“Did he go for the deal?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think he would, but I’ll give you this, you’ve got balls calling him out like that. You know you’ve probably painted a target on your back.”
“If he wanted me dead, I’d be dead already.”
“True enough. What can you tell me about him?”
“He’s crazy as shit. How much do you know about what happened in Iraq?”
“Only what’s in the official reports. You said you had something to do with him being dishonorably discharged?”
“Yeah. He was shooting non-combatants. I reported him to the company CO, and he was eventually court-martialed. He blames me for what happened. I guess from a certain point of view, he’s right. Now he’s killing people that are close to me. In his own words, he said he wanted to make me suffer. Detective Willard, Robert knows he missed Lily. He’s going to be coming for her. She’d agreed to get out of town the night Carl was killed if her boss, I forget his name, would give her a leave of absence or something. It’s more important now than ever that she do that.”
“Her CO is Dare. I’ll pass along the information.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Not good,” Willard admitted. “She’d taking the loss of her dad hard.”
Hammer’s lips thinned. Despite what Knife said, this was his fault. “I’m sorry for her loss. I didn’t know Carl very long, but he seemed like a good guy.”
“I made detective just before he retired. There’s a saying around here… ‘WWCD’… ‘What Would Carl Do?’ He’s a legend. The entire force is going to miss him.”
“I tried to call her, but she hasn’t called me back.”
“Like I said, she’s taking it hard. She’s here today so we can keep an eye on her, but she’s a mess.”
“Will you ask her to call me?”
“I’ll let her know you asked about her, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go.”
Hammer ground his teeth. “Thank you, detective.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me, anything at all, that might help us track this guy down?”
“No. I wish I could, but if I knew how to find him, I would have told you.” Not to mention we would have found him ourselves already and saved the police the trouble, he thought to himself.
“If he calls you again, please pass along what he says.”
“You got it.”
Willard paused for a moment. “Hammer, I’m speaking only for myself and strictly off the record. We know what your club does, and though we can’t prove it, what you have done. We also know you’re looking for him. If you find this guy first… call us, but do what it takes to make sure he doesn’t escape.”
Hammer was quiet. “If we find him, we’ll make sure the police get him, no matter what.”
“I think we have an understanding,” Willard said. “I’ll let Lily know you asked about her.”
After Willard had hung up, Hammer found the card Hunter had given him the night he’d shown up to arrest the drunk.
“Cullen.”
“Hunter, this is Hammer Grimes.”
“What can I do for you, Hammer?”
“I need to talk to Lily.”
“Hammer, she needs some space and time. She just lost her father.”
“I know, but this is important. You know I talked to Robert last night? He’s coming for her, Hunter. He’s not going to rest until she’s dead. The Souls have moved all our families out of town, for their protection, and now we’ve hunkered down. If she continues to follow a routine, if she continues to go to work, Lily is going to be his easiest target.”
“We have her under a protection detail.”
“It won’t be enough, Hunter. All it takes is one tiny mistake, and she’s dead. I can’t stress enough how dangerous this guy is.”
“We can protect her.”
“You can’t!” Hammer raged. “The only reason she isn’t dead already is dumb luck! The shot that killed her father was meant for her. Robert couldn’t actually see who he was targeting and picked the wrong person. Do you understand what I’m saying? You’ll never see him coming. The first sign of trouble will be when an officer dies. Hunter, listen to me, I know what I’m talking about.”
Hunter was quiet for a moment. “What do you suggest we do? You make this guy sound unstoppable.”
“Not unstoppable, but more dangerous than you know. Let me take her out of town. That’s why she and I were at Carl’s house. She’d agreed to get out of town. She and her father were going to his cabin at someplace in North Carolina. I want her to go.”
“Why do you think she will be any safer there than here? Why do you think you can protect her when the entire Amberton Police Department can’t?”
“How many officers are on her protection detail? Three? Four?”
“Two,” Hunter replied. “Me and Ryder.”
“Two. Put the entire police force on her for protection, and then I’d agree she’d be safer here. But the entire force isn’t protecting her, is it? Look, I know you will do everything you can to protect her. I’m not questioning your dedication or even your ability. But I know this guy. I spent almost a year working in a sniper team with him. I know how he thinks, what he looks for, how he likes to set up. Can you say the same?”
“No,” Hunter said after a pause.
“If we can get her out of town without him seeing, she’ll be safe. If he doesn’t know where she is, he can’t target her. That’s all I’m saying. She’d agreed to go to her dad’s cabin. I want her to go. If not with me, then with somebody else. I want you to convince her to go.”
