Sun Catcher - Book Two

by Giselle Fox

  Jericho lowered her weapon and went to Taylor’s side. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

  “I’m okay. How did you know where to find me?” Taylor whispered.

  “Oh isn’t this sweet!” Stinger groaned.

  “You want a few more on the front side?” Charlie warned him.

  Then they all heard it. The loud rumble of bikes in the distance. Jericho glanced at Taylor and then at her mother.

  Stinger began to laugh as he sat back on his knees. “Sounds like the gang’s here! Did you call ‘em Diane?”

  “You bet I did,” she growled.

  “You think they give a shit about you anymore?”

  “We’re going to find out,” she said.

  He looked at Jericho again. “You best be on your way, pretty ladies. There’s a world of pain coming your way.”

  “Let’s get him tied up,” Jericho said.

  Charlie stepped forward. “I’ll take care of that. I’ll make sure it’s good and tight.”

  Jericho handed her the zap straps and she quickly worked on Stinger’s wrists.

  Taylor looked in on Max who’d cried himself into a frenzied sleep. “My poor little man,” she cooed at him. He was sweating strapped into his car seat.

  “Thank Christ he’s okay,” Mama said. An ugly black welt was brewing over her left eye and there was blood on her lips.

  The bikes were close now, almost at the turn. When Taylor saw who was leading, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her mother looked over at her and nodded then put her shotgun back in the car. Taylor took a few steps and joined Jericho at her side.

  “Put your guns away,” she said.

  Charlie and Jericho tucked their pistols out of sight.

  The engines stopped. They heard the creaking of heavy bikes being set onto their stands.

  “What’s going on here?” Old Bill called from his Softail.

  “Someone put a bullet in these bitches,” Stinger hollered.

  Taylor heard the clicking of guns.

  Stinger lifted himself to his feet and took a step at Jericho. “I’m gonna hurt you,” he said between his teeth.

  Jericho didn’t flinch. “Oh, I doubt that.”

  Taylor watched Old Bill walk slowly up the path and survey the situation.

  “Well, we got Jimmie on one side and Soren here on the other,” he began.

  “Fools shot each other,” Mama said.

  Old Bill shook his head like he knew they’d be stupid enough to do just that. “You ladies cops?” he asked Jericho.

  “Nope,” Jericho replied.

  “They’re with me,” Taylor said. “Saved us from this psycho.” She nodded at Stinger.

  “Is that right?” Old Bill said and looked Stinger square in the eye. “And what did you think you were going to accomplish here,” he asked slowly.

  “Taking back what’s mine, that’s what!” Stinger barked. “Why don’t you just go on home, Bill. Ain’t you got cancer or something?”

  Old Bill stood his full height and gritted his teeth. “You’re a dumb shit, you know that? Never knew why Gus liked you.”

  “He killed Gus,” Taylor said. “Officer Thornton told us so. Got it on tape.”

  Old Bill looked at her with a puzzled expression. “What now? You got it on tape?”

  “Thornton and Keith are shackled in the barn just up the drive. You want a good laugh, go take a look,” Mama said and started to chuckle to herself.

  There was a chorus of laughter.

  Taylor watched Devon climb off his bike and walk toward them. He tipped his head to her and smiled.

  Old Bill rubbed his hand over his forehead. “Well isn’t that something,” he said. He looked tired, but no matter how sick he was, he was still the leader of the Iron Sons, despite what Stinger might have thought. He looked back at Jericho.

  “Well, if you’re not a cop, do you happen to know anything about the information that got sent to me? Bit coincidental it shows up a few days before I get a call from Diane here.”

  Jericho looked him in the eye. “No, I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

  Bill looked at her hard for another minute and then shook his head. “So … Jeffrey James, do you have any idea just how many people you’ve pissed off?

  There were grumbles among the men. Taylor could see panic in Stinger’s eyes. Her mother charged him and spat in his face.

  “That’s for Gus,” she said. Her voice cracked. “I sure hope you suffer.”

  Max woke up with a start and began to wail.

  “Is that the young fella?” Old Bill asked.

