Rowan (The K9 Files Book 10)

by Dale Mayer

  She heard the footsteps crossing the living room and realized the intruder wasn’t alone. She clearly heard the second set. Her phone was in her pocket; she didn’t know what time it was, but, from the light outside, she figured it had to be at least five. And that was just shitty. The intruders were hoping to catch them sound asleep obviously.

  And maybe it was Hershey, maybe it was Badger, she didn’t know, but somebody had woken them up.

  “They should be in bed,” came the hoarse whisper.

  “Shhh.”

  “Fuck off,” the one man said, just as faintly.

  With her head tilted, considering the voices, she wondered if it wasn’t the two guys who had kidnapped her. It sounded like them. As the bedroom door opened ever-so-slowly, she heard the sound of a gun being cocked. And then several shots were fired directly into the bed. She stared in shock, her fist in her mouth, as she tried to still the cries that were screaming to come out. And then, just like that, the shooting stopped.

  She couldn’t see where Rowan and the dog were, but obviously they hadn’t attacked yet. She hoped they were hidden and waiting for an opportunity, not … dead. But, with Rowan unarmed, she didn’t know how to get out of this without somebody getting hurt. She held the pups in the bundle of blankets that Rowan had scooped up and dumped at her feet. She gently cuddled both of them, and now they were scared and burrowed deep into the blankets, hiding. She wished she could do the same thing.

  And then one of the men spoke. “What the fuck? Nobody’s here.”

  “They’re supposed to be here,” he said. “He said they would be here.”

  “Or he didn’t know for certain that they would be here,” the one said.

  “It was all arranged. We’re here. We did the shooting. We get paid.”

  “In this case there’s no payment. Remember?”

  “Yeah, well, there should be. This is our second time now.”

  “According to him, we fucked up on the kidnapping, so we owed him this one.”

  “Well, if, at first, he wanted to kidnap her, why is he now wanting to kill her? He can’t get what he wants from her if she’s dead, right?”

  “He wants her wounded, so he can get some information. I think he plans to kill her after that. She can identify us.”

  “She probably can,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not here. The question is, why isn’t she here?” he asked. “How can the intel be so wrong?”

  “Maybe we’re in the wrong room,” he said.

  “We can’t take a chance. Somebody must have heard our shots. We’ve got to get out of here.”

  “He’ll be pissed.”

  “I don’t care about him. It’s Steve who’s dangerous. Honestly, his mother is hella scary too.”

  “I think the kid’s a wild card as well.”

  “Maybe, but he’s not our problem. I’m getting the hell out of town after this.”

  And immediately came sounds of footfalls racing across the motel room, so the gunmen were leaving. And then she heard Rowan telling Hershey, “Attack!”

  She bolted from the closet in time to see the two of them going after the two gunmen, who were already trying to get out the front door. But, as Hershey took down the first one, Rowan went after the second one, and shots were fired, but she had no clue if anybody was hit. Then there was screams and yells, Rowan ordering his captive to shut the fuck up, and a hard thunk. She raced out to the front room, turning on lights as she went, and Hershey had clamped onto the shoulder of a man screaming on the floor, but his partner was out cold. He’d come up against Rowan’s fists. “Maybe knock this one out too.”

  “No,” he said. He got Hershey to release his hold on the guy’s shoulder, and then he grabbed the stranger and sat him up against the wall and said to him, “No, you’ll talk, or I’ll let the dog have you again.”

  “Jesus,” he said, whimpering. “I need an ambulance. You can’t do this.”

  “I can’t do what? You came into my motel room, and you shot up my bed, trying to kill me,” he said. “It’s not my fault that my dog attacked you, defending me.”

  The kid started bawling. “I didn’t want to do this job,” he said.

  “So why did you?”

  “Because that goddamn kid said Steve would get us if we didn’t. We stole from him a while back, and he’s pretty pissed about it.”

  “I presume you’re talking about Steve and his nephew.”

