Chapter Fifty-Nine
Jake and Bear blazed the roads looking for any trace of Shane Langston. But there were a million different cutoffs Shane could have taken. Dozens of roads wound through the Ozark hills like a bird’s nest. The drone maxed out its range before Shane hit the end of the trailer road. Bear called Mac and gave him the rundown of the evening’s festivities, telling him to stay on his toes.
The longer they looked, and with each passing swipe of a police car and the helpless shrug of the officers inside, the bigger Jake’s headache grew. How in the hell did the guy just freaking disappear? The Highway Patrol found the stolen sedan outside of a bar in Fristoe, a small community twelve miles south of Warsaw. No sign of Shane and the bar patrons were less than helpful with law enforcement. Given Jake’s experience fetching his father from that very bar, the response was not surprising. At least Fristoe was in the opposite direction of Kansas City. Unless that’s what Shane wanted them to think. Goddamn it.
Jake kneaded the back of his stiff neck as Bear parked behind a long road of police cars outside The Asylum. Portable spotlights cast back the darkness, glaring against the handful of black body bags scattered on the ground. “I can’t believe this shit.”
Bear rubbed his eyes. “The man up and vanished like a fart in the wind. And we’ve got nothing to show for it but a bunch of dead bikers and cops. My ass is gonna be in a sling for this one.”
A profound weariness settled in Jake’s bones. He’d been so amped up over the last couple hours that a crash was inevitable. Too bad he didn’t have time for it. “I need to get back to my truck and get to Kansas City.”
“The girls?”
Jake nodded. “Shane’s not running away from a damn thing. If he was, he’d be in Mexico by now. He wants to hack my head off with that big fucking knife of his. I saw it in his eyes.”
“Don’t forget about me. I think he’d like me right next to you. I’m going to be stuck here for a long damn time, but I agree you need to get back to KC and watch over our girls. Mac and Toby are bad asses, but I trust you more. Give me a few minutes to check in at this shit show, and I’ll get you to your truck.”
They walked side by side, the blue and red lights silently bouncing off them and into the trees on either side of the road. Bear talked to a couple of guys near the front door and disappeared inside. Jake lingered outside as paramedics rushed in and out of the bar. They wheeled Shapiro out on a stretcher and loaded him in the back of a waiting ambulance. Shapiro lifted his head and locked eyes with Jake before mouthing the words “thank you.” Jake managed to flash him a thumbs-up before the ambulance doors slammed shut and the unit took off toward town.
Jake ran his fingers across the bullet holes imbedded in the side of the Trojan Horse trailer, various scenarios playing in his head about what they could have done differently. Every scenario would eventually have led to bloodshed. Despite the subtle breeze blowing from the south, the smell of gunfire and blood clung to his nose. Doubt tried to creep in as he saw himself outside the trailer with Shane in his sights, and though he knew he did the safe thing, he wasn’t sure if it was the right thing. He pounded the side of the trailer with his fist as Bear returned to the lot.
“What a fucking mess in there. Looks like we’ve got ten dead Blood Devils and three dead cops, including Harper. One of the Blood Devils was hit but is alive, and there’s a Federal Marshall named Davenport questioning him.”
“A marshall?”
“Yeah, he was in Kansas City for something or other, and they pulled him in since Shane was an escaped felon.” Bear ticked his head toward the open door to The Asylum. “That’s him.”
Jake peered through the open door and spotted a thick man with a dark complexion. He dressed like he was going out on a date at a high-end restaurant later but had a dangerous air about him. Not someone you’d want to screw with.
Bear held out a wad of braided gold chain. “If you get a chance when you get to Kansas City, stop by Harper’s house and give his wife this. Found it in the woods near his body. Didn’t find his prized pistol, though.”
Bear dropped the necklace into Jake’s palm, the blood cracked and dried on his skin like dirt. Gold rope chain with a dangling rectangular plate. The inscription on the plate read “Always and forever. Annie”.
“His wife?”
