Chapter Twenty-One
PATSY
By the time Wes and I had crawled back into our tent tonight, I was convinced life in a homeless encampment was not only dangerous, but it was downright boring as all hell.
I couldn’t wait for this case to be over and sincerely regretted involving Wes.
When Cassidy and Mike had dropped us back off at the bus, we’d briefed Candy on the investigation into their robbery case as well as Detective Kershaw’s suspects.
Though their mob ties had surprised Candy, he’d taken it all in his stride.
He’d agreed that if their deviation into a murder-for-hire scheme that went from simple extortion to something that brought unwanted fed attention, the three thugs wouldn’t be long for this world.
The golden age of mob justice when one of their own crossed a boss, almost always played out.
Wes and I played cards for a while after the camp settled down.
We’d all decided that there was no reason for the two of us to wander around like sitting ducks to work out where the killer was.
Several tents had buggered off in the day as people decided it was too bloody dangerous to hang out in the vicinity of a homicidal maniac picking off victims one by one.
We’d agreed that there would be very little finger pointing and camp gossip by virtue of sheer fear, if nothing else.
Candy had positioned the rest of the team around the camp, having decided at the last moment that it really didn’t matter if anyone stood out to the killer anymore.
Monroe was in a sniper perch at the east end, closer to us, and Clifford was set up at the west end.
Though Candy couldn’t be certain snipers would be necessary, it never hurt to have men he trusted looking through rifle scopes as they scanned the camp.
The higher ups thought the killer would keep his head down as he searched for his trophies, not paying attention to all the fit looking men who were new to the camp.
I thought that was a wee bit na?ve but the serial had to be desperate to get them back if we were right about his motives for the murders.
We all wore coms and throughout the evening; we heard our men checking in as they made their way through the camp, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone who looked the least bit out of place.
After cards, we made a final trip to the latrine before returning to our tent and sleeping bags.
We wrapped up in each other’s arms and eventually drifted off to sleep.
I was jolted awake by a sharp shout in my earwig and sat bolt upright as I heard Rex yell, “Fire!” Wes sat up beside me, and I reached for him as Rex reported that he’d spotted something burning not twenty feet from where we’d bedded down. I grabbed my pants as I rolled out of bed.
“Where’re you going?”
I shoved my feet into my sweatpants and then grabbed my shoes, yanking them on and my jacket. “I’m takin’ a squiz, see what’s goin’ on.”
“NO!” Wes grabbed my arm. “Patsy, it’s too dangerous! Don’t go out there.”
I heard my teammates calling out their locations as they converged on the disturbance not far from us.
“This is my job, luv. It’s what I do.” I pulled a knife from the inside of my jacket and handed it to him, cursing the fact that I’d only brought one gun with me.
“If anyone but me or my team comes in here, defend yerself. Don’t ask questions, Wes. ”
“I can’t stab someone, Patsy!” Wes cried, staring in disgust at the knife as if I’d just handed him a wet fish.
“Just in case.” I leaned forward and pecked his lips. They were cold and rigid. When I tried to pull away, he wrapped me in his meaty arms. “I have to go, mo mhuirnín,” I said, kissing the side of his face as he held on. “Goin’ now.” I reluctantly pulled out of his embrace.
“Blast!” I picked out Alain’s voice, a posh British drawl I’d recognize anywhere. “There’s another bloody body here.”
“Report position, Joy!” Candy shouted through the coms.
“West end of the camp…not far from where the second body was found this morning.” Alain replied. “Good God! What the devil? This poor sod’s been badly beaten and strangled, Captain…just like the others.”
“Wait for me there, Joy. I’m on my way.” Candy’s pounding footsteps could be heard as his long legs no doubt ate up the distance between Alain and himself.
“I’m here with Joy, Captain,” Nash said. “Yeah, this is our guy. The killer left him just like the first guy Snickers and I found at the latrines this morning.”
Candy shouted back. “Affirmative. Patsy? Wes? Report in,” he yelled.
“We’re good as gold. We’re here, boss.” I crawled to the mouth of the tent and zipped it open before poking my head out.
