Forever Notorious: Forever Bluegrass #11

by Kathleen Brooks

  Lemon gasped. “That’s not true. Chet never asked for money from me. I gave it to him willingly.”

  “No, you didn’t, Lemon. He just manipulated you into thinking you were doing so of your own free will. That’s what con artists do. And Chet is the sleaziest of them all. He’s nothing special. He’s just a little shit who will only be remembered for being the kid who got kicked off the reality show for puking on the director as he groped her. He will never be known as anything but trash.”

  “Lemon. Teach our guest about respect,” Chet said with an evil smile that showcased his conceit.

  Lemon stepped forward and raised her hand back. As her arm swung forward, Abby made her move. With a flick of her fingers, the lock pick stored in the cuff of her jacket tumbled the handcuff lock free. Abby didn’t think twice about punching Lemon right in the nose.

  Lemon screamed, Chet froze, and Abby stood up, twirling Lemon so that she faced Chet. Abby pulled Lemon’s knife from her belt and had it at her throat before Chet or the guards could register what had happened. Abby was using Lemon as a shield when the guards finally raised their weapons.

  “Put your gun down, Chet,” Abby ordered. “Or I’ll slice Lemon’s throat.”

  “Go ahead. She’s dispensable. I have twenty other women dying to be in her position. Guards, shoot them both.” He was serious.

  “Chet?” Lemon asked, her voice full of confusion and disbelief. “I love you.”

  “And you were useful to the cause. Never question your savior. You’ll be a martyr to the cause and we’ll be reunited in the afterlife. Now, fire.”

  * * *

  “Take cover here,” Dylan whispered to Wyatt. They were hunkered down behind a SUV. ”I’m going into the house. Walker, take the barn.”

  Dylan watched as Walker silently slipped away into the shadows surrounding the barn. If Dylan focused all of his attention, he could barely hear the helicopter off in the distance. When he gave the order, Aiden would swoop in to provide support or extraction.

  “I want you to shoot anyone who comes out of the house or the barn,” Dylan told Wyatt as he handed him a pistol. “Just in case you need it. Otherwise, retreat into the field and hide. I don’t want you to put yourself in danger.”

  Wyatt nodded solemnly. His face was drawn and it was clear he was scared, but he wasn’t running away. Instead he was staying for the fight. “Okay, I’m—” The sound of gunshots rang out and a high-pitch scream shattered the silence of the countryside. “Abby!”

  “Move in!” Dylan ordered to Walker and Aiden over his open phone tucked securely in his bulletproof vest. It worked in a pinch when they hadn’t had time to pick up military coms.

  Dylan was already running for the front door. People spilled out of the barn. Wyatt fired his tranquilizers, but there were too many people for him to keep up with. Dylan was shooting as he ran and Walker was making his way toward him from the back of the barn. He just hoped he could make it to Abby in time.

  * * *

  Abby knew they were going to kill Lemon, but she still had one trick up her sleeve, thanks to Nora at the Fluff and Buff. Keeping her right arm wrapped around Lemon, Abby reached for her long hair with her left. Hidden among the thick tendrils was a clip-in weave. Abby grabbed her weave and yanked as the first bullet slammed into Lemon. Lemon shrieked, but the second bullet did its job and silenced her.

  Abby dropped her hold on Lemon and threw the knife that had been at Lemon’s throat, burying it deep in the chest of one of the guards. “Stop shooting!” she screamed, falling to the ground using Lemon’s body for cover. Abby held up the long tendrils of her weave as Chet ordered the man to stop.

  “You’re going to kill us with your hair?” Chet asked, then laughed. The remaining guard joined in as Abby heard the backdoor being flung open.

  “Never underestimate what a woman can accomplish on a good hair day,” Abby said with a smirk as she pulled the pin from the grenade she had tied into the weave. Chet’s face fell as she threw the grenade. Men shouted and Abby threw herself backward.

  27

  Dylan was running toward the house when a window shattered a second before an explosion blew out the glass from the whole first floor of the farmhouse. Flames licked the side of the house as they crawled out of the windows. People stumbled from the back of the house and a lone figure stood from where they’d hurled themselves out the front window.

