Authors: Kathi S. Barton
There was an openness that he wouldn’t have thought would work in this room and the others on this main floor. Doorways were wide, with pocket doors that slid silently into their places. The furniture was new but had a worn, comfortable look to it, and the shelves—and this room had plenty—were filled with books. No foo-foo, as his mom called it. Just books.
“There were three rooms in the house that I spent the first years of my life in. My room, my biological parents’ room, and a central room that I’m sure was supposed to be a living room. There was no electric to the place, no phone, and while there was running water, the toilet had to be flushed by dumping a five gallon bucket of water into it and then rinsed out with the hose that also doubled as a shower for me. I never saw my parents use it. Though after some thought, I suppose they did occasionally.” She stared off into the room, completely forgetting about him, he was sure. “Neither of them worked. Only at trying to kill each other. And me when they saw me. I tried my best to stay out of their sights as much as I could. Food was a luxury for me. I’d hoard it when there was any, which was usually taken from a dumpster somewhere. Or if the school would have enough for there to be leftovers, I’d wrap it up in newspaper that was in abundance at the house and take it. That didn’t happen often, but I would save it.”
“Is that why the pantry is so stocked and you have two deep freezers that have more food in it than most small stores do?” She said it was. “And this house. You built large because of what you didn’t have.”
“I used my first bonus check to purchase the land that I grew up on. My intentions were to let it go, let trees take it over so that I’d never have to think of this place again. But then Mom told me that it was unhealthy, that I should make it something else. Something pretty. So with my next two checks, I used the money to put this here. It’s been a long process, but I love the results. It’s the only place I call home anymore. My parents, Peter and Mary, have always welcomed me there, of course, but this is where I can be whatever I want. Which is usually not a killer.”
He loved the house as well and told her that. “You thought I was Pete the other day. You thanked him for watching over the place. Does he know why you did this? Any of the other Burchers?”
“Oh yes. He knows. I have never…not many people know, but he was my little brother and I told him.” He heard the timer go off in the kitchen to let him know the potatoes were close enough that he had to put on the vegetables. “Colin, I don’t want you to be killed because of me.”
“I don’t want that either.” He stood up and told her to come with him. “We’ll figure this out. Once we do then the rest should be easy. I’m not saying that it won’t be difficult, but we can figure this out.”
At least he hoped so. He didn’t want to lose her by her getting hurt, or him either. As he began listing the veggies that he’d unearthed in the larger freezer, Colin came to a realization that nearly took him to his knees. He was in love with his mate.
Chapter 6
Rich watched his sons. All of them were about as big as a house, yet as gentle as kittens around the young woman. Even Dustin, his baby, seemed to be in awe of Lauren, and really, Rich didn’t blame him. He was sorta in love with her himself. He glanced over at his own mate and she smiled at him.
“She’s got them eating out of her hands, and she doesn’t have a clue what to do with them. Just look at her. She’s about ready to bash in a couple of heads. And if Dustin calls her ‘Miss’ again, I think he’ll be the first to go.” Rich laughed and saw the moment that Dustin realized he was in big trouble. “Here it comes.”
“If you call me that one more time, even if you mean to call me Miss Lauren, I’m going to take your dick off and sew it to your forehead so there will be little doubt that you’re a dick head.” Dustin grinned at Lauren and she continued. “You think I’m kidding, then you’re going to look pretty fucking stupid the next time some girl wants you to date her.”
The look on Dustin’s face was priceless. But when he reached up and rubbed his forehead, as if expecting his dick to be right there, Rich lost control of his laughter. Bea only cleared her throat and order was resumed, but he still chuckled whenever he thought of it, or only had to look at his son’s face.
Colin was a changed man. Not only did he seem more relaxed than he’d seen him in a very long time, but Rich could see that he was happy, and a little in awe himself of his new mate. Small wonder, the girl could do and had more than likely done just about everything there was, and tomorrow she was gonna teach Bea and a couple of the boys how to fire a weapon, with Hawkins’s help. He wasn’t really sure about it yet. He wanted them safe, yes, but a gun in the house was dangerous. Even if you could use it well.
