Thirty-Five

 

 

Trent walked out to find Lily singing a song as she twisted side to side on the tall chair at the counter, while Aleksy hummed along and whipped something up in a bowl.  He smiled at the domestic scene until he felt his cell vibrate on his hip.

He frowned as he pulled it out of his holster and saw who was calling.

As he swiped his finger across the screen and said, “Hello, Sir,” he looked up to find Aleksy watching him intently. 

Trent gestured that he was going out onto the porch.

Aleksy nodded and went back to his breakfast, but Trent could feel the man’s eyes on him as he stepped out.

“Staff Sergeant Dragon,” his commanding officer, Waverly Gamble said.

From the silence that followed, Trent knew that this was not a friendly call.  Waverly was pissed, really pissed.

When he finally began speaking, Trent braced himself.

“I like to think that I’m a decent commanding officer.  Fair.  Patient.”

“You are, Sir.”

“Really?  Cause you could’ve fooled me, Dragon!  Going rogue on an op?  Taking a prisoner into your own custody?  Lying? I’m pulling into your driveway in two minutes, Dragon.  You better be ready to open your fucking door and explain yourself.”

“I will, Sir,” Dragon said with a sigh but then he realized he was talking to dead air.  Waverly had hung up on him. He never hung up….on anyone.

“Fuck,” Trent mumbled as he dragged his fingers through his hair.

“What’s wrong?” Aleksy said from behind as he slid his arms around Trent’s torso and kissed his neck.

“My boss,” Trent mumbled, lifting his chin at the approaching car, “And he’s not happy.”

“Oh,” Aleksy said as he tried to pull away, but Trent held him in place.

“Are you out at work?”

“Yeah, I am.  And so is my boss.”

The car shut off and a tall, broad man with short salt and pepper hair and shrewd eyes stepped out.  He placed his arm on the roof of the car and stared at both Trent and Aleksy.

“I think I’m beginning to see the picture, Dragon,” he said as he closed the door and began walking towards them.

“Waverly Gamble,” he said as he stuck out his hand to Aleksy.

“Aleksy Constantino.”

Waverly’s eyes narrowed, “Would that be the same Detective Aleksy Constantino who’s listed on the warrant for one Liam Murphy?”

“It is, Sir, I mean, I am.”

Waverly turned his narrowed eyes on Trent, “So, what, this op became a booty call, Dragon?”

“What?  No, Sir.  Hell, no,” Trent said as he stepped out of Aleksy’s embrace and closer to his commanding officer.  Aleksy didn’t let him get far though, linking their fingers together and holding on tight.

“Sir,” Trent said as he looked back at Aleksy.  He seemed to be studying him and it only took a moment for Aleksy to figure out what he was silently asking.  He nodded his head once.

Trent turned back to Waverly, “Sir, Aleksy is, well, he’s one of my boyfriends.”

To his credit, the only reaction Waverly had was the lift of one eyebrow. “You never could do anything half-assed, could you, Dragon?”  Then he shook his head, said, “I need coffee,” and walked right past the two of them and into the house.

“Well,” Trent said with a shrug and a smile, “that went….better than expected.”

Aleksy chuckled as he pulled Trent back into his arms and pressed a kiss to the side of his head, “Whatever you need from me to fix this, I’ll do it.”

Trent hummed as he squeezed Aleksy tight, “No.  This is my mess.  I’ll take care of it.  But I do appreciate your support.”

“Who’re you?” Lily said, reminding them that they were supposed to be watching her.

They both turned to walk inside.  “Lily, this is my friend Waverly.  Wave, this is Lily.”

Lily waved her hand, “Wave, wave.  I like your name!”

He grinned and waved back, “I like your name too, Lily.  That’s my favorite flower.”

She clapped her hands, “That’s what daddy says, too!  They bloom once a year, just like my birthday!”

“That’s right!  You are a very smart little lady.”

