Sins (Vance Davis Dossier #2) Read online

  “Who’s Jeff?” Otis asked.

  “A fed I work with. He knew where I was going tonight. He’ll send help.”

  “He knew you were going to end up like this?”

  “Not so much, no.”

  It was silent a moment before Otis tried again. “And you’re sure you won’t let me take you someplace safe?”

  “What are you doing out here so late?” Vance answered with a question of his own.

  “Trying to round Emmett up. Susie was worried when he didn’t show up at the camp tonight.”

  “He’s in with a bad crowd, isn’t he?”

  Otis merely scratched his chin and nodded.

  “He’s not going to let me help him, is he?” Vance knew the answer before he posed the question.

  “Nah. Susie might have, but she won’t leave Emmett, and he’ll never leave these streets.”

  Vance sighed heavily, allowing his eyes to sink closed again. The blackness tugged him closer. “I’m so tired of fighting a losing battle.”

  “No one asked you to win the war all by yourself, son.” Otis reached out and patted Vance’s knee. “You rest now if you need to. I’ll keep watch ‘til that help of yours arrives.”

  ***

  Vance could feel the light before he saw it. It seemed so harsh, breaking through his cracked eyelids. He squeezed his eyes tighter shut. He knew, before he even registered what the voices around him were saying, that he was in a hospital yet again. He was getting really sick of hospitals.

  “Where’s Otis?” he whispered.

  “What’s that, Mr. Davis?” A nurse leaned closer to him.

  “The homeless man who helped me. Where is he?”

  “I don’t know, sir. You were brought in by ambulance. They received a 9-1-1 call directing them to your location. There was nobody with you when they arrived.”

  Vance struggled to sit up, determined to find Otis.

  “Lie still, Mr. Davis. I’ll see if I can find your friend.”

  “Thanks,” Vance sighed, settling back before realization struck him and he tried to sit up again. “My watch. Where’s my watch?”

  “You’re still wearing your watch,” she told him.

  “Okay. Good. Don’t let them take my watch.”

  “I promise. I’ll keep your watch safe.” Her voice was lyrical, soothing.

  With that, he let the darkness stake its claim once more.

  ***

  There were two full seconds of peace before reality settled in and Vance remembered he was in the hospital and that every single part of him hurt. He licked his lips, wishing for a drink of water.

  “Hey, look who returned to the land of the living.” It was Jeff’s voice that greeted him, surprising Vance.

  “Are you lost?” Vance’s voice cracked. He really needed that drink.

  “Yeah, I don’t usually stop in the flyover states,” Jeff admitted. “Although your nurse is cute. I might have been missing something.”

  “All the girls in DC have your number, don’t they? You’re just looking for new hunting grounds.” Vance shifted positions to see if there was a drink on his table.

  “You know I’m not like that anymore.” Jeff must have surmised what Vance was looking for because he materialized at his bedside with a cup of ice chips. “They said you should try ice before drinking. Want some?”

  “If you’re so reformed, how did you notice my nurse was cute?”

  “I’m reformed, not dead. Now do you want this or do you want to keep harassing me?” Jeff held out a spoonful of ice, which Vance gratefully accepted. He closed his eyes, relishing the melting liquid on his tongue. The instant he swallowed, the dryness was back and he wanted more. It took three more spoonsful for the humor of the situation to hit him.

  He cracked a small grin. “I can’t say I ever pictured you spoon feeding me ice chips, Jeff.”

  “I can’t say I ever pictured you letting me.”

  “Maybe it’s the kinder, gentler me,” Vance suggested.

  “Did you meet a woman?” Jeff leaned his forearms on the bed railing and regarded Vance.

  “Not like you think. No, maybe I’m just getting old.”

  “You’re 29.”

  Vance rubbed his neck with his free arm. “I feel older.”

  “Maybe it’s because you keep getting the crap kicked out of you.”

  “Job hazard.”

  Jeff chuckled. “We’re coworkers, and I’ve yet to be beaten so badly I needed to go to the hospital. What is this, your second or third time?”

  Vance wasn’t sure he wanted to answer that. “Must be my winning personality.”

  “Or your death wish.”

  “It’s not a death wish,” Vance answered before thinking. When the truth began to settle over him, he wasn’t so sure he liked it.

  “Listen, Vance. I have something I’ve got to tell you. Are you ready for it? I mean, I was going to wait until you were better, but…”

  “What?” Vance cut him off, suddenly very afraid of what Jeff would say. Had somebody found Valentine? Was she okay? Was Jessie okay?”

  “It’s Valentine…” Jeff began, pausing as if unsure how to continue.

