Two Days Later...

Luke stood by the preacher, in the front of a chapel. Behind him, a couple hundred wedding guests filled the pews. As he stared at the man in the black cassock, he spared a moment to wonder if it actually was a preacher or some hired thug in a black dress. Not that the ceremony would be legal regardless. He highly doubted that whatever certificates Benny had forged would hold up in court.

If they lived that long.

The priest stared back at him, eyes cool and disinterested. He was being paid for this job, and had little interest in doing anything but carrying out the task and then getting out. Luke wondered how much money it had taken from Benny for the man to compromise whatever principles he’d still held. How much had it cost to rent the hundred-year-old church, complete with stained-glassed windows and high, arched ceilings that seemed to go on forever?

Luke thought about asking for help. Letting the preacher know that he was here against his will. But the obvious guns trained on him had likely already clued the man in. He would be as much help as the dust motes that he was apparently studying.

“Well, buddy, it won’t be long now.”

Luke’s comment had absolutely no effect on his best man. David was standing beside him, eyes glazed, jaw slack, and his focus outdid that of the priests, looking for all the world like he was staring down a dust mote in a different county.

At first, Luke was angry they’d drugged his best man. But then it slowly dawned on him that David probably hadn’t been drugged so much as allowed access to his stash. Thinking back on it, it made a whole lot of sense. David was a stoner. How he hadn’t seen it before, he had no idea. But the erratic behavior going from Mr. Cool to babbling idiot, the way he attacked Luke for that twice-be-damned USB stick—all indicated a kind of mania that was either severe mental illness or something of more chemical means.

So Dani’s little brother is an addict. She’s going to freak when she finds out.

Luke nearly laughed out loud. Like anything would come as a shocker now.

At the moment David was all but drooling, so Luke left him alone. Besides, there were other, more important things to process. He’d been led in by Jimmy after the guests had been seated, as was appropriate. Now he was waiting through some interminable wheezing dirge played on the massive pipe organ that lived in the balcony. Jimmy had taken his place beside David; an armed usher determined to make this a shotgun wedding. No one seemed to mind that his presence there wasn’t exactly traditional.

Men he recognized from his confinement in the house lined the walls of the chapel, one under each stained-glass window. They made no attempt to be anything other than what they were. Sure, they wore dark suits, but the heavy weaponry held at the ready made for an odd picture as they stood beneath the assembled saints and martyrs.

Luke had no doubt they were posted at the exits as well.

How exactly do they figure on Dani’s father getting into this place anyway?

Luke shook his head, and turned to survey the crowd. That so many had showed up was beyond staggering. He recognized several faces from the FBI’s Most Wanted posters. A few he could have sworn were dead. The rest was a who’s who of the up and coming of the mafia elite. There were very few women in the audience, leaving Luke to re-assess Benny’s position. Anyone who could command a list of people like this to suddenly show up for a wedding had more power than he’d thought. That people had shown up without girlfriends and wives was telling, though. No one quite trusted Benny. More than one guest was likely armed to the teeth. In fact, it was quite likely that there was enough combined firepower in the room to take over a small country.

The problem was, he couldn’t quite figure out the why of it. What had brought them here? Why had Benny wanted them? Was this about Edwin Rinehart, or was there something he wasn’t quite seeing? Nothing made sense. Luke didn’t like the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Though some of that might have been the bruising. He’d taken a pretty solid kick to the solar plexus back in Benny’s office.

But, then, so had Dani.

He frowned a little as he waited for the bride to appear. He hadn’t seen her since the debacle two days ago, and was more than a little worried. Soon she’d make her appearance at the head of the aisle. He tried to picture her walking between the beribboned arches, down the flower-strewn carpet toward him. Oddly enough, he kind of liked the idea. Just... in a different setting. Maybe with wedding guests who weren’t quite so bloodthirsty.

It was a pretty thought. And very distracting. Luke shook himself, drawing his attention back to the present. So far every avenue of escape looked pretty hopeless. Maybe if one of the guests were sympathetic...?

His gaze lit on a couple of late arrivals.

Benny slipped in through a side door. His date caught Luke’s attention, and a chill ran down his spine.

It was Randy.

His boss and, as of now, former friend, stood next to Benny. Taking a seat front and center, just like the right-hand man of the man he was sworn to capture and prosecute, Randy simply looked at Luke evenly, without expression as he sat down.

The fury began somewhere deep inside. By the time Luke broke free from the shock and started down the aisle, he could see nothing but Randy’s face through the fine red haze that covered his vision. Never had he thought he could kill a man with his bare hands until this moment.

Jimmy’s hand grabbed his arm. Luke tried to pull away.

Benny caught Jimmy’s eye and waved him off negligently. Jimmy released him and resumed his stance behind David, who only stared at the empty seats in front of him.

