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Back Stop at Nothing Save as PDF
Contents ( 98)
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96
  97. 97
  98. EPILOGUE

But all that was water under the bridge now, wasn’t it? Gannon thought.

He smiled.

He had him covered now.

And then some.

“This is…incredible!” Declan said. “But I thought you said you were broke. That the boat’s pump or whatever is on its last legs and that guy screwed you on the money he owes you for that three-day thing you did?”

“He paid me,” Gannon lied.

“No! Really? Really?”

“Yes. Really. You’re going. I got us covered. And if that ass, Larry, cans you, I’ll help you find another job. Call me crazy, but I think Tampa probably has more than one air-conditioning and refrigeration tech apprentice position somewhere. I just can’t believe your arm is back. That’s what’s really unbelievable,” Gannon said.

“You’re telling me,” Declan said. “I don’t even like talking about it, I’m so afraid it’ll crap out again. When will you get in?”

“Earliest flight I can get is Wednesday. I’ll meet you at the airport there in Tampa around five or so and then we’ll both get a flight to Phoenix.”

“But won’t that all cost a fortune? Especially last minute?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s how these things happen, son. We’re just going to go for it.”

Gannon smiled again as Declan laughed like an excited little kid.

He was still smiling, enjoying the moment, when he heard the sound from the front of the bungalow. It was the crackle of tires, the sound of a car slowly coming down his little remote cul-de-sac.

Gannon sat up, squinting. He wasn’t waiting on any visitors.

When he heard brakes, he stood and peeked all the way around the side of his concrete blockhouse. In the gap between his pickup and the house, he could see the front of a vehicle. It was a Jeep. A white-and-blue Jeep.

A familiar white-and-blue Jeep.

Gannon bit his lip, thinking quickly.

No, he thought.

No way. Calm yourself. It can’t be. No way. Not this quick.

“Dad, I’m going to pay you back. I promise. Every penny. Hey, you there?” his son said as Gannon glanced at the back of his pickup in the carport.

The Gator and the tanks were still up there in the bed. Dammit. Why the hell hadn’t he put them away?

“Dad? You there?” his son was saying when the doorbell rang.

“Um, bad connection, son. I’ll call you back,” Gannon said quickly as he hopped off the back porch.

19

“I’m right here, Sergeant Jeremy,” Gannon said to the uniformed cop as he was about to get back into his white-and-blue Bahama PD police Jeep. “Right here. No need to call up the SWAT team.”

Gannon smiled as he came out into his front yard through the carport, walking unhurriedly. He had undone another button on his shirt and had a fresh beer with him.

“Ah, so you are, Michael,” the cop said with a smile back as they shook.

As always, the muscular, handsome black man in his early sixties looked impeccable. His big general’s hat was squared neatly on his head and his white-and-blue police uniform shirt was crisp and highly starched.