  Vance felt like somebody was slamming a fist into his chest all over again. “What happened?”

  “No, no, she’s okay,” Jeff rushed to explain. “It’s just that I dug up who she is, like you asked me to. Vance, she’s your sister. Your half-sister, anyway. Her, her sisters, her brother—they’re your half siblings.”

  Vance blinked, slowly, painfully, trying to process what Jeff had told him. “My dad got out of prison?”

  “For a little while.” Jeff’s chin dipped in a half-nod. “He’s back in now, for life this time. Adelaide, Valentine’s mom, she was raising the kids in a tiny trailer in a park near Tulsa. Nobody’s seen or heard from her in a while, though. The neighbors finally complained because the dog was barking so much. Child services took the kids two days ago. They’d been living there alone since Valentine was taken.”

  Vance was sure he had to be watching somebody else’s life. Or maybe Jeff had just gotten it wrong. There was some crazy typo somewhere. Vance Davis didn’t have a family; he was alone. That’s the way it had always been. Sometimes he’d find himself on the outer edges of an adopted family of sorts, but always on the fringes, and it was never really his. Like a gust of wind crashing over him in a storm, he knew what he had to do.

  “I want them.” His quiet words sounded like they came from someone else.

  “Excuse me?” Jeff leaned closer, certain he’d heard incorrectly.

  “I want them. What do I have to do to take them in?”

  “Vance, you’re the closest thing this world has to a real superhero. Hell, that’s why Jessie started calling you Batman behind your back…”

  “Jessie started that?” Vance scowled.

  “But Vance, I don’t think a court will give you those kids right now.”

  “I’m their family. You just said so.”

  “Family who keeps ending up in the hospital because you’ve been beat to a pulp. Family with a slew of traffickers after you. Family with no roots, no ties to anything or anywhere. Where will you raise them, Vance? How will you raise them?”

  “You and I both know what happens to kids in the system, Jeff. I won’t let that be their fate.”

  Jeff leaned back, quietly regarding the stubborn set to Vance’s jaw. Time suspended, hanging on the silence between them. At long last, Jeff sighed heavily, his face relenting. “All right. I’ll help you. I don’t know how you’re going to pull it off, but I’ll help you.”

  Vance’s breath rushed from him in relief, and he realized he’d actually been holding it. “Thank you.” It felt more possible knowing he wasn’t alone. Jeff was smart. He’d figure it out.

  “I’ll find out where the kids landed and keep tabs on their status. You focus on getting better.”

  “What about Oklahoma City?”

  “What about it? You
’re a family man now.”

  “But the men who took Valentine. I can’t just let them get away.”

  Jeff shook his head. “There will always be another. This ends now.”

  “This is the last one.”

  “Don’t make me rescind my offer to help.”

  “You won’t.” Vance spoke with more assurance than he felt. “Oh. I can’t believe I almost forgot. Where’s my watch?”

  Jeff fished it out of his pocket, holding it up for Vance to see. “This watch? The nurse said you were really worried about it.”

  “It’s my audio recorder. When you listen to the file, you might reconsider wanting me to stay out of Oklahoma City.” Vance reached over and pressed the right combination of buttons to make the watch replay its contents.

  Jeff pulled a chair closer with his foot, sinking into it as the two men listened intently. Jeff winced a couple of times. Even Vance had to admit his wounds felt fresher while hearing himself be beaten. But beyond the beating, they listened to Little Z boast that Vance had no idea who he’d tangled with. As Little Z expounded on his importance, the case against him was built in his own words, and the tip about the truck stop in Oklahoma City was validated. It was a hub, the spoke in a wheel that radiated throughout the country, using the trucks that haul freight to carry children into a web of pure evil.

  When it was over, Jeff met Vance’s eyes. “One more, but then you have to retire. You can’t raise kids and chase bad guys. Raising the kids will be enough of a challenge all by itself.”

  Vance nodded his agreement. Truth be told, he had no desire to go to Oklahoma City. The thirst for vengeance, for penance even, had been quenched. All he wanted now was to keep his family safe and whole. He’d start by looking out for the one member of the family nobody was probably thinking of right now. “What about the dog?”

  “What?” Jeff startled. “What about the dog?”

  “The kids’ dog. What happened to it?”

  “It’s probably at the pound, if it hasn’t already been put down.”

  “Could you get it for me?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Could you go get it for me, while I get out of here? They’ve lost enough. They shouldn’t lose their dog, too.”

  Jeff opened his mouth to complain but settled for giving Vance an irritated look. “Sure. I’ll go get the dog for you. You just take a day or two and get better. I’ll be back after I’ve filed my report and picked up your damned dog.”

