Page 46 of The Veteran

“If they come back, make sure they know she’s protected,” I ordered.

“If they come back, I’ll be greeting them with a shotgun,” Dan grumbled. “They caught me off guard last time, but it won’t happen again.” He hobbled to Sage and kissed her cheek. “Take care of yourself, and give me a call to let me know you’re still alive.”

She pressed her lips together and, for the first time today, tears shone in her eyes. “I will. Thanks, Dan.”

“Anytime, kid.”

We left the back room and rounded the bar.

“Wait a sec,” Dan called. He scribbled something on a piece of paper and stuffed it into Sage’s hand. “Take this.”

She smiled and nodded. When we were back outside, she unscrunched the paper. I shifted closer so we could both see what it said. All the note contained was a name, Mick Trembley, and an address.

“Good old Dan,” Sage said. “Should we go there now?”

“Might as well.” If this Mick guy had been close to Sage’s father, perhaps he’d have the answers we needed. “Let’s go.”

I ushered her into the car and plugged the address into the GPS, then followed the directions to a rundown apartment block with barred windows on the first floor. It wasn’t the sort of place I’d want to take Sage into under any circumstances, let alone when a pair of killers were hunting her, but the determination in her eyes told me there was no point trying to stop her, so I got out of the car and rested one hand lightly on the butt of my gun.

“Let’s get this over with.”

SAGE

As Kade and I climbed a short flight of stairs to the first floor, where Mick supposedly lived, something from our conversation with Dan niggled at the back of my mind. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was—a word he’d used or a phrase that had triggered a memory—but I knew it was important. I tried to grasp at the trailing thought and follow it, but couldn’t get anywhere. Perhaps I could meditate on it later and see what came up.

Kade stopped outside an apartment. “It’s this one.”

He rapped on the door and positioned himself protectively beside me. I heard scuffing inside, then the rattle of a chain in a lock. Eventually, the door opened and a pair of rheumy eyes looked into mine. My stomach dropped. Mick had never been the picture of health, having smoked like a chimney and drunk like a duck, but I’d never seen him as such an empty husk of a human being as he looked now. His eyes were blank, his skin sallow and creased, and he was clearly having trouble recognizing me.

“It’s Sage,” I told him. “Sage Nichols.”

His expression brightened. “Brendan’s girl. You’ve grown so much, I couldn’t tell who you were.”

“It’s been a while.” I hadn’t seen him since Dad’s funeral.

“So it has.” He made no move to ask us in, and I shifted from one foot to the other, wondering how to wrangle an invitation.

“Can we come in?” Kade said bluntly. I winced. Mick had never responded well to people being pushy with him.

Mick’s bushy eyebrows lowered and he made a phlegmy sound in the back of his throat. “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t want you in my home.” He waved a hand at me. “She can come in. You can stay there.”

Kade stiffened, and I guessed he was thinking how easily something could happen to me if I was out of his sight.

Before he could refuse and risk alienating Mick, I decided to suggest an alternative. “How about you wait in the doorway, Kade, and I’ll step inside with Mick?”

His expression darkened. “I don’t like it.”

“I’ll stay near to you,” I promised. “It might be safer than standing in the corridor anyway.”

He grimaced but I could tell he could see the sense in what I’d said. “Okay, but if I get the slightest sense something is off, we’re out of here.”

I mock saluted him. “Yes, sir.”

Mick rolled his eyes and shuffled backward. “Come on. I got better things to do than get glared at by your boyfriend.”

I started to say he wasn’t my boyfriend, but then stopped. Maybe he was. We hadn’t had a conversation about our relationship, but I didn’t have sex with people lightly. I had no problem with anyone who did, but it wasn’t my thing. My heart told me he was the same, and that what we’d shared meant something. I glanced at his scowly face and saw his eyes soften as they landed on me. My tummy flipped over. Yeah, this was something worth holding on to.

I perched on the edge of a saggy armchair just inside the door and waited while Mick grabbed a half-empty bottle of beer and collapsed onto the sofa. As he scratched the back of his head, I noticed track marks down the inside of his arm and my stomach sunk even more. Many of them were old, but some were clearly fresh. He saw where I was looking and dropped his arm to his side.