Demon's Stand

by Dahlen, K. J.

  It was barely dawn the next morning when his phone rang and he answered it, “What’s up?” he asked his uncle tiredly.

  “How did everything go last night?” Charlie asked.

  “It was quiet…” He hesitated then told Charlie, “Hang on, I hear a noise…”

  Charlie could hear him moving on the phone when he didn’t hear anything he called out again, “What’s happening? Demon, what’s going on?” When Demon didn’t get back to him, Charlie grew concerned.

  Then he heard something that put dread in his heart. He heard Shiloh scream. Charlie was up and out the door, running for his truck. He dug his keys out of his pocket with one hand while the other hand kept the phone plastered to his ear.

  He drove through the streets of Whiskey Bend, racing toward the house. He didn’t know what he would find once he got there and that worried him. He pulled up to the curb and finally closed the phone. He drew his weapon out as he crossed the yard. Checking the windows, he didn’t see anyone moving around inside.

  Reaching for the doorknob, he pushed the door open and moved inside, his weapon at chest level as he made his way through the house, searching for Demon and Shiloh. He stepped through the living room and kitchen but didn’t see any sign of the other two. He was making his way down the hall to the bedroom when he saw a smear of blood on the wall. Looking down at the floor, he saw droplets of blood. He went closer to the bedroom and saw more blood. The door was partially open. Charlie began to swear as he pushed the door open. The room was in shambles. Furniture was tipped over, clothes and papers were scattered all over the room. Drawers of the dresser were pulled out and the contents dumped on the floor.

  Charlie looked around but couldn’t find Shiloh or Demon. He turned to search the rest of the house. As he began to descend the steps to the basement, he heard someone moan.

  Stepping quietly, he rounded the corner.

  “Oh my god…” he whispered as he dropped his gun to his side.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Shiloh laid on the floor just inside the doorway. There was a small pool of blood by her head but Charlie could see her rib cage moving as she breathed. He glanced around the rest of the room and found Demon knocked out. His body had been dragged behind the bar.

  When Charlie approached him, he groaned and opened his eyes. “What the hell?” He reached for the back of his head.

  “Are you okay, man?” Charlie asked as he lowered his hand to help him up.

  “I guess so.” Demon grunted. “Have you seen Shiloh?”

  Charlie tipped his head toward her. “She’s over there. She’s hurt but still alive. What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I thought I heard a noise and went to investigate. Something hit me from behind, just about the time Shiloh screamed. Next thing I know, I’m waking up to your ugly face.”

  Charlie gave him a hard stare and turned to assist Shiloh. She groaned as he lifted her head and shoulders off the floor. Charlie could see the matted blood on the right side of her head. He tried to brush her hair out of the way so he could determine how bad she was hurt.

  Shiloh groaned and tried to open her eyes. Her whole body hurt. She lifted her hand to the side of her head and her fingers touched her wound. “Oh my lord,” she whispered. “What happened?”

  “You tell me,” Charlie told her. “I wasn’t even here.”

  Shiloh tried to sit up but the room started twirling on her. She closed her eyes and lowered her body into Charlie’s arms. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. “Is Demon okay?”

  Charlie turned his head and saw Demon was sitting at the poker table. “Yeah, I think he’ll live.” He turned back to Shiloh. “Are you ready to get up yet?”

  She nodded. “Now or never.”

  Effortlessly, Charlie stood up and helped her to her feet. Wrapping an arm around her body, he helped her over to the table Demon was sitting at. When she was seated, he went to the bathroom and brought back a wet cloth. He began bathing the drying blood on her head. Shiloh hissed as he gently patted her wound. When the blood was washed away, Charlie knew what happened. He’d seen enough of these kinds of wounds. “Somebody clocked you upside the head with a pistol.”

  “Damn him,” Shiloh hissed.

  “Who are you swearing at?” Demon asked.

  Shiloh glared at him. “After you left you my room last night, I thought I’d look over the papers again. I got dressed and started going over the papers for the billionth time then I fell asleep. When I woke up this morning, I knew someone was in there with me. He grabbed me, put his hand over my mouth and warned me not to scream. I struggled but I couldn’t get away from him. He told me I had something of his and he wanted it back.” She looked at them and grinned weakly. “I bit down on his hand and kicked back at his leg with my foot. I must have made contact because he swore at me, spun me around, and hit me in the head. I went down.” Shaking her head, she looked around. “He must have dragged me down here.

  Charlie glared at her for a moment. “Girl, he could have very easily killed you, don’t ever do that again.”

  Shiloh smiled. “Don’t worry about that. I was so scared I didn’t really know I was doing it.”

  “Did you see his face?” Demon asked. “Did you see the face of the man who hit you?”

  Shiloh shook her head. “No I didn’t see his face, but the man will have a very sore hand. I bit him pretty hard.” She turned a little green. “Yuck I can still taste his blood in my mouth.”

  “Do you have any idea what he was talking about? What do you have that he wants back?” Demon asked.

  Shiloh frowned. “I didn’t then but I do now.”

  “What did he want?” Charlie asked.

  “Let’s go upstairs. I have to show you.”

