“You were ambushed.”
“So it seems. What I saw was pure pandemonium and total bloodshed. Men were coming in from each direction, then the SUVs came with more men. The place was crawling with people I’d never seen before. I couldn’t go in. They had the element of surprise and eliminated the guards so quickly, I didn’t stand a chance.”
“They didn’t sweep the premises? Look for their missing men you took out?”
“Those who drove in, drove out, and the others retreated back into the woods from which they came. I’m sure they noted the missing at some point, but they didn’t even take their own men who fell at the hands of the other side. They left everyone who was dead.”
“Like they didn’t matter. Who does that? You never leave your fallen behind,” Dace said.
“Savages don’t, and that’s what these people were,” Eli said between gritted teeth. “I’m embarrassed to say I’d perched in a tree near the edge of the woods, hoping to remain undetected. There was nowhere else to hide, and I didn’t know if they’d be back. An hour must’ve passed, and I saw her…Ivy. I watched her pause, take in the scene, and the shock was instant. I believe her when she said the bodies just appeared to her. I could see it in her devastation. She didn’t immediately recognize what had happened because it was so extreme – as if her mind really was protecting her from herself. I sat silently in a fucking tree and watched her search, watched her cry, heard her scream for her son and father.”
Dace pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jesus.”
“Jesus definitely wasn’t there that day, mate. This was pure evil. I couldn’t go to her, comfort her, help her…” Eli’s eyes began to well with tears. “I had to let her panic, feel that fear, and watch her run because we had a plan, and it was to go find you. I needed her to go so I could chase leads and look for answers elsewhere, answers I didn’t find. I knew we couldn’t do this alone, and I couldn’t keep her safe while looking for Cash and also following leads. I needed her to get to you. So I sat. Waited. And when she left, I followed. We hit Portland, and I thought she was safe, so I left to chase those leads.”
“You didn’t come back here?” Declan asked.
“No. I saw what happened with my own eyes. I knew there was little to nothing here. I retraced the steps that got us here. I followed up with old leads and old contacts. They’re all dead. He got to them.”
Dace had a glimmer of hope in his eye when he asked, “Did you see him? Did you see Cash leave?”
“No. I didn’t see him. But I know he got out, and I’m assuming it was with his grandfather, because when I finally made my way to the front of the house, I found his motorcycle in the drive, right where the SUVs were parked.”
That glimmer of hope became Dace’s new motivation. “Then he’s alive. Let’s find him.”
Declan grunted. “It’s a good story, man, but…”
“But what if I’m in on it and just performing my part?” Eli smiled. “Follow me.”
Eli led the men to a shed on the far corner of the property and opened the unlocked door. An overwhelming pungent stench wafted through the air, offending their senses. It reeked of death, causing their stomachs to roil.
“What the hell is in here?” Wylie asked. “Damn.”
Eli pulled a string above his head, and a dim light came on, exposing the source of wickedness. Two dead men, wearing camouflage, in various stages of decay. “I’d like to introduce you to the men who drew me out to the woods.”
“What the hell, Eli? A little warning would be nice.” Dace pulled the sweat-soaked collar of his shirt over his mouth and nose, but it didn’t help. It only added his own odor to the plethora of disgust.
“It’s the only thing I found or thought was worth hanging on to. I don’t know who they are, but maybe you do,” Eli said. “Ivy took off in one of the SUVs left behind by her father’s crew, so I stayed, pulled these guys in, and looked for anything else I could find. Then I caught up with her a bit later by tracking her GPS.”
“Smart,” Dace said, snapping pictures of what was left of the two deceased men. “I don’t recognize them, but that doesn’t mean shit. I’ll send these to Liam to run through the database, see if there are any hits.”
Eli asked, “Can he even get anything with their faces so far…gone?”
Wylie chuckled. “He’ll probably reconstruct them in the images in one program before running them in another. The shit that guy can do is pretty impressive.”
“And scary,” Dace said. “If they’re anyone we need to know about, he’ll figure it out.”
“Do you believe me now, Declan?”
“We still need to clear the house,” Declan said before heading inside to see what, if anything, their crew had found.
Wylie slid his cell phone into his back pocket. “Liam said he’d like a heads-up next time we send shit like that over. Apparently, he was eating a late-night snack in the lair, and it didn’t go over well. He’s still trying to pull footage from CCTV and area cameras but having a hard time. Not all the systems are designed to keep footage for this many weeks. He’ll let us know what he finds.”
“We just need one shot with Ivy’s dad in one of those vehicles,” Dace said.
“Ah, but your brother may not be satisfied with that,” Eli joked. “It doesn’t mean he’s behind it. It means he’s simply in the car, mate.”
The men laughed as they made their way to the house. As they climbed the steps at the entrance, Dace paused and leaned down to pick something up. A toy motorcycle.
“I left it in case he should wind up back here for some reason or Ivy, maybe. He’s a lot like you, ya know? I see it now. Ivy always said he was the spitting image of you, and I thought that was just a mother's wish for her son who’d never met his dad, but she was right. I’d listen to the stories she’d tell Cashel about you, and I thought they were just fairy tales so the boy felt like he had some kind of connection. But it was all real. He’s truly just like you.”
“She told him about me?”
“Almost daily. Anytime she saw something that reminded her of you, or he did something like you. Even an expression. The boy was proud to get to know his dad.”
“It’ll be nice to get to know him too.”
Wylie broke the moment and brought attention back to why they were there. “Hey, I got Eva on the phone, and she’s confirming affiliation on those two guys you took out, Eli. Small cell, rogue operation, mostly into small stuff and for hire. Cartel.”
“We nailed that profile then. Next question,” Dace went on. “Who fucking hired them?”
“Oh, there’s more,” Wylie interrupted. “C.T. is in the lair with Liam and Luke. There’s been another murder back home. Similar to the first, lowlife drug runner made to look like a drug deal gone bad, total setup.”
“And Ivy?” Dace asked.
“Her picture was at the scene with an X through it,” Wylie confirmed.
“Murder for hire,” Dace said, “Someone has a hit on her.”