Sin (The Waite Family) (36 page)

“What
?
” he asked as he stayed on the ride.

“Cain said the man…Shipley
,
Sin calls him, Cain said he sounded winded. He
thought
maybe he should have been in better shape just getting out of the service and all.
Sin certainly is wouldn’t
—
Where the hell are you going?”

Payton shoved Connor into her arms and took off
down
t
he hall back toward the elevators.

“I’m going to kick Sydney’s ass then marry her.”
Payton thought he heard Alyssa shout back
“
about time
,”
but wasn’t sure.
He pulled out his cell and called his mom’s room.

“Sydney’s in trouble and I have to find her. Then I’m going to marry her whether she wants to or not.”

“Well of course you
are
,” him mom answered.
“
But Payton, I’m not so sure I would point out to her that you believe she’
s
in trouble until
you’re
sure she is.
I do believe she would have no problems making you very aware of just how
capable
she really is.”

Payton agreed.
“I’m sorry
,
M
om.
We had…
She and I…
We…”

“Darling
,
whatever it is you’re trying hard not to say
,
I understand.
You had a spat and now she needs you.
I’ll be waiting with your grandma’s ring when the two of you get back.
Alyssa has offered me the use of her very lovely home while I’m here.”
She lowered her voice as she continued.
“Did you know that Alyssa is Nathan Howard’s daughter?”

“Yes, ma’am. And so you know
,
I’m going to be living here from now on too.
Sydney and her family are close and I want her to be happy.”

They talked until he got to his car
before they hung up.
Then he called someone he was sure could help them.
“Colonel Patterson?
I
t
’s Payton Cooperider. How do I get in touch with Roger Shipley?”

~Chapter
20
~

Roger looked down at his chest.
Blood stained it completely
. E
ven the tops of his pants were soaked through.
He knew it was only a matter of time, minutes really
,
before he was dead.
But he needed to wait for Sydney.
He needed to talk to her, tell her what he’d found out.

“Boy, if we ain’t a fucking pair,” the voice deeper in the building said.

Shipley didn’t bother answering him. He wasn’t sure he had the strength anyway.
Coughing again
,
he watched blood pour from chest wound.

“I’m gonna enjoy killing you
,
Shipley.
And the fat bonus because I do it is gonna go a long way to setting me up real nice like.
Plus
,
you should know I’m gonna kill that bitch too.
General Magellan is going to come out of his retirement just to see the bitch shot in front of a firing squad for that stupid trick she played on him about the brassieres.
He said once she’s out of the picture he’s gonna press the president into how it’s not safe for women in the line of combat.”

Shipley looked down at the recorder on his leg.
Still running.
H
e
’d never been so happy for a door prize winnings in his life.

He’d walked into a new Dollar General
,
going in for some soap and some other personals
,
when he’d been deemed the one hundredth customer since they opened.
He’d won the tiny digital recorder
and a
one hundred dollar gift c
ard.

“Shipley?
You still breathing?”

Barnes, Dale Barnes
,
had been the one who had betrayed his country, his comrades
,
and his commanding officer.
All for a bit of money.

“Yeah, still kicking.” But for how much longer
?
he wondered.
Shipley didn’t think much.
He was fading out quicker now and staying under a lot longer according to the timer on the recorder
.
“How’s your wound doing?
Capt got you pretty good, huh?”

“Fucking whore.
I’m gonna enjoy killing that bitch.
If she hadn’t shot me I’d be
sitting
on a plane to
Belize
right now.
They got no taxes down that ‘a way.”

Shipley heard it. It was slight
,
barely
audi
ble,
but he was close to the door.
He tuned out the rest of what Barnes was saying to try and focus on staying
conscious
until she arrived.

Shipley wasn’t sure why he knew it was Sydney
,
but he was.
He’d called her about ten minutes ago, just after he’d been shot the second time, the one to his chest.
He’d been stupid not bringing her along with him to go after Barnes.
But Shipley had wanted to be her hero. To be the one to save the day. He loved her very much, loved her like the daughter he’d never had.

He knew Barnes was the one who had betrayed them. He’d found it out the third week he’d been working his way up the chain of command to get closer to Wickett.
He’d been going up the sidewalk toward Wickett’s house when he and Barnes had been coming out.
Shipley had just enough time to duck behind another car before either man had looked his way.

After Wickett had gone to bed later that night Shipley had broken into his house and found
a file on Barnes and him
,
plus a great deal more information about a few others.
Shipley had turned everything over to Patterson except for the file on Barnes a few weeks later.
He kept that one for himself.
He’d made copies of them all
,
including the one on Detective Cooperider
,
anyway.

Closing his eyes
,
he thought about the last several hours. He’d watched the cops fumble around for twenty minutes after the
shooting
in the lot.
Two of them had actually stepped in blood.
But Shipley had seen enough sniper shots to kn
o
w how to trace a shot back to the
source
.
He found what he’d been looking for on top of some accounting place five minutes after he saw the Capt being ushered none to
o
gentle like to a car and driven away. He didn’t worry about her
. S
he wouldn’t have gone anywhere she didn’t want to.

After he’d found the
building
where the shot had come from, he simply traced the blood back through the building and to the street. The blood wasn’t much of a trail
,
but every
time Barnes had had to
stop
he’d leave a bigger pool of himself behind.
By the time Shipley got to the Donnelly building
three blocks away he knew Barnes was in trouble.

Shipley might have killed Barnes right off except
,
in his arrogance
,
he’d assumed that Barnes would be a bit closer to death than he’d been and had gotten the jump on him.
Shipley had shot at Barnes
,
but wasn’t all that sure he’d hit him. Barnes
,
ho
wever
,
shot Shipley in the chest and arm
,
dropping him near the door.

When something touched his leg Shipley didn’t even have the strength to raise his gun. It was just as well
;
he might have shot Sydney if he had.
As it was all he could do was smile at her.

They had worked together for the better part of seven years.
And had been on plenty of missions together where communicating verbally would get someone killed
and they so didn’t want to get killed
.
So they had developed their own type of sign language.
Now he was nearly too weak to work them out
,
but she seemed to understand him.
From the look on her face he’d say she understood a great deal more than he was telling her.
She knew he was as close to death as his next breath.

“You still breathing,
sa
rge
?” The question from Barnes startled them both.
“
Anytime you wanna quit is fine by me.”

Shipley grabbed Sydney’s arm when she started to move.
“I got too much life in me just yet,” he said loud enough for Barnes to hear
,
but he looked
directly
at Sydney.
“I got plenty more to say to you.”

When she nodded he laid back
,
spent.
He had to hang on for her. He had to tell her what he’d found. Information she needed.

~~~

Sydney moved into the shadows of the vacant building. She needed a minute so
she
leaned heavily back against the wall as she thought about Shipley.

He was as good as dead.
And he knew it too.
She wanted to demand that he let her call a squad
,
but knew he’d refuse. She also knew that
,
like her
,
he didn’t want any heroics done to save him and
,
by God, she’d make sure he didn’t get any.