26. Dax
DAX
“ W hat did you learn, Ambrose?” I asked.
“I’m on my way there. I’ll be at your house in about twenty minutes. I’ll tell you then.” My twin ended the call before I could protest.
“Fucking bastard,” I grumbled as I stuck my phone back into my pocket.
“What did he say?” Travis asked.
“That he’s on his way, and he’ll talk when he gets here.”
“I still want to be part of whatever plans you make.”
“Travis, that’s?—”
“This sandwich is so good,” Travis said. He was right, it was good, especially after the workout we’d had, but I also knew he was trying to change the subject. I went along with it, but it didn’t mean I’d changed my mind. I would not let him put himself in danger.
When Ambrose showed up, I knew immediately that he had a plan. I doubted anyone but me would be able to read his expression, but I knew his look of satisfaction.
“Do you want a sandwich?” I asked.
Ambrose nodded. “Fuck yes. I’m starving.”
“Start talking,” I demanded as I got the ham and cheese back out.
“Did you find the drop-off spot?” Travis asked.
Ambrose nodded. “And Sheriff Eric Winston.”
“Was he what you expected?” I asked.
Ambrose snorted. “Worse. He thinks he is going to change everything in his backwoods parish.”
“Is he young?” I asked.
“Fuck no. He’s probably at least forty. He’s just fucking pigheaded. He moved here from Baltimore. He said he wanted a new experience.”
I snorted. “He’s probably running from something.”
“I agree, and I have every intention of figuring out what,” Ambrose said. “We need all the leverage we can get.”
“You think he’ll work with us?” Travis asked.
“We’re not going to give him a choice, but it won’t be easy to get a private meeting with him. He’s squeaky clean. He basically goes to the office, then home where he stays.”
“So he’s the real deal?” I asked.
“That’s how it appears, but why is he here when he had a promising career in Baltimore? He’s got secrets. Everybody does.”
“Have you contacted Blackjack?”
He raised his brows, giving me a look like he was insulted. “As soon as I located the guy, I got Blackjack working on it. We should have some info later today, so let’s put a plan together.”
“You already have one, don’t you?”
The ghost of a smile crossed his face. “I do, but you’re not going to like it.”
I rarely liked Ambrose’s plans.
“Maybe we should call Beau before we make plans,” Travis said. “He’ll want to be in on this.”
I glanced back and forth between Travis and Ambrose. “Do we need anyone else?” Ambrose didn’t like plans that involved too many people.
“No, but he’ll badger the hell out of us until we tell him what’s going on. You think we can run a plan with his little brother involved and not include him?”
“What do you mean with his little brother involved?” I asked.
He ignored me and turned to Travis. “Give him a call and tell him to get here as fast as he can.” When he looked at me again, he gestured toward the stove. “Don’t burn my fucking sandwich.”
I glanced down at the pan and quickly flipped the sandwich over. It was darkly toasted but not burnt. He would just have to deal with it, or he could make his own.
We didn’t talk much while we waited for Beau.
Ambrose ate. Travis kept giving me wary looks, but I could also see determination in his eyes.
I was going to have some serious fighting to do, especially if my stupid ass brother thought he was going to put my man in danger.
He’d known Travis as a kid too. Surely he didn’t think putting him in the middle of this was a good idea.
Beau pounded on the door a few moments later. The heaviness of his knock was enough to tell me he was already riled up. At least he’d be on my side when it came to Travis’s involvement.
He walked in looking ready to lay into all of us, but Ambrose held up a hand. “I’m going to tell you my plan, and no one’s going to talk until I’m finished.”
I often wondered what it had been like to serve under Ambrose. It must’ve been hell for anyone who didn’t like to quietly listen and follow his commands. My brother might basically be a hermit now, but when he was around people, he was bossy as hell.
“We need to play on Sheriff Winston’s good nature in order to lure him somewhere private.”
Beau interrupted. “What if we just say we?—”
Ambrose glared at Beau and received an eye roll.
“Just because he’s idealistic and doesn’t understand all the aspects of our culture here doesn’t mean he’s stupid.
He’s smart as hell based on what he accomplished up north.
He’s not going to come meet some random informant in the middle of the bayou.
He doesn’t know the terrain, and he’s aware of that.
Whenever he has to go deep into the bayous, he takes one of his deputies that grew up there. ”
“What do his deputies think about all the ways he wants to change things?” I asked.
Miraculously, Ambrose didn’t yell at me for asking a question.
“One of them seems to idolize him. He’s the type who has always wanted to get out of town and see something new, one of those guys who thinks anything that comes from somewhere else must be superior.
Another one is a good Christian boy who respects authority, even when he doesn’t agree with it. ”
“So stirring up dissent from inside the department is not going to work?”
Ambrose glared at Beau. “We want to work with this man, not fuck up his job. That’s the parish’s problem.
