Fierce Defender: Book 2, Hard to Handle trilogy (18 page)

“Come on, Eva. Pick up, baby,” he pleaded.

Her voice suddenly came on the line. “Hi, this is Eva. Leave a message.”

“Shit!” Zack yelled, ending the call and pressing the number for the bakery. He got voicemail there as well. As he got on the highway, he knew he had to try and calm down. He told himself, “They’re just busy… she’s okay,” over and over like a mantra.

***

Before jumping on his bike, Gray had called the Stockdale police and told them to get to the bakery. He told them to detain everyone there, and he would be there in less than twenty. As he raced up the highway, having to dart in and out between cars and eighteen wheelers, he found himself wishing Stella was equipped with lights and sirens so that these asshole would at least think about getting out of his way.

******

Stockdale, Texas

Numerous police cars were parked outside the front of the bakery when Gray came flying around the corner on Stella. Thankful they had responded so quickly, he skidded to a stop and slammed down the kick stand. Jumping off the bike, he ran up to the door, just as Zack’s tires came squealing around the corner.

A young officer posted at the door stopped him. “Nobody in or out.”

“I’m Special Agent Grayson Alexander with the DEA. I called you.”

“Let me see some ID,” the guy ordered.

Before he could take out his wallet, Gray heard Zack run up behind him, with no intention to stop. To prevent his friend from getting his head blown off, he grabbed Zack just before he barreled through the cop and the door.

“Easy buddy,” Gray said. The officer already had his hand on his holster. “It’s okay,” Gray reassured him as he slipped his wallet out and opened it. "He’s with me.” The officer scrutinized his ID, gave Zack another suspicious glance, and then stepped aside. Zack jerked away from Gray and ran in ahead.

Gray stepped in just as Eva threw herself into Zack’s arms.

There were two customers, Eva, Cheryl, and six cops inside. With Zack and Gray, the place was full.

“Who’s in charge?” Gray asked the cop at the counter.

“My partner and I got here first,” he said.

“Was this how you found things?” Gray asked him.

“Pretty much,” the cop said. “The ladies were in the back. There was some kind of mixing machine running. No one else here except the two old men you see over there.”

Gray heard Eva ask Zack what was going on.

“Eva,” Gray said, “do you know those customers over there?”

“Yes, they’re Paul and Ted. They come in every day. Why? What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry, Eva. Just a few more questions, okay? Did they start coming in before or after you started here?”

“Way before. Cheryl says they’ve been regulars since she opened the place.”

Gray glanced over at Cheryl. The older woman was sitting wide-eyed at the end of the counter, looking like she had just gotten the shit scared out of her. She probably had. Gray had been in the bakery a few times. Never once had Cheryl not had something to say.

“Okay, now I have to ask you another question, Eva, and I need you to think hard, okay?” She nodded and he continued. “Are there any customers who have just recently started coming in a lot? Or have you noticed anyone standing on the street when you come in or leave every day? Anything weird or suspicious at all?”

It didn’t take long for Eva to answer. “There’s this guy who’s been coming in a lot lately. He kind of creeps me out, but he hasn’t done anything wrong. He came in with a woman once, and then by himself every day until today. There was another man with him this morning.”

“Can you describe them, Eva?” Gray asked her.

“Yeah, the guy who comes in all the time is big. Not really tall, but stocky with broad shoulders. He has blonde hair and really blue eyes, and he dresses nicely. The other guy was very tall. I think he was a Mexican man. He had black hair and was wearing a white suit.”

Gray and Zack looked at each other.

“What?” she said.

“Eva, do you think you could give a sketch artist a description of the blonde man?”

“Sure,” she said. “Not the other guy.”

“I think he’s already out of the picture,” Gray said.

Zack hugged her again, but it seemed to only make her worry more. “Please tell me what this is all about.”

Guiding her over to a corner table, Zack tried to explain.

Gray finished up with the cops. He told them to let the old men go. And then he checked in with Cheryl to make sure she was okay. She was still subdued, for her, but she would have a new story to tell now, and there was nothing Cheryl liked better than that.