  Taylor nodded, “yes sir.”

  “Let’s have a look at him,” he said.

  Taylor knew that Old Bill was on their side but she was still worried about bringing Max out. She knew she had no choice. She pulled her son from his seat and carried him over.

  Old Bill smiled and cooed at him gently. “Looks just like you,” he said. “Let’s hope he takes after your side of the family.”

  He turned to Stinger again. “Have you even taken notice of your boy?”

  Stinger lifted his chin and focused briefly on Max. His eyes flickered to Taylor’s but just as soon looked away.

  “I think you’re just dead meat inside,” Bill muttered. “How’s your sister been keeping, Diane?”

  “Not good. Won’t be long now, Bill. How have you been?”

  “Cancer is a bitch,” he said simply.

  “Ain’t it the truth,” Mama said sadly. She reached into the back seat of the car and pulled out a black duffel bag. Inside was the same pillowcase of ledgers that Taylor had taken from Stinger’s safe. Her mother handed it over to Bill.

  He opened the case and peered inside. “These are them. Why don’t you all get home. We’ll take care of it from here.”

  Stinger’s mouth dropped. “The fuck?!”

  “Shut up, Jeffrey,” Bill said. “I think we’ve all had enough of your shit for one lifetime.”

  Taylor didn’t waste any time getting Max back into the car.

  Mama gave Bill a nod. “You take care of yourself, Bill. Give my best to Maggie.”

  “Will do, Diane.”

  Bill turned to Jericho. “That your GTO out on the road?”

  “It is,” she nodded.

  Bill stuffed his hands in his pockets and peered down the path. “I used to have a ‘76 Charger. Fastest car I ever drove. I met an English fella at a car show just after I bought it, had a GTO identical to yours.” He looked Jericho straight in the eye. “Interesting guy. Name is on the tip of my tongue.”

  Jericho clenched her jaw. They stared at each other a moment until Bill finally looked away. He pointed back up the path. “I’d sure love to put a picture of those jackass cops on the clubhouse wall.”

  “Wait,” Taylor said. She grabbed Stinger’s gun from the floor of the car. She wiped it clean on her tank top and handed it to Bill. “It’s Jeff’s.”

  Bill held the gun in his hand and inspected it. “What kind of moron engraves a weapon with his own name?”

  Taylor looked at Stinger one last time but he still wouldn’t meet her eye. Maybe she should have felt sorry for him but she didn’t. Not one bit.

  “You take care, Bill,” her mother said.

  Bill gave her a nod.

  They all climbed in the Coronet and Taylor started the engine. She kept her eye on the rear view mirror until they were safely on the road.

  Jericho reached over and put her hand on her leg. “You okay to drive?”

  Maybe she shouldn’t have been, but she was. She nodded and gripped Jericho’s hand tight. She drove to the end of the driveway and pulled onto the other side of the road where the GTO was parked. Jericho and Charlie got out. “Sure you’re okay?” Jericho asked through the window.

  Taylor was doing her best as it was. “I’ll be better once we put some miles between us and here.” She watched as Jericho and Charlie climbed behind the wheel of the big red convertible. Jericho tugged the heav
y velcro straps of her flak vest and wriggled it over her shoulders. She looked back at Taylor through the windshield. Her eyes were serious. “I’ll follow you,” she called as Taylor pulled away.

  Taylor put the gas pedal to the floor. She glanced at her mother in the rearview mirror who was keeping watch behind them. Eventually, she turned and met Taylor’s eye. “Damn lucky they showed up.”

  Taylor reached her hand over the seat and felt her mother’s clasp it tight.

  “What was that Bill said about getting information?” Lucinda asked.

  Taylor shook her head. She watched Jericho close the gap behind them. Charlie’s blue hair was wild in the wind. “That night you were away visiting Auntie Del, she asked me about your ink.”

  “So she did see it.”

  Taylor nodded. “She’d figured out who we were. Said she even went back to Independence and had a look at Stinger.”

  “No shit.” Her mother turned and looked through the back window again. “Well if they’re not cops ... what are they?”

