Liam: Branded Brothers (7 page)

Rich Horton was most likely getting high inside the house or
maybe coming down from an all-night bender. Either way, he wasn’t going to be
fit for a rational conversation, not that most of them were. Liam would have to
go in around the back and take him down with force. This wasn’t something he
minded doing. After leaving the Marine Corps, he struggled to find something
that made him feel alive like the days back in the sweltering heat of the
desert. The Dirty Leprechaun was great, but it didn’t satisfy his need to live
on the edge. He needed a little more danger in his life. So when Jerry landed
in the Dirty Leprechaun over eighteen months ago with woes about the latest
hunter he stopped contracting with, it was a match made in heaven. Liam had
found a new day job.

Bounty hunting in Clark County turned out to be more
profitable than he would have imagined. He had no idea how many criminals were
jumping bail in his hometown of Blackwell. The police department was overworked
and short staffed to handle the city’s population of 30,000. City officials
blamed it on the Chicago “creep.” The influence of criminal activity leaked
into the surrounding communities, according to them. Either way, it gave Liam
something to do during the day to keep his mind off his ex-wife and the jackass
she was going to remarry. Turned out the love of her life was really some guy
named Ken who owned a chain of laundromats. Liam had never seen Ken, and he
sure as hell hoped he never would. He knew it was hard for Genevieve when he
was deployed, but he never knew it was that hard. If only she’d told him.

Damn
. It’d been two years since she left him and his
wounds were still fresh, no matter how hard he tried to ignore them. Genevieve was
his first love and his soul mate, or so he thought. They’d married under the
stars in an open field the night before he left for the Marines when they were
eighteen. He could still smell the sulfur of the fireworks and feel the bangs
in his heart. He’d met his share of women over the last two years, but none of
them compared to Genevieve. She was beautiful
and
smart, a combination he
found to be like some goddamn mythical existence at the Dirty Leprechaun. That
is, until Charla Taylor. She was gorgeous, smart, and one tough woman if she
was willing to put up with a stubborn Irishman with Alzheimer’s. Charla Taylor
was a triple threat. He could only imagine what Jack was like. Liam once tore
out an IV when he was in the hospital coming out of surgery for a football
injury in high school. He was later restrained to the bed by four nurses. It
wasn’t one of his finer moments.

Liam slid his nine millimeter out of his holster and double
checked the rounds. He’d never had to fire his gun during one of his
collections, and he wanted to keep it that way. He was pretty lucky by the
standards of the profession. He was good at negotiating with the presence of a
deadly weapon, thanks to the military. Everyone he encountered knew he wouldn’t
be afraid to use his gun.

He opened the van door and stepped into the cool darkness of
the early morning. He guessed it would be a few hours before Charla even awoke.
He tried to push the thoughts of her and her tight ass out of his mind.
Damn
it.
He had a job to do.

He shut the door silently and crossed the street. He crept
onto the lawn, moving along the chain-linked fence running between the two
houses. He was just beginning to feel the dew soak into his sneakers when the
sudden bark of a dog erupted next door.

“Damn,” he cursed, shooting a look of disdain at the
backyard of the neighboring house. All he could see was two glowing eyes. They
were stopped about ten feet from the house, which meant the dog was tied up.
There wasn’t a dog the first time around so either they were new neighbors or
they got a new dog. The bark was low and menacing, broken only by intermittent
growls. Most of the drug dealers in the area had a penchant for keeping
Rottweilers, which meant that Rich Horton had new neighbors AND a new dog.

Liam shoved his hand in his jacket pocket and retrieved a
bag of leftover chicken wings from the bar last night. He wound up and heaved
them over the fence. The growling deepened before it stopped. The early morning
was silent again.

He leaned against the fence and sighed with relief. He never
went on a run without a bag of chicken wings. He learned the hard way on his
third job and still had the scar on his thigh to prove it. Jerry had laughed
when Liam told him he'd gotten ten stitches because of that damn Rottweiller.
Hazard
of the job
, Jerry had said.

