Page 1 of Daniel Watson
Prologue
Daniel looked over the paperwork again. Caleb Anderson was making too many waves for him to ignore. He was going to have to go and see what the man wanted, and soon, before he took too many more steps into finding him. He had a delicate balance right now and was afraid that someone other than him would get hurt. He didn’t want it to be Caleb or the other men that he’d claimed as family.
“Danny, what do you know about a house explosion on Dewy Street?” He said that he hadn’t heard anything. “House and two victims destroyed. The only thing that they do know for sure is that the neighbors, about three miles away, said they smelled gas. Would they be able to smell it from that far?”
“I suppose so.” He put his paperwork back in his drawer and turned to the kid who was supposed to be his assistant. The only thing he’d been able to assist him with was a migraine from hell and annoying the fuck out of him. “Have you sent anyone out there yet? To see if it’s true or not?”
“I should do that, huh?” Daniel didn’t bother telling him that he should have sent someone the moment he heard the rumor. “I’ll send out a crew.”
“You do that, moron.” As he was picking up his paperwork again, putting all his things into his briefcase, Daniel was sort of sad that this was going to be his last day. Doing undercover work for the Bureau was fun most of the time, but he’d learned a great deal about small-town news organizations by being here for the last four months.
Sending off his report, he was putting his things in his car when he saw the firetruck race by him. Must have been true, he thought as it was headed toward the little street that had been mentioned. Pulling out into the little bit of traffic, he was nearly into the street when a full-sized white van pulled in front of him. Putting his hand on his weapon, he waited to see what was going on.
“Doctor Watson, I presume.” The man laughed, and Daniel rolled his eyes. He said that he’d been wanting to say that for months. “I have a male in here that is in need of your help.”
“What sort of help?” He was getting into the van’s back doors when someone got out on the other side and got into his car. A medical team of two was in the van with the man, and he could see that he’d been shot. “Do we have a place to work from?”
“Yeah, we’re headed there now. Hang on.” He did. Knowing this particular driver as being a full-on idiot, he watched as the man’s blood pressure was being taken. Then, when they were stopping at what he assumed was a stop light, he had a chance to look at the wound and assess it. “Four minutes.”
In less time than that, he was cutting the man open and removing the bullet. While he was being stitched up by the med team, he gave the man something for infection and pain after ascertaining that he’d not been provided either in the few minutes that he’d been in the van. Christ, this kid must be important if—
“Cassie? Cassie? Christ, she’s bleeding too.” They were in front of the house when she was scooped up and taken inside. The man would be taken care of as well, but he needed to see what he could do for the young woman. The bullet had entered her left shoulder and was still in there. Whoever had shot this couple, they had missed the spot twice. Hell was going to be paid. He’d bet anything.
It took him nearly an hour to get the woman to the point where he didn’t think she was going to die. It had been touch and go there for a little bit. She had coded twice. Opening her chest up in a strange house without any precautions was the only thing he could do, as it turned out. The bullet had nicked her aortic artery, and she was bleeding internally. Lucky for her and him, the house had the equipment to keep her alive.
Sitting next to the two people, he didn’t bother asking who they were. If they had wanted him to know, they would have told him by now. Instead, he looked over the paperwork that he’d brought with him when he’d gotten into the van.
“Did you find any misdealings there?” His boss, FBI Director Charles Dow, sat down next to him in another chair. “Not that I don’t think it could happen, but the town is just too…I don’t know, Disney-like for there to be foul play there.”
“You’d think that, wouldn’t you. But no, I didn’t find that any of the allegations were true. The newspaper is above reproach, and they have a good community thing going on, too. It’s just like you said, very Disney-like.” Daniel got up and checked on the female. “I don’t know that you’re going to tell me anything, but these two were from there, right? Her clothing had a real-estate name on them, and he was dressed like you. What gives, if I can ask?”
