by KJ Dahlen
“We’ve only begun to unravel Calista’s house of cards,” Skeeter told his brothers. “Dallas was heading back to the station to confront her on what we found so far, when he got a call that she escaped custody.”
Boone frowned. “And what was she in custody for?”
“The question should be what wasn’t she in custody for.” Skeeter shook his head as he went on, “She switched my blood test with Trace’s to prove I was Mercy’s father. But I know what the hell my blood type is. So I had another test to prove it. Then we found she had a blood test already done for Zoey and guess what? It matched Trace’s test, the one she switched out and put in my file. Her only mistake was the fact Trace told me if he ever got into a situation where he needed a blood transfusion to make sure they got it right because he had a rare RH factor.”
“Who the hell is Zoey?” Boone wanted to know.
“Calista’s niece and Trace’s oldest daughter,” Skeeter told them. “It seems that Calista wanted Trace but he never wanted her, so instead he went after her younger sister. He left her carrying his baby when we went undercover in Mexico. I’m not even sure he wanted to know or cared to know about her pregnancy. It certainly never stopped him from doing his shit again to Mercy’s mom.”
Boone shook his head. "You mean to tell me he has two kids, he rejected?"
"Deadbeat dad two times over." Grizzly looked disgusted as he shook his head.
“Ok... So what else is there that we need to know?” Gypsy asked.
“Calista took out an insurance policy for Zoey, listing herself as beneficiary in case Trace didn’t make it back home. She collected it after he died, a cool half mill for Zoey’s care, then she also tapped his Social Security for Zoey every month as well.”
“What happened to Zoey’s real mom?” Grizzly asked.
Skeeter looked him in the eyes and said, “We don’t know. She just disappeared shortly after Zoey was born.”
“Dayum,” Boone drawled. “And now this bitch is coming after you? For?”
“Dallas is looking into that but he thinks she has possibly taken an insurance policy out on me too.” He shook his head. “Mercy coming here was her ace in the hole. She set me up good.”
“I’ll say she did and now, you tell us she’s out there somewhere?” Boone growled." We need to grab this bitch and end her little reign of terror."
“And as you can tell she doesn’t care what she has to do to get what she wants.” Janice joined them, as she had been listening to the entire conversation.
“Well, if she escaped custody then she’s not exactly free to show her hand now is she?” Boone pointed out.
“But she knows we have Zoey with us and she wants me dead, something bad,” Skeeter announced as he pointed out the obvious.
“What’s her backup plan?” Gypsy wanted to know. “People like her always have a backup plan.”
“We think she was going to sell Zoey to Trace’s parents,” Janice told them. “Possibly Mercy as well.”
The men raised their brows at this outrageous news.
“We also found a letter she may or may not have made a copy of and sent to the Cartel to let them know what happened all those years ago. The cartel found Mercy’s mom and left her dead but they never found who she gave the information to. Calista named me in this letter as the go between and told them where they could find me.” He shook his head. “We did a lot of damage to the cartel before it got too hot for us to stay and we know they’ve been looking for us since then. She demanded money from the cartel for my name and location. We don’t know if she ever sent the letter or not and that’s just one of the many problems she waited on until she couldn’t wait anymore.”
“And now the bitch is loose in the city with a hard on for your death.” Boone shook his head. “Sucks to be you, my brother.”
Janice took a step back and looked at all three men with horror in her eyes. “Are you not going to help him? Are you going to leave him on his own here?”
Gypsy raised his head as his brows furrowed. “Of course we’re going to help him missy.” He growled. “We’re here aren’t we? We’re brothers and we don’t leave a man behind.”
Boone nodded, “Just like he wouldn’t leave Trace behind, we’re not leaving him behind.” Shaking his head he told her, “We may only be an MC not a big shot attorney but we take care of our own down here. We are brothers by choice and we take an oath of honor to our club and each other.” He glared at her. “We don’t care about the money or the glory, just each other and lady, that means something to each of us. Never doubt that for even a minute.”
Janice hung her head. She had so much to learn about these men and so far, she was falling so short. “When he said it sucks to be you...Well, it just sounded like you weren’t going to help him. My apologies, gentlemen. I have a lot to learn about your group.”
“Our MC,” Grizzly reminded her. “Not only are we an MC but we’re very good at our job too. We run a strong bounty hunting service and we work well with the Texas Rangers, The DEA and the ATF and most law enforcement agencies as well.”
Janice nodded. “As I said, my apologies. Things in my world don’t always work out that way. In my world, everyone is looking out for only number one and to hell with the next person. No one wants to help anyone unless they get something out of it."
“Lady, that’s a sad world you live in.” Gypsy shook his head.
“I know.” She nodded. “I think it's time to get off that particular train and try to find a place in your world.” She cleared her throat and asked, “So what are you going to do first?”
“First?” Grizzly glared at her. “First, we find the bitch. Then we’ll find some answers, the good ole MC way. She may not want to, but she’ll talk to us.”
Boone, Gypsy, Grizzly and Skeeter grunted in agreement.
