11. Tracey
Chapter 11
Tracey
Over the last few weeks, I've learned a few things about my girl. One, surprising her with a ring in front of her whole family on game night was not one of my smartest moves. I had been carrying this damn ring around for so long. No time seemed perfect, but I knew game night would be a good night. Or so I thought. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, but her reaction...things just got messy.
The moment she saw me on ‘one knee,’ which meant I was sitting on the ottoman, ring box open on the palm of my hand, the tears started. There had been tears, hoots, and whistles—and then my girl lost her dinner. The excitement had her and the baby battling again. In the end, she’d said yes. That was all I needed.
Another thing was that her morning sickness, which could happen at any time, hit her hard and fast. The baby was making some serious room in there for itself. That to me said it was a girl, but we wouldn’t know for a while. Also, she was grouchy—borderline psychotic—most days, but especially if anyone woke her up once she was asleep. It didn’t matter if it was midday, morning, the middle of the night. Anytime she was sleeping and you woke her, you risked the wrath of Satan himself—unless you were a tiny baby. With that strict requirement on your side, you were officially safe from the anger. I knew she had a soft spot for kids; I’d seen it with her nephews and her friends’ kids. But, it was great to see it with this little one. Her maternal instincts were kicking in big time.
Ethan, the baby Stella had rescued, was a precious child. He ate really well, taking a full bottle when he’d feed. He liked to sleep too. He slept most of the night, which from what others had said was not the typical cycle. He was fussy when he was hungry or needed to be changed. Other times, he was all smiles and cute baby noises. The little dude was just chill. When he woke at night, whether to be fed or changed, he was content just to be held afterwards. Stella would sit in the rocking chair, holding him against her chest so they didn’t disturb my sleep.
As if I could sleep through her leaving the bed. I’d silently watch them, reveling in the new changes in her.
The moonlight had a way of wrapping her in its glow as she softly sang to him. It was something I was more than thankful to watch. I loved my hard-hitting, foul-mouthed angel. God, I loved her more than words. She had been my salvation.
This baby was becoming that for her too.
Watching her and the baby had become one of my favorite pastimes. So much so, I hated leaving them sprawled out on the bed. Ethan had been fussy after a bottle this morning, so she’d laid down with him, and they were both out in no time, his little body curled up on her chest. I’d fought with myself to stay after pulling the blanket over them. They looked so peaceful.
I wanted to stay, but I couldn’t. I needed to meet Chip and Tank at the bar. The FBI was still on our asses for fucking up their op, but let’s face it, that shit show was all on them. They’re the ones that allowed bounty hunters in. They made no move to stop us. If we’d been given all the information, we’d have gone in and shut them down before they knew anyone was there. We didn’t just run in with guns blazing. They were the reason we had lost the fuckers.
I got out of Carter’s truck and waved as he pulled away. I’d be glad when I could drive again. Shaking my head, I moved to the front door of the bar. My crutches make it tricky getting in and out of doors by myself. It sucked.
“Hey, my man, what’ll you have?” Brayden asked as I took in a frustrated breath. Damn crutches.
“Beer, whatever’s on tap.” I moved to the bar and shook his hand. “Good to see you. How are the girls?”
“They’re good. I’m missing them like crazy. Katie is trying to convince her mom to come home for a little bit.”
“Think she will?” I inquired before taking a drink of my beer.
“Not a chance. I think it would do her good to see that no one here is upset with her. Hell, I’d say ninety-five percent of Burke still has no idea what happened. They just know Stephen was killed and that Carole left town. They kept it off the news, and no one has mentioned it since it first happened.”
Katie, Brayden’s fiancée, had taken the baby, Natty, to a doctor in Houston a few weeks ago to have some tests done on her little heart. As far as I knew, she was doing well being here surrounded by family. From there, she was spending some time with her mom. Carole still didn’t have the heart to face the people in Burke. As Brayden said, no one here blamed her for what had happened with her husband. It wasn’t her fault he was a psychotic serial killer.
But it didn’t matter to her. Houston was as close as she would get. She’d fly in from Hawaii, if she were coming from home or from whatever event her publishing house had her at, park it a few weeks, let her family come to her, and then leave again.
“How do you not go crazy being away from Stel? I know I’m new to love, but am I nuts? I feel like I’m climbing the walls. The next three days are going to feel like years.”
I chuckled. “It gets easier at times. Harder at others. Three days will feel like nothing. They’ll be back before you know it.”
“I hope so.”
“Well, looky what the cat dragged in.” I turned to see Chip and Tank coming in the door. I gave him the one-fingered salute, picking up my beer and taking two big gulps.
“Boys, how’s it hanging?”
“Long and to the left,” Tank replied.
I snorted. Asshole was posturing like a rooster.
“Enough with the pleasantries, let’s find a table.” Chip ordered more beers and carried them to the table. I hobbled along behind him and took the first chair I got to and dropped into it. I pulled another chair over and propped up my leg.
“What did you find out?” I asked, taking my beer when he set it on the table.
“The FBI has an open case. There was another man they were after that night. A man named Kurt Bohlen. He wasn’t on the property. They’re saying we let him escape, but shit went up in flames so fast, I wouldn’t know if angels came down to bless us that night.”
“Should have had me with you,” Tank grumbled. I was still letting the name roll around in my head. I knew that name, but I wasn’t sure from where. Then, it hit me.
“Son of a bitch! Did the others find out who we were?” I asked, sitting up straighter, pulling my phone from my pocket.
“Why? What do you mean?”
I dialed the station.
“Burke County Sheriff’s office, how may I direct your call?”
“Anna, it’s Trace. Is boy wonder in?”