“She is Cassie, Cassandra Blake. FBI. You might have heard about her when her husband was murdered right in front of her. Then the man is her brother, Bradley Benson. He does work for us, too.” He asked if she was the one who had had the nervous breakdown. “That’s her. She’s been working for us under the guise of video surveillance for the realtor by the name of Alder. I’m not sure how much either of them knows about what happened today, but they were leaving a job when someone opened fire on the two of them. As you were able to figure out, she’d not known that she’d been shot until she was in the van. They’re tight, the two of them.”
“Okay, that explains who they are, but what are they? I’m assuming since everything moved so quickly that they’re important in some way.” He only nodded. “Okay, closed-mouthed. I’m all right with that. It was my last day at the newspaper office anyway. Can you at least tell me where I’m headed next?”
“Yes. You’re not going to like it.” He looked at the people in the beds and then back at his boss. “I need someone to watch over them until they’re healed enough to take care of themselves. And I have the perfect spot for you to do it. You get to meet up with your long-lost family, too.”
“Caleb Anderson.” Charles nodded. “Why him? I mean, there has to be a better place than a family member’s home? Don’t you have any safe houses that I could stay at with them? I mean, I’m not even sure that the two of us are related.”
“You are. You’re his half-brother.” He took the paperwork that was being held out to him. “You remember his mother, don’t you? Abigail Anderson?”
“Yes.” He did, too. Abby had been a good friend of his when— “She’s his mother? Caleb is related to Abby Anderson? Christ, now I know why he’s like this, not leaving shit alone when he couldn’t find me. He’s just like her.”
“Thank you.” The large man came into the room with him. There was no mistaking that they were related. When Caleb sat down, he looked at Charles. “He called me early last week when he found out that I’ve been looking for you. I had to pull a few strings to even get as much information that I had on you to come through. Then, about two hours ago, he called me again and told me that not only were you in town but that you needed me to help you. Welcome to the family, Daniel. We’ve all been waiting for you.”
“Do you have any idea what we’re doing here? Why I’ve been trying to avoid you? I’m an undercover FBI agent who is about as close to death as anyone gets on a daily basis and who works with bad people. I could very well get your entire family killed.” Caleb told him that they were his family, too. “Look, this is a bad idea. I don’t know these two people here, but they’ve been targeted to be killed, and the kind of people that do that sort of shit in broad daylight won’t give a shit if you have six or six hundred people protecting you. They’ll plow through you like you’re nothing.” Charles got up and left them there. It was then that he looked at his half-brother when he laughed.
“We have help.” Daniel got up and started to pace. “My mother, she knew about you. I found some information about you that I didn’t with the rest of them. Just notes on things. How you became so good at your job. She said that you have an ability that no one knows about.”
Daniel stopped pacing and turned to look at the other man. Then he looked around to see if anyone had heard. While he knew that the room was being recorded, it wouldn’t get shit while he was there. Not any mikes, cameras, or cell phones would work. It’s why he didn’t carry one. Nor wear a watch.
“What did she tell you? I’ve not seen her in a long time. How is she doing?” Caleb told him that she had passed away seven months ago from cancer. “Oh, I’m so sorry. She was a brilliant woman and one that I loved more than my own mother at times. I didn’t know. I had no way of—You have my deepest condolences, Caleb. She was a wonderful woman.”
“She was. And she made me promise that I’d find all my brothers. You were the last one.” Caleb laughed. “You’d not believe the shit that we’ve gone through with each of them. Sebastian was the last to join us before you had a mobster after him. Whatever we need to do, Daniel, to keep you safe, we’re going to get through it. I promise.”
He didn’t bother telling him that it wasn’t good to make promises like that when he didn’t know what was going on. It was like the brother and sister that he was watching over now. Who knew what sort of shit was going to come about with having them around too.
“It’s going to be hell. I hope you understand that.” Caleb said that he’d been told it was going to be the worst yet. “That’s about as accurate as it can get. I’ve been in and out of places that would make your hair turn white, as the saying goes.”