Operation Unleashed

He envied the man that.

“Yes,” he said finally. “And Doug was all about the easy way. But Lyss still insists he was trying to get money to take care of them both when he was killed.”

“But you don’t believe that.”

“More likely he was trying to get enough money to run from the responsibility. He didn’t have it on him when he died, so I’ve always thought he didn’t want to get caught with it and it was stashed somewhere for him and his scumbag partner to retrieve later.”

“The partner that went to prison?”

Drew nodded. “Baird Oliver. That robbery wasn’t his first foray into crime.”

“And they never found the cash?”

Drew shook his head. “Wasn’t in the car when Doug crashed and Oliver didn’t have it on him, either.”

“So your brother’s motives are what you were fighting about?”

Drew sighed, looking again at Luke, glad simply to see the boy so happy. “More who he was. Or wasn’t.”

“And you each have your own version.”

“Yes,” Drew admitted. “But mine’s based in fact, hers is based in...fantasy. Some sort of dream image she’s always had of him.”

“Incompatible visions.”

“Exactly.” He let out a compressed breath. “We agreed early on to not discuss it, because it just degenerated into scenes like last week. Our marriage may be...just a business arrangement, but the fighting isn’t good for Luke. And he’s old enough now, he’s starting to ask difficult questions.”

Quinn studied him for a moment. “About his father?”

“Yes. I wanted to settle that as soon as he was old enough to understand, to tell him the truth, but Lyss kept putting it off.”

“Because she didn’t agree that what you wanted to tell him was the truth?” Quinn suggested.

“Probably,” Drew said with a glum expression. “I didn’t mind that she wanted him to know about Doug, he is his biological father. But she didn’t want him to hear anything negative, anything at all.”

“Which makes a dead man the perfect father. He can do no wrong.”

Drew’s breath stopped in his throat. He stared at Quinn. How many times had he thought just that, and then hated himself for it?

Quinn shrugged. “I tended to idealize my own father, after he died. And it took a while before my sister could get me to remember he hadn’t always been perfect.”

“She’s older?”

“A little.” Quinn grinned then. “Or a lot, sometimes. Our parents always said they had a wise, brilliant kid and a smart but stubborn one. I’ll let you guess which was which.”

Drew smiled, an odd enough occurrence while talking of his family situation that he was acutely aware of it.

“So what do you do about it?” Quinn asked.

“What can I do?” Drew answered wearily. “I kept hoping she’d eventually realize that what she thinks she knows isn’t the truth, but she’s determined to hang on to that idealized image.” He shook his head sharply. “But it’s not all her doing. I let her most of the time, because I just don’t want to fight that fight. I don’t want to fight with her at all.”

Quinn’s steady gaze sharpened, and Drew wondered if he’d let too much show. He wasn’t sure why he was talking so much to this guy he’d just met a week ago anyway. He never talked about all this to anyone.

“So, this is just a business arrangement,” Quinn said, not even making it a question.

“It took me two years to find them, after Doug was killed. When I did, Lyss was really sick. Exhaustion, pneumonia. They’d already taken Luke, put him in a foster home. She couldn’t take care of herself, let alone him. Getting married was the fastest way to get through it all.”

“You would have had claim on Luke by blood, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes. But he needed his mother, too. And she needed help. And—”

He cut himself off. This was insane. He wasn’t going to explain to this near-stranger why he’d done what he’d done. Let him think whatever he was going to think. He was regretting already that Foxworth knew as much as he did.

When did you start running off at the mouth? he asked himself sourly.

He should get Luke and Alyssa, and they should just go home. The fight was over, and Luke had scared them enough that he thought they might be able to avoid the heated exchanges in the future. It would be hard to pry the boy away from the dog he was having so much fun with, but—

Almost on the thought, the dog stopped mid-romp. He spun around on his hindquarters and stared at Drew. And then he bolted, straight toward them.

Cutter sat, not as Drew would have expected, at Quinn’s feet, but at his own. The animal stared up at him intently. No, more than intently. That gaze was intense, and seemingly impossible to look away from. Drew thought of tales he’d read as a boy, of sheepdogs who controlled their flock with just the power of their eyes, and cattle dogs who did the same. He’d always thought it a bit fanciful. Now he wasn’t so sure.

