Her Dominant SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 9) Page 14

  “Black’s fine,” Mason answered as he reached for it. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Eva. Let’s get started.”

  Drake rubbed his temple. “And why the hell do you think you’re running the show?”

  “Because I got some of the low-down on Huey tonight. You’re going after him, right?”

  “Hold it right there. Just hold it. Darius and Mason just got here. Let’s get them up to speed before you try to run the show, can we do that? Can we, Evie Lavender?”

  Drake held his breath, hoping he wouldn’t have to gag her.

  “Makes sense. I’m just going to sit here like a little old church mouse until it’s my turn to speak.”

  “How much do you know? Did Clint fill the two of you in?” Drake asked Mason and Darius.

  “Clint talked to me, and I gave Dare the SitRep. But it would be highly beneficial if we heard it from your POV.”

  Drake nodded.

  Evie raised her hand. Drake took a deep breath. “Yes? Ms. Avery, you have a question?”

  “What does SitRep mean?”

  “It stands for Situation Report.”

  “Thank you,” she said sweetly.

  Oh, this could be a long night.

  “As I was saying,” Drake continued. “Meth is being trafficked throughout Jasper Creek, and probably being cooked all over this area. The sheriff’s department is turning a blind eye because the sheriff is getting kick-backs. We know that not everyone in the sheriff’s department is in on it because somebody wrote an anonymous letter reporting this, but it went nowhere.”

  Mason and Darius nodded.

  “There has been an increase in meth and heroin overdoses, which have been reported to the sheriff’s office and the local DEA offices. We know the DEA office is crooked because nothing happened to those reports. Clint took care of it. He’s arranged for another office’s personnel to come in, if not tomorrow, then the next day.” Drake saw that his friends were still tracking.

  “My dad just got out of prison. He’s been basically running the drug trade through his cousin, Huey Avery.” Drake’s voice got harder as he talked about his family members. “There are some weird things that I haven’t been able to pinpoint. Dad has a fixation on my youngest sister, Piper. He’s been after her, even ransacked my oldest sister’s house looking for her, which makes no sense whatsoever, since he’s basically back to run this drug trade.”

  “Is he running labs? Heroin from down south?” Darius asked.

  “Both. And he’s using labor that just got out of prison. Best that I can tell he’s been funneling men to Huey for the last few years, but now that he got out, he’s got more. And he’s bringing in a group of skinheads from Kentucky. Their compound is closing up. Clint is supposed to get more specifics on numbers and timelines for us, but we probably have a week or two.” That last part still made Drake absolutely sick.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. Mason caught his mood.

  “So, who are we making a move on?”

  “Huey. He’s the weakest link.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Evie raise her hand again. This time she wasn’t acting like a bright-eyed student, she looked beaten down too.

  “Yeah, Honey?”

  “Huey isn’t at his house.” She took a deep breath. “Look, I have a lot of information.”

  “I thought you didn’t clean his house,” Aiden said.

  She gave him a tired look. “I don’t. I got my information from Cousin Harmon.”

  Suddenly Drake wasn’t tired anymore. “What were you thinking talking to Harmon! You know you can’t trust that little shit. He was going to deliver me to Dad and Huey on a silver platter!”

  Evie gave Drake a frustrated look. “I didn’t say he talked to me, you idiot. I said I got my information from him. He talked to his on again, off again, girlfriend, the same one that he beats on a regular basis. I called her. Right now, they’re on. Huey is running scared of Dad. He’s not at his house.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He’s staying at the LeeHy Motel. He’s checked in under the name Tyson McGhee.”

  “You’re kidding me. He can’t come up with anything better than the name of the airport?” Drake asked incredulously.

  “Huey isn’t going to win Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, that’s for damn sure. But here’s another thing. Lois, Harmon’s girlfriend, said that she saw a couple of guys who scared her. They’re staying at Harmon’s trailer.”

  “Trailer? Not his dad’s old place?”

  “Yep. They didn’t want the family homestead to change hands,” she said with a weak laugh.

  “Evie, I’m so sorry I gave you shit. You can be in charge of SitReps any day of the week.”

