One Mile Under (32 page)

“No, no need to repeat a word of it, Tom. It’s all perfectly clear.” Hauck knew that Foley’s patience had been running thin. But revoking his partnership? Forcing him to come back. Tomorrow? Something surely had changed. “I guess how I’m reading it is, it was okay to go off and get myself shot up and my life threatened when it involved company business. But it’s not okay if there’s nothing to be gained.”

“I’m not exactly sure that’s quite how I would put it, Ty. I tend to think of it as doing the smart thing for your career and keeping that young niece of yours, or whatever she is, safe, which is where I might put my priorities right now.”

Hauck didn’t reply.

“I’m sorry it’s come to this, Ty. Is there any part of what I said you need me to go over?”

“No, Tom. I think everything’s perfectly clear.”

“Then I’ll look forward to your reply. Say by noon. Tomorrow. I know you’re two hours behind out there.”

“That’s awfully considerate of you, Tom.”

“If we don’t hear from you by then, we’ll consider our agreement void. Think long and hard on it tonight, son. I hope you make the right choice.”

After they hung up, Hauck sat there, his stomach hollow, his skin tingling, then sank back against the bench. The choice was to walk away from Alpha. His promise to Watkins and Dani. From making Robertson pay for what he’d done. Because he damn well knew that if he didn’t, no one else would lift a finger to. Or walk away from Talon. His career.

I hope you make the right choice, son.

He thought about how Kelli Watkins would feel.
They all leave. Or become part of them.

And Chuck Watkins, who’d just taken a bullet meant for Hauck.

He got up and went back to the bar. The group of gals had left. The bartender came up again. Hauck indicated another drink.

“The pretty brunette over there said they’d be at Justice Snow’s later if you wanted to come by. It’s a hot spot here in town.”

“Thanks.”

He sat back at the bar. His insides were buzzing like a tuning fork.
We’ve all met and we’re pretty united.
Hauck didn’t exactly have a graduate degree in corporate shrewdness.
What had changed?

Then it struck him. A shot to the belly at first; then it wormed up like something heated in his bloodstream until it was a throbbing in his head. He thought back to the first time Foley had called him out here. Or Brooke.

“
Take that young niece of yours or whatever she is and …
”

He was pretty sure he had never mentioned Dani. To either of them. All he’d said was that he was out here for a friend.

The bartender brought his drink and Hauck downed it in a couple of gulps.
What the hell did Foley know?

“You gonna join them over at Justice’s?” he asked. “Fun times.”

Hauck shook his head and motioned for a check. “Room service.”

He got the answer he was looking for just a few minutes later.

An NBA playoff game was on that he wasn’t paying much attention to, and he had just picked through a pretty fair burger. He was surfing around on his phone—answering an email from Vern Fitzpatrick, the head of the Greenwich police force, his old boss, who wanted to see him, and a couple of business-related things that he forwarded on to Brooke.

At the same time, going over his conversation with Foley.

If there was one thing he’d learned in the time he was on the boat, it was that what drove him wasn’t the money. Or the fame. Or power. He’d surely been on enough news shows.
I hope you make the right choice, son.
He thought back to a time when he was the happiest, and it somehow took him back to when he was working for the NYPD, on the fast track to detective, his whole career ahead of him, with Jessie and Rachel, his two young girls, his family whole and together, immune from harm.

He could never go back to that, of course.

He’d been happy when he was drifting around the Caribbean with Naomi, no plan or destination. But he knew that was more of a postponement than a life. And he knew he could never go back to that, either.

And he was happy when he went up against the Gstaad Group, a force much more powerful than himself, and whom no one had had the will or the courage to take down.

He had.

Or the other times in his life he’d stood up when no one else did.

And Hauck saw it now. Clearly. As if for the first time. Just who he was. Stripped of the high-arcing career and all the TV interviews and fleeting fame. Out here. In a place he had no connection to. Alone.

He saw that he felt most alive, most infused with purpose, when he went up against them.

Against those forces no one else would.

