18. Ike
18
IKE
I grabbed the last of the bags, then loaded them into the back of the waiting SUV. Jane came running around the back, pushing me aside as she reached for her own bag.
“Sorry, I just need my laptop.”
I frowned, looking at all the extra bags that were in the way. “Why don’t you put that up front with you?”
“Well, then I wouldn’t have leg room.”
“It’s in the way back here.” I started pulling out bags, sorting the weapons bags from luggage. It was ridiculous how much bullshit we didn’t need.
“Hey! Don’t just toss that on the ground! I need that!” Jane shouted.
“It’s in the way.”
“It’s in the trunk. That’s the opposite of in the way.”
“If we need to get to our gear in a hurry, we’ll be sorting out panties and books instead of grabbing guns. That could be a problem.”
She crossed her arms as she glared at me. “Then maybe you should keep your gear on you.”
“I can’t keep it all on me. There’s too much here.”
“Then maybe you should have left some at home,” she retorted, walking away.
“Oh, yeah!” I called after her. “Next time, I’ll leave the guns behind and we’ll just knock out the bad guys with your laptop!”
“You’re lucky she didn’t bring her typewriter with her,” IRIS said, strolling around the other side. “You haven’t truly been knocked out until you’ve been hit upside the head with that thing.”
“Have much experience with that, do you?”
“Let’s just say I don’t always know when to keep my mouth shut. So, what’s the plan?”
“We’ll start at his parents’ house. It’s unlikely he’d go there, but they may know something—or somewhere he’d go.”
“I can see this being a really comfortable conversation for Isla. Mr. and Mrs. Yates, I know I’m divorcing your son, but he’s trying to kill me and I need to find him and hand him over to the Irish so they can kill him before he succeeds in killing me. ”
“I was thinking we would leave most of that out and stick with he’s missing and where he would go if he was in trouble.”
“Probably best,” IRIS agreed.
“We have another problem,” I muttered.
“Great. As if this job wasn’t hard enough. Please, tell me how this could get worse.”
“I have a feeling Isla isn’t going to let us kill Shawn.”
IRIS burst out laughing, punching me on the shoulder. “Ha, that’s a good one. I like it, but seriously, what’s the problem?”
I stared at him, waiting for him to get the picture. Slowly, his smile faded and turned into a grimace. “You can’t be fucking serious. He’s already tried to kill her twice. Why would she care?”
“That’s just the type of person she is.”
“Insane? Delusional? The most fucking idiotic person on the face of the earth?”
“Watch it,” I snarled. “Remember who you’re talking about.”
He rolled his eyes with a sigh. “So, what the fuck are we supposed to do then?”
“Let’s focus on finding him first. Then we can worry about how to deal with him.”
He grabbed my suit as I was about to leave. “What if we shoot him when we’re trying to catch him and he bleeds out? Will she be pissed at us? Or what if I, say, accidentally set off a bomb and blow him up?”
“Accidentally set off a bomb?”
“It’s been known to happen.”
“Let’s just stick with taking him alive.” I removed his hands from my suit and straightened it out. “And IRIS, if you don’t want to lose a hand, don’t fucking touch my suit.”
“Geez, you’re so touchy about your suit.”
“I seem to recall you getting a little upset about your scarf.”
“That was a nice scarf,” he countered.
I stacked all the luggage on one side and the weapons and gear on the other, hoping that would make it easier for us in the long run. I had enough on me for an emergency, but if we really needed more, one of us would have to get to the back.
“Let’s hit the road.” I slammed the trunk door and walked around to the driver’s side. I whistled to Isla and Jane, waving them over. They had bonded over serial killers on the plane, though I wasn’t sure why. Whether it was the stories or the boredom of the plane ride, I didn’t know. I was just happy they were getting along.
We were on the road for about an hour before we hit the small town Shawn was from. I could easily see why he moved to a city. Staying around here was much like where Isla lived in Kansas—where I was now living. The town couldn’t be more than three thousand people. They were lucky that they had two gas stations and a small grocery store.
I followed the GPS to the outskirts of town, taking several turns before we finally pulled down the long drive to their house. “You didn’t say he was a farmer.”
“Is that important?” Isla asked.
“A lot of farmers tend to have guns,” I pointed out.
“His father wouldn’t hurt a fly. Trust me, they’re both very nice people.”
Nice people could be pushed to do drastic things if the situation was just right. I put the vehicle in park, but immediately had the feeling something was off.