Aleksy had returned to the stove and whipped out some crepes.  The three of them helped her choose what fruit she wanted in them and then they poured a little maple syrup over them.  As she dug in, Waverly looked up at the two men, “Who?”

They both knew what he was asking.

“She’s Liam’s daughter,” Trent said.

Waverly nodded his head showing that he was beginning to understand the situation.

“I need to talk to him,” he said.

“He’s in the bedroom, recovering.”

Waverly pushed off the counter and headed for the hall.  “No,” he said when Trent began to follow him, “We talk alone.”

Trent nodded and stepped back into the warmth of Aleksy’s chest.

“Everything will be fine, babe,” Aleksy whispered into Trent’s ear.

Trent squeezed his eyes shut as he absorbed those words and hoped with every fiber of his being that they would ring true.

 

                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Waverly wasn’t really surprised to see Kendry attending to the injured man.  Kendry Rhodes was the most dedicated man he knew.  He was also the most indifferent.  The man refused to feel emotions.  It would be just as easy for him to treat a prisoner as it would one of his own men.  Blood was blood, he always said.

Kendry glanced over and then jumped to his feet.

Liam’s head also turned.

“How’s he doing?” Waverly said to Kendry.

“Better, Sir.”

“Gunshot?”

“Yes, Sir.  Left side of chest.”

“Collapsed lung?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“You repaired it in the field?”

“Affirmative, Sir.”

Waverly really wished that Kendry’s PTSD didn’t affect him so badly that it kept him from his true calling: being the phenomenal surgeon that he was but full time in a hospital or clinic somewhere.  Instead, it held him prisoner, forcing him to lock away his passion in a box, only to be let out for brief moments.

“Excellent work, as usual, soldier,” Waverly said as he stepped into the room.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Give us a moment?” Waverly said as he watched Liam.

“Of course, Sir,” Kendry said and then he walked out of the room.

Waverly closed the door behind him then turned to face Liam.

“Is this the part where you tell me I have to choose between them and my daughter, because, just save your fucking breath.  I already know that’s where this is headed.”

“Is that what you had to do for this op?  Forced to do it to save your daughter?”

“This one and dozens of others just like it,” Liam said bitterly. “They’ve used my daughter as a pawn since Luke was killed.”

“What made this one different?  Why did you choose to fight back on this one?”

When Liam glared at Wave, the look he gave him almost made Wave smile.  It was barely controlled snark as he held back his eye roll and Wave could hear the words ‘are you that fucking dumb?’ even though they hadn’t been spoken.

“It was Bas, Sir!  They wanted me to hurt him.  No matter what may have happened between us in the past, he’s still my fucking brother.  I can’t hurt my brother.”  His hand clenched into a fist that he slammed down onto the bed.

“Easy there, soldier.”

“I’m not a fucking soldier anymore,” he growled out from behind his clenched teeth.

Waverly glared right back at him, “Son, whether you wear the uniform or not, you will always be a soldier.”

Tears shimmered in Liam’s eyes.  He desperately wanted those words to be true, but after all the shit he’d done and now with him possibly facing prison.  In the eyes of the law, it didn’t matter that everything was done to try to keep his daughter safe.

“Fuck,” he whispered, turning his head away from Waverly so the man would see the tears that escaped.

Prison

What would he do if he was sentenced?  What would happen to Lily?

Oh God…..Lily….

“Easy there, son.  Breathe for me,” Waverly’s soothing voice said as he placed a grounding hand on Liam’s thigh.

Liam’s tear-blurred eyes locked onto Waverly’s as he sucked air into his lungs.

After a few seconds, his heart began to return to a normal rhythm and Liam nodded his head at Waverly to let him know he was okay.

“Tell me about the man who held your puppet strings.”

“His name is Petyr Popov.”

Waverly’s eyes went wide, “Wait, what? Poppy? He’s alive?”

“Alive?  Yes.  Human?  That’s up for debate.”

Waverly’s hand slid over his closely-cropped salt and pepper hair, “Christ.”

