Page 15 of Fighting for Mallory

“Our faith and our love for our family is strong, Brielle. If you need your mother, Brianna will be here in a heartbeat.”

“I know.”

Brielle would never do anything to interfere with Justice’s sense of duty, nor would she admit it, but she needed her husband. When she yawned, Cameron rose to his feet and kissed her forehead. “You need to rest, sweetheart. Don’t worry about the kids. Rosie will help with Noelle, and I’ll tuck them in.”

“Okay. Give them kisses from me.”

Cameron nodded. As soon as Miguel left, he spent some time with the girls before he put Noelle down for the night and sent Rosie to bed. Though it was late in Washington, D.C., he called Justice. His son-in-law answered immediately.

“Is Brielle okay?” Justice’s voice was rough and husky with concern.

“Physically, yes. Come home, Justice. Your wife is more important than whatever business you have with Madame Secretary.”

“I’ll be on the first plane out of Washington. I have to handle that clusterfuck Luca and Mallory have gotten into. It’s headline news here in D.C. Have you heard from them?”

“No. And I won’t. Luca knows it’s dangerous to contact any of us.”

“Well, I know one person he contacted. And when I get ahold of Hutch, I’m going to wring the information from him.”

“Good luck. So, have you accepted Madame Secretary’s offer?”

“I want to discuss it with Brielle first before I say anything.”

“Fair enough.”

“I’ll let you know when to expect me home.” Justice paused as he cleared his throat. “Brielle is my life, sir.”

“I know. And you can tell her that when you get here.”

* * *

Hutch covered Luca and Mallory’s tracks well because no law enforcement officers came barging through the motel door in the middle of the night to drag them into custody, nor did the creepy guys with the fanged copperhead tattoos show up.

Nightmares invaded Mallory’s sleep, so Luca spent most of the night holding her and soothing her through the worst of them. From her incoherent cries, he surmised she must have witnessed part of her husband’s horrible murder. The amount of Rohypnol she’d been given and her subconscious prevented her from remembering what happened. Pure exhaustion finally overtook her, and she fell into a deep sleep a few hours ago. Luca grabbed some sleep, but now he was ready to leave the area and head north.

He cautiously opened the motel door and saw a gray metallic Ford Taurus parked in the spot directly in front of the room. Luca walked to the vehicle, ran his hand beneath the wheel well and found a magnetic device keeping the key fob in place. Inside the car he discovered a pair of duffel bags and carried them into the motel room. One contained clothes and necessities for Mallory. In the other Hutch had provided him with clothes, two new untraceable burner phones with technology designed by Tex, and an envelope filled with several thousand dollars, along with new identities for him and Mallory, and plenty of ammunition. He had no idea where Hutch got his hands on the money, but he was grateful for his friend’s resourcefulness.

In a text message on one of the phones, Hutch warned Luca that Justice had learned from the news about the events of the previous day, and he’d already been brought to task for his involvement in the situation. Luca couldn’t help but smile as he headed into the bathroom with clean clothes. He took a quick shower, dressed, and primed both Glocks with a magazine. Then, he gently shook Mallory awake and whispered that she needed to hurry to shower and get dressed so they could leave.

Daylight barely touched the skies. Little traffic traveled the highway leading north to Marysville. Luca knew about the roadblocks and followed a route that avoided the major highways. Three hours into their journey to the McQuaids’ cabin in the mountains, Luca turned into a fast-food drive-thru where he ordered two large cups of coffee and sausage biscuits.

“Feeling better?” Luca asked after they’d eaten and drunk most of their coffee.

“I’m sore but far more clearheaded than yesterday.”

“Shall we try to jog your memory?”

“Yes, but I want to ask you a question first. You know something about those men who attacked us. What is it?”

“I think they’re part of an organization identified only by those fanged copperhead tattoos. You prosecuted two of their members for killing an LAPD police captain and sent them to prison where they were promptly murdered.”

Mallory rubbed her temples. “It’s right there on the edge of my mind. Is that why I was afraid of our limo driver?”

“You said you saw part of a fanged copperhead tattoo on him. Can you picture anything else about him? His height? Weight? Eye and hair color? His voice?”

Several moments passed. Suddenly, Mallory sucked in her breath and gripped his thigh. “Cousin. He said he was Andre’s cousin. And he spoke with an accent. I couldn’t place it.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere. Tex’s number is in the new phones Hutch gave us. Call him and tell him what you remembered. Justice knows Hutch is helping us, so I want to leave him out of this as much as possible.”

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