Undercover Holiday Fiancée

by Maggie K. Black

  “I can’t go back,” he said again. His shoulders flinched and he winced, as if he’d tried to cross his arms before remembering his injured shoulder wouldn’t let him. “For me, when a door is closed, it’s closed. If you go back, I can’t protect you.”

  “I never asked you to protect me.” She slipped the phone in her pocket and grabbed his free hand in hers. “I don’t need you to promise to keep me safe—even though I adore the fact that you want to try. What I need is someone who’s there for me, day in and day out, who I can count on not to just disappear.”

  She watched as his eyes scanned the barn wall, as if drawing lines connecting all the holes he’d punched there.

  “Let’s walk,” he said. “We need to talk. I told you this payara case was supposed to be just a short-term assignment tiding me over until a big gang investigation started. Well, it’s pretty far away.”

  Her heart stopped. “How far?”

  “Pretty far,” he said. They stepped out of the shelter of the barn and back into the snow. “I’m going to be a long ways away and we won’t be able to communicate while I’m gone.”

  Her eyes rose to the snow falling from above. Trent was disappearing from her life yet again. “How long will you be gone?”

  “A really long time,” he said. “I’m sorry. But I’ll be going after a source we suspect is funding a lot of organized crime. It could be my opportunity to cripple the Wolfspiders, the Gulos and countless other gangs. It’ll be a huge investigation.”

  “And you’ll be the one on the inside,” she said. “Why? There are dozens of excellent undercover officers. You could be leading them, guiding them, training them and overseeing their missions. You could be the running point from head office as part of a team, making the difference you want to make and still coming home at night, instead of walking away from everything you’ve got.”

  “What am I walking away from, Chloe? What specifically? Tell me. What’s here that’s worth staying for?” Something deep and aching echoed in his eyes and shook something inside her. There was a question there. One that he wasn’t ready to speak and she didn’t know how to answer. How could she tell him she loved him and ask him to stay, when he’d just end up leaving, anyway?

  The sound of motors filled the air. Trent turned. A motorcade of beaten-up vehicles pulled into the driveway.

  His face paled. “I’m so sorry, I was wrong! Run! Call the police. Tell my family to hide. Get them to safety.” He pushed her shoulder. “Go!”

  She turned and ran. Her footsteps pelted toward the farmhouse, even as questions swarmed her brain like the vehicles converging around the farmhouse. Then she saw the dented red truck that had run her off the road and the white van that had bumped them from behind. She saw the enforcers from the night before spilling from the vehicles and standing shoulder to shoulder like a shield.

  Then she saw Uncle climbing out of a truck behind them.

  “Trent!” Uncle called. “Glad to see you’re still standing. Sorry for the unexpected house call, but I’ve got a brand-new problem, and you are going to be the solution. You have five minutes to tell your family and girlfriend goodbye, and then we’re going for a drive.” He turned to a large man holding a semiautomatic and gestured to Chloe. “Shoot her in the leg and then grab her. Trent’s stubborn and will need to see what the penalty will be of him saying no.”

  THIRTEEN

  Prayer filled Trent’s heart as he watched the large, ugly gang enforcer set Chloe in his sights. What was Uncle doing here at his family’s farm? How had he been so wrong? He’d believed all this time Uncle would keep to his word and leave his family alone.

  “Stop!” Trent called. If he got in the vehicle with Uncle, he’d never make it out alive. But what other choice did he have? He couldn’t let Chloe get hurt. He’d give up his own life, if that’s what it took to save hers. “I’ll go with you.”

  Uncle smirked, like a hunter that knew he’d finally found his prey’s weakness. “Good. Tell your girlfriend to stop, drop to her knees and raise her hands.”

  “Chloe, stop!” Trent begged. “Trust me. It’ll be okay.”

  But Chloe didn’t stop. She ran, strong and straight, with her head down and elbows up, toward the enforcer like a linebacker. The enforcer fired. Chloe leaped. Bullets hit the snow beneath her. Her body struck the enforcer, knocking him back into the snow. He swore and leaped to his feet. But it was too late. Chloe had already scrambled up the front steps and through the front door as someone on the inside flung it open for her. The enforcer spun and shot at the space on the porch where she’d been just seconds before. The farmhouse’s front window shattered.