  “Nephew?” He frowned. “Is that his nephew? I thought it was his son?”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s his uncle who’s in jail,” Rowan said patiently. “So that makes the kid Steve’s nephew.”

  He frowned at that and then nodded. “Yeah, his uncle is one scary dude.”

  “Well, he murdered somebody so, yeah. … And, of course, that’s what you tried to do, so maybe you’ll go right in jail with him. You can become his new little jail buddy.”

  “Hell no,” he said. “That guy is like one scary, scary dude.”

  “Maybe he wants a pretty little boy in bed with him,” he said, “and he already knows you.”

  The kid started to cry in earnest. “God, no, please, no.”

  “Besides, do you know why he killed the old man?”

  “For fucking coins,” he said. “That’s all the kid talks about. How the coins are supposed to be in the family, how they’re supposed to be his.”

  “Why the hell would they be his? And where’s his mom? Is she part of this?”

  “Well, she’s in on it,” he said. “She’s as psycho as his uncle. The whole family is a nightmare.”

  “Interesting,” Rowan said. “If it all goes back to the coins, why do they think that they should have the coins?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Something about Steve said the coins were supposed to be his, and they weren’t. Somehow this old guy got ahold of them, and that was it. Took Steve a long time to let that anger build inside him until he could kill the old man, but he did. He told us all about it. And then he, well, whether it’s the truth or not, I don’t know, but the kid did tell us all about it and so did his mom, how this old guy cheated Steve out of the coins.”

  “Cheated him?”

  “Yeah, they were supposed to both get the coins, or something like that,” he said. “I don’t know. Personally I think the old man probably owned the coins, and they thought they could get them from him, but, when they killed him, they couldn’t find them.”

  “That sounds more like it,” Rowan said drily.

  “So, you’ll let me go, right?” he said, eyeing Hershey. “You’ll keep that damn dog away from me?”

  “Why would I?” Rowan said. “I’ll call the cops, and I’ll turn you over because you already tried to kill us once.”

  “But that was the kid ordering us too, saying Steve would get us if we didn’t. And that damn mother of his said Steve would get out of jail soon, and he’d hunt us down, if we didn’t do this. And that we owed them.”

  “The mom sounds like a real head case.”

  “She is. I think it’s the effort of being really nice and friendly the whole time, out front, but, inside, she’s one twisted female.”

  “Yeah, sounds like it,” he said, but just then the second guy he’d knocked out cold now jumped to his feet and raced out the front door.

  “Rowan,” she called out.

  “Hershey go,” he said.

  A shot fired.

  Rowan was already out the front door, calling to Hershey, “Retreat.”

  The dog followed his training, dropped to the ground, and then immediately came back. Brandi peered out the window and could see a woman and a young man exiting a vehicle, coming toward them, both of them carrying guns. They were too far away to see clearly in the darkness before the dawn.

  “Great,” Rowan called back. “Here comes your crazy-ass female boss and her son.”

  Hershey bolted into the apartment.

  She watched the color drain from the gunman’s face. “Th
ey’ll kill us,” he cried out in a panic. “They’ll kill us.”

  “Your friend is already dead, I think,” she said gently.

  His gaze went from her to the doorway in horror. She’d called 9-1-1, but she didn’t expect anybody to get here in time. And even now was trying to send the detective a text message.

  She looked up to see Rowan backing up with his hands in the air.

  A woman ordered Rowan, “Turn around and get inside.”

  Rowan turned, looked at her, motioned at the bedroom. “Go, and take Hershey,” he hissed.

  Immediately she grabbed the dog’s collar, and the two raced to the bedroom. She closed the door but didn’t latch it.

  “Oh, now that’s smart,” the female said, her voice closer, stepping into the hotel room.

  Brandi frowned, thinking about that voice. She thought she recognized it but couldn’t quite place it.

  “Now we’ve got the other one here too. Time to clean up again,” she said.

  Another guy spoke, the new guy with the woman, who was talking to the remaining gunman, “What an idiot. I told you to take care of business.”

