Authors: Elle Wylder
I chuckle at his enthusiasm but I don’t share
his confidence. The car is a wreck.
“If you say so. Speaking of Christmas, do you
have any idea what I should get Trace? I don’t have a clue.”
He laughs. “Nope. I’m fixing to go to the
mall. Wanna tag along?”
“I would, but I made arrangements to run out
to Monroe’s and catch Magee’s crew again.” I glance at my watch.
“If I don’t hurry, I’m going to miss them.”
He nods, looking worried. “Be careful.
Monroe’s a snake.”
I grin. “I’ll be fine.”
It is a fifteen minute drive to Monroe’s
business, which is housed in a warehouse farther down the river. I
arrive around noon and find only three cars in the parking lot. I
park near the door and go inside to see if any of Magee’s crew have
waited for me. One of them must know what really happened to Magee.
If I keep asking questions, someone will eventually talk if not
about Magee, then at least with something useful on Monroe.
The place appears to be empty and I’m damned
tempted to sneak around a little, but I don’t have a warrant.
Instead I go around back to the dock. Monroe’s boat is at the far
end, and I see him and another man standing in front of it. I wave
hello and he motions for me to come out. Damn. I think about making
them come to me, but it will just take more time. Stepping out onto
the dock, I look around and the nape of my neck tingles. I don’t
see anyone behind me, yet I hesitate before continuing. My sense of
unease grows. Reaching behind me, I release the snap on my gun
holster and rest my hand on the grip of my weapon. Sure it is
within easy reach, I quicken my pace.
At the end of the dock, I nod to Monroe. “Did
I miss everyone?”
“This is all of us, actually.” I hear
footsteps behind me and turn to see two men with drawn weapons. “We
didn’t have anything planned today.”
I face him again to see a small pistol in his
hands. I spread my arms.
“What are you doing, Tim? If I had anything
on you, I’d have already arrested you.”
“Ah, that’s true,” he says. “You’re a cop.
You have to play fair.”
His tone turns derisive. “But you had to hook
up with that lowlife Graham, didn’t you? You could have had me, but
you chose him.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re pointing a
gun at me.” I frown down at the pistol in his hand.
“Your boy’s a problem. You might play fair,
but he won’t. And we all know how far he’ll go if he thinks he’s
defending you. I thought he’d come with you today.” He shrugs. “If
he shows up, I can get rid of you both.”
I suppress a groan and force a laugh. Please,
God, let me get out of this mess before Trace comes looking for me.
I have no doubt he will.
“I think you overestimate my hold over him,
Tim. He won’t come. He just wants revenge for spending ten years in
prison.”
His smirk is a little on the crazy side.
“We’ll see.”
He motions to the boat with his gun hand.
“Let’s get on board, shall we?”
Two of the men climb onto the boat before me
and tie my hands with rope when I gain the deck. I sit on a chair
and listen to the four of them argue in low voices about what to do
with me. Monroe and one of his associates are all for killing the
cop right away. The other two mention caution. Hooray for caution.
They take my gun, but don’t search me. If I can somehow reach the
knife in my boot, I can cut my bonds. Except one of them always has
an eye on me.
Their argument seems to last forever, but it
can’t be more than twenty minutes. Finally, one of the men leaves
the boat and stalks down the dock. The other three decide to lock
me in a cabin and figure out what to do with me later. I’m marched
downstairs and pushed inside a small storage room. Before I can
release a sigh of relief, something comes down hard on my head.
Falling forward, I catch myself with my wrists, preparing to roll
and fight. Then I hear the door click shut behind me.
I dig the knife from my boot and saw through
the rope binding my hands. My head pounds and with ginger fingers,
I reach up to feel a knot already forming on the back of my scalp.
My hand comes away bloody. Great. I lean back against the wall and
try to regain my equilibrium.
A thud comes from outside the door, and I
crawl over to peek through the wooden slats. One of the men sits in
a chair in the tiny hallway. Queasy and dizzy, I let my eyes slide
shut. My skull pounds and nausea roils my stomach. What a time to
be afflicted with motion sickness. I just need to rest a minute.
