Chapter 18
Yvonne walked into the office, and started the coffee pot, and as it brewed, she filled a small glass jar with water and walked around to water the plants Kevin had put in there.
She shook her head with a smile. The day he had returned from registering his vehicle for Colorado, he had stopped at the grocery store for food for them both, and had brought home four plants.
He left two at his house, and brought two here for the office.
“You’re going to kill them if you keep watering them,” Kevin said from behind her, and she gave a yelp, threw up her hands, and whipped around.
She immediately covered her mouth when the water in the jar sprayed out and covered Kevin’s chest. They both looked as the water spread across his chest, wetting his shirt.
Kevin looked down, smirked, then looked up at her. “I know that wasn’t malicious, and now isn’t the time, but I’ll pay you back for that when we get home.”
Yvonne giggled, and cocked her hip to the side. “Are we talking promises, or empty threats?”
“Promises, baby, definitely promises.”
“Good.” She laughed, then sighed as she went to grab some paper towels to hand him, and she used the extra to mop up the water she’d spilt. “Why can’t I water them once a week?”
“Because they are considered a cactus, and you don’t need to water them that often. And they have to be in front of the window for the sun.”
“It’s just an aloe plant.”
“Yes, and they grow mostly in the desert.”
“Oh,” she said with a shrug. “Sorry, I’m not being callous, but I’ve never been home long enough to have a plant. Or if I was home, I’d either forget to water it, or over water it.”
Kevin smirked at her. “Google how to care for an aloe plant.”
“I will,” she laughed and went to get her cup of coffee and poured one for him. They stood in the hallway, and she raised a brow at him. “How are you doing on the stack of checks?”
“Good, I’m waiting for one thing to come back on the trainers, then I can go to Cole and Naomi with my findings. What about you?”
“I’m waiting for something to come back on one of the owners.” They nodded to one another, gave a salute with their coffee cups, and went into their own offices.
“Yvonne!” Kevin called out, and looked up when he saw her in his doorway.
“You bellowed?”
“Sorry, but come look at this,” he said as he pointed to his screen, and looked over his shoulder and up at her as she leaned down to look at what he was pointing to.
“What am I looking at?”
“Oh, sorry. It might be nothing, but the person Karen killed in Seattle had the same name.”
“Strokes?”
“Yes. I sent a message to the DA back home to ask for the murder victim’s first name. I couldn’t remember it.”
“And?”
“Abby, her name was Abby Strokes, and this trainer, the one I was waiting for information to come back on, is a first cousin to the murder victim.”
Yvonne looked at him in shock, and pulled a chair to the side of his desk and sat down heavily. “Do you think he’s posing as a trainer, and is here to get to you?”
“No clue. According to other things I’ve dug up, this Strokes has only been working for the owner Shedrick for a month. I don’t know if he’s after me, or if the gang is branching out into legitimate business, trying to corrupt them.”
“Where is Shedrick based out of?” She looked at him then widened her eyes.
She reached for the pad of paper in front of him to take her own notes, and jerked back as thoughts struck her.
“Wait, how did Cole know about Shedrick? Did he reach out to us, or did Cole reach out to him? How long ago did Cole get the application from Shedrick? How is his background check? Where is he from?”
Kevin gathered the papers on the desk in front of him, and organized them. When they were in the order he wanted, they went over them one by one. “Shedrick lives here in Colorado,” he said, and showed her the address.
“That’s about forty-five minutes north of Denver.” She held up her finger, jumped to her feet, and ran out of the office. She was back in under a minute with her laptop. She laid it on his desk, and Kevin watched as her fingers flew across the keys, then swore.
“What?”
“According to Google Earth, the address of Shedrick is in a suburb, and there isn’t enough room for a horse.
Let alone a racehorse.” They both looked at the location on the computer, and she looked at him with a worried look.
“Call Cole and get him here. I’m going to call Harmon to see if he’s left for Seattle yet. ”
Kevin nodded and picked up his phone to dial. Yvonne walked out of the office, went to hers and picked up her own phone.
“SSA Harmon,” came the barked reply, and he sounded rushed.
“It’s Wilson, have you left for Seattle yet?”
“Not yet, I had a last-minute meeting, I’m leaving for the airport in an hour.”
“Don’t.” She practically screamed at him. At the movement in her doorway, she looked at Kevin. “Hold on a sec, Harmon,” she said, and turned to Kevin. “Harmon’s leaving for the airport in an hour.”
“Cole said that Shedrick reached out to him last week. Bring Harmon here. I can call over to Ryan and have backup here by the time Harmon gets here.”
“Harmon, I’m a security guard for a rich rancher.
I do background checks. I work side-by-side with Kevin Lassiter.
The project we are currently working on is running checks on potential owners, trainers, and jockeys.
You’re on speaker.” She pushed the button and set the phone on the desk.
“This morning, Kevin was waiting for one last piece of information to come in about his check.”
“Okay.”
“The guy labeled as the horse trainer is the first cousin to a woman by the name of Abby Strokes.”
“Who’s that?”
“The woman in the prison that my ex-wife killed. The woman that made the call to the gang in Seattle about the bingo card.”