Janice felt a bit lost, as they all looked as angry as Skeeter did, as if this had been done to them. She realized she had a lot to learn about this MC and she wanted to learn so badly. She looked over at Skeeter and found him staring back at her.
“So what about the girls?” Boone asked.
“We’re waiting for the blood tests then we will contact Trace’s parents,” Skeeter replied. “Then we find out if they can offer the girls a decent life. If they can, we’ll let them take the girls. They are family but we’ll keep an eye on them all the same. If for some reason, they don’t want the girls, I’ll take them home. I may not be able to offer them much but I can at least make sure they’re safe and wanted. Trace may not have been a good man but I will protect his kids.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Boone nodded. “We can bring them into the family as well.”
“Do you promise Senor?” Mercy’s voice called out softly. “It would be so good to finally belong somewhere.”
“Yeah it would.” Zoey stepped up beside Mercy.
Grizzly gasped at the first sight of her. She did indeed look just like her dad.
“I don’t know my dad’s parents but I do know I won’t go back to Calista’s house,” Zoey told them with a stubborn angle to her jaw. “She didn’t want me from the day I was born and I learned the hard way how to stay out of her way. I never knew her game but she was pure evil.” She paused then shook her head. “In fact, I was leaving her house to try and find my mom. I need to know what Calista did to her. She didn’t deserve whatever it was and I have to know the truth. Calista hated her because she got with my dad when he wanted nothing to do with her.”
Skeeter turned to face the pair of them. “Calista is out of the picture for that Zoey. She will be in prison. No worries about ending up with her, ever gain. You two girls will have a say in where you end up. If Trace’s parents will be good to you, you might want to go with them but just so you know, you can stay with me until you reach your majority.”
“Will our grandparents want to keep us?” Mercy asked.
“Honey, I just don’t know.” Skeeter stared at her. “They took Trace’s
death very hard, so I don’t have any idea if they can or will accept you two or not. If the tests come back and proves you are his children, we will have to make them aware of it, but whether it will make a difference? I just don’t know.” He shrugged. “But whether they do or not, you’ll always have a place with me.”
“Then maybe we can help you find Calista,” Zoey volunteered.
“What exactly does that mean?” Boone turned to look at her.
Zoey smirked. “Oh, I may know a lot more about my aunt than she thinks I do. I’ve watched her for years and found some of her secrets, more of them than she would be comfortable with I’m sure.”
“Do you have any idea where she would go now that she’s on the run?” Boone asked.
Zoey nodded. “She owns another house here in the city. I think she would go there. She has everything she needs there to protect herself and she could stay there for a long while and no one else would ever know she was there.”
“How do you know this?” Grizzly wanted to know.
“Cuz, I’ve always known she wasn’t a good person and she had secrets. She kept assuming I was just a dumb kid, but I paid attention. I found the house and went there a couple of times. I got in and looked around some.”
“Does she keep any weapons there?” Skeeter asked.
Zoey nodded. “Oh yeah, she does, I counted at least three. She’s also got a safe there. I couldn’t get into it and see what she had inside but knowing her, whatever is in there is trouble for someone.” She chuckled, “The house isn’t in her name, it's in my name. I found that out by accident when a bill came to the house one day and it was in my name. I opened the envelope and saw it was a tax form for a house located at 1317 East Hubbard street. I didn’t know she had a house on Hubbard street, so I looked up the records on the internet and found the house was in my name. Talk about a shock, I sure was surprised.”
“How long ago did she buy the house?” Boone wanted to know.
“The tax records go back ten years.” Zoey shrugged.
“That would be illegal,” Janice spoke up. “She’s still a minor and a minor can’t sign a contract to own property, no matter what state they live in.”
“I have a feeling that wouldn’t have bothered her at all.” Skeeter shook his head. “She’s been working on this plan for a very long time.”
“And now it is falling apart on her,” Boone pointed out. “That alone could make her very dangerous.”
Skeeter was about to say something when another knock sounded on the door. He glanced at his brothers then motioned for Janice and the girls to go into the other room. He signaled to his brothers to get out of the way and then he walked softly to the door. He didn’t know why but his instincts led him, as he didn’t check the peephole, instead he stood to one side and called out, “What do you want here?”
The next thing they knew, the peephole was blown back into the room along with the wood splinters of the door as a gunshot went off.
Skeeter crouched down as more shots peppered the door.
Boone peeked around the corner and grabbed him, pulling him further into the room.
Then Boone, Gypsy, and Grizzly opened fire, catching whoever was on the other side of the wooden panel with a hail of bullets.
They heard a woman’s scream and then footsteps running away from the door.
Boone waited for the sounds to completely go quiet before he moved toward the door. He opened it to find the hallway empty but there was a smattering of blood on the opposite wall and he found droplets of blood going down the hall to the stairs.
He looked over at the room Skeeter and the others were in. He went back in and stared at Skeeter. “She’s on the run and she’s wounded. There’s blood in the hall but I don’t know how bad she’s hit. We have to get you all out of here, then we can track her down.”
Skeeter nodded as he looked toward the door of the adjoining room. His first commitment was keeping the girls and Janice safe. Looking back at Boone, he growled, “Let’s go home. I know they’ll be safe there.”
