His Final Bounty

By AJ Wiliams

Eva Rosenberg hacks a secret file of Jefferson's and discovers the man who shattered her heart and her world has one giant secret.

Jefferson Anders’ current bounty hunting status has allowed him to hide in the shadows, never forcing him to face the secrets of his past. Having spent five years hiding the truth, he never dreamed the secrets of his past would catch up to him. Secrets which cost him both the love of his life and connection to his family. Now, he must face the mistakes of his past.

With a confrontation looming with Eva and a possible death threat, they must work as a team to find forgiveness and defeat the enemy that waits in the shadows.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AJ Wiliams
• Release date: Mar 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310541728

AJ Wiliams

AJ Wiliams lives in Kansas City Missouri with her husband and two children, and their faithful dog. She grew up in Arizona and at the age of eight, her mother brought her to Missouri to be close to family. As an only child, AJ had to learn how to entertain herself. Writing was an escape from an isolated life she led as the only child to her parents. Living in a small town also proved to create lots of stories. Like most small towns, everyone knew everyone.As she grew older, her grandparents played a large role in her writing life. By the age of thirteen, she had written several poems about her family and about growing up. Reading and music also became an outlet for her.AJ loves listening to everything from the classics of Mozart to System of a Down to even Indie music such as Lana Del Rey and Florence and the Machine. That love of music has continued on, influencing her and the stories she likes to write.

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HIS FINAL BOUNTY

by

AJ Wiliams

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Any trademarks mentioned herein are not authorized by the trademark owners and do not in any way mean the work is sponsored by or associated with the trademark owners. Any trademarks used are specifically in a descriptive capacity.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form (electronic or print) without permission from the author. Please do not participate in piracy or violating the author’s rights.

Editor: Lea Ellen Borg @ Night Owl Editing Services

Cover Illustration: Lyn Stanzione @ StanzAloneDesign

Book Formatting: Lucinda Campbell

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © March 2014 AJ Wiliams

Discover other great titles by AJ Williams

Bounty for Hunter

Bounty’s End

Bounty for Love

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my friend Catrina for her support, and comments even when it hurt. You have helped me grow. You are amazing and an inspiration.

Thanks for encouraging me and helping me dig deep. I know the next story is going to be just as amazing.

A big thank you also goes to my husband. Without his support I don’t know where I would be. You are my happily ever after.

Chapter 1

The dust clung to Jefferson Anders’ mouth despite the pull of the beer that coated his throat. Dry air brushed his skin, allowing hard forgotten memories of a time long ago to tease his consciousness. He didn’t want to be in Mexico. He’d rather be home in bed, preferably with Eva, but their relationship had ended over five years ago.

The reason he sat here in the bar was that his contact was deep under and would only meet at this location. If Logan Cates wasn’t the best, Jefferson would have blown him off when he got the call for the meet.

It’d been three weeks since he’d last spoken to his family. And the last time he saw Alek was when handed over the files he’d complied against Ray Garcia, head of one of the largest drug cartel families in the United States. Garcia blamed Jefferson for the death of his son. Garcia had a point. Jefferson did kill his son. The problem was Raul Garcia’s death had saved thousands of lives, and Ray Garcia shouldn’t have had access to the files naming Jefferson as taking the kill shot.

How he received his information was a mystery and one Jefferson had spent the last few weeks trying to solve. While undercover for the Benton Police Department (BPD), Jefferson had no choice but to shoot and kill Raul Garcia.

No longer moving in those circles, he called a few close undercover friends to help him discover the leak and any possible plans Garcia had against Jefferson. Cates, known for his underground information and ability to get information quickly and quietly, was the only one to contact him back.

Glancing down at his watch, Jefferson noted that Cates was late. The man was a mystery, even after all the years they knew or didn’t know each other. So was the life of a man that chose undercover work over living in the real world.

As he pulled his wallet out from his back pocket, he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

Heading out?

Jefferson stiffened, surprised by Cates’ contact. He should have heard Cates enter the quiet bar.

You’re an hour late, he stated firmly, tone calm and casual. One never knew what would set Cates off. If Cates felt something was off, he would bolt from a mission. Hell, even from a conversation. The man worked off gut instinct.

Sorry. A business meeting ran later than I intended.

Sitting back on the stool, Jefferson hazarded a glance around the rundown bar. Even in Mexico, men knew better than to fuck with Cates.

When Cates had contacted him, he informed Jefferson that the meet had to take place in Mexico as he was on his last mission. Even taking the meet with Jefferson could put his ass out on the line. However, Cates indicated that the information he’d receive was worth the risk. Jefferson and Cates never discussed missions. They developed a casual friendship during one of their undercover stings together. After that mission had been completed each went their own way. Leading Cates to only initiate contact with Jefferson when he felt his hold on reality slipping. As Jefferson had not heard from Cates, he could only assume his hold was steady or the cover he was currently working consumed a majority of his time. Jefferson only knew time would tell with his friend.

Jefferson didn’t want to put his friend in this bind, but the last set of pictures forced him to make a move. Prior to receiving those images, he would get hang up calls, pictures of him in bed. Nothing compared to the pictures he had received three weeks ago. The manila folder found under his apartment door contained pictures of his sister, his brother, and Alek at their homes, at the park, and even in compromising positions. A clear statement. However, he didn’t know who had been trying to make the statement. That was until he received a note. A note that arrived two days after the manila folder full of pictures. The note stated:

For five years, you’ve escaped my retribution. You played my son, so now I will play with you. Soon everything you love will vanish just as everything I loved vanished.

A deep churning burned through his gut to his chest. There had been only one person who had lost a son at his hands. Ray Garcia. Jefferson didn’t need a signature to know exactly who had sent the damn letter. The message had stated it clearly enough. He needed to put an end to the sick fucker once and for all.

