Page 37 of Hold a Candle

“Oh, aye. Ye weigh a whole 158 kilograms, baby included,” he scolded. “I have sheep that weigh more than that. Now hush and save yer breath.”

“What’s going on?”

“We have an intruder on a black motorcycle. Could be after Luca, I’m guessing.”

As Lucerne opened the front door Darro yelled, “Dal! Red alert. Go to Angus for an assignment, I have the house.”

Dal and Luca rushed out of the hallway. “What’s a red alert?” asked Luca with a frown.

“Luca, ye get the kids and bring them to my study, please,” Darro ordered, ignoring his question while Dal took off running.

Darro pushed open the study door, set Lucerne down, then took a key out of the drawer to hand to her. “Open the saferoom, honey, while I help Luca with the kids.

Luca was coming through the study door, holding hands with both children, who were looking scared. “Here are the kids, Darro.”

Darro nodded and smiled at Corey and Delilah. “Go with Auntie Lucerne into the safe room, little ones. Remember the drills we do? This is just a precaution at this time, but Luca and Lucerne will look after ye.” He stared at Luca.

Luca paled. “He’s here, isn’t he?” he whispered as the kids ran towards Lucerne. “Ye want me in a safe room, so he must be.”

“Who’s here, lad?” Darro asked. “Who’s after ye?”

“Ruskag’s partner, Arthur,” Luca replied uneasily as if he shouldn’t be saying anything.

Darro’s eyes narrowed. “Arthur Blackburn?”

“Aye.”

“Arthur Blackburn is dead, lad. He was found shot in an alley early this morning in Inverness, according to yer mother and her partner.”

“Then it’s true, they are cleaning up loose ends,” Luca blurted out, running his fingers through his unruly locks. I really could be next.”

“Get in the safe room and stay there until I come for ye,” Darro instructed, taking Luca’s arm and hustling him towards the open door. He didn’t have to convince him, Luca fairly sprinted into the safe room, visibly shaken.

Lucerne closed the door and Darro slid the bookshelves back in front of it. They glided easily. Now, to see how Angus was fairing.

***

BRODIE CURSED WHENthe horses and the ATVs suddenly appeared as if from nowhere, surrounding the copse he was in. He’d chosen this little stand of trees because on an aerial map of Heaven’s Gate, it looked closest to the homestead, and he figured he could use his binoculars to find out where Luca was. How had he been spotted?

He hadn’t seen a single person coming up the route he’d chosen. This area was literally unfarmed and unpopulated with sheep, cattle, or horses. Quickly, his mind searched for solutions to his predicament. Obviously, there were too many of these sheepherders to fight his way out, and it was inevitable that he would be taken before Lord MacCandish himself to explain his presence on his land.

Then again, he did have the fastest motorcycle on the road. Neither the horses nor the ATVs could touch him if he could find an opening. With an expert eye in field training, he looked for the weak spot and found it. A young lad who was having trouble controlling his horse in the presence of the machines rumbling around it.

“Out of my way,” he yelled, gunning the engine. He nearly put his bike on its back wheel as he shot towards the horse with its eyes rolling back in its head in fear. It reared up on its hind legs and dropped its rider, then whirled and took off as Brodie gunned through the opening with practiced ease and was off.

Wending around in a full circle, Brodie headed back the way he came in, quickly pulling ahead of his pursuers. There were plenty of ways to get out of the highlands. Even the police couldn’t be in all of them at once.

Uneasily, he wondered if anyone had taken his license plate? If so, the police would most likely be looking for him under his alias. He’d have to go back to Aberdeen and hide the Ducati in his garage, and then stay away from his alias residence in the Dunlaven Market area.

Tiresome. His lips thinned in disgust.

The hours he’d spent working on this case and gathering information would be worth it though, when he finally achieved a Chief Inspector position in one of the Highland Councils. He’d really like to take over Inverness. Tannock was getting old after all.

He swore impatiently under his breath. Samhain, or All Hallow’s Eve, was in two more days. The festival in Inverness would go on all day Saturday. He knew from sources that a drug pickup was going down at one of the docks in the early hours of Sunday morning. The drugs coming into Aberdeen were coming from Inverness, they just didn’t know where they were being manufactured. He intended to find out where and stamp them out like the vermin they were. Blackburn had admitted, under extreme stress, that the new head was extending his take-over to include the protection rackets in the Dunlaven Market, and that this new head was going to be there in person to receive the drug shipment this time.

Luca’s job had been to keep his ears open for anything suspicious happening around Hope Barks. Brodie knew drug money was being laundered through Hope Barks, and suspected drugs were being stored in the basement there until they were ready to be shipped. He and the Aberdeen team could get Interpol to authorize a raid on the shelter, but then they still wouldn’t know where the meth was being manufactured. The kid had sent him a message that they needed to talk, and that he might have something for him, but before he could get to him in person, he’d been arrested for killing Tommie Ruskag.

Blast Tannock for getting the kid spirited away before he’d made contact. He frowned. The kid was a novice, but still pretty good at ferreting out information. Had someone at Hope Barks fingered him as a CI?

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