Risky Romance (Wolf Security #4)

35. Whisper

CHAPTER 35

Whisper

The sharp crack of bullets came from everywhere, splintering bark and shredding leaves. The chaos was deafening. Blade barked orders. Tyler and Lacey returned fire.

Dropping lower behind the pandanus trunk, I aimed Blade’s Glock at the grimy shack windows, but the salt-crusted glass obscured my view turning the interior into murky shadows. Through the spiderweb of cracks, something moved.

“Dane!” I screamed, but the sound was swallowed by deafening gunfire. “It’s Jewel. I’m here to help you.”

My breath shot in and out as I searched for my brother.

Bullets thumped into the tree limbs above me, raining bark onto my head, but I couldn’t see where the gunfire was coming from.

Tyler squeezed the trigger twice and the remaining window glass exploded inward in a twinkling rain. Lacey locked both hands around her gun. As she targeted the window opening, my heart jammed in my throat. I’d seen her target practice results. She was damn good.

My throat clenched. If Dane came into her view, Lacey would take the shot.

“Dane,” I cried out, my voice cracking. “Please give yourself up!”

Blade emerged from behind a bush and gave steady hand signals. He would take the rear. Lacey was to move to the right of the building. Tyler to stay where he was.

Despite the horror crashing through me, the Glock was steady in my hands as my finger hovered over the trigger. “Dane! Please stop this and come out!”

My throat burned raw with each word.

I glared at the window, praying for Dane to come out with his hands up.

His answer came in another burst of gunfire. Sand exploded inches from my face. Fuck. This wasn’t like the drug runners I’d faced out on the ocean or the smugglers who’d shoot without hesitation. This was my brother trying to kill us.

The same brother who’d trash-talked through our Fortnite matches last month. Who couldn’t keep a houseplant alive but made the best damn lasagna I’d ever tasted. Who’d covered for me that night I stumbled home drunk after the footy grand final, telling Mom I was sick while helping me to bed.

My finger trembled against the trigger guard.

This can’t be him.

It can’t be.

“Dane. Fucking answer me!”

Tyler crawled to a different position behind a thick-trunked melaleuca. His movements were like liquid as he kept his aim targeted at the shack.

Silence stretched over us like a rubber band about to snap. I’d seen enough gunfights out on the ocean to know this was going to end badly. But none of those had threatened to tear my heart from my chest with each round fired.

Through the salt-crusted window, a shadow shifted, deliberate and calculating. Ice shot through my veins.

Is that Dane?

“Last chance to come out with your hands up!” Blade’s booming voice carried over the distance between us.

My heart slammed against my ribs as Tory eased from prone to crouch. Every instinct screamed at me to join them and be the Border Force professional I was trained to be, but my body defied me. I couldn’t be part of the team that took down my own brother.

Tyler rolled to better cover, firing in quick succession. Another burst of gunfire erupted from the shack, wild, desperate, like a cornered bank robber’s final stand.

“No!” The cry ripped from my throat.

Tyler returned fire. His bullet punched through what remained of the window and shattered something inside.

Lacey dashed through the scrub with a predatory attack and slammed her back against the side wall.

“Dane, please!” Terror shredded my voice. “Don’t make them do this!”

Blade materialized at the shack’s far edge with five fingers raised to the sky. The countdown began. Five. Four.

Oh God! No!

Three.

Blade melted into the shadows around the back.

Two.

Lacey’s jaw clenched, and her stance was like a python about to strike.

One.

“No, wait—” My words died as the world exploded into hell.

Tyler, Tory, and Lacey moved as one, charging at the shack like wolves. Tyler kicked the door, and it splintered under his boot.

Shouts and gunfire thundered from inside.

Then silence crashed down, absolute and terrible.

My heart froze. The Glock slipped from my numb fingers as I lurched up from the sand. I sprinted toward the shack with tears blurring my vision, my sneakers slipping in the coarse sand.

The silence hurt my ears.

Please, God, don’t let my brother die.

I burst through the shack’s shattered door. The acrid smell of gunfire and fear filled the air. Blade, Lacey, Tory, and Tyler stood over a body. Their eyes said it all. He was dead.

It took everything to look down at the man sprawled on the floor.

My legs nearly gave out with relief.

“It’s not him.” I gasped for air. “That’s Bruce, the bastard who attacked me.”

Two neat holes punctured Bruce’s chest, and as blood spread across his shirt, his empty eyes stared at nothing.

“Oh, Jesus. Thank God,” Tory breathed. “I thought we’d killed your brother.”

“Where is he?” My question spilled from my lips. I raced back outside and sprinted to the truck. “Dane!”

Desperation clawed at my throat as I yanked open the driver’s side door and climbed up. Empty.

“Where are you?” Panic surged through me as my gaze darted from shadow to shadow, each dark patch in the sandy soil a potential grave.

No. I clenched my fists.

He is alive.

The truck’s cargo door creaked as I yanked it open. Pallets of corn cans filled the space, just as Cody had insisted.

