Grizz
2001, Somewhere between Louisiana and South Florida
He'd been sitting in the small diner in Louisiana when he saw on a national news station that Tommy had been shot. The fact that it made national news hadn't surprised him much. After all, Tommy had been linked to the arrest of Matthew Rockman, the prominent attorney who'd been arrested for murdering a woman he'd put in the Witness Protection Program fifteen years earlier. That story had made the national news so it wasn't hard to believe that Tommy's shooting had been picked up as well. What did surprise him was that he'd received no word from Carter. That is until he discovered that his pager had been turned off and once turned on, it displayed the words his gut ached to see. SHE NEEDS YOU.
So, immediately after seeing the news report and receiving the page from Carter, Grizz had laid a fifty on the lunch counter and headed for his bike—but not before asking Edna for directions to the nearest highway. He realized he’d found himself at The Green Bean diner by accident and wasn’t sure of the fastest route back to Florida.
It was now dark, and he knew he needed to stop somewhere and get some rest. He’d been on the road for hours, and the immediate adrenalin rush that had come upon him had long since waned. He was exhausted.
After checking into the next chain hotel he came upon, he took a long hot shower. On the bed, he flipped through some TV channels, ate a premade chicken salad sandwich that he’d bought at the convenience store next to the hotel, and washed it down with a beer. Nothing was on the news about Tommy’s shooting, so he turned off the television and resigned himself to sleep.
But sleep wouldn’t come.
He was plagued by too many unknowns. What if this was a trap? He'd have to be extremely careful. And, exactly what did he think he was going to do when he got to Fort Lauderdale? Ride up to Ginny’s house or the hospital on his bike and walk in the front door? That certainly wasn’t a logical option. Normally, he’d signal Carter and have her set up a way to see Kit. But the longer he thought about it, the more impossible it seemed that this could be arranged. He’d already received another page from Carter letting him know Ginny wasn’t in any danger, so he didn’t have the sense of urgency he normally would have. But she needed him. That was all he needed to know for now.
Maybe he could watch Ginny from a distance and look for an opening. No. She would not only be surrounded by friends, but by law enforcement, as well. He chanced being spotted by someone who might recognize him. He knew he’d have to wait.
In the meantime, he’d want to find out everything he could about Tommy’s shooting, and the only way he’d be able to do that was to trust someone other than Carter and Bill with the truth concerning his execution. Or rather, lack of one.
Blue was his first thought, but due to his personal relationship with a certain female detective, it was too damn risky. Even if they were no longer together, it wouldn’t be a smart move. No. He needed somebody who still had connections to the biker world, but lived under law enforcement’s radar. A hardworking family man who’d supposedly made a clean start on South Florida’s east coast more than a year ago. Someone Grizz would trust with his life and this secret.
Anthony Bear.
His mind made up, he finally drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep. He was awakened several hours later by a loud banging on his hotel room door. Housekeeping. He told them to come back in an hour.
Less than fifteen minutes later, he was on his bike. First, he had to ride a few hours out of his way to a garage that he’d rented. He would retrieve the car he’d left there, along with more clothes, personal items, cash, and a burner phone he could use to contact Anthony. After setting up a way to see Bear, he’d toss the phone.
He looked at the credit cards that had been set up with his new identity and knew he’d never use them. He was putting them in his wallet when he pulled out his license and realized he no longer looked like the man in the picture. His hair had grown in over the past several months, and he’d trimmed his beard significantly. Anthony would be able to get a new picture for his new identity.
His new identity. Another fucking name to have to answer to. Dammit. But at least they gave him that. James Kirkland screamed “boring alias” as much as it screamed average American Joe. It would do. Besides, they’d held up their end of the bargain. He was told Jason “Grizz” Talbot’s DNA and fingerprints had been replaced in the system by counterfeits. He was getting a clean slate, and if James Kirkland’s DNA and fingerprints were run, the searches would come up empty unless James Kirkland did something to get himself in trouble.
Point being, if he found himself in hot water with the law, there would be nothing to connect him back to a dead Jason Talbot. It wouldn’t be an issue. He planned on staying clean.
He was now a widowed father of two non-existent children who’d made a living as a heavy equipment operator until he suffered a back injury on the job. Shit, they even had the government sending disability checks to James Kirkland’s bank account. You couldn’t get any more vanilla than that. He’d tested his new identity early on when he purposely ran a red light somewhere in Georgia. The cop ran his bike’s license plate and came back with a warning. He checked out. He was James Kirkland.
He turned up the radio as he drove south and pondered whether he should do anything to get Blue out of town for a while. More than likely, Blue would be concerned about Tommy and Ginny and might even put a detail on them to make sure they were safe. Grizz still had no way of knowing if Tommy’s shooting was random or planned. He heard them mention on the news that Tommy was supposed to testify in Rockman’s trial, but Grizz was certain it wasn’t a testimony that would make or break Matthew’s case. Blue had made sure the evidence planted in Jan’s murder pointed to Rockman.
He shook his head as he remembered another detail. When he’d questioned Tommy’s loyalty at the end, he’d allowed some evidence to look like it could’ve pointed to Tommy. He was going to drop the ball on him if he thought he’d been deceitful, which he hadn’t been. Fuck me. Why couldn’t I have just left it alone? What if Tommy was shot because of something to do with Rockman’s trial? Shit.
He allowed his mind to wander back to what, or rather who, he’d found in Louisiana. He had no doubt he’d met Kit’s twin sister. He smiled when he thought about the note he could have Carter anonymously deliver to Blue: “Grizz’s last order before the execution, specifically to be delivered to you several months after his death. He left something for you in a diner called The Green Bean. You will find this diner in Chinkaw, Louisiana, and you’ll know the package and what to do with it when you see it.”
Grizz laughed when he thought about Blue meeting Kit’s twin sister, Jodi. But he also knew he’d never have the message sent. The last thing he needed to do was have Blue drag Jodi back to Fort Lauderdale to meet Ginny while he was trying to see her. No. He’d save this surprise for a future day and for now do everything he could to avoid Blue.
He was listening to Pink Floyd’s “Run Like Hell” and enjoying the rumble and power of his 1967 Chevelle when he was hit with a wave of grief so profound it almost took his breath away.
He let up on the gas and turned down the radio. He’d never experienced anything like this before, and he didn’t know how to react to it. He slowly took in his surroundings. He was on a stretch of highway that was desolate. He couldn’t see any cars in front of him or behind him. Cows grazed lazily in green fields dotted with patches of dry, dead earth. He felt a weight so enormous, so thick, he wondered for a second if he was having a heart attack.
No. He wasn’t feeling a physical chest pain. It was a pain of the soul. A pain of loss. He hadn’t even felt this at his own execution.
Kit.
He pressed down on the accelerator.