“Stay here,” I said to Isla, immediately pulling my gun.
IRIS got out on his side and motioned that he was headed to the back of the house. Crouching low, I ran to the door, the sinking feeling in my gut growing when I saw the door was already open slightly.
With one hand, I pushed the door open, but the smell hit me immediately. I choked back a cough, struggling to breathe through the stench of dead bodies. It was highly unlikely anyone was still in the house with the corpses. I held my breath as I made my way through to the kitchen where I found IRIS standing over the bodies of Shawn’s parents.
“Well, fuck. We’re not gonna get anything out of them now,” IRIS muttered.
“I didn’t think the Irish would go after his parents,” I said, leaning down to examine the bodies. There were red lines around the wrists and neck. They were held captive before they were killed. How many hours had the Irish tortured them for information before they killed them?
“Oh my god,” Isla gasped.
I spun just as she covered her mouth, turning away as she gagged. Getting to my feet, I rushed over to her, taking her by the elbow and dragging her outside.
“We need to leave.”
“What? You can’t be serious! We have to call the police!”
“What we need is to find out where Shawn is,” I snapped. “If they can’t find him, they’ll go after you next. And when you’re not at the house, who do you think they’ll find?”
Her eyes widened as she took a step back. “We have to warn Riley.”
“I will, but right now, I need you to get in the fucking car. We need to get out of here.”
But like the feisty redhead she was, she didn’t back down. “No, I’m not leaving. These were my in-laws. I need to at least stay until the police get here. They deserve that much.”
“And in the meantime, Shawn is moving further and further away.”
“Why are we even going after Shawn?” she asked. “If the Irish want to kill him, then what good would it do to find him?”
“So we can hand him over and end this before they decide to kill you as an example! Did you not see what they just did?”
She paled, swallowing hard. “I can’t just hand him over.”
“He tried to kill you, Isla.”
“I know, but…it’s not like he’s shooting at me right now and it’s self-defense. If we catch him and hand him over, it’s as good as murdering him.”
I knew this would be a problem, but I hoped that when she saw his parents, she would see reason. Clearly, that wasn’t in the cards for us.
“How am I supposed to keep you safe if I can’t hand him over?”
“I don’t know,” she said helplessly. “But I’m not him. I can’t kill him. It’s not right.”
“Neither is getting yourself killed to spare his life. If push comes to shove, I will end him if it means saving your life.”
I walked away and jerked my head at IRIS. “Call it in.”
“On it.”
I dialed Bowie’s number. Man, he was gonna be so pissed when he answered the phone.
“You haven’t been gone that long. Did you kill him already?”
“I need you to take Riley and go to ground.”
“What? Why?”
“The Irish got to Shawn’s parents. It’s not pretty. I have to assume they’ll go after Isla next.”
“Fuck, she’s gonna be so pissed.”
“Yeah, well, she’ll be even more pissed if she’s dead. And don’t forget about the little monster.”
“The what?”
“The cat.”
“Right, because she’s important right now.”
“If I come back and that little shit is dead, you’ll have to deal with Isla, and I don’t think you want that.”
“No,” he grumbled. “Fine, I’ll take care of her, too.”
I hung up without saying anything further. When I turned around, Isla was gnawing on her lip again.
“Bowie’s taking care of Riley. He’ll most likely take her to OPS.”
“That’s good, right? She’ll be safe there.”
“Yeah.”
She shook her head, looking away from me. “You really don’t want to wait for the cops.”
“I’m not a huge fan of them.”
“You were in the military. Isn’t there some sort of camaraderie there?”
“Only if you like following the law,” I smirked.
In two steps, I was in front of her, pulling her into my arms. She was shaking but doing a damn good job of hiding how scared she was. What she saw inside would shake anyone up, but the fact that they were her in-laws was worse. I could only imagine what was running through her head.
“They were good people,” she murmured. “They didn’t deserve that. I could beat the crap out of Shawn for getting involved with these people.”
“Interesting choice of words,” I muttered.
She stepped back, running her fingers through her hair. “Look, I know you don’t get it. I’m not sure I do either. I should want him dead. I know that.”
“Isla, it’s okay to not want to kill someone.”
Her eyes flicked to mine and a shadow of doubt crossed her face. “But it’s what you would do.”
“What I would do is not in question right now.”
Gravel crunched as two cop cars pulled down the long driveway. I tensed, knowing this was not going to go how she planned. If anything, we were about to be hauled in for questioning.