Keys To My Cuffs (The Heroes of The Dixie Wardens MC Book 4) (21 page)

Then, the man’s wife was on the screen. The same woman I’d had thank me after I’d left the scene.

“That’s her,” I said, pausing it and showing it to Loki. “That’s the woman who thanked me.”

He looked at the phone, then at me. Then he shook his head. “That’s fucked. That’s the same woman who was dead. There’s no way she spoke to you. Her brains were splattered on the...”

I turned around and sprinted up the dock and into the house, passing a concerned looking Andrea on my way.

I made it to the bathroom just in time to drop down on my knees and throw up the remainder of my lunch that hadn’t had the chance to digest yet.

“I’m fucking nuts,” I said once I caught my breath.

When I finally got my bearings, I stood, surprised to find that Loki hadn’t followed me.

When I flushed and washed my hands, I went to find him and didn’t have to look far.

I found him staring at the TV, watching a breaking news cast with the phone to his ear.

“No, Trance. How would he know where we are? My mom’s name is changed. They live in a new house. I didn’t take my bike. I’m not wearing anything that identifies me. I’m safe. Keep an eye on Big Red, though. He may be able to take care of himself, but it’s better
to be safe than sorry, right?” He relayed into the phone.

He snorted. “I’d check his friends. Tell the DA to make a deal with them, too, if they’re willing to give away anything on his whereabouts. Dortea will do it. Plus, he doesn’t have much else to go on. He wants me and he won’t be able to find me.”

He threw the controller down on the couch and grabbed what little hair he had on his head between his fists. “Fuck yes. Yes, check my house. Check Channing’s too. You could just do a stakeout there. Yeah, he’ll go there. He’ll go back to his place, too. I know he has shit stored somewhere. Probably buried it in the backyard.”

“Okay,” he nodded and turned.

I must’ve made some noise, because I’d actually startled him.

“Yeah,” a smile overtook his face. “No, Lucy has a mind of his own. I can’t help that he showed your puppies how to dig out of the yard. What do you want me to do from a thousand miles away?”

“Alright. Thanks. Bye,” he said before hanging up.

“What’s up?” I asked.

My voice sounded raw.

He pursed his lips. “Varian, somehow, escaped from the transport today. Fuckin’ blows my mind, because he didn’t even know when, where, or how he was being transferred. Whoever helped him must’ve been just
lying in fuckin’ wait.”

My insides shriveled up even more. “So now we have Varian out of prison? Are we even safe here anymore?”

He thought about it for a few moments before answering. “Yes. I believe so. But I’m going to stay at an inn instead of here. Just in case. I don’t see him coming this way; but, just in case, I don’t want to put them in danger.”

“That’s not necessary,” Andrea said from the doorway.

We both turned to find her standing there, ringing her hands.

Her hair was slightly mussed from the ocean breeze, which only exacerbated her frazzled look. “I don’t want you to go. You just got here.”

“Ma,” Loki started.

“No. You’re not leaving,” she said in the most authoritative voice she could manage.

“Andrea,” I tried, but she was shaking her head no before I could even get two words out.

“No. You’re staying. That’s final. I have a ham for Christmas Eve, and a turkey with sweet potatoes for Christmas. I won’t have that...
man
...ruining this for us. I want to have a real Christmas. As a family. I deserve that, don’t you think?” Her voice quivered.

“Oh, mom,” Loki said before he enfolded her in his arms.

I snuck out of the open door, squeezing in between the door jam and Loki’s broad back, and walked outside to overlook the ocean.

Although it was touching that she wanted that, I couldn’t help but worry about the potential danger. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but I had a feeling that Varian would find us. No matter how adamant Loki was to the contrary.

Dear naps, I’m sorry I was such a dick to you when I was a kid.

-Life Lesson

Loki

Christmas night

“Hey, daddy. Did you get my Christmas present?” Channing asked her father.

It was currently Christmas night, four days after finding out that Varian had escaped.

The state of Louisiana knew he was out, too, because he was leaving a trail of devastation in his wake.

First, it was the security guard that was driving the van.

Varian had constructed a shiv made out of toilet paper, building it like one would paper mache, complete with shit to ensure the weapon held up to the test.