What he was doing here.

It wasn’t very complex. It wasn’t even remotely heroic, no matter what they said.

All he’d ever wanted to feel was the sense that he was doing some good.

He leaned back and watched some Indiana Pacer guard do a crazy-ass dunk on a fast break. His whole life wasn’t so much more than a big, transparent cliché.
There are those in the white hats and the black hats,
Jen Keeler had told him,
and don’t confuse the two.

He didn’t. He’d never confused them.

There was never much doubt about which hat he wore.

The game turned into a rout and there was nothing more he could occupy himself with online. He scrolled down Google News before calling it a night. He had to make up his mind about Foley’s ultimatum, but something told him that he already had, and that he had for a long time, weeks, while his soul and body mended. He just hadn’t admitted it to himself maybe. Until now.

Flicking through the headlines, something caught his eye.

Normally he might have breezed right by it, but a single word grabbed him, pretty much punched him, listed under Colorado Business news:

“RMM Agrees to Be Acquired by Oil Conglomerate.”

He opened the link. The oil and gas exploration company had agreed to be taken over. Jen Keeler had said they were in talks for this. Whatever they could pump out of the ground only improved the bottom line. And for that, they needed all the water they could get. The stock had jumped sixteen points that day.

But it was something else that caused Hauck to stop, that gave him the answer he was searching for, and changed the course this whole thing was heading in.

What’s changed, Tom?

In a way, it even made him chuckle with mock respect.

It explained Foley’s ultimatum. Why Talon’s board had gotten together. Why it was so urgent that he come back. Why it had to be done tonight.

It also explained how his boss knew about Dani.

The company acquiring RMM was Global Exploration.

Talon’s client.

So that’s how Foley was getting his information. And why it was all so important. Why it had to be acted on now. He needed Hauck out of the way. What Hauck was trying to do was only stirring up things up out here. Things that could screw the deal should they come out.

I’ve spoken with the executive committee. We’re united on it.

Bravo, Tom, you played your role to a T.
Hauck couldn’t help but give him a sardonic applause.

His phone sounded again. Hauck checked the screen.
Geoff Davies
. He pressed the answer button.

Dani.

“How’re you doing?” he answered.

“I guess all right. It’s all kind of like a dream, what happened today.”

“I know.”

“But I’m glad I’m here. With Geoff. You were right, I couldn’t have been alone. I just called to say thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Call any time, my rates are pretty fair.”

Dani laughed. Hauck was pleased to hear the lightness back in her voice again. Then she said, “I just wanted to say thank you for being there for me, Uncle Ty.”

“Hey, you were the one who made all the difference, Dani, not me.”

“I didn’t mean just for today … I meant, for coming out here in the first place. For just caring. I’ve been thinking, since my mom and dad split, the truth is, I haven’t had anyone in a while. Someone I could count on. That I trusted. My dad was always off somewhere. You know how busy he is with his work. Then Mom got sick, and it was more me taking care of her than anyone. There was Wade. But even back then I knew he was always out for himself. Plus he had Kyle, who got hurt and needed so much attention.”

“I understand.”

“No,” she said, “I don’t think you do fully understand. I always felt like I had to be so tough and independent of everything. And everyone. To prove I could handle whatever came at me. Maybe that’s why I stayed out here and why I do what I do, when everyone else is starting to put their lives together. And I kind of saw all that today … in that tank. I saw all I was, was just alone. And scared. Not scared to give up or to let people down. Scared to die. I just wanted to get out of that tank and live.”

“Anyone would have been just as scared, Dani. And wanted the same thing. Put me at the top of the list.”

“You’re never scared, Uncle Ty.”

“No,” Hauck said. “That’s not true.”

“What are you scared of?”

He had been to the edge many times. Scared of losing the people he loved. Scared of letting them down. Scared sometimes that the bastards would win. “Just things.”

“But there was one thing I had faith in,” Dani said, “the whole time I was in there. And in a way, that’s what kept me going.”

“What was that?”

