Hell & High Water (THIRDS 1)

Sloane cocked his head to one side. “What do you mean?”

“It felt like, I don’t know, like the time in the garage.”

“You think it was the same guys who arranged this?”

“I don’t think so. That had been about the trial, this was about this case. But it had the same feeling, like it was…. This is going to sound crazy, but almost, friendly.”

“You’re right, that does sound crazy.” Sloane recalled the doctor’s words. “But now that you mention it, the doctor said something about this being one of the strangest assaults he’d ever seen. They didn’t cause any real damage, as if they’d been specifically instructed not to really hurt you.”

Dex’s eyes widened. “Well they did fucking hurt me, hurt me a lot if you haven’t noticed.”

“You know what I mean. They could have killed you, Dex, or put you in a fucking coma. Instead, they banged you up, warned you to stay away. This was done by someone who knows you, maybe not personally, but they know who you are.”

The air seemed to have been sucked out of the room when Sloane’s words sank in. Shit, someone Dex knew had paid to warn him off.

“I think we need my dad here,” Dex said.

Sloane walked to the door and poked his head out. Ash was sitting in the seat next to the door, his arm around Cael’s shoulders, comforting him. “Hey, Ash.”

Ash shifted to look up at him. “Yeah?”

“Can you call Maddock? We need him to get over here, now.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, call him up for me, will you?”

Ash looked uncertain but nodded. Sloane thanked him and went back inside to let Dex know, but in the meantime, now that he knew Dex was out of danger, he could address his frustration. He sat at the edge of the bed, glowering at him.

“I can’t believe you took off after that guy. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was thinking fucker threw a rock at my head, it hurt, and now I’m going to kick his ass.”

“And look how well that turned out,” Sloane drawled, gently reaching out to inspect Dex’s brow. “You scared the shit out of me, Dex.” His gaze came to rest on Dex’s questioning look when the door to the room burst open and Maddock stormed in.

“I was parking when Ash called. Came as soon as I could.” Maddock kissed the top of Dex’s head, and Sloane was reminded once again of his sergeant’s other life. How did Maddock do it? Watch his kids go off into the fray every day and not worry himself shitless?

“I’m okay,” Dex groaned at his dad’s fussing.

“Ash told me what happened. I want to tear you a new one right now for running after that punk, but….” Maddock let out a heavy sigh. “I’m glad you’re okay. I spoke to HQ. The guys we got locked up all say the same thing, that they were hired by some guy in an Eagles baseball cap just this morning and instructed on where to be. They were told to get you on your own and beat you, but be careful with you, which we all agreed made no fucking sense. Themis got a hit on our guy in the baseball cap. Ford Wallace. He’s got priors. Assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, theft, among a host of other things. Themis has surveillance of Wallace leaving the bar shortly after the both of you last night. There’s more footage of him following you to Sloane’s apartment. He was smart. Kept a good distance. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to locate any feeds close enough to Sloane’s place to catch him. It’s likely he followed you both home and waited for you. Don’t know what he would have done if you’d both left the apartment at the same time. Recon is searching for him now. What do you remember?”

Dex looked over at Sloane who nodded his okay. They had to get down to the bottom of this. Just when they thought this case couldn’t get any worse.

“They warned me to stay away from the HumaniTherians case and from Sloane.”

“Sloane?” Maddock’s frown deepened as he turned his attention to Sloane. “What the hell’s any of this got to do with you?”

“I don’t know. We’re thinking whoever warned Dex off knows him or who he is. And for some reason, doesn’t want Dex involved.” Sloane heard Dex gasp.

“Isaac Pearce.”

“Hold up.” Maddock threw a hand up. “Gabe’s brother? What’s going on, Dex?”

Sloane knew Dex wouldn’t out him—so to speak—but any time Gabe came up, Sloane feared the truth would come out. Nothing could stay buried forever, and often he felt as though he was biding his time until all his secrets escaped.

“Now I could be wrong, and the guy seems decent enough, but I feel I should run this past you. See what your take is. When I got jumped in the garage, out of all the garages close to the courthouse, of all the HPF officers, why was he the one to show up? I don’t think he had anything to do with the attack, but what if he’d been watching me? What if he was trying to earn my trust?” Dex’s brow creased with worry, and Sloane was glad to see his partner was on the same page as him. He listened intently as Dex went on. “At the time, he asked me if I wanted to grab a coffee, I said sure. The guy saved my ass. A few weeks later, he calls up. We meet up for a beer, and here I’m thinking he wants to shoot the shit, you know? Instead he starts asking me if I’ve seen Sloane’s file.”

Maddock and Sloane replied simultaneously. “What?”