“What?” Layne asked.

Her face changed, she gave him that look with her mouth going soft and Layne hoped for her that she’d direct that look to the right guy, a guy who would show her the life she should have had.

“Don’t get dead,” she replied on a whisper, bent and gave Blondie a quick rub and then without looking at him again, she turned and jogged away.

Blondie woofed her excited good-bye.

In case they had an audience, Layne didn’t watch her go. He immediately opened the door to his truck, Blondie jumped in, he slammed it, rounded the hood, folded into the driver’s side and pulled out of his spot. He scanned the area as he did so and he drove home with his eyes on his mirrors just as much as they were on the road.

He’d wait until the planned meet later with Devin and Ryker to give Devin his next assignment.

* * * * *

Layne was sitting in Merry’s armchair in his living room, facing his front door as Merry walked in.

“You’re a hard man to get hold of,” Layne remarked, Merry turned quickly, his hand going into his jacket toward his gun before he saw Layne and stopped.

“Jesus, f**k, shit, Tanner, what the f**k?” Merry clipped.

“Been callin’ you, brother,” Layne reminded him.

“Yeah, so, I’m busy and you break into my goddamned house?” Merry asked, coming into the room shrugging off his leather jacket and throwing it on the back of the couch.

“You’re busy?” Layne asked, not making the slightest move in his chair except to raise his eyebrows.

“Yeah, brother, busy,” Merry bit off then asked, “How’d you get in here?”

“Picked the lock,” Layne answered.

“You’re tellin’ me you picked the lock of a cop’s apartment?”

“Nope, I’m tellin’ you I picked the lock of the apartment of the man who’s supposed to be my partner in an operation, one that got my ass shot. He’s also the man who’s supposed to be my goddamned friend and he knows I got all sorts of shit goin’ down, some of it with my boys on the line. He’s also the man who’s brother to my woman who –”

Merry lifted a hand and interrupted. “I get it.”

“You do? I don’t think so. See, if you did, you’d return my goddamned phone calls.”

“I’ve been busy, all right?” Merry lied.

“That’s f**kin’ lame and you f**kin’ know it,” Layne growled, having trouble keeping his seat.

Merry moved straight off the defensive to take the offensive. “You been busy too, brother.”

“Yeah, I have,” Layne agreed.

“So, let me help you with that. Lay off Dad,” Merry returned.

Layne stood and Merry tensed.

Then Layne spoke. “Rutledge is providing safe haven to a Caucasian female in her mid-forties named Nicolette Towers. The shit goin’ down at Youth Group is her game. She likes girls, she likes pimpin’ ‘em any way she can and she just plain likes ‘em.” Layne ignored Merry’s face twisting with disgust and continued. “Colt’s in on this as is a guy named Ryker who I ‘spect you know. Ryker and me, we’ve partnered up and my man Devin is workin’ this too. We’re goin’ in hard, her boy is goin’ down, Rutledge is goin’ down and Towers is goin’ down. Of that cast of characters, the one with the most to lose is Rutledge. She’s got dirt on him and it’s not just dirt. It’s filth. Only thing the boys in the hole hate worse than a cop is a pedophile. He’s both and he’s f**ked.” Layne crossed his arms on his chest and kept his eyes locked on Merry. “I got intel that says what we suspected, that ambush was a warning. If they meant to kill me, they’d have done it. They won’t give me a second warning. That said, I’m not pu**yfooting around with this shit. I want Rutledge scared, I want Gaines freaked and I want Towers on alert. And all that shit is gonna come from me, not you, not Colt. Me. Colt’s workin’ it but he’s not swingin’ his ass out there. I am. What I don’t want is any of them to run. They run, we’re f**ked, they’ll go out of your jurisdiction and they’ll do it after they drill a round in my skull. This operation is gonna require skill and it’s gonna require teamwork and I gotta know, right now, if you’re out because you disappear off radar like you did this week, I’m dead.”

“I’m not out,” Merry clipped.

“Good, welcome back to the team,” Layne returned.

Merry scowled at him then asked, “You done?”

“Nope,” Layne answered. “I’m guessin’ you know Roc and I are back together.”

“Yeah, forgot to send my congratulations bouquet,” Merry retorted sarcastically and Layne pulled in breath.

They watched each other and Layne waited. Merry couldn’t take a stare down, didn’t have enough control, therefore he broke the silence first.

“I figure, since you aren’t movin’ toward the door, you got more to say,” he prompted.

“No, I’m not movin’ to the door because I’m waitin’ to hear what you have to say,” Layne replied.

“Think we had this conversation before, brother,” Merry reminded him.

“And I think I made it pretty clear I didn’t like the way that one went,” Layne shot back.

“Seems you liked it enough, since my sister’s keepin’ you warm at night again.”

“Don’t piss me off,” Layne whispered his warning.

“You aren’t already pissed?” Merry returned.

“Good you could read that, Garrett.”

“Not hard, Tanner.”

“Okay, then I’ll keep makin’ it easy for you. You and your Dad, you’re scared shitless of whatever the hell it is your scared shitless of that would make Rocky cut you out if one or the other of you grows a pair and pulls your head outta your ass –”

“Okay, now you’re pissin’ me off,” Merry growled.

“I’m not done,” Layne told him. “To finish, I find out you sat on somethin’, somethin’ that kept her from me when I wanted her and she wanted me, somethin’ that meant we lost eighteen years, somethin’ that kept her livin’ in fear, led her to a dickhead who treated her like shit, then you better stop worryin’ about her cuttin’ you out and start worryin’ about me. Because, brother, there is nothin’ that is gonna tear us apart, not again, she’s mine until she dies. And I find that shit out, I hold a mean grudge and, God’s honest truth, Garrett, you’ll lose us all and not one of us is ever comin’ back. Do you get me?”