According to the Benton Police Department, the letter didn’t contain any prints. With no prints or evidence, the police could not link the threat to Ray Garcia regardless of Jefferson’s insistence. The cops couldn’t understand why Garcia would be coming after Jefferson. Their theory included the threat as a random person he helped bust as a cop or another theory had been one of his skips he helped put away. Either way they weren’t going to look toward Ray Garcia without any real evidence.

With the letter classified as non-threatening, and the cops’ advice to watch his back, Jefferson made the decision to go to Daniel Paxton for help. Daniel Paxton, his old commander at the Benton Police Department, took the threat seriously and agreed to move a few cops to cover his family. Paxton, like Jefferson, understood the threat came from Garcia. Paxton also had been worried about how Garcia had been able to gain access to closed information. Jefferson understood that Pax might be on his side in regards to the Garcia threat. Nonetheless, Jefferson also knew he needed hard evidence linking Garcia to the pictures and to the other crimes that Jefferson knew Garcia had committed against his family. All the evidence he’d complied was circumstantial. Hence the meeting with Cates.

Cates reached out to Jefferson informing him about the collected information regarding Garcia’s plan. As he couldn’t leave Mexico due to his undercover work, Jefferson had come to him.

Jefferson?

Uh?

Listen, this information I have. I’m not real sure it’s going to do you any good. Based on the information you provided it seems you know and are doing everything in your power to protect all those around you.

If it can save my family, I don’t care if it is my name written blood, or a death contract with my name on it. I need to get him off the street and out of my family’s life. I need to know the direction he plans to head; if it is coming straight for me. Fine, I’ll lead him out and away from Benton. I just need more than the information I haven’t been able to gather.

All right. I follow you, but before I hand this over, what’s your plan? I give you what I have and you charge forward killing anyone that gets in your way? Do you lure him into a trap that leads to your death or his? Do you even have a plan?

No, I don’t plan on dying. However, it would be nice if all this resulted in his death. Look, to form a plan I need to know first how he got my name. Second, I need to know if he’s coming after me personally or my family. I should have gotten them out of Benton a long time ago. Yet I chose not to. My mistake. Now I need to rectify the situation and form a plan. Which starts with knowing if you have a known target he’s going after to get to me?

What you need to do is let others take care of this matter. Go about your normal job.

Fuck that, Cates, he hissed. If someone was stalking you, and tormenting you with pictures of your family, would you back down? Not too long ago they unleashed a hailstorm of bullets on Sloan’s, with my little sister right in the line of fire.

At the time, Jefferson hadn’t let on he knew Garcia was behind the hit. However, Jefferson wasn’t sure what to make of the shooting. No one had been killed and if Garcia wanted his sister dead she would have been. The only reason he’d fingered Garcia for the shooting had been the bullet and the note ‘G’ under it sitting right on his kitchen counter.

The longer this goes on, the sooner someone I love is going to end up dead. My family is innocent in all crimes I committed while undercover. I know it’s Garcia. I have notes from the sick bastard taunting me. Paxton has plain uniformed cops covering my family. Cops can’t link it to Garcia and even if they could there are only pictures and two notes with no fingerprints. All circum-fucking-stantial. It’s bullshit!

"Listen, I know, we all know. Those of us who have been undercover get it. It is hard. Especially when your cover has been blown."

"First, my cover wasn’t blown. It was given up after the fact. Second, I don’t know how Garcia got a hold of my cover and not just my cover, but also my real name about a month ago. So, how about you explain to me why the fuck it has taken this long for Garcia to either find me, or to finally do something about the information he was given? Cates, I need to know the who and the when, so that I can take care of this fucking situation before it gets worse. So, do you have anything or not?"

I have the name of a man who’s working in the Garcia circle that states he’s willing to give you information, if protection can be provided for his family.

Fuck. Did he give you anything, so we know he’s at least worth the effort?

He slid a small folder along the bar and straight into Jefferson’s hands. He says that Garcia is just getting started. The pictures of your family were just to inform you that he knows who you are and whom you hold close. My informant states that the games are just about to begin.

"Great, fucking great." He swallowed hard, thinking about what Garcia could possibly want besides killing him. Those thoughts led to the many images of girls Garcia had raped and beaten before selling them off to the highest bidder. Closing his eyes, he had to calm his breathing. He fisted and unfisted his hands to keep from hitting the bar.

There’s a picture in that folder that indicates who he’s going after to draw you in.

He tell you who gave me up?

He stated it was a cop.

No shit. Sarcasm radiated off his body. Did he give a name or anything?

Yeah, Dixon. States that Dixon’s sister got in so deep that the only way he could get her out was to work for the asshole Garcia.

No fucking shit. He nearly laughed, only allowing a small chuckle to escape his lips. The irony of it all hit him like a brick.

Take it you know the guy?

Yeah, the cop was taken down five weeks ago for being dirty. Not long after Dixon’s takedown, my letter showed up. It didn’t take long for me to clear out of town. No wonder the asshole was all over Keylee’s ass.

What do you mean?

Jefferson told Cates the story of how Tess Michaels had walked into Sloan’s bounty hunting business asking for help for her brother, Hunter, who was set up for drugs and a cop’s murder. There at Sloan’s, the window was shot out, and how when he walked into his apartment there on the counter stood the bullet and the note. He heard Cates whistle as Jefferson took another drink of his warm beer.

"That would explain why he’s now coming after you. You and the cops took down his boy, which to Garcia is just another blow. I can’t tell you when Garcia got your information as the CI didn’t know. What he did know was that Garcia has been planning revenge for a long time and when he had a name, the CI stated Garcia exploded. He thought you died with