Chapter Fourteen
Loni sat on the couch and then got up and paced across the room and back. She’d been talking with Elijah and Morgan about racing. She appreciated the boys trying to distract her, but she needed to move.
Peck, Burt, and Bill had gone on alert after Schaefer had notified them that Franco’s motorcade was five miles out of Dodge City. Her brother wouldn’t stop until he completed whatever plan was in his head.
She’d never thought she was the type of woman who would consider ending someone’s life, but if it came down to losing someone here or her brother dying, her brother would need to die.
Peck, Burt, and Bill’s phones all went off. They scooted closer to confer and Loni couldn’t handle it. She walked over. She was all for the plan, but if she needed to help now, she wasn’t standing idly by.
“What’s going on?” Loni asked.
Burt and Peck stayed silent, staring at Bill.
“Two of our wells and the outbuildings beside them were hit with explosives. They’re both on fire. Police and fire are responding,” Bill said.
“It’s Franco,” Loni said. He had to have a reason to hit the wells besides him being mad at her and Halligan. Then it hit her like a light bulb moment.
“He’s diverting all the police and fire to the wells.
With the fire danger of it spreading to fields because it’s windy, he’s hoping that all the first responders won’t be anywhere near here.
Do any of you need to go? I can see him leaving someone behind to pick off any of the family that went to check the status,” Loni said.
“Halligan has a good second in command. He’s already been in contact with him.
I agree with you, Loni, as does Halligan.
It’s a diversion but it’s also a tell. He doesn’t have the element of surprise.
We know he has grenade launchers because that’s what our people reported seeing before the wells exploded.
He gave up a key piece of his attack plan, which gives us an advantage,” Bill said.
Loni understood that. What worried her was that her brother wasn’t concerned with catching the attention of authorities in Dodge City, which told her that he considered himself above everyone here. If Franco wasn’t stopped here, then who would stop him?
“Hey Loni, how about you come start a list of what needs to be done to the apartment to have a baby there?” Morgan suggested.
Loni turned toward Morgan. “Are you trying to give me busywork?” she asked.
“Is it working? I mean, the apartment has four large bedrooms, though one of them is Halligan’s gaming system, but I was just curious if you’d thought about what you’d like there. Do you need an office to continue designing cars?” Elijah asked.
These two were the sweetest, trying to distract her from worrying. There wasn’t anything she could do to help Halligan besides leave him alone. Maybe if she concentrated on the apartment, then she wouldn’t feel the need to call Halligan and check on him.
She walked back over and sat down. “Now, tell me about this gaming system taking up one of the bedrooms,” she said.
Halligan stood behind Schaefer, looking over his shoulder.
“Will you step back? I can’t work with your breathing down my neck. It’s distracting,” Schaefer said.
Halligan huffed and walked away. He wasn’t sure what to do.
He wasn’t used to waiting for something.
In business, he made a decision and moved on.
Halligan had hoped that Franco wouldn’t target any of their wells, but he’d had contingencies in place if Franco did.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t protect all their wells, and the two Franco had hit, Halligan had discounted them because they were farther out of town.
Hindsight was twenty-twenty. Of course, Franco would want ones within the Dodge City area but far enough away to pull first responders from anywhere close to the bar.
The pit of his stomach was churning, worrying about Loni. She was as safe as he could make her and still have her in Dodge City, but that didn’t mean he didn’t wish she was in Bluff Creek with Ellie and the kids.
“Heads up! We have a problem. Two of the vehicles peeled off from the main one,” Schaefer said.
Halligan stared out the window and saw a flicker where Quinton was on the roof across the street.
He was glad that Whiskey had bought them all the same kind of radios that the bail bonds team used to have on hand at the bar.
Otherwise, they’d all be depending on cell phones for messages or calls.
“Well, follow them all!” Halligan directed.
“That would be great if I planned for it, but this little laptop doesn’t have those options. Here—somebody watch this while I run upstairs,” Schaefer said.
“I’ll do it,” Maverick said, turning the computer toward him.
Halligan appreciated it because he didn’t think he could concentrate on the screen.
His every instinct was screaming at him that they’d underestimated Franco.
What if the vehicles from Colorado weren’t the only ones?
What if he’d had people come from somewhere else? Did he have any allies around here?
Schaefer ran back in carrying a second laptop. He sat down by Maverick.
“Okay, we have vehicle one here coming in on the main street about a block away. We have vehicle two here parked at the end of the block behind this delivery truck that appeared within the last hour. It wasn’t there when I checked this morning.
Vehicle three is not showing anywhere. I watched the replay from my computer upstairs.
The vehicles split. Vehicle three goes about a block, then seems to vanish from the screen. I think we need to …”
A loud boom interrupted Schaefer. Halligan grabbed the booth edge as the ground seemed to move under his feet.
“What was that?” Halligan asked.
“Franco’s opening volley,” Torrent said, getting up and heading to the front door.
“It appears someone blew up the semi-truck that was parked in front of the bar. Eight targets heading this way. No body armor unless it’s under their clothes,” Torrent said.
Torrent jerked his head behind him. “I think I’ll hide in here. Are we letting them in?” he asked.
“Yes. Let’s see what they have to say, and if something has to be done, I want no doubt that we were defending ourselves under the Castle Doctrine and No Duty to Retreat,” Halligan said.
Torrent nodded, grinned, and slipped behind the door in their meeting room that was to the right of the bar entrance.
Another explosion out front had Halligan stepping behind one of the booths in the middle of the room. He wanted to face Franco, but he wasn’t stupid. Having a place to duck behind was a valid answer if Franco started spraying bullets.
“Aww, man. Franco’s goons just took out Pop’s bench. He’s not going to be happy,” Quinton sing-songed through the radio.
Quinton wasn’t wrong. His dad had built a wood and cement bench to have a nice place in front of the bar for him and the kids to watch the city parades. With more children now, maybe he and his brothers could help his dad build multiple ones to make up for the one Franco destroyed.
“Heads up, second SUV just drove onto the block,” Schaefer said.
“Got it. It’s driving onto the lot. Do you want me to pepper the ground and let the little asshole dance some toward the door?” Quinton asked.
“No, let them through,” Halligan said.
Schaefer and Maverick moved the laptops and themselves behind the booth.
It wouldn’t stop all the bullets, but it would protect them better than being out in the open.
Maverick motioned he was going to the bar.
He ran across the room, taking his place behind the bar and crouching down.
When Franco walked in, Halligan was betting Franco would dismiss him as a threat and wouldn’t be able to see the others around the room.
The door opening had Halligan’s muscles tensing. Show time.
A couple men with no necks in suits came in first, smiling when they saw Halligan all alone. At their nods, Franco walked in.
“Bitch, I’m here to take you home,” Franco called out.
“No bitches here until you walked in,” Halligan said. A couple snickers in his ear let him know his team was ready for whatever was needed.
“Aww, you must be the husband. You know, you ruined a very lucrative deal sticking your dick where it didn’t belong,” Franco said, moving a couple feet forward, surveying the room.
“It seems we see the situation differently. I met an amazing woman and designer. Now, why don’t you leave my wife and me alone before something happens to you?” Halligan said.
He didn’t really want Franco to leave because Halligan had a lot of anger to get out, but he wanted to make sure he’d done everything a reasonable person would do.
“Well, after you’re dead, she won’t be your wife. She’ll be coming back to Las Vegas with me. Now, get Appollonia out here now,” Franco said, raising a gun and pointing it toward Halligan.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Halligan said, diving behind the booth as Franco started shooting. Halligan crawled toward the end of the booth to get a glimpse of Franco. It was time to end this.