Chapter 28 Upstanding Christian Men #2
“Yep. Good, clean Christian women who bought their men’s line and had no idea what they were in for.
Apparently, lots of arguing and straight out fights to begin with.
Some escape attempts. Which led to Enstrom calling them all to their ‘center,’ which is how they referred to their church.
Lots of Enstrom preaching, sometimes for hours, about patience.
Obedience. How man has lost his way and was destroying God’s bounty with technology and greed.
How women have lost their way and forgot the natural order of things.
How men and women had to turn to the land, nurture it and get nurture from it.
Simplify things. Lots of nods and cries of amen from the men.
Some of those women might have gone into that deal agreeing with these basic concepts, but the way they were practiced, they wanted no part of. ”
“May put kidnapping off the table, if they went there of their own volition.”
“Agreed,” Harry said curtly. “But when a woman says she wants to go, you let her go. You don’t sit her ass in a church and make her listen to a four-hour sermon. Guard the front entry so she can’t slip out. And force her to give birth with nothing to aid her but a midwife she doesn’t trust.”
Hutch wasn’t about to argue that.
“All these fucks, they were recruited by Enstrom,” Hutch surmised.
“And Burress. Two good, fine, upstanding Christian men with a righteous idea and the capital to put it into practice.”
“These eight extra guys?”
“You got disciples Enstrom can toy with for fun and laughs, and you got soldiers to keep people in line, spread the word of their false prophet and protect your operation,” Harry replied. “My theory?”
“Hit me with it,” Hutch invited.
“Paisley made a break for it. The alarm was raised. Enstrom knew he got your attention. He might have even known we were onto the poaching. He reckoned he was caught, but he wasn’t going to hang around to find out.
Didn’t even grab the dope. Grabbed his woman.
His kids. His friend, his woman and kids.
His boys. And left the rest to it. Probably didn’t even look back.
From what we could tell, they were long gone before Mabel even saw Paisley.
Again, man didn’t even grab his dope. DEA’s eyes crossed when they saw all of that.
They think it might be the biggest cache confiscated by law enforcement in Washington State history.
They can’t begin to put a price tag on it. But it’s millions.”
“Enstrom left that kind of money behind?”
Harry shrugged. “Not technically his dope. DEA says he’s more than likely a safe house.
All he’s got to do is take it from one courier, communicate it was received safely, and when the next courier can get to him, give it.
No cut. Just payment. And in this game, loss of product is an accepted redline item.
They shrug. Make more dope. And move on. ”
“So Enstrom won’t have a cartel after him?”
“I didn’t say that. When the DEA guys get their hands on the boys who were caught, they might talk, and we’ll know more.
Though, DEA also says, since this has worked so long, right under my fuckin’ nose, that’s probably why there was so much.
They felt The Lion and The Lamb was secure, so they took advantage of it. ”
“Harry, this isn’t on you.”
He shook his head while dropping it and lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck, saying, “I know.” He dropped his hand and raised his head. “DEA had no clue about it either. And this shit is their only job.”
“Where’d you find the fentanyl?”
“Back shed. False floor. Under a bunch of handheld hoes and spades and shit.”
Hutch took in a big breath through his nose. “They’re twisted, but Enstrom’s got some big balls, keeping that shit going, even just after Ray Andrews put us in the global papers,” he remarked. “All the rest that happened after it with all the attention MP got? Christ.”
“As much as it fucks me, I figure that helped him. You don’t take a drink of your dad’s beer when Dad is watching. You do it when he isn’t. So when you’re busy solving a fifteen-year-old murder of a famous author and digging out from under decades of shit policework, you’re looking elsewhere.”
Made sense.
“And we can’t discount the fact that they started their show when Dern was sheriff,” Harry continued. “So he might have been another incentive to set up on this patch.”
Hutch knew that had to fuck with Harry.
He knew it also made sense.
“So you think Enstrom and whoever he has left are headed to Canada?” Hutch asked.
Harry nodded. “That’s South American dope.
He’s not going anywhere near there until he can make his excuses, wheedle back into their good graces, or possibly take whatever they already earned, because they sure as fuck didn’t leave behind any cash, find safe passage to a country that doesn’t expedite, and order a cool drink. ”
“No injuries? No one hurt?”
More shaking of the head for Harry. “Had a paramedic clean up Paisley’s feet. She needs to stay off them for a few days. But other than that, when we rolled in, we had a lot of men with wide eyes and shocked looks, and a lot of women who were falling all over themselves to get to us.”