Hazard was right
, Liam thought as a light flicked on
in the faded yellow house. He wasn’t in the mood to chase down Rich Horton. He
wanted to get in and out so he could focus on what he needed to do the rest of
the day. It was hard enough sleeping last night knowing he had two brothers out
there somewhere. He grew up as an only child and was envious of his friends who
had brothers. He wanted to beat up on a younger brother or look up to an older
brother. He wanted
something
, besides his adoptive parents, not that he
had any reason to complain. They loved and supported him, but they were older
than all the other parents. They were as old as most of his friend’s
grandparents, and they both died in his early twenties a year apart when he was
on tours. He wondered what his pops would say about his day job. It looked
nothing like the restaurant his folks had run for forty years.

Liam sprinted to the house and pressed his back against the
siding. The light in the window five feet to his left flicked on. Seconds
later, the window slid open and bare feet emerged, dangling out of the window.
Liam reached for his handcuffs and pulled them slowly from the ring on his
jeans, careful not to make a sound or sudden movement. Rich Horton wasn’t a
complete idiot, maybe only ninety-five percent idiot. Rich knew someone was
after him, but he definitely should have reconsidered where he chose to stay.
Getting Rich was too easy.

He was about to lunge forward and grab the feet when legs
appeared through the window. They were thin with knobby knees and way too
feminine to belong to Rich. Then the rest of the body slid out the window,
dressed in shorts and a sheer tank top. A woman landed on the ground with a
thud. Her blonde hair whipped back and forth as she turned to the backyard and
then to Liam. He lunged forward and covered her mouth just before she could let
out a scream. She kicked him in the shin and flailed her arms as he worked to
restrain her. He finally get a hold of her hands and yanked them behind her
back.

“Shh,” he said in her ear. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m
here for someone else.”

She let out a muffled scream beneath his hand, and he
reluctantly applied force to her wrists. She whined from the pain.

“Please. I don’t want to hurt you. I will let you go if you
promise not to scream. Can you promise me that?” Liam asked, still bending her
wrists up towards her shoulders. “Stop moving. You have to trust me. I’m not
one of the bad guys. I’m here to get someone inside who has jumped bail. You
understand?”

She nodded her head and stood still. He looked down and saw
deep bruises and tracks on her bare arms. “You need help?”

She shook her head no, but he knew she was lying. Most of
them did. “Look, there’s a clinic on Seventh Street. It’s free. They have a
great program. Ask for Marian. She’ll help you out. You don’t want to end up
like the guy I’m about to get inside. He’s going to prison for a long time.
Trust me, you don’t belong there.”

Her body quivered beneath his and he thought for a second,
there might be a chance Marian would call him later today about a woman who
came to see her. But the thought was interrupted with a clamp of teeth against
his fingers and a searing pain.

“Fuck,” he swore as he cranked her wrists tighter, making
her body crumble. She released the clamp on his hand and submitted to him. “Get
out of here.”

She sprinted toward the front yard, her blonde stringy hair
streaming behind her. Liam dropped his hands to his knees and watched her run
through the front yard and disappear down the sidewalk.

At least she went quietly
, he thought as he turned
his attention back to the house. In the beginning of his bounty hunting career,
it was hard to come to grips with the amount of drug use he experienced. There
were junkies of all shapes, colors, and sizes, most of whom he handed cards to.
He made friends with Marian at the clinic after a man he’d given a clinic card
to had visited her. Liam had a low success rate though; only around ten percent
heeded his advice. But he’d be damned if he would stop trying.

He crept toward the window and peeked inside to see Rich
Horton passed out on the floor. On second thought, taking him in was going to
be easier than he anticipated. He moved along the side of the house and turned
the corner to see the back door. He opened the unlocked door, shaking his head.
Rich Horton wasn’t helping his cause.

Liam walked into the kitchen and saw a half-empty bag of
marijuana on the table. He dumped it in the kitchen sink and flushed it down
with water. He moved forward with the handcuffs dangling in his hands through the
silent house.

He reached the door at the end of the hallway, put his hand
on the door knob and slowly turned it, holding his breath as he pushed it open
a crack. He expected to see Rich lying on the floor, but the floor was empty.
Liam’s eyes shot up to see Rich climbing out the window just like the blonde,
feet first. Rich met Liam’s eyes for a brief second before he disappeared out
the window.

