Clumsily, Hodges dragged himself up. A damp scarlet blotch seeped out of his shirt. He clamped it with his hand. “You don’t have a fucking clue,” he said, coughing back a heavy laugh.
He winced. Stood there, waiting for Hauck to pull the trigger. Exhausted, Hauck could barely raise the gun.
“You’re dead! You don’t know it yet, but you’re dead.” Hodges glared at him. “You have no idea who you’re fucking with!”
Hunched over, he staggered out of the room. Hauck could do nothing to stop him. It took everything he had just to pull himself up, coughing air back into his obstructed air pipe, his clothes drenched in sweat. He lurched outside after Hodges, clutching his ribs. Everything had gone wrong. He heard the sound of Hodges’s truck starting up, spotted droplets of blood leading off the porch to the driveway.
“Hodges!” Hauck came down the steps and leveled his gun at the truck. It backed out of the driveway and sped off down the road. Hauck took aim at the rear tires, his finger pulsed. “Stop!” he called after him. Stop. He didn’t even hear his own voice.
But he just held there, watching the truck ramble down the road, his gun aimed into the retreating cloud of dust.
It took everything Hauck had to focus on a single thought.
That he was involved in something—something that had blown up in his face.
And that he was no longer representing anything. Not all the oaths, not the truth, not even Karen.
Only his own base desire to know where it led.
His side was on fire.
His neck was swollen twice its size. He could barely swallow.
Every time he breathed, his ribs ached like he’d been through ten rounds with a heavy weight. His chest was covered with a bright red welt.
He didn’t know what he had done.
He’d gone back in and grabbed the papers he’d copied out of the copier. Then he headed to his car.
As he drove back, Hauck’s first thoughts centered on Jessica—how lucky he was just to be alive.
Stupid, Ty, just plain stupid. He tried to size up the situation. Everything he’d done had been outside his jurisdiction. Breaking into Dietz’s house. Taking in his gun. Not informing the local authorities. And Hodges … he would live. But, Hauck realized, that wouldn’t be the half of it. Dietz would know—and so would whoever he worked for. This thing could explode. Of course, they had no way to know he was doing this on his own. Or, the thought calmed him slightly, that Karen was in any way involved.
That was the only fucking thing about any of this that was good.
It took him over three hours to drive back home. He got back in the early afternoon. He threw himself on his couch in exhaustion and examined his side, his head rolled back, trying to make sense of what he had done. He had broken laws. A shitload of them. He had put Karen in danger. The oaths he had taken in his life, to uphold the law, to do the right thing, they were all pretty much shattered now.
Hauck peeled off his bloodstained clothes and tossed them in a ball in the pantry. Just lifting his arms made him feel incredibly sore. The gash on his side had caked with blood, the skin torn where Hodges had slashed him. Bright red welts were all over his neck and chest. He looked in the mirror and winced. He didn’t know if he needed medical attention. His head was heavy. He just wanted to sleep. He felt alone. For the first time in his life, he didn’t know what to do.
He eased himself back onto the couch. There was just one person he could think of to call.
“Ty …?”
“Karen, listen, I need you,” he huffed. “Up here.” It was more of a plea than a statement. He caught his breath and sucked in air.
“Ty, are you all right?” Karen’s voice was alarmed. “I was worried. I tried calling you. You didn’t answer.”
“Karen, something happened…. Just come on up. Please.” In close to a daze, he told her where he lived.
“I’m on my way. You don’t sound good, Ty. You’re scaring me. Just tell me, is there anything you need?”
“Yeah.” He exhaled, his head falling back. “Disinfectant. And a whole lot of gauze.”
Hauck staggered to the door when he heard her knock. In a pair of gym shorts and a robe to conceal his wounds. He grinned, pale, his expression saying something like, I’m really sorry for getting you into this. Then he sort of leaned into her.
She looked at him, horrified. “What the hell’s happened, Ty?”
“I found Dietz’s place. I staked it out all night. I didn’t think anyone was there. This morning I went in.”
“He was there?”
“No.” Hauck took the bag of medical supplies he’d requested out of her hands—disinfectant, tape, and gauze. He stepped back over to the couch with a bit of a limp, eased himself down. “Hodges was, though.”
Her eyes screwed up. “Hodges?”
“He was the other witness at AJ Raymond’s hit-and-run. I guess they were in this together. Partners.”
“Together in what?”
That was when Karen’s gaze focused on the welts on Hauck’s neck, and she gasped. “My God, Ty, what have you done?” She drew back the collar of his terry robe, eyes wide, gently running her fingers across the bruised skin, inspecting the torn knuckles, aghast, carefully taking his hands in hers.
“This side’s worse.” Hauck shrugged, guiltily, letting his robe fall open to reveal the matted blood and tracks of torn flesh underneath his arm.
“Oh, my God!”
“It was all set up,” he said, trying to explain. “Abel Raymond. Lauer. Those accidents, they were hits. Dietz and Hodges killed them both. To cover it all up.”
“What!?” There was a pall of confusion on Karen’s face, but also something deeper—fear, knowing that somehow what he wasn’t totally divulging related back to her. That Charlie was involved.
“What happened to Hodges?” she asked, grabbing the disinfectant and ripping open the box of gauze.
His expression was stonelike. “Hodges was shot, Karen.”
“Shot?” She put the things back down, the color draining from her face. “Dead …?”
“No. At least I don’t think so.”
He told her everything. How he had gone inside the house figuring it was safe, and how Hodges came in, surprising him, in Dietz’s office. How they’d struggled, Hodges slashing him with the horn, clamping the iron poker across his neck, how Hauck thought he was dying. How he’d shot Hodges.
“Oh, my God, Ty …” Karen’s eyes were wide and empathetic. The consternation on her face had turned to real fear. “What did the police say? It has to be self-defense, right? He was trying to kill you, Ty.”
Hauck kept his gaze trained on her. “I didn’t call in the police, Karen.”
She blinked. “What …?”
“I had no right to be there, Karen. The whole thing was illegal from the start. I didn’t have a warrant. There isn’t an open case against them. I’m not even on goddamn duty, Karen.”
“Ty …” Karen’s hand shot to her mouth as she started to realize the situation. “You can’t just pretend