by Dale Mayer
“I suggest you get out of there,” he said. “I’ll contact Ice to see if she can do anything about the mess. And get an update on the search.”
“Not a whole lot to clean up. He’ll burn up as the fire eventually works its way through him, but it’s bullshit,” he said. “We needed answers.”
“Maybe, but remember that part about watch out for his partner? Because it sure looks like he has one onsite.”
Chapter 9
Sammy heard the explosion from inside her bedroom. Standing up, she raced outside to the balcony and turned to find out whatever had caused it. In the distance, toward the condo development where Joe worked, she saw what she thought was fire. She quickly phoned the number that had texted her, and Garret answered. “Is he okay?” she asked.
“Not as good as he should be,” Garret said, his voice calm and reassuring. “His car was blown up.”
She gasped in horror.
“Unfortunately, along with the guy he found. The guy is dead, but Eton is okay.”
“Jesus Christ,” she whispered.
“I know. It was another close one.”
“Another close one?” she said in an ominous tone of voice.
“Yeah,” he said clearly. “We are doing this for a reason. We have people out there who are after us, and we don’t know why.”
“That’s terrible,” she said. “You’ll spend your whole lives looking over your shoulders.”
“Which is why Eton generally doesn’t get into relationships,” he said gently. “Why we’re always afraid of somebody close to us getting hurt.”
“But then,” she thought about that and said, “it’s just really sad because he’s alone his whole life. And you.”
“And that’s the reason why it’s hard to get committed because he goes back and forth, considering his options, because he cares, but he can’t afford to care.”
“What about when this is over?”
“Well, that’s the hope,” he said. “We just aren’t there yet.”
“Well, find the bastard,” she said, “because I have no intention of walking away.”
Garret burst out laughing. “Well, I hear you,” he said, “and I’m glad too because Eton deserves to have somebody who cares that much.”
“Well, I do care. I don’t know how much, and I sure as hell didn’t need the explosion to happen to remind me. I was just thinking about the changes I need to make in my world as it is.”
“Why is that?”
“Because of my father,” she said. “It won’t be too much longer for him.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied. “You’re lucky you have this time with him.”
“That’s what I was just thinking. Go help Eton,” she said and hung up. She sat here, almost frozen, as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to do. Just so many truths were coming home to her, and she didn’t know quite how to take it. She didn’t really have enough interactions to know who Eton really was, but it was horrible that he would be alone because people were targeting him and his team.
She wanted the whole story from him but knew it would require a little more on her part to get it. He was a good man, and she just hoped that he wasn’t hurt from any of this. It all sucked. But she would do what she could to make his life a little bit easier, the same as she was for her father. She just wasn’t sure how. She went downstairs to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, but, when her phone rang a few minutes later, she snatched it up to see Eton was calling. “How are you?” she asked in a rush.
“I’m fine,” he said, but his voice was tired. “Just a surprise ending to the evening.”
“I’m glad you found Joe,” she said. “Where are you now?” she asked tersely.
“I’m back at the chalet,” he said. “Garret told me that you called.”
“Yes.” She took a slow deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I was worried when I heard that blast. I knew it would be you.”
He chuckled. “Well, I managed to escape another one,” he murmured.
“That’s not funny,” she said. “Garret told me about the lifestyle you live.”
“Well, believe it or not, this isn’t normal,” he said. “An awful lot of the time, things merely roll along, and we don’t have danger or anything like this.”
“Good,” she said, “because this is unnerving. You’ll have to stop it.”
“Oh, I will, will I?” She heard a smile in his voice. “And why is that?”
“Because I can’t keep up a relationship if I have all that stuff to deal with at the same time too. So you’ll just have to find a way around it.”
“Interesting,” he murmured.
“Yes.”
“Relationship?”
“Yes,” she said, “and don’t tell me that you’re not interested because I know you are.”
“Definitely interested,” he said briskly. “Which is another reason why I want to make sure you stay safe.”
“I’m safe at the moment. Am I not likely to be?”
“I don’t think there’s a direct issue with you,” he said. “They are after me and Garret and the rest of our team.”
“So why did they go after Joe?” she asked. “That makes no sense to me.”
“No, it doesn’t to me either,” he said. “It sounds like Joe found them doing something that they didn’t want him to know about.”
“Have you talked to him?”
“He’s still unconscious,” Eton said. “We just got a report on his condition.”
“Great,” she said in exasperation. “Do you do anything but wait for information to come through?”
“Unfortunately that is a pretty regular state in our world,” he said.
“It sucks,” she announced ceremoniously.
“It does, indeed,” he said, but a smile was in his voice, and she had to admit a smile was in hers too.
“After—well, my father—I’ve decided I’ll move,” she said abruptly.
He froze and asked, “Where to?”
“I’m not sure yet,” she said, “but I’ve spent a lot of my life here. And I know the last few years, it’s basically only been because he’s failing,” she said, “and I didn’t want to leave him alone. But that doesn’t have to be what I do afterward.”
