Page 81 of Welker

Hayden had met the older woman numerous times, and they’d hit it off.

“Tell me,” Hayden snapped, the worry evident in her voice.

“She called me in a panic. Two MC members were at her door, trying to break in. I told Margaret to head to her root cellar out back, but I don’t know if she got there safely or not. Then, before I could contact you, I received a call. It was the new LT, Mick’s voice, I’m pretty certain, and he said they have Margaret; that I’m to come alone or they’ll kill her.”

“Well, shit.”

Moira could tell Hayden was instantly on the move.

“Where’s your team?” Hayden clipped.

“On a robbery call-out, over an hour north of here.” Moira didn’t have to explain why she wasn’t going to alert and reroute them. Hayden knew that when SWAT was called in, it was always an emergency.

“Okay. Boone and I are headed your way. What’s the plan?” Hayden asked.

Moira breathed out a sigh of relief. One person backing her up was good; having two people on her six was better than she’d hoped for.

But as to Hayden’s inquiry…?

Moira hadn’t had a chance to think about anything past making sure that Margaret was okay. She needed a strategy that would keep everyone safe.

“One question before I answer that.” An outline had begun to form in Moira’s head. “Does this new intel from your man Tex have Gladstone, Pickenstahl, and Murphy involved with the MC?” Moira asked, already out the door and heading toward her truck.

“Gladstone and Murphy, yeah. Both have unidentified cash deposits made into their accounts—Gladstone’s being much larger—that are concurrent, and the drops coincide with the robberies you previously uncovered,” Hayden shot back. “Nothing definitive on Pickenstahl, however.”

Moira pondered. “But the evidence against the sheriff and Murphy is circumstantial, and won’t stand up in court.”

“Exactly,” Hayden huffed. “Tex is digging for more.”

“Then it’s decided. I’m going in wearing a wire,” Moira declared. “I’ll get that asshole, Mick, to spill his guts while thinking he has the upper hand.”

“Moira,” Hayden argued. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea. What happens if he just takes you out before you can get him to talk.”

“Remember Gladstone’s phone conversation?” Moira reminded her. “He told whoever was on the other end of the line, that when they ‘fixed the problem’ they had to ‘make it look like an accident’. If I’m that problem, which I think I am, Mick’s not going to shoot me, outright.”

“You’re betting your life that you’re that problem,” Hayden countered. “How about this, instead. We all enter from the back of the property, checking the root cellar to see if Margaret is okay. Then we go in with guns blazing…so to speak.”

Moira knew Hayden was speaking metaphorically. None of them condoned needless death, but still…

God, Moira loved a fearless partner, but Hayden wasn’t going to dissuade Moira from her course of action.

“Hang on, Hayden. Give me a minute to gear-up, then I’ll tell you the rest of my plan.” Moira was playing for time until she had her arguments in order.

Moira reached her truck and opened the back door. During her surgery-related down-time, she’d restocked her go-bag, and it now held everything Moira needed for this unofficial op. She pulled out a recording device with its wires, then swiftly and expertly attached it to herself. Once it was secure, she donned her vest, slipping it over the apparatus with only a modicum of discomfort from her ribcage. She then strapped her shoulder harness over the whole thing and holstered her Glock.

Damn, it felt good to be back in the saddle, but Welker was going to have a fit once he found out what she was doing

She couldn’t let that distract her now.

Once she deemed herself ready, Moira got in the truck and started it up. “You still there?” she asked.

Hayden replied immediately. “Yup. Just waiting on you to tell me why you’re putting yourself in danger.”

Moira dropped her truck into gear, and took off, giving Hayden her reasoning.

“We need solid intel that Gladstone is involved in this up to his eyeballs, and we also need to know why. What’s his game?” Moira had her suspicions that it involved not only money, but perhaps the unsolved death, seven months earlier, of one Deputy Alstead. “I aim to get answers, then shut this whole fucking thing down, putting Gladstone’s ass in prison where it belongs.”

Hayden gave a loud sigh. “What do you want us to do, then?” she asked, not happy, but clearly agreeing.

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