Chapter 29

29

" C an you please repeat that?" I asked Patrick Duffy.

With nothing adding up about the letter mailed to Delaney, and Steve coming back clean, that left Natalie to check and the only solid piece I had on her was the car she was driving and the registered owner. So, I decided to call him.

And from what he just told me, I knew I should've called weeks ago. I'd been right. The woman was fucking crazy.

"Listen, she's harmless. I've known Dana for a long time." Yeah, Dana was her name, not Natalie. "We met in art school. She's…sensitive." There was nothing sensitive about her, she was plain nuts. "She's one of those people who feels too much. She can't turn it off, man. After her brother was murdered, she kinda lost it. But she's better now, only gets sad every once in a while. He's buried in Georgia. She used to drive up there once a week to sit at his grave. But she's getting better," he repeated like he felt the need to hammer that home. "Now she only goes up every couple of months. But his birthday's today, so she went up a few weeks ago, spent some time with her parents."

"And she took your car? All this time?"

"Yeah. She doesn't have one and my studio's in my garage. I walk everywhere or ride my bike. My car just sits, sometimes for months. So what did I care she was gonna be gone a few weeks. She's coming back tomorrow."

"What's her brother's name?"

"Derek."

Time stopped.

Everything stopped.

Cold rage hit my soul and I knew. I knew before what happened next. I knew in gut, my heart, my soul, I was too late.

"Carter!" Jasper bellowed from the other room.

I was on my feet before my brain had caught up with my movements.

I met Jasper and my dad in the hall and I didn't need them to tell me. I didn't even need to see the extreme anger.

Dana Lowe had Delaney.

"Fuck!"

"Not now," my dad clipped.

"Shots fired at my house," Jasper started. "Three to be exact. Missed Quinn and she called it in though Brady was already on his way to tell me, he watched it all go down. Natalie got Delaney into her car and she took off."

"Whose car? Laney or Dana?"

"Who the fuck is Dana?" my dad asked.

"Natalie's real name is Dana Lowe."

I watched Jasper jerk back and his face paled.

"Whose goddamned car?" I roared.

"Delaney's," Dad answered.

"She has a tracker, is someone tracing it?"

"Brady," Dad spoke again.

"I'm in my truck, call me when he has something."

"I'm coming with you," Jasper said, coming out of his stupor.

"You think that's a good idea?"

"About as good as it is for you."

Jesus, I didn't have time to talk my uncle down. If he lost his shit, we'd all deal with the blowback later. For now all I could worry about was Delaney and her being with a crazy bitch who was out for revenge.

I was in a flat-out run with my dad, Jasper, Uncle Levi, and Uncle Clark following behind. I had no idea where Levi and Clark had come from and wasn't gonna waste time asking.

We all piled in and I flew out of the parking lot of Triple Canopy not knowing which direction to head, when my phone rang and I hit the button on the steering wheel to answer.

"Yeah."

"She's at Porter's Cemetery."

"Sick fucking bitch," my dad muttered.

"Dylan came in early. He's taking over here, I'm headed to Quinn. Nick and Ethan are en route to the cemetery."

"'Preciate it, Brady," Jasper said. He was feeling like shit, both of his girls needed him and he had to make a choice between them. A choice I was sure no parent wanted to ever have to make, but the child in gravest danger was the only option. "Lenox called Lily and briefed her. Em is supposed to stay there, but if I know my wife, she's on her way home now. I don't care if you have to cuff my girls to lock them down—no matter what, they don't leave the house."

"Copy."

Brady disconnected and the cab of the truck grew silent.

"Carter—"

"Don't talk to me."

"Son."

"Dad. Respect. But do not speak to me. I have one objective and that is to get to my woman before that bitch hurts her. I don't need warnings or reminders. I know who I am and where I am. So I am fully aware, the law is not on my side. I also don't give the first fuck. And if any of you try to lock me down we're gonna have problems. Big fuckin' problems. I know you have my back, but you gotta give me room to work."

"Roger that," my dad muttered.

My jaw was clenched and I was grinding my molars down as I made my way to the cemetery.

"How we playing this?" Clark asked from the back.

I figured my dad or Jasper would speak up but when they didn't, I answered.

"Call Dylan and ask him to find the grave marker location for Derek Lowe and have him send a map."

I glanced in my rearview mirror and Clark already had his phone to his ear making the call. Thank God Dylan had come into work when he had, we needed all the help we could get.

After he was done explaining what we needed, he hung up and his phone beeped.

"Graveyard's a grid with one main road leading up the center. Lowe is buried in the second block on the right. No cover. Not even a damn tree."

"Can't fan out. With no cover, there'd be crossfire," my dad said.

He was right, if care was taken it could be done without one of us shooting in the direction of someone else, but in this case, none of us were in the right frame of mind to chance friendly fire.

"Without elevation can't say for sure, but if it's not uphill we could take her out from a hundred yards. Anything beyond that with the weapons we have would be too dangerous. We miscalculate bullet drop and there are others in the cemetery…" Uncle Levi trailed off.

He wouldn't miscalculate, none of us would. However, if Dana moved a few inches in either direction after we'd taken the shot, we could miss her altogether and hit an innocent.

"We're gonna play this by ear. If she doesn't have the muzzle pressed against Delaney, I'm gonna rush her. She'll swing around toward me and one of you can cover Laney."

"That's suicide, Carter," my dad growled.

"No, it's not. She won't hit me. She's emotional. She'll be startled by my approach, her hands will shake, her heart rate will be out of control, she'll shoot in my direction but she'll miss."

"Listen—"

"She won't hit me," I cut my dad off. "And you know it. You know her adrenaline will spike, she won't know how to control it. She was aiming less than twenty-five yards away from Quinn and couldn't hit her. Easy shot and she missed. I come at her wild, yelling, dodging, she'll never fucking hit me."

There was a growl from behind me and I knew it'd come from Jasper and I knew why. I was pleased as shit Dana had missed Quinn but the point was, she missed. And if I was hit, I'd gladly take a bullet or two for Laney. With Dana's full attention on me, one of the guys could get to Delaney.

"One thing." My jaw clenched again. "Whoever gets to Delaney, take care with the impact."

"Fuck," Jasper clipped. "There a reason that will be necessary?"

"Strong possibility."

"Jesus Christ Almighty—"

Jasper's tirade was cut off by my phone ringing.

"Yeah?"

"How close are you?"

"Two minutes."

"You better make that one. Emergency is blowin' up. Shots fired at the cemetery."

Cold fury took over and the mud and muck cleared from my mind and I slipped into an all too familiar place.

I'd never wanted this day to come. I'd gone to great lengths to ensure it would never happen. For eight years I pushed Delaney away so she never saw this part of me. She'd never see the man I'd become.

All for nothing.

My veins filled with ice and gone was Delaney's Carter.

Today she'd see Special Operator Lt. Lenox.

Today she meets the devil.