  “Abby!” Dylan shouted, relief rushing through him at the sight of the woman he loved brushing glass off her jacket.

  “Dylan? How did you find . . . never mind. Give me a gun.”

  “Now, this is exactly how I pictured our date,” Dylan said, pulling a pistol from his thigh holster and handing it over.

  “It is kind of romantic.” Abby flipped the safety off and fired a shot. Dylan turned to see one of the followers who was charging him fall dead with a gun in hand. “A romantic night by the fire,” she said, gesturing to the burning house.

  “If only we had marshmallows.” Dylan smirked as he leaned down to kiss her. He saw movement to the right and fired as his lips met hers.

  “Could you two do that later? I’m out of darts and I really don’t want to have to kill someone.”

  “You brought Wyatt on our date?” Abby asked.

  “And Walker.”

  “Is he the one shooting up the barn?”

  Dylan nodded as a helicopter swooped in and they looked up.

  “Is that Father Ben with a sniper rifle leaning out of the helicopter?”

  “Yes. Does that ruin the date?”

  Abby grinned as she fired her gun. “No, it’s perfect. I knew there was more to him than just being a priest.”

  “Of course, having him here would be good timing if you’re ready to beg me to marry you.” Dylan winked at her. “The person who captures Chet gets to pick the honeymoon.”

  Dylan took off, not giving Abby the chance to speak. “I am not asking you to marry me!” he heard her shout before she cursed and took down three of Chet’s minions in a blink of an eye.

  “Here, Wyatt,” Dylan said, tossing a bag of zip ties to his cousin. “Tie ‘em all up.”

  The helicopter flew overhead and then a bullet slammed into the ground at Dylan’s feet. He looked up at Father Ben moving his hands around in ways only military soldiers would understand. Luckily, military signals were less complicated than baseball signs. High priority target at three o’clock.

  Dylan ran past the door to the barn and saw Walker holding a group of ten people at gunpoint. They lay on the ground with their hands behind their head. He gave a nod to Walker who returned it.

  “Oh no you don’t!” Abby yelled behind him. “If anyone is picking our honeymoon, it’s me!”

  “Are you asking me to marry you?” Dylan yelled as he ran toward the four figures trying to flee into the woods.

  “Not a chance. It’ll be you on bended knee if I have to shoot your knee out.”

  Headlights began to light up the area as Dylan suspected Ahmed and the Davies brothers had arrived. A lithe tan and black dog ran past them at lightning speed, headed straight for the three men and one woman who were running away. Chet was in the middle surrounded by his devoted followers before Bridget’s dog took the slowest one down with an impressive leap.

  “Chet! It’s over,” Abby yelled as Dylan heard the pounding of feet and shouts of orders coming from behind them. Dylan didn’t take his eyes off Chet as they reached the man writhing on the ground with Bridget’s dog latched onto his arm.

  The sound of an engine revving and headlights lighting up the woods and heading straight for them had Dylan squinting as Chet and his followers slid to a stop. They all watched the approaching vehicle cutting through the woods as if they were figuring out their so-called savior was about to mow them down.

  * * *

  “Chet, don’t think I won’t shoot you,” Abby yelled as she stalked forward with her gun raised and at the ready. She glanced next to her, and Dylan was similarly
moving forward, but arcing slightly to the side so Chet couldn’t watch them both at the same time.

  Behind them, the woods were lit up with bright headlights. Someone was coming from that direction down the old dirt road. The question was whether they were coming to help her or kill her.

  “We got you two covered,” she heard her father say from behind her. With a quick glance, she saw Matt, Ryan, DeAndre, and Cody Gray. Miles, Cade, Cy, and Marshall Davies began to circle around them. Behind her she heard Annie Davies, Cade’s wife, and her mom helping Wyatt and Walker tie the hands of the captured member.

  “You’re too late. I’ve sent the message to my followers. Vengeance and immortality will be mine!” Chet yelled as he held up his cell phone. “You can’t stop me. As I’ve proven to my followers, I am Savior of the Earth. I am its savior and its protector. I control the waters and the lighting. If I weren’t a god, I’d be stricken down where I stand.”

