Dace shook his head and took a step toward Eli. “We aren’t friends. I don’t trust you, and I owe you nothing. Ivy owes you nothing. It’s time for you to leave.”
“You’re right. Ivy owes me nothing. I’m the one who owes her something.”
As if they weren’t already on alert, the implication had each of the men moving in and ready to take down a potential enemy that knew far too much about them, more than anyone. He had information that came from the inside – it was too personal to collect otherwise – and the only person they had in common, thus far, seemed to be Ivy. This was a moment when allies were gained or enemies exposed, and no one knew which side Ivy would fall on, but Eli seemed more likely to fall on the negative side of a shaky spectrum.
Dace interrupted. “Why is she important to you? What do you need from her? Did she take something from you? See something she shouldn’t? You’re here to clean it up?”
“Quite the contrary. I’m not behind what happened to her in the alley,” Eli said through gritted teeth. “I’m here to protect her from that happening again. If I know she’s alive, so do they.”
“Quite kind of you, but she doesn’t need your help. She had me…us,” Dace said, speaking for the room.
“Oh, but I don’t know that you can. From what I gather, you don’t even know who the enemy is yet. You need me. She needs me.” Eli wasn’t backing down. “You are the best in the business. Everyone knows that, including your new enemy. They also know your strengths and weaknesses because they’ve been fighting you for years. I’ve watched…all of it.”
“Who is this enemy? You want us to trust you, trust your intel – let you on our team – and let you talk to Ivy? You need to give us a reason to check all those boxes…friend.”
Eli crossed his arms and widened his stance with his head cocked to one side, and a laser-sharp stare focused on Dace as he mulled over the offer, if you could call it that. “Dace, I have a great deal of respect for you, and I know how important Ivy is in your life, or you wouldn’t have spent years searching for her, worried for her and wanting to protect her. This isn’t the time to whip out our dicks and compare. You need me as much as I need you. I will help you because it will be helping Ivy. You assure me that I can trust you? I need to know what you know, as you know it. In the end, we go our separate ways, but until then…we need to be a team. Can you promise me that? Can you do that for Ivy?”
“What if she doesn’t want to see you?”
“She will.”
“How do I know that? What if mentioning you to her doesn’t end in a happy reunion?”
“Then you shoot me. If she swears me an enemy, you shoot me,” Eli said with confidence. “Surely, by now, you know I’m not an inept man making foolish moves if I walked straight into the bears’ den as I have. I wouldn’t have come here and offered my assistance if I didn’t think it mattered…a lot.”
Dace made eye contact with the others, one at a time as if taking a silent vote from each member: yes, we hear him out and work together if it makes sense, or no, this bastard’s going down. With a simple nod, Dace had his tally and his mind made up.
“How do you know Ivy? Who are you to her?” Dace braced himself for the answer, fully aware it could be that he’s her significant other – her lover even.
“I’m her bodyguard. Have been since the day I escorted her out of Portland and I’ve been with her every day since.”
Dace cringed. That’s a long time to be with someone, day in and day out – if that’s even true. The fact Eli is the man who took Ivy away – from him – made Dace dislike Eli even more than he already did.
“Who’s after her?” Dace asked.
“Is she here? Am I right?”
“I know where she is, yes. Now, who is after her?”
“My boss – so as you can see, I can’t do this on my own. A bit of a conflict of interest.”
“Are we going to dance around this all night? Who’s your fucking boss?”
“Her father.”
“Her father is dead.”
Eli snickered. “Oh, I assure you, he’s very much alive.”
14
“The man’s not a florist. I can tell you that,” Eli said. “I’ve yet to identify an agency or affiliation – abroad or US – but whatever it is, it’s big and spinning.”
“Spinning? Out of control, you mean?” Dace asked.
“Yes. I believe so. I’m strictly assigned to Ivy. I get my orders directly from him when it’s time to move or a threat nearby, but that’s it. I’ve studied him, his associates, and the muscle that he brings every time he visits. Florists don’t travel with their own militarized security detail.”
