2. Jason
“I’m tooold for this shit,” Toto grumbled from the ground beside me.
“Suck it up, soldier.” Chuckling, I sat up, stretching out my back. He had a point; we were too old for this shit. My body was not feeling it today, and I wasn’t even there for their drunken night out.
My problem was due to my lack of proper exercise over the last two months. Working cases that had me up most nights, all day, and some that kept me from sleeping altogether even if I dared to try.
I leaned forward, allowing my tired, sore muscles to fully stretch out; drawing the tightness gathering in my shoulders out.
“No one told you to try and outdrink Vice.”
“Yeah, well?—”
“I can outdrink you, asshole,” Vice mocked in a fake falsetto, laughing at the look on Toto’s face. “You can’t hang, old man.”
Everyone laughed along with him.
“I’m sorry I missed that,” I said, lying back on the ground, letting my back crack. “I would have thought you’d have learned that the last time.”
“I never said I learned from my actions.” He shrugged, trying to play off the embarrassment.
Nothing happened in this group, ever, that we didn’t relive every single time one of us did something stupid. Alcohol makes most people do stupid shit.
But let me tell you, nothing will get you ragged on more than being outclassed by a senior officer. Toto was all of six feet tall, weighed close to two eighty, and he had the nerve to think his size made a difference in the game of drinking.
Vice stood all of five foot seven, weighed in around one ninety, and could outdrink a fish. We all knew this from our own experiences with him. There was no one I’d met to date that stood a chance of taking him down.
I’d tried, I’d failed, I’d given in. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…well, I’d learned the first time, but you get it. However, some people were not happy until they were laid out on a barroom floor, curled up under the table, and passed out.
And yes, I still have the picture proof from that night. Toto found copies of that picture in his bunk, on his car, wherever he would least expect it. We’ve tortured him for years. And each time he gets fed up, he tries again. He hates losing.
Chuckling to myself, I thought back to those first days of training. There had been many mornings back then that these jokers had lined up for PT, eyes bloodshot, breath still smelling of alcohol. They’d looked like a strong wind would put them on their asses, and yet, they’d made it to formation. They got points for that.
That didn’t mean they were off the hook though. Far from it. I took liberty in those days, well, now too, as the leader of this band of misfits, to work them harder, for longer. Their younger days, they didn’t always handle it as well as they do now. Back then, I’d made them run obstacle courses until they’d puked up every drop of Satan’s piss, or whatever it was they were drinking.
Making them rethink their life choices was my gift to them. It made them tougher, stronger, and have a lot of appreciation for moderation. They knew the consequences of being stupid. Their livers would thank me one day.
Right this minute, I was sort of rethinking mine. We’d been running the obstacle course for two hours now, on top of our normal two-hour workout. Climbing walls, nets, and crawling in the mud. I’d say we were doing it just to keep our skills up, but the platoon of new recruits may have had something to do with it. Where else can we run newbies ragged just to prove that us old fellas still have it? Yeah, we deserve the misery of old age at the moment. It was earned, dammit.
Thanks to the unpredictable Texas weather, the sudden downpour had cooled us off a bit, but now, it was muggy as hell.
On second thought, hell might be cooler today.
“Let’s get cleaned up and changed. I’m starving.” I got to my feet, reached out and helped Vice up.
“Where are we going? Thai, Korean, barbecue or soul food?”
“Soul food,” we answered Bones as one.
“It’s been a long day; we all need a good home-cooked meal that we don’t have to fix. Since Toto was the last one to drag in, he’s paying, so be ready to eat up,” I teased, walking toward my truck. “See you guys there in an hour?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“See you bums there.”
I climbed into my truck, a towel under me to keep the dirt off my seat. The ride home didn’t take long, and I hurried inside, up the stairs and to the bathroom. Showering off the morning, I let out a long, frustrated sigh. I was still thinking about my last case. Yes, we had a man in jail, he’d admitted to the murder, but there was still something that just nagged at me. The DA was able to build a case, the man had priors, but my gut—which hadn’t failed me yet—said there was more to it. There was no way he was a mastermind of finding a damn Pokémon, let alone planning then orchestrating these kidnappings and murdering these girls. He may have helped in the mutilations and disposal, but I’d stake my career on that being all he’d done.
“Get it together, man. It’s over. Done.”
Maybe Cap was right. I should schedule an appointment to talk with Dr. Gonzales. Maybe he could help me figure out my malfunction here.
I finished up the shower, scrubbed a towel over myself, and went to get dressed. The picture on my bureau of Kenz made those invisible strings every parent holds onto tug at my heart. I was missing my daughter, something fierce. Other than a sleepover here and there, or her staying with my mom when I was on a case, she was never out of my sight for long.
“Dad’s having major separation anxiety right now. You’d be laughing at me if you were here,” I said, picking up the picture. I gave myself a minute and then set it back down.