  “Uncle! You came for me! Here I am!” Trent shouted. His free hand rose. Could he take an armed Wolfspider enforcer down with a dislocated shoulder? Maybe. But there was no way he could take an entire army of them. Even if Chloe or Jacob was already on the phone with Dispatch it would take police at least fifteen minutes to get vehicles out to the farm. His best hope was to stall. “Are you really so scared of me that you had to bring everybody and his brother to talk to me? Come on! It’s Christmas Eve. People have better things to do than stand around in the snow.”

  Ugly murmurs rippled through the crowd. The Wolfspiders knew as well as Trent did that if the man who never got his hands dirty was making a house call, it could only mean one thing: execution.

  Lord, I knew from the first day I decided to walk back into the Wolfspiders’ den as an undercover cop that my life could end like this. If I die today, let me die protecting those I love.

  Uncle smirked. “What happened to your shoulder? Don’t tell me you got into some kind of trouble after you left the grill last night.”

  “Fender bender with a reckless driver.” Trent’s smile grew tight. He prayed that the police were on the way and that his family had gotten to safety. Sure, Jacob was a decorated cop, Max had seen more than his fair share of trauma as a paramedic and Nick had served a term in the military. But they were grossly outmatched and this was his fight. “I thought you said you were going to let me and Royd sort things out between ourselves.”

  “I’m having a bit of a problem with Royd.” Uncle’s mouth curled into a scowl.

  “Oh, really?” Trent blinked. “What kind of problem?”

  “Our boy Royd called me this morning from jail and told me he’d found the payara dealer and the location of the lab.” Uncle looked like even the memory of the conversation had left a bad taste in his mouth. “He claims he’s made a deal with them to take over the operation. Thought it gave him leverage. Thought he could use it to negotiate with me for a new role in my organization.”

  Really? Wow. Well, Royd never had been the sharpest knife in the drawer and preferred brute force over thought and precision. But if Uncle thought that he could use Trent to teach Royd a lesson—let alone hurt whichever Third Line player was involved—he had another thought coming. He prayed it wasn’t Brandon. Or Aidan. Or Milo. Or Hodge. It was funny. For months he’d been looking at the third-line players as suspects. Now he found himself hoping he’d been dead wrong. The thought of any of them being in trouble, like he’d once been, was unthinkable.

  “Sounds like Royd betrayed you. I don’t see what any of this has to do with me.”

  “Oh, you’re going to fix this for me.” Uncle’s sneer grew into a vicious grin. “Obviously, I need to teach Royd a lesson. I reached out to the Gulos. Figured if they wanted payara so badly, it gave me a sweet opportunity to broker a deal. So we’re going to team up, go after the supply chain together, find the lab, convince the manufacturer to work for us instead and then split the distribution.”

  Right, of course he was going to sell Royd out to a rival gang, leave it to them to track him down and kill him, once again keeping Uncle’s own hands clean.

  But what Uncle was describing was no less than a major shift
in Canada’s gang warfare power structure.

  He couldn’t imagine what leverage Uncle could have possibly used to make the Gulos agree to it, and the truce would be unlikely to last once Uncle had his hand on the payara supply. But until they did, it would be carnage. Finding and destroying the lab would be just the start, as they flushed out the next lab and the next, and took out anyone in their way. Who knew how many civilians and police would die and how much property would be destroyed in the process? What had happened at the sports center in Bobcaygeon was only the beginning.

  Help me, Lord. Help me stop this.

  Trent walked forward, knowing his voice was the only weapon he had left. “Again, what are you doing here? What does any of this have to do with me? I’m not about to help you kill Royd or broker a deal with the Gulos.”

  A chuckle spread through the crowd. It sent shivers up his spine and he didn’t know why.