Waverly stood back up from the bed and began pacing, “He’s responsible, either directly or indirectly, for hundreds of lost lives.  Civilians, locals, soldiers, nothing mattered to that piece of shit except for money.”

“Tell me about it,” Liam muttered.

“How did you meet him?”

“I didn’t.  He found me.  He….” Liam said and then he looked away.

“Son, you need to be honest with me or I can’t help you.”

“He hinted that he had information about Luke’s death.”

Wave frowned, “Luke?”

“My husband, Lily’s father, Luke Washburn.”

Waverly did a double-take, “Luke Washburn was your husband?”

“Yeah, why?”

Waverly began pacing again, “I,” he began and then blew out a breath, “I was on the team that investigated his death.”

Liam felt like he was going to throw up.  His head was swimming as he gasped for air that seemed to be gone from the room.

He heard people shouting but to his ears it sounded like he was underwater, and they were on the shore - it was muffled and odd.

Suddenly a horrible smell penetrated through the fog.

He began coughing, gagging as his eyes watered, “What?  What the fuck was that?” he said with a groan.

“Smelling salts,” Kendry said.

“Fuck, that shit is nasty.”

“That’s kind of the point.  How’re you doing?  Feeling nauseous?”

“A little.  Not bad, though.”

“Drink some water,” Kendry said as he held a bottle up to Liam’s lips.

Wave was sitting on the far side of the bed while Aleksy and Trent hovered near the door with worried looks on their faces.

“I need to ask two more questions,” Waverly said.

“Wave,” Trent pretty much growled as he took a step forward.  He was stopped by Aleksy’s hand on his arm as the big man latched on and pulled Trent into his arms.

Waverly turned and glared at Trent, “Take your mama bear act on the road, Dragon.  I’m trying to help him,” he barked.

“My mama bear act is going to be smeared all over the top of your head if you upset him again, Gamble.”

“See?  That right there is what I have questions about.  You went from a man who had three feet thick walls around his emotions to a man who’s jumping directly into the fire for not one but two men in the space of...what?.....forty-eight hours?  I need to know why.  Had any of you met before the op?”

Three heads shook from side to side with mumbled, “no,” coming from all of them.

Waverly took a deep breath before continuing, “Look, I am the last person to make judgements about falling in love or whatever the fuck this is.  The first time I saw my husband across a crowded dance floor, I knew he was going to be the man I spend the rest of my life with.  Don’t ask me how I knew, I just did.  Sometimes these things take time and sometimes they’re so brutally obvious from the start, you wonder how you managed to survive before that moment, how you even existed. Like running face first into a brick wall, only without the pain and the broken bones and the blood.  Anyways, I digress.  I’m just trying to say that I get it, but this,” he said as he waved his hand around, “even to me, this is whack.  I just want to understand.  Help me to understand.”

Before anyone could open their mouth, Lily pushed her way through Aleksy and Trent’s big bodies, parting them like soft butter. 

Wave watched as their expressions changed from the strong, hardened men they were to…..

“You promised to play Candyland with me,” she said with her hands on her hips as she glared at the two men, tapping her foot.

As both men squatted down until they were eye level with the young girl, Waverly understood what had happened.

This sweet, blonde angel had these men wrapped around her tiny fingers.

She was the conduit that brought all of them together and now she was the glue that kept them from falling apart.

“Go,” Wave said.

Trent turned, frowning as he looked at Waverly, “But….sir….”

“Go Dragon.  Play Candyland, that’s an order.  I’ve got what I need here.”

Wave’s eyes dropped to Lily, who had tucked her hand into Trent’s.  Trent followed his line of sight and then looked back at Wave.

Trent nodded once, then turned and the three of them walked out of the room.

“You have a beautiful little girl,” Wave said as he watched them go.

“She’s perfect,” Liam said from behind him.

Wave turned back to Liam.  He took a deep breath, “Okay, tell me everything you’ve got on Poppy.  Let’s see if we can’t get you out of this mess.”