After killing off the first guard, Varian’s partner, whomever it was, took out the other guard who’d gone to help the second guard with a shotgun to the man’s face.

From there, the two of them had gone from place to place, stealing cars, money, food, and clothing.

They didn’t do it nicely, either.

How’d we know it was them?

By the slit throats.

I wasn’t telling Channing any of this, though. I’d done my absolute best not to let her near a TV. I’d bought her a Kindle for Christmas, and gave it to her two days ago when she’d complained about not having anything to do.

I’d lied and said the TV had broken, and Zeth had upheld my lie, going as far as looking for new TVs at Best Buy, but coming back empty handed. He’d told my mother and Channing that all the TVs were sold out due to it being so close to Christmas.

I hadn’t argued. The lie worked out well for me.

Plus, I’d gotten to go with him to help ‘shop’ for the new TV, which was when I’d gotten Channing’s present.

Presents.

I hadn’t given her the main one, yet.

I was waiting for some alone time, which didn’t happen much in the last two days, seeing as my mom was really milking the whole family Christmas thing.

“What do you mean you can’t find Andrew?” Channing’s asked shrilly.

“No, I haven’t heard from him since he called last week looking for the spare key. No. Yes. No. Where’s he been living all this time?” Channing wondered.

“Yeah, here he is,” Channing said before handing the phone to me.

I took the cell phone from her warily.

“Hello?” I answered.

Channing watched my face worriedly.

“Hey,” Colton said roughly. “I didn’t want to alarm Channing, but I’m pretty sure Andrew’s got himself in some deep shit.”

I gave Zeth a look from where he was sitting at the bar with my mom, and he nodded in understanding.

Leaving out the back door, I walked down to the dock with purposeful strides. I wasn’t worried about Channing following me. I knew Zeth would keep her in there until Colton told me what he had to tell me.

“Yeah?” I asked.

He exhaled roughly. “It’s bad, whatever he’s gotten himself into. He called and asked for money a few weeks ago, and I told him no. After the way he’d treated Channing, I just couldn’t bail his ass out anymore. I hadn’t heard anything from him until last night when he called to tell me his friend, one that he’d just helped get out of a bad situation, wanted him to take him somewhere. He was asking the best ways to get there to avoid the
busiest roads. Speed traps. He wouldn’t tell me who the friend was, either.”

A sick feeling started building in my gut.

“Where was he going?” I asked reluctantly.

“Florida.”

Three hours later.

“That’s too suspicious. He had to know his dad was going to say something to you.” Parker said warily.

“Maybe. Maybe not. What we need to plan for is him coming. We can’t count on Andrew being on our side. Varian’s been using him for months, feeding him the information he wanted. Andrew’s not innocent in all of this,” I said warily, scrubbing my hands over my tired eyes.

I was tired.

I’d planned on a nice romantic evening, and that had gone to shit with one single phone call.

Eighty-five dollars to have Minnie overnight my present and I didn’t have shit to show for it.

She wasn’t engaged to me. She wasn’t wearing my patch. She wasn’t even fucking awake anymore for me to ask.

“He’s had a little over five hours since he called Colton. Colton gave him every checkpoint road in between here and the Louisiana line he could remember. That won’t matter, though. He’s on his way. I can feel it in my bones. This is all just a sick fucking game to him,” I told them.

Silas stood, removed the Glock he kept at his hip at all times, and checked the chamber out of habit.

The sound of the slide sliding back, and the magazine being released and then re-loaded was a calming sound that soothed me down to my very core.

“Well then, we’ll just have to beat him at his own game,” Silas confirmed as he sighted down the barrel of his Glock, flipped the safety back on, and holstered it.

“This is bad news. I don’t want this shit on my doorstep. I still have to live here after you’re gone,” my stepfather growled at Silas.

The two older men were snarling and snapping at each other like they were old junkyard dogs fighting over the same bone. Or in this case, the jurisdiction.

“This is federal. It’s crossed over state lines. It’s always going to be federal,” Silas snapped.