“God damn it,” Liam yelled. He sprinted through the living
room, jumping over a woman lying on the floor. He didn’t have time to throw her
a card. He peeled out of the house and down the steps to see a naked Rich
hobbling toward the sidewalk.

Liam flew across the yard and tackled him, bringing them both
to the ground with a resounding thud.

“Oh, come on man,” Rich moaned into the grass. Liam shoved
his face harder into the ground and yanked his arms behind his back. He cuffed
them with a clank while he pinned his body to the ground. “Come on. I can’t go
back. Goddamn it.”

“Should have thought about that before you jumped bail
again,” Liam said, holding on to his arms. “Stand up.”

Rich staggered to his feet, standing in all his naked and
wrinkly ass and ball glory.

“Damn it, Rich,” Liam said, averting his eyes. It was too
early to see a sight like this. “I can’t bring you in like this, and I sure the
hell don’t want you sitting in my van with that dirty ass of yours.”

Rich laughed. “Come on. If you let me go, you wouldn’t have
to worry about it.”

“In the house. Now,” Liam ordered, pushing Rich toward the
house. They walked across the yard, up the stairs, and into the house. The
woman on the floor didn’t move.

“Is she all right?” Liam asked as they stepped over her.

“Yeah, she’s fine,” Rich grumbled.

“Is there anyone else in the house?”

“No one else is here. What happened to the blonde?”

“She crawled out the window just before you did,” Liam
replied as they ducked into Rich’s bedroom.

“I can get it,” Rich offered, moving toward the dresser.

“Not a chance,” Liam said, yanking him back. “You know I’m
only doing this as a courtesy for you. Most guys would drag your sorry ass into
the station buck naked. They might give you a jacket to cover yourself with,
but that’s all.”

“I know,” he replied. “What’s your name by the way? Second
time’s a charm…”

“I told you the first time I wouldn’t tell you my name,”
Liam said as he held on to Rich with one hand and dug in a drawer with the
other. A Glock was hidden beneath his pants. Liam held up the gun and waved it
in the air. “Good thing I didn’t let you dig in this drawer, huh?”

“You got me,” Rich said with a shrug. “I had to try. How
much they paying you anyway? I can pay you double.”

Liam grabbed a pair of pants and t-shirt. “No, you can’t. On
second thought, I’ll let you go to the station naked. You can put on your shit
when you get there.”

“Come on, man,” Rich complained as Liam shoved him out of
the bedroom. “Who called me in anyway? How’d you know I was here?”

“Got the call yesterday.” Liam stopped in the living room
and dug inside his pocket. He retrieved a card for the clinic and dropped it on
the woman’s back. Then he shoved Rich out the door and down the steps again.

“Was it my brother?” Rich asked.

“I don’t know, Rich,” Liam replied as they crossed the lawn.

“Goddamn brother ain’t much of a brother. Always rats me
out,” he muttered, shaking his head.

“You got a brother?”

“Yeah, two,” Liam said, opening the back door of the van. He
pushed Rich in and threw the pants and shirt next to him. “Sit on those.”

Liam slammed the back doors shut and then climbed into the
driver’s seat and started the engine. This was the least favorite part of his
job. He really needed to get a partner. He hated keeping tabs on his clientele
on the trip back to the station. They usually kicked the doors or steel
barrier. There was one who even tried to kick out his window. He’d had to pull
over and tie the guy’s feet and hands together. If he had a partner, he could
drive in peace while his partner made sure the collections didn’t do anything
crazy. The problem was that he didn’t trust anyone else.

“Well, I hope your brothers ain’t assholes like mine. You
know they say blood is thicker than water, but that ain’t always the case. That
line is a load of crap. I’d be happy without that damn brother of mine. He’s
always getting me into trouble.”

“Are you sure he isn’t just trying to help you?” Liam asked,
turning at the first stop sign. Luckily, the station was only five minutes
away. He wasn’t too worried about Rich anyway. After Rich let up his struggle
the first time, he conceded and rode begrudgingly in the back with no fight. He
just talked the whole damn way. Liam considered getting earplugs along with the
new partner.