“Did you know her dad was my training officer?” Ed asked after a short pause. “When she joined the force I asked to be her training officer because of how much I respected Carl. I see so much of her father in her. She would be out there, right now, trying to track this asshole down if Dare would let her.” Hunter paused. “Okay. I’ll talk to her and call you back.”
“Thank you, Hunter.”
“Don’t thank me. I owe it to Carl.”
###
“Hammer, this is Hunter Cullen.”
“What did she say?” Hammer asked, his hand tightening around the phone in anticipation.
“Can you meet us at Sally’s?”
“When?”
“Now. I’m on my way back to the station to get her.”
Hammer glanced at the clock in his truck. It was a bit before one, which was two hours before Lily’s normally scheduled leaving time, but that wasn’t enough. If Robert was going to strike, he was already in position.
“I can meet you, but if Robert is going to make his play, he’s already in position to take her.”
“We’re going to bring her out under heavy escort, then I’m going to run with lights and sirens for a while to shake him off if he’s tailing. Good enough?”
Hammer could tell Hunter was annoyed with his lack of faith, but fuck him. He was going to run balls to the wall himself for the same reason. “I’ll be there.”
“Twenty minutes,” Hunter said, then hung up.
Hammer took the first left he could find, to head in a direction generally away from Sally’s, and floored the Ford. Engine roaring, the truck strained for speed as he made a dash to shake off any possible followers.
Hammer made a big loop through Amberton, driving fast, darting and weaving through traffic while jumping and charging lights when he could, the F150’s V8 whooping and roaring as it gave its all to the cause.
Hammer pulled into Sally’s minutes before their appointment time, and there were two police cruisers already sitting in the parking lot. He walked in and whipped off his sunglasses. He spotted Lily and Hunter in the back and started toward them, another officer sitting closer to the door watching as he passed.
He slid into the booth beside Hunter. “Thank you for meeting with me.”
“I didn’t have much choice,” Lily said softly, watching her fingers curl
and twist around each other as her hands rested on the table.
“I’m sorry for what happened to Carl,” Hammer said. He wanted to reach out to her, to pull her into his arms and keep her safe, but he kept his hands on the table.
“Yeah. Everyone’s sorry.”
“Did Hunter tell you what I want?”
“Yeah. But I can’t leave now. I have to take care of—”
“Lily,” Hunter said, his voice soothing. “You need to think about your own safety, first. I think Hammer is right. You need to get out of town for a few weeks.”
“But—”
“No buts,” Hunter said. “Listen to me. Let the department handle the details of your father. We’ll keep you in the loop every step of the way. I don’t want to bury another Donovan.”
Lily looked at Hunter, and Hammer could tell she was struggling not to cry. “He’s my dad. I have to be here.”
“No,” Hammer said. “I know it’s hard, but you have to think about not only yourself but also your fellow officers. Robert will be expecting you at the funeral. If you’re there, if Robert even suspects you’re there, hiding under a veil, he’ll start shooting. I didn’t know your father long, but I don’t think he would want that.” He reached across the table and took her hands. “I know exactly how you feel. We still haven’t buried our brothers because the risk to the families is simply too great.”
“I have to, Hammer. I have to be there. I have to say goodbye.”
“Lily, Hammer’s right. We’ll see to it he’s buried with all the honor’s he entitled to.”
“I can’t leave without saying goodbye!”
Hammer licked his lips, thinking. “What if you say goodbye now before you leave?”
“How?”
“We’ll leave straight from here and go to the funeral parlor. You can say goodbye to your father, then we can leave from there. I think your father’s cabin is still a good idea.”
“I don’t have any clothes.”
“I don’t either,” Hammer said. “But we can’t return home in case Robert is watching. This is our best chance to escape without him knowing.”
“You’ll go and stay with me?”
“Unless you want someone else.”
She held his gaze. He’d been her protector since all this started, and he was still trying. “No. Nobody else,” she said. “But my job.”
“Dare has already placed you on a one week leave of absence,” Hunter said.
“Why?” she cried.
“I suggested it, and he agreed. Whether you leave town or not, today was your last day at work for a while. You might as well go.”
“You did this!” she accused as she glared at Hunter.
“Yes I did,” Hunter said, his voice firm. “He assigned me to your protection detail, and I believe this is the best way of protecting you. Dare agreed.”
Hammer stayed quiet as Ed and Lily glared at each other. “You had no right,” she finally said.
“As the leader of your protection detail, I had every right,” Hunter countered firmly, then softened. “I lost one friend and officer recently. I’m not losing another one. Having you alive to be mad at me is fine with me because you’ll be alive. So be mad about it if you want, but it’s done.”