  The gunman whined, “I tried. I tried.”

  Pop!

  Brandi gasped, her heart in her throat. Dear God, they killed both gunmen? How was that possible? This nightmare just wouldn’t end. Then she worried it had been Rowan they’d shot.

  Her heart started beating again as she heard Rowan’s voice, calm, contained, questioning, “Rosie, I presume?”

  Brandi froze in the bedroom and then opened the door and burst out. “Jesus, Rosie?”

  And there was her coworker. The mothering one, always telling everybody off about their love life and their weight and their food. Brandi stared at Rosie in horror.

  Rosie raised her handgun and said, “There you are,” she said. “Such a sweet, pious, little bitch.”

  Brandi stared at her in shock. “What is this all about?” she asked. She looked down at the floor, where bloodstains spread and said, “My God, you killed him?”

  “Well, I had to,” she said.

  “Yeah, he screwed up twice,” said the kid beside her.

  She looked over at the kid and said, “Holy crap.” Then she drew a blank at his name; she didn’t even know what to say.

  “I gather this is Rosie’s son, who tried to date you?” Rowan asked in a commanding voice. He had his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the wall.

  She looked at him and his nonchalant attitude, completely bemused at how he could be so calm. She walked forward several steps and said, “Really? All this over a coin collection?”

  The kid looked at her and sneered. “That coin collection is worth millions.”

  “Why do you think it’s yours?”

  “Well, it belongs to whoever gets it,” Rosie said calmly. “I heard all about it, and my brother, Steve, he was supposed to get it, after he killed your grandfather, but we couldn’t find it. Your grandfather died laughing at us.”

  “Wow,” she said. “So, all of this killing was because you heard about it?”

  “My brother saw it,” she said. “Pictures of it anyway. Our uncle Jeff was really good friends with your grandfather. He never could forget about those coins. But he knew they weren’t for him. Whereas my brother, Steve, and I, well, we figured that collection was ours. It should have been ours. It’s not like your grandfather needed it. He was supposed to hand it over, but he wouldn’t. He died, taking the secret location of the coins to the grave.”

  “And my grandmother? After all those years you left her alone, then you came and killed her too?”

  “Well, after my brother was charged for your grandfather’s murder, he went to jail, so there wasn’t much I could do until sonny boy here grew up. We thought about doing it earlier, and then I was visiting my brother, and he told me that he was getting out soon.”

  She gave them a fat smile that made Brandi’s skin crawl. “My brother needed a fresh start, and I needed the millions for me and my son. So we figured, if we could finally get the damn coin collection, then the three of us could leave this place and start again. This was all Steve’s plan, when he was unexpectedly told he was getting out soon. Figured we’d do it while he was still in jail, so they wouldn’t suspect him. We’re splitting the money. I’d do anything to help my son. He needs a better life than what he’s had. He deserves better,” she said forcefully. “So does my brother.”

  Rowan stared at the crazed woman, shaking his head.

  She gave him a sly smile. “And you thought you were so smart.”

  Brandi shouted, “So you murdered my grandmother?”

  Rosie shrugged. “And you know what? I think that old bitch knew when we walked in the door that we would kill her. I told her that we were after the coin collection. She just looked at us in surprise and said that the secret location had died with her husband.”

  “And you didn’t believe her?”

  “Well, I did,” she said, “until she started laughing at me. She was leaning against the kitchen counter with a cup of tea in her hand, and I came up and hit her across the face. I called her a bitch and maybe a couple other names too.”

  Brandi’s heart sank at the thought of what her grandmother went through. And that Brandi didn’t know anything about it for so long.

  “So I picked up that damn knife she had on the chopping block beside her, and I stabbed her right in the chest. She didn’t even make a sound. She just stared at me as the knife went in, and then she slowly sagged to the floor. I couldn’t believe it. But it was craziness, with all that forest fires in the area, and everybody packing and trying to get out of there, so I figured it was a perfect time to hide my tracks.”

