The Divine Devils: Mystery Suspense Crime Thriller: Book 1

by R Weir

  “What about you Jose? Were you married before you met Paige?”

  “No,” replied Jose, a glow on his face answering. “She has been and will be, the only love of my life.” Jose put his arm around her, leaning his head against hers, as if to show more proof. If it was an act, they were good at it.

  “Provide me all the detail you can. I will run down as much as possible, once I have people in place to protect all of you.”

  “Even Paige and I?” wondered Jose.

  “Yes. Until we know what we’re dealing with, it’s best all of you have security nearby. If you have adequate security at work, then we don’t need anyone watching while on the job. But to and from work, at home and anytime you’re out and about someone needs to be with you. It will be expensive, but as you mentioned on the phone, you can afford it.” Hunter raised his hands, pointing to the splendor of their surroundings.

  “Whatever you believe is best,” agreed Paige.

  “And I will need to talk with the Colorado Springs’ police, to see what they’ve learned and to make sure they understand I’ll be tracking down any leads I can. There is no need to be stepping on each other’s toes.”

  “I asked Detective Scanlon to stop by today,” declared Paige. “He should be here anytime now and can give you more information on what happened yesterday.”

  “Who are these people you plan on bringing in?” wondered Jose.

  “Three men and one woman I’ve worked with in the past. All of them are tough, smart and resourceful. They will put it all on the line to protect you and your kids. They won’t wilt in a fight.”

  “Do you expect it will come to that?”

  “From what you’ve told me, the attempts to grab your kids have become more daring with each try. When they attack, we’ll fight back?”

  “And as I asked earlier, will your team kill the culprits to stop them?” wondered Jose, wanting Paige to hear what Hunter had told him earlier.

  Hunter nodded. “Without giving it a second thought, if it comes to that.”

  Paige looked surprised. “What type of people are you hiring?”

  “Those who will keep your children and yourselves alive at all costs.”

  “Heaven help us!” uttered Paige, while blessing herself. Killing wasn’t an act she cared to contemplate, her passive nature coming to bare.

  Hunter didn’t respond to her obvious concern. He knew prayer and guardian angels wouldn’t provide the fortitude they needed. One had to walk a fine line between the supreme being and the devil himself when facing evil. A road he’d travelled more times that he cared to count.

  Chapter 6

  It wasn’t long before Detective Tim Scanlon arrived at the Hawkins’ home. He was led back to the office by the housekeeper, and after meeting Hunter shook his hand with a grip of champions. Detective Scanlon was outfitted in beige jacket and slacks, with a gray and black striped tie, which was loosely Windsor knotted to a white cotton dress shirt. His day-old facial growth covered his pale white skin, his neatly trimmed flat brown hair held in place by some type of oil that kept the follicles and gray at bay. His over six foot and nearly 200-pound mid-forties frame sat in the chair Jose had been using. The couple walking out of the room, leaving Hunter and Scanlon to converse.

  “The Hawkins’ say they plan to hire you for protection,” remarked Scanlon. “What are your qualifications?”

  “Am I being interviewed by you as well?” questioned Hunter. He was slightly perturbed by the continual grilling to prove himself.

  “Best to understand the man before feeding him data,” remarked Scanlon, wanting to read Hunter’s reactions before sharing information.

  “If you’re good at your job, I’m certain you’ve already checked me out. Learned all about my skills and checkered past.”

  “You’re correct, I’ve done my research on you,” agreed Scanlon with a nod. “Part of being a good detective. Still a good detective always wants to hear the other side of the story. You most definitely have the experience. But I need to know why you were fired.”

  Hunter grunted in anger. How many times would he need to answer this question?

  “I wasn’t fired. I was forced out by political forces within the government.”

  “Then you weren’t at fault for the death of the person you were protecting.” Scanlon was reading Hunter closely, watching his body mannerisms and facial reactions as if he were a suspect in interrogation.