  “Oh, yes, you are!” Uncle said. “You couldn’t imagine how interested the Gulos were when I told them that the Wolfspiders had their very own undercover cop. One who’d also arrested countless Gulos and ruined several of their major operations. Not to mention someone who knew everything there was to know about drugs, weapons and human trafficking in Canada, including the location of secret dens, trade routes, where the various people have hidden their money and the identity of other undercover cops. A treat as sweet as a dirty cop like you was just too good for one gang to keep all to themselves. Just imagine what they’d do to a cop like that and the information they’d pull from him once I turned him over.”

  So, Uncle hadn’t just negotiated a truce with the Gulos to punish Royd and take over the payara operation. He’d offered up Trent as bait. No wonder they hadn’t come back sooner to finish the job after the crash. He was confident Uncle wasn’t foolish enough to give up Trent’s actual identity without a deal being made, so he was going to deliver Trent to the Gulos himself. Trent grit his teeth as his eyes rose to the sky in prayer.

  Lord, I can’t let them take me. I can’t let the Gulos force me to tell them all I’ve learned during my career. Too many lives hang in the balance. But if I don’t, what happens to my family and Chloe?

  “My promise not to harm your family as long as you obey me still stands,” Uncle said, as if reading his mind. “I won’t touch them, even after you’re dead. Everybody knows I’m a man of my word. But, you try anything, and we’ll swarm your parents’ house and burn it to the ground. Now, hands on your head. You’re coming with us.”

  The door creaked behind him.

  “He’s not going anywhere.” Chloe’s voice filled the air.

  Chloe, please, go back inside. Can’t you see how outnumbered we are? You can’t give up your life for me.

  He turned. Chloe stood on the front porch of his family home, her service weapon held strong and firm in one hand and her badge in the other. But she wasn’t alone. Jacob stood beside her in full uniform, holding his service weapon. Nick stood beside him in his fatigues, armed with the gun he’d gotten for his nineteenth birthday, and Max stood beside him, his paramedic’s bag at his feet and Dad’s new hunting rifle at his shoulder. Then Trent saw his father holding his older hunting revolver and this mom with the family’s shotgun in one hand and the phone to her ear. His whole family—everyone he loved—stood on the front porch of the farmhouse, weapons at the ready, willing to defend his life.

  “Go back inside!” Trent yelled. “Now! Go inside and lock the door! This is going to get ugly and none of you are going to die for me!”

  “We’re Henrys, son.” Tears filled his father’s eyes. “Henrys never go down without a fight.”

  “Don’t you get it? I need to protect you!” Like I didn’t protect Faith.

  “No, you don’t!” Jacob cut him off firmly. “Don’t you get it, Trent? We already lost one of us. We’re not losing another.”

  He did. Suddenly and overwhelmingly, as he looked from face to face and saw that same fierce, protective love he felt for each one of them filling their eyes for him in return. He could see the forgiveness he’d never let himself see. He could feel the wall he’d built around his heart crumbling in rubble at his feet.

  “Enough!” Uncle snapped. He pushed past the Wolfspiders protecting him. “You’re outnumbered. Trent, I own you. I will always own you and I will kill you when I’m ready. And if any of them try to get in my way, I will kill them, starting with your detective fiancée.”

  The single gunshot rang loud and clear, striking Uncle in the shoulder, and Trent watched as the man who’d threatened his life ever since he was a teenager crumpled to his knees in the snow.

  The Wolfspiders hesitated. The large enforcer raised his weapon and aimed it toward the house. Trent leaped on him from behind, knocking him to the ground one-handed. The sound of police and emergency vehicles filled the air. A pair of handcuffs appeared at the corner of Trent’s vision. He looked up, expecting Chloe. It was Jacob. Trent let his brother take over the arrest and cuff the enforcer. Then he pulled himself to his feet.

  A mass of shouts and motors filled the air. Wolfspiders rushed to their vehicles even as police poured down the driveway, cornering them. Then he saw Max down on his knees beside Uncle, tending to his wound. Chloe was at Uncle’s other side, arresting him.

