Guardian Angel: Callaghan Brothers, Book 5

by Abbie Zanders

  “Why would she protect them like that?” Kane demanded. It made no sense to him whatsoever.

  Nicki regarded him carefully before answering. “You want my theory?”

  Kane nodded once. He and Nicki didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but she was a damn good agent, and she had risked her life often enough as the only non-blood Callaghan to be inducted into their Ghost Team (Nicki’s name for them) to earn his respect.

  “She knew at least one of them, that’s a given. But beyond that, I think one of them might have helped her somehow.”

  “Explain.”

  “I’m not sure how much Jake told you, but there were signs of attempted rape. Her blouse was torn down the middle, her pants were half off. But her bra and panties were still intact when Aidan found her, and all of the blood seemed to be coming from the cuts on her face, nowhere else.”

  Kane winced at Nicki’s explicit and brutally honest answer.

  “I think that one of them stopped another from going through with it. That’s why Rebecca is keeping silent. One good deed deserves another, if you will.”

  It was insane as far as Kane could see. Someone broke in, stole money that was to be used by people who really needed it, and hurt Rebecca enough to render her unconscious. But if Nicki’s theory was accurate – and he was pretty sure she was dead on – then he could see where Rebecca would feel indebted to the one who kept her from being violated. After all, Rebecca had felt the need to take a fucking bullet for him because he’d saved her, hadn’t she? She would never betray even one good deed, no matter if it was outweighed by a hundred bad ones.

  But that was Rebecca, not him. Kane was not as forgiving, nor as understanding, compassionate, or lenient. He was retribution personified. And he was going to ensure that those responsible would pay the price for their crimes.

  It didn’t take long to find the one he was looking for. A tip from Nicki sent him down to the park along the river banks where the teens tended to congregate. Most of the equipment used by younger kids during warmer days had been lost in the flood, but a few heavy benches bolted into concrete slabs had been salvaged. No doubt the community would replace the lost jungle gyms and swing sets with newer, better models come spring, but for now, the park belonged to the gangs of teens who frequented it.

  Kane remained in the shadows of the evergreens surrounding the clearing. It was nearly three o’clock when JC appeared with five or six others. A few of them looked young enough to be in junior high, though it was hard to tell these days. They all looked like babies to Kane, too young to be hanging out with the likes of JC. Didn’t they have parents who cared enough to know where they were or what they were doing?

  JC was dressed all in black, as usual, and he sported at least one new piercing through his eyebrow. It amazed Kane the kinds of shit kids did to make themselves seem tougher. He had no doubt he could create a scene that would have the toughest-looking among them shitting their pants in a matter of seconds.

  His upper lip curled back in a snarl. He was sorely tempted. If nothing else, it might prevent one or more of these kids from doing something stupid. Like robbing a shelter and attacking the one woman who had treated them with nothing but kindness and generosity.

  They didn’t even see him until he was right behind them; they were too busy texting and lighting up – and not all the sticks were the kind of cigarettes purchasable at the local WaWa, either.

  “JC,” he said in his quiet, deep voice – the lethal one he used when he was really pissed.

  The kid stiffened, but regained his composure rather quickly as the others looked worriedly at Kane, then back to JC for guidance. JC nodded, a curt gesture that was supposed to convey confidence and coolness. His eyes, however, never strayed from Kane. At least the kid had some intelligence. Too bad it wasn’t enough.

  “I thought you and I might have a little chat,” Kane rumbled quietly, his voice like distant thunder.

  “I’m a little busy. Maybe later.”

  Kane’s eyes glittered dangerously. “I suggest you make time.”

  As intended, Kane’s deadly tone and stone cold expression unnerved JC a little, made him reconsider. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

  JC began to walk away from the others. Kane let him take a few steps before following behind, being careful to stay to the side where he could also keep track of the others at all times. They were now murmuring among themselves, shifting nervously, probably wondering if they should be providing back-up. The idea was laughable.

  “Yo, JC, you want us to come with you?” one of them called out. Kane almost snorted. He could destroy all of them before they could call for their mamas.