As I jumped down, my gaze snagged on the corner of one of the plastic-wrapped pallets which had been torn away. A section of tins had been removed.

My mind whirled to Dane surviving on those corn kernels over the last couple of days as he hid, terrified in the bushes. “Dane! It’s over.”

Please be alive . . . Please don’t be dead in a ditch.

“Dane!” My voice trembled. “Bruce is dead. It’s safe to come out.”

Lacey and Tory joined my search, and their calls echoed through the coastal scrub. “Dane! Come out!”

We fanned out, and my heart raced as we searched the bushes surrounding the shack. My thoughts clashed with horrific possibilities, each one worse than the last. How could this happen?

A shadow detached from a shrub. My breath caught as Dane emerged, hands raised and trembling. Relief washed through me like a wave.

Tears cut clean tracks through the dirt on his face as I ran to him, and we collided in a tangle of desperate arms and broken sobs. His shirt was stiff with dirt, and he smelled of sweat and sea salt. His body shook so hard I could barely hold him.

“I’m sorry, Jewel. I’m so sorry,” he choked out, his body wracked with sobs. The anguish in his voice shattered my heart.

“It’s okay. You’re alive. That’s all that matters.” I could barely force the words past the knot in my throat.

“Bruce said he’d kill you if I didn’t—” He sucked in a painful breath.

“I know.” I pulled back just enough to see his face. His eyes were bloodshot and shadowed by circles so dark they looked like bruises.

My chin trembled as I fought back fresh tears. “Cody saved me from Bruce.”

“Who?” His lip quivered, and as he crumpled against me, wracked with fresh sobs, relief flooded through me. Dane didn’t know Cody. Cody was innocent.

I knew it. I fucking knew it.

Footsteps thundered behind me.

“It’s okay,” I called. “It’s Dane. He’s unarmed.”

Lacey approached with a set of handcuffs and her expression was a twisted mix of disappointment and conviction. “Dane, you’re under arrest under suspicion of drug trafficking.”

My heart plummeted.

“Lacey, please . . .” I began, but the weight of reality crushed my plea.

She pulled Dane’s hands behind his back and snapped on the cuffs. “You have a right to remain silent.”

Dane’s shoulders heaved and his bottom lip quivered.

I gripped his arm. “Everything will be okay.”

My lies were deathly hollow. Nothing was okay.

Tears teetered on his lashes as he shook his head. “No, it won’t. I’m a fucking idiot.” The fear in his eyes tore out my heart.

“We’ll work through this. I promise.”

A tear slid over his cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

“I know. We’ll work this out. I promise.” I fought more tears as Lacey led him to the shack and made him sit on the dirt.

He’d rung me to help him and now I’d exposed him as a criminal.

No. He was blackmailed into this. I crumbled at his side. “Dane, you need to tell them what happened, and why you did this.”

“I don’t know, I just . . . I just . . .”

“Hey.” Lacey squatted in front of him and offered a smile that could stop traffic. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

Dane shook his head. “No. Not really.”

“What about when he kicked you?” I asked. “Before you drove the truck?”

Dane blinked at me. “You saw that?”

“Yes. Why did he do that?”

Dane seemed to crumble into himself. “‘Cause I changed my mind. I didn’t want to drive the truck.”

“Why?” Lacey asked.

“I don’t know, I just had a feeling something wasn’t right.”

“What gave you that feeling?” I crossed my legs, trying to act casual despite the dozens of questions that fought for attention in my mind.

He shrugged. “‘Cause of how much they were paying me.”

“Do you know what’s in the truck?” Blade asked.

Dane sucked air through his teeth.

“We’re gonna look anyway.” Blade glared at Dane like he was roadkill.

“I didn’t know. I swear. All I had to do was drive the truck. But . . .” He released a massive breath and looked at me. “After Bruce took you, I had no choice. I had to drive the truck. But then, I, um, got scared and I pulled off the highway.”

“Is that when you worked out what was in the truck?” Lacey asked.

“No. I didn’t know until I got here. I waited for a whole day before I opened the back when I got hungry. I opened the corn to eat and found a false bottom in the can. That’s when I realized. I smashed the tin open and found . . . I found—” He banged the back of his head against the wall.

“Hey.” I gripped his ankle. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“No! It’s not.”

Blade marched to the back of the truck and returned with a plastic-wrapped package containing a dozen cans labeled as corn. Using his knife, he cut the cans free, then yanked the lid off using the ring pull. I held my breath as he dumped out the contents. But it was just corn.

He turned the can over, sheared off the end with his knife, and looked inside.

“Fuck me.” Shaking his head, he dumped out a bag of white powder. “There’s a fucking lot of cans in that truck.”

“I didn’t know.” Dane banged the back of his head again. “I didn’t. I didn’t.”

He banged harder.

“Cut it out.” Lacey tapped her boot to Dane’s foot. “That’s not helping. Why did you bring the truck here?”

“I was told to.”

“By who?” Lacey asked.

