Redemption : Enigma by bhogg |
BackgroundDax Connor rescued Lael Jackson from an attempted rape, subduing the two assailants, who were later found dead. Dax has been charged to stay in town until the investigation in complete. Lael has invited him to stay with her mom and herself. Characters are listed below. From Previous Chapter. Boudreaux got up, walked out of the kitchen, through the parlor. He stopped at the door and turned. "Believe it or not, Dax, it was good seeing you. The one case we worked on together was a good one. Hopefully, you'll remember that part of the life of Gustave Paul Boudreaux." Gus walked out the door. It was pitch black, so he turned on a micro light on his keychain. He walked out toward the road, guided by the distant tip of a lit cigarette. Someone was waiting for him. ************************************************ Gus was slow and careful. Even with the micro light, it was awkward walking across a dirt and gravel driveway in the pitch black darkness. He stumbled once over a tree root. When he approached his car, he saw a cigarette flipped, sparks spinning end over end into the darkness. "So, how did it go?" This question, came from the dim outline of a person outside his car. "Was it the guy you thought?" Alden Bishop was waiting for Gus. With the demise of Donny and Jake, Alden was about as close to a muscle man as Gus had left. He did not have the size of the two departed, but made up for that in smarts and meanness. "Yeah, it was. From the description and the first name Dax, it almost had to be him. This could change the rules of the game. I worked with Dax back in the day. He was an incredibly thorough agent. Maybe he won't hang around too long." "Do you want me to kill him?" "Not yet. If we play our cards right, he might live up to an old Chinese proverb. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I wouldn't volunteer too quickly. Donny and Jake weren't pushovers, and he apparently ate their lunch." ************************ Dax and Beth looked at each other. Beth finally broke the silence. "Well, that's not something you see every day. A burglar, who turns out to not be a burglar, breaking in not to steal something, but leave something behind. To top it off, carried out by who we thought was the local drug kingpin but who turns out to be an ex-DEA agent that you know. I guess in your line of work, this sort of thing happens all the time?" "I've been surprised in my life many times, but if you had seen the look on my face when Gus turned around, it alone would answer your question. I was totally blown away." Beth, sighed. "It is now 4:30 a.m. Jimmy is coming by for breakfast at 8:00. What should we do between now and then?" Dax thought for a moment before answering. "I'm up and wired now. It was a long yesterday, so why don't you go back to bed? I think that maybe I'm just going to start going through this file that Gus left." "After all that excitement, there's no way I'm going back to sleep. Why don't I start some coffee, and we can split up the file?" "Beth, if you're sure. I certainly don't mind giving this a start. Some of it looks to be written in cop talk. It might be easier for me to wander through it and give you and Jimmy a report at 8:00." "It's okay. Why don't you take a look and think of some logical way to split it up. As long as we're up, perhaps we should have some breakfast now. Lael won't mind cooking for Jimmy when he gets here. Is bacon, eggs and toast okay?" "Absolutely, as long as we can wash it down with some coffee." The two began puttering around the kitchen as if they had known each other forever. Dax splitting the paperwork and starting the coffee, Beth, the food. In the middle of the preparation, she found herself looking at Dax. Perhaps he felt the stare, because he looked over and asked, "What?" "Oh, Nothing." Beth turned a bit red, but didn't think Dax noticed. It would have been embarrassing to admit that she was thinking of the way he looked in his boxers and tee-shirt. Dax was trained to notice. He had a thought of his own. Beth had put a robe on, but when she walked out earlier in a thin cotton nightgown, the light behind her provided a backdrop that outlined a pretty special body. He smiled. They ate, drank some coffee and perused the file. Both were trained to read, push through the trash, and isolate things of importance. Beth had split up some post-it red flags, so the pages were getting flagged with areas to re-visit. This went on for about thirty minutes. Beth finally broke the silence. "I'm finding some tidbits, but have come across nothing like a smoking gun. It is some information that I think Jimmy will be interested to read, but no real shattering revelations. It's almost like Boudreaux wanted to feed us enough to look in other areas, but like that old television commercial, Where's the Beef?" "I think you are right, Beth. Why don't we take a break and we can pick this back up when Jimmy get's here. I'd like to get a bit of exercise, shower, get in some clean clothes and welcome a