Beyond the Call of Duty (18 page)

Frankie grabbed her hand and plucked it off his chest. “Where’s Caleb?”

“He’s coming; he’s parking the car.”

“Then go and wait in the salon, Theresa.”

“But...”

“You heard me.” He turned his back on her, going back around the edge of his desk as if he needed something between the two of them.

Teri’s face turned red, and she glanced over at Gabe. He stared at her, looking for some kind of emotion that would tell him she was the same woman he used to flirt with, the one who seemed so happy with Tony, but she turned away without a word and went to the door. When she opened it, Caleb stood on the other side.

“Go on into the salon, love. Mom is there already. You girls can talk about the wedding.”

“What are you going to do with Gabe?” she asked quietly, glancing over her shoulder at him.

“That’s not your concern, Teri. Go on, now!” Frankie answered the question, ignoring the look on his son’s face. He waited until Teri left, closing the door behind her. “Caleb, you need to get a leash on her.”

“What, you can’t control a little girl like Teri?” Gabe asked, laughing wryly as both Traegers stared at him. “She always did what Tony said.”

“Yeah, she did exactly what Tony said up until the day we had him shot.”

Gabe kept the relaxed look upon his face even though he wanted to rush Caleb Traeger. “Yeah, that’s always kind of bugged me, Cal. You and your father have this reputation for handling everything yourself. You never hire anyone to do your dirty work, so why did you with the Blandons? Were you afraid Tony would kick your ass and hand it back to you in a grocery bag? Why the fuck did you two chicken-out there?”

Caleb stomped toward Gabe and drew his hand back, letting it swing forward hard and strike him a terrible blow to the face. “Tony Blandon was nothing more than a two-bit dealer, Elliott. The man had more skank on the leash than any I knew. If it hadn’t been for Caitlyn...” He quit talking, realizing he’d said too much.

“What about Caitlyn Blandon, Caleb? What was she to you?”

“She was a whore and a slut!” Frankie shouted. “She lied to you, Caleb.”

“She was just barely sixteen. What the fuck did she do to deserve dying like she did?” Gabe glared into Caleb’s brown eyes, seeing them flinch and the sadness that seemed predominant in them. “You...loved...her.” He answered his own question. “You loved Caitlyn. Why did that bring about her death?” Caitlyn had been a girl like any other sixteen-year-old; a little giggly and self-contained, but not selfish or mean natured. Then Gabe remembered the date, the one Tony had asked him to be at the house for to help intimidate her date. “Did she dump you?”

“That’s none of your―” Frankie began, only to be interrupted by Caleb.

“She was my life. I would have given her the world if she’d agreed to marry me. She was carrying my child, did you know that?”

Gabe tried to remember the last time he’d spent any time in Caitlyn’s presence. Had there been something in her eyes, a sadness that wasn’t easily explainable? “No, Caleb, I didn’t know that. So by having Caitlyn and her whole family killed, you killed off your own child as well.”

“No!” he screamed, spittle flying from his lips to strike Gabe in the face. “No! She had it killed. She did. Her mother took her, and they had it ripped from her body!”

Gabe was shaking his head. “No, Tony and Greta wouldn’t have done that. Tony wouldn’t have let Caitlyn or his wife in that section of town alone. He would have asked me to go with them, and he didn’t. Caitlyn was still pregnant when you had her killed!”

Caleb sank down to his knees in front of Gabe, his face buried in his hands as the reality of what Gabe was saying shook him to his very soul. “No, you’re lying. You have to be lying. She told me she hated me; she didn’t want anything to do with a child that would have been conceived with me.” His eyes were haunted as he looked up at Gabe. “Tell me you’re lying, please.”

Gabe felt sympathy for the man who was really little more than a boy given too much responsibility and not allowed to sow his wild oats. He’d taken advantage of a girl, and the girl’s entire family had been made to pay because of it. “Frankie, please tell me this whole debacle wasn’t because a boy got his feelings hurt by a girl? You had an entire family wiped out because your little boy couldn’t get his wick dipped again? That’s not just sad, it’s despicable.” He shook his head.

