5. Chapter 5
I maneuvered around a winding country road after finally losing the cops, which wasn’t easy. There was a reason you didn’t run from the police. You almost always get caught. They probably got Dalton’s license plate, and would then send a helicopter searching for his car, which was the very reason we needed to ditch it pronto.
Not only do you not run from cops, but they would hunt you down, especially after bullets went flying during a high-speed chase. We were running out of time, but we weren’t far from where I wanted to go.
“Woo, that was dicey,” I said.
Dalton turned his head to me, gaping at me, before he scowled and scoffed. “Dicey?! Jesus. Do you make a joke about everything? Do you not care what just happened?”
True, this was nothing to me. I was used to this sort of lifestyle, although it’d been quite some time since I’d gone through a car chase or run from cops. It was strangely thrilling and nostalgic. Yet, the boldness of the killers worried me.
“I do care. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here. And these killers are troubling. If it were me, I’d make it look like a suicide or an accident. Chasing you, risking the cops… it’s careless and leads to too many questions and more cover-ups. Either they were amateurs, desperate, or they were given specific orders to do whatever it takes to take you out.”
“Does that mean I can expect more people to come after me?”
I nodded and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “They must have put out a general hit on the dark web. I thought they’d just hired my organization, and maybe another professional, but sending out a hit like that for anyone to claim is going to lead to carelessness and more death. Not everyone is an expert like myself.”
I winked at him just to see his eyes roll up in his head again.
“Gee, I feel so much better. I not only have to worry about your organization, but countless others, including the police. Fucking Joy. I’m sure, on top of everything else, my own people will try to brand me as some traitor if I don’t die soon enough.” He sighed and rubbed his face before running his fingers through his dark hair. “We’re not going to make it, are we? Is this all for nothing?”
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure nothing bad happens and to fix this shit.”
Dalton turned his body to check on his son, who’d fallen asleep after that harrowing chase. He’d cried the entire time and eventually wore himself out. A pang of guilt hit me as a flash of my own childhood, steeped in violence, coursed through my mind. It could really fuck up a kid.
Dalton sighed and rubbed his face again before staring out at the hills and farmland. “I supposed I should thank you. You really did keep us alive.”
A quip hit my lips, but I kept it to myself. “You’re welcome.”
I glanced at him again, seeing the face that looked so familiar to me, yet had changed so much. His jaw was more refined and angular, with a dusting of dark scruff. There were harder lines from age around his eyes, and he had some white threaded through his neatly cropped dark brown hair.
I knew right then I would do what I could to protect him and his son. My family would come after me, but they could take care of themselves. They didn’t need me. Malik wouldn’t understand. He’d try to listen, but he wouldn’t get it.
Perhaps I was underestimating him, though. Malik had protected Sully, going against his nature and his job when he should’ve put him down. He helped create Sully, turning him into the psychopath he was. It hadn’t been intentional, but still, the guilt lay heavy in Malik’s soul enough to take care of the boy and train him until he grew to be an adult. After seventeen years, they finally committed to each other. Malik fought Sully’s sexual desire for a long time, but eventually, he gave in. Maybe Malik would understand.
Fuck, I didn’t even understand. It’d been twenty-seven years since I’d seen Dalton. There shouldn’t be any residual feelings for him whatsoever. But seeing him in that file, knowing our government wanted him dead, something clicked inside of me, and I knew I needed to find a way to protect him, even if reluctantly, because I was risking everything.
I’d been so cruel to him, and then I stole his kisses. But it wasn’t the kiss that did me in and made me fall for him. It was his willingness to forgive and forget all that I’d done, the willingness to give me a chance if I bettered myself. I took that to heart and took back control over my life. My life changed forever that night. I ended my pain and torment because of Dalton.
“I’ve got a safe house in Poolesville, Maryland. We’ll be good there for a couple of days before we have to move on.”
“No, I need a safe place for my son. We’re going to Middletown, Maryland. After which, I need to find a way to get my life back.”
“It’s not safe to drop him off with someone you know. If I found you, others will, too.”
