Promises: Part I (Bounty Hunters Book 1) (6 page)

Duke was thinking of going to Macy’s to put together another outfit, but he didn’t want to feel silly. He’d dress casual for his date that night. He wasn’t gonna behave like some ridiculous kid with a crush and pull everything out of his closet. A pair of jeans and his corduroy blazer. Nothing wrong with that. He was sure all eyes would be on Vaughan anyway. He fixed himself a bologna and cheese sandwich and sat at his desk going over some of his guys’ reports. All of them had to detail the sequence of events of every one of their bounty captures. Just in case anything was needed for court or if anyone tried to sue them.

Dana had pepper sprayed the last guy he picked up and the one before that, he’d tased. Duke was going to have to talk with Dana about his use of excessive force. Bounty hunters had very strict guidelines to follow, and unnecessary use of force was a sure way to get your license revoked or worse, get Duke fined.

A fax came in from a fellow bondsman that hired Duke’s hunters to pick up his bail skips. Duke and Quick had gone over the contract last week and believed it was something they could handle. The guy was a violent offender and had been let out on a one hundred thousand dollar bond. Duke had a few of his guys doing surveillance on last known whereabouts but they hadn’t gotten lucky yet. The bond agent was getting agitated and wanted Duke to pick up the pace, but he would not go out until he knew he could safely get the guy.

The fax confirmed that their bounty had been spotted at a house in The Bluffs off English Avenue. Crime central. Huge, abandoned homes and ransacked stores littered the area, addicts and dealers were in and out of buildings, whether occupied or vacant. It was a bad part of town and Duke knew it. He’d have to take a couple of the guys with him. Hopefully he could get the guy before dark, making it slightly less dangerous, and then of course, he’d be home in time to get ready for his date.

Duke picked up his phone and called Dana first. Although the guy still had a hoarse cough and nasal congestion that were bad enough to be heard through the phone line, he’d insisted that he wasn’t letting Duke and Quick go to that neighborhood without him. Quick confirmed he’d be there in an hour. Duke went to his secured room and retrieved his two 9mm and his bulletproof vest. The gold bounty hunter’s star suspended around his neck meant nothing to these guys. They’d fight like hell to keep their freedom. He tucked his TASER in the front of his pants; he’d most likely need it, too. Their primary goal was to bring the bounty back for imprisonment, not the morgue. While he waited next to his truck, he shot off a quick text to Vaughan, his heart already fluttering whenever he thought of him.

Got some work to do that came up suddenly, I might be a little late tonight

Duke waited for the response, which was almost instant.

As long as you’re not cancelling.

I’ll see you tonight. Got something special just for you.

Duke left it at that.
Oh my goodness. What did that mean?
Duke was hot, thinking about what that something special was. Whatever it was, he hoped it involved that long almost pale cock. Damn the man did serious things to his body, and they’d had very little actual physical contact. The way he looked at Duke, the way he talked to him, the light touches all set him ablaze. He’d have a little conversation with Quick after they turned over their skip.

No sooner had he thought of him, than Quick pulled up in the truck they used to transport their bounties. “Hey, bud.”

“Hey, man.” Duke gave Quick a fist bump. “How’d you fare this morning, hmm? Looked like you’d put back quite a few last night.”

Quick laughed that deep, gruff sound he made when he was genuinely amused. “I did, dude. That was a real nice event. Charlie looked real happy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the old man dance, but he wasn’t half bad out there, twirling his daughter like that.”

“Yeah. It was nice.”

Quick glanced at him before dropping his bright green eyes to the asphalt. “Vaughan had a great time too. He was practically bouncing off the walls when we got home.”

“Was he?” Duke tried to hide his shy smile and his blush.

“Mmm hmm. He was,” Quick said teasingly.

Duke turned to face his best friend. “Look, Quick, I need to ask you—”

Before Duke could finish, Dana pulled up in his extremely loud tricked-out Chevy Nova. “Never mind. I’ll tell you later.”

“You guys ready to get grimy?” Dana chuckled, the act turning into a harsh cough. His usually handsome face was slightly pale and splotchy. His nose was swollen and red, like he’d been blowing it way too much. Duke checked his eyes, which appeared to be a little bloodshot, but that was most likely from lack of rest. He was in a bulletproof vest as well and looked prepared to do battle. They’d picked up enough skippers in The Bluffs that they knew it didn’t always go smoothly.

“All right, guys. There may be very little activity going on down there now, so the daylight is our friend, the freaks come out at night.” Duke smirked. “I’ve gotten a solid visual confirmation that our skip is at the address. It’s a well-known meth dealing hot spot, so let’s try to draw him out instead of us going in.”

Quick and Dana both shook their heads in agreement. They didn’t speak much on the thirty-minute drive there. All of them knowing they were venturing into dangerous drug and gang territory. Once they turned onto Murphy Ave. they saw a group of shady men posted outside a D&M Liquor store, smoking weed and drinking from brown paper bags. The way they followed their vehicle with their calculating gaze was more than a little unsettling. Most dealers could recognize law enforcement right away, no matter what vehicle they were in.

“We need to make this fast, boss,” Dana said, his Sig Sauer resting in his lap. “Word will travel through here in no time.”

“I know,” Duke assured him. Quick slowed down and turned onto Bluff Street, parking a few houses down from where their skip was supposed to be.  

“I say we go knock hard, count to three and bust in. If we sit here too long, we’ll become a target,” Quick advised, checking his own weapon, removing the safety.

Duke did the same. His guys were right. Eventually, someone would approach them, they had to do their business and get the fuck out of there. “Alright fellas. You know the drill. Quick, me and you in first, Dana, watch our six.”

