Catch Him

by Doyle, S

  “You fractured my jaw, broke my ribs and my arm. People had to see me like that. People knew what I had allowed to happen to me. It was worse than the pain. A thousand times worse,” she recounted, her voice wobbling, but she was standing as tall as her five-foot-two frame would allow. “And you want to start over? How stupid do you think I am?”

  He shook his head. “No, I don’t. You’re everything. I’ll go to therapy, counseling. Anything. I love you.”

  “You’re pathetic,” Huntley Sr. said, closing his eyes in disgust.

  “Shut the fuck up, Dad. I don’t care what you think. It’s you, Mary. I only care about you.”

  At that she laughed, but it was a hallow sound and it made Declan’s heart clench. He feared he might never hear actual laughter from her again.

  “You don’t love me. You don’t know what love is. How could you? Look at what you were raised by,” she said, pointing to her ex-father-in-law as if he was scum under her feet. “No, you charmed me. You fooled me. You wanted to own me. But you never loved me. How sad that I was so desperate for it that I settled for you.”

  “You bitch,” Garrett snarled.

  Declan watched it unfold in seconds. The man who had been on his knees surged up and lunged after his sister as if to tackle her to the ground. Garrett was in mid-lunge when Declan heard the report of the rifle. Then instead of reaching Mary, Garrett Huntley collapsed in a puddle at her feet. The back of his head gone, the blood and brains spattered on the jeans and chambray shirt Mary had chosen to wear for her confrontation with her ex-husband.

  Huntley Sr. flinched as his son’s brains hit him as well. That was all. Just a flinch at watching his son’s execution. Other than that he remained motionless.

  Mary casually stepped over the body and made her way to her brother. Her hands were shaking but her knees didn’t wobble.

  “How did you know where we would be?” Dec asked her.

  “I knew you wouldn’t confront him at the house,” she told him. “If only to spare me. Which meant you would set something up to lead him to where you wanted to him to go. This place has been empty for months. It seemed like the logical choice. I walked across the back of my farm to here and came through the back door. At first I didn’t think I could do it. Didn’t think I could stand there with both of them. But I did it.”

  Declan put his hand on her shoulder. “You did it.”

  “Was it Flynn?”

  Declan looked behind him, although he knew he wouldn’t see him. Flynn had been in position across from the house, over a thousand yards away on a raised hill. No distance at all really for someone with his skills.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell him I said thank you,” she said coldly. Again breaking Declan’s heart. He didn’t want Mary to be this person. He didn’t want his sister to be able to walk over the corpse of her ex-husband, who was lying next to two other dead bodies, and not flinch. Except now this was the person she had become. This was what Huntley had done to her. Dec wanted to shoot him all over again.

  She looked over her shoulder at the gray-haired man who still had not moved. “Are you going to kill him too?”

  Declan shook his head. “No need. He’s got enough problems ahead of him.”

  Dec could see the old man take in those words. That he would live at least another day. Something he obviously cared about more than his son.

  “Good. Now if someone would please drive me home. I would like to get out of these clothes so I can burn them.”

  Declan turned to Sinead. “You’ll take her home for me.”

  She nodded.

  “We’ll clean up here,” Jillian said casually, as if the bodies were no more a nuisance than picking up trash after a party.

  “Good thing I’m not a cop anymore,” Sinead said even as her eyes were pinned on the three dead men.

  Dec took her hand and forced her attention back on him. He knew it was one thing to tell her about his life, it was something else to see it in action. “You know these were very bad men. Tell me you know that.”

  Then she did something utterly surprising and leaned in and kissed his cheek. “If Flynn hadn’t pulled the trigger, I was ready to do it myself. I guess that means maybe I have a little dark inside me too.”

  Some pressure valve around his heart that felt tight suddenly loosened. She understood him, and Declan wasn’t a man who had been understood by many people in his life.

  Still, he didn’t tell her the full truth. What neither his sister nor Sinead needed to know was that Garrett’s fate had also been sealed the minute he’d chosen to pursue Mary. The man had been a walking corpse the moment Flynn reported that he was moving.

  “I love you.”

  She smiled. “Back at you. Now let me get your sister home. I have feeling she’s going to want to take a shower… for like an hour.”

  “You’ll watch over her.”

  Sinead nodded. “I’ve got this.”

  Declan nodded back and thought how amazing this was. To not only have someone real in his life. Someone who understood him. But someone who would also care for his sister, simply because Sinead loved him. He’d broadened not only his life but Mary’s too. Something that she obviously needed.

  How sad that I was so desperate for it that I settled for you.

  In time they would need to talk about what that meant. About why she felt so unloved when Declan thought she’d been content. For now he would give her the time and space she needed to recover first.

  “Jill, let’s go clean up some dead bodies. And let’s discuss how we shall deal with our dear friend Mr. Huntley Sr.”

  “Got you boss,” she said even as she made her way toward Huntley Sr.

  * * *

  Mary stared at the car and thought that if she got inside she would make a mess all over the seat. Sinead was saying something as she opened the driver side door.

  Mary couldn’t hear what it was. The words weren’t penetrating. Then she looked up and saw him. Flynn, in full camouflage, walking over the hill toward them, a rifle on his back, which in Virginia wouldn’t have startled anyone who saw him.