  Abby heard the helicopter hovering above them. A rope dropped out, and she heard the gasps of her family and friends as the headlights from a Humvee sliding to a stop lit up the vision of Father Ben quick rappelling down the rope. Before hitting the ground, Father Ben released his hold on the rope and leapt into the air.

  “Lord have mercy!” Aniyah gasped as she opened the passenger door to Pam’s military Humvee that had just torn through the woods.

  “What the—?” Chet didn’t have time to finish the question as he looked up right in time for Father Ben to crash into Chet, taking him down to the ground.

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure that’s a sign you’re not God.” Abby tried not to laugh. “Drop your weapons. Now,” she ordered his followers.

  Ben had Chet’s arm pinned behind him as he dragged him to his feet. Abby felt the rush of wrapping up an operation as the other man and woman dropped their guns. Her father and Dylan moved forward when everything suddenly changed.

  The woman smiled slowly, evilly.

  “Wait!” Abby shouted, but the woman was already reaching for a weapon at her back. A pink laser lit up the woman’s shoulder and a shot was fired just as Abby and Dylan fired theirs.

  The woman dropped to the ground screaming.

  “I did it!” Aniyah yelled. “Did y’all see that? I shot her. And not in the foot.”

  “Baby, are you wearing glasses?” DeAndre asked as Dylan ran forward to grab the man who now had both hands high in the air. Ahmed looked down at the woman in front of him and over to Aniyah.

  “You shot her. In the shoulder. Right where you were aiming,” her father said, stunned as Abby moved forward to help Father Ben with Chet.

  “You bet your fine ass I did. Sugarbear, I’m a badass now! A tigress!”

  “You’ve always been my badass, baby,” DeAndre said, wrapping his arm around his fiancée.

  The Davies brothers moved forward, and in no time they had Chet’s mouth taped shut and all the surviving followers rounded up. Abby took a deep breath and looked around. Kale was working on Chet’s phone. Her mother and Annie were rubbing the belly of the dog she’d used to take down one of the followers. Matt, Ryan, Cody, and DeAndre were beginning to collect all the information they could from the people they’d captured as Marshall gave his son Wyatt a hug. Walker was directing the helicopter to land and Aniyah was asking Father Ben if they could rappel from a helicopter into her wedding.

  This was her team—her family and friends. This was where she belonged. And she belonged there with Dylan. She found him talking to her father and every worry and hesitation fell to the side when Ahmed put his arm up and around Dylan’s shoulder and thumped Dylan’s chest with his other hand. They looked at each other and grinned. Abby thought about proposing right then and there for she had found her forever.

  * * *

  “You did it,” Ahmed said as he looped his arm around Dylan’s shoulders. “How on earth did you do it? I thought for sure Aniyah would be the one task you couldn’t complete.”

  “I noticed she squinted when she lined up her shot. So I had Doc Emma bring some common prescriptions and give her an eye exam. Then the laser sight was just a little extra security,” Dylan said as he grinned down at the man who had been more than a friend’s father to him. Ahmed and Uncle Miles had been mentors to him.

  “Well, you did it, kid.” Ahmed shook his head and then took a deep breath. “Go ahead. Ask me.”

  “Ask him what?” Miles asked as he joined them with his brothers. “The guys are all wrapped up. I even put a bow on them for Abby’s boss. I thought he’d like that personal touch.”

  “What are you talking about?” Dylan’s dad asked as he joined his brothers and gave his son a hug. Now that news of the capture had already spread like wildfire, the whole town was showing up. Including the Rose sisters, who took one look at the burning house and pulled out bags of marshmallows.

  “Pierce, you’re interrupting. Your son is about to ask Ahmed something,” Miles teased his youngest brother.

  “Oh!” Uncle Cade said, pulling out his military knife and handing it to Ahmed. “Do you have your speech ready?”

  “Hey, this is my son. He doesn’t need to go through the wringer,” Pierce said pointedly as Cade just shrugged him off.

  “It’s a rite of passage.”

  Uncle Marshall rolled his eyes. “Seriously, bro? Didn’t you learn from your rain of pain speech?”

  “Rain of pain?” Dylan asked in confusion as Miles began laughing hard.