“When I pulled over on the highway, I used the radio to call my boss to tell him I couldn’t do it.”

“Your boss, Roger?” My stomach clenched, dreading his reply.

“Yeah.”

Shit. I’d wanted to believe the wharf master wasn’t involved in Scorpion Industries. I was wrong.

“What happened then?” Lacey asked.

“I was told to come here, and someone would help me.”

“When was this?” I asked.

“The day I left you. I didn’t go very far.”

“Why didn’t you call the police?” Lacey said.

“Because Bruce said he’d kill me and everyone in my family, starting with you.” His bloodshot eyes pooled as he met my gaze. “I didn’t know about the drugs, Whisper. I swear.”

“See.” I turned to Lacey. “He was blackmailed into taking that truck. He’s innocent.”

Lacey raised her hands, calming me, and then she knelt on one knee in front of Dane.

“Tell us how this all started.” Her voice was gentle.

“I thought it was a legitimate shipment!”

Blade stepped closer and crossed his arms. “Who gave you the orders?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head.

“Bullshit,” Blade barked.

“I don’t know!” Dane shouted. “It was just a guy named Peter. He rang me and said it was a last-minute delivery to the wharf. I didn’t think . . . I didn’t think . . .” His voice trailed off, and panic burned in his eyes.

“Rosebud Wharf, right?” Lacey said. “That’s where you work.”

“Yes.” He swallowed so hard, I heard it.

“Where’s your phone?” Blade demanded.

“Bruce took it.”

Blade glared at me. “You said Dane called you.”

“I meant he sent me text messages. Bruce stomped on my phone, or I’d show you.”

“We’ll access your records,” Lacey said. “How did you send those messages without your phone?”

“My Apple watch,” Dane said.

I nodded.

“Where is it?”

“It’s in the truck, but it’s flat. That’s why I couldn’t call you.” He nodded at me and his face contorted with absolute suffering. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“Dane.” Lacey drew his attention. “Was this the first time you’ve done work for Peter?”

Dane groaned, and the truth rushed over his expression like a tsunami. It wasn’t his first time.

My chest caved.

“Listen to us,” Lacey said in a calm tone. “If you want to help us, and Jewel, you need to cooperate. We can help you, but you have to be honest.”

Dane stared at the ground and his shoulders slumped. “I just wanted to make some extra cash so I could buy my car.”

Oh God. I’d been pushing him to get a car. Anger and sorrow clashed in my mind.

“I didn’t think it would lead to this,” he said.

“This isn’t just about you anymore, Dane,” Lacey said. “This is bigger than all of us. You have to step up and take responsibility.”

He looked at me with desperation in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Jewel. I’m so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “We’ll figure this out, but you need to tell us everything you know.”

Nodding, he swept his gaze to Lacey.

“It’s okay. Lacey’s my friend,” I said. “She’ll look after you.”

“So this wasn’t the first truck you drove for Bruce,” Blade said.

“Yes, it was.” Dane glared at Blade.

“You just said it wasn’t the first time you’d worked for Peter.”

“Yes, but this was the first time I drove a truck for him,” Dane fired back.

Blade swore under his breath.

“Okay. So what else have you done for Peter?” Lacey asked.

“Just small stuff. Like he’d give me a hundred bucks to look away when manifest paperwork didn’t match a load.”

My stomach clenched. Oh, Dane. What did you do?

“At first, it was just fifty bucks here and there.” His eyes pleaded with me to understand.

“How did he pay you?” Lacey asked.

“Pay ID. Right into my bank account. The money was instant.”

Lacey glanced at me. “Maybe we can track where it came from.”

“I hope so.”

“When did Peter call you about the truck?” Lacey asked.

“Last week. He said I’d get five hundred dollars if I transported a truck to the wharf. He told me to take a sicky, then I’d get paid for work, and get the cash.” He moved his mouth like he was going to vomit. “We laughed about it.”

Tory shot her gaze to Blade and something intense crossed between them.

“Did you see them load the truck?” Lacey asked.

“No.”

“So what made you suspicious?”

Huffing, he shrugged. “The manifest said it was corn, but I didn’t believe it.” Fresh tears spilled down his cheeks. “I thought it was just dodgy paperwork. I didn’t know about the drugs.”

“Who did you deal with at the farm?” Lacey asked.

“Bruce, mainly. Some of the other guys, too. They were nice. Joking and stuff.”

“And Cody?” Lacey asked.

“Cody? Who’s he?” He swept his gaze from Lacey to me.

“A guy in a cowboy hat?” I suggested.

Dane frowned, shaking his head. “Never saw anyone like that. Sorry.”

I wanted to hold him and thank him. His testimony could save Cody and help arrest a heap of assholes involved in this crime wave.

Yet the truth hurt like hell. My little brother had been caught in a trap, but it wouldn’t matter, he’d committed crimes that would put him in jail for a long time.

And there was absolutely nothing I could do to save him.

Cody was innocent too. But he’ll hate me for not believing him.