but not to leave the state if he knew what was good for him.
Of course, Aisha had something to say about that too. “You are treating him like he’s the one that had a gun to my head. The person that came into my house while I was having a lovely cup of tea and a warm scone is dead because my son came here and saved me. Joey, or whatever his name was, he broke my favorite tea cup and hit me with that gun.” When the man in the uniform called her ma’am, like he was going to female-splain things to her, Aisha lost her tight control on her emotions. “You try and sweep me under the rug and I will wrap you up in it and bury you in the back yard. That man tried to kill me. He threatened my family. He hurt me, and he took me hostage. And all you have to say to my son, who saved me when you couldn’t, is for him not to leave town. I should beat your ass, that’s what I should do. The nerve of some people…. He hit me with that gun he had pointed at my head.”
“Mrs. McCade, perhaps I can help you with this.” Raven could almost taste the man’s hatred. Not at them, but at Vance. She didn’t know who he was, not really, but he was talking to Aisha about saving the country and the stress of it. “And if you’ll allow me to, I’ll have a set of the White House china sent to you as my gift for all that you’ve gone through.”
The president. She knew his face, somewhat, but had only seen it in newspapers that she didn’t read much, and blurbs on television. Raven looked at Vance as the president went on to explain how they’d had their eyes on Sawyer for some time now, and they were very sorry that it had come to this. Then he assured her that Vance was in no more trouble than she was, and left it at that.
As they sorted through the information, she stood by Lewis. He didn’t say anything to them, but did tell the police that he’d arrived after the man was dead. The body camera on the police officer was reviewed, and for a moment, came up missing. Raven found it in the pocket of one of the agents. They were trying their best to make it look like a murder, and that Vance had killed that man for no other reason than that he could.
“I’ll hold onto this for you until the police take it for evidence. I can’t believe that you’d not think about it being in your pocket. You can’t just take things like that, I’m sure you know that, don’t you?” The agent looked over her head, and she knew that the president was right behind her. “If you need a copy of it, I’m sure that the local police can fix that up for you. It would be no trouble at all.”
“I need the original.” She told him that wasn’t happening. This was a domestic call. “No, we were involved because he was an Army soldier.”
“Really? Well, let me give it back to you then.” She handed him a different thumb drive that she’d conjured and backed away from him. “I’m really sorry about the confusion there. I thought that since it happened to just regular people like us, that the police would need it more. I don’t want anyone to come back later and say that Vance did anything wrong.”
Again with the look, but Raven didn’t care. Going back to Lewis, she handed him the drive and he slipped it into his pocket. She hadn’t any idea if what she said would happen, but Raven wasn’t taking any chances in this. Vance had killed a man, justifiably, and she was going to make sure that no one thought differently.
Raven touched the hand of every officer there, each of the agents, and had even managed to shake hands with the president. Each time she did so, she took a little from them, enough to know their thoughts and actions for the rest of their lives. Then she pushed them into telling the truth whenever it came up about this shooting. Even the president would not be able to lie to anyone as to what happened here today.
The body was photographed and wrapped up. The ambulance that had come for him was told to stand down. His body was now the property of the government. Again Raven interceded for the family, and was told again that this was a government crime scene. But she used her magic and took the pictures from the camera, and made copies of them by sending them to an online printer. She was quite proud of herself. There would be enough evidence, should anyone try anything, to get them out of hot water. Or at least she hoped so.
By the time everyone had cleared out, and Aisha’s address given was to the president for the cups and such, they made their way into their home. Raven was glad that they’d hired someone to cook on the days that Lewis was working, or they might have been eating cereal. Today, she thought, had ended well, but she worried for the future. Butler would be coming, and he’d be taking no prisoners this time.
~~~
“Remind me never to try and pull something over on you.” Vance looked at the photos that had spewed out of the printer as soon as they came into Lewis’s house. “These are even marked with the file number that the Bureau uses. Do I even want to know how you did this?”
“I can tell you. I’ve been around for a very long time, and I’ve learned not to trust people in office, nor to believe anything that anyone with a uniform on says. They tend to cover their own asses before anyone else’s.” They all laughed, and Lewis handed him the thumb drive. “That’s the body cam of the officer. What they have is blank. Well, not blank, but full of static. That way they’ll th
ink that they messed it up and that I didn’t pull a fast one on them. I was having a great deal of fun too.”
