Author Note: This story follows the events that happened in the final chapter of The Guilty Are Always Caught.

After getting off the phone with her cousins and informing them about what had happened at her house, Katlain called the homicide squad of the precinct where she worked so they could send detectives to inspect her place. While she waits for them to show up, she lays Katherine down in her crib until she can drive over to her cousin’s house.

Afterwards, Katlain checks some of the secret cameras inside the house to see if any of them caught anything. She had them put in years ago after a stalker broke into her house and ambushed her. She also checks the Ring footage to see if someone entered through the front door.

Several of the internal cameras caught a person dressed all in black moving through the house. From the footage's angle, Katlain manages to backtrack to where the intruder entered her home. The intruder came in through the back door and noticed they had disarmed the security system on the door.

Two police cars, the forensics team, and detectives William Knight and his partner Joyce Collins arrive at her house. While the detectives talk to her, the forensics specialist goes about determining how the intruder entered Katlain’s house.

Detective Knight looks at Katlain. “Katlain, do you know of anyone who might have a grudge against you or your husband?”

“Me, sure. But not my husband. He’s an independent trucker and a nice guy. A lot of the truckers he associates with are nice people.” Katlain has met some of the other truckers when she went on short runs with her husband.

“Katlain, I know you and your partner just got back from Washington, but do you think this has anything to do with that case?” Detective Collins knew Katlain and her partner had just gotten back from a case they had been working on.

“I doubt it. No one knew we busted knew anything about me. Here’s all the footage from all the concealed cameras I have hidden about my place.” Katlain had recorded everything to a flash drive to give to the detectives. She transferred a second copy to her cloud account for later review.

“Katlain, do you have some place you can stay tonight?” Detective Knight knew the forensic team would be busy.

“Yeah, I’m going to stay at my cousin’s place tonight.” Katlain had already packed her overnight bag and was ready to go. She did the same for her daughter as well.

“Alright, you know the boss isn’t going to let you investigate this yourself, don’t you?” Detective Collins looks at Katlain with a serious look on her face.

“Just try and stop me.” Katlain walks away from the detectives and grabs her overnight bag, as well as Katherine's.

Katlain walks out to the maverick in the garage and gets in it. She sends a text to her cousin letting them know she's on the way.

She knew the two detectives would lock her place up after they were done. She tries to keep her emotions under control as she calls a cleaner, whom she knows and trusts, to visit her place once the police and forensic team have finished. She gives them the entry code to the Ring so they can enter her place.

After forty minutes of driving, Katlain arrives at her cousin's mansion. The place was an old plantation home that her cousins bought. The house and the property came as a package deal. She pulls her maverick up to the old carriage house and parks it there. She gets out and carries Katherine and her bags up to the main house.

By the time she reached the front door, Taylor had opened the front door for her. He looks at her, “Come on in, cousin.”

“Thanks, Taylor.” Katlain enters the house and drops her bags.

“I’m sorry about your husband. He was a nice guy.” Taylor was still getting over the shock that Katlain’s husband was dead. He liked Declan and was surprised when she shared with him what had happened.

“Thanks. Also, thanks for letting me and the munchkin stay here.”

“Hey, after what happened at your place, it’s the least we can do for you. Your standard room has been made up for you. I also put the family crib in there as well.”

“Thanks, Taylor.” Katlain heads towards the bedroom she usually slept in whenever she stayed over.

Taylor followed behind his cousin as she went to the bedroom that had been made up for her. He’ll do some digging tomorrow to see who the shooter was who went after Katlain’s husband. He walks into the bedroom and drops Katlain’s bags down.

“If you’re hungry, there some luncheon meat in the frig.”

“Thanks. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Tears were already leaking down Katlain’s cheeks.

Taylor takes Katherine and places her in the crib. He turns around and wraps his arms around Katlain and holds her against his body while she cries. He could feel his shirt being soaked from her crying against his shoulder. He holds her and lets her get it out of her system.

After a while, he can feel Katlain leaning more against his body. He walks her over to the bed and makes her lie down, after folding the sheets down. He tucks Katlain in and places a kiss on her forehead. He makes sure there is a box of tissues on the nightstand next to her bed.

He walks out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. He turns and starts walking towards his home office, where he spots his twin Traver sitting at his desk.

“How is she?” Traver knew how much Katlain loved Declan.

“Right now, I would give her some time to cope. She’s broken up.” Taylor walks over to his desk and sits down.

