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

to take the fall for everything. He was supposed to confess to the murders, and I was supposed to make sure he was brought in alive. But the guy got cold feet and shot Officer Torres. He wasn’t supposed to even have a gun,” Parker said. “Even if we couldn’t get the arrest to stick, it would have been enough to throw off the scent of anything leading back to Vladimir and his guys.”

“Because of you, one of your own cops was murdered in cold blood. How many deaths need to be on your hands before you feel guilt and regret?” Decklan said.

“I know, Decklan. I almost came clean a dozen times over the past month,” Parker said.

“But you didn’t!” Decklan snapped. “Then you wouldn’t have your job and all that blood money!”

Parker had no response. Nothing he could say would ever justify his actions, so he chose silence.

“There is one thing that I can’t seem to figure out, though,” Decklan said. “By the time I got back from Moscow you were already gone. There’s no possible way you could have known I was coming back for you. I hadn’t even told you I was alive, so for all you knew I could’ve been lying dead somewhere in a Russian ditch.”

Parker reached for something in his pocket, which caused Decklan to reach for his gun off the ground. He didn’t trust his brother anymore.

“Relax, it’s just my phone,” Parker said as he pulled it out. He unlocked his screen, went to his voicemail, and hit play.

Hello Chief Jennings, it’s your good friend Vladimir Ivanov. I just wanted to let you know that your brother is here, and it won’t be long before he gets to me. He has killed many of my men, and what was left, I killed myself. I do not plan on begging for my life or even putting up a fight. I have been in the business long enough to know when one has been defeated. Consider this a friendly warning. By the time your brother leaves my house tonight, he will know everything. My guess is you will soon be joining me in death. Good luck, my brother.

Parker put his phone back in his pocket.

“Sounds like you two were pretty close,” Decklan said, gripping his pistol tighter. “He even called you brother.”

“We weren’t close!” Parker said.

“Doesn’t really matter now, does it?” Decklan said. “I know everything, and that piece of shit is dead.”

“I guess it doesn’t,” Parker said, standing to his feet. “So what’s your move, Deck?”

This prompted Decklan to stand as well, still holding his pistol. “I think if I had known what I know now at the start of all this, my answer would be simple. End your pathetic life. However, I think that’s too easy a punishment for you. I think you deserve to live with what you’ve done. You deserve to rot away in a prison cell, having to think about all the lives you were responsible for, including Emma,” Decklan said.

“I guess we better get going then,” Parker said. “No point in dragging this out any longer.”

Parker turned and started walking back toward camp. Decklan followed, keeping his gun out and remaining several feet behind. He didn’t expect Parker to give up this easily, so he wasn’t letting his guard down.

“You remember that one summer when you had a heatstroke and almost died?” Parker said, trying to make small talk before he wouldn’t have the chance again.

Decklan wasn’t in the small talk mood but figured it wouldn’t hurt, considering he was leading his brother back to a life in federal prison.

“I do,” Decklan said. “It was one of the worst days of my life.”

“I’ll never forget Mom picking you up and putting you in that rusty old wheelbarrow, running you over to the water and carrying you in to help cool you off.”

Decklan smiled, as if it were one of those memories he almost forgot. “Oh man, my body was so hot, I couldn’t even feel the ice-cold water against my skin. And they had me half naked.”

They both laughed. It was the first time in God knew how long that they weren’t at each other's throats. They felt like kid brothers again, who at one time in their life were best friends. But that seemed like a different life altogether.

“And you were up all night pissing like a crazy person because they had forced about three gallons of water into your system to make up for all the fluids you lost,” Parker said with a smile.

“Trust me, I remember,” Decklan said lightly, now starting to lower his gun.

The conversation was making Decklan feel more at ease and comfortable. He didn’t feel like he needed to hold a gun to his brother’s back the whole way back. It was clear that Parker had conceded and had no intentions of doing anything stupid. Decklan figured this was due to all the guilt and shame he felt, plus losing the love of his life. Just like Decklan, he had nothing to go home to so what was the point in trying to run?

“You know, Mom was really torn up that you stopped coming to camp for all those years. She felt like you were missing out and she hated not having both of us here with her,” Parker said.

Decklan had never heard this directly from their mom, but that was probably because she didn't want to make him feel bad. Plus, he didn’t have much choice once his wrestling started to get competitive. He was always gone for tournaments and camps with their dad. Most summers it was just Decklan and their dad and Parker and their mom. They would never admit it, but they knew Mom and Dad had their favorites.

“What was I supposed to do, Parker? I was busy with wrestling,” Decklan replied in an irritated tone.

“I know, Deck. I was just saying,” Parker replied. “But camp wasn’t the only thing you stopped caring about.”

Decklan quickly jumped in front of