Rules of Survival(67)

I didn’t know what I’d hoped to find in Mick Shultz. A parent? A savior? I was starting to get the feeling he was none of the above. “She was killed by Bengali.”

I waited for some kind of response, but Mick only stared.

“Now he’s after me,” I added.

“And you’re telling me this because…?”

“Because I need your help?”

He laughed. “Why should I help you?”

I stared, openmouthed. Patrick said Mick knew I was his daughter. What kind of bastard threw his own kid to the wolves? “Because I’m your daughter?”

And just like that, Mick’s expression changed. “She told you?”

“Not her. Someone else.” I glanced behind me. The coast was still clear, but I couldn’t be sure for how long. If I’d found Mick, and Bengali’s resources were as vast as Patrick said, he could find him, too. “Look, is there someplace else we can talk?”

Shaun grabbed my arm and nodded to the house. “Agreed. We should take this inside.” He turned to Mick. “Give us ten minutes of your time. If you still have no desire to help her, we’ll be on our way and you’ll never see us again.”

Mick considered it for a minute. I was sure he’d kick us out, but instead, he nodded toward the house. “Fine. Come inside.”

We followed him through the perfectly maintained yard and around to the back door. The moment I stepped inside, I knew we shared the same genes. “The house smells like blueberries.”

“Had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. There’s still some batter left. I suppose I should offer you food or something,” he grumbled. “You hungry?”

“Starved,” Shaun said, practically drooling. I was right there with him.

Mick gestured to the chairs at the kitchen table with a flick of his wrist. “Sit. I’ll make you something to eat, and you tell me exactly what you want from me.”

I gnawed on my bottom lip as Mick started pulling containers from the fridge. A small container of blueberries. A larger clear tub that looked like it was filled with batter. A spatula. A flat pan. Milk. Butter. Syrup…

My stomach growled and I looked away.

“So you think I’m your father,” he said as he went to work.

That took me by surprise. “Are you saying you’re not?”

“No,” he said simply. “I’m not saying that.” But his tone made me wonder.

“You never kept in contact with her. Why?”

After setting two glasses on the counter, he poured the milk and stepped to the right, shoulders slumping. “You’re asking why I never came to find you, right?”

I didn’t mean to come across as needy, but he was right. That’s what I’d been asking. “The thought crossed my mind.”

“Melissa and I had sort of a large falling out. We decide it was best to stay apart.”

“Did this falling out have to do with that last job you pulled?”

Mick froze, the two glasses of milk in hand. “You know about what happened?”

“Mr. Shultz,” Shaun said, taking one of the glasses of milk from him, “Kayla and her mom have been bouncing around from one place to another since she was born. Melissa raised Kayla on the run. We think it was because of the murder.”

Mick sank into the chair across from mine as I took a sip of my own milk. The stove top dinged to signal that our pancakes were ready to cook, but Mick didn’t move. “You mean Bengali’s kid.”

I swallowed the lump that was creeping up my throat and took a long pull from the glass. “Yeah.”

“You said Bengali killed her. You think it was payback for the kid?”

I looked to Shaun, and he nodded for me to continue. “It had to be.”

Mick leaned back in the chair, eyes darting between Shaun and me. “How do you know, though?”

“He’s got the resources,” Shaun said. “And the motivation.”

Mick chuckled. Not an amused laugh but something dark. Almost angry. “A lot of people had the motivation.”

“She’s been hiding from someone my entire life. Someone she believed wanted to hurt her. At first I had no idea what was going on, but Patrick—”

“Patrick?” That brought the life back to his eyes. His expression twisted and his eyes went dark. Clearly there was a serious issue between Mick and Patrick. He seethed. “As in Patrick Tanner? You’ve spoken to him?”

“It’s a painfully long story, but he’s a bounty hunter now. He’s been on Mom’s tail from day one.” I turned to Shaun. “But Shaun knows him, and Patrick’s the one who told me about Bengali—and you.”

“You’re telling me Patrick Tanner sent you to me?” Patrick hadn’t spoken fondly of Mick, and it seemed that Mick felt the same way. “I find that incredibly hard to believe.”

“He didn’t tell me to find you. He just said your specialty was covering your tracks. Making people disappear. I decided to come on my own.”

“You want me to help you disappear. Is that it?”

“I need to get off Bengali’s radar. I—” A yawn slipped past my lips. I shouldn’t have sat down. The constant running was catching up to me, and it wasn’t like Shaun and I slept much last night… Sitting still was only making it worse. “I found a letter recently—”