“I’m not really keen on having her name, but thanks. Also, you’re right, she has been playing the wrong side for a few years, I’m thinking. I don’t think I’m her first kill—killing another agent. I can’t prove anything, but I’m betting she’s been responsible for a few missing agents.” Thatcher asked her what her plan was concerning them. “I don’t have a plan. Not yet, anyway.”
“You’re going to kill them.” She said it wouldn’t be up to her, nor would she be allowed to do it anyway. “I guess I knew that too. But that wouldn’t stop Rogen, so I’m doubting very much it would stop you either. If you didn’t think their decision was right, I think you’d figure out a way.”
Her smile, one he’d seen a million times on Rogen’s face, was not very reassuring. When she walked away from him, all Thatcher could do was stand there and think of what sort of things she’d do to get her way in this. Shivering at some of the images that rolled through his mind, he looked around for his wife. Rogen could scare him when he needed it, but comfort him when he needed that too.
As dinner was being served up, he was glad to have all his family there. He was also glad they all knew what Anna, Rogen, and now Tru did for a living. He did have a thought, wondering if Tru was as wealthy as Rogen, but he decided he’d not ask. There were some things he didn’t want to know. For some reason, Thatcher had it in his head that not only was Tru wealthy but much more so than Rogen was.
“Hey.” He hugged Houston when he came up to him. “Thanks. I did need that from you. I have something else I’d like to talk to you about. It’s nothing to do with anything but my work. Do you have a few minutes?”
They sat in his office. For some reason, Thatcher was slightly worried about how Houston wanted the doors closed behind them. Telling him to have a seat, he was even more worried when Houston started to pace, something he’d never done before meeting Tru.
“I’m going to be going to Florida in a few weeks. Everything is already there for the show, and all I’m doing basically is showing up. I’d not do it at all if it wasn’t that I’ve already committed to it.” Thatcher asked him if he was going alone. “I haven’t any idea just yet. I mean, there is this shit going on with her brother-in-law as well as her sister, and she isn’t sure she wants to leave right now. It could change. My question for you is, can you keep an eye on Tru for me?”
Thatcher couldn’t help it, he started laughing. The more he thought about keeping an eye on any of the women in this family, it made him laugh all the harder. If there was anyone that needed to be watched over, it certainly wasn’t these women. He was glad when Houston joined him.
“I guess that was a stupid way to put it. What I meant was, will you make sure that—? Christ, I don’t know what I mean. I just don’t want her hurt. I don’t know what I’d do if anything were to happen to her.” Thatcher said he’d do that for him. They all would. “Thanks. There’s something else too. I’m concerned about her family. Her parents. Do you think anything will happen to them?”
“Rogen has people on them now. And they have cameras in their home that she can get into when she needs to figure something out. They’ll have a burner phone too, I guess. Tru is taking care that they get that soon so they can contact her or you directly if they need to.” Houston asked if they were aware of Mike being identified by Tru as the one that had ordered her to be killed. “That I don’t know. I don’t even know if they’re aware of her being shot. I didn’t think to—”
The door behind them opened up with a loud bang. Thatcher, forever armed when they left the house, reached for his gun and remembered he was at home, and he didn’t wear it in the house. Houston was armed, but he put his gun away when they saw it was Rogen.
“We have to move. Right fucking now.” They moved to the door, and she started to explain what was going on. “I just heard from one of my men that there is a van in front of the house where the Justices live. It’s marked as a phone company vehicle.”
“Where is Tru?” Rogen told Houston she was on her way there and armed up. “I should have been with her. I don’t want her to be hurt by any of these bastards.”
“She won’t be. I have alerted my men that she’s in charge when she gets there. She’s smart, Houston, and will do what is needed to keep her family safe. But we need to move now. It’s an hour’s drive to her parents’ home, and once we’re there, we’ll bring them all back here. Tru will probably be there in less than thirty with the escort she has.” Thatcher was glad she had suggested that. Having them under one roof would make it so they could all be safe. “I don’t know who ordered this, but you can bet your sweet ass I’ll know before anyone else tries this sort of shit on them again.”