“Orders you to move her…you’re the reason I get close, but never close enough,” Dace stated.
“Afraid so. You’ve been close many times – too close.” Eli’s tone contained a hint of sympathy. He clearly knew who Dace was to Ivy and why he had been looking for her. “The last time you caught up with us, I watched you from a wooded area a block away. That’s when I knew you weren’t a threat and figured out who you were.”
“How’d you do that?”
Eli wore a facetious grin. “Plates on your Harley, friend. Old-school.”
Dace grinned while shaking his head.
“When I couldn’t get a hit through normal channels, I started digging and found out it was you. Everyone in our…business knows who you brothers are. It made sense why you were the reason we were moving as often as we were, but I knew you weren’t the real threat, just someone who wasn’t supposed to find her.”
“Her father hid her from me,” Dace said under his breath.
“Essentially, but it was to protect himself, I’m sure. Not Ivy. He obviously knows who you are and what you do.”
There was something honest about Eli’s divulgence of information. He was quick to answer, detailed, and his body language seemed cool and collected. Dace could see he was being honest. Sure, if this guy was who he said he was, and there was little doubt of his identity at this point, he’d be trained to intentionally mislead and control his body language, blood pressure, and stay cool. He could be well-practiced, as the brothers were, and fly through an interrogation-type encounter with ease. But Dace didn’t believe that to be the case.
While he had Eli spilling details without hesitation, he tried to dig deeper to find out more about Ivy and who she was now. “Who is the kid in the picture with you and Ivy?”
Dace put the picture in front of Eli, who smiled at the sight of it. It was a fond memory, it seemed. That child was important to Eli, and he cared for him deeply. That was evident. To the naked eye, it was pure joy that raced through Eli, but Dace saw something more. He saw a type of pain in the man’s eyes that hadn’t been there before. The kid meant something to him and Ivy. Was he their child?
“Eli?”
Eli broke from his distracted state. “I’m sorry, but you are going to have to ask Ivy.”
Dace nodded. It was personal to Ivy, and Eli was respecting that – or perhaps he was protecting himself because he feared Dace’s response to who the child really was. Maybe he was Eli’s.
“Fair enough. I’ll gladly ask her,” Dace challenged, to which Eli simply nodded.
“I’m not picking fights here, but if she didn’t tell you, there must be a reason, mate.”
“And what would that reason be? She was coming here for help, which seems odd if she has a bodyguard, wouldn’t you say? If you’re her bodyguard, how did she end up here…without you?”
“She thinks I’m dead. She thinks everyone is dead; I’m sure of it.” Eli slammed his fist on the table. He’d come to break the brothers for information, but it seemed one brother, in particular, was breaking him. “I needed her to believe that and run. Ivy knew the plan. She knew to come here. Just as we discussed.”
“Oh, you sent her here?” Dace laughed.
“I did. I knew it was the only place we could trust – the only people we could trust.
”
“So, you trust us now? Interesting.”
“I don’t. I don’t trust anyone. But Ivy does, and I trust her. So here we are.” Eli went on. “I followed her here to make sure she made it safely. When I thought she was in the home stretch, I went to follow up on a lead. I thought she’d made it to you, but when I didn’t hear from her, and I couldn’t reach her on her cell…I knew something had happened. Someone was a step ahead of me. Someone I didn’t anticipate, maybe.”
“And you rushed back to save her? You left her for dead.”
Eli flinched at the implication. “She would be dead if I hadn’t gotten her as far as I did – unbeknownst to her. I rushed back to protect her, yes. I can’t save her, though. Not on my own. This thing is big. Bigger than me. Bigger than all of you. It runs deep, far beyond your government…”
Carter leaned forward and let out a deep sigh. “I suppose that’s why I’m here. Keyword government.”