  He looked up at the three men in the room. “Okay, we have our marching orders.” Mason and Darius were already unloading their duffels and suitcases.

  “Dare, you’re staying here. I need coverage for the girls.”

  Darius looked up and gave him a considering look.

  “Personally, I don’t think it’s necessary,” Evie said. “You have extra hardware, don’t you? Just hand it over, and we’ll be fine.”

  Before Drake could get out the word, ‘No,' Darius was talking.

  “Not that I doubt you, but would you care to tell me what your training has consisted of?” Darius asked easily.

  “I’ve watched plenty of movies, and I’ve been to the gun range three times with my bosses.”

  “Eva? Really?” That was all Aiden said, and Evie sighed, and her shoulders slumped.

  “Okay, you’re right,” she said to Aiden in a quiet voice.

  Shit, how did these men know how to handle his sister better than he did?

  “I’ve got this handled. Is the gate the only point of entry?” Darius asked.

  “We really don’t think anybody knows about this place, but you can never be too careful. You came up the one road up here. You’re butted up against a forest without any road access. The fence is electrified all around the perimeter,” Drake explained.

  Darius nodded. “This house looks like all windows.”

  “That’s only because it is. Most of the tourists like the view. But there’s a saferoom off the kitchen. Evie can show you,” Aiden said.

  “Inhabitants?”

  “Me, my two sisters, my three-year-old niece, and Piper’s schoolteacher.” When Darius opened his mouth, Evie held up her palm. “Don’t ask, it’s complicated.”

  “Okay. Got it.”

  Mason, who’d been leaning against the desk nodded to Drake. “This is your show. I’m just here to help.”

  “Harmon’s hurting. I broke his hand. We start with him. I want him and his buddies out of the picture.”

  “I’m behind however you want to handle it.”

  Drake looked at Mason and saw that he meant it. That level of trust humbled him.

  “Let’s kit up. Evie, you can tell us everything there is about the trailer and the LeeHy motel. We’ll also get Clint on the horn and see what Google Earth has to tell us.”

  ***

  It was really snowing by the time they got close to the trailer that was miles out of town. According to Clint, Google Earth was over six months old for this portion of the county, so they relied more on Evie who had driven by the trailer two months ago to pick up Lois. Drake would bitch her out later for putting herself at risk.

  There were two cars up on blocks in front of the trailer. As well as a broken washing machine. Trees butted up to the back of the double-wide, which was quite the fire hazard, not that his cousin would concern himself.

  Drake had just come back from scouting the area. Every single one of the windows was boarded up or had what looked like navy blue sheets covering them. They were flying blind.

  Drake told Mason and Aiden what he had found.

  “The way I figure it, we have to assume there are at least three of them inside and, armed and drunk.”

  “Why drunk and not high?” Aiden asked.
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  “It’s cold out, I’m betting Harmon’s got them drinking Everclear to keep them warm.”

  “It just keeps getting better and better,” Aiden said as he checked his weapon again.

  “I have a plan.”

  “Okay, let’s hear it,” Mason said.

  “I knock on the door.”

  “I don’t like your plan,” Mason said immediately.

  “You agreed to follow my lead,” Drake reminded him.

  Drake watched as he clenched his jaw. “Look, Mase, this is the way to handle Harmon, trust me.”

  “You just broke his hand and said he was armed and drunk. How the fuck do you think knocking on his door is a good idea?”

  “He’s family,” Drake said simply.

  “And if one of the other guys answers and decides to shoot first, and ask questions later?”

  “I’m wearing body armor, thank you very much, Darius Stanton.”

  “Which you should have been wearing the entire time,” Mason ground out.

  “Yeah well when I came out to get Piper, it wasn’t on my packing list,” Drake said dryly.

  “I like my team better,” Aiden said. “There’s not as much estrogen.”

  “Yeah, well you might want to stop thinking of yourself as Black Dawn. I talked to Gray yesterday. You’re assigned to Midnight Delta for the next three missions,” Mason threw over his shoulder.