They got out and quickly jogged the half-block to the rundown townhome with boarded-up windows on the lower floor and broken ones on the upper. The front door was practically hanging off the hinges and Duke had a sinking feeling the occupants weren’t worried about security. There were people out on porches along the way. Most of them young and gang affiliated, made obvious by the colors they wore. Duke just prayed they stayed out of their way as they did their jobs.

When they’d all bounded up the few steps onto the rickety porch, Quick was fast to beat on the splintered door and yell their identification. Duke counted down: “Three, two, one!” Quick reared back and kicked the door as hard as could with his large, steel toe boot, and the door flew into the house with them charging in right along with it.

“Bail recovery agents! We are armed!” Duke yelled, his voice deep and intimidating.

The first level was rank and musty. The ratty furniture in what should’ve been the living room looked like it’d been eaten by rodents. The small television was ancient and had several beer and liquor bottles on it, same as the crates along the walls. There was no one in sight. Dana yanked one of the boards off the missing window to allow in some light, and to also enable them to see if anyone was approaching.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps upstairs and Duke and Quick ran towards the stairs, taking them two at a time. “Bounty recovery agents! Aaron Williams! Aaron Williams, come out with your hands raised! We are armed!” Duke shouted; his weapon aimed in front of him. The large townhome had another level above the second floor. Duke looked over the bannister and Dana gave him a thumbs up. Quick cleared another room, coming out kicking debris and rubble out of his way. People were inside the dwelling, but the agents didn’t know where. It was possible they’d gone up to the third level, but Duke and Quick continued to clear all the rooms on the second floor.

The bathroom was empty, but the cosmetics that lay strewn across the rusty countertop had Duke’s antennas up. There were possibly women inside, too. Quick kicked open another door, this time into a bedroom, and a woman came flying out at them, armed with a baseball bat. Her piercing scream was loud enough to be heard down the block. Fuck! Duke aimed his weapons at her but she kept coming.

“Guys run!” she screamed to the house’s other occupants. 

Duke brought his arm up to block the first swing, the blow catching him so hard on his forearm he would swear he heard the bone crack. He grabbed the bat on the second swing and tried to yank it from her grip. She was heavyset and strong. She may have been high as well, because she didn’t go down when Quick yanked her by her knotty hair and pulled her away from him. Duke yanked at the bat again and this time she lost her grip. Quick had her in a headlock, barking at her to get down on the ground.

Duke was grasping his forearm, grimacing in pain when he looked up and saw angry, three full-grown men emerge from the back room. The one he immediately recognized as their bounty raised a shotgun and Duke hollered for Quick to get down. They both dove into one of the empty bedrooms and fired back. The men would have to come past the room to get to the stairs, so Duke and Quick scrambled to their feet, ducking on each side of the door as bullets riddled the walls around them. The sound of glass shattering had Duke diving into action. He had left Dana downstairs and he couldn’t leave him to fend for himself. Duke stuck his arm out the door and fired a couple rounds, the sound of the woman’s cry assured him he’d hit someone. He’d hoped it hadn’t been her. “I just want Aaron Williams!” Duke yelled. A man charged by the door and Quick ran after him while Duke provided him cover fire.

“Police are in route!” Dana yelled. “We got company! Hostiles coming up the sidewalk fast!”

Fuck! Shit! We got to get the fuck out of here!
Duke thought.
Fuck the bounty, I should’ve never agreed to this.

Looking down the dank hallway, he saw the crazy women lying on the floor; her body crouched over a bleeding man. It wasn’t his bounty. He’d shot someone else. Duke walked carefully towards her, his weapon still aimed. “Ma’am. Step away from him and let me see your hands!”

She probably couldn’t hear his demands over her own wailing. The guy she lay over looked like he’d taken a bullet to his stomach and was quickly bleeding out. Couldn’t have been older than twenty-five. As Duke drew closer, he could see the guy’s eyelids twitching.
Fuck!
Where the hell had –

Duke hadn’t even finished that thought when he was slammed from behind. His weapon was knocked from his grip as he took another hard shot to his ribs. He yelled out, trying to turn and reach for his other weapon. He was spun around and an angry blow glanced his cheek, but the next one hit him square on his temple, knocking him to the ground. He was confused and dazed. He rolled to his side, hoping to quench some of the pain and was hit hard in the back, with either an object or a boot, he wasn’t sure. Gritting his teeth and trying to eat the pain, he ambled to his feet, grabbing his attacker around his mid-section, trying to hold off any more blows, at least until his guys got up there to help him.

Duke heard more gunshots, didn’t know if he was confusing the lights flashing across his vision with muzzle flashes. The police couldn’t have gotten there that fast, it had to be his guys taking fire from elsewhere.
Shit!
More hits came down on his back and Duke hollered out in agony. He finally reached for and gripped his other 9mm, but it was knocked loose by another blow to his side. Hits were coming from all directions. Duke registered that someone else was hitting him, not just Aaron. Screaming. Wailing. Cursing. It was the crazy woman. She had that damn bat. Duke was focused on trying to keep Aaron in his sights.
He
was the cold-blooded killer; they’d deal with the lady later.

Duke was using any energy he had left to fight off his assailants, his fists swinging and flying as fast as his racing heart. He hoped he was giving half as good as he was getting. He felt the pain in his fist, knew he’d landed a couple shots, but Aaron was big and probably doped up. Duke wondered if the guy even felt his punches. Something struck him hard across the back of his head and more bright flashes of white appeared before his eyes a split second before the pain registered. It was like nothing he’d felt before. His head felt like it’d been split wide open. He crashed to the ground, hitting the wood floor face-first, the wind knocked out of him. He tried to take in air but it tasted poisonous, the thick, moldy, crack-infused oxygen acrid and bitter on his tongue. Nausea was fast approaching. Duke curled in on himself. Gagged and spit out blood.
Oh, fuck
.