He glanced at his second oldest. Hawkins had always been the one who liked it organized. If it could be put in a box, labeled, and put on a shelf, he’d have it done. His room, even when he shared one with his brothers, was neat, tidy, and things in order. Tallest to smallest, colors together, and even his pictures were in order of year taken. It had driven Rich nuts whenever he had to take him to the store for something. The cart would resemble one of them games where each piece would fit perfectly against the other before it disappeared. Never had a cashier that wouldn’t remark on it either. And right now, he seemed lost.
He’d talked to his boy a lot since he’d been home. Being on medical, as he’d called it, had given him a bit more time here than had been originally planned. But he was thinking that Hawkins, like Lauren, was ready to skedaddle now. They’d visited and healed well enough, and now they felt the need to go. He wondered how Colin was gonna take it when his mate left without telling him where she was. Not well, he’d imagine.
Boyd came into the living room just then, and he gave them all a hug. Rich sure was glad that his boys hadn’t outgrown the need to hug him. It made his whole day just to have some big arms wrap around him tightly. As Boyd kissed his mom on her cheek, he looked around. Rich wondered what sort of things he’d been able to find out about Lauren.
Just this morning he’d been in town when he’d seen Lauren coming out of Boyd’s office. She told him that they were running tests to see what sort of damage had been done to her. Colin had been called away then. He hated it, so Rich had volunteered to go to the mall with the woman, something he would have normally avoided like it was contagious. But she was a pretty young thing and he wanted to show off. But mostly what they did was walk the big area, not even going into the shops, which suited him just fine. Her too, he guessed. Then she sort of spoke up, like she needed to talk or bust. He was just fine to listen to her too.
“They’ve been lying to me.” He asked her if she really hadn’t been expecting that, they were the government after all. “No. I mean I suppose I should have expected it, but now I’m worried about a great many things that I hadn’t thought of before. Like, why would they kill off innocent men when all they really wanted dead was me?”
Rich didn’t have an answer for her and waited while she went to try on some jeans. He did wonder for a minute if she knew she was buying them in the men’s section, then looked at the selection in the women’s department. He didn’t think his own wife would wear any of those things. They were so spangled up, he thought they’d look like some sort of seventies big ball on a dance floor. When she came out, he noticed that she was limping again. Rich had asked her if she was all right.
“Yeah, I guess. Sometimes there is this pain in my knee that really bothers me if I twist it up funny. Pulling on pants in a cardboard box isn’t really ideal for changing for me.” She grinned at him. “I’ve been around men most of my life. I was tempted to come out of it and just try them on where there was more room. But I figured they’d toss us out on our asses, and I’d have my naked ass hanging out when we headed for the car.”
Yeah, Rich thought, he did love that girl. She told it like it was, said it like she meant it, and even put enough color in it for you that you had to just smile. He wanted so badly to be a part of the meeting that was going on right now that Boyd had taken her and Colin into the office for.
“You suppose they found something that didn’t ring true with what that doctor said to her?” He’d bet money on it and said that to Bea. “I think you might be right. That poor girl. Doing all this for our country to have someone try and hurt her. Makes me want to go out there and do him some harm and see how he likes it.”
He stared at his wife of nearly fifty years, then laughed. “I think that our Lauren is rubbing off on you. Whatever has gotten into you lately?”
“Meanness I guess.” Bea leaned her head on his shoulder. “You think that when things settle, they’ll have some children? I’ve been waiting on a grandchild for so long that I feel like it’s never going to happen. And Rich, I can’t help but think that any children those two have will be hellions. More so than we might be able to handle if they let us sit them. Don’t you think?”
“I think they’ll have us some. They might be a bit on the ornery side, but I think they’ll be fine. Like their mother, I’m hoping with a little of Colin sprinkled in for good measure. Can you imagine him when there is a little girl around?” Rich had wanted a little girl so badly that he could have tasted it. He loved his sons, but one of them had better have him a granddaughter. He needed one. “She’ll be the apple of her uncles’ eyes too. Any of them would be. Boy or girl.”
