Chapter 2 #2
Or that had been the case up until she’d graduated nursing school.
Then she’d started dating Matteo “Matt” Marino and made the dumbest decision she could.
He knew a guy, Corvino DeLuca, looking for a private nurse.
She took the job without a second thought.
The pay was good, and it beat long hospital hours.
Look how that had ended. “I want better for her.”
“All parents do. When she makes those mistakes, use them as moments to teach her. Yes, the decision was bad, and there are consequences as a result, but what can she learn from this? Don’t just be someone telling her what to do all the time. Help her grow as you do.”
She hadn’t thought about it that way. How could she turn this into a learning situation? There was definitely a “be careful who you hang out with because they tend to rub off” lesson here.
She’d been around Matt for months and hadn’t turned into a mobster.
But this wasn’t the same—not even close.
Back then, she hadn’t known who he really was.
Not until the FBI had shown up and shattered the illusion.
After that, everything had shifted—watching where he went, who stopped by, memorizing names and faces, tracking movements like her life depended on it. Because it had.
She’d been so young and desperate, especially with Bella to think about. The hours had been decent, the paycheck better than anything else around.
And DeLuca had been recovering from some illness when she was hired—less crime boss, more grumpy patient in silk pajamas. She hadn’t seen much, not at first. But according to the FBI, what she had seen was enough to close the gaps in their investigation. Enough to make her the missing link.
She’d been there for the quiet meetings. The whispered conversations. She hadn’t known what was said behind closed doors, but she’d known who had walked through them. And that was all the Feds had needed to get a conviction.
She’d been so naive. Focused on doing her job and caring for her sister. Occasionally, their mother had made an appearance, and Sam would have to deal with whatever mess she’d brought along with her.
Sam and Bella weren’t going to live like that here in Renegade. Not if Sam could help it.
“Hang in there.” Dean clapped her on the shoulder. “It’ll get better.”
Sam sighed. “I hope so.”
Thirty minutes had passed since they’d pulled in front of the rundown motel, and Butler hadn’t said a word. Which just gave Liam plenty of time to craft the speech he was going to give Sophia later about not vaping and not making friends with the bad crowd.
The silence didn’t bother Liam. He was used to stakeouts, where conversation depended on who he was working with.
There was a variety of different types of people.
It appeared that Butler was the silent type.
Was he silent because he was thinking through every possible scenario, or was he just introverted?
Liam was certain of one thing: Butler wasn’t the type to crack jokes to lighten the mood.
No, that appeared to be Albright, who’d been sharing one-liners since they arrived.
“You know, we’re basically government-funded stalkers,” Albright cracked over the speaker.
Butler grabbed the radio. “Can it and focus.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Albright replied from his spot on Pine Street.
“Is there anything I should know about this area that’s not on the map?” Liam looked out the window and studied the motel.
Ethan continued to watch the motel. “That treed area behind the motel is fifty yards of mud. The rain and snow melt off drains there, and it hardly ever dries out. If we end up back there, you’re gonna lose your shoes.
It will be easier to skirt the boundary and catch the guy as he emerges from the other side. ”
“Good to know.”
“Also, don’t expect anyone in this neighborhood to help you. These people ain’t seen nothing and don’t know nothing.”
It didn’t surprise Liam. Most people didn’t want to help law enforcement. They’d rather break out their cell phones and record what was going on. Going viral was more important than helping.
“Do we want to send Kennedy knocking? ‘Oops, wrong door’?” Stanton’s voice crackled over the radio.
Liam responded. “I was thinking the same thing. Get eyes on him and speed up the identification.”
“Not right now,” Butler replied. “We don’t want to burn the motel, and this guy is armed and dangerous.”
“So send me,” Liam said to Ethan directly. “No one knows who I am.”
Before Ethan could shoot down that idea, the door to the room they were watching opened, and a man stepped out. He jogged to an old beat-up car and opened the back door.
Ethan lifted the radio to his lips. “Positive ID. Vickers is in room twenty-four. Hold your positions.”
Liam watched Vickers rummage around in the back seat of the car before returning to the room.
“Did anyone see inside? Is he alone?” Albright asked.
“I can’t tell from this angle,” Butler said.
Other than a small strip of light from the sunshine, all Liam could see beyond the door was blackness. He couldn’t make out any other figures in the room.
Butler looked at him. “Okay, go now and see if he checked in alone, and I’ll keep watch.”
Liam removed his ballistic vest. It was a risk, but if Vickers happened to look his way and see US Marshal, they’d lose their edge. He didn’t want their cover to be blown.