“Uh-oh.” Quinn’s voice was wry, almost wary sounding.

Drew lifted a brow at him. “Your dog trying to tell me something?”

“He’s expressing an opinion, yes.” Quinn crouched down beside the animal, who only flicked a glance at him. “We can’t, boy. We don’t do domestic. It’s not our place.”

Drew shifted his gaze from the dog back to the man, who had seemed perfectly sane moments ago. Yet now here he was, talking to a dog as if the animal could comprehend every word. We don’t do domestic... What the hell did that mean?

Cutter let out a low sound, not a growl but a sort of whuffing bark. It sounded oddly insistent.

“No, Cutter,” Quinn said.

The insistent bark came again just as Luke, clearly curious at the departure of his delightful companion, came up to them.

“Do you have to leave?” the boy asked, looking crestfallen.

“We should,” Quinn said, “but I’m not sure he’s going to let us.”

“Okay, this is crazy. He’s a dog,” Drew said.

“Sometimes,” Quinn said. “Sometimes I’m not sure what he is.”

“Quinn?”

Hayley’s voice came from behind him, and Drew turned to see the woman and Alyssa approaching. Lyss was smiling, and he was thankful to Hayley for that if nothing else.

“Do we have a...situation?” Hayley asked as they came to a halt. She was looking at the dog.

“It seems we do.”

Hayley frowned. “Did you tell him this was personal, not really our business?”

“I did. He’s not listening.”

“I think,” Drew muttered, “I’ve lost my mind. We need to get out of here.”

“And away from the crazy people who talk to a dog like he’s a person who can understand?” Hayley said.

Drew blinked. “I....”

“It’s okay,” Hayley said with a smile that was impossible to ignore. “We understand, believe me. It took us a long time to accept that...he really does understand. Not the words, perhaps, but he knows what’s going on.”

“Well, I don’t,” Alyssa said, watching this all with much more amusement on her face than anything else.

“He knows there’s a problem,” Hayley explained. “And it’s in his nature to want to fix it.”

“You mean to want us to fix it,” Quinn amended drily.

“Well, yes,” Hayley agreed with a laugh. “It is our function to figure out what he wants and try to do it.”

This time Drew and Alyssa were united. They both looked from the dog to his people in wary disbelief.

“You’re saying he wants to fix our problem?” Alyssa asked.

“He wants it fixed, yes,” Hayley said. “He likes people. He loves some. And he doesn’t tolerate fixable problems well.”

Drew looked back at the dog, who was still staring at him in that way that made him faintly uncomfortable. “Fixable?”

“Yes. But he thinks everything’s fixable. At least, he has so far.”

“I don’t think so,” Alyssa said. “Not this time. I’ve been trying for years.”

Drew’s gaze snapped to his wife. “What are you talking—”

“Let him try, Dad!” Luke said, sounding anxious, as if he thought a fight was about to start. “Please? Mom? Maybe he can help. He’s really smart.”

“This,” Drew muttered, “is ridiculous. We’re down the rabbit hole.”

“Luke, honey, why don’t you and Cutter go play a little more, because we will have to leave soon,” Alyssa said. “Let us talk to Quinn and Hayley.”

Luke hesitated as Cutter didn’t move. Hayley stroked the dog’s head. “Go ahead, boy. We’ll talk.”

The woof that came this time was much more pleased sounding. And Drew shook his head sharply at how willing even he seemed to be to assign human emotion to the dog. But the pair raced off to continue whatever boy-dog game they’d made up.

Alyssa watched her son go, then looked at Quinn. “Hayley told me what you do. What Foxworth does, I mean. And it sounds good, and noble, and all that. But there’s nothing you can do to fix us.”

Drew winced inwardly. She sounded so certain. Not that he thought this Foxworth outfit could fix them, but Lyss sounded so sure they couldn’t be fixed at all.

And she was probably right.

“Drew told me about his brother,” Quinn began.

“Oh, I’m sure he did,” Alyssa said, her voice fairly dripping with resentment.

“I only told him the truth,” Drew said.

Hayley stepped in before things escalated, saying calmly, “And Alyssa told me her side of things. Which I’m sure is very different.”

Drew stayed silent this time, reminding himself of his determination to never fight over this again.

“You each have your opinions, your interpretations of what happened, then,” Hayley said.

“I know what happened,” Drew said.