  “I don’t know, mama. She said she couldn’t tell me.” Taylor looked back at her again. The bruise on her face was turning ugly. “How’s the eye?”

  “Hurts like a motherfucker,” she growled. “How’s your lip?”

  Taylor had forgotten that Stinger had split her lip when he hit her. “Shit damn,” she muttered into the mirror. She licked her fingers and tried to wipe the blood off her chin. They both glanced at Max but he didn’t seem phased by all the language.

  “We’re going to need more gas. I’ll get us some ice,” Taylor said.

  “Okay.” Lucinda looked behind them again. “Wonder what those two are talking about.”

  Taylor glanced back too. “Same as us, I reckon.”

  “Well, right now I don’t give a shit who or what they are. They saved our asses.”

  Her mother was right. If they hadn’t shown up when they did, things could have gotten real bad. It should have made her sick thinking about it but she felt numb to her core. She knew it was shock because she’d felt it before. It was the only thing that kept her from breaking down and clear headed enough to drive. She focused on the roar of the Coronet and the whistle of the wind as it rushed past them.

  “You gonna ask her?” her mother asked after a few more miles.

  Taylor nodded. She felt her mother’s hand on her shoulder.

  “Do you love her?”

  Taylor looked back at her in the mirror. “I think I do.”

  Lucinda smiled and then winced with pain. She patted her shoulder. “I know you’ll figure out the right thing to do.”

  Taylor laughed. “What if I don’t? Look at what we just left behind.”

  “Hey, that’s not your fault.”

  Taylor wasn’t sure anymore. Seeing Stinger on his knees hadn’t made it any clearer. She wanted to be relieved or even happy that things had gone their way for once. But all she felt was hollow.

  “Don’t try to make sense of it now. This has been a seriously fucked up day,” Lucinda said.

  Taylor looked back into her mother’s eyes. “How about you, mama? How are you doing?”

  Lucinda’s eyes went watery. She sniffed a little and then blinked her tears away. “Yeah well ... I got a pulse and I got you two. That’s all I care about.”

  “Things are gonna be different,” Taylor said as she stared ahead. She thought of Jericho driving just behind them. She thought of Jericho’s big house on the hill and playing in the sunshine on the grass with her son. She thought of that very morning when Jericho had brought her the banner for her little jam table. And then she remembered how dangerous Jericho had looked with her gun aimed straight at Stinger’s heart.

  She took a deep breath and let it go. Just get home, she thought to herself. Just get home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Jericho rolled onto her side and opened her eyes. It was early. The sun hadn’t made its way past the trees. Taylor wasn’t beside her, the same as every other morning that week.

  She pulled on her sweatpants and grabbed a hoodie from her closet. Mornings had gotten cooler since the rain had come.

  She tiptoed to Max’s door and listened for his peaceful snores on the other side. Further down the hall, in her sister’s old bedroom, his grandmother snored peacefully too.

  She crept downstairs and went to the kitchen. A pot of coffee was brewed so she poured herself a cup. The front door was closed but unlocked. She knew Taylor would be out on the porch same as she had been every other morning. When she opened the door, Taylor looked up. She smiled but her green eyes told another story. A thin blue blanket was wrapped around her shoulders. Her feet were tucked under her legs as she sat on the rocking chair. The white mug in her hand was empty. Taylor looked back across the lawn and took a deep breath.

  Jericho pulled a chair close and sat down beside her. “Did you sleep?”

  “A little,” Taylor said.

  Jericho reached for her hand. Taylor’s warm fingers curled around hers. Her eyes studied them for a moment and then lifted.

  “You’ve been so good to us, Jericho ... so good to me,” her voice cracked. She looked out over the grass again and sighed. “I’ve spent the last year running. Being on guard, expecting the worst every night … and now that it’s all over, I don’t know what to feel.”

  Jericho looked into her sad eyes. The pain of everything she’d been through was still there just behind the surface. Taylor turned her head and looked out over the grass again. “You’re so strong and sweet … and I know you’re good because I’ve felt it. There’s a part of me that wants you to just tell me and there’s the other part that doesn’t want to know at all. One of the things I’m most afraid of right now,” she said as she turned to face Jericho again, “is finding out who you really are.”