He looked at me with an unreadable face. “If that’s true, do you know who I have in mind? Because I was careful not to choose someone obvious.”
I had a list of his friends and acquaintances from Veil, but I hadn’t had time to dive deep into it, needing to reach Dalton quickly once I got his location.
“You were careless with the bank,” I said instead of answering his question .
“I needed to clean out my account. I knowingly took the risk.”
“And if I hadn’t been there…”
I let that hang in the heavy air between us.
“Why? Why do you even fucking care?” he suddenly snapped, then glanced back at Owen to make sure he hadn’t woken the boy up from his yelling.
I didn’t have any quick answers for him. “We need to get rid of your car.”
Dalton scoffed and shook his head. “Yeah, I know.”
“I have a couple of cars I keep at the safe house for emergencies.”
I kept the place from my family’s knowledge, not wanting them to know about it. While I trusted them as much as one could trust assassins, I was always prepared for the worst, needing a place to go to, just in case. No doubt, each of my family members did the same.
“I told you—”
I didn’t let him finish. “Yeah, yeah… you want to drop Owen off. But we still need a car, and we need to rest before we move on. Owen probably needs to eat, too. We can use my house to make plans. It’s safe there. Not even my organization knows about it.”
Dalton sank into his seat and nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
I turned right onto a long and winding dirt road through the woods before we came up to open farmland and an old white farmhouse with a wraparound porch built back in the early 1900s. While I was a city boy and owned a condo in DC, I loved the place. I’d been drawn to the old home while on a job seventeen years ago. I’d spent those years fixing her up and giving her the best security I could buy.
The house and land were maintained by a local married couple I trusted—after a thorough background check. Several cattle kept the grass down on the five acres of land surrounded by woods. They also needed to be fed and watered or put into the barn when the weather was bad.
“This is your safe house?” Dalton asked, leaning forward, staring out of the windshield.
“Yep.”
I pulled up along the driveway that led to a separate building, which worked as a garage and storage and could hold up to four cars. On the other side of the house was the barn for the cows.
“I never pictured you as a country boy.”
I chuckled. “It’s nice to get away, but I don’t spend much time here. Maybe a few times over the seventeen years I’ve owned it, mostly to fix it up.”
After putting the car in park, I quickly jumped out, punched in the code to get into the garage, and got back in when the door slid open. I pulled into it, parked next to the light blue 1986 Ford Bronco I had restored, and the very boring 2014 Honda Accord in silver meant to go unnoticed on the road.
“I have a clean set of plates to put on your car, and I have someone who can register the plates under a different name if necessary.”
Dalton said nothing as he got out of the car and unbuckled his sleeping son, gently lifting him into his arms along with the dinosaur pillow thing. The boy sleepily wrapped his arms around his dad’s neck, resting his head on his shoulder, and started drooling on him.
Dalton stood there for a second, his eyes shut, and held his boy close before walking out of the garage.
I followed closely behind him. When we reached the front door, I entered a code on the keypad to get in. We stepped inside, and I led him up the stairs.
“There’s a bedroom you can put Owen in,” I whispered so I wouldn’t wake up the child.
Dalton still hadn’t said anything, and his silence was starting to make me itch. What was going on in that head of his? The tension was rolling off him, but then again, the day had been harrowing.
He headed up the stairs, and I opened the door to the first bedroom on the left because it had the best view of Middletown Valley and the Catoctin Mountains.
The entire house was clean, as I had called ahead yesterday to prepare it for guests. This was the first time I had brought someone here.
I pulled back the quilt and sheet as Dalton gently laid down his son, who was still out. Once he was covered up, the boy rolled onto his side, holding onto his dino pillow thing, pale reddish-blond hair spilling into his face.
His father stood there, watching the boy as he pulled back the strands from his son’s face.
With that, we left and closed the door behind us.
As soon as we reached downstairs, I said, “I need to get us some—”
The right hook came out of nowhere as Dalton clocked me on my left cheek. He hissed and shook out his hand. “Bastard!”