“You weren’t there—I was,” Alyssa pointed out.

“You weren’t with him when they robbed the place. Or when he crashed, thank God. And you never accepted the truth, even when the cops told you.” So much for his determination, Drew thought.

“The police didn’t know, either. They didn’t know Doug, not like I did. They assumed.”

“So,” Quinn said, “neither of you knows for sure what was in his head, you just have what you believe but can’t prove. And the two versions are not compatible. That about it?”

“I know,” Alyssa said stubbornly.

“And you can’t fix willful blindness,” Drew snapped.

And there they were, back to square one.

Quinn sighed. He looked at Hayley. “I’m not sure even Foxworth can fix this one. How do we prove what was in a dead man’s heart?”

“But Cutter...” she said.

“I know. He’s as determined as I’ve ever seen him.”

“We could look into it, couldn’t we?”

“Wait. You’re saying you’d go against your own policies because of a dog?” Drew asked, sounding as incredulous as he felt.

“Not just a dog. This dog,” Quinn said. At Drew’s look he chuckled. “Believe me, not so long ago I sounded just like you. But it’s hard to argue with the kind of stats this guy has piled up.”

“So, he’s never wrong, is that what you’re saying?”

“No. He just hasn’t been yet.”

Hayley cut in. “Maybe somebody, somebody not emotionally involved, might know something. If anybody can find somebody like that, Foxworth can.”

“Somebody without a dog in this fight, you mean?” Drew joked, unable to quite believe he was taking this discussion even semi-seriously. “This is crazy.”

“On that, I agree,” Alyssa said. “Dog aside, I don’t want anybody digging around in this. Luke’s been through enough. I’m not going to risk destroying his image of his father.”

Drew’s stomach knotted. Had she really said that? Did she even realize she had acknowledged the possibility that there even was a risk of that image—that illusion—being destroyed?

That quickly, Drew changed his mind. From what Quinn had said, Foxworth was big, had great resources, better people, and tremendous results. They also had time, time the police never had, and as Quinn had explained, once they took a case, they never gave up unless their client told them to.

It was almost dizzying how quickly he’d flipped, but Drew couldn’t deny the allure of this being settled once and for all. But he knew Alyssa would never voluntarily seek out truth that might contradict her image of Doug.

But if Foxworth could do it...

“—I appreciate the thought, but no,” Alyssa was saying.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Quinn said. “We’ve never really tried to pull Cutter back once he’s gotten his teeth into something, so to speak.”

“Maybe he’s right,” Drew said.

“What?” Alyssa’s head snapped around and she stared at him.

Careful, he cautioned himself. There’s only one way to get her to see reason. And in this case, it had the advantage of being true, and being the one thing that had made him sickest about this whole thing.

“Luke,” he said quietly.

“I told you, I won’t have him thinking his father was some common criminal who didn’t love him!”

“That’s not the reason to do it,” Drew said, keeping his voice low, even with an effort.

“Then what is?” she demanded.

“He doesn’t even have to know. I swear to you, even if I’m proved right, we don’t have to tell him.”

“Then what is it you’re after, Drew?”

“I’m after a way to clear the air between the parents he has now. Because a six-year-old talking about going away because he thinks it will make us happy is nothing to ignore.”

Alyssa opened her mouth. Shut it. And as if he could see it, he sensed the fight drain away. As always with her, Luke came first. And the truth of what he’d said was undeniable.

She looked over to the boy and the dog. Then back at him.

“How do I know you mean it, that you won’t tell him anything bad they might find?”

Again the admission. Drew’s hopes rose. He tried to quash them. It was too early, he couldn’t let himself think that way. “Have I ever broken my word to you?”

She looked unhappy about it, but she said, “No.”

“Then let them look. Maybe they won’t find anything, but maybe they will and we can put this behind us once and for all.”

“What if they find you’re wrong?”

He didn’t think that was going to happen. But if by some chance Foxworth found something that proved Doug was who she thought he was, at least with her, then he deserved better than he’d gotten from his big brother.

“Then I’ll join your chorus to Luke,” he said.

Something flashed in her eyes then, and he knew he’d won.

“Done,” she said.

And Drew wondered what on earth he’d gotten them into. All because of a dog.

Chapter 7

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Quinn muttered to the dog at his feet. Cutter looked up at him steadily.

