Rise of The Iron Eagle (The Iron Eagle Series Book 1) (16 page)

Chapter Fifteen

‘He couldn’t remember the full
content of the nightmare he had
been pulled awake from, but The
Eagle was in it. His dark silhouette
in the alley was all he remembered
from the dream. He noticed right
away that he was alone.’

J
im arrived at Barbara’s just after midnight. He parked in the driveway. The front porch light was on, as well as a light in the living room window. He and Barbara had been married for fifteen years before Jim was shot while on duty serving a warrant. When he came home after the shooting, he was different, and the relationship between them was, too. They met in the academy while preparing to become U.S. Marshals. It was one of those cliché love at first sight things. They finished their training and both went to work for the Marshal’s office. Jim was a field agent tracking down bail jumpers and escapees, working his way up to Supervising Marshal, and Barbara worked in the federal prison system attending to inmates, transporting them to and from court, and working the holding units at central detention.

For the first ten years of their marriage, they worked odd shifts, so one was coming home when the other was going to work. They only had time for quick sex and perhaps breakfast or dinner together before heading off. After Jim’s shooting, he was forced to retire, and for nearly a year he was home. Barbara was still working full-time, though she did take six weeks off to help Jim acclimate to being home. However, resentment began to build between the two of them as Jim was disabled and Barbara was being promoted through the ranks until she became a field supervisor, the position Jim had when he was shot. As their twentieth anniversary loomed, they knew things weren’t going to work, but they didn’t give up hope. Jim was eventually able to get on with the Sheriff’s Department. That first year was reminiscent of the early years of the marriage. Two staggered schedules, two ships passing in the morning or night. The sex was less frequent, but they got along a lot better. It was short lived, though. Jim was promoted to the head of homicide, which meant he was spending less and less time at home, and Barbara’s schedule became more fixed, which freed up her evenings and weekends.

Barbara filed for divorce a week before their twentieth wedding anniversary. Jim wasn’t surprised by the filing; he just wished she would have warned him. Instead, he was ambushed by two of his deputies who thought it would be funny to serve the summons on him in a staff meeting. The idiots as he referred to them now, assholes then, thought it was some civil litigation that was related to department business. They didn’t bother to look at the pleading, so when they grandstanded at the staff meeting and served him, he was taken totally by surprise. He could laugh about it now; the two rookie detectives might be able to laugh about it now, but they weren’t laughing when he busted them down to patrol duty for a year.

He walked up the familiar walk to the front door, and it opened before he could knock. Barbara was barefoot in a t-shirt just above her knees, and he smiled as he walked in. Her legs still looked really nice for a woman her age. Jim was only two years older, but he had not aged with the same grace that Barbara had. She invited him in and gave him a huge hug and didn’t let go. He hugged her back and held her until she released. She walked into the living room holding Jim by the hand and sat him down next to her on the couch. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” “Sure.” She went into the kitchen and for just a moment he caught himself feeling the safety that came from the sounds of her working in the kitchen on the rare weekends that they were home together. He had a vague memory of sitting in his recliner in the living room on a hot July day, a baseball game on the TV, and dozing in the afternoon sunlight. He heard the clink of the cups as she was putting them on the counter, and for a fraction of an instant he was back at home with the woman he loved and planned to grow old with.

He got up and walked into the kitchen. “So what’s up, Barb? We haven’t had more than three words in almost… geez… five years?” She continued making the coffee and put out some chocolate-striped shortbread cookies that she knew he liked. She didn’t respond as she set the table. “Okay, have it your way.” He walked over to the table and sat down. The coffee was brewing, and she sat down at the table while she waited. There was a brief silence until she said, “I don’t want to be alone tonight.” He took a cookie off the plate and took a bite. “Why not?” The coffee pot dinged, and she filled their cups. “You know that Jill and I were very close.” She sat a cup in front of him; he took a sip and dipped the cookie in it. “Well yea…you two slept together!” Barbara’s expression changed from one of sadness to one of shock. “You knew?” He laughed under his breath, “Barb…I loved you very much. I still do, but I knew that you and Jill were lovers.” “When did you find out?” He drew a deep breath and coughed a little, “Oh, let’s see, shit…we’ve been divorced, what, five years? You and Jill became partners on the force ten years ago, so nine years ago.” “But how? We never made it public.” He laughed again, continuing to enjoy his coffee. “One of the disadvantages of my new career in the Sheriff’s Department was having more freedom to come and go. You were off duty for a weekend, oh, about three years before you filed for divorce. I had a quiet Saturday, so I decided to come home early and surprise you. I brought roses and a bottle of Champagne and came home in the early afternoon. When I pulled up, I saw that Jill’s car was parked out in front of the house, so I knew that surprising you was out of the question. I left the stuff in the car and just came into the house. Guess what?” She didn’t respond. “I came in, and there was no sign of the two of you. I heard some giggling and rustling coming from upstairs, so I followed the noise and found the two of you in bed.” “Why didn’t you say something?” He took another cookie and dipped it in his coffee, “What the hell was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, I stopped by to surprise you for a nooner and found you and Jill having sex. Can I join in?” She started to blush. She had her hands on her lap and looked down at the table, “I’m sorry Jim…”