  “Nah, it’s cool,” JC called back, no doubt hoping he sounded a whole lot more confident than he felt.

  JC stopped on the far end of the clearing. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit up. The kid had some balls, Kane noted, though, like his intelligence, not nearly enough. His hands barely shook as he took that first deep drag. “So?”

  “Tell me about the break-in at the shelter a few weeks ago.”

  To his credit, JC’s stance and expression remained pretty much the same. But Kane watched his eyes. The eyes never lied, and JC’s pupils were doing a very interesting expand-contract type of thing.

  “Yeah, I heard about that.” Truth.

  “What do you know about it?”

  JC took another deep drag. “Me? Nothing, man. Why would I?” Lie.

  Kane stepped closer, shielding JC partially from the view of the others. JC automatically took a step back into the tree line. “I don’t imagine there’s much that happens around here without you knowing about it.”

  That seemed to relax JC just a little, feed his swagger. The kid couldn’t possibly be that stupid could he?

  “True enough. But I’m sorry, man. Can’t help you.” Lie.

  “Ah, see, now that’s a problem,” Kane said, shaking his head. “I want to know who was involved.”

  “Isn’t that a job for the cops?”

  Kane smiled again, showing JC every one of his perfect white teeth. “They have to follow the rules, JC. I’m not bound by the same restrictions.”

  “Yeah? Good for you, man. I’m outta here.”

  JC made a move to rejoin his friends, but Kane reached out one large hand and grabbed him around the back of his neck, positioning his body so that from where JC’s little posse stood, it looked like JC was simply leaning casually against one of the larger oaks, with only a slight portion of his profile visible. To any watching – and they were watching – it appeared as if they were just talking.

  “What the fu-“

  “Language, boy,” Kane warned, squeezing the section of JC’s neck that effectively kept him from moving from the shoulders down, though he could still feel pain. “I could kill you and all your little friends and no one will ever find your remains, if there are any,” he said quietly, letting his eyes fill with the cold certainty that death awaited any who dared defy him. “Do you doubt me?”

  “N-n-no,” JC managed to squeak out when Kane squeezed harder and JC felt like his eyeballs were about to explode.

  “Now, see, someone stole money from the shelter. And that’s bad. But what’s worse? Someone hurt the nice lady who just happens to be a friend of mine in the process.”

  JC’s eyes, now wild, flicked in the direction of his friends. “Pay attention, boy. Focus.”

  JC made a gurgling sound; Kane ignored it. “You remember Rebecca, don’t you, JC? Someone roughed her up pretty badly. Pistol whipped her. Kicked her in the ribs. Cracked her ankle.”

  “She tell you this?” JC wheezed.

  “No,” Kane admitted. “She hasn’t said anything. And you know what that tells me? That she’s trying to protect someone. Someone who isn’t fucking good enough to lick the dirt from her shoes. Get me?”

  JC no doubt felt the cold steel of the blade against his side, but was powerless to do anything about it. “Y-you’re fucking crazy,
” he managed in a horse whisper.

  “Close,” Kane said, the first notes of pleasure sounding in his voice. His smile didn’t do much for JC’s overall outlook, either. “I’m your worst fucking nightmare.” The tip of the shiv made a slight incision between two of JC’s ribs. The smell of urine reached Kane’s nostrils, making them flare in distaste.

  “Pissing yourself isn’t going to help, kid. I already figured out you’re the one Rebecca is protecting. For some strange reason she seems to care about you. I, however, don’t.”

  Kane withdrew the blade, reinserting it seamlessly between the next two ribs. Each incision was enough to hurt like hell, but not deep enough to do any real damage. JC whimpered.

  “Did you know there are twelve pairs of ribs in the human body?” His voice was eerily calm. “Shall we count them together?”

  “What do you want? You wanna kill me? D-D-Do it, man.”

  Kane laughed softly, the low rumble sending shivers up and down JC’s spine. “Kill you? No, I’m not going to kill you, JC. At least not yet.” The blade withdrew again, found a third entry point. “Who was with you that night?”