  “Besides taking a bullet—which I did by the way,” grumbled Hunter, not caring to be on the other side of the questioning. “No, I wasn’t at fault in my eyes. But someone had to be the fall guy, and it was easy to pick me. I had to walk away or lose the thirteen years of service I’d put in, including pension money.”

  “The family of the deceased carried a lot of clout?” wondered Scanlon, continuing to press.

  Hunter let out a puff of air in disgust. “You know the story. He was the son of a US Senator. And my boss refused to fight for me. He was more concerned about moving up than what was right. I was finished before the hearing took place.”

  Scanlon nodded. “Fair enough. What do you want to know?”

  Hunter was relieved that the personal interrogations were finally over, or so he hoped.

  “Tell me what you know about the attack yesterday on the limo carrying the Hawkins’ kids?”

  Scanlon pulled out a small spiral notebook, flipping it open, allowing him to reference his notes.

  “We got the call about gunfire and an explosion on Cresta Road at around 7:30 a.m. A couple of patrol cars arrived, along with fire trucks, but they had a hard time getting to the scene. Traffic was backed up because the traffic lights on both sides of the accident were stuck on red, creating a snarl of cars.”

  Hunter was surprised by the revelation about the lights. “How did that happen?”

  “The traffic management team of the Public Works believe the system was hacked, causing the issue,” answered Scanlon, still referring to his notes.

  “I didn’t think that was possible?”

  Scanlon shrugged. “They didn’t either, but somehow it happened. It would seem those who planned the attack wanted to make sure no other cars were clogging up the road, or passing by as witnesses.”

  Hunter stood up, stretching is body, before standing behind his chair flexing his arms and legs, his muscles aching. A biproduct of the extreme life he’d led. A few Advil would have been nice about now, but he persevered.

  “Then what happened?”

  “Because of the explosion, the bomb squad and K9 team needed to get in and make sure there weren’t any other explosive devices before we could react. Once they gave the all clear, we moved in.”

  “What did you find?”

  “Honestly, a mess,” explained Scanlon, before pulling out a handkerchief and blowing his nose. “Sorry, I’m still on the tail end of a cold. I can’t shake it completely.” He put away the dirty cloth in his back pocket and then pulled out his phone. “I have pictures of the crime scene I can show you.”

  He maneuvered his oversized cell phone unlocking the screen with his thumb, with a series of presses and swipes, until he found what he wanted. Reaching across the desk he handed it to Hunter.

  “These should give you a visual of what happened,” divulged Scanlon.

  Hunter grabbed the phone, wandering the room while staring at the photos. The first several, taken from multiple angles, were of the burnt-out hull of a truck. Pieces of debris scattered around the scene, the flames doused with water and foam, the remnants remaining on the metal shell and pavement. His first thought was why all the damage.

  “This is the truck that rammed the limo?” inquired Hunter.

  “Yes,” answered Scanlon. “They had one of those large heavy-duty grills on the front and used it like a battering ram.”

  “What happened to the truck?”

  “They blew it up,” answered Scanlon, throwing both hands in the air. “Must have been trying to create a d
iversion while they escaped, which worked. We couldn’t get near enough until the dogs and bomb squad cleared the scene.”

  Hunter let out a sigh at the degree of violence used, amazed at the lengths evil people will go to. He continued to flip through more pictures, this time of the limousine. The damage to the driver side was severe. The door and the fender crushed inward, the window on the driver’s door mangled, but not shattered, thanks to the bullet resistant design. Skid marks showed the limo slid sideways about eight feet from the impetus of the ramming.

  “The truck slammed into the limo with a lot of force,” commented Hunter.

  “Yes. The driver was knocked unconscious. The side airbag activated, but couldn’t completely protect him, though likely saved his life. He suffered a broken left forearm along with many cuts and bruises on his face and left side. He is recovering in the hospital.”

  Moving on to other pictures, Hunter saw the two bodies, both with significant blood on their torso’s and the ground where they lay.