He softened further, his voice becoming almost paternal. “The question is, are you to go someplace where you can have a little freedom, or are you going to sit in your apartment all day with an officer standing outside, an officer that can be better used tracking this asshole down? Dare approved that too.”
She sniffed, fighting the urge to cry. Everyone was trying so hard to keep her safe, and it touched her. “I’ll go,” she said, and then sniffed again.
Hunter took her hands. “You’re a good officer, Lily Donovan. You’re doing your daddy proud.”
###
“Turn here,” Lily said.
Hammer turned his truck onto a rutted, steep, snow-covered gravel drive that climbed into a thick covering of trees. The snow wasn’t deep, and the truck had no problem climbing the drive, jiggling and bouncing, as its powerful headlamps peeled away the darkness.
He and Lily left Sally’s and had driven straight to Peaceful Hills Funeral Home. Hammer explained the situation, and after a forty-minute wait, while the mortuary scrambled, Lily was allowed to view her father.
She cried as she spoke softly to Carl, her guilt and grief pouring out in her words as she begged him for forgiveness. As she sobbed, Hammer put his arm around her and pulled her into his side. This wasn’t her fault, it was his, and listening to her had ripped his heart out. She’d finished saying what she had to say and had turned into his chest. He wrapped her up and held her until her tears stopped. Finally, she’d looked up at him, nodded, and he’d led her out.
They’d spoken little on the two-hour drive, Lily staring out of the truck’s side window, watching the stark, winter, scenery flow past. He’d watched her, unable to tell in the darkness if she was crying, but not wanting to push himself onto her.
The drive twisted around a sharp bend and a small A-frame home appeared in the beams of the headlamps. The house was finished in rough shaker shingles, the wood weather worn; the house all but disappeared into the surrounding trees. There was a small, low, deck extending out from a cheery red door, and a large natural stone chimney on the side.
“Jesus, it’s cold!” Lily said as she opened the door and stepped out of the truck. She walked to the deck and pointed at the edge, brightly lit in the headlights. “Under there, somewhere, is a key.”
Hammer dropped to his knees. The dusting of snow soaked his jeans as he reached under the skirting on the deck and felt all around in the area she indicated.
“Nothing.”
“Oh. Maybe it’s on the other side then.” When he gave her a look, she smiled briefly. “Sorry.”
He moved to the other side of the step and once again felt around under the deck in about the same place. “Still nothing,” he said as he moved a little farther down and felt again.
“It has to be there.”
This time he felt a nail, and after a bit of fumbling stood up with a key in his hand. He unlocked the door and pocketed the key. Tomorrow he would get one made and put the emergency key back where he’d found it.
Lily led him into the small cabin. He flipped a switch, but nothing happened, the only illumination coming from the truck’s headlights streaming through the open door. She pulled her phone from her pocket, activated the flashlight, and stepped into a tiny room. He heard a metallic bang, a snap of a circuit breaker closing, and the light in the open refrigerator came on as it hummed to life. A moment later, a light flared on in the room Lily has disappeared into.
With the power on they quickly brought the house to life, with the heater beginning to warm the inside. Lily showed him the well, and he started the pump, so they’d have water, then they returned to the house.
The house was perhaps thirty by forty feet, but what it lacked in size it made up for in charm. The back of the house contained the kitchen with a dining room, laundry room, and half bath. At the front of the house, with floor to ceiling windows, was a large living room, decorated with simple, rustic, but comfortable looking brown leather furniture. On one wall a massive stone fireplace jutted into the room, the stonework continuing from hearth to ceiling. The walls were painted a bold rusty red and were low, rising only to about four feet before blending into the steeply raked ceiling. The floors were honey colored oak with rugs in rich reds and deep browns visually breaking up the room. The ceiling was the same honey oak, with massive dark beams supporting it, with bright spots providing plenty of light. The house was a temple to oak, glass, and stone.
It was difficult to tell in the dark, but beyond the windows there appeared to be nothing but sky with only a few bright dots of light that were probably other homes.
“Some place,” Hammer said as he took it all in, and meant it.
“It was Dad’s get away. He used to come up here at
least once a month with Mom when she was still alive. After she died…” Lily shrugged, her mouth pulling down into a sad pout. “Maybe three or four times a year.”
He looked around, admiring the craftsmanship in the house.
“Come on, I’ll show you the rest,” she said with a jerk of her head.
Opposite the fireplace, a staircase with storage below led to the loft that covered the kitchen area. There was a sturdy looking railing that ran the length of the bedroom and the small sitting area that shared the space above. You could see through the windows from anywhere in either area and behind the sitting area was a closet and a compact but full bath.
PREGNANT AT THE ALTAR Page 21