  A few minutes later Shiloh brought her laptop out of her bedroom. She pulled the red flash drive from her pocket and plugged it in. As the files came up, she moved away so they could see what was on the flash drive.

  Demon flipped through the files and when they got to the last file, Charlie gasped when he saw the pictures of Donna’s accident. They could see in one photo Donna was still alive.

  Demon looked up at Shiloh to find her staring back at him. “Do you know who this drive belongs to?”

  “I have no idea, but if it belongs to Simon, that would mean he’s known where we were the whole time. He could have taken us out at any time.” Shiloh shivered.

  “I don’t think it belonged to Simon.” Charlie sighed.

  Shiloh looked over at him. “What makes you say that?”

  Charlie sat there thinking about something. He glanced up at them and said, “Demon reminded me of something I did twenty years or so ago. When the case was new, I ran a background check on all the main players. I think I need to find that file again and go through it.”

  “What makes you think Simon isn’t behind this?” Shiloh asked.

  Charlie shook his head. “Oh, I didn’t say that. I know in my gut he’s behind all this. I just don’t believe he’s the person that followed you around or took the pictures of Donna’s accident.”

  “Why do you say that?” Demon asked then held up his hand and told them, “Before you answer that question I think you should know the MC is watching the house. I think this is something Lucifer should hear about. I’m going to call him and invite him in on this conversation. Maybe they saw something early this morning.”

  Charlie nodded and ran his fingers through his hair. He wasn’t too sure about the MC but he knew his nephew wouldn’t do much without them. For some reason, they were neck deep in this situation and he was helpless to stop them.

  Then before he could even get his focus back, the back door opened and three men came inside. He knew Lucifer and Hades but it was the other man he didn’t know.

  Demon motioned to the men and introduced everyone to Shiloh, “This is my club’s President, Lucifer, then Hades and Jinx.”

  Shiloh took them in and nodded. “I’m Shiloh.”


  Demon looked over at his men. “Did you see anyone leaving the house this morning?”

  Lucifer nodded. “We sent Recon to follow him.” He leaned against the wall, then noted the lump on Demon’s head. Frowning, he asked, “What happened?”

  “Someone got in, how we don’t know. No alarm was tripped and Shiloh has the only set of keys. She was pistol whipped and dragged to the basement, when I followed he tapped the back of my head and disappeared. All we know is that the bastard was looking for something he dropped. Shiloh was showing us a flash drive she found. On it was surveillance that goes back almost twenty years.” Demon took a breath and went on, “We don’t think it was Simon but maybe someone he hired to find the girls.”

  “What makes you think it wasn’t Simon?” Lucifer asked.

  “Because Donna was too careful,” Charlie explained. “She didn’t go anywhere without an escape route already planned. She would have noticed if Simon was anywhere in the same area you were. Did he have someone else follow you around? Yes, I think he did but he didn’t do it himself. The pictures and other stuff on this drive was probably evidence that whoever he had following you had actually found you, but Simon couldn’t or wouldn’t take the chance of coming himself.”

  “Can you get your files and bring them back here?” Shiloh asked. “I’d like to see what you found.”

  Charlie stood up and nodded. “I’ll go and get them now. I don’t think it’s wise to leave the house until this is over.”

  Demon had to agree. “Don’t worry we won’t.” He looked over at his crew. “We all want answers.”

  Shiloh watched him leave and turned to Demon. “Do you still think he’s still in league with Simon?”

  “Someone in your past is.” Demon nodded. “Maybe we’ll find out when Charlie gets back.”

  Shiloh rubbed her upper arms. Her head hurt from all the tension of the past few days. “I just want this whole thing over. At this point, I could care less whether Simon gets the gems or not.”

  Demon got up and walked toward her. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her for a moment. “Hey, don’t give up on us yet. We’re going to get this done. We just need to do it right. I would really hate to see Simon Pratt get away. He’s the real bad guy here.”

  Shiloh moved out of his embrace. She had a thoughtful expression on her face. “How the heck does someone keep getting inside the house?”

  Demon shook his head as he looked over at Lucifer and then back to Shiloh.

  “Today was the third or fourth time someone got into the house without any of us seeing or hearing him get in,” Shiloh reminded him. “Why didn’t the alarm go off or let us know that someone broke into the house?”

  “That’s a very good question.” Demon began looking around the house.

  Shiloh followed him from room to room, as they checked each window and outside door. When they reached the office in the basement, they found the alarm had been tampered with. The office faced the backyard. It was an area they didn’t check much, so it was easily overlooked. Demon attached the alarm wires again. He looked at Lucifer and Hades. “Is this where you saw the guy coming out from?”

  “Yeah this would be the spot.” Hades checked the area outside the window.

  “We saw him run down the street and get into a small white car and take off,” Lucifer told Demon.

  Demon nodded then turned to face his President. “Do you remember the face of the Russian we saw just before the ambush?”

  Lucifer looked angry. “Like I’m ever going to forget his face. Why?”

  Demon motioned toward the staircase. “I have something to show you.”

