BLOOD TIES (Decklan Jennings Thriller Book 1), Philip Duncan [bill gates book recommendations TXT] 📗

a long time. Even more so than his own brother. And by the way Langley was acting, he assumed he felt the same way. As the old adage goes, misery loves company. But for the first time in days, Decklan wasn’t crippled with rage and sadness. They had been working together for several days now, but this was the first time that he felt a real connection to Langley. He felt like he had a brother in arms. When you experience certain things in this life with people, it can bring you closer than actual blood.

But before they had the chance to board the boat and drift off into the blue, Decklan heard a voice calling for him.

“Mr. Jennings, please stop.”

Decklan turned around to see who was calling for him. He didn’t notice the man, but he could see the unmistakable blue.

Great, a cop. What could he possibly want?

The cop finally made his way to Decklan and Langley. “The chief needs to speak with you. He needs you to come down to the station.”

Decklan was clearly annoyed. “What the hell does he want? How did he even know I was here? Is he having me followed?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Jennings, but I was only instructed to bring you in. I wasn’t told anything else,” the cop replied.

“And I suppose I don’t have a choice?” Decklan said.

“You always have a choice, sir. But I was told to call for backup if you didn’t cooperate. I think it’s best if you just come with me.”

Decklan rolled his eyes, but agreed. “Fine, but I can drive myself, and my friend here will be coming with me.”

The cop turned around to head back to his squad car as they could hear him radio in to the chief. “All right, sir, I have him and we are on our way now.”

Decklan and Langley hopped back into the truck and followed the cop back to the station. He had no idea what this could be about, but he knew one thing for sure. He had some questions of his own. He was livid and wasn’t in the mood to put up with any of his little brother’s shit.

Langley had remained quiet up to this point, but he was curious what this was all about. “Do you have any idea why he wants to talk to you?”

“Not a damn clue,” Decklan replied. “But it had better be worth our time. He has already wasted enough of mine.”

They parked the truck and headed for the front doors. Once inside, Decklan made a beeline for his brother's office. He could see the door was shut and he was talking to a couple of guys, but he didn’t care. He barged right in with no mind of the others in the room.

“What the hell do you want, Parker?” Decklan said, sternly.

The chief looked at the two gentlemen he was talking to and politely asked them to excuse themselves. Once they were out the door, he responded to Decklan. “I have some news.”

“Good or bad?” Decklan asked.

“Both, actually,” Parker said. “The bad news is there has been another homicide—a double homicide, actually.”

“What’s the good news?” Decklan said sharply.

Parker’s eyebrows raised. “Wow, nice response, Deck.”

“What am I supposed to say? I’m not a cop. It’s not my job to find killers, it’s yours,” Decklan replied, even though the last two weeks had consisted of just that. “What’s the good news?” he asked a second time.

“Whoever killed this young couple could very well be the same guys who… well, you know.”

“Slaughtered my family in cold blood. Is that what you wanted to say but didn’t have the balls to?” Decklan said. “And what makes you think it’s the same guys?”

“It was a clean job with no evidence left behind. No sign of forced entry, which means the door was unlocked or they were let in,” Parker said.

“So why exactly did you drag me all the way down here to tell me this? You could have just called.”

“You haven’t been answering any of my calls or texts lately so I didn’t see the point. Plus, I thought it would be better to tell you in person, anyway.”

Decklan sat there, listening and remembering the last time his brother said they had a lead. So he could give two shits what information his brother had unless it was exactly who was responsible and where they were. In his mind, he and Langley had a much better lead with Vladimir anyway, although this could be one and the same. Regardless, he didn’t want or need his brother's help.

“Well, thanks for the heads-up, little brother,” Decklan said as he stood up to leave. But before he did, he had one question. “Are you having me followed?” he asked Parker.

Parker looked down at some papers on his desk, clearly not wanting to look at Decklan. “Let’s not call it having you followed. It’s more like helpful surveillance,” he finally replied.

“Helpful for who exactly?”

“Both of us,” Parker said. “I want to make sure you aren’t doing anything stupid.”

“You really think I need you fucking babysitting me, Parker? I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. You better tell your Girl Scouts to pull back or we are going to have a problem.”

This got Parker’s attention and he quickly looked up from his desk and locked eyes with his older brother. “Is that a threat, Deck?”

“Just get them to back off,” Decklan said, one last time.

Decklan left Parker’s office, slamming the door shut behind him. He made his way back to the front of the station, where Langley was talking with some cops.

“Let’s go,” Decklan said to Langley, not breaking stride.

Langley could tell something had Decklan fired up. “What happened?”

“I'll tell you once we get back to the truck,” Decklan said.

They jumped back into the truck and hurried out of the station parking lot.

“All right, now tell me what happened. You look pissed as hell,” Langley said.

“That son of a bitch has been keeping tabs on us. That’s how he knew