Two hours and two plates of food later, I was laughing with the guys.
“Y’all need anything else?”
“Only if it comes with your number, gorgeous.”
I glanced at Vice and shook my head. The man was unstoppable.
“I don’t think my man would like that much. Y’all may be retired soldiers and all, but he doesnt share.”
“Too bad.”
“We’re good,” I said, cutting across Toto before he got us in trouble. “Thank you so much. It’ll be one check, and this joker here,” I added, slapping Toto on the shoulder, “is paying. We should get out of here so they can have the table back.”
“I’ve got the ticket ready,” she replied, slipping it on the table. “You can pay at the front register.”
I slipped her the money we had gathered for her tip. She’d been a great waitress, so she deserved every penny of it.
“Thanks for great service,” I stated, smiling.
Her eyes widened at the bills in her hand. “You fellas come back anytime.”
Chuckling, we walked out of the restaurant, letting the hot Texas sun beat down on us. The rain clouds were gone, the slight breeze had washed away the mugginess; now we just had devil’s ass crack hot.
“What’s the plan for this afternoon?”
“Bones and I have a meeting in an hour with Lynn and the Assistant District Attorney at Baylor Medical,” Vice called out.
Heads turned my way.
“They have a possible client for you guys; I’m just going along for the ride.” I shrugged.
As a Ranger, it wouldn’t be unusual for us to be called in in the thick of things, but this was a civilian case. Bones owned “Sanford Security.” He, along with Vice, took cases around the area to keep people safe. The others would fill in when needed too. It wasn’t an all or nothing kind of gig. We did what we could, when we could.
Their last case was an abused kid who had to go to court. The poor boy was only eight and scared to death. He’d walked in the courtroom that day, his head held high thanks to the men surrounding him. He’d been able to tell everyone that it was his dad who had shot his mother. He’d seen it all from the slight crack in the bathroom door. The only reason he hadn’t been shot that day was he’d managed to crawl out the bathroom window before his drunk father could get the door busted in.
“Court details make my skin crawl. There’s always some jerk thinking they’re above the law. It usually ends badly for them in the long run.” Sliver shook his head as he went to his Jeep.
“Let’s hope this is one of those cases where they spot us and back off.”
“Nah, I like the other kind better. I take great pleasure in beating down assholes. It’s what I was born to do,” Toto chimed in, a feral grin on his face.
Chuckling, I shook my head.
“Get to the office, check the emails, messages, and let Char know she’s clear to go on her break. Lynn will be back as soon as we are done with the ADA. I think y’all can handle it for a bit,” Bones ordered.
“You got it, boss man.”
“I’ll follow you guys,” Vice said, climbing into his Toyota Corolla. He loved that car. He called it his sensible, blend into the crowd car. He used it a lot on surveillance gigs. So far, he hadn’t been caught. I guess he had a point.
Bones and I hopped into my truck and headed toward the medical center in Temple. The ride was pretty quiet, the traffic not being bad for this time of day. We parked, waited for Vice, and headed inside.
The meeting went about as well as I’d thought it would, even if it took almost three hours to sort out every single detail. The young woman scheduled to testify had been tossed down a flight of stairs, the perp probably hoping it would deter her from testifying, so she would need around-the-clock security.
They’d tried to scare her, but all they’d done was solidify her willpower to stand up to a bully. She was a strong person, and yet, I could read the fear in her eyes. The guys would make sure she was taken care of, no matter what.
The more I heard, the more I knew I wanted in on this one. I was going to talk to my captain and see if he could work it out. The man responsible for making her run in the first place happened to be a very well-known figure in these parts. The little prick had a daddy with more money than sense and thought because he was the son of a well-to-do political figure, he was immune from trouble. Boy, did he have a rude awakening coming his way.
“Ranger Keller, you think your department would be willing to lend a hand?” Bones’ question had me nodding.
“I’ll give Cap a call. I know Morris and Trent are out on the never-ending Bodhi case. There are more of us with backgrounds more suitable to what’s needed here.” And by that, I meant military trained personnel who could take a shot and know it hit its target without actually seeing it hit.
I still had my phone out, having just disconnected from Sliver and the others, passing along messages while Bones and Vice talked to the woman’s mother and the deputy escorting them back to their secluded housing, when my cell buzzed in my hand.
Kenz’s name scrolled across the screen. I hurried to hit the accept icon and smiled as I said, “Hey, princess. How?—”
“Daddy!” The sudden shout in my ear had my heart thundering.
The silence that followed had me pressing the phone closer to my ear. “Kenz!” My raised voice drew everyone’s attention. That one word sounded panicked. The worry, fear I’d had at letting her go out there, alone, were swamping me. “What?—”
“Tangerine!”
The line went dead as the thundering of my heart in my ears tripled and then my heart stopped.
Tangerine.
She’d used a word I had hoped never to hear from her. Not as long as I lived.
“Fuck!”