“How does a man convince himself he has to drag his woman, who escaped in her nightgown, back home and think that’s okay?” Hutch asked Harry a question he couldn’t begin to answer.
And he didn’t have an answer.
“I have no idea, brother.”
“Mabel said one of the guys who went after her put his finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet when they saw her in her window. Is that a guy who doesn’t know he’s doing wrong?” Hutch demanded. “Because I don’t fuckin’ think so.”
“We need to make sure that’s in her statement and she identifies who she saw grab Paisley and who was with him. Paisley’s already told us. Mabel backing that up would be good.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“I figure Enstrom will get nowhere near here, but I’m moving Mabel in with me until he’s caught,” he declared.
“That’d be my play, Hutch,” Harry agreed. “It sucks you just had dogs picked up. But you got Hannibal. And you.”
“Yup. And Tonks. She isn’t close to protection trained, but she sure did her job tonight.”
“Good,” Harry said in a tone that sounded a lot more like him.
Excellent.
He got it out.
He could take a breath and get on with it.
Hutch matched his tone. “You gonna be able to find any sleep for days?”
“The women are safe. The men can sit in cells a long fuckin’ time while I sort shit out, I don’t give a fuck about them.
We’re gonna calm shit down. We’re gonna get those women and their kids someplace where they can put on some regular clothes and start to process. And I’m gonna go home to my wife.”
“Good,” Hutch again mimicked Harry.
Harry’s gaze got intent. “I know you’ll be alert anyway.
I also know Enstrom has cut and run. You’re right.
It’d be an act of sheer lunacy for him to get anywhere near here.
Especially when this leaks, and I got press outside already.
You can’t have fifty units from all over three counties and the Feds descending without those jackals showing up to claim their piece of meat. Not in Misted Pines.”
MP’d had more than its fair share of trouble.
But that probably would happen anywhere.
Harry kept going, “Anyone recognizes them, they’ll be reported.
We’ll probably have a hundred sightings by noon called in.
Feds have put out the DMV pictures where they’re clean-shaven and got short hair, along with your shots, brother, where they’re not.
But first thing I reckon they’ll do is chop that shit off to try to blend. ”
“Yup,” Hutch agreed.
“So I guess what I’m saying is, be vigilant. You will be, but it makes me feel better to say it.”
“I will, Harry. You got enough to worry about without taking on me and May.”
“Yeah,” Harry muttered.
“Go. Do your job. Then get home to Lillian. Does Sean want Mabel alone when she makes her statement? Or can I join them if he isn’t done?”
“You can join them.” Harry pushed from his desk. “Thanks for waiting around, brother.”
He offered a hand.
Hutch shook it.
Harry took off.
And Hutch left Polly’s office to get to his woman.
The fullness of Mabel’s weight finally settled into his body, and Hutch turned his head to look at the alarm clock.
4:07.
Too late, or too early, but at last, she was asleep.
In his mind, he heard her say his name over the phone, her tone dripping in fear, and he shut his eyes tight.
Even though Tonks was on their feet, he rolled into his woman, rounding her with both arms, feeling Moxie not with her bud, but curled at the small of Mabel’s back.
Tonks just sighed and resettled, Moxie twitched and stilled.
Hannibal snored.
Hutch thought.
He’d been cheated on.
He’d tolerated the rasps of a woman who was trying to sculpt him into something he was not.
And he’d been stalked and harassed.
But he’d never lost a woman.
Every one of those women, in the beginning, even Bree, had presented themselves as The One.
They were not the one.
He had to take his part in the ownership of it. Turning a blind eye. Making assumptions. Not reading words or acts when they belied each other. Not taking action when the signs it wasn’t going to work were there.
In the end, somewhere along the way, all three of those women had shown their true selves to Hutch, and he hadn’t seen them.
His mother never hid what she was.
He was a loner, but it went without saying, since he was almost engaged once and definitely engaged another time, he wanted a wife and a family.
He’d convinced himself that wasn’t meant to be.
Now, there was Mabel, and he already knew this was all going to be a problem. What he didn’t know was that problem was going to be compounded exponentially.
She could be real.
Or she could be an illusion.
He knew one thing: if she was an illusion, he’d break in a way that couldn’t be fixed.
But now, after tonight, he had an even bigger worry.
Because now, he knew, if he lost her, for all intents and purposes…
Just like his dad…
His life would be over.