Finally he walked around to the driver. “We’re supposed to leave it all,” he said. “Call the cops and bring them in, but make sure that Gregg’s dead too.”
“Then go do it,” the driver said.
“Shit,” he said. “It looks like a goddamn trap to me.”
“Stop being such a wuss,” the one guy yelled, as the other man walked slowly toward the front door. “Well then, I’m coming in behind you, as backup.”
“At least we got paid already. Not only that but we’ve also got the money we were supposed to pay these guys.” The first man, closest to the house, turned and said, “We still have to kill Gregg. If we don’t shoot him, you know they’ll come back on us.”
“No, go shoot him, put him down, take out the girl too,” he said. “Then we can get the hell out of here.”
He walked into the house, and immediately Gregg grabbed him and pulled him to the side. He held a gun to his head, then Garret fired his gun once and then a second time into the floor. Then Gregg said, “How about you head back out there to your buddy?”
The guy just looked at Gregg in shock, bolted out the front door, and met with two more gunshots from the driver. The one man they had just tagged, fell facedown, dead. The other man, now in the vehicle, ripped out backward, while they raced toward the car, but it was gone in the darkness.
“Goddammit,” Gregg said, limping badly as they stopped.
“Yeah, you’ve got a bit of talking to do,” Garret said.
“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” he said. “What a fucking mess.”
“You want to tell me what the hell’s going on here?”
“Well, I can tell you some of it,” he said, “but it’s kind of shitty.”
“What’s that?”
“They were trying to use me as a patsy for taking down your plane, realizing that we’d had a split over Amy. They would use that to make it look like I was trying to get rid of you permanently.”
Garret stared at his brother. “I guess they don’t understand brothers, do they?”
With that, he could see some of the stiffness and the stress in Gregg’s shoulders ease back. “Thank you,” he said. “I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me.”
“There’s a lot in life I believe,” he said, “and there are shitty things in life you’ve done to me, but I didn’t ever think that you would have done that.”
“And yet, for many people,” Gregg said, still wary, “they would think that moving from screwing your girlfriend to killing you isn’t that big of a step.”
“Yeah, maybe so,” he said. “So the next time you decide you’ll go knock up one of my girlfriends, I suggest you make sure that we’re done first.”
“Shit, man. I’ve loved her since forever.”
“She’s bad news for me, and I shouldn’t have anything to do with her, but really? … You couldn’t have just told me that you loved her?”
“I should have. I know. But it was a stolen weekend, and then, after we fought, she left. She went back to you, when she was supposed to go home to break up with you and to come back with me, but she didn’t. She went back to you instead and stayed there. Until I couldn’t stay away, and you caught us.”
“Yeah, nothing’s terribly straightforward about Amy.”
“Will you forgive me for that ever?”
“Yeah, but only for two reasons,” he said. “Believe me. I’ll never forget it because that’s just a shitty thing to do to your brother. And it’s been eating away at me for a long time.”
His brother winced at that. “So what are the two reasons?”
“First, Amy and I would have been an absolute disaster of a relationship,” he said. “I can’t stand anybody without any guts or grit. And, second, because her sister and I will be an item, whether Astra knows it yet or not.”
At that, Gregg stared at him in surprise. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” he said.
Gregg started to laugh. “You know what? That’s the best thing ever,” he said affectionately. “I told Amy that the two of you would be great together a long time ago. She told me that I was off my rocker and that it would never happen.”
“Well, with any luck, it’s already happened,” he said. “It’s just that we’ve spent the last however many shitty days trying to find you.” He helped his brother back into the house. “We’ve got a hell of a mess here to deal with now too.”
“Not only do we have a hell of a mess,” he said, “but we still don’t know who’s behind that attack on the plane. And it wasn’t me, dude. I swear to God. It wasn’t me.”
“So who the hell was it then?” Garret snapped.
“Somebody needs to have a talk and, I mean, a forceful talk, with Deedee. I don’t know that she’s behind it, but she sure as hell knows more than she’s letting on.”
“She’s such a bitch,” Garret said.
“Yeah, she’s also one of Bullard’s exes too. You know that, right?”
“So what? Or are you thinking a woman scorned and all that?”
“It’s possible,” Gregg said. “It’s definitely possible.”
“But then it’s not just Deedee, is it?”
“No, it isn’t, but I don’t know who all has been carrying a torch all this time.”
“Goddamn relationships,” Garret said. “Gets you in trouble every damn time.” After he helped Gregg back into the house, Garret walked straight through the house and out to where Astra was lying on the back porch.
She opened her eyes, as he approached. “That guy’s got a hand like a sledgehammer.”
“I saw you pull back, ever-so-slightly, before you took the hit.”
She grinned at him. “Yeah, I was taught that in self-defense.”
“Good,” he said. “But, Jesus, what a hit.” He helped her to her feet and folded her into his arms. She snuggled in deep, and, over her shoulder, he looked at his brother and raised an