  “Who are these men?” he asked, while showing Scanlon the picture.

  “The one on the left is Lance Sheppard, head of the security team. He was shot twice—in the shoulder and above the knee. He will survive but won’t be walking without assistance for a while. The other is George Allison. He was in the front on the passenger side from what we’ve learned. He was killed by two bullets to the chest after stepping out to confront the attackers. He was dead instantly according to the coroner.”

  Hunter had seen many crime scenes in his life, with dead and injured bodies. He’d grown numb to the blood and gore. He often wondered if having a sterile reaction was healthy.

  “And what is all this other blood to the right of them?”

  “One of the assailants was killed from what Lance was able to tell us later,” replied Scanlon, flipping the pages of his notes. “We believe it was his blood. The other assailants must have hauled the body away before they escaped. Probably didn’t want us to identify him. It could have led us to the rest of the group.”

  “DNA from the blood?”

  “Yes. But only a match if he is in the system. Our CSI guys are working on it now with the FBI. We’ll see if they come up with anything, but it will take time. Unless the body turns up somewhere all we can do is wait.”

  “I’m sure they will dispose of it where it won’t be found easily.”

  Hunter continued to look over the pictures, starting at the beginning scanning each segment more slowly, searching for anything which might be pertinent. His heart was racing, thrilled to be doing work he hadn’t done in years. This was the type of investigation he lived for back in his US Marshal days. If only he could return to the service, but he knew that was a pipe dream. The deadly machine of politics killed any chance of it ever happening. That was one part of the job he didn’t miss.

  “A mighty sophisticated attack,” he declared after ten minutes of studying the photos. “All of this and they still failed to obtain their target, the Hawkins kids?”

  Scanlon nodded. “They would have if it weren’t for the hiding space that had been built into the limo. Both kids remained inside as they were told, staying completely quiet until I got to them. They had nothing but wonderful things to say about Lance and how he prepared them for such an incident. He saved them from whatever fate awaited them.” Scanlon still had no clue the reasoning for taking the kids. A fact he hoped to rectify.

  “And what fate do you believe awaited them?” inquired Hunter, still eyeing each photo.

  “I have no fucking idea!” stated Scanlon with a tense shrug. “From the other attempt, I don’t think they were trying to hurt them. I believe they wanted them for some reason—maybe a bargaining chip. There’s an ex-husband but it’s hard to fathom he’d go to all this trouble just to grab the daughter and a boy who isn’t his son.”

  Hunter had encountered stranger situations in his day but couldn’t argue the detective’s logic. It would take time, but he would get to the bottom of it all.

  “Paige mentioned she hadn’t heard or seen her ex-husband in an eternity. Him wanting his daughter after all these years seems a bit farfetched but it can’t be ruled out. Have you had any luck in tracking him down?”

  “I just got this case yesterday,” stated Scanlon bitterly, shaking his head. “I haven’t had time to even take a crap since this all started, let alone begin to track down any leads. We’re still trying to piece everything together and figure out a plan of action, while also still providing them with protection. Hopefully you can take over that part of the operation soon.”

  Hunter sighed. “That is my plan, if I passed all the tests from everyone I’ve talked with and they hire me.”

  Scanlon smiled. “I have no objections.”

  “Then I intend to look into the matter too, once I have security in place,” explained Hunter. “I hope you don’t mind me running my own investigation. I can probably do things and go places you can’t.”

  Scanlon folded up his notebook and put it back in this pocket. “I have no problem with that, so long as you keep me informed of your progress. No need for me to go over territory you’ve already covered. With my current case load I don’t want to be wasting time.”

  Hunter nodded, handing the phone back to Scanlon. He had people to bring in first before he could start to investigate. He had calls out to a couple of them, but one he’d have to fly to for the man didn’t use any type of phone or communication to the outside world. All in all, it would take a few days to put his team together.