“No,” he said, “it doesn’t. And I’m sure he would want you to live the life that you want to live, instead of just looking after him.”
“I won’t leave him until it’s over,” she said quietly.
“Of course not,” he said. “He’s your father, and you obviously love him very dearly.”
“I do,” she said. “It’s just been the two of us since my mother passed, and that’s been quite a few years now,” she said.
“And again, enjoy the time you have with him because it can be over all too soon,” he said.
“As the bomb going off in the car demonstrated so well,” she said in exasperation. He chuckled at that. “Will you be safe tonight?” she asked him.
“I think so. I’ll take a power nap and grab a few hours of rest, and then we’ll be back to tracking as much as we can find out about this guy.”
“He’s already dead, so what will that do for you?”
“He’ll lead us to somebody,” he said. “Somebody else nearby must have known that I had him. Otherwise, why set off a bomb in the car? Unless of course it was on him, but I searched him from top to bottom,” he said. “He didn’t have anything on him.”
“Right, so somebody saw you grab him and took the opportunity to set a detonator on the vehicle. Pretty ballsy.”
“It is, isn’t it?” he said, with a smile. “And something that we aren’t exactly used to. These guys have a lot of confidence in what they’re doing, but, in this case, I think they were also desperate to make sure they got something taken care of and done.”
“Got it,” she said. “Go to sleep. You need it.” And she hung up on him. She turned around to see her father leaning against the kitchen wall.
&
nbsp; “I’m sorry,” he said abruptly.
She frowned and walked closer. “For what, Dad?”
“I’m stopping you from living your life.”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said. “You won’t pull that one on me. I’m exactly where I want to be.”
“Too late,” he said, “but I have to admit to being selfishly delighted.”
She smiled, then reached out and kissed him gently. “It is what it is, Dad.”
“But what I really want is for you to be happy and settled,” he fretted. “And that won’t happen while you are looking after your old man.”
“I’m looking after you because I want to,” she said, “not because I have to.”
“But you would say that,” he said, “because you are a beautiful person.”
“And you are my father. I love you and don’t want anything less than you having somebody at your side for the rest of your life.”
“What if it takes years and years?” he said, straightening up with a frown. “I’ve never even looked for any treatment. I just knew I was failing. I wasn’t too bothered about it because it was comfortable.”
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t know,” he said, staring off in the distance. “Maybe I can improve some of this in some way. I don’t know. I just didn’t want to go through the tests.”
“So, what’s changed?”
He slid a glance her way. “You.”
“I love that you would do this for me because I want all the time I can have with you. But it seemed to me that you were interested in meeting up with Mom in some way, right? In whatever your version of the hereinafter looks like. I want you happy with your decision. I don’t want you doing something that has you living less of a life here with me,” she said.
He chuckled. “I’m not trying to, but there is no doubt that I would like to see you happy and settled, and, if there happens to be a man in your world, then maybe I need to take another look at whether more can be done for me. Maybe I can get a few more years out of it, while you and this fella get more serious.”
“You should get all the years available for you,” she said. “As long as you are happy here.”
He reached over, tapped her gently on the chin, and said, “But that is what you are doing for me.”
“And again,” she said, tears coming to her eyes, “I want whatever time we have together to be the best time.”
“It is.” He opened his arms, and she stepped into them.
“You always said that you didn’t want to go through all the tests and drug treatments.”
“And the doctor did make it seem like he couldn’t do a whole lot for me,” he said, “but I never did go for a second opinion, and maybe I should have. I just didn’t care, up until now.”
“And was that because of Mom?”
“Probably,” he said, with half a smile. “But that’s also very selfish on my part.”
“No, Dad, you have to do whatever is right for you,” she said, with a smile. “I wouldn’t want anything less.”
“I get it,” he said, “but an awful lot is out there for you in this world, and I don’t want you stuck here, looking after me.”
She frowned, not liking that tone. “Stop it,” she ordered. “It’s been a stressful night. I can’t take too much more of this.”
“I know,” he said. “You should go to bed.”
“I will,” she said.
And he smiled and nodded. “Well then, I’m back to bed too. I do know that I’m always tired, and I need rest.”
“Are you sure they couldn’t do anything?”
“Like I said, the doc said there wasn’t, but did he mean it? I don’t know.”
She frowned, as he walked away, because of course she wanted him to live, but she’d always gotten the feeling that he didn’t want to go through whatever was necessary in order to make that living happen—maybe because the quality of living wasn’t there? Even now, she knew he wasn’t happy with his poor quality of life. But she loved him and was willing to stand by his side, no matter what.
After he headed off to bed, she straightened up the kitchen. Staring out the window over the kitchen sink, she whispered, “Stay safe, Eton.” And she headed off to bed. She could only hope that they would get through this without any trouble, but it was already looking like a long shot.