He made his way to the motel office. The bell above the door rang as he entered.
“Can I help you?” A middle-aged man who’d seen better days sat behind the counter.
“Deputy US Marshal.” Liam showed the man his badge. “The man who checked into room twenty-four. Did he check in alone?”
The man glowered at him but looked at his computer screen. “Room twenty-four booked by a John Smith yesterday. He was alone when he checked in.”
“Thanks.” Liam started to leave, but then turned back around. “I wasn’t here. Got it?”
The man nodded. “I just work here. I don’t make it my business to know nothing ’bout no one.”
Liam walked back to the truck and climbed in. He grabbed the radio. “Confirmed Vickers checked in alone yesterday under an alias.”
Butler lifted his radio. “Doesn’t mean he’s alone now though. Stanton and Kennedy, get in position behind the motel. Albright and Glover, you’re with us.”
“We’re in position,” Kennedy responded.
“Let’s go.” Butler pulled into the parking lot, blocking the car Vickers had been in moments before.
The four of them jumped from their vehicles. Liam pulled his weapon. Albright grabbed the ballistic shield from his SUV and led the way as they approached the door.
They took position, Albright closest to the door on the left, near the window, shield at ready, Glover behind him. Butler to the right of the door against the wall. Liam took position next to him.
“Ready?” Butler asked.
Everyone nodded.
He reached over and banged on the door. “US Marshals! Open up!”
They listened and waited.
Nothing.
Butler banged again. “US Marshals! Open up, or the door is coming down!”
“We got a runner!” Stanton yelled over the radio from behind the building.
Butler and Liam both twisted around and took off to join the chase.
Liam turned the corner of the motel in time to see the fugitive disappear into the treed area Butler had told him about, Albright and Glover on his heels.
“Fugitive has entered the rundown patch of trees,” Liam notified Stanton and Kennedy.
Kennedy responded, “We’ll meet him on the other side.”
“I’ll go right, you go left,” Butler commanded.
“US Marshals! Stop!” Albright yelled from the copse of trees.
Liam spotted flashes of the chase and entered the tree line just as Albright tackled Vickers. The two men tussled on the ground. Glover was a few paces behind with her gun ready, just in case.
A gunshot rang out. Albright fell back and grabbed his shoulder. Vickers surged to his feet and aimed his gun at Glover. She slid to a stop, raising her weapon with deadly precision.
Another shot rang out, and Vickers collapsed. Butler’s trigger finger was faster than Glover’s.
Butler advanced on the subject. “Cover me.”
Liam and Glover closed in, weapons trained on the fugitive. Butler kicked the gun out of reach, holstered his weapon, and rolled the wounded man to his stomach to secure his hands behind his back.
Seeing Ethan had the suspect handled, Liam holstered his weapon and raced to Albright. Blood leaked from between Albright’s fingers.
“Hold on. I’ve got you.” Liam put pressure on the wound, causing Albright to grimace and groan in pain.
“Shots fired. Fugitive in custody. Officer down. We need medics times two,” Glover yelled into the radio.
The response came a second later. “Ten-four.”
Glover pulled gloves from her pants pocket and then started life-saving measures on Vickers by pressing down hard on the wound to slow the bleeding. “You’re not dying here. Not on my watch. You have a date with a judge and a panel of twelve of your peers.”
“Stanton, you sweep right. I’ll take the left. Make sure there’s no accomplices,” Butler ordered.
Liam turned his full attention to Albright. “How are you doing?”
Albright gritted his teeth. “I’ve been shot. How do you think I’m doing?”
“Right, but tell me if you get tired or cold.” Liam prayed that both men lived.
Vickers needed to live just as much as the marshal. Not only because he needed to pay for his crimes but to give him the opportunity to know God. He was definitely a bad guy, but he was a bad guy loved by a good God.
God saw all sin as equally condemning, unlike man, who determined there were levels of sin. It was a hard thing to reconcile in his line of work. Liam was better than the fugitive in the eyes of man, but not in the eyes of God. Not without the blood of Jesus covering him.
Liam held the pressure firm, jaw tight. The fugitive was in cuffs, the scene was secure, but his prayer wouldn’t stop repeating: Not today. Don’t let death win today.
Sure, he’d been thinking that giving up a fugitive-apprehension career to move to Renegade and raise Sophia was a kind of death. At least, the death of the life he’d thought he would have.
But today had shown it wasn’t completely gone. Liam had to choose life—for himself and for Sophia.
But would she do the same?