“We need to find out who put a hit out on Declan.” Taylor looks towards his twin.

“I’m already on it. I’ve already contacted several of our people, and hopefully we’ll know something by tomorrow.” Traver has been on the phone calling all their sources for information on who put the hit out on Katlain’s husband.

“God help whoever did, because when Katlain finds out, she’s going to go nuts.” Taylor knew what Katlain would do to the person who killed her husband.

Katlain is woken up the following day by Katherine crying. Katlain didn’t want to get out of bed, but forced herself to get up and tend to Katherine.
Her poor daughter had peed her diaper and needed it changed. She goes about changing her diaper and ensuring Katherine’s bottom is dry before applying baby powder and a fresh diaper.

Katlain changes the onesie her daughter was wearing and tosses the wet onesie in the clothes hamper in the bedroom. Katlain knew the maid would be in later to tend to the bedroom. She changes out of the clothes she wore yesterday and grabs her toiletries to take a shower.

She was doing everything she could not to fall apart right now. She had so many things she needed to do today. She walks across the hall and takes a shower. She breaks down and starts crying while in the shower.

Outside:
Keli covers up a yawn as the cab she was in pulls up the long driveway leading to her uncle's place. The flight from St. Louis to Augusta, Georgia, was long and tedious. Luckily, she had a first-class ticket, thanks to her uncle’s. She was happy to escape St. Louis for a few weeks.

After all the drama surrounding her inheritance of the security company, Mr. Knight left her. Plus, the small fortune, his house, and cars had even surprised her. His relatives and children thought she had something to do with it, but she didn’t. She had been surprised that Mr. Knight had instructed his lawyer to have her come to the reading of his will.

She was even more surprised at everything he had left her. She never asked anything from him and had enjoyed taking care of him. His children, on the other hand, weren’t very nice people.

“Here we are, Ms.” The taxi driver stops in front of the main house.

Traver was alerted to the arrival of his niece when the taxi stopped at the gate. He was happy that she had finally arrived. He had stepped outside to help her with her luggage.

A smile appears on his face when Keli steps out of the cab. He could tell she had changed how she wore her hair. It was styled to look more business-like. Additionally, he noticed she was wearing business-style pants, rather than her usual blue jeans and blouse.

When the taxi pulled up to the front of the mansion, Keli noticed her uncle Traver was waiting for her. A smile appeared on her face as she was overjoyed to see her uncle. It has been almost six years since she last saw her uncles.

The last time had been when she buried her mother in St. Louis. Her uncles wanted to fly her mother’s body back to Augusta and lay her remains in the family cemetery. But her mother left instructions to have her remains buried next to her husband in St. Louis.

“Uncle Traver, it's so nice to see you.” Keli runs up to her uncle and hugs him.

She could tell the difference between her twin uncles. There were only a few people who could tell them apart.

“It’s so nice to see you as well, Kelly.” Traver never liked the way his younger sister spelled Keli’s birth name. He preferred calling her Kelly, instead of Keli. He returned her hug and could smell that she was wearing her favorite perfume. It was the same type of perfume his little sister liked wearing.

“So, how was you’re flight?” Traver pays the cab driver and gives him a hefty tip for carrying his niece’s bags into the house.

“Long and tedious. I’m so happy to be here with you and Uncle Taylor.” Keli was so glad to be back in Georgia. At least here, Mr. Knight’s relatives and children wouldn’t be bothering her.

“Are things still bad back home with Mr. Knight’s relatives?” Traver had been surprised when he received a phone call from Keli and was informed about what happened to her.

“God, yes, Uncle Traver. They have contested the will several times and seem to have no intention of stopping.” Keli was glad that each time she ended up going to court, the final judgment was always in her favor.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about anything here. I do have some bad news.” Traver shuts the front door behind him.

“What’s that, uncle?” Keli hopes it had nothing to do with her.

“You remember your cousin Katlain?”

“Yeah? Did she finally get caught stealing cars?” Keli knew her cousin was a famous car thief and had never been caught.

“No, she has gone over to the other side. She’s an Augusta police officer, and just recently her husband was found murdered in their home. She and her daughter are going to be staying here with me and Taylor for a while.”

“This is a surprise. I never knew she was married or had a daughter either.” The last Keli knew of her cousin, she was a car thief, but also worked as a model. She had no idea her cousin had gotten married or had a daughter.

“She’s only been married for about a year now, and her daughter is almost two years old.” Traver helps carry Keli’s luggage up to the other spare bedroom that had been prepared for her.

