{18+ COMPLETE} For the past three years, Bren Hadaway has been preparing to die.
When he was sixteen, he watched his dad murder his mom. And ever since, he's been counting down the days until it was his turn to be at the end of a gun. And Bren has...
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It was not going to be over by the end of the week. And apparently, I was a fool for thinking it would be.
"Son, this is not an operation that we can set up and execute overnight."
I bit my tongue to keep from telling the cop off for calling me son.
I was no one's son.
I was just a wannabe orphan.
Dead to me. Luke Hadaway was dead to me.
"Then when?" I asked through gritted teeth.
We were sitting in the same booth as last time. The cafe was lively today; diners were chatting animatedly to the tune of the cook's bell as he kept bringing up order after order of burgers and fries for servers to disperse. Officer James munched on his own order of fries as he thought on my question.
His tone was deliberate when he finally said, "There are more than a few steps in something like this."
"Steps?" I repeated, barely withholding a groan.
Officer James sighed. "My captain is going to want to see an operational risk assessment before he approves it."
"I'm sorry." I slammed my tightly folded hands on the table between us. The salt and pepper shaker rattled, and Caroline grabbed them so they wouldn't spill before giving my arm a little pat that I knew meant chill. But I didn't know how to do that. "A risk assessment? My murderer of a father is stalking my girlfriend. That is the risk here."
Mr. Moustache dropped his fry and mimicked me, clapping his hands together and leaning his elbows on the table. His voice dropped. "Look, if we can't even monitor the person we are going after, it is hard to justify pulling resources away from other cases. I could put a call into the Marshals, but they're pretty limited with what they can do right now, too."
"This was your idea." I clenched my hands together so hard that I could barely feel my fingers, and Caroline's grip on my arm tightened.
He nodded, not denying it. "I know. And I still stand by it. But we have some work to do to make it happen."
There was a slight pause. I didn't know what to say.
"Help me, help you," Officer James went on to say, talking with his hands in a way that, for some reason, made me jumpy and irritable. "Do you have any insight for us to go off of? An alias that your dad could be going under? Some way you can contact him?"
I had to take a deep breath before I could reply. "I've told you all I know. It isn't like I've been withholding information." I sighed and forced myself to fall back into the seat cushions. "The only way I can think how to contact him is by leaving a note out. That's all I've got."
I managed a nonchalant shrug and peeked over at Caroline. Her mouth formed a grim line. It wasn't hard to tell that she had a lot that she wanted to say, but I appreciated that she let me handle it.