*
Eton tossed down the phone and walked into the kitchen, where the coffee was dripping. He grabbed a cup before it was done and turned to lean against the counter. He reached up and rubbed his head.
“You look like shit,” Garret said cheerfully.
“You think?”
“A shower would make you feel better.”
“I’m just fueling up before I head back in about an hour,” he said. “Somebody saw me. Somebody was watching me, and I didn’t see them, and that pisses me off.”
“What are the chances that whoever was watching you is the one who took out Joe?”
“It’s possible, but it seems like somebody is always watching the operatives in this business, just like Tristan got taken out too.”
“And it could be the same guy,” he said. “We don’t have any way of knowing.”
“No, but we should have,” he said. “I checked everything that was on my prisoner but found nothing. I took photos of his chest, looking for existing or removed tattoos. There was nothing,” he said. “And again that pisses me off.”
“But that doesn’t mean that we don’t get something on facial recognition.”
“I sure hope so,” Eton said, “because, so far, we are not getting anywhere.”
“We’ve only been here a couple days,” Garret said, “so hold tight. We’re getting there.”
“Bullshit,” he said forcibly. “We’re getting nowhere.” He slammed down his cup of coffee and walked out onto the balcony, staring in the direction of the building complex. Garret came out beside him. They stood in silence for a few minutes. Finally Eton spoke. “I almost died again tonight.”
“Makes you rethink things, doesn’t it?” Garret said. “Waking up from that coma wasn’t much fun. Finding out Bullard was missing and presumed dead was a hard way to remember that life is all about living. And pretty damn soon we are done with that part of our lives and are into dying already.”
“It’s a tough road right now.”
“Only because you’re frustrated at having nowhere to turn. You want a target, and I can’t give you one.”
“I know,” he said, stretching out his tight shoulders. “What about the rest of the team?”
“They finished running down everybody in Tristan’s world, and nothing is pointing anywhere but here. We thought this was the best tangent early on, so we took it. And we appear to be right.”
“Are we though?” Eton asked. “It could be that we’re just up against other issues here. Shit is going on all around the world,” he said. “This one could be just more of the same.”
“Are you thinking about Sammy right now?”
“Sammy and her girlfriend, yeah,” Eton said.
“Well, the ex could be involved in that slashing-tires deal,” Garret said. “I got the impression that Sammy is ready to leave when this is over.”
“She said something about it tonight. After her father’s gone.”
“Is he that bad?”
“I don’t know,” Eton said. “Sounds like it.”
“Something we have to consider though,” Garret said.
“No, we don’t,” Eton said, swearing. “I can’t bring her into my world with this.” He swung his arms out wide. “No bloody way.”
“That’s true, so we have to solve this so we can open the pathway for something more.”
Eton gave a startled laugh. “A serious relationship has never been my focus. You know that.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be though.”
“Maybe, but we’re not getting anywhere here, so I can’t even think about one,”
Eton said.
“Now you’re back to being negative again,” Garret said. “Come on. Let’s take a look at something I did find today.”
“And what was that?”
“I pulled all the cell phones registered to anybody in that local area around the townhomes,” he said, “and we’ve got some interesting patterns happening.”
Interested in spite of himself, Eton turned and looked at him. “Like interesting, interesting?”
“Oh, yeah, very interesting.”
“Will it lead to this dead asshole that we’ve got?”
“Depends what we get for an ID on him. Maybe,” he said.
Just then Eton’s phone rang. He pulled it out and said, “Ice, I hope you’ve got something for us.”
“And I hope your ass was handed to you for that little stunt,” she said in exasperation. “Do you know you could have been killed?”
“Thanks, Mom,” he said in a mocking voice.
She laughed. “Go ahead. Make me feel like shit for worrying about your ass,” she said. “But you had to know there was likely a partner, and that should have been a given from the beginning.”
“It was,” he said, “but I was free and clear, just bringing my prisoner back here.”
“Why? Where was your partner?”
He sucked in his breath at that and looked at Garret.
Garret snatched the phone from his hand. “He’s been trying to keep me grounded,” Garret said. “Hi, Ice.”
It was her turn to gasp. “Garret?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Wish I could have a hug right about now.”
“Oh, my God, no wonder Eton went alone.”
“I’m fine,” Garret said. “Everybody needs to stop treating me like an invalid.”
“They’ll stop treating you that way if you weren’t acting that way,” she said, her tone crisp.
“Ouch,” he said. “That’s not fair anyway, since they won’t let me get any action.”
“That’s because they care,” she said.
“I do too,” he said. “Now enough of this taking care of me. I’m here to help take care of Eton.”
“Well, you need to do a better job of it,” she said in a dry voice.
“After tonight, you’re not kidding,” he said. “Bullshit, isn’t it? Did you have a reason for calling?” Garret put the phone on Speaker and handed it back to Eton.