“Does the police know who killed Katlain’s husband?” Keli follows her uncle to the bedroom.

“No, but Katlain is going to be hunting the person down. She might need some help.” Traver knew Keli wasn’t in the same business as he and Katlain were.

“If I can help, I will. I just inherited a large security firm that has access to every criminal database here in the States and overseas.” Keli had been surprised by what Mr. Knight did for a living.

“That is a surprise. Mr. Knight must have liked you.” Traver was surprised by that information.

“I don’t know why he left his company to me, uncle. I didn’t do anything that would warrant such a huge gift, along with everything else I told you and Uncle Taylor about.”

“Well, you must have done something special for him to leave you all his stuff, sweetie. Now, let’s get you settled in and go out for brunch.” Traver figures Keli must be hungry.

“Okay, uncle.”

Katlain’s bedroom:
Katlain finally got done taking her shower and went back to her bedroom to get ready for the day. She still needed to feed her daughter and make arrangements to bury Declan. She’ll have to get the family's permission to bury her husband in the family plot. Which meant she’ll have to speak with her great-uncle, since her grandfather passed away a few years ago. He was the last remaining elder alive. The responsibility would pass to her cousin’s parents, since her parents were in jail on drug charges.

Katlain grabs Katherine’s baby bag and her small wallet. She texts her cousins letting them know she’ll be out and that she has Katherine with her. The first place she plans on stopping is the funeral home to pick out a coffin for her husband and make arrangements with the local burial vault company to install a burial vault once she gets permission from her aunt and uncle.

As for her own funeral arrangements, she wants to be cremated and placed with her husband.

While Katlain is out and about making funeral arrangements. Her cell phone starts alerting her that the trucking warehouse where her husband parks his eighteen wheeler, along with his backup truck is parked was being broken into.

“Hang on, Katherine.” Katlain makes a quick u turn and heads back towards the direction she came.

The warehouse was in the opposite direction she was heading. She presses down on the accelerator to give her maverick a little bit more gas. It was a good thing her maverick was souped up, because she manages to get to the warehouse in six minutes flat. She hated leaving Katherine in the car, but someone was in the warehouse.

She turns the air on, and calls the police. Katlain turns and looks at her daughter “stay put beautiful. Mommy has to go inside and catch some bad guys.”

Katlain locks the maverick, and makes way towards the warehouse. She quietly enters the warehouse. She saw the door on her husband truck cab opened. She grabs a nearby wrench and makes her way towards her husband’s truck. She could see a person inside holding a device in their hands. It looked like it was hooked into the semi’s data port. She knew the onboard computer system kept a record of every destination her husband drove. It also allowed a mechanic to diagnostic the truck as well.

“Hands up right now.” Katlain was ready to strike whoever the person was in her husband’s truck.

The figure was decked out all in black and turned their head to look towards the voice. The figure saw the woman standing near the cab door with a truck wrench in her hand. He puts the device he was holding down and jumps out of the cab towards the woman.

Katlain didn’t expect what the person in the truck was doing and before she could swing the wrench in her hand. She lands backwards on her back, with the guy standing over her. The next thing she knows, the figure punches her in the face and knocks her out.

The figure was about to get back into the truck, but hears police sirens coming towards the warehouse. He looks back towards the cab and figures he doesn’t have time to grab his device. He looks down at the woman, he should shot her before she gets back up, but he needs to get out of here.

“Katlain, wakeup!” Officer Davenport tries waking up Katlain.

Katlain starts moaning as she starts waking up. She slowly opens her eyes and spot patrol officer Davenport looking down near her. She tries to sit up, but falls back down.

“What happened Katlain?” Davenport knew Katlain owned several warehouses and was a member of a special unit inside the Augusta police department.

Katlain looks at Davenport “I was jumped by the person who killed my husband.”

“Katherine! I got to get to Katherine.” Katlian tries to get up.

“She’s fine. Officer Colley is looking after her.” Officer Davenport extends his hand down towards Katlain.

Katlain grabs Davenport’s hand and use him to pull herself up off the ground. She was still feeling a little light headed. She steady herself, using Officer Davenport for support.

“Did you managed to see who attacked you?”

“No, because he was covered from head to toe in a black suit.” Katlain slowly start to recover.

“Why was the person here?” Officer Davenport was curious.

“He was digging around inside my husband’s truck.” Katlain walks over towards her husband’s truck and saw the device still connected to the data port of the truck.

