by KJ Dahlen
“Yeah, I get that.” She nodded. “But you took the free choice I had away from me by not telling me what was going to happen. I knew you’d come here to confront Logan but you never included me in your plans. You shut me out. I can’t be in a relationship with a man that would think so little of me he would think he could do that and think it was okay.” She reached up and cupped his cheek. “I wasn’t only here to protect your back, you big bear. I love you and I’m a lot stronger than you give me credit for. I’ve had to be. My daddy and granddaddy taught me that.” She moved to close the door. “I’m going back with Weston and you guys can clean up.”
“Logan Riggs is dying,” Moose told her. “Don’t you want to say anything to him before you go? He is your grandfather after all.”
Teddy looked over at Logan. “No, I’ve got nothing to say to him. I hope he rots in the fires of hell. We all live by the choices we make, right or wrong, he made those choices. He and his daughter never wanted to accept responsibility for what they chose to do. Well, this is the consequences of his choice.”
Weston motioned for one of the Marshals to come closer. When he did, Weston said, “Make sure you check every one of the buildings and the house. One more thing Logan was doing was selling women and kids. The cartel would collect them and take them through the tunnel into Mexico and they would disappear from there.”
“What the everlovin fuck?” Moose swore as he glared at Weston. “Why didn’t you mention this before old man?”
“I’m telling you now. Search the buildings. He had a woman here a few days ago. I’m not sure if she’s still here or not, but she was here a few days ago.” Weston glared back at the men standing around his truck.
Gunner joined the group. “Why the fuck did you blow that tunnel? We could have followed it through and shut it down from the other side.”
Weston gripped the steering wheel as he heard the anger in the other man’s words toward Teddy. She had just saved their miserable lives and all they could do was yell at her. He glanced over at Teddy and found her staring out the front window. Then he looked over at Gunner. “You see that shed about four hundred yards from where the entrance of the tunnel used to be?”
Gunner turned around and found the shed Weston was talking about. Turning back to Weston he nodded slightly.
“Go inside that shed and against the back wall you’ll find a door. That’s the original tunnel. They only use this one anymore because they had to widen it. They were moving too much product through to keep using the original tunnel anymore. This new one was safer and wider. The two tunnels connect about three miles in.”
“How do you know this?” Gunner asked.
“Because I’ve been inside them, of course.” Weston nodded his head. “I’ve been watching this place for years. Logan never knew it but in the years following Theo’s death, I’ve been here watching him. I wanted to know his whole operation. I had to be part of bringing him down. This was my justice for Theo’s death.” He reached over and started the truck then looked over at Gunner. “I’m taking Teddy back and then I’m going home. If you need me for anything you got my number.”
They drove slowly around the number of Marshals and bikers and were soon on the road going home.
After a couple of hours, they had to stop for gas. When they were back on the road, Weston looked over at a silent Teddy and asked, “What are you going to do now?” She had been so quiet along the way that he was worried about her.
She kept staring out the window as she shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought I found my forever guy, you know.” Shaking her head, she said, “But to find out he doesn’t trust in me, that sort of shattered my heart.”
“Honey, he doesn’t really know you, or he never would have doubted you.” He shook his head. “Give the guy a break. He only thought he was protecting you.”
“I’m not sure I can,” she whispered. “I know I may not be the best catch out there but I could have been for him. I was sent to kill him and I ended up falling for him. And boy, did I fall hard.” She leaned her head back and let out a sad sigh. “All he had to do was trust in me. When I saw his rage towards me it shattered me, something broke inside my heart. I’m not sure I can put the pieces back together.”
“Take a deep breath and wait and see what he has to say when they get back. Give the man a chance, baby girl. Don’t give up on him yet. You need him. From what I’ve seen ... the way he looks at you...and I’ve seen you looking back. He is the man for you.”
“He may be but he has to take care of my heart in the process and he didn’t do that today.”
Weston didn’t say anything else, she was too heart sore to continue talking about this. He could see this with his own eyes.
He continued to drive, then he remembered another heartbroken woman, a very long time ago. She was about to marry his best friend. But Theo messed up and she was having doubts about him, the same doubts Teddy was having today. So Weston decided to share this, for her sake. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told your grandmother Wilma. Theo had messed up bad and she almost didn’t marry him. I told her he was a man and what might make sense to a man, don’t always make sense to a woman. Women like to think things through, where men only act. Right or wrong, men protect and don’t often think a woman can protect herself. Your beautiful grandma, she listened to me and married him anyway. They were very happy right up till the day she died. Theo never found anyone else who could measure up to his Wilma. They were truly what people refer to as soul mates.”
“Why are you telling me this?” She finally turned to look at him.
“Because you and Grizzly have the same look in your eyes that Wilma and Theo had in theirs. You two belong together.”
Teddy gazed out the window and didn’t say anything for the longest time.
Chapter Fourteen
It was late afternoon, almost evening when they rolled into the compound. Teddy got out of the truck and groaned as she stretched her spine out. She reached inside the cab to grab her grandfather’s camo bags and his rifle.
