Page 46 of The Heat is On
“I called Buttles.” Darryl’s expression turned wretched, and Rio steeled himself against it. “I thought maybe he didn’t know, but…” He shook his head. “Aw, I’m stupid.”
“Yeah, man, you are.”
“He threatened my wife.”
And Rio really didn’t want to have any compassion for Darryl, but when he looked down into Darryl’s reddened eyes, Rio heard Skye’s voice in his head. Just enough not to push Darryl up against the tree with a hand to his neck.Desperation causes us to do stupid things.
Rio knew that kind of desperation. At least the kind that got people in over their heads.
Still—no excuse, and Darryl deserved to go to jail for a very long time.
Which meant that no, he wouldn’t see his son or daughter grow up. And shoot, but Rio got that.
He’d missed a year of his kid brother’s life.
And frankly, a whole lot more since he’d gone into undercover work.
“Where is your wife?”
“She lives in our A-frame, just a couple miles from here.”
Rio wanted to put his fist into the birch tree behind Darryl. He could probably do this—bring Darryl to his wife.
Because of Aggie.
“I just want to say goodbye. Tell her I love her.”
Rio’s jaw tightened, hearing Skye’s words in Darryl’s.
He should have told Skye how he felt.
The thought shook him right through to his bones. Because yeah, if love peeled back the darkness to find the sliver of hope and light inside…he was on his way to falling hard for Skye Doyle.
And it was enough to listen to the compassion she’d wanted to show Darryl.
“You swear to me that you will testify against Buttles. No going back on your word. Because if you do, man, I promise you—”
Darryl lifted his hands in protection, or maybe surrender. “Yeah, I do—I do—”
Sheesh. He’d really taken a blow to the head. Rio grabbed the man by the collar. “C’mon.”
They started down the path—the only way he could think to go, because it had to lead somewhere, given the wide, Forest Service maintained trail. The path was well trod, shaggy trees cut back, wood chips dropped on soggy soil. The river faded out, leaving only their footfalls against the packed loam.
Rio let go of Darryl.
His head throbbed, a hammer slamming into his frontal cortex. Yeah, he probably had a concussion, but he couldn’t stop now.
He kept Darryl in front of him, in reach of his hand.
“Sorry I gave you up to March,” Darryl said, maybe as a peace offering.
“How did you know?”
“I wasn’t sure until you stood up for that kid in the chow hall. There’s something about you. You’re not like…well, I thought you were a crow until you actually took a beating for him. Then, I couldn’t figure why the superintendent sent me out here—I’m not the guy for the job. But I’m not stupid, either, and when you showed up, I started to wonder if maybe she sentyouout here. For your own good.”
Rio nodded. Oh, that was a bad idea.
“Which left me connecting the fact the feds kept offering me protection if I ratted out Buttles. And I figured that if they’d actually transferred me to Copper County to be near my wife, what else would they do to keep me safe? And then I remembered how you told me you were watching my back.”