  “Hang on a minute. I want this window nailed shut,” Shiloh told him as she disappeared briefly. When she returned, she had a hammer and a couple of nails with her. She handed the items to Demon and watched as he nailed the window closed.

  “Well whoever has been getting in shouldn’t be able to anymore,” Demon assured her.

  Shiloh shook her head. “We aren’t finished checking everything. I don’t want any more surprises.”

  They finished up quickly and went back upstairs. By the time they got upstairs from the basement, Charlie was back.

  When he came in, he frowned and asked what they were doing in the basement.

  “We were looking for how the person who jumped us got into the house.” Shiloh looked around as she answered.

  “Did you find his way in?” Charlie asked.

  “The window in the office has been tampered with, but he won’t be getting in that way again,” Demon replied. “Speaking of that, I need to show my friends a picture of the man who met with Simon yesterday. I think they’ll find it interesting.”

  “And who would that be?” Charlie looked puzzled as he watched demon walk away.

  “I found the file and I think you’ll find some interesting thing in here.” Shiloh nodded.

  When Demon returned he stared at his uncle for a moment then passed a camera over to Lucifer. Lucifer gazed at the photo for a moment then passed it along to Jinx. Jinx swore and glared at the photo and gave the camera back to Demon.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Charlie asked.

  “That’s the fucker who was meeting with the Sheik and Delvin that day.” Jinx growled.

  “All this time, we thought it was Pieter Stanovic but it isn’t.” Demon looked at his friends. “His name is Misha Stanovic. Pieter’s nephew.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Lucifer swore out loud.

  Charlie sat down at the table and opened the file. The first thing he saw was a photo of a much younger Simon Pratt. The second photo in the file was a photo of Mike and Dana Corbin.

  Demon handed it to Shiloh and continued to read through the file Charlie had compiled. He frowned when he came to a page in the file. He was reading Simon’s list of family and friends. There was a name on the list that gave him pause. The list named Carol Anne Hall as a sister. He thought for a moment then remembered where he knew the name from. “We may have a problem.” He stared at Charlie. “How accurate is this information?”

  “As far as I know it’s right on the money, why?”

  “I may know who the leak on the task force is,” Demon said.

  “Who?” Both Shiloh and Charlie asked.

  “Do you remember me telling you the names of the people on the task force in New York?” When Charlie nodded, Demon continued, “Richy Hall was one of those names.”

  “Isn’t that the name of the guy you called earlier to find out what was going on with the task force?” Shiloh asked.

  “Who is this Richy Hall?” Lucifer asked.

  “Richy was one of the guys that was supposed to be working to shut down the smuggling ring. He was there the night they intercepted the shipment from Amsterdam. He was supposed to be on our side but if this information is correct, he’s really Simon Pratt’s nephew. He could be the leak we’ve been looking for all these years.”

  “What do you mean?” Shiloh asked him.

  “The task force was closing in on the shipments but they were always minutes too late in catching the bad guys with the shipments. By the time they got to Customs, the shipments had already been picked up. The night of the shooting, I remember seeing Richy come out of the bathroom just in time to leave for the airport. I don’t think he had a chance to warn them before we got there. Pete was always sure one of his guys was crocked he just wasn’t sure which one it was.”

  “That’s interesting,” Charlie said. “While I was gone, I called a friend of mine from New York. Thomas Gerard is a DEA agent working with Interpol. They have been keeping track of Mischa Stanovic. For the past two years, they have been noticing an upgrade in the amount of mail coming from Amsterdam and Russia to a holding company that Mischa owns. As Mischa is Pieter’s nephew, the DEA is very interested in the contents of the packages. They are all labeled as restaurant utensils but how many spoons and forks can a non-existent restaurant use?”

  “Does he know
about the task force?” Demon asked.

  Charlie nodded. “Yes, he’s aware of the task force, he’s also aware they aren’t doing much to stop the flow of contraband coming into the states. The DEA thinks there might be a leak so they aren’t sharing information with them at this time.”

  “What else did Thomas have to say?” Demon asked.

  “He was very interested in the fact that Mischa gave Simon forty-eight hours to turn the diamonds over to him. He thinks Mischa is getting ready to make his move against Pieter. He’s also interested in the green book. He thinks it will uncover past shipments and list names of the people involved in the ring.”

  “All of a sudden everyone is interested in that damn book,” Shiloh grumbled.

  Charlie turned to look at her. “It is the only thing that would tie Simon to the smuggling ring and tie the ring to shipments of contraband on both sides of the continent.”

  “I know. You are all seeing the bigger picture here but I’m still seeing my parents laying on the floor in a bloody mess.” Shiloh took a deep breath. “I guess I’m having a hard time separating the two events.”

  Charlie walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, “Oh sweetheart, no one here is forgetting what Simon did to your parents. Their murders are what started this whole thing.”

  Shiloh blinked her eyes to hold back the tears she felt building in her eyes.

  “So where do we go from here?” Demon asked. “I have a feeling, Richy is already in town. He’ll be here to find out what we know.”

  Charlie looked over the top of Shiloh’s head and said, “Thomas is on his way here too. I guess whether we like it or not, there’s going to be a showdown, and we’re caught right in the middle.”