Ace joined him and they walked back to the kitchen. Deuce sat down at his computer and hit a few keys to print out the file he’d been looking at.
Ace walked over to the printer and lifted the first page off as it came out of the printer. He read it carefully. About half way through Sable’s writing, he snapped his head over at Deuce.
Deuce met his eyes and nodded.
Ace turned his attention back to the letter in his hand and finished reading it.
Then he grabbed the pages on the printer and carried them back to the table where he sat down and stared at his brother. “Well, shit.” He growled. “This is a clusterfuck of epic proportions isn’t it?”
“Are you going to tell Jack and Jade?” Deuce asked softly.
“Come on bro,” Ace whined softly. “They’re getting married tomorrow. Don’t you think they deserve to be happy on that day?”
“Yeah, I do. They deserve happiness and so much more,” Deuce told his brother. “She is his One for him, isn’t she?”
Ace paused and stared at his little brother strangely. “His one?”
Deuce nodded. “Same as Charli is yours and Maggie is King’s.”
“Deuce…” Ace interrupted.
Deuce held up his hand. “I know, I know. You never believed in that horseshit but I did and I still do,” he argued.
Ace grinned at his younger brother. “I was going to say, Gramps was right all along. And yeah, Charli is my One.”
Deuce grinned. “I knew it.”
Ace looked down at the papers in his hand. “So, what do we do about this revelation? I don’t want to ruin their wedding day, but we can’t sit too long on this information either.”
“I know.”
Ace frowned then asked, “Where the hell did you find this stuff, anyway?”
Deuce grunted. “Annabelle must have dropped her dog Fluffy on the way to bed tonight. When I picked him up, I felt something hard in his paw. When I looked, I found bright green thread on a white dog with brown spots. Strange to me, so I tore open the spot that had been sewed and found a flash drive.” He tapped the drive on his laptop. “When I opened it, I found this file.”
“Well, at least we know Sable didn’t die for nothing,” Ace said shaking his head. “With the other proof she left behind on that drive, she gave us everything we needed to know to bring Carmen and the Widowmaker down for good.”
“It still cost her…her own life,” Deuce reminded his brother.
“It also cost that little girl down the hall the only mother she ever knew.” Ace nodded. “And Jade… her only sister.”
“Carmen Vance deserves the fires of hell and I hope we send him there.” Deuce growled.
“Don’t worry little brother, we will. We’ll send him straight to hell with no return.” Ace gave him a hard stare.
Deuce let out a heavy sigh. “But we give Jack and Jade some time to get married and settle their lives first. We don’t break their hearts until we have to…”
“Agreed.” Ace nodded. “They deserve that much anyway. Meanwhile, we look for Carmen. We run him down and then we go after the Widowmaker. Him, we need Shay for.”
Deuce looked up at his brother. “But at least now, we know who he is.”
Ace nodded. “Yep, Jedidiah Whittaker. Now, all we have to do is bring him down.”
Deuce snorted. “Do you have any idea who Jedidiah Whittaker is?”
“Not off the top of my head and I don’t care who he is.” Ace sneered. “To me, he’s scum of the earth. He uses his money to put guns into the hands of criminals.” He snorted again. “No wonder he’s called the Widowmaker.”
“He also sends weapons to the rebels and funds the resistance in the sandbox,” Deuce told him.
Ace stared at his brother. “And how do you know that?”
“Because that’s where I first saw him. I didn’t know at the time what his name was, but I matched his face with Whittaker’s. He was boots on the ground in Afghanistan and again, in Iraq. I was scouting the area for Insurgents and I saw a helo land on the ground and unload its cargo. I had to stay out of sight but I saw a band of rebels carrying away the cargo. I was witness to Whittaker shaking hands with the leader of the rebels. Then I watched him take off against.” He shook his head. “I tried to report the exchange at the time but I was told I was mistaken. They told me there was no way I saw what I saw. They couldn’t understand how there was a white man bringing in guns to the rebels. I could see him up close and personal but I couldn’t hear what he was saying, otherwise I would have known he was American and not some other nationality. There was so much noise from the helo, I could see the exchange, but I couldn’t hear what was being said.” He glanced over at Ace. “But I was there. I know what I saw and no one believed me. How fucked up is that?”
“Pretty fucking fucked up.” Ace shook his head. “How sure are you that it really was Whittaker?
Deuce typed something on his keyboard and then turned the laptop around, so he could show Ace a photograph.
When it came onto the screen, Ace could see a middle -aged man. His dark hair was brushed back away from his forehead and he was squinting against the sun but you could clearly see his face.
“This is the man I saw in the desert that day,” Deuce told his brother. “I was in the trees overlooking the area the exchange took place. The helo was to my right and about fifty feet away. I was close enough I could even see the pilot.” He tapped the top of the screen. “But I know that’s the face I saw that day.” Shaking his head he admitted, “I just got nothing to prove it and without proof, I couldn’t make it stick.”