Bear nodded. “Met her once. Hell of a nice gal. She’d want this back. I think their house is only a couple of miles from Mac’s. I’ll text you the address. She’ll have gotten the notification by then.”
Jake dropped the chain in the front pocket of his jeans. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Bear clapped him on the back. “Let’s get you back to your place. We’ll take Klages with us just in case Shane’s paid another visit there and is waiting for you.”
Jake grit his teeth. “I hope the bastard is there, but that would be too easy.”
Bear spit. “Shit, we could use a little easy about now, don’t you think?”
Chapter Sixty
The morning sun bled through the thin curtains covering the windows in the bedroom. Jake tracked the golden rays crawling up his arm, which he’d wrapped around Maggie’s slim waist. Halle snored gently on the far side of the king-sized bed in Mac’s bedroom, her head half-buried under a pillow. His girls hadn’t wanted Jake out of their sight from the moment he stepped through the front door, and Mac had insisted the three of them take his room. Jake would be more than happy to revel in the moment if it weren’t for the fact that Shane was still out there somewhere.
He’d been lying there for at least an hour, listening to the rumble of the occasional car that rolled down the street outside Mac’s house. Each time, he found himself holding his breath until the car passed. Despite his extreme fatigue from the events at The Asylum, he only managed about four hours of sleep, and his tingling legs let him know he wasn’t getting any more.
Slipping his arm free, Jake eased from the bed, threw on a t-shirt, and padded down the hall, following his nose toward the roasted coffee scent emanating from the kitchen. Mac waited in front of a fire engine-red toaster, staring at the glowing wires with hooded eyes. The clock over Mac’s head read a hair past six.
Jake shuffled into the kitchen. “Morning. Please tell me that coffee is strong.”
Mac reached for a cup from the cabinet. “Strong enough to chew. You get any sleep?”
Jake took the steaming mug and settled on a barstool at the kitchen island. “Few hours. Mind was racing all night. Running the scene at The Asylum back in my head.”
“Bear told me about it. Sounds like it was a hell of a fire fight. I spent a lot of sleepless nights in Iraq after a heavy op. It’ll fade eventually, but it won’t ever go away completely. You ever see any combat?”
“In the military? No. Bad knee.”
Mac slathered butter on his toast. “Football?”
Jake shook his head. “My father. Hit me with a lead pipe and shattered my kneecap.”
Mac froze, eyes wide. “You’re shitting me.”
“Wish I was. Military wouldn’t touch me.”
“Damn. And I thought my old man was fucked up.”
Mac handed Jake the piece of toast and started buttering the other slice. They chewed and sipped coffee in silence. Mac dusted the crumbs from his hands over the sink and turned back to Jake. “What’re your thoughts about Langston? What’s his next move?”
Jake swallowed the last of the coffee and set the mug on the island, tracing the rim with his index finger. “He wants to kill me and my family. Logic, however, would lead one to believe that he’d hunker down somewhere, let the heat ease off and then make his move when my guard is down.”
Mac crossed his thick arms and leaned against the counter. “But you don’t believe he’ll do that.”
“Nope. Shane’s smart, but he’s an emotional beast. I think he’ll come after me sooner rather than later.”
“Good thing you’re bunkered here at Fort Mac.”
J
ake twisted his wedding band. “We can’t stay here forever.”
“You stay as long as you need. It’s good for me to have some heartbeats in this house besides Toby, and I’d take a bullet for those ladies of yours.”
“Appreciate that, man. I can’t thank you enough for looking after them.”
“My pleasure. More coffee?”
Jake shook his head. “Think I’ll grab a shower while the hot water tank is full. Halle told me that’s the only drawback here.”
Mac huffed. “Might help if she kept her showers under an hour.”
“Tell me about it.”
A few minutes later, the hot water beat down on Jake’s back, washing away the soreness settling into his muscles. Langston’s face kept popping up, hiding behind the kid at the trailer with that shit-eating grin springing from his black goatee. Jake’s trigger finger squeezed at his side, the scalding water running down his knuckle as he tried to convince himself he did the right thing by letting Shane go. The answer would depend on how many more bodies piled up.
