Page 57 of Ghost
The tracker on their wrist pinged asthe growls started. The Doberman came inching in through the opendoorway, baring his sharp teeth.
“Finally, I get some useout of this dumb dog,” Berry chuckled before ordering. “Attackthose fuckers.”
“I don’t think so,” Ghostappeared, holding the dog’s collar. “Get him, boy.”
“What the fuck?” Berryyelled.
The dog charged, but it wasn’t at theteam. Instead, it lunged forward and latched onto Berry’s arm. Helet go of Jake in the ensuing scuffle to get the dog off him. Ashot rang out, and the dog yelped before falling. Berry raised hisgun at Ghost.
The team let loose, sending Berryflying back as bullets tore into his body. When the smoke cleared,Ghost held the dog in his arms on the floor.
“We have to help him,” hesaid.
Ray rushed over to have a look at thedog’s wounds. There was one bullet wound to its right haunch.Fletcher came forward with bandages and began wrapping thewound.
“He’ll be okay, Ghost,” Raysaid.
“Promise?”
“Promise. It looks likeit’s strictly a muscle injury, with no organs or internal bleeding.He’ll walk with a limp, but that should be about all.”
“He’s a hero,” Ghostsaid.
Ray looked at his lover and cupped theside of his face. “You’re a hero, babe.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ghost
Their cottage was beginning to takeshape, and Ghost’s happiness meter rose with every plank of woodinstalled. It had been almost two weeks since Berry was taken downand a lot had happened in that time.
Ray had left his position in Seattleto work with the Fire Lake team. He and Ghost were building theirown cottage beside the other cottages containing team memberfamilies on the lake house property. This was a family, his family,and he’d never ask for more.
“Ghost, can we throw theball?” Sammie, Julia’s son, asked.
He and Ben, Gunner’s nephew andJason’s son, Freddie, Frank, and Amy, child survivors rescued fromthe Noah Group, were playing in the yard with Gracie, Kyle’s goldenretriever, and Hero, Ghost’s new Doberman he’d brought home withhim from Berry’s house.
“Sure, here you go,” Ghostsaid, handing over the yellow tennis ball.
Both dogs’ ears perked up, and theireyes followed the ball until Sammie threw it across the yard.Gracie raced forward, and Hero limped after her, his tail wagging.Gracie reached the ball first and grabbed it in her mouth. When sheturned, she walked up to Hero and dropped the ball in front of theinjured dog. Hero happily took it and chewed on it happily. Hehadn’t figured out that he had to bring it back yet.
“We need to teach Hero howto play fetch,” Freddie said.
“Yeah, you will. I don’tthink he’s had much time to play fetch before, but he’ll learn,”Ghost said, and the kids ran off to play.
It had been quite the mess to clean uponce all the shooting had stopped. Thankfully, with Elias being thesheriff along with Brick’s contacts, their story about how Jake,their key witness in the murder of the old veterinarian, Mr. Cross,had been abducted at gunpoint shortly after being released wasenough to explain why they’d followed the kidnapper out to JoeBerry’s farm. Of course, the fact Brick and his team played a majorrole was downplayed, leaving the sheriff, Detective Sommers, andthe deputies as the ones saving the day. Records found at JoeBerry’s spelled out the plan the bastard had for the town and thekey players.
Stryker’s truck pulled in. He and Johnhad been away most of the morning to finish signing all thepaperwork at the lawyer’s office. After it was determined Strykerwas indeed Sophia’s and Jericho’s grandson and records indicatedthat Sophia gave birth to a baby boy, all Miles’s land was returnedto their only living blood relative, Stryker. One hell of a turn ofevents.
Stryker’s father had been adopted by acouple in Florida and never left the state. That’s where Stryker’smom met him on spring break, and their love affair turned intoStryker. Unfortunately, his father had passed away from prostatecancer over fifteen years prior, and no one was sure he even knewhe had a son.
As far as Jericho’s death wasconcerned, it was discovered Father Henry Jones had been the priestat The Florence Crittenton Homes for unwed pregnant women whenSophia was there. They had become friends, and the priest supportedher while she went through her pregnancy and the eventual adoptionof her son. They reconnected as friends when he took over thecongregation in Marshall.
By all indications, Jericho sufferedfrom serious PTSD and, left untreated, became a violent drunk,often reliving events that took place in the war, though he wasback in Marshall. Ghost couldn’t imagine how hard it must have beenon Sophia to have the man she loved back but not truly the same manand knowing she’d been forced to give up their child while theywere away.
As Julia was rifling through the lastof the boxes, she found an old notebook that belonged to Ray’sgrandfather, the sheriff at the time of Jericho’s death. Hishandwritten notes on the events of that evening stated that Jerichohad become incensed by Sophia’s close relationship with FatherJones, likely not knowing the truth of why they had such a strongfriendship due to him helping her through one of the toughestmoments in her life.
In a drunken rage fueled by hisuntreated PTSD, Jericho attacked Sophia, and Father Jones wasforced to shoot him. In the end, the truth was Father Henry Jonesdid shoot Jericho Miles and killed him, but it was to protectSophia. Ray’s grandfather put the incident down to self-defense andhadn’t intended to charge the priest.