“You can do this kind of work remotely. We don’t expect you to run on this one, Landry,” Declan said. “Unless you miss me that much…”
“Oh, but I’d much rather get my hands dirty, especially if this leads to DC. I miss this shit – can’t kick the bad guys' ass remotely. I can already tell you this isn’t DEA or ATF, at least not on the books. I don’t have any active warrants.”
“Cartel possibly? Off-the-books militarized sector of government? Total outlaws?” Dace questioned.
“Yes.” Eli was frustrated with the progress he was making and the fact he was still proving who he was and why he was there. “Look, I don’t know all the players. I don’t know everyone who is involved, but I do know this exceeds even the almighty O’Reilly clan and their Brother’s Keeper Security relationships and resources. You will have to get involved, Mr. Landry. I just don’t know to what extent. Be prepared for the biggest government shakedown you’ve seen in modern history. You need to rally the troops, get your cousins the bounty hunters here, get your MC connection working, and bring in the authorities you know you can trust. The individuals, not entire agencies.”
“The biggest? How can you be sure we are dealing with something so expansive?”
“I can’t be. Call it a hunch. The guys I’ve seen hanging around lately, the things I’ve been overhearing and piecing together…my gut never lies.”
“I have trusted contacts in all of the above. I can start reaching out, but this sounds like some illegal bullshit between a rogue cartel cell and another player…some kind of homegrown terrorist.”
“Shit like this doesn’t stay silent and off the books long – not when we are talking illegal dealings like this. Whether it’s arms or drugs, it’ll be out soon enough, and we’ll have a war on our hands with zero allies,” Carter alerted. This thing was getting bigger by the minute.
“If something this sinister was going on, and Ivy was right in the middle of it, why did you stay and put her at risk?”
“Because as long as her father was there, I thought she’d be safe, and I could continue to gather information. The minute it went south or I saw any indication of such, I was going to take her and Cash and run. Right to your doorstep.”
“Cash?” Dace asked. “Cashel? Is he…?”
Eli finished Dace’s thought. “He’s the child in the picture, yes.”
“She called out his name in the middle of a nightmare. Said she didn’t know a Cashel.”
“She’s protecting him. She’s protecting all of us.”
“Who is he, Eli? Who is this boy?”
“I can sit here all night and share intel collected over the past several months and beyond, but that? It isn’t my story to tell. You will have to talk to Ivy about that. She’ll tell you who I am to her and who he is…”
Hearing Eli mention who he was to Ivy sent a sting coursing through Dace’s veins. He didn’t want to know who Eli was to her because he was afraid of the answer. Dace knew he had no right to Ivy, but he couldn’t help the connection he still felt. Or maybe that feeling was what was left when you didn’t have closure. They were engaged one minute, she was gone the next. No fight, no breakup, nothing.
She was just gone, and the feelings he had, feelings they both had, couldn’t just disappear so easily despite the time apart. At least for him, they didn’t. His feelings for Ivy may not be clear, and he would be lying if he said he had zero resentment, but he knew he cared. A lot.
“Why would she lie about her father? You? Or deny any knowledge of being in danger?” Dace asked.
“Well, that’s easy. Fear. She came here to get your help, and when she realized something followed her, she shut down. I’m sure she hasn’t a clue who’s behind it or why. She just knows she’s been on the run for years to protect you, and now it’s landed on your front step.”
Dace didn’t speak. He pondered Eli’s words and believed every one of them, despite not having a way to substantiate a single one. It made sense. Ivy was only blocks away – what are the odds – and wrote Dace’s name on her arm. She nearly dies, then shuts down. How could what Eli said not make sense? It was the closest thing they had to a clue, working theory, believable circumstance, or explanation of any kind.
Dace grabbed the picture Liam had printed from Ivy’s cell phone and stood. “Declan, debrief Eli and use whatever resources needed to break this case open. You guys know the drill.” Dace looked at Eli. “You fucking lie to us, and we’ll end you. Got it? One way or another – you’ll be done.”
With a quick nod in agreement, Eli said, “I’d expect no less, Dace.”