He finished off the coffee, stood up, and walked over to the cupboard above the built-in oven. He opened the cabinet and reached way back and pulled out a bottle of Glenlivet. “Aged twenty years. Well, it’s been up there for at least ten more, so this is probably even better than before.” He grabbed a highball glass and offered a drink to Barb who nodded. He took another glass out and said, “Ice, as I recall?” “Yes, please.” He returned with a generous pour for each of them. “So why is tonight different from any other night, Barb? Why don’t you want to be alone?” He took a pack of cigarettes from his top pocket and asked if it was okay to smoke. She nodded and asked for one. “Now, I know I’m in a dream; you quit smoking three years after we were married.” “I picked it back up again after Jill was murdered.” He put two cigarettes in his mouth and lit them both and handed her one from across the table. “Romantic,” she said with a smile. “Nope…low on butane.” As he clicked the lighter shut, she started laughing. “That’s my Jimmy, a man with a plan.” He laughed, “Nope. You don’t want me leaning over your stove to light my cigarette.” She laughed again. “It would be tough to light; it’s electric now.” “Just my fuckin’ luck!” They both laughed, sipping their scotch and smoking.

“You didn’t answer my question, Barb. What’s up?” She took a drag off the smoke and a sip of her drink. “Jill knew the identity of The Iron Eagle.” He sat back in his chair, one eye half shut from the smoke rising up from his nose and mouth. “Really! Did she share her revelation with you?” “I’m sitting here talking to you, so what do you think?” He laughed and said under his breath, “Sorry. Stupid question. Do you have any theories on who he might be?” She gulped her scotch and slid the glass across the table for a refill. “I don’t know his name, and I don’t know what he looks like, but I can tell you that he’s a shield. Not federal. He’s either Sheriff’s Department or local PD… and he works homicide.” He poured the scotch into her glass and said, “Well that really narrows it down. How did you come to this revelation?” “The night before Jill was murdered, she told me that she met a guy a few months earlier that she was certain was The Eagle.” “Go on.” He took a drag off his cigarette and then topped off his scotch. “Jill was an avid physical fitness freak. She had been talking about this guy she met at the gym who was a big time fitness guy. She told me that the two struck up a friendship when they learned that they were both in law enforcement. She said he hit on her, and she told him she was gay. She said he laughed and commented that he runs into that a lot. Over the next five or six months, she talked this guy up like you wouldn’t believe.” “Do you think that he was trying to flip her back to the home team? She was a hottie!” Barbara frowned at him, which made him smile because it was the way she frowned at him for all of those years. “No, smart ass. Jill was gay; I’m bi.” He looked at her with surprise. “No shit…so if I stay with you tonight I get laid?” She smiled, “Well, duh!” He puffed up his chest, “Well, this is turning out to be a great start to a new day. Finish up your story because I’m really, really horny.”

She shook her head slowly with a sheepish smile on her face and continued. “About a week before her death, she told me that she invited the guy to the house for dinner. She wanted me to meet him. I thought, no harm, so I agreed. I asked her if she knew anything more about his police work and that’s when she told me he was a homicide detective. I asked what department or division, but she didn’t know. The following week, the night before he was to come for dinner, she told me that she was canceling the date. When I asked why, she said she had a bad feeling about him. She said he had done some things that she thought were peculiar. When I pushed her a little harder, she told me that she had a strange feeling that the guy was The Eagle.” “Okay, so what happened after that?” “The night that he was to come to the house she called him from her cell and told him that she couldn’t do dinner. After she hung up, she told me that she had to run an errand and would be back, but she never came home.” “Hmm…” Jim poured another scotch for each of them and asked, “Where’s her cell phone?” “She took it with her. They didn’t recover it with her body.” “You have her cell number, right?” She nodded. He took out his phone and asked her to give it to him. He typed the number into his PDA and asked who the phone carrier was. “Okay, tomorrow, because I’m going to be in SUCH a good mood, I’m going to subpoena the phone records from the carrier for Jill’s phone. It should give us the information on the number she called that night and could lead us to The Eagle.” She got a smile of relief on her face. “Thank you, Jimmy. This means so much to me.” He finished his scotch and said, “Really? How much?” She stood up and took off her t-shirt; she was nude underneath it. She walked over to him and rubbed her triple D breasts in his face, then ran off up the stairs. He was in hot pursuit, dropping his clothing as he ran after her, complimenting her really nice ass all the way up the stairs.

Steve woke with a jolt and sat straight up in bed. He was sweating. He couldn’t remember the full content of the nightmare he had been pulled awake from, but The Eagle was in it. His dark silhouette in the alley was all he remembered from the dream. He noticed right away that he was alone. He heard the shower going and the girls talking. “Well, I don’t have to ask if it was a dream this time.” Gail popped her head out from the bathroom and asked, “Do you want to join us?” He was still groggy, but not groggy enough not to realize that he only had a few more days of this kind of treatment. He jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. The girls were standing in front of the mirror exchanging comments on each other’s figures. “Molly, you are way too self conscious; you have a great figure.” Gail placed her hands on Molly’s breasts and squeezed gently. “The key to the perkiness of your breasts is you never had children. You have a very beautiful and voluptuous figure, not an ounce of cellulite on you. Isn’t that right Steve?” He came in behind them and put his head down on Molly’s neck, “You have one hell of a body, Mrs. Hoffman,” and patted her on the ass. She smiled and turned and gave him a big kiss.