  “I will need a couple of days,” explained Hunter, now looking out the window, enjoying the view. “Can we bring Paige and Jose back here so I can let them know what I’ll need?”

  Scanlon frowned, not liking to be told what to do. He reluctantly stood and walked out of the room, finding the housekeeper who rounded up Paige and Jose.

  “Am I hired?” wondered Hunter, hoping the interrogation was over.

  Paige and Jose glanced at each other before answering.

  “We talked it over and yes we want you to start right away,” announced Jose, his arm around his wife.

  “Good. I need to fly to Hawaii to retrieve someone.” Hunter was happy to get to work.

  “Why can’t they fly here?” wondered Jose.

  “The man I need doesn’t use any type of phone. Short of sending him a letter, which he may not get for weeks, the fastest way to get him here is to fly there and bring him back. I will need a couple of days to track him down.”

  “Is he the only one you’re bringing in?” wondered Paige.

  “No. I have put calls out to three more. One will be here in a day or so and I’m waiting to hear back from the others.”

  Paige looked at Jose inquisitively, a thought crossing her mind.

  “I have a way to speed up your time away,” claimed Paige. “We have a corporate jet you can use. I can have it ready to go later today or first thing tomorrow at the latest.”

  Jose nodded while holding up a finger to his head. “Good idea honey.”

  “That would help matters,” Hunter added with a smile, thinking it must be nice to have that type of resource at your disposal.

  “We’ll need a flight plan,” said Paige.

  “He lives in Maui. And one of the other men I’m hoping to hear from lives in Scottsdale. If he calls maybe I can work in picking him up on the way back. It will speed up getting security in place.”

  “I believe we can arrange that. Just don’t stay any extra days in Hawaii chasing any gorgeous Hula girls.” Paige stated with a bitterness of experience in her tone.

  Hunter crossed his heart, though he knew the temptation was always there. Cleaning up his act likely would have to start with this mission. He didn’t want to let Paige down.

  Chapter 7

  Sitting in a sports bar in Kahului Maui, Hunter was sipping a beer while watching one of the plethora of TV’s which ringed the inside and outside of the upper frame of the bar. He’d flown in that aft
ernoon from Utah to pick up a witness to bring back to the mainland as part of his US Marshal duties. He was killing time before heading back to the hotel for the evening, with an eye on not sleeping alone.

  He surveyed the room and caught the attention of two women, who appeared to be sisters, looking his way, whispering back and forth to each other, a look of enrapture on their faces. He’d been free of female attention the last couple of months, having concentrated on his work. He could see that ending this evening, which he was okay with. And if he happened to double his pleasure, that wouldn’t be a bad thing either. Hunter had ammunition to spare to satisfy them both, thus ending his dry spell with a bang.

  As Hunter contemplated his options, he heard a ruckus at a table nearby. A man had walked in and grabbed another man by the shirt. The second man had been sitting with two other women when the first man had pulled him out of the wooden chair. The first man began yelling, his voice carrying over the bar noise, his face a few inches away, which was impressive, since he was a couple of inches shorter than the man he had a hold of, but he was quite strong.

  “You motherfucker!” he screamed for all to hear. “You screwed my sister, got her pregnant and then dumped her when she told you. What kind of man are you?”

  The taller man pushed at his captor, trying to break free, his silky colorful shirt tearing at the collar.

  “Get your hands off of me,” he bellowed in anger. “Who do you think you are?”

  “My name is Keoki Palakiko. I’m the brother of Ipo Palakiko. A woman you tossed aside as if she was nothing.”

  The tall man laughed with a dismissive wave of the hand. “Getting knocked up was her fault.”

  Keoki became even angrier. “You idiot. Are you saying you aren’t the father?”

  “Not at all. But I can’t be responsible for what happened. Birth control is her problem, not mine.”

  Keoki freed the man’s shirt and looked like he was about to hit him. Hunter, not seeing any security in the bar stepped in between them. He’d heard enough, especially the diatribe of the tall man.