“I’ll be back.”
15
“It’s so beautiful from up here,” Ivy said from the sofa on her balcony. “Doesn’t matter what time of day or season. This city is spectacular. I’ve missed it.”
Dace didn’t respond. Instead, he knelt on one knee and placed the picture of Ivy and Eli with the child on the small coffee table in front of her. He pointed at the boy. “Who is this?”
Ivy gasped. Her body stiffened, and her jaw became rigid. “Where did you get that?”
“It doesn’t matter where I got it, Ivy. Who is it? Who is the kid? Who is he to you?”
Ivy took to her feet and pressed the picture against Dace’s chest as she tried to push past him. “I need to get out of here. It’s time for me to go.”
Dace followed her inside to her bedroom, where she began to grab the few items she had and piled them on a nearby chair.
“You’re not going anywhere. You’re still healing and in danger.”
“I’m not in danger. I’m fine.”
“You nearly died, Ivy. I hardly call that safe and fine.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Dace. No idea.”
“Maybe because you won’t tell me anything.” He turned the crumpled picture to Ivy and pointed at the boy she was holding. “Is he yours? Is he your child…is he Cashel?”
Dace braced himself for whatever her answer might be. He desperately wanted to know who this child was – who he was to her – even if the truth hurt.
“Cashel?” she whispered as her eyes filled with emotion. “Why would you think that?”
“Because I’m starting to piece this shit together whether you want me to or not. Ivy, just tell me. Let me help you.”
A glimmer of hope filled her expression, but it was gone as quick as it came, and she withdrew back into the guarded, frightened woman he’d seen for days.
“I don’t know who they are. Met them somewhere when…I did some volunteer work, I think.”
“You keep pictures of strangers on your phone?”
“You said you didn’t find my phone, that it must be missing.”
“I said something more along the lines of I didn’t have it, which I don’t.”
“I need my phone. Where is it? Who has it, Dace? You can’t keep my things like this. It’s basically theft.”
“It isn’t theft when it’s evidence and being held by the authorities.”
“Oh my God
. What have you done? It’s your cop friend, isn’t it? He has it? Why did you do that? You just made everything worse.”
“Made what worse? Just fucking tell me. Jesus. Who is Cashel? Why are you protecting him, and what are you running from? I can’t help you until you tell me everything.”
“You can’t help me, Dace!” she yelled. “Do you hear me? Nobody can. I’ve told you this. There is nothing you, your cop buddy, or anyone can do to help me.”
“Try me.”
“And get you killed too? I couldn’t live with that. If my phone is here, they can find me, and I need to lead them away from you and your family.” Her voice shrank to a barely audible tone. “Please, don’t make me watch your assassination too. I couldn’t live with it. I’m barely hanging on as it is, Dace. I can’t…”
Ivy fell back and sat at the edge of her bed and sobbed. He felt a breakthrough coming, but Dace didn’t know how much more Ivy could handle. He struggled with continuing to interrogate her – ask the same questions multiple times in multiple ways – until she broke and told him everything.
A niggling of guilt crept in because he was hounding her for information that he already knew too. Eli had filled them in on quite a bit, so he was just baiting her at this point. He shouldn’t give a shit, but his damn conscience was in the way.
“Ivy, was your father killed? Is that who you’re referring to?”
She was silent, mulling her thoughts. “We’ve already talked about this – all of it. Why are you doing this?”
She didn’t lie, but she was far from truthful. He gave her the opportunity to discuss her father, to right the wrong she’d sold them days ago about the man’s mortality, but she didn’t. Dace’s desire to protect her was quickly becoming clouded by a sense of fury she was responsible for.
“Dammit, Ivy. Let me help you!” he shouted, startling her.
“I need to leave. I shouldn’t have come here. I’ve caused too much trouble already and need to leave before more arrives.”
Brother's Keeper V: Wylie (the complete series BOX SET): NEW RELEASE + Series Box SET included! Page 102