  He stopped about a hundred feet away from her, as if there was an invisible boundary around her he couldn’t penetrate.

  A boundary she’d put up between them.

  Flynn had killed Garrett because Garrett lunged at her. Garrett was dead. It was as if these basic facts had to be sorted out in her mind because they weren’t actually landing.

  She stared at Flynn, who said nothing. His expression blank. He’d killed three men today and she doubted he would lose a minute of sleep over it. Neither would her brother. Jillian certainly wouldn’t.

  She didn’t know enough about Sinead to know how she would react, but it was clear to see that she hadn’t been too affected by what happened. She was still chatting on, trying obviously to take Mary’s mind off the fact that her ex-husband was missing the back of his head. That her ex-father-in-law was still standing over his body.

  No, it was soft Mary who would be the most bothered by what happened.

  Too-soft Mary.

  Flynn took a step toward her as if he wanted to say something, but the moment he did, she flinched and he immediately froze.

  “Mary? Mary!”

  Finally Sinead’s voice penetrated and Mary shifted her focus to her.

  “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

  Mary nodded and got in the car. Declan could always have it detailed to remove the blood and gore.

  They drove past Flynn, and as Mary watched him, she realized he was still standing frozen. His eyes on her. Watching her. Probably waiting to see some reaction. Only she was too numb inside to show him anything.

  Then the car passed him and he was gone.

  Flynn killed Garrett. Yes, she decided. That seemed right.

  * * *

  Flynn watched the car drive away. That expression on her face. God. That flinch. He didn’t know what it meant, but he knew it killed something inside him. Ha
d it been hope?

  Flynn walked over to Declan. “I had no choice.”

  Dec turned to him. “Really? You feel you need to justify yourself to me? Let me assure you, you do not. Garrett Huntley was not going to survive the day.”

  No, Flynn thought. He wasn’t. It was probably wrong to be pleased to be the one to end him. But he didn’t care. He’d been in that hospital room with Mary. He’d seen what he’d done to his precious girl…

  Not his girl. Never his girl.

  “Hey boss,” Jillian called out from her position in front of Huntley Sr. “Mary’s gone. You want to do this now?”

  Flynn could see the man react. Like suddenly he understood who he had decided to mess with. Jillian was stone cold when it came to ending bad guys.

  Declan looked to Flynn, as if for advice. “Hey you know what I think,” Flynn said. “If I had it my way, I would have taken all four of them out at the same time.”

  “Yes, but then he wouldn’t have gotten to learn how his life has been ruined. No, Jillian. Let’s let Huntley Sr. experience what a life on the run with no assets—or jail, or being hunted by terrorists—feels like. Death, I think, is too easy.”

  Jillian lowered the gun. “You heard the boss. Start running.”

  And run is exactly what the man did. It was pathetic, Flynn thought. This old man running down the driveway toward the sedan off to the side of the road. His son’s body not even a thought in his head.

  “Yes,” Declan said casually. “We’ll see how he likes the experience. But if somehow he manages to avoid prison or death, you’ll take care of him.”

  Flynn smiled. “With pleasure.”

  Chapter 20

  Sinead was in the process of drying her hair when Dec popped his head around the corner of the bathroom door. Since she was just in her bra and a pair of panties, he took a moment to take in both her backside and her front side reflected in the mirror.

  “Uh... Can I help you?” she asked over her shoulder.

  “Yes. You can lose the panties and the bra and let me watch you blow dry your hair naked.”

  “Dude, we just banged it out like thirty minutes ago. You can’t possibly be thinking about sex again.”

  “Uh, babe. Man here. Remember? Big dick?”

  “Big dickhead is right,” she muttered.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

  “What do you want?” she shouted over the noise of the hair dryer.

  “When you’re done making yourself beautiful I have a surprise waiting for you in the bedroom.”

  Really, she decided. He was insatiable. However, since she seemed to be as well, she supposed she couldn’t throw sticks.

  “Ten minutes.”

  “Make it eight,” he told her and then shut the door.

  Impossible man. No doubt she would find him waiting on the bed with a bow wrapped around said big dick.

  The reality was, they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other much since the incident. Which is how they referred to Garrett’s death.

  Sinead had convinced Dec they needed to stay with Mary for support. Two weeks later, they were still at the farm house in Middleburg.

  The woman needed some serious female encouragement. While Jillian was fun when she brought a bucket of margaritas and demanded a girl-only, all-weekend drink fest, Mary also needed someone to let her cry it out.

  Jill had flatly stated she did not do crying.

  After a few days of basically trying to avoid Mary, Flynn had disappeared entirely, apparently on an assignment. Sinead decided that was a good thing. Mary seemed to be tight around him and the last thing she needed was any additional stress in her life.

  So she and Mary watched movies, drank wine and ate chocolate. Took long walks around the farm. Mary told her every wonderful thing Huntley had done leading up to their wedding, and everything awful thing he’d done after it.

  It couldn’t help but make a girl wonder. Declan was like no man Sinead had ever known. She’d seen all his light and a glimpse of his dark and she loved all of it. He’d hinted at making things permanent. What if he also changed? Became something different? Someone different?

