Page 67 of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

When we finally break from the unpaved drive to the paved road we see the red and white flashing, accompanied by red and blue.

It’s gonna take some slick talking on Duke’s part, mine too. What with the fire raging. It’s big enough to illuminate the sky. So no doubt they’ll see it driving up.

Caity identifies herself as Dr. Caitlin Brennan. We’re detained, as I knew we’d be.

None of the brothers here got rap sheets or warrants. And yeah, we all take it a step further; we don’t use stolen guns. When we voted to go legit, we went legit, giving up the shit that would most get us busted or dead.

We give our statements, which with Liv’s kidnapping on the books, can be backed up. I tell the officer questioning me to get a hold of Officer Drinkswine. They want the video of Liv being injured, which we’re willing to turn over. The rest of the events we sort of fudge by omission. There was a standoff for Liv. True. Liv was used as a human shield. True. Blue jumped Houdini from behind to free Liv. Still true. A wounded Houdini made his way back into the cabin and a fire was set. Mostly true. We don’t know how Houdini ended up with Liv in the first place. Okay, not true.

They don’t need to know he was already dead and that we’d set the fire. But they do need to contact Sgt. Tommy Doyle who led the Houdini murders case in Kentucky, and the Chicago PD who dealt with her first kidnapping, to let them know the case is closed.

I’d been preparing for them to take us in. Except for the sheriff’s department in Thornbriar, most police officers don’t care too much for bikers. After taking all our statements, the only one the cops actually want to come down to the station is Liv because of the abduction. They want her statement on record.

And despite a medical doctor, Caitlin Brennan, checking Liv out, the paramedics want Liv to be checked out at the hospital. Since we were only just supposed to have gotten her back, she agrees.

We hitch a ride back to John’s place for the van. Then we follow them to town. I guess with as grisly a shooting as the Smitty’s shooting was, it shouldn’t have surprised me, but shit news travels fast. Within a half hour of us arriving at the little county hospital, reporters and camera crews descend on us from Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, shoving a microphone in any one of our faces that they think might give them the scoop.

One woman is caught trying to sneak in to see Liv when I leave my guard spot to take a piss. I call security to have her ejected from the premises.

Thanks to Caity’s quick actions and forethought to bring her medical kit, Blue made it to the hospital in stable condition. Shoulder and thigh wounds, nothing life-threatening. The worst injury comes from where he hit his head on the packed ground during the tackle. He’d been hit from two sides, the ground and when Houdini reared his head back, cracking Blue with the back of his skull, slicing open a pretty deep gash along Blue’s eyebrow.

That sucker bled like a motherfucker, as head wounds tend to do. He also ended up with a pretty gnarly concussion, which is what knocked him out.

Blue’s set up in a room now. They’re keeping him at least overnight. Maybe longer, depending on how fast he begins to recover from the head injury. Can’t be too careful with those. We all decided early on to take a Blue watch. But Boss gets a call from John that we left a few things at his place and we need to go pick them up. So that leaves him out of the running for a while. He asks me to go with, which leaves me out, too.

“Wanna come, baby?” I ask Liv.

“No. Thanks, though. I think I should take the first shift with Blue. He saved my life after all.”

“Want me to stay?”

“Not much for you to do here. But I’d love some good coffee.” She bats her lashes at me. Those big, beautiful eyes. Guess I’m hunting down good coffee. “Thank you, babe,” she says. “You remember what I drink?”

I roll my eyes at her. Like I could ever forget. “Uh yeah, pumpkin spice latte,” I tease. Her face rumples. She hates pumpkin spice lattes. Plus, it’s not exactly the right time of year. “Please, Liv. How long have I known you? If it’s not made with chocolate, then it’s not worth drinking.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Boss pulls at my arm. “Make lovey faces later. I got to go.”

Caitlin and Duke are taking it easy back at the hotel room they rented. Hero, Blood, Carver and Blaze head to the bar we saw when we rolled into town to decompress and maybe get laid if the pickings are good. We’ve been going so long that the sun’s on the downshift again. The boys are hitting happy hour. A stiff drink would be nice, but I’ve got more important things on my agenda tonight. Like seeing where Liv’s head is at.

Boss’ll join Elise in their room when we get back from John’s. That is, if we make it back from John’s. Three different deer jump out in front of us before we make the three miles it takes us to get to his place. That’s more than a deer a mile. My phone rings. Drinkswine.

“What can I do for you?” I ask.

“Cartwright Sheriff told me they found the body, just as you said. There’d been significant damage, but from the big hole in his head, we’re thinking he probably set the place on fire, then shot himself.”

Wait, what’s he saying? One body? “Who owned the cabin, do you know?” I ask, holding back my agitation. Drinkswine wouldn’t understand it.

“Cartwright Sheriff will know that,” The officer answers. “They’ll want to question the man about his connection to Ms. Baxter’s kidnapper…”

Fuck. Fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck.

My woman might be in danger and he’s still talking. “…Mr. Longe gets released today.”

I’ve got to shut him up. “Good. That’s good. Thank you for the update,” comes my hasty reply.

“Not a problem. But if we need to get a hold of you—”

“You have my number,” I tell him. “I’ll be happy to cooperate with anything you need.” He rings off, and I turn to Boss. “Turn around.Now.”

A text pops up on my screen from an unknown number.

The text just says:I win.

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