  Aiden’s head jerked up. Drake laughed. “I think there’s some Estrogen cream we can get you, so you can fit in.”

  “Fuck you guys,” Aiden said.

  “That’s no way to talk to your lieutenant,” said Drake seriously.

  “Sorry, Sir,” Aiden said to Mason.

  “You’re actually listening to Avery? My God, you need to lighten up, O’Malley.” Mason grinned. “Okay, Drake. You’re going to knock on the door. Then what?”

  “Wait for my signal.”

  Drake saw their dubious glances.

  “Trust me. What could go wrong?”

  ***

  The bruised and naked woman, who opened the door, had a gun.

  Drake lost a precious milisecond assimilating the fact that she was scared before he reacted, and it cost him.

  “Get in here, Cuz.” Harmon shoved the woman onto the dirty linoleum, and she cried out, her gun skittering across the floor toward the couch. The worst thing in the world for Drake to do was to go into the trailer. He wanted his cousin and the three men on the couch to come out. But he couldn’t ignore the woman whimpering on the floor.

  “I’ll shoot the bitch if you don’t get in here. She ain’t family.” His cousin was holding a piece of shit gun in his left hand. Drake had been wrong about a lot of things. Harmon was drunk and high. He assessed the situation. Two of the men were so stoned that they weren’t going to be a problem, but the third guy, he was the one with the tattoos, and he, he was going to be all sorts of wrong.

  “Harmon, this is just a social call,” Drake said as he put one foot over the threshold.

  “Come all the way in. It’s freezing,” Harmon shouted, holding his gun awkwardly.

  “Can’t do that, Cuz. Don’t trust you enough to come all the way inside.”

  “Drake, I told you I wouldn’t kill family.”

  “He would.” Drake nodded at the man on the couch.

  Harmon laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. But I don’t want a mess in my trailer. He’d have to take you outside anyway.”

  Drake surveyed the dim interior of the trailer. One of the stoned men pulled his jacket tighter around himself, then promptly fell sideways against the arm of the blue couch, saliva running out of his mouth. The other man had an open pizza box resting on his lap. In one hand was a slice of pepperoni, in another was a small caliber gun like Harmon’s. It was clear that he was better suited to care for the pizza.

  “You’re right, Harmon, you wouldn’t want anything to mess up your place.”

  The woman on the floor threw up.

  “Goddamn, bitch.” Harmon drew back his leg to kick her. Drake grabbed his leg and upended him so that he landed on his ass.

  “You don’t kill family, and I don’t let women be beat.”

  Harmon laughed, and so did the tattooed man.

  A slurred, “what” came from the man who had been passed out. He slid to the floor.

  “You’re still trying to protect women. Comes from all those sisters.” Harmon said as he pointed his gun at Drake. He wouldn’t shoot, it was just another power play, Drake cut his glance to the tattooed man whose powerful gun was resting against the arm of the couch. That was when he saw the stoned man on the floor lift the woman’s gun and pull the trigger. The bullet went wild, Harmon yelled and shot Drake in the chest.

  Drake surged backwards into solid muscle.

  A gun came up around him, and he saw tattoo boy, who suddenly had his gun up and ready to fire, die. O’Malley had shot him in the forehead.

  Mason moved past them both into the small confines of the trailer. The other two were too frightened to make a move. They begged not to be hurt, and Mason quickly took away their pistols.

  Aiden helped Drake slide down to the floor and started pulling at his coat. Drake batted his hand away. “I’m fine.”

  “Bullshit, you were shot.”

  “Couldn’t have been more perfect, right in the middle of the armor.” Drake laughed, then started coughing.

  Aiden couldn’t be stopped, he pulled open Drake’s coat and checked to see where the bullet had impacted.

  Drake coughed again. “I forgot, you’re a medic.”

  “We need to get you seen.”

  “Fuck that shit.” Drake nodded to where Mason had already pulled a sheet off one of the windows and had it wrapped around the woman. “You need to see about her.”

  “Yeah, I do.” Aiden turned, and Drake breathed a painful breath, glad to have been forgotten.