  “It was a good speech. Just ask Nash,” Cade looked around and then yelled for Nash.

  “What’s up?” Nash asked, joining the growing circle of men.

  “You were scared to death when you asked for Sophie’s hand in marriage, weren’t you?” Cade asked.

  Nash pursed his lips and Dylan saw his friend struggling not to laugh. “Yes, sir. Being threatened with a rain of pain if I ever hurt Sophie was”—Nash swallowed hard as Miles might have begun to cry he was laughing so hard—“terrifying.”

  “See,” Cade said, crossing his arms over his chest and smugly looking at his brothers.

  “I don’t need a speech,” Ahmed said as he twirled the knife in his palm. “Dylan knows he would simply disappear if he hurt my baby girl, don’t you?”

  “As if you could, old man,” Dylan said with a smirk as everyone, including his father, sucked in a breath of air on a gasp.

  “Remember this old man whipped you in the basement,” Ahmed said before throwing the knife right past Dylan’s head and lodging it into the tree behind him.

  “I’m pretty sure I whipped you, too. After all, you did tap out. And isn’t that what you wanted? Someone equal to your talents who would love and protect your daughter as much as you do?”

  Dylan yanked the knife from the tree and twirled it in his palm just like Ahmed had done. Then in blink he threw it. It sliced into the ground right between Ahmed’s feet. “And I do love her. With all my heart. And I love you, too.”

  Uncle Cy cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, did you just say you love Ahmed?”

  “I did because he’s been more than Abby’s father to me. He is a friend.”

  Dylan waited as Ahmed seemed to take a deep breath. His face didn’t react, but all the sudden Dylan was in his arms as Ahmed smacked his back . . . hard. “I’m honored to have you in my family. There’s no one I trust with my daughter more than you. Besides me.”

  Dylan laughed as Ahmed pulled back and blinked his eyes. The men all stared at him and then at a grinning Dylan. It was finally his dad who broke the silence. “And I couldn’t ask for a better daughter-in-law. Welcome, officially, to the Davies family, Ahmed.”

  Dylan shook hands with each of his uncles and with Nash as he watched Abby talking on her cell phone. The group began to break up to join the growing impromptu gathering, leaving Dylan alone with his father.

  “I’m happy for you, Dylan. I know you think you’re the black sheep of the family. Trust me, I know that feeling well. I was the only brother not on missions for the military
. It’s why I asked Miles and Ahmed to mentor you when you were young. I saw where your passion was. Your mother and I never wanted to dampen that simply because we didn’t know how to teach you those things.”

  Dylan stared down at his father with disbelief. “You did? I always thought you hated I hadn’t turned out book-smart like Piper, Jace, and Cassidy.”

  “Don’t you see, son? You did. You just did it your own way. You speak multiple languages, just like Cassidy. You learned emergency medicine, just like Jace. And I bet you know how to engineer a chemical bomb or two, similar to what Piper does.”

  Dylan was dumbstruck. He’d always felt out of place in his family, but his father was right. He could talk to his siblings about what they do for a living and not be the outsider. “See, son, you’ve always been a part of the family. And now I can finally give you some advice. I’ve never done this before. You’ve always been so independent, so here it goes. Abby is a wonderful woman and a perfect fit for you. However, I have learned over the decades of marriage that women don’t like two things. One, never call them old. Two, no matter how tough they are, they all want someone to love them with their whole heart. So, yes, you could propose right now, and it would be fitting. However, I would surprise Abby with something truly romantic that might not involve guns . . . or explosives.”

  “How about fireworks?” Dylan asked, getting an idea.

  “Now those are the kind of explosives that would work. What can I do to help?”

  Dylan leaned forward and told his father his idea. It felt good to be loved. It felt good being close to people again. And he wondered if he’d ever be able to step away again because he sure wasn’t going to leave Abby behind ever again.

  28

  “Yes, sir,” Abby said as she watched with curiosity while Dylan, her father, and the Davies brothers talked. Then Nash joined them and knives were thrown before lots of handshakes. “I’ll send you the coordinates. We’re hard to miss, sir. The house is on fire and the town is roasting marshmallows around it. No, I’m not joking.”