Page 13 of Bernadette
“By whom?” someone asked.
“My dad,” Lucas said proudly. “He served twenty years as a Marine. Then our cousin, who served ten in the military, and is currently the local sheriff.”
“Plus me,” came a response from the back of the room, and everyone turned to watch as Carl Miller approached. “Carl Miller, resident consultant.” At the confused looks, he exchanged grins and laughs with the people from Boswell. “I’m an agent with the local branch of BCI, which is the highest level of law enforcement for the state before you call in the feds.” At some of the confused looks, he nodded. “BCI stands for Bureau of Criminal Investigations. I’ve been in on this investigation since Ava was issued a ticket for a smashed headlight the police officer smashed out, and was able to issue Justin a permit to carry concealed.” He saw they understood when they all began to nod. He looked around the room again, and when he laid eyes on Morgan, he nodded.
“Just got off the phone with Owen.” For the others he explained. “Owen Drake, my boss. There will be fifty men coming here by eight tomorrow morning that are the undercover agents from the different bowls of soup. I didn’t tell anyone about the Brotherhood Protection Agency. I figured what Lucas did was Lucas’ business.” They all nodded, and Hank walked up and shook his hand.
“I like the way you think. Now, where can we stay, and can we see the lay of the land? Not just here at what you call the compound, but I’d like to get a look at where the wedding will take place, as well as the reception.”
“Follow me,” Wyatt said, and before he turned to lead them away, he grabbed Morgan and kissed her hard. “I’ll be late again tonight.”
“Okay,” she sighed, and watched the men go. She didn’t know whether it shocked her or not when the women stayed behind.
CHAPTER6
Bernadette pulledinto the parking space someone directed her to, and after shutting the engine down, she took a few extra minutes to gather, not only her purse, but her thoughts. She was in desperate need and wanted to take a pain pill but knew she wouldn’t be herself if she did. She needed to have her wits about her if she wanted to be respected by most of the people she was about to meet.
Bernie jerked when someone pounded on the side of her window, and she only moved her head from the steering wheel and glared at the man. Her look must have done what she expected it to do, because suddenly the man held up his hands and backed away several feet. She fiddled with the window and barely lifted her head to glare at the man, not saying a word.
“Um, sorry, Ma’am, but this is private property.”
“Is this the Flying E ranch?”
“It is.”
“Then I’m where I’m supposed to be.” Her response must have confused the man, because he scowled, then looked all around.
“Do you know there’s a private event here, and you’re on private property?” he asked, and Bernie continued to glare at him.
“I just said I did,” Bernie snarked at the man and sat up straighter. She turned her full glare on him and withheld her grin when he swallowed audibly. “Is this private event the wedding of Morgan Stuart and her fiancé?” She was not about to admit she had forgotten the groom’s name.
“It is, do you have an invitation?”
“Only a verbal one. Stuart invited me two days ago.” The guy scowled again, and Bernie waved a dismissive hand at him. “Call who you have to, I’m not leaving.” Then she sat back and waved her hand for him to hurry up. She watched as the man stepped to the side and ended up pulling his phone. In less than five minutes an ATV came roaring up to the man, and if he hadn’t jumped out of the way, Bernie swore the driver would have run him over.
As she watched the two men talk, she grabbed her cane, her purse, and prepared to open the door to exit. She didn’t have long to wait before she was confronted by the new arrival. She recognized his voice immediately when he barked out her intentions of being there.
“Patterson, a little help here,” Bernie said as she opened the truck door and swung her legs out. Her left one had a black brace from her ankle to the top of her thigh.
“Shit, Cromwell?” Hank asked in shock and rushed forward. He stopped when he reached her, and after taking in the situation, he only held his arm to her elbow out, forearm flat, and allowed her to grip his arm to move herself around. Once Bernie was standing on the ground, but propped up with her cane, he looked at her with a grin. “So, you came over to the dark side?”
Bernie snorted a laugh, and threw her head back, making her long blonde hair cascade down. “I wouldn’t know whether it’s the dark side or not, but sorry, it’s not your side. When I talked to Stuart a few days ago, I couldn’t resist what she had to say.”
“Well, I for one can tell you that I got only a tip of the iceberg, and I’m talking nothing more than a dot from an ink pen, and I want in, so do my men, but it’s Morgan’s case, so we’ll sit back and take any crumbs she throws our way.”
“Okay, I don’t know if I understand that statement, but what’s up with the twenty questions from your man?”
Hank looked at her and grinned but held out his elbow to her again so they could start walking. As she took it, he nodded to the man who had called him, and they started walking toward the guests for the wedding would be sitting. “I can explain more later, but Lucas Erwin, the nephew of the groom, contacted us to come and run security for the wedding. It turns out someone has been after the Erwins for two decades, or almost, but it’s been eighteen years. As I said, we’re security, and later, you’ll be meeting some people with whom you’ll be working.”
“Like?”
“ATF, BCI, Homeland Security, FBI, DEA, the state attorney general’s office. Oh, they all have people here undercover, but they’re over at the reception. Only the Brotherhood are doing security for the wedding.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a small wedding, maybe a total of about fifty people, the reception will be another matter altogether.”
“Again, why?”