Once the place had cleared out, Gray made two more phone calls, and then told Zack and Eva, “I have to um… go clean up that mess we made. Zack, can you take her to the Stockdale Police Station? They have the sketch artist on standby. After that, I’m sure my superiors and the state police are going to want to have a chat with us. It’s going to be a long night, I’m afraid.”

“Sure,” Zack said. “Grayson…”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, for everything.”

That was the second
thank you
he’d received today, but he would rather not play the hero. It would be much better if the assholes who were targeting Danielle, Zack, and Eva were put away, permanently. Gray raised his chin in acknowledgement and smiled at Eva, and then he left.

******

Vincent paced the hotel room. Armando should have called by now to tell him that he had finished what Vincent had sent him to do. If he screwed this up… As he had that thought, his phone began to ring. He reached for it and looked at the ID. It wasn’t Armando. It was that pig, Ayden Styles.

“Yes,” Vincent answered impatiently. He despised the man. He would love to see Ayden’s head in a box. If Vincent didn’t need him to run the prison part of the operation…

“Vincent! It’s Ayden,” the man said with a select amount of cheer in his voice.

Vincent knew Ayden considered him a Mexican half-breed. It’s one of the reasons he wanted the man dead. Just as he also knew the only reason Ayden acted so friendly with him was because the man knew how much it pissed him off.

“What can I do for you, Ayden? Haven’t I done enough?” he said very uncordially into the phone.

“I much appreciated the discount on the cocaine you sold me, and the disappearing witness… Is that guy’s head going to show up somewhere?”

“Ayden, focus, please. I’m a busy man.”

“Yes, Vincent, I’m sorry. I’ll get to the point. Where is my cocaine?”

Vincent really, really despised the man. “In the bag that Pablo sent away from the bar with your men yesterday, I assume. Did you check there?”

“Don’t toy with me, Heston.” Ayden was talking through gritted teeth now, much to Vincent’s satisfaction. “You know full well what cocaine I’m talking about. The two keys your DEA buddy carried out of that vault yesterday.”

“Hmm, I never thought about where he might put it. I’ll have to ask him.”

“Tell me where to find him. I’ll ask him,” Ayden said, enraged.

Vincent laughed and gave him Samuel’s home address.

******

Sutherland Springs, Texas

While they were still in Stockdale, Zack had told Eva what happened at the house. He didn’t want her to be too shocked when they got home. All he wanted to do was take her upstairs to their bedroom and wrap her in his arms, thankful she was still with him and that the man’s threats hadn’t come to pass. But he knew that wasn’t to be, not tonight. Proving him correct, as they drove up to their house, they were greeted by a barrage of black SUVs, police cars, and even a fire truck.

Eva looked at Zack as they got out of the car and said, “How many people did Gray shoot?”

Zack knew it was a rhetorical question, so instead of answering, he smiled and put his arm around her. He was so damned happy that she was okay, it made him not really care about the rest of it.

They were stopped at the front door by a state police officer, but Gray saw them and waved at the police officer to let them in. Almost immediately, Zack was taken to the back bedroom by a detective for questioning. Gray’s superiors, Lewis and Gomez, were there as well and followed Zack in. Gray was told to stay put on the couch until they got back.

Zack didn’t want to leave Eva, but he knew he had no choice.

At least she’s okay. That’s all that matters
, he reminded himself.

***

Eva didn’t know how to feel. She was still processing everything, trying to put all the pieces together. It appeared someone had meant to kidnap or kill her tonight. Who or why, the cops had no idea, but her gut told her it had something to do with Hank. She wished she was wrong, that her brother was in Mexico somewhere safe and sound, living the dream, but she couldn’t shake away the knot in her stomach.

But she hadn’t been the only one targeted. Zack had almost been killed as well. If there was any silver lining to the day, it was that he was okay.

Eva sat down next to Gray on the couch. “Thank you for saving Zack’s life today.”

Gray shrugged. “He could’ve handled it. I just happened to be here.”

“Brave and modest,” Eva said. “It must be in the water around here.”

He grinned and asked, “How did it go with the sketch artist?”

“Good,” she said. “It looked just like him when the guy was finished with it. I was impressed. What are they going to do with it?”

“They’ll release it as a Person of Interest and ask anyone who has seen him to call in,” he told her.