“Where the fuck are you, Shane?” he muttered.
* * *
Jake spent the rest of the day huddled with his family in the living room playing board games, eating too much, and laughing. The joy at being with his girls pushed the macabre scene at The Asylum to the background. Still, it wouldn’t go away entirely. Bear called with regular updates which included no sightings of Shane and no word from the Blood Devil they’d captured alive. There was a nationwide manhunt for Shane from all law enforcement agencies. He had to turn up somewhere.
Jake made a few calls to some local contacts asking them to spread the word about Langston, with a reward offered for any information leading to him. Shane’s reputation preceded the calls as the men promised to call Jake, but the wariness in their voices blared through the phone like a tornado siren. Nobody wanted to cross Shane. As Garvan had said at The Asylum, “Even that crazy motherfucker gives a man a moment of pause.”
As the sun began its descent, Jake stared out the front window, watching the tail end of the rush hour traffic. People heading home to their families. Family. Jake reached into his pocket and felt the chain Bear gave him to give Harper’s wife. Annie would never see her husband stroll through the front door again. Neither would his kids. He’d talked to her brother earlier and said Jake could come by early in the evening. Jake could think of a million other things he’d rather do but felt he owed it to Harper to close the loop with his widow. Maggie protested Jake leaving, even for a minute, but understood it was something Jake had to do.
Jake tracked Mac as the man lumbered down the driveway with two cavernous black trash cans in tow. Mac paused, looking across the street before turning and climbing back up the driveway.
“I should go buy a lottery ticket,” Mac said, entering the living room. “I got my trash cans out before Charlie.”
Jake turned. “Who’s Charlie?”
“Old man across the street. I’ve lived here for years and only beat Charlie to the curb once. That night, I won a hundred bucks on a scratcher ticket.”
Jake extracted Harper’s chain from his pocket. “Maybe I’ll buy one for you when I head out. Got to deliver this necklace to a widow.” He read off the address Bear had texted him.
Mac nodded. “That’s only a couple of blocks down Roe. You want me to go with you?”
Jake stared at the nameplate. Always and Forever – Annie. “No. I got this.
Chapter Sixty-One
The drive to Annie Harper’s house took all of five minutes, which included trailing behind a grandma hunched over the wheel of a Toyota Prius driving through the winding, tree-lined Roe Boulevard slow enough that Jake could have tracked the revolution of the lug nuts. His eyes flicked between his side and rearview mirrors, Shane’s last words of “See you soon” echoing. Jake wondered just how soon that might be.
The Harper home was a quaint Cape Cod the color of a robin’s egg, nestled on the corner among overreaching maples, branches arced over the shingled roof like a shield. Taking a deep breath, Jake snagged the necklace from the console and trudged up the uneven brick walkway to a deep blue door adorned with a hand-painted sign engraved with the name Harper. Probably something one of their kids made in school or at a camp. A dog bayed in the distance, the mournful sound matching Jake’s mood.
He rang the doorbell and stepped back, chewing his upper lip and wondering if he should have brought flowers. Maggie would have, and he was surprised she didn’t suggest it to him. After a minute, a deadbolt clunked, and the door swung open.
The woman drooped with misery. Clad in a plain gray sweatshirt and jeans, her frazzled, chocolate hair framed a pixie face. Her red-rimmed eyes swept over Jake’s face then dropped to his hand, locking in on the gold protruding from his clenched fingers. Over her shoulder, a chubby man with chipmunk cheeks narrowed his eyes at the newcomer.
“Are you Annie?” Jake asked, the Always and Forever plate on the chain searing into his palm.
A few beats passed before she nodded. Still in shock. “You must be Jake. Please come in.”
Annie stepped to the side and Jake crossed the creaky hardwood floor into the entryway. He shook hands with the chubby guy who introduced himself as Harper’s brother Hank. Hank gestured toward the living room, and Jake made his way to a couch, noting the family photo array lining the fireplace mantel before he took a seat. Candles burning on the coffee table aired the room with vanilla.