Thatcher knew that too. If nothing else, he was positive everyone would be safer with Tru and Rogen in charge. Loading up in the car, he was suddenly nervous for his wife to be going—he worried mostly for their child—but one look from her and he got in the car too. He knew that look more than any other she gave him.
They heard from Rogen’s men twice and Tru once. She let them know she was on site, and one of the men was down. Thatcher could only hope his body was identifiable when she was finished with it. Because as surely as she was good at what she did, Tru’s parents were involved this time, so all bets were off. Houston, who was riding with them, said he’d heard from her as well. That she was fine and at the back of the house.
“She’s unable to concentrate and talk to us, so she said when she had something to tell us, she would. I want you to know I’m cleaning up what she is telling me to tell you guys. I never realized how intensely she could convey her words when she was pissed off.” They all got a good laugh out of that. “I don’t want to sound whiney or anything, but I do feel better just being able to talk to her. Is it like that for you, Thatcher?”
“Sometimes. It really depends on what she’s doing. But Rogen rarely has to leave the house when she’s doing this work.” Houston said he’d forgotten about that. “I don’t know what I’d do if she left me to go on an assignment.”
“You’d deal with it, that’s what you’d do. The same as you need to do, Houston. This is something she’s very good at. If you take this from her, I might have to hurt you.” Houston told Rogen he had no intention of asking her to quit. “See that you don’t. You have no idea how many lives she’s saved by being able to move into any situation and do her job. I’ve been reading up on some of the things she’s been able to do when no one else could.”
Thatcher looked at his brother and could see he was pissed. He wasn’t sure why he’d be mad, because he did agree this was a good job for Tru. Perhaps, Thatcher thought, it was more to do with being told he had to do something. Thatcher thought about talking to Rogen, but knew he wouldn’t. This was between the two of them, and he would let them hash it out. If they didn’t, then he’d have to step in. Thatcher laughed to himself. They would both murder him if he thought that would work.
“Tru is in the house. She’s had to kill another man in the back yard. Apparently, he was pissing on her mother’s flowers. I guess he’s still half naked in the back yard. She asked me to see if you have a cleanup crew that needs to be called in. If not, then she can do it.” Rogen said they were on their way. “I’ll tell her. And Rogen, if I were to ask Tru to step down from this, it would be none of your fucking business. Just so we’re clear on that.”
He thought he saw a small smile on Rogen’s face when she agreed to back off. Houston sat up a little higher in his seat too. Thatcher didn’t understand people. To him, all walks of life were a little off at times. He was sure he was as well. But family? Well, he thought, so long as everyone was happy, he would do whatever it took to make it work. Mostly by staying the hell out of it.
~~~
Tru slipped into the back door of her parents’ home. The sun porch was neat and tidy, but there were a few coloring books spread out on the floor, as well as a few broken crayons
that had been stepped on. Going into the kitchen, she heard her dad talking to someone. Peeking around the corner to see into the entryway, she could see the man had a gun pointed at the four of them. She could hear that Charlie was locked up in the basement. He was barking his head off to help.
Picking up an apple, she bit into it as she came into view of the five people in the hall. She moaned at the taste of the apple, which really she couldn’t taste over her fear of her family getting hurt. But it had the desired effect, and the man turned and looked at her.
“Mom, you’ll have to tell me where you got these apples. They’re the best I’ve eaten in a while. Do you still shop at the Piggly Wiggly?” Mom said she did, and she’d buy her a bag of them if she helped them out. The man asked her who the hell she was. “I’m their daughter, Tru. Surely you were told about me. Or does your boss think I’m dead? I’m not.”