  “D-Don’t know w-what you’re talking about,” JC stuttered.

  “Ah, I see. It’s going to be like that, is it?” Kane gave the blade a little sideways twist.

  “Fuck!” the kid wheezed, barely able to make it audible. There was no chance of him screaming to his friends for a little help.

  “Mmm, good, isn’t it? Now let’s see. Rebecca had injuries to a few ribs. I think we’ve covered that.” He removed the blade at a painful angle. “There were some injuries to her ankle as well.” Kane shifted his weight slightly, taking his heavy, booted foot and covering JC’s foot right above the ankle. With one swift, nearly imperceptible movement, he partially separated the joint at the ankle. JC tried to howl in pain, but Kane managed to silence him.

  “Who was with you?”

  “K-Kenny.”

  “Good. That’s good, JC.” Kane released the pressure on his ankle and gave his foot a quick kick, pushing everything back in place. JC was as white as a sheet, a slick sheen of sweat covering his brow, looking as though he was going to be sick any moment. “Who tried to rape her?”

  “N-N-Nobod - ”

  Kane didn’t even wait for the denial. He sent JC’s face into the side of the oak. It wasn’t exactly the same as being pistol-whipped, but it was close enough to get his point across.

  “Who?”

  “Johnny,” JC moaned. “It was Johnny. But I stopped it...”

  “Which is the only reason you still draw breath,” Kane hissed in his ear. “Listen to me, JC, and listen good, because I will only say this once. You will pay back every cent you stole from the shelter, with interest. If I ever hear of you or your little friend Kenny as much as scratching your balls in public again I will not be so forgiving, get me?”

  “J-J-Johnny?”

  Kane’s grip tightened for a moment, his expression the personification of death. “Who’s Johnny?” he whispered.

  JC’s eyes went wide for a moment before he nodded in understanding. His friend Johnny was already gone.

  Kane released his grip, but continued to hold JC up until he regained control of his limbs. Within seconds they began to shake uncontrollably. “And JC? If you fuck up, I will find you.”

  Kane sat in the back corner of the vintage coffee shop, his back to the wall. From this vantage point he could see the entire place, as well as have a panoramic view of the intersection at which it sat. In the center sat the town square. Across the way was the bookstore he’d taken Rebecca to in the fall. To the left was the little deli where he’d gotten the sandwiches for their picnic lunch; around the corner was the mom and pop bakery where he’d picked up the whoopie pies on a sudden whim.

  Very few patrons, if any, noticed him there in the shadows. Those that did met his hard glare for only a few fleeting seconds before turning away uncomfortably.

  The little bell over the door tinkled again, signaling the arrival of the one who had requested this meeting.

  * * *

  Without as much as a glance toward him – she knew exactly where he would be – Nicki paused at the counter and greeted the proprietor with the casual air of someone who spent a good deal of time here and ordered a coffee.

  A few minutes later Nicki slid in across from Kane without acknowledgment. In ritualistic reverence, Nicki raised the mug to her nose and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, letting the corners of her mouth tilt slightly upward. Without bringing it to her lips, she placed it back on the table. While Kane watched in silence, she added a teaspoon of sugar and another creamer. Only after she had stirred precisely four times to the left and three times to the right did she lay down the spoon and take a sip.

  “JC Davis showed up at the shelter this morning with a thousand dollars cash,” she said matter of factly, her light silvery eyes finally meeting Kane’s. He showed no response.

  “He and his friend, Kenny, were seen a short while later loading some bags into Kenny’s POS Honda for what looked like some kind of extended road trip.”

  Kane blinked slowly, lazily, reminding her of a great black panther with icy blue eyes. His eyes moved toward the window and he looked out, bored.

  “Johnny Fielding, the usual third to their unholy trinity, wasn’t with them.”

  Kane’s gaze drifted back to hers, so hard, so cold, she unwittingly sucked in a breath. Nicki swallowed and looked quickly back down to her coffee. “So it’s like that, is it?” she whispered.

  “Like what?”