The fire was kitty-corner to our place across the road.
The camp was chaotic. People screaming and mass panic going on around us.
If Wes weren’t with me, I’d have bolted over to join my brothers already.
I looked back over my shoulder. He seemed to sense my faffing about at leaving him because he instantly crawled over to me on hands and knees.
“Go do what you have to do.” Wes held up the knife. “I have this and clearly, the serial killer is busy elsewhere tonight. I promise not to leave.”
I hesitated, knowing he was probably right. I stared into his eyes only for a moment before making up my mind. “Love ya.”
“I love you too!” He patted my bum.
The last thing I noticed before ducking through the tent flap was his expression of sheer determination. I zipped the tent shut and ran out into the camp, praying he’d be safe. Over by the fire, Napoleon squatted, bent over a prone form with smoke rising up from the blackened clothing.
“Shit!” Napoleon threw an arm up over his face. “That smells rank.”
He was right. The scent of burning flesh brought back long buried memories of Afghanistan, firefights, and horrors I wish I’d never witnessed. I bent over Napoleon. “Is he dead, mate?”
“Dead, yeah, but this one wasn’t strangled,” Napoleon said. “Look.”
I bent to see where he’d pointed. A vicious looking slash to the neck had ended his life in an instant. The strong odor of accelerant rose up from the man’s jacket. “Bloody hell.”
“Candy, we’ve got another body here,” Napoleon said into the coms. “He didn’t die like the others. Dr. Reeves was right. The killer is decompensating.”
“Where are you?” Candy shouted over the bedlam.
“I’m with Patsy about twenty feet from his tent.”
“Stay there. I’m coming to you,” Candy shouted.
“Roger, Captain.”
I glanced back over my shoulder toward the tent. It looked the same as when I’d left it with the zipper closed. A shiver ran over me as I turned around just in time to see Candy barreling toward us. He frowned at me. “Where’s Chaudry?”
I shot the tent another look before looking back at Candy. “Safe. I left him in the tent less than a minute ago.”
“He’s wearing his coms?”
I nodded. “We slept with them in.”
“Wes!” Candy said into the earwig. “Come in, Wes.”
Sheer terror swept over me when there was no instant come back.
“Wes!” I screamed into the com, as I charged toward the tent.
“Wes! Wes!” I nearly ran into two camp residents who were running across the road carrying what gear they owned.
When I grabbed the zipper, and yanked it up, the sight of the empty interior sent another lightning bolt of fear lancing through me.
“Wes! Wes! He’s gone, Candy! Wes is missing! ”
I heard running feet in the com, my brothers yelling, and knew they were all converging on my position even as something caught my eye.
A streak of moonlight shone across the sleeping bags for a brilliant two seconds before it disappeared, only to reappear a moment later.
The back of the tent had been cut from roof to floor as it flapped in the wind.
My heart did a flip-flop as I screamed into the com.
“Oh, Jaysus, Wes…where are ya?”
I dove through the slit in the tent, coming up in a squat, frantically looking side to side for him.
Camp residents were running at breakneck speeds in their panic to get away from the unknown malevolent force among them.
In the distance, I caught sight of a large man across an open field.
His stumbling gait wasn’t normal and there was no mistaking him.
I wanted to scream as I realized Wes wasn’t alone.
A man jogged beside him, holding onto his arm, as they headed for a row of parked cars at the end of the field.
I took off running in their direction. They were a good fifty feet in front of me.
“Wes! Wes!” When he didn’t reply, I knew the man had found the coms he’d been wearing and destroyed them.
“Patsy!” Candy shouted in my com.
“Runnin’ east, boss,” I panted, glancing over my shoulder. “Thirty feet in front of ya.” I swung back around, located Wes, and kept running. He was lumbering, not running the way he should, which had to mean he was hurt.
“Monroe! In position?” Candy asked.
Rex’s voice came back instantly. “Affirmative, Captain!”
“Reeses!” I screamed Rex’s nickname. “Parked cars, east end of the empty field. Wes is with another man.”