“Why don’t you go outside and get your daughter, before you do anything else.” Officer Davenport would stand guard over the semi.

“Alright.” Katlain walks outside of the warehouse and spot Officer Colley outside with Katherine.

“Thanks for looking after Katherine for me, Officer Colley.” Katlain looks at her baby girl.

“It’s a good thing you left the car running or I would have to charge you with child endangerment.” Officer Colley knew Katlain would do anything for her daughter.

“Yeah, it was a bad idea to bring my daughter with me, but I got an alert from the alarms.”

“Well, next time think about what would happen to your daughter if you hadn’t called us.” Colley hands Katherine back to Katlain.

“Thanks for looking after her, Officer Colley.” Katlain hated that she left her daughter unattended.

She walks back inside her warehouse with Officer Colley following behind her. Both of them spotted Officer Davenport looking inside the semi.

“Why did your alarm go off.” Officer Colley was curious.

“Someone was breaking into my husband’s semi. I have concealed security system on this place.” Katlain walks over to her husband’s semi and looks into the cab.

“Officer Colley, can you hold Katherine for me, please?” Katlain wanted to know what that person was looking for on the computer system.

“Sure.” Officer Colley takes Katherine back and smile at the little girl.

“What is that, Katlain?” Officer Davenport was looking at the device Katlain was holding.

“It’s a data reader. The onboard computer system records every place my husband goes. It’s a new DOT regulation because a lot of truckers
like to be dishonest and keep a double log book of their times.” Katlain goes through the menu and reads the destination of where her husband has been.

“You seem to know a lot about this system.” Officer Davenport wonders where Katlain learned this.

“Who do you think maintains his trucks.” Katlain looks at Officer Davenport when she ask that question.

“So, what could your husband be hiding in the computer system?” Officer Davenport wonders what could be so important?

“I don’t know.” Katlain downloads everything she can.

She knew her husband had a secondary destination computer in his truck for special trips he did. However, you can’t access it from the main data port. There was a hidden data port only she and her husband knew about. She disconnects from the primary one and connects to the secondary one. She downloads the information in it.

“You are going to share that info, aren’t you?” Officer Davenport heard about Katlain’s husband being murder.

“Of course I’m going to share this information.” Katlain was going to keep the secondary information to herself.

After Katlain gets everything she needs and fill out the police report. She looks towards Officer Davenport “let me transfer this information to a thumb drive for Detective Knight and Detective Collins.”

“Alright, I’m holding you to that promise.” Officer Davenport makes sure he gets his meaning across to Katlain.

“I promise, now I’m going to lock up and disable my husband’s semi, so if that person comes back. They won’t be able to access any information.” Katlain wipes the information form the onboard computer.

Afterwards, she retrieves Katherine from Officer Collins and head back to her cousins place after locking up.

When Katlain arrives back at her cousin’s place. She parks her car in front of the garage her cousin’s keeps their Bugatti in. They don’t let anyone drive them, not even her.

She picks Katherine up out of her car seat, along with the diaper bag and walk towards the house. She wanted to look at the information she retrieved from the onboard computer system. She uses her electronic key to enter her cousin’s place.

Katlain heads upstairs to her bedroom to look at the thumb drive. She brought the data reader with her. She could tell it was a custom job. It didn’t look like any that she owned.

Katlain lays Katherine down in her crib and pull out her laptop, from her computer bag. She turns the laptop on and enter her passcode. She plugs the thumb drive in and bring up the program she uses to access the data. She scans the routes and none of them seemed to be out of the ordinary. Most of the deliveries were standard contracts her husband had with different companies.

While she is scanning the thumb drive, her cellphone beeps, alerting her to a new text. She stops what she is doing and looks at her cell phone. She notices that text was from Billy Jack. He was a friend of her husband’s. He was letting her know that Casey Knoxs and her husband were found dead at Stocker’s Truck Stop this morning.

The text had a link to a photo one of the truckers took. She clicks on the link and saw several police cars and coroner there. The photo showed the bodies covered up as they were taken out of the cab, but when she enlarged the picture. There was blood dripping out of the cab.

She knew Casey Knoxs and her husband. She met them when she traveled with her husband last spring. She took some time off from work and traveled with her husband with Katherine. She ask Billy Jack to let her know when the funeral is and that she is willing to donate money to the family.

Katlain goes back to examining the data on the thumb drive. She switches over to the secret data she downloaded. She notices there were several unauthorized routes her husband went. She checks the GPS coordinates to where the routes lead to. The places seemed to be ordinary houses, a few farms, and a few warehouses that could hide the semi inside without any problems.