“Hey, speaking of Persons of Interest, did you hear the news about Danielle Thurston?”

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s a bunch of crap.”

“Good,” she said. “I like her.”

“Me too,” he confessed automatically, surprising her and himself.

***

“DEA Agency Corpus Christie, this is Sue. How can I help you?”

Sue, the agency’s receptionist, listened to what the caller had to say, and then she asked the person to hold while she routed the call through to her supervisor. Agent Gomez answered on the first ring. She told him what the caller had said and that she was patching the call through.

***

“This is Special Agent in Charge Gomez. Can I help you?”

Sue had just patched a call through to his cell phone. Currently, he was standing in the living room of Zack’s house beside Eva and Gray. Zack was still being questioned, but Gomez had stepped out to take the call as soon as his phone had started vibrating.

“Yeah, um... I told the lady already. My name is Matt Wilson. I work over at the Super 8 in Stockdale. I was watching TV, and they had this special report thing about a guy ya’ll was looking for. That guy, the one in the picture, he’s staying here at the hotel. At least I’m pretty sure it’s him. Kind of a weird dude. Checked in with a lady, and a few days later, she totally disappeared. Did he kill her?”

“Although I sincerely appreciate you calling, Matt, I’m afraid that I can’t give out information in an on-going investigation. Can you tell me what room he is in?”

“Yeah, he’s in 302. Weird dude.”

“Thank you, Matt. I need one more thing from you, okay? Stay away from this man and his room. The police will be there shortly. Let them do their job, got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

Gomez hung up and called the Stockdale Police Department. Then he looked at Eva and said, “I think they found the blonde man you gave the description of. Would you mind riding along with me and maybe giving me a nod if this is the man who was with the guy who tried to kill your boyfriend today?”

“Sure,” she said, standing up off the couch.

Gray stood too.

Gomez instantly raised his hand. “Where are you going?”

At that moment, Brandon Hillman and another firefighter came through with a covered stretcher. They all watched as the firefighters wheeled out the man Gray had killed.

Gray looked back at Gomez and said, “I gave up my weapon. I just want to go find out why I had to shoot this guy.”

“No, you’re done for the night. Go home.”

“But sir—”

“Home, Grayson. I don’t want to see your face again until tomorrow.”

Zack came out of the back room and wrapped Eva in a big hug. “You okay?” he asked her.

Eva laughed. “You’re the one who almost got killed today. I’m fine. I’m going back to Stockdale with Agent Gomez for a bit, though. They may have found this guy’s partner.”

Zack looked at Gomez. “Are they done with me here?”

“You can come too,” Gomez permitted with a sigh. “Let’s go.”

“Can I take my own car?” Zack asked.

Gomez rolled his eyes and nodded.

“He gets to go, but I have to stay home?” Gray complained, following them out. Then he laughed and said, “Don’t bother answering that, sir. I just heard what that sounded like in my head.”

It had really been a long fucking day.

******

San Antonio, Texas

That Night

The officer outside of Samuel Dillon’s house ate his sandwich, drank his coffee, and listened to his favorite jazz CD. This wasn’t a bad gig. Kind of tedious, but not too bad. After the director of the DEA left yesterday, there hadn’t been much movement in or out of the house, except for the two guys that delivered food. The guy in there must be really bored. It was like they had him on house arrest or something.

He leaned in to take another bite of his sandwich, and he was knocked out so quickly, he never felt the tire iron to the back of his head.

***

The big, dirty guy who had knocked the officer out cold reached in and took the rest of the sandwich out of his hand. He took a bite. “Not bad,” he told his partner.

“Let’s just do this, man, before someone checks on him.”

Mick wasn’t impressed. The skinny guy Ayden had sent with him was too squeamish to be of any use. They were meant to retrieve Ayden’s cocaine back... at whatever cost. But Mike wasn’t sure his partner had it in him to finish the job.

They walked up to the front door and knocked.

“Who is it?” came a man’s voice from inside.

Mick could tell he was standing close to the door. He took the shotgun out of his partner’s hand, pumped it, and blew the door in front of them into a million shards of wood. After the smoke cleared, they stepped over the ruins of the door and the ruins of the man who lay bleeding underneath, and they began their diligent search of the premises.