“Or was he?” Dace rebutted. “We need to move her to Watermark. I don’t like this. None of it – I feel it in my gut. She isn’t safe here.”
Luke agreed. “We already have Doc Charles coming out weekly from McKenzie and Carly living on-site to care for Daisy’s grandma. What’s one more patient? Mendoza’s always down to help, too.”
Daisy, now Luke’s wife, came to them as a special protection case from their friend, US Attorney Carter Landry, who was charged with special cases for the United States government that required more discretion and sometimes more grit. He contacted Brother’s Keeper Security when the stakes were high, and he needed someone to trust because his own office in DC wasn’t always as clean and trustworthy as it should be.
When Daisy went into hiding, so did her only living relative, her ailing grandmother who was in frail health. When the case was finally behind them, Luke and Daisy gave in to love and went all in…grandma was a part of the package and had her own team of family friends to oversee her health needs at Watermark Tower where she lived with the rest of the family.
“We can guard her here. It’s our job.”
“All due respect, Charlie Tango, but we don’t know what we’re dealing with or who to trust. Watermark is safer, and I think you’ll agree.”
“Fuck. Of course I do. I just don’t know how I’m going to spin this and explain where she is when she’s supposed to be under our protection through the investigation.” C.T. tossed his head back and let out a deep sigh. “Okay. I have a couple of people I can trust. I’ll call in a favor and pull them off regular duty and put them on her case so it looks like she’s still here and under our protection.”
“Not unless Liam gets to dig into all their shit and clear them first,” Dace said adamantly.
C.T. put up his hands. “No need, you know them. They worked with us before. Moss and Chopper. They’re both good at what they do, and more importantly, we can trust them.”
“Chopper?” Dace laughed. “Gannon’s sister, Lexi? He’s one of us, so I guess that makes her one of us.”
“That kid wants to make detective so fucking bad, and they put her on bike patrol to calm her ass down. She had more arrests than half the unit combined.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Declan asked.
“City resources were being wasted on her bookings. She was even arresting old ladies for jaywalking.”
Declan snorted. “It’s Portland; everyone jaywalks.”
“It’s still against the law. She thought she’d get some attention if she was cleaning up the streets – wrong kind of cleanup.”
“She’s a good kid. Tough,” Dace said. “Moss is a good guy too. Wouldn’t mind having him on our team permanently.”
“I’ll make the calls. Keep me in the loop and let me know when you’re moving her. I’ll get some undercovers to cover your six out of here. And Liam, can we look at that car accident that killed Ivy’s mom while you’re looking for stuff on her dad? Something isn’t sitting right with me. Until we know who the players are, I’d rather not dig around in our archives and draw attention.”
“Appreciate it, man.” Dace shook C.T.’s hand after he nodded at the rest of the brothers before making his way to the elevator.
“Let’s get her out of here and move her tonight before anyone catches on. I’ll assemble a team and get Mendoza to travel with her and get her set up for the night.”
“The great Dr. Mendoza will be trading in his stethoscope for something with bullets tonight? I think he’ll like that.” Luke laughed. “He’s full of shit when he says he likes golf.”
“You think all I carry are clubs in my golf bag, O’Reilly? Got your text, Dace.” The doors that led to Ivy’s room were closing behind Rick Mendoza. “Just came from the unit, checked Ivy’s chart and stopped in to say hi. Told her I’m the admitting doc, and her doc tonight during transport. She’s ready.”
“She’s okay with going to Watermark?” Wylie asked. “Sounds like Dacey isn’t her favorite person right now.”
“Oh, I didn’t tell her where we’re going. Just that it was somewhere safe for her to heal. She seemed…relieved.”
Dace sucked his teeth and shook his head. “Relieved, huh? Relieved to be protected from whoever is behind her attack…or me?”
CHAPTER 8
“I should have known you’d bring me here.” Ivy chuckled. “I’m guessing that Dr. Mendoza is one of your guys?”
“Sort of. We all served with him at different times,” Dace replied as he helped Ivy into bed.
“So was he a mechanic too? Or was he allowed to tell his family what he really did?”
Dace felt Ivy’s words like the sharp dagger they were. His cover was that he was a mechanic – big rigs – and had to travel because he was one of a few who did what he did. But the family knew – mechanics don’t use aliases, nor are they so heavily armed at any given time.
“Ivy…”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry. That was a long time ago, and it was a low blow.” She offered a weak smile. “It doesn’t really matter anymore anyway.”
Her words crushed him. He didn’t matter. They didn’t matter. Not anymore, and he took that hit straight to the gut.
Dace knelt at her bedside and buried his face in his hands. He spoke in a low and apologetic tone. “Christ, Ivy. I didn’t do any of that to hurt you. Or to push you away. I know it was hard for you, but everything I did – every bit of it – was for us.”
“I get it. It’s fine. No need to rehash anything. It’s been over for years, and I…I should just let it go because the only reason to bring it up is to take a swing at you. Again, I’m sorry. I think these pain meds have me a little out of sorts.”
It wasn’t lost on him that she continued to elaborate on the fact they were over and that their past didn’t matter. Is she trying to convince me or herself? Dace wondered.
“No, it’s okay. I deserved that. I changed the plan – and I didn’t hear you when you said no. I took it as a maybe, or thought… Thought you’d get over it and be waiting because our plans were big. What’s one more year if it meant an easier life, a better one.”
Dace got his own small digs in. He knew he didn’t need to make any of those points, but he also knew she felt his verbal assault to her core and hoped it would spark something, anything, even an argument. He needed her to talk, and what better way than to piss her off.
Tears welled but didn’t fall over when she said, “Well, I guess we all played a part in this.”
Damn. She wasn’t breaking. This was a well-rehearsed game plan, and she was sticking to it – holding all her cards close to her chest with a poker face that gave away nothing.
“So, this apartment is all yours. Make yourself at home. A family friend, Carly from over in McKenzie Ridge, is staying here. She helps with Tilly and has the apartment next door to this one.”
“Tilly?”
“Oh, sorry. Tilly is Daisy’s grandma – sweet lady.”