  “Lois?” Aiden asked.

  “Who are you?” she shivered.

  “I’m a friend of Eva’s. Can I help you up?”

  Mason found a chair for her, and he saw that he had found a towel, that actually looked clean, to put on it, before she sat down. Satisfied that Aiden had Lois in hand, Mason turned to Drake and Harmon.

  He crouched down next to Drake and asked softly, “Do you want me to take over?”

  “Only if you want to. I’m only a little shot,” he grimaced.

  “Okay, then, you’re in charge, how do you want to handle it?”

  Drake considered it.

  “You play bad cop for a while, then I’ll play badder cop.”

  “You got it,” Mason agreed.

  He got up and towered over Harmon.

  “You alive?” Mason asked in a steely voice.

  There was no answer. Drake elbowed his cousin. “He’s talking to you.”

  “I hurt,” the younger man whined.

  “He’s alive,” Drake answered. “Where are you shot, Harmon?”

  “In my arm.”

  Mason crouched down and ripped open the sleeve of Harmon’s flannel shirt. “Quit your bitching, it’s a flesh wound.”

  Drake pushed up from the floor. Then he grabbed his cousin’s uninjured arm and yanked him up.

  “Ow,” Harmon screeched.

  “We’re taking a walk,” Drake said as he kicked open the door of the trailer. “You got this?” He looked over his shoulder at his two teammates. Mason nodded.

  “I’m cold. I can’t go outside.”

  “Look, you little shit. You just shot me in the chest. You can go for a walk in the woods with me.”

  “You’re gonna kill me. You can’t do that. You’re the police.”

  “I’m in the Navy. I’m on leave. I’m pissed. I can do whatever the hell I want.”

  “Help!” he screamed.

  Drake looked around the shroud of the snowstorm. They couldn’t be heard. God help him from imbeciles.

  “Take me to the lab.”

  “You’ll kill me.”
br />   Drake’s eyes widened. He stopped and desperately wished he could rub his chest through the body armor, ‘cause it hurt. But instead, he twirled Harmon around and picked him up, so only his toes touched the ground. He could see the whites of his eyes.

  “I might kill you. You don’t know. But I will kill you if you don’t show me where the lab is. Are we clear?”

  “I can’t find it in the snow.”

  Drake dropped Harmon on the ground, then pulled out his pistol.

  “Wait, please. We need to drive a half mile, then it’s a little ways in the woods. Please, Drake.”

  “We’ll drive.”

  “Please. Let me get a coat. Please.” Drake could see the tears freezing on his cousin’s face.

  “Fine.”

  ***

  After pinpointing the location of the meth lab, Drake called Clint. The DEA agents who had planned to be in Jasper Creek the following afternoon got in their car that night. Aiden drew the short straw and ended up waiting in the trailer for them. He was less than happy having to babysit the dead body, Harmon, and two tied up ex-cons.

  Drake dropped off Mason at the hospital with a hysterical Lois and then drove like a bat out of hell to the Chalet. He ran up the stairs. At four in the morning, nobody was up, so Drake knocked softly on Evie’s door.

  Three doors opened. Darius, Evie, and Karen all ended up downstairs at the dining room table as Drake quickly explained to Evie that Lois desperately needed a friend at the hospital.

  “They used her as a distraction so that they could get me into the trailer. It’s a damned snowstorm, and they send her to the door, beaten and naked.”

  Karen went pale.

  “Fucking bastards. Did you kill them?” Evie asked.

  “One’s dead, it was kill or be killed. Harmon has a flesh wound, the other two are stoned out of their mind. Aiden’s got them on ice until the DEA show up later this morning. Harmon also showed me where the meth lab is. At least one of them, but it was a pretty substantial operation.”

  “Let me throw on something other than sweats, and I’ll be good to go.” Evie rushed out of the room.

  “Same goes,” Darius followed, which left Karen sitting next to him in flannel pajamas looking like she might shatter. Drake was at a loss.

  “Talk to me.”

  “It’s nothing. I’ll go start some coffee.” She started to get up from the table, and he gently grabbed her wrist.