“No shit. How the hell did you get into the house?” She told him. “I fucking know you have to turn the doorknob to the door to get in. I mean, how did you get past my men? There are a dozen of them out there. There is no way—”
“Let me just stop you right there. There is no point in you making this out to be much larger than it is. There were two men out there, one of them in the van. Which, I will tell you, he is still there, waiting for you to come out like a good puppy. However, something you might want to consider if you live long enough, is that when you’re planning to come into a house to kill people, you should have your getaway driver lock all the doors. All I had to do was open the back end, and when he popped his head around the seat— Well, I guess you could say I popped him. If you look, you can see his brains splattered all over the front windshield. Of course, there isn’t as much brain matter as one would think. You’re all pretty stupid, aren’t you? The other man, the one that was pissing on my mom’s flowers, is dead as well. Pissing on my mom’s flowers? What sort of person does that? A stupid one if you ask me. He left his DNA all over her petunias.”
“Tru, honey, it’s much too late to plant petunias. Those were fall cabbage plants if they were the ones up close to the house.” Tru loved her mom—she was getting into this too. Distraction was the best way to rattle a bad guy. “Did he urinate on them? If so, I’ll have to replant them when this idiot is taken care of. You are going to take care of him, aren’t you?”
“I am.” The man grabbed her dad and pulled him up against his body with the gun at his head. Just as he moved, Tru pulled her gun out, moving toward the man, and put it right up against his temple. “Let my father go, and they won’t have to redecorate this room again. I really love this part of the house, and if you make me shoot your little bit of shit for brains all over it, I’m going to be really pissed off. Let my father go now.”
Grinding the barrel of the gun deeper into his temple, she made sure he would carry the impression of her anger around for a few months. Again, if he lived much longer. Glancing at the boys who were both crying by now, she smiled at them.
“It’s okay, guys. Aunt Tru has this well in hand. Mom, would you take Sam and Jacob up to their rooms and pack up some of their things? We won’t be here much longer.” The man told Mom to stay where she was. “Mom, he can’t shoot you without taking his gun from Dad, who he’s not going to shoot either. If he even moves a fraction of an inch, I’m going to fucking end his life.”
“Tru. Please. Your language.” She kissed her on the cheek as she walked by them. “Come along, boys. We’ll have a nice day of it with your aunt. Oh, this will be an adventure if I don’t miss my bet.”
Mom paused on the step when Sam turned to look at Tru.
“Aunt Tru? This man was at my house before we moved here. He and my dad, they made plans to kill you. I heard them. They were going to hurt you first.” Tru thanked her nephew. “You’re welcome. I don’t want anything to happen to you guys. But you can hurt him really bad if you want to. I don’t even care.”
Four-year-old Jacob said he didn’t care either. Tru thanked them both and told them not to forget to bring their bathing suits that she had a nice pool. When they were out of sight, she looked at the man she was holding her gun on.
“Dad, how are you doing? Can you breathe all right?” He said he was getting a crick in his neck, but was otherwise fine. “Good. The troops are on their way. I just have to either kill this idiot or wait them out. Either way, he’s going to let you go.”
“What if I give you everything I have?” She told the man she had everything she needed now. But she did thank him. “I mean on Mike Arnold. He also goes by Tucker Fry. I have a lot of shit on him.”
“Like what?” He said not until she told him they had a deal. “No, I don’t think so then. Because you might not have been told this, but I work for the CIA as well as the FBI. If I wanted all the shit you might have, I’d have it by now, don’t you think? Give me something you think I might not have on him, and we’ll talk.”
“You work for the CIA and the FBI?” She told her dad she did and had since getting out of college. “Well damn, daughter, that’s wonderful news. I knew you were doing something special, but I didn’t guess that. I’m proud of you, honey.”
“Thanks, Dad. I think it’s wonderful too. I’ve not only been trained to fire a weapon, but I also know how to skin a man. Right down to his bones. I’m really good at it too. I guess you could say I’ve had a great deal of practice.” The man looked at her, fear written all over his face. “I’m armed with all kinds of fun toys too. I’m not saying idiots like you would find them fun, but I love to use them. Did you know any piano wire can cut a man’s head off without much in the way of effort? If you do it right, their head just pops off like a berry in the garden.”