“Sure, hang on a second,” she said laughing.
“Thanks.”
“What in the hell is going on?” Chip asked. I held up a finger.
“Landry.”
“Derek, it’s Trace. I need a favor.”
“Sure thing. What’s up?”
“I need all the information you can find on Kurt Bohlen. B.O.H.L.E.N.” I spelled out the name, my worry skyrocketing. “He’s from New Mexico. Anything you can find would be great. Where he’s been, who he hangs out with, all that shit, and kid, do me a solid, don’t mention that name or this search in front of the suit. I’ll come in and tell Gabe what’s going on as soon as I figure it out.”
“Sure thing. I’ll get back to you soon.”
“Thanks, kid.”
“What are you doing?” Chip questioned, his voice tight.
I blanked my screen, slid the phone back into my pocket, and met his gaze, then looked at Tank.
“You remember the bounty Stel and I took while you two were off in Colorado chasing the Dante brothers?” They both nodded. “Stella got into a fight. Remember her black eyes and broken ribs?” They nodded again.
My anger grew just remembering that case. I cracked my neck to relieve some of the tension. “The one who got shot and locked up—that was Kurt Bohlen.”
“Son of a bitch. If he saw us…he could have followed us back.” Chip cursed again.
“That’s what I’m worried about. No way he’d forget my mug. When I caught up to him and saw what he’d done to Stel that day, I’d lost my temper.”
“You should have killed the bastard,” Tank growled. “A little lye, a little water…” He shrugged.
“I wanted to, but by the time he was unconscious, the cops were there. I didn’t know it beforehand, but the neighbors called them when they heard gunfire. Which was probably for the best.”
“So what’s the plan? Are you going to tell Stel?” Chip raised a brow as he finished off his beer.
What was the plan? I scrubbed a hand over my face and shrugged. “I don’t know. What’s the chances that the fucker was watching from afar?” I asked.
“Pretty good. That’s how he avoided capture the first time. No one could ever figure out why he wasn’t there. Most of these assholes want to be there to gloat and celebrate. They figured it out soon enough that he was a coward and hid out, letting his men go down.”
“That seems too good to be true, though. I’ve got a feeling—” Chip started then stopped. Shaking his head.
“What?”
“It would make more sense if someone was passing along info. There’s no way—that op was a complete clusterfuck—but we both know how well planned out we had our side of it. There should have been no way for this op to go down like it did.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Someone must be feeding them info. I’m thinking it’s the CI; what was his name?”
“Morris Austin.”
“Yeah, him. He knew more than he said, that’s why the peckerhead didn’t show up that night.”
“He was found dead two days ago,” Tank commented before downing the rest of his beer. “His body was left at a roadside rest area—” He looked at his phone. “Seems like a hit. One shot to the back of the head.”
“Who sent that over?” I asked.
His lips tipped up. “Ruby Dee. I’ve had her searching for him since you two called me from the hospital.”
“And you’re just now telling us this?” Chip snarled.
“Hey, you work your shit. I work mine.”
“How—never mind. That woman has robots for fingers.”
I finished my beer.
“Damn, Ruby could give Derek a run for his money.”
I snorted at Chip. Ruby was good, damn good, but she wasn’t Derek. Nor did she have Derek’s FBI friend Hatcher to help her if she needed it.
“She’s good, I’ll give her that. Those two together would be unstoppable,” Chip added.
Tank nodded. “I don’t like sharing her, so we’ll just keep the setup as is, yeah?”
Chip and I exchanged looks and chuckled.
“Where was his body found?” Chip questioned, bringing us back to the issue at hand. Tank scrolled for a moment and made a face. It was a look I knew well.
“Where?” I asked again. Tank looked up.
“Arkansas.” My heart leapt in my chest. How did this happen? That confirmed our fear. The asshole was on his way here. Two days ago…he could be here now.
I pulled my phone back out and sent Stel a message.
Trace: Where are you?
I hit send and waited. I was hoping she was home with Wayne. Safe. I tried not to panic when five minutes passed with no reply. I got up and used my crutches to balance myself.
“We need to go tell Gabe what’s happening,” Chip stated, standing.
“I have to find Stel first. You two go.”
“Brother, you won’t get far on those sticks. Relax. We’ll make sure she’s safe and catch that mother fucker.”
I gave Chip a hard look. He only pointed to the door and started walking.
Bossy assholes.
Ten minutes later, we were walking into the Burke County Sheriff’s office. I still hadn’t heard back from Stel—I was starting to panic, the worry in my gut twisting painfully.
“Derek, can you find Stel for me?” I called out. He looked up from one of his many computer monitors and nodded.
“Anna, is Gabe in?” Chip asked, taking the lead.
That was okay. I wasn’t in the right headspace at the moment.
“Hey, Trace, Carter said she went out with the baby. He’s not sure where. Wayne was with her, though.”
“What’s going on?” Anna asked.
I sighed as Gabe’s office door opened. “I’m not sure anything is wrong,” I replied honestly.
“Why don’t you boys come in and tell me what’s going on?”
It wasn’t a suggestion, so we piled into his office to tell him everything we knew, what we thought, and to get an idea of what in the hell we needed to do next. So much had happened already over the last week, it was all a crapshoot. Where in the hell should we even start? I wasn’t sure if any of us could handle much more of this insanity. I checked my phone again, still nothing from Stel.
“Derek, let me know when you find her. I want to make sure she’s okay.”
“You got it,” he called out. I turned and moved into the room, flopping down in a chair.
“Start from the beginning.”
I met Gabe’s gaze and nodded. It was time to get this shit show going.