  “Chloe shot the bullet that took down Uncle,” Jacob said. “It’s a nonfatal through-and-through. She said something about how you’d told her not to shoot him until he actually explicitly threatened to kill either one of you. Her nerves are amazing.”

  “She’s incredible.” Trent stood there for a moment and watched as Chloe read Uncle his rights. Then he stepped back and waited while Jacob handed the enforcer off to another officer. The sheer volume of vehicles swarming the farmhouse lawn was unbelievable. There were dozens of officers in full riot gear, taking down criminal after criminal. It was like something out of a dream. He watched as Chloe went over and introduced herself to the officer in charge. Jacob came back to Trent. “How on earth did you make this happen?”

  “Don’t look at me,” Jacob said. “Chloe made all the calls. I was busy giving the rest of the family a crash course on the Criminal Code of Canada sections on reasonable force in terms of self-defense and protections of others. Dad wasn’t about to let some Wolfspiders storm the old farmhouse or kidnap you.”

  “You didn’t think try to convince our family not to get into a standoff with criminals?” Trent asked.

  “What can I say? We’re all Henrys.” Jacob chuckled. “But in all seriousness, Chloe mobilized this operation. People came out of the woodwork in an instant to make this happen, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Your fiancée’s reputation is stellar.”

  He could tell his big brother was trying to make a joke. But it wasn’t funny.

  “You know that Chloe and I aren’t actually in a romantic relationship,” Trent said.

  “Whose fault is that?” Jacob said. “You do realize you’re just standing here, while she’s over there making what should be the biggest arrest of your career?”

  “I know.” He guessed that under any other circumstances watching another cop take down the man he’d waited years to arrest would sting somewhat. But somehow this was better. “It’s okay. It’s good for her to have Uncle’s arrest on her record. You know she’s in the running for the next detective sergeant post that opens up? She’ll get it, too. Only like twelve percent of all senior officers are women. She’ll be one of them.”

  Jacob’s eyes searched his brother’s face. “And what do you want?”

  “I want to marry her,” Trent admitted. “Not that I’d ever ask. And not that I expect she’d ever say yes. I’ve never even really admitted to her that I have feelings for her. It’s all push and pull with us. One step forward, two steps back.

  “We had a moment in the barn where I told her about Faith and it was like something ch
anged between us. But when I told her that I was heading off on another undercover mission, the roller coaster crashed right back down again. She needs someone steady. I’m not steady. I assume a different cover identity every few weeks.” Or at least, that’s what he’d always told himself.

  Jacob didn’t answer. Instead the two cops just stood there for a long moment and watched the police operation unfold around them. Then Trent ran his hand over his head. “I need to think and I need to pray. Can you cover for me if I take a walk? I won’t leave the farm. I just think that Chloe and I need to have a long talk, and I want to get my head on straight first.”

  “Sure thing.” Jacob clasped Trent’s good shoulder in a quick half hug.

  Trent turned and walked up the hill to the tree line of the Henry farm. He brushed the snow off a log and sat gazing down on the scene below.

  Lord, I don’t even know what to pray for right now. To ask You for a happily-ever-after with Chloe feels selfish. But, if You help me find a way, I’ll love and protect her with all the strength You’ve given me.

  The wind whistled in the trees. The number of lights circling below slowly diminished as vehicle after vehicle pulled out of the driveway. Finally he saw a solitary figure, tall and strong in dark green fatigues, climbing up the hill toward him. He stood. “Nick, hey!”

  “Chloe took off,” Nick said. “One of the other officers lent her their personal car to drive to Bobcaygeon.”

  “What?” Trent leaped to his feet. Chloe was gone? Just like that? “Did you guys tell her where I was?”

  “Of course we did.” His little brother shrugged and ran one hand through his chestnut hair. Nick wasn’t much older than the third-line players. “But she’s as stubborn as you and didn’t want to be convinced. Not that we didn’t try. I don’t pretend to get it. I’m the wrong person to ask about what women mean when they say things. Mom or maybe Jacob could explain it better than me. I got the impression Chloe thought you’d done a disappearing act on her and she said she was in a hurry to get to a hockey game.”