“Would you like something to drink?” Annie asked, her voice robotic, like the question was an automated process. She dabbed her bloodshot eyes with a tissue, her thin legs wobbly.
“No, thank you.” Jake waved her toward a nearby chair, and she sat on the edge, eyes locked on the mantel. “I’m so sorry this happened. Bear asked me to drop by and give you the chain your husband wore when he was…well, you know.”
Jake held the chain out to her, the nameplate dangling. Annie’s trembling hands locked around her upper arms, as if she worried that taking the chain from Jake would cement the fact her husband was dead.
Hank stepped forward and took it. “Thank you for bringing this by. Some officers came by late last night and delivered the news about Tyler. Needless to say, it’s been a bad day for all of us.”
Annie panned her head to the chain and plucked it from Hank’s hand, rubbing her thumb over the inscription as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Were you with Tyler when he died?”
“No, ma’am. I found him while chasing after the bad guys.”
“You mean Shane Langston?” She caught Jake’s surprised look. “It’s all over the news. I assume nobody’s nabbed him yet.”
Jake rested his elbows on his knees, guilt gnawing at his guts. If he’d shot Shane all those months ago when Keats ordered him to, he wouldn’t be sitting here, and Annie would probably be having dinner with her husband instead of rubbing a nameplate inscribed with a lie. “Nobody’s caught him, but it’s only a matter of time.”
The muscles in her jaw pulsed. “I hope he rots in jail for the rest of his life.”
Jake’s mouth opened and closed, struggling to come up with something poignant to say, but he could only manage a trite phrase. “Your husband fought bravely. He did you and your family proud.”
Jake’s words opened the tear canals, and Annie sobbed, doubling over as she clutched the chain to her chest. Hank sat on the arm of the chair and rubbed her back in large circles.
“Did they happen to find his gun?” Hank asked. “It was a deathbed gift from our father who passed last year. Tyler loved that gun and carried it with him whenever he was on duty.”
Jake flashed back to the parking lot before they rode toward The Asylum. Harper showing off the Colt Special Combat Government 1911. Jake suspected Langston took the gun after he knifed Harper in the neck but kept the suspicion to himself. No reason to rub salt in the wound of the Harper clan. “He didn’t have it on him when I found him in the woods, and Bear didn’t say anything about it. I’ll
keep an eye out for it and make sure someone gets it back to you.”
“You don’t know where it is?” Annie asked.
Probably on Langston’s hip, Jake thought. “Sorry. It was a heavy fire fight and things were chaotic. I’m sure it’ll turn up.”
Annie picked up her cell phone from the end table. “I can tell you where it is.”
Jake’s eyebrows shot together. “How?”
Hank took the phone from her. “Tyler was always afraid the gun would get stolen. He put a chip in the grip. There’s an app called TracFind that it’s synced to.”
For the first time in days, hope bloomed in Jake’s chest. “Can you pull it up?”
“Of course. Give me a second.”
Jake’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He slid it free and saw Bear’s name on the ID screen. “It’s Bear. Let me check with him while you’re pulling the app up.”
Jake stepped across the living room into the hall. More pictures of Harper and his family lined the walls. They’d serve as gut-wrenching daily reminders to Annie on what she lost. “Got some good news, man. I think we can—”
Bear’s voice dripped with tension. “Where the hell are you?”
“At Harper’s returning the necklace. There’s a chip in—”
“You need to get your ass back to Mac’s. That Blood Devil we’re questioning just dropped the bombshell that Langston knows where the girls are.”
Jake stiffened. “How the hell does he know that?”
“Beats the fuck outta me. As soon as I hang up with you, I’m calling in the cavalry. Mac is locking the place down, so make sure you call him before you pull in or he’s likely to blow a hole in you the size of Texas. I’m already on my way.”
Jake darted back in the living room. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
Hank frowned at the phone screen. “That’s weird.”
Jake Caldwell Thrillers Page 104