Page 23 of Daybreak

Cliff knew something serious had happened and grabbed Gunner by the shoulders, stopping his exit. “Bro, what’s going on?”

Gunner paused. “I had a wreck on the Loop. I’m going home to change clothes, drop my car off at a body shop, and rent a car until it’s fixed. Are you still going through security footage from the area of our hanging victim?”

“Uh… Yeah, I am,” Cliff said.

“I have some notes I’ll forward to you regarding the victim’s personal life. Barry Caldwell has no ex and no children. He and his twin brother, Perry, are co-owners in his business. Perry has a significant other named Ron Ames. Ames has a staggering amount of debt. Check both of them out. Barry Caldwell had a two-million-dollar life insurance policy with his twin as the beneficiary.”

“When did you figure all of this out?” Cliff said.

“When I took my laptop to the dealership yesterday to get my tires rotated and the oil changed,” Gunner said.

“Oh, right. Good work,” Cliff said.

Gunner nodded and let the door slam shut as he exited the department.

Chapter 5

Dixon was standing at the windows in his office overlooking downtown Dallas, going over his notes for the little speech for the new opening and memorizing the name of the manager so he could include him in the kudos, when he heard shouting in the hall outside his office and then his secretary screaming. He heard Whistler curse, but before Dixon could react, there was a hard thud against his door, and then it opened inward.

Whistler was unconscious and handcuffed on the floor, and his secretary was making a run for the ladies’ room. And an exceedingly tall man was walking over Whistler’s body with care, as if he was dodging dog shit.

“I’m calling the cops!” Dixon shouted and leaped toward his desk.

“Already here, you son of a bitch!” Gunner said and flashed his badge.

“Who the hell are you?” Dixon shouted.

“You know damn well who I am, and I’m here to tell you this crap stops now! You just put a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty on my head for nothing. You also killed an old man for nothing.”

Dixon bolted toward his desk, and Gunner pulled his weapon. “That’s not happening. You’re going to hear me out or I’ll shoot you where you stand. Sit down in that chair. Not behind your desk, and keep your hands where I can see them.”

Dixon was in shock. Kingston had laid Whistler out like it was nothing. He sat.

Gunner started talking. “The old man from the warehouse heard nothing. Knew nothing. He was fifty yards away on the second floor of a warehouse with no power. It was pitch black in there and pouring rain in the dark outside. He saw nothing but shadows. His only offense was taking shoes and socks off a dead man because he had a sore on his foot and needed new shoes. But you had him killed. I can’t prove it, but I know it. And you put a hit out on me because you think the old man told me something, and you’re all about tying up loose ends.”

Dixon blustered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Bullshit. I just sideswiped a hit man on a purple Yamaha about an hour ago and watched him skid sideways on the concrete for taking a pot shot at me on the Loop. He’s not dead, but he’s broken in enough places he’s not going anywhere, and according to him, the bounty on me has to do with tying up loose ends. I don’t have loose ends, you sorry shit, so that leaves you, and you screwed with the wrong man. My boss knows where I am. Anything happens to me, he’ll tell the FBI the last place I was headed. And I suspect by now, your dirty cop knows where I am, too. The whole Dallas Homicide Division knows where I am. Anything happens to me from this day forward…the cops are coming after you. Even if someone else is responsible, they’re coming after you. It is in your best interests to stop this now. The FBI knows about the hit and run, and I will be making a call to the Texas Attorney General’s Office about a bounty on my head. So, if someone takes me out now, your ass is grass. Call your dogs off now, or there won’t be enough left of you to bury. Do we understand each other?”

Dixon’s gut knotted. He had misjudged this man, and when the detective pointed a finger in his face and then turned his back and walked out, stopping long enough to remove Whistler’s cuffs, Dixon knew he’d met his match and then some. That son of a bitch wasn’t afraid to die, and he had to stop the landslide he’d started before it buried him under it.

* * *

Gunner was shaking inside when he got to his car. That bald bodyguard was the size of a bull, with a funky scar on his eyebrow that cut the eyebrow in half. He also knew that man was the kind who was going to hold a grudge for being decked, but that was for another time. Right now, he had to get somewhere fast until word got out that the bounty was off, and he needed to let Samuels know.

Lieutenant Samuels was gathering up some files for a meeting with the deputy chief when his phone rang. “This is Samuels.”

“This is Gunner.” Then he proceeded to tell him what took place and what he said to Dixon. “Bottom line, Boss, I’m still a target until the word gets out that the bounty has been voided.”

“What makes you think he’ll pull it?” Samuels said.

“Because he doesn’t want the Dallas PD, or the Feds, or the State Attorney General’s office in his business again, and I made it clear that there was now a target on him, as well. Anything happens to me, they’re coming for him.”

Samuels shook his head. “I hope it works, but I still want you off the streets and in your house for the next week.”

“I’m going one better, Boss. I’m going home. To Crossroads. You know how to contact me if you need to. Tell the team what happened and why I’m gone, but don’t tell them where I’m going. And it wouldn’t hurt to drop a hint about somebody leaking info.”

“Are you and Cliff on the outs?” Samuels asked.