Bang the Blower (Country Roads 3)

“You’ll die guarding her! Is that what you want?”

“I want to be at home with my family right now!” he yelled, realizing his outburst might raise suspicions. To the world, Julie wasn’t legally his family. He’d never laid legal claims to the woman he loved. He’d never promised to love her in front of an audience. He’d never proposed, yet he felt as if she’d always been his. Maybe when this was all over, he’d do the right thing and ask her to become his wife.

Agent Dickerson watched him, his eyes narrowing and then widening as he looked on, focusing on the path Hank paced as he walked the length of the cell. Finally he said, “Hank, people with money and power can buy plenty of strings to pull. These drivers and team owners can always find someone to do their dirty work. You should know how this works. Julie’s own father lost his life to foul play.”

Hank arched a brow.

“That’s off the record. I thought you knew.”

Hank didn’t pump. He’d heard the rumors about Julie’s father. He wasn’t interested in the past. Besides, Julie’s dad was crooked, according to what he’d heard. He pissed off the wrong people and paid the price with his life. Julie couldn’t kill a fly, much less harm a snake. The world of racing, like most careers with big paychecks at stake, saw its share of reptiles waiting to strike.

So what if folks didn’t like her. She was tough. She’d made a few enemies, but she wasn’t like her father, and no one had reason enough to kill her.

“I need to go home and protect the ones I love. If you were in my shoes, maybe you’d understand.”

“We’ve got undercover agents in place on your team. They’re there to do a job, and they’ll be able to do it if we don’t have to worry about your renegade tactics.”

Hank snarled, thinking this whole thing was a planned ambush. If the cops wanted to ensure cooperation, they picked up the wrong brother. Rather than inform them of the fact, he said, “If you think Duke will help you, think again. He’ll protect Julie with his life, and if you get him killed while I’m sitting here in this cell, you’ll answer to me and my attorneys.”

Agent Dickerson said, “We know Duke has a few loose screws when it comes to Julie. The three of you have some

history. I know all about that.

“Duke may very well cause us a few problems, too, but as far as we can tell, you’re the only Hinman in danger. If we’re trying to protect you while you’re doing your best to save Julie, we have too many targets to watch. I’m sorry, Hank. Really, I am. Once we figure out who to charge with these suspicious murders, we’ll let you go.”

“If I go home to two funerals, there will be hell to pay.”

Agent Dickerson took a deep breath. “We’ll try our best not to detain you longer than necessary.”

“You’ve already held me longer than I meant to stay.”

* * * *

Duke hung up the phone. “I spoke to Agent Duane Dickerson. He assured me. Hank is fine.”

“And you believe him, right?”

“He said he’s being held for questioning, and once they’re satisfied with the interrogation, they’ll let him go.”

“What did he do?” Julie asked, feeling like Duke knew the truth but refused to tell her.

“I don’t know, Julie, but so help me I’m gonna kill him when he gets home. I hate it when he worries you like this.”

“Worries me?” She laughed at that. “I’m not a bit concerned now.”

“You’re not?” he asked, stalking her.

“Nope,” she replied, swiping his hand away when he tried to loop his arm around her and bring her against him. “You called the police station from your phone. There’s not any great mystery to solve here, Duke. What happened is pretty self-explanatory. Hank got in trouble, most likely because he was willing to pay for information. If I had to guess, he’s being charged with extortion.”

“What kind of penalty will he receive for that?”

“I don’t know,” she replied thoughtfully. “He could spend some jail time if that’s the charge. If that’s what happened, the judge will set a court date and he’ll be tried. If he’s convicted, then he may have to face his punishment like everyone else.”

“I’ll call back and ask,” Duke said, pulling out his phone again.

Julie put her hand over his wrist. “No, you won’t.”

“Like hell I won’t,” he said, eyeing his recently dialed numbers.