“Ok, well there’s not a whole lot we can do at the moment and I need to get some sleep. We both do. Our brother is getting married tomorrow and we can’t let him know about this right now. Tomorrow or the day after, will be time for us to dig deeper and find what we need to find out.”
“Wanna hear something really sick?” Deuce asked.
Ace waited for his answer.
“This bastard is located right here in this state. His home base is over in Helena.”
Ace just shook his head. “Well, a man’s gotta live somewhere doesn’t he?”
Deuce shrugged. “I suppose but it’s just weird that’s all.”
Ace agreed, “Yeah, when you think about it, it is weird. We’ve been searching the whole nation for a man that lived within three hours of where we are right now. Listen, let’s get Jack and Jade married and then we’ll dig into this, okay?”
Deuce nodded. “Yeah, I’m headed there myself soon.”
Ace paused. “It’s waited this long, so another twenty four hours isn’t going to hurt, brother. Tomorrow is for Jack.” He rapped his knuckles on the table then walked down the hall.
Deuce sat there for a while longer and stared at the photo of Whittaker. He couldn’t believe he’d finally found the man he’d seen so many years ago. His face had been burned into his memory for so long and as the rage grew in his belly, he memorized each and every line and slope of this man’s face.
Clicking on the link to the man’s business page, he found himself looking at one of the state’s largest industries for employment, Whittaker Industries INC.
Whittaker Industries INC. manufactured steel frames for any number of items, from steel beams to car frames and everything in between. Part of what they manufactured were the raw steel pieces of gun barrels and trigger components.
Deuce clicked on the company’s Facebook page and found out more about the man and his business. Then he glanced at the photos of friend’s area and caught his breath at one of the photos.
The name under the photo was just one name, but his eyes were caught at the face more than the name. Her brown eyes caught him and wouldn’t let him go. They mesmerized him and he felt connected to her in some small way.
He glanced down at the name under her photo, Luna was all it said, no last name. He looked up at her face again. Her heart shaped face was framed in long blonde hair, it appeared thick and slightly curly, she had high cheek bones and a smile that wouldn’t quit. Her lips were full and looked soft, her chin was rounded and it dropped down to a strong jaw line but he couldn’t stop staring at her eyes. They were her best feature. The color reminded him of milk chocolate and the longer he stared at her, the more his heart began to pound in his chest.
His finger somehow clicked the exit button and the face disappeared from the screen. Exhaling slowly, he shook his head. It was just a picture, why get all worked up about it? Plus, it was on that page and it meant, the woman was someone not in his league. Not for him. With it being the Whittaker page, that was doubly true.
Slowly closing the laptop, he pushed it away and got to his feet. Carefully gathering the papers he’d printed off, he carried them with him to his bedroom.
Stripping his clothes off, he flopped down on the bed, then turned over on his back and stared at the ceiling. He couldn’t get her face out of his head. Her brown eyes seemed to call out to him, begging him, but begging him for what?
He closed his eyes and saw her face again, especially her eyes. They seemed to haunt him and he opened his eyes again while gasping for breath. He groaned and turned on his side. Pressing the heel of his hands into his eye sockets, he wondered if he would ever get her picture out of his head.
He must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing he knew, someone was pounding on his door, yelling at him to wake up. Deuce groaned as he struggled to throw off the shadows of sleep. He opened his eyes again, and stared at the ceiling.
Even in the light of day, her face haunted his thoughts. He groaned and sat up, swinging his bare legs over the side of the bed, he put his bare feet on the floor. He felt the muscles across his shoulders and neck strain because of lack of sleep.
Stumbling to his bathroom, he turned on the shower. The hot water eased the muscle strain he was feeling and woke him up some as well.
As he dried off and got dressed, he tried not to think about her again. Ace had been right, today was Jack’s day, and he owed his brother his attention and focus.
He joined the family in the kitchen and he caught Jade laughing softly as she observed Annabelle’s antics.
He glanced over at Ace and his brother frowned as he shook his head at Deuce’s expression.
Deuce glared at his brother and narrowed his lips. He scoffed to himself, as if he’d ruin Jack’s day. Geez, did Ace really think he would do that?
He grabbed a cup of coffee and walked out the back door. He took a deep breath and exhaled strongly. Shaking his head, he stepped off the porch and headed to the corner of the house. He heard the door bang and footsteps following him but he never looked over his shoulder to identify the brother who followed him.
He just kept walking until Ace called his name. Deuce closed his eyes and stopped. He let his brother catch up then with his back to Ace, he didn’t bother turning around. Instead, he growled, “I get it okay. Today is for Jack and I wouldn’t dream of ruining his day. I’m not that much of a bastard.” Then without another word, he wandered farther away from the house. He sat down by the campfire ring and drank his coffee without thinking too hard.
When his coffee was gone and he thought he had cooled off enough to join the others, he got up and walked back to the house. He rinsed his cup out and joined everyone in the living room.