The next time I open my eyes, the room has grown dim and I hear
shouting from the deck. Jerking upright, I groan and grab my head.
Damn. I do not have fucking time for this.
The guard outside my door is on his feet and
at the sound, turns to look at my door. The knob jiggles, and I
reach for the closest small object and move to the wall beside the
door. It creaks inward and the man steps through, whipping his head
around to look for me. The boat rocks, tossing me forward, and I
swung my arm at him with all the momentum I can muster. I hit him
in the back of the head with a sickening crunch, and finally look
at what I hold. A brass lamp base. Fighting off a wave of
queasiness--God, I hate boats--I kneel at his side and feel for a
pulse. It’s weak, but it’s there.
Silence descends topside and I make my way up
the stairs, blinking against the glare of the sinking sun. Monroe
is backed against the railing of the deck, his hands spread high
and it takes me a moment to pick Trace out in the gathering
gloom.
Trace
I wake alone. Heading to the shower, I glance
at the time and wonder where Serenity is. The house is too quiet
for her to be somewhere inside. It is three in the afternoon by the
time I drag myself to my brother’s after staring frustrated at her
note in the kitchen long enough to percolate one cup of coffee.
Walker sits in his kitchen wrapping presents.
I almost laugh at the scene. This is not something we’d done much
as kids. There are no great Christmas memories for the Graham
brothers.
“How’d it go last night?” he asks.
“All good.”
I’d been right about the job but surprised at
the size of it. Mike Thompson had somehow gotten the keys for a
private garage. We’d cleaned it out, loaded them inside a couple
eighteen wheelers, and dropped them off in Louisiana. It was a good
haul but it’d taken a lot longer than I’d anticipated.
“Cool. I just got off the phone with Lynn’s
mother,” Walker says. “Who apparently by-passed y’all because your
phone’s off the hook. Little early in the day for that, isn’t it?
Anyway, she’s decided to move Christmas dinner to Lynn’s, and we’re
invited. I don’t know what’s up with you two, but if I get to eat
Joanne Jameson’s cooking, I don’t care.”
I arch an eyebrow. I know Serenity’s mom
likes me, but I didn’t realize how much. That is a damned sight
better than having to worry about her getting used to me.
Walker frowns. “Where is Lynn? I thought we
were going to grill over here tonight.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. She left a
note saying she’d be back later. I figured she was here.”
Walker puts the paper and tape in a bag and
tosses it aside. Reaching for the phone, he looks at me and raises
a questioning brow.
“Did you call her?”
“There was no answer.” I shrug. I left her a
voice mail, and then pushed it out of my mind. I figured she was
shopping. That might not have been the best way to go. Walker’s
expression grows grim and I start to get worried.
“She was going out to Monroe’s to talk to
some of his crew.”
A sense of dread fills me. And then I’m just
fucking pissed. God damn it! Why didn’t she tell me? She’s going to
get herself killed. Monroe isn’t stupid. He knows Serenity is
investigating him and his business dealings. I grab my keys from
the hook by the door and run out the door, with Walker right on my
heels. I make the fifteen minute drive in seven. Monroe’s building
sits on several wooded acres, set far off the road to catch
advantage of the river it borders. The gates are wide open and I
drive quickly down the long tree-lined entrance. It opens onto a
large parking lot in front of the main building. There are four
cars, including Serenity’s, in the lot.
Walker and I approach the warehouse and make
a silent pass through it. Empty. Where is she? If Monroe has hurt
her, I’ll take him apart piece by piece. We walk through the back
door and see the boat moored at the end of the dock. Exchanging a
short look, we cautiously approach it, moving along the side of the
property in the shadows.
Two men stand in the gloom on the deck. While
we watch, one walks up the short steps to the captain’s chair,
while the other moves to the bow. My blood boils. Where is
Serenity? No one is looking, so we steal on board. I follow Walker
on quiet feet, my brother going for the guy upstairs while I stalk
the one on deck.
Noise erupts above me as I move in close
enough to make out Monroe’s profile. I can’t spare a glance at my
brother as I duck the fist coming at me. In one movement, I grab
the gun from Monroe’s hand and step out of his reach. I shake with
rage, and it takes me a minute to find my voice.