“
You,
Uncle Ty. That you would be there for me. That if I could just hold on, you’d come. And you did.”

Hauck felt a wave of warmth travel through him. “Like I said, you were the one who led me to you, Dani.”

“Maybe. But there was something else I knew, and I just wanted you to know it. And it gave me a little peace when I wasn’t sure I would make it through.”

“And what was that?”

“I knew that you’d get them. I told them that. That one day, no matter what happened to me, you’d kill them for what they did to me.”

Hauck smiled inside. She could have been his own.

She said, “I was right about that, wasn’t I, Uncle Ty?”

“Yes.” Hauck drew in a breath and nodded to himself. “You were right.”

That was exactly what he was going to do.

Dani said, “I just wanted you to know that. All of it.”

“I’m glad we got to spend that time together, Dani. Though a part of me wishes we had just gone to see the hot springs.”

She laughed again. “So what are we going to do …?”

“
You’re
going to rest up and keep out of sight. That’s all.”

“And what about you? I thought tomorrow we could get together and have breakfast? And talk about what’s next.”

Hauck blew out a breath. “I’m afraid I’m not going to be here tomorrow, Dani. I was going to call you and let you know. I just hadn’t made my mind up until a while ago.”

There was a pause. It was filled with anticipation. “You’re heading back there, aren’t you?”

He didn’t reply.

“To Templeton,” she said.

He wasn’t sure what to say, or even how to explain it. Only that he didn’t want her to come along.

“Ty, I know you are.”

“I have to, Dani. There’s stuff to finish there. Stuff you don’t even know.”

“I’ll go with you,” she said quickly.

“You can’t.”

“I’m the one who got you into this. I’m—”

“It doesn’t matter how I got into it, Dani. I’m in, that’s all that matters. There’s nothing more you can do. None of this would have ever come out if it wasn’t for you. You put it all together. You saw through Wade. You knew Trey and you saw what was happening when few people would have. That’s your skill. But it’s time for my skills now. It’s just how things work out sometimes.”

“Do you even have a plan?” she asked.

“The makings of one,” he joked, trying to break the tension.

“I’m not sure the ‘makings’ of one is going to be enough this time.”

“I’m sure it’ll evolve, as it goes along.”

“Please don’t joke, Uncle Ty …” Hauck got the sense that she was crying. “I’m scared for you. I can’t help it. I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t lose me. But I need you to stay safe as well. I want you to stay out of sight with Geoff until you hear back from me. And don’t go out. I’m going to email you a number. It’s a friend in D.C. If you don’t hear back, you tell her everything. She can help. And please don’t let Wade know that you’re even here.”

“Okay.” He heard her sniffle again. “I don’t even know if I’ll see you again.”

“You will.”

“Promise me …”

Hauck drew in a breath. An honest one. “I can’t promise something I can’t keep, Dani.”

“You have to.”

Hauck closed his eyes and could almost feel the tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Promise me something else then?” She sniffed.

“Name it.”

“When you nail him, Robertson, remember to give him a knee to the balls for me. And Trey.”

Hauck laughed. He shut off the TV to get rest for tomorrow. “I’m not sure how that will all play out, Dani. But I give you my word I’ll sure try.”

Hauck’s first stop upon arriving back in Greeley was the Weld County district attorney’s office.

He asked for the DA, Littlejohn, but was told he was in Denver for the day. ADA Adams was around, but at the courthouse. He should be back in an hour. Hauck told the receptionist he’d wait.

He stepped outside. He took out his phone and dialed up Chuck Watkins. The farmer’s wife called him in from the fields. She told Hauck she’d tried to keep her husband resting, but he just kept insisting he was perfectly okay. Hauck was glad to hear he was back at work. After asking Watkins about his arm, Hauck asked him, “Did you have that conversation we spoke of with your friends?”

Watkins said he had.

“And are they back in?”

“Some. Maybe.”

“What about you?”

The farmer paused. “I guess between my land, my son, and a little dignity, there’s not a whole lot more left these bastards can take from me.”