  “You left her to burn?” Brandi’s heart ached at her grandmother’s final hours.

  “Sure did. I poured as much oil and grease around her as I could from the kitchen to make sure she burned extrahot. She was in the back corner, where the kitchen was, and her bedroom was directly above. So afterward, I realized that I’d left the knife in her chest, so we went and searched the house but found nothing,” she said.

  “Why? You said it was a kitchen knife off the countertop.”

  “Yes, it was. But then, because I was so mad, I took the knife that my grandfather had given me, and I plunged his knife into her chest too. In my excitement, I forgot the second knife. My knife. So I ended up going back to get my grandfather’s knife, but the body had been removed, and nothing was left to find. We swept up as much as we could and then tried to cover our tracks, but I never did find a knife.”

  “Because it’s at the coroner’s office,” Brandi said quietly. “They’ll be happy to know where it came from.”

  “Won’t matter,” she said. “Probably nothing left of it.”

  “Just the metal blade,” she said. “And it was pretty damaged at that.”

  “Of course,” she said, “it’s not like the metal can handle that kind of heat.”

  “It can handle a lot though,” Brandi said. “The coroner did say that my grandmother was murdered, so obviously the knife was found, as was the damage you did, and so the fire didn’t hide all your tracks.”

  “No, but it hid all the forensic evidence,” she said. “So what do I care?”

  “Maybe not,” Brandi said. “Maybe they can still find something to nail your ass to the wall.”

  “Like hell,” she said. “You’ve had it all too easy, all your life.”

  “No,” she said. “I haven’t had it easy at all. But I did have a very loving grandmother, and you took that away from me.”

  “I sure did, bitch,” she said. “It was so hard working with you. I had to retrain to get that goddamn receptionist job.”

  “Why?” she asked. “Why bother?”

  “Well, I needed a job to begin with because we didn’t have a million-dollar coin collection,” she said, “and I was hoping my son could get close to you, and you would tell him about it. We also searched your apartment, but
it was cold and sterile. With time running out, we had these two idiots following you, shooting at you, texting you, threatening you, hoping you’d open up to me about what was going on in your life. If not me, then my son,” she admitted. “But you wouldn’t take the bait. We even sent the guys back to your apartment to trash it, hoping to scare you more. And to follow this lover of yours. Fired him after he was made and your buddy took photos of him. Idiot. He wasn’t supposed to shoot at you on the hills either, but he figured it would shake you up and you’d turn to my son for protection.” She snorted. “As if, all it did was send you into this guy’s arms. I did ask you if you wanted to bunk in with me, but it’s like you didn’t even hear me. Figured at least you’d recognize the protector in my son and turn to him for help, but you didn’t do that either.”

  “We didn’t hit it off,” Brandi said. “I wouldn’t go out on a second date with him, and so then what?”

  “Then I decided to go after your grandmother. And, when that didn’t work, we came back after you. See? We’re out of patience,” she said. “We’re also a little desperate.”

  “Well, you’ve left a lot of bodies behind,” Brandi said bitterly. “Apparently none of that matters to you.”

  “No, not in the least,” she said, “and we’ve added two more now. Useless kids. I thought maybe they would turn out to be better than this, but, if you want the job done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.” She casually lifted the gun and pointed it at Brandi.

  “If you kill me, then you can’t get the coins,” Brandi said reasonably.

  The woman stopped. “So, do you have them?”

  “I know where they are, yes,” she said.

  She grinned. “Perfect.” Rosie turned, and she shot Rowan in the shoulder.

  He swore at her, his hand going up to the injury, his face blanching, but he stood steady on his feet.

  Brandi, her heart sick, filled with anger in a red wave like she’d never felt before.

  Rosie kept her gaze on Brandi. “So tell me exactly where they are,” she said, “or I’ll shoot him again.”

  Brandi stopped, her throat in her mouth, and she cried out, “Rowan, I’m so sorry.”