“Fuck me,” Harmon whispered faintly. “Do you know where he is?”
“Not right now, but we’re going to set him up.”
“How?”
“I made a call, and I have eight former SEALs, five former military personnel, me, Yvonne, and another retired FBI agent at my disposal. They will be at our location in thirty minutes. We’re going to lay it all out and plan.
I’m inviting you down to sit in on the planning, but when it comes to the take down, I’m going to tell you right now that my guys will be in charge.
” He looked at Yvonne and they exchanged a nod.
“You will be on private property, and one of the owners is one of the former SEALs, he was the Lieutenant of their team.”
“This isn’t how I normally work, Lassiter, but from the sounds of it, you have everything under control. If this will lead me to any of the gang members we have been after for years, then I’ll follow your lead. I only ask that we can take them off your hands once the arrests are made.”
“By all means, take out the trash,” Kevin said, and Yvonne realized his voice had turned hard, and it sort of turned her on by his take charge attitude.
Yvonne gave him the address, and Harmon said he would be there in four hours before he rang off.
“What now?” Yvonne asked. “I’m going to have you take the lead on this. I’ll back you in whatever you need.”
“Thank you,” he said with a release of air, walked around the desk, and gathered her into his arms. After holding her for several long minutes, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips, hugged her tightly for a few seconds, then stepped back.
“I’m going to gather my information. The guys should be here within thirty minutes. ”
“Okay, who did you call? What did you say? And are Cole and Naomi coming?”
“I know Cole is, I don’t know about Naomi, and I don’t know about Erin either.” At her confused frown, he sighed and scrubbed his face with both hands, then looked at her with a smirk. “Do you really think Erin’s going to sit this one out.”
Yvonne threw her head back and laughed. “Yeah, no, she won’t be left out of the planning stage.
Mark my words, once she knows everything, knows of the plan you guys will come up with, meets Harmon and his team, then she will go back over to Erin’s Way and stay out of the way.
” Yvonne looked off to the side, and was pensive for several seconds.
“What is it?” Kevin asked gently.
“It’s not my place to say anything.”
“This is just between the two of us. I won’t say a word, I promise, but if it’s something to do with this case, then I need to know.”
Yvonne sighed heavily, shook her head, then closed her eyes before she opened them to look at him. “Promise you won’t say anything.”
“I promise.”
“I think Erin might be pregnant. When I sent her a text on the day I arrived here, she asked me to stop and pick up a home pregnancy test. I gave it to her the day I arrived. I didn’t see her again until the get together last weekend. She said she was going to talk to Reid soon.”
Kevin laughed. “I think she told him on Thursday when they followed me to the motor vehicle bureau.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because they were still in the parking lot when I got done with my business, and Reid looked shell-shocked, pale, but happy. I don’t know for sure, but I believe Erin came up with that time and day because she already had a doctor’s appointment.
I know what it feels like to learn you’re going to be a father.
It’s terrifying, yet exhilarating at the same time.
I believe you’re right about Erin, she’s going to want to know about all the moving parts, then she’ll step back and let the professionals take over.
” He laughed. “I’ve seen it happen in the past. Julie, her assistant will stay with her, she’s former military. ”
“Shit, do we have enough chairs for everyone?”
“No, the biggest question is if we have enough coffee or water.”
“I thought I saw a big pot in one of the cupboards. Why don’t I get that out and get it started, and you run over to the house for the extra case of water.”
“There are already two here, and I put one in the refrigerator last night before I left.” She went to the kitchen area, opened the refrigerator, and nodded when she saw the bottles of water there, then she opened the cupboards and found the large capacity coffee pot.
In seconds she had it made up, and as it perked, they gathered their information for the guys coming.
They had just finished taking the last copy off the copier when the first person arrived, and it happened to be Cole Mercury, the manager of New Double. He had Kevin go out to his truck, and they brought in a dozen chairs to set up in the empty room.
“That’s all I could come up with.”
“That’s fine,” Kevin said, and looked up when several vehicles pulled in. As the men and women entered, and Kevin saw everyone that had been at the picnic, he looked at Yvonne with a raised brow.
“Who is taking care of Broken Wheel?”
“I had some of my men from Erin’s Way go over and fill in until we get to the bottom of this.
” Erin spoke as she entered ahead of Reid, Clark and Naomi.
“Don’t worry, they know the drill, we’ve had situations in the past where these guys and gals were needed.
They understand that these guys are needed from time to time. It’s all good. Now, what do we have?”
Kevin grinned at her no-nonsense approach to situations.
“We have a potential situation,” Kevin began.
“However, before we begin, I need to tell you that SSA Harmon from the FBI is on his way here.” He looked at his watch, then out at the men and women who had helped themselves to the drinks.
At his statement, they paused and turned to look at him with raised brows.
“I called you guys here to discuss how we’re going to take a gang down.
” He rubbed the back of his neck, and then looked directly at Ryan.
“It’s an extension of what went down at my house in Seattle. ”
“Shit,” Ryan, Manny, and Denver said.
“Talk to us,” Erin said in her authoritative voice, and settled in the center of the front row of chairs, with Reid on one side of her, and Clark on the other.