  Nicki nodded. She was no shrinking violet; she had seen more violence and evil in her life than most people. And she was married to Sean Callaghan. She knew what he and his brothers did, what she now did beside them. She’d even heard the stories about Kane; the hushed comments about his capacity for coldness, his sheer unbreakableness. But she’d never quite believed it.

  Not until now.

  The look in Kane’s eyes was one she would never forget. It was like icy fire, a promise of painful, tormented death. But this was even harder, even colder, because the punishment had already been meted out. She knew then that Johnny Fielding would never be seen or heard from again.

  Kane’s gaze flicked back to the window. For the briefest of instances, Nicki saw a spark in his eyes. His nostrils flared, and he seemed to grow right before her eyes, though she was sure he hadn’t moved. She turned her head toward the window and saw what had grabbed his attention so fully. A small, fragile-looking figure, bundled up in a full-length down coat. Traces of honey-colored hair fanned out from the faux-fur lining of the hood, pulled up and over to obscure the face of the wearer. The woman walked slowly, hesitantly, with a decided limp. A great beast walked beside her, a mass of untidy fur that resembled a shaggy black bear. Outside the bookstore, she leaned down and said something to him. The creature immediately sat on his haunches while she disappeared inside.

  It was exactly why Nicki had chosen this particular coffee shop at this particular time. She knew Rebecca would be making her weekly trip there.

  “You really love her, don’t you?”

  When the woman was no longer visible, Kane turned back to Nicki. The eyes, so cold and lethal only a few moments earlier, now held immense pain. Nicki glimpsed it only briefly before it was shuttered away again. She doubted anyone else would have noticed, but she had been trained to recognize even the slightest changes in a person’s bearing. The skill had saved her life on more than one occasion.

  “She’s lost without you, you know,” Nicki said, choosing to look into her coffee rather than meet Kane’s laser-like stare. Even she felt uncomfortable before its powerful intensity, and very little rattled her. “It’s like part of her is missing or something.”

  They sat in silence until Rebecca re-emerged from the bookstore. The dog nuzzled her hand and they began walking away. Kane shifted a millimeter or so in his seat, but that was the only indication that he had seen her.


  Nicki sighed. She wasn’t sure exactly what she had expected, but it was certainly not this. She’d hoped that seeing Rebecca would motivate him to do something. Maybe not jump from his seat and rush out into the street, but something.

  “What do you want from me?” Kane asked quietly as if reading her thoughts.

  “She needs you. I think you might need her, too.”

  Kane just stared at her. Nicki drank the last of her coffee and stood up to leave. “I like Rebecca. We all do. She belongs here. With us. With you. Do something about it before it’s too late.”

  And then Nicki was gone, allowing herself to breathe again as she stepped out into the street, feeling the steely blade of Kane’s eyes until she moved out of sight.

  Chapter Fifteen

  He wasn’t going to go to Maggie and Mick’s for Thanksgiving. He wasn’t. Really. There were plenty of other opportunities to see Rebecca. He’d learned her routine quite well, as a matter of fact. Every morning she and her beast walked to the shelter, then back in the early afternoon. On Fridays she visited the bookstore. On Wednesdays she frequented the local market. Every evening she sat home alone, reading, or, more accurately, staring off into space.

  And yet somehow, despite his promises to himself, he found himself at his brother’s, sitting in his truck, parked among the trademark black vehicles of the Callaghan clan outside the two hundred year old sprawling farmhouse. There was Michael’s black Jag, Jake’s Expedition, Sean’s Shelby, Shane’s Lexus, Kieran’s Porsche, Ian’s Land Rover, Jack’s Infinity. Adding a slight variation of color was Aidan’s dark green Benz, and a tiny silver Prius that could only be Rebecca’s.

  She was saving the world, even while driving.

  And then, without even realizing he had moved, he was at the front door, pressing the bell, the compulsion to be close to her so strong he had no choice but to obey it.

  It was Michael who opened the door. A brief look of surprise was followed immediately by a heartfelt grin. “Glad you made it,” Michael said warmly, taking his jacket. Maggie poked her head out of the kitchen and flashed him a brilliant smile before giving him a hug and welcoming him.