Chapter Nine
The girls gathered their things together and Skeeter sent Gypsy down to pull his cage into the underground parking lot, as he didn’t want to give Calista or anyone a clear shot at any of them.
Boone got off the phone with Gunner while he explained the events that were bringing them all back to Jasper.
Skeeter called and reported to Dallas what had transpired and the fact that Calista had come to the hotel and taken shots at him. “Hey boss, she found us here at the hotel and came calling already.”
“What do you mean she found you already?” Dallas asked with a growl in his voice.
“She just paid us a visit.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope and the door to my suite is all shot to hell to prove it. I returned fire and managed to wound her. We found blood on the wall and on the carpet leading away from my room but we don’t know how bad she’s hit.”
Dallas sighed heavily over the phone. “We have to get you guys into a safe house until we can find her again.”
“Boss, I’m taking the girls back to Jasper,” Skeeter told him. “The MC and I can protect them better on our home turf. She may figure out where we are but if she comes to confront me again, I’ll have backup on hand.”
“I’ll get a statewide BOLO out and every cop station between here and there will be looking for her,” Dallas vowed.
“We got a starting point. Boone, Grizzly and Gypsy are here, but I’m sure Gunner will send more men now that she’s changed her play. Now she just wants me dead and I want to know why.” He snarled. “If this is because of Trace, I will put her down. I am not Trace and will not be held accountable for something he did or didn’t do.”
“I don’t blame you,” Dallas told him. “But if your MC friends are staying here, I think you should have an escort back home. Especially, as long as she’s out there, pissed off and wounded. She might just shoot you now, out of spite.”
“That’s a fact.” Skeeter growled. “As soon as I get back, we’ll be treating her like a subject of interest. If she has any more secrets, we’ll find them. And then we’ll hunt her down.”
“I’ll make sure you have a warrant,” Dallas promised. “Dig deep my friend. We need to know all of it and all her actions before she goes to trial.”
Skeeter hesitated then said, “If she shoots at me again, I will shoot back. We’ll try to bring her in but I’m not promising anything at this point. Her death will be self defense. I can’t lie to you on that score.”
“You are one of my better officers,” Dallas replied. “But I know how this showdown can go too. I trust your judgement.”
“Zoey told us about a second house she owns on Hubbard St. A house under Zoey’s name for the last ten years. Only Zoey was seven years old, ten years ago.”
“Son of a bitch,” Dallas swore. “What else is she hiding?”
“We’ll find out. Zoey knows her the best, so we may find even more nasty shit out.” Skeeter paused then added, “We may have no choice but to take her down.”
“Just don’t do it in front of Zoey. For better or worse, she was the only adult the girl ever knew growing up. And Mercy grew up with violence as a part of her everyday life. But even so, this might be too much for her to handle.”
“Yeah, for sure,” Skeeter agreed. “I wish I knew what Trace’s parents were going to do. Those girls are out there in limbo at the moment and that’s scary for them. They both need a place where they can feel safe.”
“What are you going to do if they don’t want them?” Dallas asked.
“Those girls will always have a home with me,” He told his boss. “I need you to work on getting Mercy’s legal paperwork in order. If her blood test proves she’s Trace’s daughter, then we have to help her establish herself here. Like he should have done before she was born.”
“Oh, I agree with you there.” Dallas scoffed. “He should have done something for hi
s child back then.”
“Instead, he walked away without a care in the world.” Skeeter sneered. “At least until the first bullet tore through him. Then he screamed like the bitch he was. I mean he was a great partner but he had no moral compass. He always took the easy way out and sometimes, you can’t live like that. These poor kids paid for his mistakes.”
“I know,” Dallas admitted. “He was so close to getting written up before your Mexico trip. If he had come back, he would have been arrested. Calista had already filed a report on behalf of her sister being underage when she gave birth to his child.”
Skeeter paused, then asked, “And did she list where her sister was living at the time?”
“I can look but if I remember correctly she did,” Dallas answered.
“We need to find her if we can,” Skeeter urged. “Zoey wants to find out what happened to her mom.”
“I’ll see what I can do on my end. I’m sending you an escort now, so make sure you wait for them.”
Skeeter looked up and found Janice and the girls waiting for him. “Gotta go, I’ll let you know when we get to Jasper.” He ended the call and looked over at the girls. “You ladies ready?”
Janice nodded then looked at his phone. “What’s going on?”
“Dallas seems to think we need an escort home,” he explained. “He agrees we can’t stay here and I told him the girls would be safe back home. I’ll have plenty of help watching over them but I also told him we would be digging into Calista’s dealings.” He turned to Zoey and said, “That includes finding your mom.”
Zoey nodded and reached out to hold Mercy’s hand.
Boone came back over to Skeeter and looked at him. “Gunner said he would meet you halfway back. He’s sending us some help but two brothers will see you safely home.”
Skeeter nodded. “Yeah, Dallas seemed to think we needed an escort home as well.”
“Well, he can get you halfway home but Gunner will get you the rest of the way home,” Boone informed him.