“I bet you were.” Vance leaned back in the chair and looked around the table. He knew that he had to explain a few things to them, but just where to start, he hadn’t any idea. “Sawyer worked for the president. They’re trying to keep me under control.”
His mom huffed. “I’ve been trying to do that since you climbed out of your crib when you were six months old. The things that you could get into and out of still amaze me. And if they think that they can do that, then they don’t know you very well, do they?” He nodded and told her they thought they did. “I’m sure they think a lot of things. Like, I’m supposing that they think that you killed that man, not because he was holding a gun to my head, but because you knew that he was in on something that they don’t think you know about.”
“Pretty much.” He laughed. “I never could hide anything from you, Mom. How did I ever miss that about you? You’re very smart.”
“I had to be smart, or I would never have survived raising six boys by myself and trying to keep a rein on the goings on between you six.” She patted him on the cheek. “That man, the president, he just happened to be that close when there was trouble with one of his men, as he called them? I don’t believe that for a moment. Something else was going on, and he was here for that. Are you in trouble, Vance?”
“Yes, Mom, I’m in a lot of trouble. But I’m working on it.” She told him she’d help. “I know you would, but at this point, you can’t. None of you can.”
He told them what he could, which wasn’t much. Vance explained that he had the trackers in his body and what they were doing about them. He mentioned that there were only two of them left, two men that they had tagged, and he was sure that Sawyer was going to be next to be killed. And why.
“We came upon a mission that wasn’t right. The five of us, my men, came to a town that was supposed to be overrun by the bad guys. But what we found was a peaceful little burg that didn’t seem like it had come to the twenty-first century. It was quaint; there were people walking around like they were on holiday. Things like skis on their shoulders, fake snow on the mountain regions. Everyone was friendly, almost too friendly. In one part of town there was a restaurant that served pizza, as well as hot dogs and other Americanized food. Then just as we were ready to leave, something popped out at me, and we knew that we were there to be killed.”
“What was it?” He told Kenton that he figured out that the houses weren’t real, nor were the little shops. “I don’t understand.”
“They were fronts. The shops were much too small for the buildings they were in. It didn’t occur to me, not right away, but once I realized that the size didn’t fit the shop, I started looking deeper. And what I found scared me a great deal.” He thought about how complacent he’d been until then. “Behind the fronts were people making guns. Enough ammo was being stacked on shelves that would have ended the war. Uniforms were there, American as well as a couple of other countries. As we were trying to figure out what the hell was going on, we get a call that says for us to stand down, to take a breather.”
“They told you of a hotel to go to, and that a meal, something big, was going to be served to you that night, right?” He nodded at Emma. “Yeah, Bart did that once. Came in with guns blazing to kill three men. Ended up killing seventeen people, including the owner who was helping him.”
Vance thought of the call, and the reaction that he’d gotten when he told them what he’d found. “They were pissed off that we’d gone snooping around. The guy that I spoke to told me that we might as well put our guns to our head, that we were as good as dead. That we’d stumbled into a place no man returned from. Then there was a gunshot; the man I was talking to was killed, I figured out. After that, it was all we could do to get out of there with our asses. I lost two men, and gained Sawyer.”
“So it was a ploy to get you killed, and they knew that you were where you were supposed to be because of the trackers and the fact that you called them. But what did you see that had them wanting you dead? There was something, right?” He nodded, but didn’t say anything to Dalton. “You can’t tell me. Not yet, anyway.”
“No, not until this is finished.” He sat up and looked around the room. “I want you all to know that there are some very high up people involved in this. And it’s not just about the trackers, but looking into this, I’ve found a whole lot of things going on that is getting men, men and women like me, killed. Not to mention arms deals that are making them millionaires on the country’s dime.” His mom asked him if he was going to prison. “There is a possibility of that happening, especially if I fail. I’m not planning on it, but I might. And I have people in place that will make sure that when this all goes down, everyone will know why.”