I rubbed my face as anger filled me, wanting to lash out on instinct. All those memories of when I used to hate him washed through me, but I reined it all in. “Nice right hook,” I quipped, though there was no humor in my voice. The simmering rage was clear in my tone.
Dalton scoffed and shook his head. “Fuck you!” He lunged at me, fisting my hoodie and shoving me against the wall. I could have stopped him, but I let him have his temper tantrum.
“Who sent you?” he growled.
I shrugged. “Probably your government. We don’t know who our clients are to maintain anonymity.”
“Who do you work for?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Fuck you!” he snapped again. “You were sent to kill me. You may have saved our lives, but you’re not fucking innocent. When should I expect the knife in my back? When you’ve gained my trust?”
Tired of this game, I grabbed his wrist and twisted it and his body around until I had him face-first into the wall with his arm pinned tightly behind him enough to hurt. I pressed my mouth to his ear and said in a low but forceful tone, “If I wanted you dead, you would already be dead. You would never see me coming. You would never have known it was me who did it. I’m a fucking ghost. That I allowed you to see me means you get to live another day. I’m not the one out to hurt you, but my family is . I know how they think, how they work, and how to handle them and anyone else who comes after you. Understood? ”
When he didn’t nod or say yes, I pulled his arm back tighter, making him groan. “Understood?” I asked again.
“Yes,” he gritted.
“I’ve fucking risked everything to protect you and Owen. Everything . My family is not only hunting you, but they’re going to come after me for my betrayal. I’m on the run as much as you are. Understood?” I said one more time, just so we were clear.
Dalton nodded.
“And never fucking punch me again. That was a freebie.”
With that, I let him go. Dalton scowled at me and rubbed his shoulder, but he said nothing. I tugged on his arm and brought him to my bedroom, where I kept the first aid kit.
“Sit and take off your shirt,” I ordered.
Dalton did as he was told, sitting there, bare-chested. He didn’t have a single tattoo and only had a smattering of dark hair on his chest. He was tight and had muscle, but he wasn’t built like I was.
I opened the red box and pulled out some alcohol wipes to clean the flesh wound on his side. He winced, but didn’t complain. It was more of a burn, so there wasn’t a lot of blood.
“Who’s this person you’re taking Owen to? I need to know so I can get your relationship with them scrubbed as much as possible to lessen the risk of discovery. It’s not foolproof, but it will buy us time.”
“You can do that? Never mind. Of course you can.” Dalton let out a long sigh. “She’s an old girlfriend from college before I came out. Her name is Savannah Duvall—Savannah McNeil before she married Mason. They have three kids, aged twelve, nine, and three. She came to my wedding and attended Matt’s funeral, but we sort of drifted apart over the years, busy with our own lives.”
After I was sure he wouldn’t get an infection, I applied some Neosporin salve on the wound before bandaging it up.
“Thanks,” he said, moving his torso around before putting his shirt back on.
“I’ll see what my guy can do. Now, I’m going to leave for about an hour to get us groceries and supplies. When I come back, I’ll show you the security room and where I keep the guns. For your own protection, please do not leave. Feel free to look around and pick out a bedroom for yourself. We’re staying the night, then we move on in the morning to get Owen to your Savannah’s house.”
After giving Dalton the codes to the house, I left, locked up, and headed to the garage, where I removed the battery cables from his car, just in case he decided to run. I didn’t trust him to stay.
I hopped into my Bronco and drove to the local grocery store in town. I made a call to Veil using one of my several burner phones.
“Yo,” he said when he answered.
“Savannah and Mason Duvall. Poolesville, Maryland. See if you can dig up information on her relationship with Dalton Reed. If you find anything, please scrub as much as you can.”
“You owe me, man.”
“Yes, yes, we’ve already established that. Whatever you want.”
“I don’t know what yet, but I’ll hold on to your I.O.U. It’s gonna be good ,” he cackled before he hung up.
When I reached the store, I parked and got out. We needed enough food to last several days. Things we could cook, and we definitely needed something to drink, so I would have to hit the liquor store, too. Dalton and I both needed to chill.