“It ain’t federal. You don’t know if he’s coming or not. I’m chief of police in this town, not you. You’ve got no recourse yet. No crime, no claim,” Zeth barked back.

Jesus Christ.

“Y’all need to stop fucking around and figure this shit out. There’s a fucking psychopath on the way here, and y’all old biddies are too busy chirping at each other rather than planning to get the job done. Get the fuck over it, or get the fuck out,” Cleo said calmly.

Cleo was probably the only one who could say that to Silas and not get his teeth handed back to him. Via his asshole.

However, Cleo was very calm; it took a lot to get him riled.

Like now, for instance, he was standing rather than sitting.

Which was big for him, considering he barely ever looked anything but relaxed and at ease.

Adrenaline junkies did it that way. Calm through the storm. They had to be.

That was why he was a damn good flight medic.

It took a lot of balls to do what he did.

“Thank God somebody said it,” Parker mumbled to himself.

Sterling seconded his comment with a grunt.

“Fine. Just don’t get in my way and I’ll be happy,” Silas growled.

“How about you don’t get in mine,” Zeth snarled back.

Here we go again.

We were at the precinct while a couple of Zeth’s most trusted deputies were watching the house. One from the water and the other from the front of the house.

We were all down at the station formulating a course of action. However, it didn’t seem to be going anywhere because the two old men couldn’t seem to pull their heads out and work together.

I did get the answer to a long time question, though.

Silas was CIA. Still
active
CIA.

I didn’t know how far his reach went in the company, but it was obviously far enough for him to do what he wanted and take what jobs he felt like taking.

He also had a lot of firepower at his back, and I fucking loved him for it right now.

“That’s enough,” I said to them both. “I agree with Cleo. Either stop fucking around or get out. We don’t have time for this bullshit.”

They probably would’ve fought about whose dick was bigger if the radios hadn’t started to explode with chatter.

“Medic 4, you are needed at 2499 West Palm Rd. Single victim. Suspected rape,” one dispatcher said.

It was only seconds later when another page went over the airwaves. “Unit 4. Respond to 500 Doral Drive. Neighbors complaining of screaming.”

Then another.

“Engine two. Respond to structure fire at 663 Jumper Way. Neighbors reporting smoke.”

And on it went. Medic after medic, officer after officer, engine after engine was called out to respond to this or that, here, there and everywhere.

“They’re getting everybody out,” I said as I came to the sickening realization. “They’re getting everybody out: either A, to get us alone, or B, to get us to go where they want us.”

The station phone rang, pulling Zeth’s attention away from me.

I kept talking, ignoring him until the tone of his voice changed.

“No, Poole, I can’t come. I don’t have any to spare. Every last one of them was called out not even seconds ago. Yes. You’ve got to be kidding me. Alright, I’ll keep you updated. 10-4,” Zeth said before hanging up.

His look was ominous, “The counties surrounding ours, every single one of them, have the same calls going on right now. There’s no available backup for over fifty miles in all directions.”

My mind was whirling.

“Well, whatever happened, I’m going back to Channing.” I asked as I started heading towards the front door.

“Use the back,” Silas and Zeth said at the same time.

I nodded and redirected myself only for the windows behind me to shatter in a spray of bullets.

“Motherfucker,” I said as I dropped down to all fours, and then even further to my stomach.

Curses were echoed behind me, but there were no shouts of pain, which was the one positive thing in this huge clusterfuck.

“We need to get out of here. Is there any other way besides...” Silas speaking, but his question was cut off by a percussion grenade.

Lights and sounds disappeared for a very long time, and I came to minutes...or maybe hours, later.

The first thing to return was my sight.

Followed shortly by my hearing.

Finally, my disorientation cleared, and a blast from my past sped full throttle into my face.

Mick Dempsey, the leader of the Crimson Horde, the gang I’d used to be a part of, was staring me in the face.

In full uniform.

Police uniform that is.

I stared at him in shock.

“This was too fucking perfect. What? You thought you were the only one Zeth saved? Well, think again. He saved me, too. Except he didn’t marry my mother like he married yours. My life didn’t turn into a privileged existence like yours did. Bryce was awarded this, Bryce made detective. Bryce won a Grammy,” Mick snapped.