“Where’s Serenity?” I ask in a hard tone. I
can’t lose her again.
“How should I know?” Monroe asks, spreading
his hands and backing up.
I narrow my eyes and cock the hammer. “I
don’t have a problem killing people, remember? Where is she?”
I catch movement on the edge of my vision,
but don’t dare turn away from Monroe to see what it is.
“I’m here,” Serenity says.
I say a quick prayer of thanks to a God I
haven’t believed in for a very long time. Monroe shifts, and I lift
the gun again. Serenity comes up next to me and holds out her
hand.
“Give me the gun, Trace,” she says
softly.
I feel Walker approach my other side and from
the corner of my eye see him cross his arms and glare at
Monroe.
“Why don’t you just leave, Serenity, and let
us take care of Monroe?”
“Wasn’t ten years in prison enough for you?”
she asks dryly.
“I could shoot him in the knee.”
“Hmm,” she says, pretending to think it over.
I think so, at least. “With your record, you’d still do a couple of
years for aggravated assault. If not more.”
I risk turning my head to meet her gaze and
grin. “But you’d wait for me, right?”
Her eyes narrow and she puts her hands on her
hips. She says angrily, “No. No, I will
not
, Trace. I’m not
waiting for anyone anymore. Give me the damned gun!”
I lower the hammer and let the gun roll over
so my hand is off the grip. Then I hand it to her.
“Thank you. Walker, see if you can find some
rope to tie him and the others up,” she says sweetly, eyeing
Monroe. “Let’s get them off this boat and inside the building.”
I’m all for that but I have to do something
else first. The man touched my woman. He wanted to kill her. I
can’t let that go completely unanswered.
“Sorry, baby,” I say right before I approach
Monroe and punch him--hard--in the gut. He grunts and doubles over.
When I turn back Serenity is shaking her head.
“Just can’t help yourself can you?”
“He assaulted me,” Monroe complains. “Aren’t
you going to arrest him?”
I can’t identify the look that crosses her
face. “I didn’t see a damned thing,” she says.
Walker gets some rope and we round up the
other two men. Serenity goes down the ladder first with the gun,
followed by Monroe and his goons, and then us. We march Monroe into
his office and tie him to his office chair. I think it’s kind of
poetic. The other two go in the office next door.
“Now what?” Walker asks.
“I’m about to call a friend of mine with the
state drug team,” she says, reaching for her phone. “Then I’ll get
a search warrant. I certainly have probable cause. Then we’ll find
out just what old Tim here has been up to.”
She calls the city judge first, and has one
of her officers bring her a warrant. Walker and I stand over Monroe
while she does a quick pass through the building. She’s grinning
when she comes back and calls her friend. A friend who doesn’t just
work for the state--he runs one of its drug teams. He and his crew
show up an hour later. I’ve never been into drugs, but having so
many cops around makes me antsy, especially when Monroe makes sure
everyone knows I’ve just been released from prison and the
suspicious looks start.
Serenity goes outside with her friend, whom
she introduces as Andrew. He is a little too attentive, in my
opinion, and they are gone a long time. I wait and watch the
search. After a while, Serenity and Andrew come back inside. She
finds me and Walker and pulls us aside.
“I need y’all to give an official statement
and then you can get out of here, okay? One of Andrew’s guys will
do it in the conference room over there.” She nods to a door behind
us.
“Fine. What about you?”
“I’ll be here awhile. Y’all do this, and then
go on home.”
She rubs the back of her neck and winces. I
frown and step towards her.
“I’m fine,” she says, lying to my face.
“Let me see.” I grab her arm and spin her
around. Ignoring the narcs watching me, I step close and lift her
hair. She has a big knot on the back of her head and I can feel
dried blood in her hair. I prod it gently. Someone knocked her
good. I might just have to kill Monroe after all. She turns around,
and I look her over before she moves away.
“I’m fine,” she repeats softly. “And Monroe’s
in custody in a building full of cops. Don’t even think about
it.”
I nod, forcing my fists to unclench and my
jaw to loosen. God help Monroe if I ever get my hands on him. An
officer approaches and asks if we’re ready to make our statements,
and I nod. Serenity meets my gaze.