Fallen Pride (Jesse McDermitt Series) (33 page)

“No word of this leaves here,” I said.

“Word of what?” Chyrel asked.

We went back out to the deck and sat down with Jared and Charity. Several of the others were scattered around at the tables, along with quite a few of the local fishing crowd.

“How long have you and Julie been dating?” Jared asked.

“We only met about eight months ago,” Deuce replied. “But, it feels like we’ve known each other forever.” Jared and Charity looked at each other and shared a not so secret smile.

“Only another hour of bachelorhood,” I said looking at my watch. “I’m going to go check on some things.”

I left them there and walked around the side of the bar then down by the docks. I scanned all the boats tied up there and all but a couple of skiffs in the small boat area were familiar. The ones I didn’t recognize had a couple inches of water in the bottom, from the last rain, so they were here for a couple of days. I walked to the south end of the dock and down the crushed shell road that paralleled the canal down to the boat launch. A Marine Patrol boat was anchored at the entrance to the canal now. I recognized the young man on the boat and waved. He gave me a thumbs up that everything would be okay there.

I walked around the east side of the property surveying everything. I know Tony and Grayson had already done this, but they aren’t familiar with the property and might have missed something. When I got to the shell driveway, I continued out to the road. Two Monroe County Sheriff squad cars were parked on either side of the entrance, facing in opposite directions so the driver’s doors were inboard
.

A FedEx truck pulled in and both Deputies got out and stopped him. I walked up to the truck as one of the Deputies asked what he was doing here.

The driver thumbed through an electronic device and said, “I have an express delivery for an Anthony Jacobs.”

“I’ll take it,” I said.

“Are you Anthony Jacobs?”

“No, but he works for me,” I lied.

“Sorry sir, but I have to get him to sign for it.”

“How big is it?” I asked.

He glanced down at his device and said, “Forty-eight inches long, by six inches wide and two inches thick. Weighs eight pounds.”

“Shipped from?”

“Raleigh, North Carolina.”

“It’s alright, Deputies,” I said grinning. Then to the driver, “Follow me.”
I walked back down the driveway to the parking lot. I saw Tony talking to Simpson at the door to the bar and called him over.

He trotted up as the FedEx guy parked and went into the back of the truck. “Man says he’s got a delivery for you, Tony.”

“I thought it wasn’t going to get here in time,” he said with a huge grin. “It’s my Winchester.”

The driver stepped down from the truck with the package and asked for Tony’
s ID, which he showed. Tony signed for the package and said, “I gotta get this wrapped.” He turned and ran toward Rufus’ little shack on the back of the property.

I
walked around to the far side of the canal. There’s a trail through the woods there and I remembered back to when Alex and I used to run together. We had a three mile loop that started and ended running through these woods. The woods were so thick it was out of the question for anyone to get through them, but the trail was a different story.

When I reached the other side of the woods, there was anothe
r Monroe Deputy parked there at the end of Sombrero Beach Road. I smiled inwardly. Stockwell had all the bases covered. Walking back to the
Anchor
I thought about the size and shape of the bomb. Not very concealable and too heavy for one man to move easily.

When I got back through the woods more people had arrived. By both car and boat. The Deputies and Marine Patrol I knew
to be locals and would probably recognize everyone in attendance. I started to relax. A little. Most of the team had congregated in the parking lot and I joined them.

“It’s almost time to start,” Grayson said. “We were discussing if maybe some of us ought to sort of stand around the fringes, instead of all sitting together.”

“Everyone’s armed?”

“Yeah,” replied Grayson.

“Not me,” Chyrel said. “I’m not very good with a gun.”

“I’ll work on that with you this week,” I said.
“I think it’d be a good idea if five or six were scattered around the area. Pick the best five shooters, Scott.”

“
Well, two will be standing at the altar, you and Deuce. After y’all would be Donnie, Glenn, Germ, Sherri, and me. We’ll spread around the back of where everyone’s sitting.”

“Everyone else,” I said, “should be on the groom’s side, toward the rear.”

We split up then and I headed into the bar, where I’m sure Deuce and Rusty would be. Sure enough, they were at the bar with two shot glasses in front of them. Rusty produced a third and poured two fingers of Pusser’s Rum in each.

“Son,” Rusty said, “Julie’s my only child. Her momma died giving
her to me. She’s so much like her momma. There’s no greater gift I could give a man and no better man than the one I give her to. You take real good care of her.”

“I will, sir,” Deuce said respectfully.

“A shame your dad couldn’t be here today,” I said. I lifted my glass and said, “To Russ Livingston.”

We tossed back the rum and Rusty said, “Okay, that’s it. Julie’ll kick both our asses if you’re drunk.”

“I think it’s about time we get out there,” I said.

“Yeah,” Rusty said. “I’ll go check on Julie.”

Deuce and I walked out the back door of the bar and around the side to the altar that my former First Mate, Jimmy Saunders, had built. Most of the guests were seated and Dan sat on a stool by the wall playing softly on his guitar.

Deuce and I were met at the altar by the Reverend Douglas Bader of Conch Unity Church. Rusty took Julie there when she was little, though neither had been in a couple of years.

“Good to see you again, Jesse,” the Reverend said. “Be nice to see you in my Church one of these days.”

“One of these days, Reverend,” I said. “This is Deuce, I mean Russell Livingston
. He’s the groom.”

“You’re a lucky man, Deuce,” he said. “
Julie’s a fine young woman. Do you prefer Russell?”

“Deuce is fine, Reverend. But, Julie doesn’t like it, so make it Russell during the ceremony.”