“My son made a mistake, he’s human, but he was willing to take responsibility for Caitlyn and their child. She’s the one who had their baby killed.”

“Do you want to know the truth about all of this?” Gabe growled. “Do you want to be sure your grandchild hadn’t been killed the same night that you killed Tony?”

“How are you going to do that?” Frankie asked, suspiciously.

“I make a phone call. One phone call, Frankie, and then you and Caleb will know for sure what type of girl Caitlyn truly was.” He sent a silent prayer skyward that Caitlyn didn’t disappoint him in this.

Frankie stared over at his son still collapsed on the floor. He was crying into his hands, and Frankie seemed to know how he felt. If he put the hit on the girl and she hadn’t been planning on getting rid of his grandchild, what kind of man would that make him? “Who do you need to call?”

“The agent assigned to me; Lexi Hunter. She can find out the facts of the case easily enough. She would only need to call me back.”

Frankie took one last look at Caleb and nodded at Gabe. “Fine, make your call, but you tell them nothing. Not where you are or who has you, got me?”

“Yeah.” He gave Frankie’s muscle the number to Lexi’s cell and listened to it ring and ring. Right before it went to voice-mail, he heard her pick up. “Lexi! Baby, are you okay?”

Frankie growled, and Gabe knew he was pushing it. “Listen to me, Lexi. I don’t know how much time I’ve got. I need you to find out something for me. I need to know if Caitlyn Blandon was pregnant at the time of her death. You gotta call me back and let me know. It’s important.”

He heard her voice and then nothing as Frankie flipped the phone closed at his last word. “Frankie,” Gabe said softly. “I know you love your son and you’d do whatever you could to make him happy. Is killing me going to make him happy?”

“You’re a loose thread that needs wrapped up, Gabe. It doesn’t matter if I want to kill you or not. You know it was my family that killed the Blandons. Caleb wouldn’t do well in prison, and I’m not giving those cons a chance at making him their bitch. With your death, everything can be swept under a rug and forgotten about.”

Caleb’s head popped up as he heard his father’s words. He stood up with a steady and determined look upon his face. “You want to sweep your grandchild under a rug, forget about him? Dad, I’ve done anything and everything you’ve ever wanted me to do, but if Caitlyn didn’t abort our baby, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive you for having her and her entire family killed.”

“Caleb...” Frankie began.

“No! You wanted Caitlyn out of my life, and I quit seeing her. When she called and told me she was pregnant, you told her we would raise the baby without her, and I allowed it. When you brought Teri into this house and asked me to marry her, even when I knew she’s been your whore for almost two years now, I said yes, but I don’t think I can do much more of this.”

Frankie opened his mouth, and the cell phone in his hand rang. He stared at it for just a second before he opened it and put it up to Gabe’s ear. “Yeah, Lexi.”

Gabe didn’t speak for a few seconds. “Okay, thanks, Lex. Uh, huh.”

“What did she say?” both Traegers asked.

“Caitlyn was almost two-and-a-half months pregnant when she was killed. There’s no evidence she had an appointment anywhere to rid herself of her pregnancy. Crime scene found books in her room about how to care for herself and a newborn baby. She was having the child, Caleb.”

Gabe had never seen a look of such hatred as the one Caleb gave his father. “You motherfucker! I should have never let you take her away from me. Never!” He moved away from the chair Gabe was seated in. “I’m dead to you,” Caleb told Frankie.

“Caleb! Wait!”

When Frankie followed Caleb out of the room, Gabe yanked at his hands still tied with the same now blood-soaked rope. He pulled and yanked, finally grinning as the lengths of rope slipped off his wrists and over his hands, freeing him. He could hear the two men out in the hallway, could hear the fight still going on. Running behind the desk, he pulled open the door on one side of the fireplace and slipped out into the garden.

Peeking around the side of the house, he could see Traeger’s goons heading toward the front door as the sound of shattering glass filled the air. Keeping down, he raced over to Caleb Traeger’s car; a 2010 Chevy Camaro, with all the bells and whistles. He turned the key, feeling it catch and then vibrate beneath him as if it were alive.