  Jericho pulled her chair closer and took a deep breath. It was time. Taylor would either accept the truth or she wouldn’t. It wasn’t fair to hide it from her anymore. “I’m a thief,” she said simply.

  Taylor’s brow furrowed briefly and then relaxed.

  “My grandfather was one of the best. I’m not sure how my sisters and I came to it, whether it was him that led us or us that asked him to. It’s been so long now. I’ve shot people with drug darts and tasers and rubber bullets. Once, I fought someone with my bare hands. But I’ve never hurt anyone in a way they couldn’t walk away from. The kind of work we do isn’t messy. It’s over before anyone even knows it’s begun. It’s big game - diamonds, gold, safety deposit boxes, antiquities, art. Untraceable stuff, mostly. The jobs take months or even years to plan. We go in and then ... we disappear.” Jericho looked up into Taylor’s eyes.

  “We’ve had the wildest ride you could imagine and I’ve loved every single minute of it. But ... being with you and Max has made me want something different. I’ve told my sisters I’m out once our next job is done. It’s time. No matter what happens between you and me.”

  She’d been watching Taylor’s expression for any kind of sign but her face had stayed unnervingly still since she’d begun.

  Taylor looked down at her hands and nodded slowly. “So ... you’re not a drug dealer ... and you’re not with the FBI?”

  “No,” Jericho said. “Nothing like that.”

  Taylor’s eyes narrowed. “Diamonds?”

  Jericho read the look as one of disbelief, and maybe even curiosity. She hoped she was right. “Yes, diamonds,” she said. “Big ones.”

  Taylor pivoted in her chair and looked down at their interlocked fingers. “When you say big ... how big?”

  Jericho tried her best not to smile. “Do you … want me to show you?”

  Taylor’s eyes shot up and even sparkled. Diamonds had that effect on people. “Yes,” she whispered.

  Jericho gripped onto her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come. There’s something you need to see.”

  She led Taylor through to the kitchen and stopped at the basement door. Taylor, Max, and even Lucinda had been down to t
he TV room for a movie a few nights before. Jericho flicked on the lights and Taylor looked around the room. “You have a safe down here?” she asked.

  “I do,” Jericho said. She flicked the tiny switch behind the speaker and pushed the pot light in before Taylor even registered what was happening.

  When the hatch on the wall slid open and the key panel was revealed, Jericho punched in her code.

  Taylor’s eyes went wide. “This is serious security.”

  Jericho nodded. “Yes, it is.” She pointed down the narrow hallway at the back of the room. “After you.”

  Taylor walked ahead. When she saw the open stone door on the far wall, she gasped. “Did you build that?”

  “I helped,” Jericho said.

  Taylor stepped down into the passage and gasped again when the amber floor lights came on. She looked back at Jericho, a smile spread across her face. “This is pretty neat.”

  Jericho pointed down the hallway to the heavy steel door. “My office.”

  Taylor waited as she punched her code into the panel and took a step back when the bolts slid open. She peered into the work room. Her eyes scanned the walls, the glass cases, the shelves of electronic parts and the long work table below. Her mouth hung open.

  “You can go in,” Jericho said. She flicked on the big screen and the cameras that monitored the property all came into view.

  “Oh my God. You can see things coming from every angle!”

  “Yes,” Jericho said. “I wanted you to know about this room for when I’m away. You’ll be safe in here if anything happens.”

  Taylor looked up at her and nodded. Jericho knew she understood better than anyone the threat that still lingered. Stinger James may have been taken care of, but there were other loose ends to worry about.

  “I want you to stay here at the house while I’m gone, okay?” Jericho said.

  “Okay,” Taylor said softly. “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me,” Jericho whispered. She bent her head and kissed Taylor’s lips. “There’s something else.” Jericho walked toward the glass cabinets and reached her hand up. The tiny switch on the top was tricky even for her to find. “There’s a button back here,” she said. “Come and feel it.”