“I believe that’s his ‘Of course I do. It’s you humans who are slow on the uptake,’ expression,” Hayley said cheerfully.

“We humans,” Quinn said, “are reluctant to handle familial dynamite.”

Hayley glanced over to where Drew and Alyssa were standing at the third-floor window, Drew holding Luke up so he could see the bald eagle sitting on the branch of a large maple amid the evergreens. The boy was babbling excitedly; he’d never seen one so close before.

“Maybe we should have Kayla and Dane talk to them about misguided brotherly love,” Quinn said, and Hayley looked at him to see that he’d followed the direction of her gaze. Hayley had no doubts that Kayla and Dane Burdette would be willing. They felt, as did most of Foxworth’s former clients, that they owed them whatever they might ask for.

“I get your point, but I’m not sure this situation is the same. Brother and brother, not brother and sister. It’s different, the relationship between brothers, isn’t it?”

“Probably. More competitive, maybe,” Quinn said. “So, you believe her version?”

“Let’s just say I don’t disbelieve anybody at this point.”

“But they can’t both be right.”

“I didn’t say right. I think they both see what they see, through their own filters. And the truth is probably somewhere in between.”

The eagle lifted off, having spotted something worth investigating. Luke shouted “Look, look!” as the majestic bird dove, then soared before disappearing to the west.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Hayley said, walking up to join the trio at the window.

“It’s a girl? How do you know?” Luke asked.

“The females are bigger,” she answered. “Her mate’s noticeably smaller.”

Luke glanced from her to Drew. Drew nodded. “They are.”

“That’s weird.”

“We’ll go to the library and find a book about them,” Alyssa said.

“Can’t we just go on the computer?”

“The pictures are better in a book, and you can look at it by yourself after we read it together. When you’re done with your schoolwork.”

Luke frowned. “We’re not learning about birds yet.”

“Then you’ll be ahead of everybody, won’t you?” Drew said.

Luke’s frown vanished. “Yeah!”

Hayley glanced at Quinn. Competitive was definitely the word with boys, she thought. He was grinning at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. And he probably did. The closer their wedding got, the more excited she was; the thought of sharing the rest of her life with this man was more than she’d ever dared hope for.

And all thanks to that furry rascal Cutter, who chose this moment to rise and come to her, as if he’d sensed her rising emotions. Unable to hold it all in for a moment, Hayley crouched beside the dog and hugged him fiercely.

“Thank you, my friend,” she whispered.

Cutter nuzzled her, whuffing softly. She felt the quick swipe of his tongue over her chin.

“Why are you thanking him?” Luke asked. Hayley looked up to see the boy looking at them curiously.

“Because he found Quinn for me,” she said.

“Oh.” Luke looked doubtfully up at the man beside her. “He did?”

“That he did,” Quinn confirmed.

“I thought you said he found people in trouble.”

“He does.”

Luke’s eyes widened as he looked at Quinn. “Were you in trouble?”

Even a six-year-old can see Quinn isn’t a man to find himself in trouble often, Hayley thought with an inward laugh.

“No,” Quinn said, “but I was definitely lost.”

Hayley felt her eyes sting at his heartfelt declaration. But Luke just nodded. “Oh,” the boy said, as if it all made sense now. As perhaps it did. “Can we go outside and play?” he asked, petting Cutter.

“Not while we’re inside,” Alyssa said quickly. “Maybe later.”

Luke looked crestfallen. “I wanted to look at the eagle tree.”

“If you’d be comfortable with it,” Quinn said, “I can have somebody out there with him, while we go over what we’ve found so far.”

Alyssa blinked. “What you’ve found? But we only agreed to this a couple of hours ago.”

“Foxworth works fast,” Hayley said. Quinn had called ahead to Tyler Hewitt, their tech genius, and gotten him started. By the time they’d arrived here at the Foxworth building, he’d already sent the basics. And one possibly very pertinent fact.

“So can we, please?” Luke asked.

“Liam will take good care of him,” Quinn said. “Heck, they’ll have fun. He’s an outdoor guy, a dog guy, a tech guy and our best tracker.”

Drew reacted to that with a small chuckle. “That’s quite a résumé.”

“A tracker?” Luke asked.

