Chapter 11 #2
“I swear, spitfire, if you don’t get dressed right now, I’m going to take you again, and we will be in that bed for the rest of the day.
” His hand swings toward the bedroom. I smile back because that would be so nice.
Just him and me making love all day. “Don’t forget Wrenn wants to spend time with you.
” He chuckles and walks out of the bathroom.
I finish getting ready. I’m in ripped up jeans, a pair of Doc Martens with flowers on them, and a black T-shirt. With my leather jacket over my arm, I stroll out to the living room as the doorbell rings.
In the last few months since the car incident, there hasn’t been anything else. Colton has come back for brief visits with his kids and hasn’t bothered me, so I don’t even think about it when I swing open the door.
I scream as I take in the scene in front of me.
The stuffed animal rhinoceros has a Nashville Zoo tag on it and is covered in blood, not paint.
I know the difference. Tucker is beside me before I can reach for it.
He pulls me into his body and cusses. Then Aries and another one of the guys from the club are on my porch too.
Tucker buries my head in his chest as the sobs overtake me and my body trembles.
I don’t see the stuffed animal in my mind’s eye.
I see that final rhino, lying on the earth of the savanna he roamed, his eyes closed.
His body perfect, except for the hacked off horn and bullet hole in his skull.
“Call that trooper, Aries,” Tucker says as he picks me up. He carries me a short distance, then sets me down. His hands come to my cheeks. “Spitfire, look at me.”
I open my eyes so I can stop seeing it.
“It was horrible. He was lying there dead, and I didn’t do anything to stop it.
I was too late. It was my job to protect him, and I didn’t.
I let them take his pride. I let them steal from him.
Slaughter him. Leaving him there to rot.
” The words rush from my mouth as I fall back and succumb to unconsciousness.
I wake later to my mom standing over me. Tucker is sitting beside me. My house is overrun by people.
“What happened?” I sit up and rub my face, trying to remove the grainy feeling in my eyes.
“Sydney?” My mom’s voice causes me to turn toward her, and I see the tears in her eyes. Something happened. But what?
It all starts to come back to me. The rhino with blood. The memories. My hand goes to my mouth as my breath catches. Tucker pulls me close and gathers me into his body. I fight him to get up. I need to get to the door and see if the evidence is there. If the proof that they are back is real.
“Spitfire, calm down, we need to talk.” Tucker’s voice washes over me, and I calm. I look up at him, shaking my head. Wanting him to deny it.
“No.” I shake my head hard.
“Yeah, baby, it was real.” He knows what I needed to hear.
I close my eyes as tears roll down my face. I can’t do this anymore with him, but I can’t stop myself from pulling him closer, of wanting more with him.
“Sydney.” Another deep voice breaks through everything going through my mind, and I look up. I recognize him instantly as the memories from my childhood flood me.
“Daxton.”
“Hello, girly. We need to discuss these.” He holds up an evidence bag containing an envelope and pictures.
I drop my head to Tucker’s chest and hold him one last time before I turn back around. I squeeze him to me, breathe in his scent of leather, wood, and something earthy. All him. I push it deep into my memory so I’ll never forget him. It’s time.
I pull away from him and fight him when he tries to keep me close. I turn to Daxton as I nod at my mom. She is ready to do her job.
Dax hands over the photos protected in the bag to preserve any fingerprints.
This has happened to me in the past. While in the hospital, I got images of myself unconscious.
Of me when I was released from the hospital and I thought I was safely in hiding.
I lock my reactions down, knowing that I can’t give away anything.
But the images aren’t just of me this time.
They are of Mari and Tucker too. The two people who don’t deserve the crazy that follows me.
I chose to be a warrior for these animals. My daughter and Tucker didn’t.
“What am I looking at?” My shoulders are pulled back, my head held high. I’m holding the tears back with everything I am. I’ll become the warrior I was trained to be, even if it kills me.
“Sydney, someone has been following you. Someone has been following all of you.” Dax’s voice is gruff.
All of his tattoos make most people scared, but not me. He’s really sweet, and I remember growing up with him. He’s Wrenn and Drea’s cousin. Wrenn had told me he became a police officer, that he’s also married and has a baby too.
I move away from everyone to stand in front of the fireplace.
I look up at the picture of the bull elephant.
They say that elephants have an amazing memory.
They remember those from before. They stop at the bones of the dead and move around them.
Their trunks touching and feeling as if remembering and feeling the soul.
Right at this moment, I wish I didn’t have such a good memory.
I want to forget it all. I want to keep the life I’ve built here, but I can’t.
I turn back around and look at my home as it is now. New pictures are mingled with the old. Tucker has become a part of our lives. In the seven months since we started seeing each other, he’s worked his way into my heart. I look at him as I bite my top lip.
“Sydney, it’s time.” My mom’s voice breaks through my heartache. I look at her and shake my head.
“No,” I say, and take another deep breath.
“I have some enemies, but they aren’t here in America.
I left them behind me in Africa. This is just Colton mad at me.
He knows how I feel about preserving animals.
” I lie through my teeth. I need time. I’m going to push them all away and go on with my life.
Tucker moves toward me. “What was all that about you couldn’t save him?” My body trembles and he reaches for me.
“No.” I hold up my hand as I throw the evidence bag filled with the pictures at him. “Is this about you? You had lots of girls before me. Maybe one of them is after us. Why does it have to be about me?”
“You know that’s a crock of shit.” Tucker raises his voice.
“I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work.
” He rips his hands through his hair. “Dax, if you and Sergeant Whitlock could look into this, I would appreciate it. I have no enemies. Every woman I was with before Sydney knew how it was.” He looks back at me. “Check on Colton’s location.”
“He’s in Nashville.” Sergeant Whitlock, who I didn’t see before, steps into my view.
“See. Could be Colton,” I say as I look back at Dax and Tucker.
“Who are these enemies?” Dax asks me.
“The Brigade made threats toward me,” I say as I turn to my mom and pinch my lips so she knows not to say more.
“Why?”
“Because I worked with the Akashinga. They are a militant group that protects animals in Zimbabwe.”
“Does Colton know you did?”
“Yeah, he does. He and Lydia both know. But the Akashinga have nothing to do with anything here, and neither does the Brigade.”
“What is the Brigade?” Tucker asks as he comes to stand next to me. He doesn’t try to hold me, and it actually hurts, but this is what I asked for.
I turn and look up at him. “The Brigade is similar to the mafia but more like military guerrilla warriors. They pay the poachers, arm the poachers, and train them. The money from the animal parts they harvest is then used for terrorism, drugs, and taking over countries.”
“Fuck,” Tucker says as he pulls me into his arms. I find myself melting into him, needing the comfort.
“Okay, I’ll have some friends of mine with Homeland Security look to see if any of them have come over,” Whitlock says.
I pull from Tucker’s arms and turn to the trooper. “They are not a part of this, and I don’t want you to look them up. I don’t want them to even get an inkling we suspect them.”