She carried them into the clubhouse and then she went directly to the infirmary and her father.
He looked up at her and she could see the relief in his eyes when he saw her standing there. “Aww dad, you too?”
“Me too what?” Ethan growled. “Can’t I just be happy to see you alive and well?”
She dragged her feet over to the bed and handed him the rifle.
Ethan looked stunned for a moment then he looked at her. “Is this what I think it is?” he asked reverently. He recognized the buckskin sleeve.
She nodded. “Its grandpa’s Ole Blue.”
“Where did you ever find it?” He wanted to know as he unwrapped the sleeve and took his dad’s weapon out of the covering.
“Weston had it all this time. After his death and the Marshals confiscated his guns, Weston knew of a hidden safe. He retrieved this one and two more rifles and a couple of hand guns. He’s kept them safe all this time. He figured I could use ole Blue today.”
Ethan put the rifle back in the sleeve and laid it down on the bed beside him. Looking up at her he asked, “How did it go? Please tell me they stopped Logan.”
She nodded her head as tears filled her eyes. “Yeah daddy, they stopped him. Weston and I were high on a hill overlooking the ranch watching their backs. We saw three men coming from the tunnel Logan had and I took out the three men before they could shoot anyone in the back. That brought Logan and his men to the fight but it wasn’t much of a real fight. They were outnumbered by the size of the bikers and Marshals that were there” She hung her head for a moment then looked at him. “One of the first kills was a member of the cartel, Francisco Brago.”
“Oh, wow,” Ethan mumbled. “The Marshals are going to be busy mopping that up aren’t they?”
“Last week when Weston was gone, he was down in McAllen laying traps. He set a charge of C4 just inside the tunnel and when he told me about it, I fired the shot. When the debri
s settled down, Logan had caught part of it. He was down with a piece of wood in his belly, but he also had a bullet or two in him as well. He probably won’t make it.” She shrugged. “The world won’t miss a man like him.”
“Did you say anything to him?” Ethan asked.
She shook her head. “I had nothing at all to say to him. He wouldn’t know me anyway. The last time I saw him, I think I was five.”
“What else happened sweetheart?” Ethan looked at his daughter and waited for her to speak.
She crumbled into the chair beside him and looked at her dad with a lost look in her eyes. “Is it true that while women think things out, men just want to protect us?”
Ethan thought about it. He had a feeling this was deeper than just a question to her. “Yeah, baby girl. If we see a problem, we act first and ask questions later. It seems to be something that’s ingrained within us. At least, in the honorable men it is. Why?”
“Because Grizzly didn’t trust in me. He left me behind this morning when I could have been there beside him today. I should have been there for him.”
“And now, you don’t know if you can trust in him right?” Ethan asked.
She nodded. “Exactly.”
Ethan shook his head. “Honey, I would have acted the same way. I wouldn’t have wanted my woman caught in the crossfire either.”
“But dad...”
Ethan shook his head. “But dad nothing. You are my daughter, you are mine to love and to protect. I know you can protect yourself, because Lord knows I taught you how to do that but it doesn’t mean you should have to all the time. Bullets don’t really care if you can protect yourself or not. If they hit you, they just do damage, maybe even take your life.” He studied her for a few minutes and then said, “You can’t blame him for wanting to protect you. I’d be mad at him if he didn’t.”
“But dad, trust goes both ways, either you got it or you don’t and if that trust is broken, it's gone forever.”
“But did he truly break it or did he just bend it a little?” Ethan asked. “I think you need to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s been on your side from the get go, has he not? The real question here is, can you live without him in your life? I know you’re probably hurt but is your pain real or imaginary? Are you going to turn him away when he could be the man for you?” He looked away and then told her, “I wanted a love like my parents had. They lived and breathed as one person. I didn’t get that with your mom, but she gave me you. If you got that oneness with this young man, don’t throw it away for hurt pride. Pride won’t keep you warm at night or feed your soul.”
Teddy got up and leaned over to kiss his forehead. “I love you daddy. And I will think about what you said.”
She wanted to go to her mother and tell her about Logan but she didn’t bother. Someone else could give her the bad news. Instead, she went to their room, hers and Grizzly’s. She walked in and closed the door. Leaning against it, she looked around the room. She had begun to feel at home here. She went over and laid down on the bed. Then she let her tears roll down her face.
Gunner growled as he watched the truck drive away. “Fucking hell. That old bastard was playing us the whole time.”
“Let’s just get this operation wrapped up,” Grizzly grumbled. “Then I’m going home to get my woman straightened out.”
Moose snorted. “Your woman more than likely saved our lives today. At least mine. We never saw the cartel coming. And that bastard in the barn could have taken several of us down before we even knew where he was.”
Grizzly turned to confront his brother and friend. “Ok, ok... I know what she did. But she also put her own life in danger just by being here. Why do you think I didn’t tell her before we left?”
Gunner and Boone who had just joined them shook their heads.
“You didn’t tell her?” Boone snorted. “Are you fucking nuts?”