  And there was all the talk about babies. He wanted five, to which she told him he was insane, and they’d worked out a deal for two with an option for three.

  BABIES.

  And forever. Part of her felt a little guilty being so happy knowing what Mary was going through. She planned to talk to Dec about it today.

  They had both been there for Mary when she needed them. Now it might be time to give her some space. Being miserable was worse when you were around two people who, for the most part, were acting like lovesick teenagers.

  Yes, she would gently let him know that it was time to give Mary some breathing room, and if they wanted to talk seriously about making things permanent then they should figure waiting at least six or seven months to make that happen. Which would give Sinead time to be really comfortable with their life, Mary time to heal and Declan… well he probably wouldn’t be happy, but he’d give in to her reasons because they were logical and sound.

  The truth was, aside from typically winning the battle for which movie they were going to watch, he was a pushover anytime she asked him for anything.

  Her hair done, and again wearing it down and loose because she knew he liked it that way and because it made her feel more confident, she left the bathroom expecting to find him staked out on the bed waiting for her.

  If he asked she might cave, but he was going to have to be careful not to mess her hair.

  Only he wasn’t naked on the bed. Instead, on the bed was a beautiful white strapless gown and a pair of shoes that she knew just looking at them cost more than the entire sum she’d ever spent on shoes in her life.

  Cinderella wasn’t good enough to wear those shoes.

  He was standing next to the bed with a small smile tugging his lips. Like a boy who couldn’t wait to show off his surprise. He was wearing black suit pants, a white tuxedo shirt and a bow tie hung undone around his neck.

  “I bought you a dress again,” he said, stating the obvious.

  “I can see that.”

  “And shoes. I know how you love ridiculously expensive shoes.”

  She was about to correct him when she realized there were bigger issues at stake. “Dec, where am I going in that lovely white dress?”

  “Why, downstairs to your wedding, of course.”

  “Dec,” she breathed out.

  He came toward her with purpose. His hands cupping her cheeks to hold her eyes on him.

  “I know you’re going to say it’s too soon. I know you’re going to say we need time. You’ll probably also be worried about how it will make Mary feel, but she was the one who asked me why I was dragging my feet. Because she knows me. She knows when I want something. When I love someone. I’m all in. There is no walking away for me. Ever again. And the truth is I want to call you my wife. I want to hear you say my husband.”

  “You’re very particular about the things you need to hear, do you know that about yourself?”

  He smiled. “I do. And the next time I’m making love to you, I’m going to demand to hear those very words from your lips. However, in order to do that we need to make things legal.”

  “Who am I marrying? Declan Gallagher or David Whitmore?”

  “Lucky girl that you are, you’ll need to marry us both. We will scurry off to Vegas for the Whitmore wedding. Today it will be me, and I wanted something more intimate. Flynn’s back, Jillian’s here. Obviously Mary. My family. Plus, I have another surprise waiting downstairs along with a very friendly judge who agreed to do this for me on short notice.”

  “Dec, you’re impossible.”

  “No, I am determined. Please say yes. I don’t want to spend another day without you being mine, without me being yours. Husband and wife. Wife and husband.”

  Yes, Declan was mainly a pushover when it came to giving her anything she really wa
nted. Except when it was something so important to him that he could not be moved from his position.

  Sinead knew this was one of those times.

  Besides, she liked the words too. Her husband. This beautiful charming alive man was going to be her husband.

  “You’re supposed to get down on one knee,” she said.

  Instantly he dropped to his knee before her.

  “There’s supposed to be a ring. And because you’re Richy McRich it needs to be a freakin’ rock.”

  His eyes lit up. “Oh, I did I forget the ring?”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a teal-colored ring box. When he popped it open she gasped. It was in fact a rock.

  “I know how my princess is. Nothing that couldn’t been seen from the moon would satisfy her.”

  Since he was teasing her, she didn’t bother to correct him. Just let him slide the ring on her finger.

  “I’m going to have to start lifting weights if I’m going to haul this thing around on my hand.”

  “You’ll adjust, I’m sure. Now are we finished with the rituals? My knee is actually smarting.”

  “No. You have to ask proper.”

  He huffed. “Fine. Sinead, who spells her name correctly, O’Hara will you please do me the honor of being my wife?”

  “Is the other surprise waiting downstairs my father?” she asked him, knowing her non-answer was driving him mad.

  “Yes,” he said tightly. “When you kicked me out for your girls-only weekend I flew to San Francisco to meet with him. We… worked things out.”

  Sinead thought back to when he got back on Monday morning and had taken her to bed. “You said you got the bruise on your ribs by accidentally getting hit by some old lady’s handbag in the grocery store.”

  “Your father’s fist, handbag in the grocery store. Similar outcomes. But then I asked him for his permission to marry you and he got all choked up. I swear there might have actually been tears. You know how the Irish are. Desperately sentimental when it comes to things like love. He eventually forgave me for breaking your heart. We drank Budweisers like men do. I put a bag of frozen peas on my side. And we watched the Giants kick the Dodgers’ ass. Now, will you marry me?”