They can deal with him however they want, but there is another deputy who’d very much like to run Winston out of town.
In his mind, the man stole his rightful place, but I don’t think that’s the right angle. ”
I nodded. “I agree. Keep talking.”
“Yes, let’s get to the point of this plan,” Beau said.
Ambrose glared at him again, and he held up his hands. “I’ve got to get back to my shop. I left a car in pieces, and it needs to be back together before closing time.”
“I think we should use the sheriff’s protective nature against him. He’s sure to respond to a distress call outside town from a young boy whose truck is trashed after he runs off the road.”
I looked at Travis, then back at Ambrose. “Oh, hell no.”
“We’ll be there the whole time,” Ambrose said. “And this guy’s not a danger to Travis.”
“You’re sure of that after one day of research?”
The look Ambrose gave me sent chills down my spine.
“Fine. You’re damn good at what you do. I know that.”
“Fuck right you do. Winston will come to help Travis, then we insist he talk to us.”
“How do we know he’ll be the one to come out?” I asked.
“We’ll make sure anyone else on duty is busy.”
That would be simple enough. Creating a distraction was second nature to all of us.
“What will you do if he doesn’t agree to talk?” Travis asked.
“He will,” Ambrose said.
“We’re not killing this guy, are we?” Travis looked like he might be sick.
“No. He might be an asshole, but he’s done nothing to harm any of us.”
“But if he tries to arrest you?—”
Ambrose shook his head. “Didn’t I already say he’s not stupid?”
“You also said he didn’t understand how things work here.”
“If he’s worked in a big city, he’s plenty used to people cutting deals.
He might not be used to ignoring moonshine stills, or not asking questions when things resurface from the bayou, or ignoring what goes on past the edge of town on a Saturday night, but he knows how to make deals with informants. That’s all this is.”
“Wouldn’t an informant just be giving information?” Travis asked. “Not demanding his cooperation or a role in the takedown of a dealer?”
Ambrose waved off his concern. “We’re offering him a service. We’re going to take care of a major problem in his town. If he can’t handle that, he’s going to have to go away for a little while.”
Travis frowned. “Go away where?”
I loved that he could still seem so innocent after the hell he’d been through. It also made me even more furious that Rob had manipulated him. Travis’s inner nature was good. How could he think he was to blame for the evil Rob wanted to involve him in?
“This all sounds fine.” Travis’s eyes widened as he watched me. “But we need to find someone other than Travis to play the person in distress.”
Ambrose shook his head. “No. Travis is perfect. Look at him.”
Dax growled. “I will not let him put himself in that kind of danger.”
“But I want to help,” Travis said.
“See?” Ambrose gestured toward him.
“No.”
“I agree with Dax,” Beau said. “We can find someone else.”
“Who? Which of our employees is going to look like someone who would be upset, someone who would need to be calmed down, someone who would need a ride?”
“We’ll find someone. What about Corbin?”
Beau snarled. “No way.”
Ambrose huffed. “Y’all are getting too soft. Travis wants to help, and he’s perfect for the role. Do we have a plan?”
“Not until we find someone else,” I said.
Travis blew out a long breath. “Dax, I got myself into this shit. I want to help get myself out. I need that. I need to know I can do things for myself.”
“There’s no reason for you to do this. I’m here to take care of you.”
“But you’re not always going to be there,” Ambrose said.
“The hell I’m not.”
Ambrose rolled his eyes. “If he doesn’t come with us, then you’re going to have to leave him here.”
“Then Beau or Lance or Corbin or someone else can watch over him.”
“You know you want to be the one to do it. Bring him with us, then he’ll be right there under your watchful eye.”
This was spinning out of control way too fast.
“Travis,” Beau said. “You don’t need to do this. You don’t need to prove anything.”
“Maybe not to you, but I need to prove it to myself.”
“You may have gotten pretty damn far in the world of organized crime,” Ambrose said, “but you still make assumptions and refuse to see people’s potential if they don’t fit into the box you think they should fit in.”
I studied my brother, then looked at Travis. I knew he wasn’t weak. He wasn’t defenseless. He’d fought like hell today, and thank God he had. He’d also stayed sane through all Rob had put him through. He’d gotten sober on his own, and he’d been surviving on his own for years before Beau intervened.
But I also knew how vulnerable he was, how fragile.
I’d seen him doubting himself, and I didn’t want to put him through anything that might make that worse.
I wasn’t concerned about the sheriff or any of his deputies, but we didn’t know who might be watching us.
Ambrose was damn good at scouting, and most likely he’d find anyone who was out there, but if we ended up in a fight with LePlatt’s men, Travis would be right in the middle of it.
Travis glared at me as if reading my thoughts. “If I’m going to be with you, if I’m going to truly be part of your life, I’m going to be in dangerous situations a lot. You can’t shelter me from everything.”
I could damn well try.