Grizzly frowned. “What do you guys mean?”
Gunner shook his head. “Teddy should have been here all along. When we left this morning without her, I was under the assumption she didn’t want to come. I thought you had given her a choice at least. We were here because of her, everything we know, we knew because of her. We took down a member of the cartel because of her. Hell brother, we’re alive right now because she had our backs.” He paused then added, “You got a lot to learn about women if you don’t know that.”
Boone nodded. “You’d better let us finish this up and get your dumb ass home before she has a chance to pack up and move out. If you lose her, you might not ever get her back.”
Grizzly’s heart paused for a full minute in his chest as he forgot everything and he could see his life becoming a black hole without her. She had wormed her way into his life and now, he couldn’t imagine living or even breathing without her.
He turned without saying another word and got into one of the trucks then took off in a cloud of dust.
Moose just shook his head and grinned. “I wish the bastard luck. I just wish I could be there to see him grovel.” He turned and headed toward the house. “I’m searching the main house.”
He stepped through the front door and began looking into each and every room. When he got to the kitchen, he heard an unusual sound. It was like the hum of a generator. He went through what he thought was the back door but what he found it happened to be additional living quarters out this way. He passed through a breezeway and opened the door on the other side.
The room was sweltering but it wasn’t completely without air. The fans were on but they were on low, so they didn’t cool much. The room stank of human sweat and urine. There were two cots in there but neither held a body. He moved further into the room and looked around carefully. Then he heard the clank of a chain moving from behind the door he came through and he turned quickly.
“Whoever you are, come out, so I can see you,” Moose ordered.
“Are you going to hurt me?” a female voice asked. “I heard some shooting earlier.”
“No... no one here will hurt you,” Moose told her. “We’re here to help you.”
“Help me?” the question hung in the air. “Really? You’re not here to take me to Mexico and sell me?”
“No, I’m here to set you free. I’m here to take you home,” Moose told her.
Then she stepped out from behind the door he came through. “I’d rather you didn’t do that if you don’t mind,” she spoke with a quiver in her voice.
His eyes widened and he gasped when he saw her. She was tall for a woman. She was around five foot eight, her long blonde hair was mid length of her back, but the woman was badly in need of a shower. Her eyes were green and haunted. She was skinny, almost too skinny but he could tell she was beautiful.
Right now he had no clue how to gage her age. “How old are you?”
“I’m twenty four.” She shook her head. “If you can believe that.”
“What’s your name honey?” he growled as his eyes studied her from head to toes.
“Brinn. What’s yours? she asked as she was trembling.
“My real name is Seth Daniels but everyone calls me Moose.” His voice was low and raw as he stared at her.
Brinn nodded. “I can see why.” Then she smiled. “You’re a big guy aren’t you?”
Moose’s heart pounded in his chest at the sight of her smile. “Yeah, I guess I am.” He took a step toward her.
The smile on her face faded and she took a step back. “Please don’t hurt me,” she whispered.
Her plea broke his heart. “Listen Brinn, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Then he realized what her words meant. “Did that bastard Logan Riggs hurt you?”
She just stood there and nodded.
He cocked his head and asked her, “How did you come to be here anyway?”
She shook her head. The haunting look came back to her eyes and she began to shake again. “I can’t tell you. If he ever knew I told you he’d hunt me down and kill me.”
His hands curled into fists
and he growled. “Who? Who is he?”
Brinn shook her head. “No, I won’t tell you.” She backed up until she hit the wall behind her. She crumbled to a heap on the floor then scrambled into a sitting position and brought her knees close to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Rocking back and forth, she began to zone out.
Moose took a couple of steps and squatted down in front of her. “Brinn. Sweetheart, are you still with me? I need you to be here honey.” He tried to coax her back.
She blinked a few times and looked at him. She didn’t say anything but she did look at him.
“Who did this to you?” he pleaded with her.
“He said he was my daddy, but I didn’t know him until I was fourteen. He found my mom back then and she made us go and live with him. He was cruel and really bad. I couldn’t wait until I could leave home but he wouldn’t let me go. He told me if I left, he’d kill my mom. He said he’d beat her to death if I left her alone with him.” She looked at him and said, “He was a crazy man.”
“What happened to your mom?” Moose asked.
“He finally did what he always threatened. He got into a rage and he beat her to death. Then he sold me to a man to cover his drug habit.”
Moose felt the rage building inside him. He finally understood Grizzly’s roar earlier in the day. Whoever this girl’s father was, he was a dead man walking for now. As soon as he knew the other man’s name, he was going to hunt him down and hurt him bad.
He bent to gathered her into his arms.
She struggled a little but seemed to weak to give him much troubler.
Moose then carried her out of that fucking dank, hot ass room and out into the sunshine.
She turned her face into his neck and groaned. “Too bright.”
Moose didn’t stop until he came to a vehicle. He set her in the seat and buckled her in. “You wait right here. I gotta tell my boss where I’m going and then we’ll get out of here okay?”
She looked up at him and nodded.