All of them were out of state, so she would have to take time off from work to drive out to the nearest one. As for the assassin that attack her husband and the one, she found in her husband’s truck. She needs to track who they were and why they came after her husband and did they have anything to do with the death of Casey Knoxs and her husband.

She looks over towards Katherine and notices her little girl fell asleep. She really needs to bring her bouncy chair so her daughter can have some fun. Since Katherine was asleep, Katlain leaves her bedroom to see if her cousins were still home or if they went to their night club.

Katlain checks the house, and ask some of the maids if her cousins are home, but learn they left with her cousin. She couldn’t leave Katherine by herself in the house. There were days she hated the fact she was a mother. However, there were also days, she wouldn’t trade being a mother for all the tea in China.

She needs to find out who the assassin was. Katlain sends a text to her friend Rat. He had connections she didn’t. Normally, she would use Red, but he wasn’t available right now.

Since Katherine was upstairs asleep, she walks into the kitchen and make herself some lunch. She knew it might take Rat some time to get back to her. While Katlain is fixing some lunch, the casket company she used calls to informed her that they have to have the casket she selected brought in.

Katlain tells them that is fine, because the medical examiner wanted a little extra time. It seemed the morgue was a little backed up. She hangs up after that and hopes Rat gets back to her soon.

The Black Orchid Club:
Keli was amazed when she walked into her uncle’s club. She has never been in her uncle’s club before. She was too young to be allowed the last time she was here.

“So, what do you think of it, Keli?” Taylor and Traver look at their niece.

“It looks really nice. I bet you guys do a lot of business.” Keli looks at her uncle’s.

“We do pretty good. How are the clubs out in St. Louis?” Traver looks at his niece.

“I don’t know uncle Traver. I was so busy trying to get my nursing degree, that I didn’t have time for anything else. When Mr. Knight hired me to look after him. I spent all my time taking care of him.”

“That’s what makes you such a good person, Keli.” Traver and Taylor were proud of their niece.

“Thank you.” Keli hugs her uncle’s.

The three of them head upstairs to Traver and Taylor’s office. They show Keli their office and have drinks brought up for them. Keli liked how her uncle’s office was decorated.

She wonders if her uncles can help her with the problem of Mr. Knight’s family taking her to court again.

The Black Orchid Club:
Keli was enjoying the time she was spending with her uncles. They had some work to do, so Keli toured the club itself. It was still morning and the club wouldn’t open until noon time. She saw where the employees changed and where her uncles had a room set up for visiting bands.

While Keli is walking around enjoying how her uncle's club is set up. Her cellphone beeps informing her that several emails have arrived. She looks at the emails that she received and notices one of them is from the same law firm that has been coming after her about the inheritance she received from Mr. Knight.

She started reading the email and couldn’t believe that she was being taken to court again over the inheritance. This time she was being accused of causing Mr. Knight’s death by giving him the wrong medication. She knew that was false because she kept a journal of every medication, she gave Mr. Knight and what time she gave it.

The lawyer she had on retainer was good, but it was costing her money. She looks up towards her uncle’s office and wonders if they could help her. She knew they had a way of making people leave them alone.

She didn’t know very well, because she had been out in St. Louise going to school and working. She knew her mother wanted to get away from Augusta for a reason. What it was, her mother never told her.

She puts her cell phone back in her pocket and heads back upstairs to her uncle’s office. She knocks before she enters, just in case they are on the phone. As she walked in, she was glad she did knock, because her uncle Trevor was talking on the office phone to someone.

She walks over and sits down in one of the leather chairs in front of her uncle Taylor’s desk. She knew he was balancing the books. She knew her uncle Taylor handled the books and her uncle Trevor ran the club and made sure everything was running smoothly.

Taylor noticed something was on his and Trevor’s niece. He wonders what is bothering her “What’s wrong, Keli?”

Keli took a deep breath before she spoke. “Mr. Knight’s relatives are suing me again. They are accusing me of giving him the wrong medication and I know I didn’t because I kept a log of everything, I gave him and what time I gave him the drug.”

“When did you just find out about the lawsuit?” Taylor looks at his niece.

“A few minutes ago, while I was exploring downstairs.” Keli pulls out her cell phone and shows her uncle the email.

Taylor accepts Keli’s cell phone and reads the email. He hands the cell phone back to his niece.