The man pulled his gun away from her dad and then backed up. The gun he’d been holding was held by the trigger guard on his thumb. When he was backed against the wall right behind him, she took his gun.
“On your knees and lace them.” She was glad he understood her. Tru supposed all bad guys knew to lace them meant to put your hands on your head and lace your fingers. Dad sat down on the sofa and looked at the two of them. “Are you really all right, Dad? I don’t want you to be upset about anything.”
“Upset? How in blue blazes do you think I’d be upset about any of this? Well, I am a might put out that these men came barging into our home and tried to rough us up. Daughter, that’s all I want to think about him doing, all right?” She smiled and nodded. “But you being here to save us? Well, there ain’t a thing about that that has me the least bit upset. If you don’t mind, I’m going to go on up and reassure your mom. Now, that woman is upset. I’m going to hang out up there until the cavalry comes too. Just to make sure— I’m assuming there are more coming in?”
“Yes. You hit it about right when you called them the cavalry too. Houston is coming with them. He’s the man that I love.” Dad nodded. Tru could see his eyes were filled with tears. He looked around the room while he wiped them away. “Dad, you don’t have to come back here if you don’t want to. I’d love to have you, Mom, and the boys nearby. It would be wonderful to get to be with you more than before.”
“I’ll have to talk to your mom.” He was halfway up the stairs when he turned back to her. “I never told you this before, I don’t think. But you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Not nice considering you have a sister, I’m sure, but it’s the truth.”
Dad blew her a kiss as he moved up the stairs the rest of the way. When she heard her mom crying, she knew it was all good. Sitting on a chair in the hallway, she regarded her captive. It was all she could do not to kill the man for what he’d done to her parents and nephews.
“Can you really skin a man?” She nodded at him. “I didn’t think that would be something you’d kid about. Not with your dad right there. He’s proud of you. I have never seen anything like that before.”
“Do you think your mother would be proud of you? Doubtful, I�
��m thinking.” He told her she was dead. “And I’m betting you had a little bit, if not all, to do with her pushing up daisies.”
“My dad did it. But I didn’t stop him.” Tru didn’t say anything more. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I know about Mike? Or Shasta? She’s a bitch if you want to know the truth about that. So are you, but you’re scary, and she’s just a bitch. But she didn’t do anything about this thing with you. I don’t even think she knew you were Fed.”
“She doesn’t. How about you tell me some things you know about Mike? There are recording devices all over this house. One of them is pointed right there at the front door. If you behave yourself and don’t make me have to blow your leg off, I’ll allow you to sit on your ass in front of the door. But you’ll be sitting on your hands. If you have to use them to talk, then you’re shit out of luck.”
He moved to the doorway but didn’t do anything stupid—well, stupider, in his case. Once he was there, she pulled up the monitor on her phone to make sure he was in full view of the camera. When she had to make a slight adjustment, the man never moved from his sitting position. Good for him. He could be taught.
“State your name and your relationship, or whatever you are, to my brother-in-law. His name and alias, too, as you know them. Also, you’ll be naming all the people involved in this failed attempt to bring me to my knees. I’m assuming that was what this was for.” He said it was to bring her out of hiding if she wasn’t already dead. “Good to know. As you can tell, I’m alive and kicking. Start talking.”
He was still spilling his guts when the rest of them showed up. The man also agreed to testify that Alison had shot Tru in the hospital. If she’d missed or something else had happened, he’d been waiting outside the place ready to end Alison too. It was more than she needed to have everyone arrested. Rogen was barking orders around about clean up, and Tru watched her work. As soon as Houston came to sit with her, he took her gun from her and pointed it at Colby, like the cheese he told her, Hampton.
Houston: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 7