  “Thank you.” If Vance were a huggy kind of person, he’d have hugged Jeff. Instead, he gave him a curt nod. It was nearly the same.

  When he was alone in his room, after Jeff had gone, the nurse had checked his vitals, and the doctor had explained that he’d live, he leaned back against his bed and allowed his mind to really process what had just happened.

  He had a family. Not just a sister, but a whole slew of siblings, and they needed him. He had no clue how to be around kids. He didn’t even know what skills he possessed or how he was going to get a real job to support them. But he had a family. Jessie had been right, in a way. She’d seen that Vance and Valentine fit together from the first. That woman didn’t miss much.

  But he was going to have words with her about the Batman thing.

  EPILOGUE

  VANCE’S ENTIRE BODY hummed with excitement. The miles couldn’t go fast enough. He glanced over at the dog in the passenger seat of his truck, its tongue lolling out happily as it watched the clouds zip by. It was some sort of a speckled, shepherd-looking thing with long fur and a docked tail. It, or rather she, seemed smart. She seemed happy, too, even if she was a bit scrawny under all that fur. Her entire butt had wriggled with pure joy upon meeting Vance. It had been a struggle to not let Jeff see how enamored with her Vance had been the instant he’d laid eyes on her. It’s like she knew she was his dog now, too.

  Jeff had shaken his head and bid the pair farewell with a promise to touch base in a couple of days with a game plan for Oklahoma. Vance’s first stop had been downtown St. Louis. He’d checked each of the known hangouts for Emmett, Susie, and Otis. He’d been just about to give up when he’d spotted Otis walking back towards the bridge to Illinois. Vance pulled over and leaned out the window. “Can I interest you in some breakfast, Otis?”

  Otis turned, a smile lighting his face when he recognized Vance. “I was afraid I’d seen the last of you.”

  “Nope. Thanks to you, I’ll be right as rain in no time.” Vance smiled, even though it still hurt his face a little to do so.

  Otis seemed to breathe a little easier. “Good. That’s good. I’m glad to hear it.”

  “So, about that breakfast…” Vance reminded him.

  “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

  Vance pulled the dog closer to him so there would be room for Otis in the passenger seat.

  The man eyed the tri-colored canine as he climbed in. “Who’s your friend?”

  “Freckles. She’s a new addition. One of several.”

  “You got several dogs?”

  “One dog that comes with a passel of kids.”

  “Huh. That could be interesting. It’s only been a week since I picked you up out of the gutter, right?”

  “A busy week.”

  Otis’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. Vance couldn’t blame him. If he weren’t so terrified about the path he was embarking on, he might find it funny, too. Vance wanted to take Otis to a real breakfast but felt guilty leaving Freckles in the car alone, so they opted for a drive-thru breakfast in the truck. Vance ordered an extra sandwich for Freckles, sneaking her bites in between taking bites of his own. The two men talked a little as they ate, with long pauses in between bits of conversation. Otis still hadn’t found Emmett, and now Susie was missing, too. He was starting to fear the worst. Vance promised to see if his friends in law enforcement had heard anything, but he feared the worst, too.

  After breakfast, Vance took Otis back to his side of the river, where the two men said their goodbyes. Vance doubted he’d see Otis again, though he made himself a promise to check in on him from time to time.

  And then Vance and his dog climbed in the truck and headed back down the interstate one more time. The further he got from St. Louis, the more he realized that era in his life had truly drawn to a close. He was ready, at last, to put it behind him. Finally, his sins were part of his past, and he was content to let them stay there.

  For the first time in his life, he had a future to build.

  WANT MORE VANCE?

  CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM HEATHER HUFFMAN AND FEATURING VANCE DAVIS:

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  Suddenly a Spy (Romantic Suspense) Thrown into a world of espionage, seduction, and human trafficking, Veronica must fight for the life and husband she thought she had—and she must discover whether they are the life and husband she truly wants.

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  Ghosts: The Vance Davis Dossier, Book One (Suspense) Vance Davis cannot shake free from the ghosts of his past. Haunted by the sins of his former life and the loss of his true love, he must try to pick up the pieces of his broken life if he's ever going to be the hero that so many need him to be.

  COMING SOON:

  Redemption: The Vance Davis Dossier, Book Three (Suspense) When the human trafficking ring he’s intent on destroying proves bigger than he imagined, Vance finds himself trekking across America’s heartland to take down an insidious evil hiding in plain sight. But regardless of the outcome, will he ever be able to find the peace that has continued to evade him?

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