He laughed and said, “Yes, even as a little girl she detested schoolyard nicknames. You have the rings?”

“I have hers,” Deuce said. “Julie has mine.”

“That’s perfect,” he said. Then he looked over the guests and said, “Quite an assortment of guests. Your side seems to be mostly hard looking men.”

“We’re military, sir,” Deuce offered. It seemed to satisfy the Reverend.

Just then, Jimmy’s girlfriend, Angie, came around the corner of the bar and said something to Dan. He wound up the tune he was playing, turned his amp up a little and started the Bridal Chorus. Everyone stood up and waited. After a few seconds, Jackie came around the side of the bar. She’d changed into designer jeans and a light blue blouse, with a ruffled neckline and was carrying a light blue bouquet of hibiscus. She had her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail.

Once she joined us at the altar Dan started playing the Wedding March and Rusty came around the corner, with Julie on his arm.
Deuce inhaled sharply. Rusty had changed, too. He was wearing black trousers and a light blue long sleeve, dress shirt. Both obviously brand new. Julie was dressed in a simple white dress that I recognized from a picture on Rusty’s mantle.

I whispered to Deuce, “That’s the dress
Anna wore when she and Rusty were married.”

Gone was the little girl that I’d watched grow up. Gone was the tomboy, besting all the boys in high school at fishing. Gone was the second best flats guide in the Keys. Gone was the Coast Guard SpecOps Petty Of
ficer. In place was a beautiful woman, her dark auburn hair styled in a simple way, with a narrow headband of small, light blue flowers and a simple, short, white veil.

“Wow,” Deuce whispered.

Rusty and Julie walked slowly between the rows of guests and up to the altar. Dan ended the March as Rusty gave her a hug, took her hand and placed it in Deuce’s, then took a seat in the front.

“
Please be seated,” said the Reverend. “My friends, we’re gathered here in the eyes of God to join this man and this woman in Holy matrimony. Who gives this woman?”

Rusty stood up and with a tear in his eye and a choke in his voice said, “Her mother and I do.”

The Reverend continued, “In the Book of Genesis it says, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ I’ve known this woman most of her life and know that she is more than up to the task. Russell and Julie, as you prepare to take these vows, give careful thought and prayer, for as you make them you are making an exclusive commitment one to the other for as long as you both shall live. Your love for each other should never be diminished by difficult circumstances, and it is to endure until death parts you. Hand in hand you enter marriage, hand in hand you step out in faith. The hand you freely give to each other, is both the strongest and the most tender part of your body. The wedding ring is a symbol of eternity, it is without end. It is an outward sign of an inward and spiritual bond which unites two hearts in endless love. And now as a token of your love and of your deep desire to be forever united in heart and soul, you Russel, may place a ring on the finger of your bride.”

Deuce
turned to me and I reached into my pocket and handed the ring to him. As he slid it onto her finger, he said, “Julie, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you.”

The Reverend said, “
By the same token Julie, you may place a ring on the finger of your groom.”

Julie turned to Jackie, who handed Deuce’s ring to her. As she slid it on his finger she said, “
I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you, also.”

They both turned to the Reverend. “
The ring is the symbol of the commitment which binds these two together. There are two rings because there are two people, each to make a contribution to the life of the other, and to their new life together. Let us pray.”

He bowed his head and continued, “
Bless, O Lord, the giving of these rings. That they who wear them may abide together in your peace and grow in one another's eyes. Amen.”

“
For as much as Russell and Julie have consented together in Holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and these witnesses, and thereto have pledged their faithfulness each to the other, and have pledged the same by the giving and receiving each of a ring, by the authority vested in me as a minister of the Gospel, and according to the laws of the State of Florida, I pronounce that they are husband and wife together, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Those that God has joined together, let no man put asunder. Russell, you may kiss your bride.”

Deuce lifted Julie’s veil and kissed her, as everyone began to cheer. I noticed that Rusty was weeping openly, but quickly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his eyes. Deuce and Julie started back down the aisle as the guests tossed bird seed over them. Jackie and I followed, along with Rusty.

“The bar’s open!” Rusty yelled.

Half
way down the aisle, I noticed a white van turning around in the parking lot and backing up to the congregation. It had a mural on the side of a huge wedding cake and the name,
Creations by Rebecca
on both sides and the back doors. It came to a stop just ten feet from the back of the chairs and the driver got out and opened the back doors. The driver was an older man, with gray hair in a ponytail. When he stepped away from the doors, I saw a huge wedding cake. It had four layers, the top one about twelve inches around and each lower one a few inches larger. It was over two feet tall and was sitting on a pallet four feet square.

Twelve inches around? Two feet tall? “Deuce
!” I shouted. “The cake!”

Suddenly,
all the team members drew their side arms and almost twenty guns were pointed at the driver. Tony was the first one at the back of the van. He produced a long Ka-Bar knife and gently pushed it into the top layer. It only went in less than half an inch “Solid,” he said.

“Where’d this come from?” Grayson asked the driver threateningly.

“A guy in Miami paid me $200 to deliver it,” he replied. “Said his regular driver was sick. And I’d get another $200 if I was exactly on time.”

“Get everyone out of here,” Tony said as he
began to very carefully cut away the outer cake from the small barrel hidden inside that contained the bomb.

The team quickly moved all the guests through the parking lot and up the driveway. I stood next to Tony with Jared. Deuce came quickly over. “Get the hell out of here, Deuce,” I said.

“I’m not going…”

I cut him off. “Dammit, Deuce, you have more than yourself to worry about. Go!”