Double Tap (Code 11-KPD SWAT 2)

“We’ve stopped. We’re off the road that runs up between Nico’s property and mine. Follow the creek and it should get you straight to us,” Georgia directed them like a pro.

It wasn’t into the radio but the cell phone at her ear. My cell phone.

I could only assume she was talking to one of the men on my team.

They’re the only ones that would call, besides my family, and we’d just gotten out of dinner with them.

Once she hung up, I got out of the truck, clicking softly with my tongue.

The horses, although spooked, came straight to me.

They were all there.

What the fuck was happening?

“Oh, my God. What’s going on, Nico?” I heard her ask at my back.

I didn’t reply. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t fuckin’ know.

“Who was on the phone?” I asked as I turned back to the truck and reached for the pistol I kept underneath the seat.

I handed it to her, and she took it without a word, checking the chamber and the safety before she placed it into her lap.

Her eyes looked haunted and scared, and her face was bloodless.

“You’re not going to go all girl on me and pass out, are you niña?” I asked teasingly. A pissy Georgia was better than a scared Georgia.

I was trying to pull her tail, so to speak. If I could get her thinking about how much I annoyed her, she’d possibly get a little color back in her cheeks.

And color she got.

“Listen here, niño. Anything you can do, I can do better,” she snapped.

I rolled my eyes and walked away from her, turning around and holding my finger up to my lips to keep her quiet.

She narrowed her eyes at me but ultimately stayed put, keeping her mouth shut.

It’d be a fuckin’ miracle if whomever was shooting at the truck to have caught us, but nonetheless, I kept my eyes peeled, scanning our surroundings as I was taught to do as a SEAL.

My eyes snared on the truck, and a shot of adrenaline shot through me.

How the fuck had we survived?***“Mama’s having a coronary. Please tell me you’re both okay, so I can tell your mother,” Nikki sighed.

I looked at my watch. “Yes, Nikki. We’re okay. And she’s your mother, too.”

I could practically hear her wave her hand in the air. “No. When she’s acting like this, I don’t want to have any relation to her.”

“Give her a break. Her favorite child nearly had his head blown off,” I teased.

Little did she know that that was true.

“Of course you’re her favorite. You’re a momma’s boy. A titty baby. You know, you’re the only one who had your face pressed up against her vagina,” Nikki ended with that comment, breaking the connection with her usual flourish.

I shuddered.

Yuck.

Although, somewhat true.

I was the only one to be born vaginally, and my sister liked to point that out on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis.

“What was that about your mom’s vagina?” Downy asked.

“Why do you even care about my mom’s vagina? Keep your nose out of my business,” I snapped.

He looked me dead in the eye, and without even a crack of a smile he said, “But everything about your mom’s vagina is my business.”

Downy laughed as he skittered out of my reach.

The only thing keeping him from feeling what my hands felt like cutting off his breath via my hands wrapped around his throat was Georgia, who was sitting in my lap.

She snorted. “You’ve met Lolita, right?”

Downy shook his head. “Only twice when she brought Nico tamales to the station.”

I looked up in confusion. “My mom’s never brought tamales to the station.”

He gave me a look, and it slowly dawned on me.

“You ate my tamales? You’re such a son of a bitch,” I said, shaking my head.

Georgia started giggling.

“Alright, boys. Time to get out of here. Nico, you know what to do,” Luke said as he walked back from the front side of my house.

The large tow truck carrying my fifty thousand dollar truck started to rumble up the pasture road, and I watched as it took a left out of my driveway and started back down the street.

“Guess it’s back to old blue,” Downy said with an evil grin.

I flipped him off.

Luke cleared his throat, and I sighed.

“Yes, yes I do. Call if the prowler who was trying to steal my horses comes back. Blah, blah, blah. Don’t try to take care of them myself, blah, blah,” I said with forced patience.

He glared at me, but in the end walked away towards his truck, waved a dismal goodbye, and drove off.

Downy, Michael, Bennett, John, and James soon followed.

We watched as Michael, the last to leave, waved goodbye.

“So…” Georgia said.

I gave her a squeeze. “You want to stay the night?”

She looked at me for a few long moments before she nodded. “Yes. Just let me let my brothers know, and I’ll come inside.”

I shook my head. “I’m not leaving you out here alone.”

Her lips thinned as she took a look around the property.

Eyes lingering on the barn, and the hastily fastened door we’d used to cover the large gaping hole in the side of the barn’s wall.

Instead of bypassing the large door that I had an alarm on, they’d decided to just cut a hole in the side of the barn with a jig saw.

I, of course, hadn’t wired the outside, only using the wiring at the front and back doors.

That, however, would be remedied in the morning.

Fucking thieves.

Sometimes I felt like this world would never be saved. Not when there were so many bad apples out there willing to steal something somebody loved. Something somebody put their heart and soul into having.

“Nico?” Georgia’s soft melodic voice called.

I looked up.

She was standing in front of me, looking at me with concern.

“Call your brothers, baby. I’ll wait out here,” I said.

She looked at me for a long time, then nodded and walked inside.

I stayed where I was on the porch railing. One foot on the boards and one foot dangling as I half sat, half stood.