“Recordings, paperwork and the like.” He nodded at Dalton. “All right. But there has to be something that we can do to help you. And I still have connections in the department. Hell, they all come to me about every little thing. But if you need something, you ask, and I’ll try my best to get it to happen.”
“I need for people to think that I’m still in town for a few days. A week, if you all can manage it.” Raven stood up and Poe came into the room. When he landed on her shoulder, she touched Lewis. And just like that, he was Vance. “Holy Christ.”
Standing up, Lewis stood next to his brother. His mom stood as well and walked around the two of them. It was eerie, standing next to a duplicate of himself, but when his mom smiled at him, he knew that this would work.
“He’s a bit taller than you. Not so much that anyone would notice. But we can make this work. Now, what else can we do for you? Bake a cake with a file in it? I’m sure that Emma could do that.” Vance laughed. It was an odd feeling, having some humor after so long, but he laughed hard. And when Lewis was himself again, he hugged him to him and told him not to get used to it.
“I won’t. You stink, by the way.” Vance laughed again. He should have known that they’d be there for him, no matter what. “And for the record, I had no idea that she could do that either. That was just freaky.”
“What about the trackers? I mean, he can look like you, but there is still the problem of them being in your body.” He looked at Gabe when Kenton asked. “You’ve taken them out, haven’t you? Or at least Gabe has.”
Vance laid them on the table. There were six that she’d found; the one in his head had given him a major headache for several hours after it had been removed. He would need them eventually, he supposed, in order to have them where he landed. Lewis picked them up and frowned.
“Okay, if she can make me into you. I think we should try to make these. You’ve already proven that they can’t blow when removed. I’m assuming that they have to be together too?” Vance said he thought so, but hadn’t wanted to try it out. “Good point. Let me play a minute. Maybe we can figure this out.”
Lewis looked at Raven and winked at her. Vance could see that they loved one another, and it gave him a little pang of jealousy when he saw how in love all of them were. He might not ever have that, not if this went to shit. Lewis handed the trackers to his wife and she smiled.
“They’re just trackers, right?” He nodded at Raven. “Okay, this should be easy enough. But the problem is, I won’t be able to make them so they last very long. A couple of weeks at the most.”
“That’s more than enough time for me. Once I give you the signal, you can destroy them here and I’ll pick them up on the other end. It’ll make them a little wiggly for a minute when they show up with me, but I won’t care at that point.” Vance didn’t think this was going to be possible before today. Yes, he’d get his men, but he didn’t think he’d be coming home again. But with this help, magical help, he thought for sure that he might just make it out without prison time.
Things were set in motion. And when he left to go home, leaving the little trackers with his brother, he had the ones in his pocket that Raven had m
ade for him. He would only have two weeks to get in, get the job finished, and get out. Not nearly as much time as he thought he might need, but he stood a better chance at it now that he could literally be in two places at once.
Poe was on his porch when he got home. Letting the big raven in was becoming a nightly thing for him. As soon as the two of them were settled in his bedroom, Poe began pacing while he cleaned his guns. He’d get to it soon enough. Vance had learned that rushing him wouldn’t get him any closer to talking than just letting him speak his mind.
“You will be in trouble once you leave here.” He said that he was aware of that. “I should like to send someone with you. Someone that I can trust.”
“I don’t need anyone else getting hurt over this, Poe. While I do appreciate you thinking of it, I just—”
“It’s not a human, but a fae. Small enough that no one would notice. And when you have done what you need, she can help you more than anyone will be able to in getting out.” He asked him if this was a ploy to get him to his mate. “Nay, my lord. I know where she is, as does Raven. She isn’t here.”
He thought about asking what she was, but knew that he’d not tell him. There was a great deal riding on this, and if he knew he would be afraid that someone else would. Asking the bird what this fae would do for him, Vance sat on his bed.
“She is magical, of course, and old. Very old. And her magic is white, so she will only be true to you once she has become a part of you.” Vance asked how that happens. “Much like the sword that you wear upon your back. She will...her name is Lilac. When she is a part of you, no one will think her anything but a tattoo that you’ve gotten. But she can hide herself on you, move along your skin so that no one will be the wiser should you not want them to see her.”
Lewis: The McCade Dragon –Erotic Paranormal Romance Page 15