“Yep. He could follow a trail through the trees for miles, if pressed,” Quinn said. “He’s the one who found where our eagle’s nest is.”

Luke’s eyes widened. “Really? Could he show me?”

“That might be a bit too far for today. Why don’t you meet him, see how it goes?” Quinn leaned over to the boy. “I hear he also carries those little candy bars all the time,” he said in a loud whisper. Luke grinned.

Alyssa looked at Drew, who nodded. So however unusual their relationship was, she did accept his input when it came to Luke, Hayley thought.

Quinn took out his cell and buzzed the comlink. “Need you to watch out for our young friend and a certain dog outside for a bit.” There was a pause before Quinn laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure Cutter does need watching more than Luke.”

He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

“Cutter, take him down to Liam,” Quinn said, gesturing at Luke.

The dog was on his feet instantly. He walked a few steps forward, then stopped to look back at the boy. Luke looked at his mother.

“It’s all right,” she said, although Hayley thought she heard a bit of doubt yet.

“We’ll sit at the table by the window,” she said. “You’ll be able to see them.”

Alyssa let out a breath and nodded. “Thank you.”

With a whoop, Luke took off after the dog and they heard the clatter as the pair went down the stairs.

And now, Hayley thought as they went to the table she’d mentioned, to open that package of familial dynamite, as Quinn had put it.

* * *

“The first thing you need to know, if you don’t already,” Quinn said, “is that Baird Oliver is out.”

Alyssa’s breath caught audibly. Her gaze shot to Drew. He wasn’t sure what to say or how to say it. And in that moment of indecision, she got there.

“You knew!”

“Lyss—”

“You knew he was out?”

He sighed. “I’ve been tracking it, yes. I knew it was nearly time, so I started making calls. And found he’d already been let out, three months early.” His mouth twisted. “Nice, for a guy with a record pages long, everything from petty theft to assault with a deadly weapon.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I only found out for sure a little while ago. Just before this whole thing with Luke, and I didn’t want to upset you even more.”

“So you decided to keep me in the dark? When the career criminal who got Luke’s father killed is out?”

“I was going to tell you, just not then.”

“And the week since?”

Drew flicked a glance at the couple opposite them. It was awkward, but he didn’t see any way out of it. There was only one reason he hadn’t told her Doug’s partner in crime had been released and was now a free man.

“It’s been so...nice, I didn’t want to ruin it.”

Her eyes widened slightly. And to his surprise, she smiled. A warm, acknowledging smile.

It had been nice. They had both been so relieved that Luke was all right, so focused on the boy and his welfare, that things had been quite pleasant. Something he should remember, Drew told himself. All it really took to keep her happy was that Luke was happy. He had the feeling she’d be content living in a tiny apartment somewhere, on a tight budget, doing without, as long as her son was happy.

And the biggest thing she could probably do without was him.

But that smile...

“We’re trying to track him down,” Quinn said briskly, as if he was used to emotional moments like this occurring in his workplace. As, given the work Foxworth did, perhaps they did. “But since he served his entire sentence and isn’t on parole, that’s going to take a little time.”

“Because he doesn’t have to check in with anyone?” Alyssa asked.

Quinn nodded. “He’s free and clear.”

“Except for that matter of a felony record,” Drew said.

“Yes. But all I meant was that no one has any leverage.”

“I’m hoping,” Drew said, “that since it’s been three months, he either can’t find us or isn’t looking.”

Quinn’s gaze sharpened. Then he gave Drew a short nod of approval. “Glad to see I don’t need to explain that.”

“Wait,” Alyssa said. “You think he’ll come looking for us? Baird? Why?”

“I just think it’s better to be cautious,” Drew said.

“Always wise when dealing with a man with his kind of rap sheet,” Quinn said.

Alyssa watched Drew for a moment. “That’s why you had that alarm system put in this summer, isn’t it?”

“Partly,” he admitted.

She’d teased him then, about being paranoid. An alarm system seemed completely unnecessary on their quiet little street in their quiet little neighborhood in a quiet little town. But he’d simply said he wanted them safe when he was working long hours on a job, and he was having one installed at the office anyway for insurance reasons. Which was at least partially true. He didn’t see any point in reminding her that Doug’s co-felon would be released soon. And she’d looked over at Luke, busily drawing a picture of their hike the day before, and thanked him.