“Yeah, I see them, Patsy.” After a pregnant pause, he spoke again. “Your boy is hurt.”
My heart fell. Rex had them in his sights, which meant I was right. Wes was hurt. There was no time to beat myself up, but I had a go anyway. I should never have left him alone. What a fucking eejit. As if a flimsy bloody tent was going to keep him safe.
I sprinted, closing the gap between us, keeping an eye on Wes and the stranger. The man stopped them at the passenger’s door of a parked car. “Run, Wes, run. What the hell are ya doin’?” I hissed to myself.
The fire was providing some light, but it wasn’t until a car suddenly drove past, briefly illuminating the pair that I saw he’d slumped against the car, gasping as the man fumbled with the key fob.
Wes held both hands over his middle and looked like he was struggling to breathe.
As the car passed, I went cold from head to toe as I watched a dark stain slowly spreading down the front of Wes’ jeans.
“If you’ve got the shot, take that fucker out, Rex!” Candy’s voice instantly grounded me.
The man with Wes wrenched open the back door to the car and shoved Wes, making him stumble and fall to his knees. The kidnapper suddenly stood tall and lifted a knife above his head, letting out a blood curdling scream. A second later, the knife came down—
I heard the crack of a high-powered sniper rifle a second before…the left side of the killer’s head blew off.
WES
I heard a distant echo of what sounded like a gunshot and, already on my hands and knees, realized I could hold out no longer. My elbows simply gave out as if all my strings had been cut. A second later, I crumpled to the ground face first as my world began to gray out.
“Patsy!” I yelled, only to realize no sound had come out.
Pain sliced through my guts just like my attacker’s knife had.
I fell onto my side curled into a fetal position, laying my head on the cold dirt.
I tried desperately to draw in air, but it was futile.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized the knife had probably punctured a lung on its way in.
I closed my eyes and began to drift away, feeling only cold as a heaviness I’d never felt before overtook all other sensations.
“Wes! Wes!”
I tried to force my eyes open at the sound of Patsy’s voice. I knew he was close but where, I couldn’t say.
“Wes! Holy Mother of God! Wes!
I caught sight of him then…the beautiful Irish dream of a man I’d fallen in love with. He ran toward me and dropped to his knees on the ground in front of me. I groaned as he gently rolled me to my back. I gasped, trying to drag in more air, giving up when it was too painful.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Wes! Yer hurt mo mhuirnín.”
His silken voice roused me, and I tried to raise my arms, giving up when the effort was too great.
He bent over me and slid his arms under my knees, supporting them as he raised them, and muttering what sounded like prayers to every known saint.
I stared up at him in a daze. I felt my lips curl as his pretty blue eyes filled with tears.
A moment later, I felt pressure on my belly and scrunched up my face, heaving with all my might to move away from the sudden ache.
The pressure got stronger and I flinched, unable to make my arms work to push at the impossibly strong man pressing into my middle.
Around us, everything felt like chaos, but the second I was able to blink away the tears, I saw him there, hovering above me. Patsy smiled down at me as he stroked my beard with his free hand.
“I love you.” I felt my lips moving but again, no sound came out.
“Listen, luv, I already called the ambulance. They should be here any minute.”
“Mr. Chaudry?” Candy’s blurry face swam into view as he bent over. “Help is on the way. The threat has been neutralized.”
I felt laughter bubbling up in my chest. Neutralized was a very funny word.
Something wet hit my cheek and I blinked several times as I refocused on Patsy’s face.
Tears were streaming down his face even as he looked elsewhere.
He seemed to be watching for something. And then I heard it…
the songs of angels in the distance. I tried again to move my arms, and this time, I was able to lift my hand with tremendous concentration.
I reached up and cupped Patsy’s face as the songs got louder.
“The ambulance is almost here,” Patsy quietly croaked. His voice sounded guttural and broken as angel song morphed into sirens. Patsy stared down at me as peace I’d never felt before dragged me down. My eyelids slid closed; I couldn’t hold them open any longer. “Stay with me, Wes.”
Patsy’s strangled words were the last thing I heard as I finally…peacefully…slipped away.