“I’d like a granddaughter too after so many sons. They could all have them for all I care. Little girls are so adorable. But I think you might be right on them being a little like their mom. She’d have some tough girls and tougher boys.” He thought so too, and tried to imagine what one would look like.
The door opened to the office, and he could see that things had gone just as they’d thought. The reports were wrong. Rich wanted to go and hug them both, but he was sort of afraid. Not of them but for them. They were being lied to, and someone was going to have to pay for that.
Rich started to ask and saw Lauren shake her head. His mouth snapped closed with an audible sound, and he watched as she walked to the door and let in two men. Both of them looked like they meant business, and no one moved as they walked around the room with big wands, going over each and every thing in the room.
His house, apparently, had been bugged. After the men adjusted them all—twenty-three, as it turned out in this room alone—Lauren and Colin sat down with Boyd and told them what they’d found.
“I have a chip in my body that turns these recording devices on as soon as I enter the room. These men are going to go through the rest of the house and see about marking them. When I leave, they’ll turn them back on, but I won’t return here until we figure this out.” Bea said she didn’t want them there. “If we remove them, they’ll know I’m on to their shit. Right now they’re only going to think there is a glitch that turned these off. If they know that we’re aware of them, there is no telling what they’ll do.”
Rich had a feeling she knew just what they’d do but was sparing them. He looked around his room that now felt dirty. He wanted to go and take them out, toss them away, and never worry about people listening in on his conversation again. But he could also see the point that Lauren was making. They needed the extra time, she’d told them, to get to the person in charge.
“Do you know who it is?” She didn’t say anything to his question. “You might not know, but you have an idea, don’t you?”
“Yes. And one that, if I’m wrong, will most definitely get me killed.” Several names popped into his head and he had to lean back or get dizzy. The names that he thought of were…well, she’d be right about getting killed. Any or all of them were high up on the list of just plain scary people. “I’m going to go home now. I have to…my house is clean, or it was when I left. I need to take care of a couple of things there too. Remember, when I’m gone, the recorders don’t work, so you won’t have to hide what you say here. And once a week, these guys, and only these guys, will be around to look and make sure that there is nothing else added to your house. Be careful of who you invite in to do work, too. Don’t trust anyone unless you ask me first.”
When she stood up, Colin did as well. If Rich was honest with himself, he’d like to tell his son to stay there where he could protect him. But he knew, deep in his heart, that Lauren could do a better job of keeping them both safe than he could. As soon as they left, the two men came back in and worked at the little devices, and Rich went out on the deck. They were no longer being listened to, but he didn’t want to be in his house anymore.
~~~
The sweep of her home took less than two hours. No devices were found in the home, but there were several on the outside. They’d know her every entrance and exit, but not what she did or said inside. Colin came into the kitchen where she was and sat at the table with her.
“Who?” She only shook her head. To say it aloud made it seem more real. And that was something she didn’t want to think about. “Okay, so do you know why this person or persons are doing this? Because I’m betting it has nothing to do with you being a female.”
“I don’t think so either, but I don’t really know. I have to talk to Hawkins. I mean, he might not know either, but he might have a better picture on this than I have at the moment. All I can think of right now is that chip and that I was lied to. By a lot of people who I should have been able to trust.” Boyd had not only told her that she didn’t have any shrapnel in her, but that she had two small chips. One on her knee and the other at the base of her spine. The scar had been hidden by the wounds she’d gotten.
“The one that tells them where you are, what are you going to do about that? I know you wanted Boyd to take it out, but then what? Won’t the same thing happen as the recorders at my parents’ house?” She got up and poured some tea in two glasses and got the leftover cookies from yesterday. He’d noticed that she rarely ate sweets, turning them down for fruit when she could get it, but right now he thought she was getting them out for him. “Lauren, we’ll get this worked out.”