new day." "You're kidding about the exercise, right?" "No. It's an old habit that I can't break." "Well, you go ahead. I'm definitely going to do the shower and clean clothes bit. We can all circle back together when Jimmy gets here." Beth headed back to her bedroom. She passed Lael on the way. "Mom, why are you already up?" "It's a long story. Dax and I have both been up for awhile. I'll fill you in when Jimmy gets here. Plan on breakfast just for the two of you. Dax and I have already eaten." With a raised eyebrow, Lael, asked, "Oh?" "Like I said, long story. It will keep until Jimmy gets here." The house was built around old southern plans and was understated in many ways. That did not include the bathrooms. Beth was in the master. The shower had several high pressure heads and would pulse you from three sides. She had the temperature at a point so high, her skin was radiating. After a few minutes, she turned the water down to ice cold. She was actually thinking, I won't be able to do this for many more years. I could have a heart attack. After this pleasure / torture session she resumed her schedule. She justified the extra time with hair and makeup due to Jimmy's visit. She went over to the bay window in the bedroom and sat on the built-in bench. Opening the drapes, she could look out to the barn. The large double doors were open and the large barn light was on. She could see Dax going through what was almost a choreographed set of movements. She realized that he was doing Tai Chi. Oddly enough, she had recently starting taking Tai Chi at her local health club. Beth realized what she had been doing was stumbling around to Chinese music. Dax was doing something close to an art form. Beth was intent on watching and didn't realize that Lael had walked up behind her. She was startled when Lael said, "Hey Mom, he's pretty cute in those jeans and tee shirt, huh?" "I don't know what you're talking about. I was just sitting here brushing my hair out. Dax told me he was going to exercise. I didn't even know where he was. Don't think that I don't see you peeking at Jimmy sometimes." "Well Mom, I most certainly do. I have to tell you though, seeing that old man out there with those cool moves, old Jimmy boy better watch out." Beth stood up and she and Lael hugged each other, both giggling like schoolgirls. ****************************** Every town has its "Other side of the tracks." Hurstville was no different. The sun was just coming up as Deputy Stanley Tate was literally driving over those tracks. He was responding to a citizen call regarding gun shots. This part of town was like so many others in the South. Old abandoned cotton warehouses, boarded up buildings with taped and broken windows and trash and litter on the street. With Stanley was another officer, Nikki Tate. She was one of the few female officers. Stanley was always glad when they could partner up. Not only was she competent, she was pretty easy to look at. He found himself doing that right now, with a slight smile. He was thinking, Nikki and Jimmy could be poster children for what a police officer should look like. Her uniform was spotless, with creases you could cut butter with. Her shoes were spit shined. Correctly positioned around her waist was one of the new Glock automatic pistols. Their office had just been authorized to receive these. Stanley decided to stay with his tried and true, Smith and Wesson, 38 Police Special Revolver. Nikki looked over at Stanley. "Why do you have that sly grin? You're not looking at my butt again are you?" "Nikki, I'm surprised you would ask that. You are sitting down after all." Nikki chuckled. "Okay. I just wouldn't want a man of your advanced years to have a stroke." Nikki could smile. Unlike some of the other officer's, she felt totally comfortable around Stanley. They could kid around, but he never treated her with anything other than respect. It was mutual. They drove up to an old, abandoned warehouse that fit the approximate location of the gunshots. Stepping out of the car, Stanley said to Nikki, "Why don't you position yourself around the front of the facade. I'm going to go around back. There is a side window about 5 feet off the ground and the old loading dock entrance. Let's be real careful with this. Tactical radios on and guns drawn since we don't know what to expect." "Okay. You're not giving me the easy part because I'm a girl, are you?" "Absolutely not. If there is someone still in the warehouse, they'll be bailing out through that front door. I'm putting you there because you're a better shot." Stanley moved in a measured and deliberate fashion down the alley between the warehouse and adjacent building. He had done this hundreds of times, usually finding nothing. Over the clean, morning air, he smelled something that was out of place, propane, chlorine and ammonia. The distinctive smell of cooking methamphetamine. He clicked back to Nikki. "You better call for back up. I think we have ourselves a meth lab."
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