“I should’ve figured it out,” Luke said as he leaned over the empty seat in front of Randy, his hands coming down hard on the back of the pew. “I just didn’t figure you for selling out.” His fingers flexed, gripping so tight that his knuckles had gone white. In a moment it would be Randy’s neck in his hands like that. Squeezing real slow.

“You need to show a little more gratitude.” Benny relaxed against the pew and grinned. “When Katie told me you were a cop, I immediately planned to have you killed. Then I found out you’re one of Randy’s, so I didn’t have to bother.”

Wait, he didn’t know I was Randy’s until after Katie told him who I was? Why didn’t Randy tip off his best worker from the start?

“Katie didn’t know I’m with... Randy.” He couldn’t bring himself to say FBI in front of that crowd. “Was with Randy. Until he betrayed me.” He turned his attention to Randy, who was sitting staring straight ahead and ignoring him, like he wasn’t leaning right over him, about to tear his head off. “How much was our friendship worth, Randy? How much did he pay you to kill your friend?”

“You’re not exactly dead, boy,” Benny snarled. Randy remained stoic.

“No?” Luke turned to Benny, “and when Dani’s daddy doesn’t show, then what? When this farce has reached a conclusion and your pretend niece has a pretend husband, what then? You expect me to believe that you’re going to pretend that none of this ever happened? You want us to make pretend babies, so you can become a fake great-uncle?”

“Don’t think so highly of yourself, Agent McConnell.” Benny smirked, and crossed a leg over his knee. “You really aren’t that significant, not now.” He laughed at Luke’s expression, “Yes, I know your real name now. I also know your military background, your training, all of it. I had my boys do some checking. It really wasn’t all that hard. And you’re right. Once Edwin arrives, I really don’t give a fuck about you.”

Luke growled and reared back, half turning away then coming back to stand in front of him. “Damn it, Randy, say something!” He hit the back of the pew with his fist.

Randy turned and stared at him for a long moment.

“There’s nothing to say, Luke,” Randy said quietly. “Nothing to add to that.”

“Why now? Why show up here, big as fucking life and make your... association known?”

Randy simply looked straight ahead and said nothing.

“Agent McConnell,” Benny said pointedly, nodding in Jimmy’s direction. “If you’ll be so kind as to return to your place. Or do I need Jimmy to place you there?” Benny smiled again, obviously enjoying this whole scenario to the max, “...using as many meds as he needs to accomplish it? Or, I can simply put Jimmy in your place. Maybe he can make some babies for me.”

Luke straightened and glared at Jimmy. No fucking way that man was going to touch Dani. Over my dead body. He gave Randy one more withering look. What the hell. Nothing’s making sense. Randy said he was deeply invested. For years. But he didn’t warn Benny that he had a mole in his house, namely me. Sullenly he returned to his place, standing once more beside David, and waited. He felt like a freak on display in front of the entire underworld. The cop was marrying the daughter of a runaway mobster. Her uncle, the king of the underworld, waited with a sadistic grin for the nuptials to be performed over the dead body of the bride’s father, for all to enjoy.

He was embedded in the most perverse and damn ridiculous farce he’d ever heard of.

He was alone. The only hope for rescue now sat in the rows of men and women who came here to see blood spilled on a white wedding dress. And Randy, the one guy he would have trusted with his life, refused to meet his eyes.

Luke’s fists curled up, fingernails digging into his palms. His knuckles were white and the tremor of anger that ran through his body left him shaking. He was well and truly caught. And to make matters worse, he was in the deep end with Dani. This he couldn’t forgive himself for. Dani’s life was in as much danger as his. Possibly worse.

He looked around the room again, his training coming to the fore. How many man could he take out? Enough to get away? Dani was a hell of a good fighter; between the two of them, could they break through?

Then what? Run past the entire underworld? Hide in a ditch somewhere?

Well, it’s obvious I can’t go to the police. Luke couldn’t look at Randy. He was too angry. Why did he come out now? What made him... if he wanted the guest list, he could have gotten it from Benny. He refused the USB stick the first time, then changed his mind. He was trying to protect Benny and then wanted the evidence to what, destroy it?

But Randy had demanded the guest list... Luke closed his eyes for a moment, trying to see his thoughts more clearly. Randy had asked for the list as a way to...

His eyes shot open. Every time Randy talked about that damn guest list, it was a way to get Luke to go back. He demanded it as a condition of Luke’s rescue, even when Luke got out and reported...

Fuck! That “message” from Benny, that so called, “she marries or she dies”. Did Randy just make that up? That would explain how he’d heard it so fast. It would explain a lot of things.

He looked around the room again. He tried to turn the tables in his mind, being the one on the right side of the glass and they were the ones on display. What did he see?

People who held power. A lot of power. People who didn’t answer to Benny, as far as Luke knew. People who were business partners though, according to intelligence, occasional partners only. People who were rivals, people who coated the chapel with a pall of suspicion and distrust.

Why in the hell would he invite people he would most likely rather see...

When the answer hit him he had to bite down on his tongue, hard, to keep from screaming.

DANI!