“Okay, baby, get me out of this, and I’ll make sure you’re okay too.” He slipped the transmission into first and rammed on the accelerator, knocking two of Traeger’s men through the air to leave them unconscious on the front lawn. More men were coming, including Caleb Traeger, who watched in shock as his pretty, bright-red Camaro smashed into the front gates, slamming them back and into the walls of the fence.

Gabe ran through the gears, barely touching the brakes at every intersection. He was running for his life, and he knew it. Turning onto the main road leading around the lake and back into town, he floored it. The engine grumbled and growled, vibrating under him with a showy flash of muscle. He knew the road and where the sticky spots were going to be. One was coming up; a sharp S curve. If he missed it, he’d be axle-deep in lake water.

The sound of a gunshot behind him had him ducking. He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Frankie Traeger following him. If he slowed down too much, Traeger would knock him off the road and leave a 9 mm slug in his brain. “Fuck,” he growled, sliding the car from one side of the road to the other. The back window shattered, safety glass flying all around him. He ducked down as another shot came his way.

Lights were coming around the first curve, and he knew he had to slow down or he was going to hit the car as it moved toward him, then he saw the red and blue flashes and knew they were cops. He slowed down, but it wasn’t enough. The Camaro fought him as he tried to get it to stay on the road. He was headed toward the first car and saw Lexi’s wide eyes as the Camaro broadsided her. Her car slid across the shoulder and through the guard rail, flying about fifteen feet above the water before coming down hard. Gabe fought with the damn air bag and looked up just in time to see the water splash and the top of the roof of Lexi’s car slide under the water.

Chapter Fourteen

Gabe rubbed his head, his foot still hard on the brakes. He saw blood on his fingers and cursed. He waved his hand in front of him to disperse the powder that exploded along with the air bag, and then it hit him like a brick in the head. “Lexi!”

He could still see the shocked look upon her face as he’d come barreling toward her and the horror as she realized he couldn’t stop. He’d slammed into the side of her car, and he could still see the ghostly gray side of her vehicle as it flew through the air toward the icy cold depths.

The Camaro stopped at the edge of the pavement, and he smashed his shoulder against the door, praying it would open. After the third time of trying, it gave, creaking noisily as he shoved it open. He ran down to the edge of the water, stumbling the first few steps until he caught his balance. He could see the car lights under the water. It was completely submerged. “Fuck!” He glanced around, and then kicked off his shoes before diving in.

* * * *

The car sank fast, and Lexi struggled against the steering wheel that held her locked into place. She could feel her lungs beginning to burn, and she was becoming panicky. Her eyes grew even wider when Gabe, blood streaming from a wound in his forehead, was suddenly there in front of the windshield.

He beat his hands hard against the cracked glass, finally reaching for the corner of the windshield and pulling it out of the opening. Bracing his feet on the hood, he reached in, grabbing hold of the steering wheel and yanking up on it with all his strength. It was stubborn, and he grasped it again. He stared down into Lexi’s eyes as they began to lose focus.

* * * *

The last of the air bubbled out of her mouth, and she gaped like a fish, reaching her hand up to him, only to float with the flow of the water. He growled at the pain of watching her die and strained with everything he had in him, tearing the wheel up. Lexi floated free underneath it, her hair escaping from the pins she’d used to keep it up. He reached in and dragged her out, pushing off the hood one last time.

He held his arm around her waist, kicking his feet and pulling against the coldness of the water with the other arm. He could see the brightness of the sunshine above him, drawing him on like a beacon in the watery depths he braved to retrieve the woman he loved.

His head broke the water, and he dragged her up as well, hearing the hue and cry of the cops and the fascinated onlookers that stood against the lake shore. Lexi was heavy against him, limp, her hands trailing along behind him as he swam toward the men.

“Help me!” he shouted when he was close enough. Hands reached out, tearing her from his arms, before helping him out as well.