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“Thanks,” Wolf said, and without hesitation, the switches were made.
One chopper headed north to Jubilee. The other chopper headed south to Miami International, where Wolf’s private jet and his pilot, Toby West, were waiting.
Jubilee, Kentucky-Same Day
The writing was on the wall.
Sean Pope was the last of Shirley Pope’s four sons still living at home, and he had no plans or reason to leave. He didn’t like the idea of their mother living up on the mountain alone, and since his work was all online or traveling to locations, a home office was his best bet. Although he was an IT specialist, he had recently branched his business into tech and security installations, which kept him even busier.
His older brother, Aaron, was married and working asan officer with the Jubilee police force, and living with his wife, Dani, in Jubilee.
His youngest brother, B.J., had graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, in New York City, and was working as a sous-chef in a major restaurant.
Wiley, the brother just younger than him, had already moved into an apartment in town, after switching jobs from a security guard at the Reagan Bullard venue in Jubilee to working alongside his brother on the police force.
Sean had long ago accepted the limits of his personal freedom. Aaron had a wife. Wiley had three girlfriends on speed dial, and at the moment, B.J. was in love with his job.
At twenty-seven, Sean had already gone through the dating circus before they moved back to Kentucky. Random dating had long since lost its magic. Sometimes he still dreamed of Molly, the first girl he ever loved. But nobody had taken the relationship seriously, except the nine-year-old boy and girl they had been. He lost her when they moved away, putting an end to what might have been.
He would have liked to have someone special, but he wasn’t good at meeting new people. Too many years of working on his own had turned him into something of a loner, and after the trauma their father had caused in their lives, also leery of commitments.
Work was taking him into Jubilee this morning to meet a woman who was opening a new office. He had no idea of her age or what she looked like, and it didn’tmatter. He knew she was a CPA, and she needed security and a new office system set up.
She’d informed him that all of the office furniture had arrived, the technology had been delivered, and she needed it to be in working order before she could open the office. Compared to what he dealt with in tech support, this was a piece of cake. He just hoped she wasn’t the hovering kind. He worked best alone, and he had dressed for work and the weather—faded Levis, a gray long-sleeved sweatshirt, and boots.
His equipment was loaded in his work van, so there was nothing left to do now but eat breakfast before he headed down the mountain, and he followed the aroma of fresh coffee all the way to the kitchen.
His mother, Shirley Pope, was taking a pan of hot biscuits from the oven when he entered the kitchen.
“Mornin’, Mom. Something smells good,” he said.
“I know you’re in a hurry, but everything is done,” Shirley said.
“I’m never in too big a hurry to miss your biscuits,” he said, grabbed a plate from the cabinet and filled his plate from the pans on the stove.
Shirley poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down with him. “Oh, FYI, Aaron and Dani will be here for supper tonight. Not sure about Wiley. He probably has a date, but he was invited.”
“Okay,” Sean said, as he buttered a couple of biscuits, then dug into the scrambled eggs and bacon on his plate.
Shirley eyed the faraway look on his face and knewthere was something on his mind. Sean was her second born and looked the most like her father, who’d been Pope to the core. Black hair, a slight olive cast to his skin, eyes so dark it was hard to see the pupils, and like all of her sons, well over six feet tall.
“Where’s the job at this morning?” she asked.
“A new CPA is opening an office in the business center next to the bank. I’m setting up security and her network of computers and printers. I’m supposed to meet her at nine a.m.”
‘What’s she like?” Shirley asked.
He shrugged. “I have no idea. Never met her. So far, my only contact with her has been by phone and online.”
Shirley pushed the jar of strawberry preserves a little closer to his plate, and watched as he put some on half of a biscuit and ate it in two bites.
“Are you going to be okay here on your own today? I have no idea how long I’ll be gone,” he said.
Shirley sighed.So that’s what was bothering him.
She laughed. “Of course, I’ll be okay. I’m not old yet, buddy boy. Remember, I started having babies while I was still in my teens.”
He just nodded and let it slide, but he still had nightmares of finding her unconscious and bleeding on their kitchen floor, and his father nowhere in sight. Then the long frightening hours that ensued afterward, not knowing if she would live, and months of the public humiliation that came afterward when their father went to prison for murder. Leaving Arkansas and coming home to theCumberland Mountains had been their saving grace. Sean and his brothers were overprotective of her now, but with good reason. Her life had not been easy, but she’d kept them safe, and their allegiance to her was strong.
