Page 78 of Her Hero Daddy

They played Barbies for what felt like five minutes, dressing and undressing them for a fashion show. When Keith came up to check on them and tell them to come down and eat some breakfast, they realized they had been playing for over an hour. Both girls protested being interrupted during their playtime until Keith lowered his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes. Haylee realized that maybe he was just as intimidating as Kane.

They sat at the kitchen counter, eating eggs, bacon, and toast that Keith had made.

“When will they be back?” Haylee asked.

“Are they going to kill him?” Ally asked.

“How do we know if they got him yet?” Haylee chimed in again.

“If they have to kill him, will they have to hide the body, or will it be considered a fair kill?” Ally followed up with.

Keith stood on the other side of the counter, looking back and forth at each of them like they were insane. When they finally stopped asking questions, he pointed to their plates and said, “Eat,” without providing any answers.

Both girls slumped their shoulders and started nibbling on their meals.

“Both of your Daddies will be just fine. You two just need to play and behave yourselves and not ask so many questions. You are already making me tired.”

They giggled and gave each other a high five.

“Hey, you better be nice to your babysitter. I can tell them that you were naughty, and I’m sure both of your butts would be toast.”

Keith chuckled when they quickly schooled their faces and went back to eating.

32

KANE

Five civilian vehicles and four patrol vehicles rolled into the parking lot of the run-down motel just outside of Pinebrook. Kane felt the surge of adrenaline running through him that he’d always felt before a Special Ops job while in the military. He drove his SUV, carrying Damian and another one of his brothers’ men. The ride was silent, and Kane knew that the other men were feeling the same tension within themselves.

As soon as they pulled into the lot, Kane saw the classic BMW that Haylee had described.

Jackpot.

Once parked, Luke’s officers spread out all around the motel building, which Kane guessed had about twenty-five rooms in the single-level U-shaped building that surrounded the parking lot on three sides. Kane motioned for Damian and one of Damian’s men, Seth, to follow him behind the corner of the building where Tim’s room was. Criminals often tried to escape out of the back, and while he had promised Luke that he wouldn’t lose it on the guy, he would have loved to be the one to catch and restrain him until cuffs were on. And possibly accidentally bang his head into the ground a little bit while in the process.

Because it was still early and a weekday, the motel was quiet. They didn’t see any guests walking around the property, and he didn’t suspect there were many occupied rooms based on the number of cars in the parking lot. The men were all quiet as they found their places, not wanting to warn Tim that he was about to have his door busted in.

Kane pressed the button into the radio that Luke had given each of them to indicate that they were in place. As soon as he lifted the button, they heard yelling from the front of the building. Kane left the other men and ran to the front to see what was going on, only to find a man, who he assumed was the motel manager, in the parking lot, screaming at everyone to get off the property. The scowl on Luke’s face as he stormed over to the man had the guy shutting his mouth quickly. Luke slammed the warrant into the guy’s chest and told him to get the fuck back in the building and don’t come back out.

The man turned white as a sheet and turned to retreat back to the office when a gunshot went off at the back of the building. Feeling that rush again, Kane and Luke sprinted back to find Damian and Seth crouched down, looking up to the broken glass window.

“Everybody okay?” Kane asked.

Once he was able to confirm there were no injuries, his attention went to the broken window. He couldn’t see anything inside, which told him Tim wasn’t near the window, but that didn’t mean he still couldn’t fire his gun in that direction. Luke motioned for everyone to stay low.

“Get the fuck away from here before I blow this place up!” a male voice screamed from inside the room.

“Tim Parker! Come out with your hands up!” Luke shouted back.

“You aren’t taking me out of here! Go away!”

Kane was aware that since they knew Tim had a gun and had already opened fire, they had to try to get the rest of the motel evacuated before they could enter the room. It would become a waiting game until that happened. He had already seen several cars leaving the parking lot after the first shot rang out. He knew one of the officers was already working on clearing the building.

“Everyone stay in place until we finish evacuating. We have a person inside the room that is assumed to be Parker,” Luke said over the radio.

They stood at their posts for what seemed like an hour when in reality, it was only a few minutes, waiting until they got an all clear from someone in the front of the building. Black smoke started billowing out of the broken window, causing the men to back up slightly. Kane looked to Luke, who was radioing to dispatch for a fire crew.

“We need everyone out of the rooms immediately. There’s smoke coming out of Parker’s room,” Luke said into the radio.