“Will your lawyer be able to handle this lawsuit?” Taylor hopes his niece has a lawyer.

“Yes sir, it's expensive and I can’t access the money Mr. Knight left while the lawsuit is going on.”

“Don’t worry about the money sweetie. Also, I’m going to get our lawyer on this as well. He’s a shark and takes no prisoners.”

“Thank you, Uncle Taylor.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie.” Taylor knew Keli had a nice soul and didn’t need this hassle.

Back at Trevor and Taylor’s Place:
Katlain was wondering what steps she needed to take next. She knew Katherine would be safe with her cousins and niece. But she still had her husband's funeral to deal with. While she was watching the news, a story about two truck drivers dying caught her attention. According to the story, their rigs blew up while they were on the highway. She knew it took a lot to blow up a diesel engine.

Diesel wasn’t as volatile as gasoline. The newscaster was withholding the names of the truckers who were killed from their trucks exploding. There was also a new story about several warehouses and a church in Tennessee that caught fire. The reporter suggested that initial reports are suggesting that it might be arson.

They found bodies at the church and are having a difficult time identifying who they are. According to the news report, two of the bodies were children. Katlian picks her cell phone up and calls the local police department to investigate the fire.

She BS’s the detective she is talking to. Because she knew if they were like any of the detectives she worked with. They won’t release very much details about what happened.

What information she manages to get from the detective working on the case, she records. After she gets off the phone with the detective. She inputs the address into her laptop along with the two warehouses and all three line up with the destination that her husband stopped at. She sits back and just looks at the information.

“What were you doing there, sweetie?” Katlian looks at the information and tries to think like her husband. Also, she wanted to know who the attacker was she encountered at her garage.

She needed more information and there were only three people she knew who might be able to help. One of them was in the penitentiary here in Georgia. The other person was in the supermax in Colorado and the last person, was free, but no one knew where he was.

She could use her police clearance to visit the penitentiary. But she needed to find someone to watch her daughter before she went to the penitentiary. She’ll ask her cousins tonight when she sees them when they get home.

Central State Prison, Macon, Ga.:
Katlain sips her coffee as she drives down the interstate toward Macon, Ga. It was where the person she needed to talk to was kept. She was glad that Trevor and Taylor offered to take care of Katherine for her. She didn’t know how long she was going to be gone. Her second cousin Keli was thrilled to take care of Katherine, along with her cousins.

Katlain finishes her coffee and leaves the empty coffee cup in the cup holder. She gets off the interstate and pulls into a Circle K parking lot. She gets out of her armored Jeep Renegade and rushes inside to use the bathroom.

When she exits from the bathroom, she notices the cashier is being held up by a figure wearing a grey hoodie. She doesn’t spot anyone else in the store. So, she moves quietly up towards the front of the store, stopping briefly to grab a can from the shelf. She waits as the person turns around and throws the can right into the face of the robber.

Just as the robber gets hit in the face by a can, she moves quickly and knocks the guy out. She tears strips from the figure's hoodie and ties his hands behind his back with them. She looks up towards the cashier “Does this happen often around here?”

Mary couldn’t believe what just happened to her. First, she was being held at gunpoint and told to empty the drawer. Then the next thing she knew, a woman with light brunette hair was taking the robbery down.

“No ma’am. What are you?” Mary was curious about this woman.

“I’m an off-duty police officer just passing through. Go ahead and call your local law official. I’ll wait around until they arrive.”

“Alright.” Mary does as she was told to do.

While Katlain was waiting for the police to show up, she fixed herself a large cup of coffee and a bear claw. She goes up to the counter to pay for it.

“It’s on the house, ma’am. It’s the least I can do for what you did for me.” Mary wasn’t going to charge the woman who just saved her life.

“Thanks.”

The police finally show up and Katlain explains what she did after she came out of the bathroom. She didn’t know the guy was there and just reacted. The officer taking her statement looks at her “Thank you for stopping this, guy. He’s robbed four other convenience stores in the area in the past twenty-four hours.”

“I’m glad I could help, Officer Badillo.” Katlain throws away the empty coffee cup and the wrapper for the bear claw.

She goes to the bathroom one more time before leaving the store. She needs to go in and get a checkup. She was going to the bathroom too much. She gets into her Jeep and gets back onto the Interstate.

An hour later, she arrives at Central State Prison. She looks at the place as she parks her jeep and gets out. She hasn’t been up here since her parents got arrested. Her father was in this prison, along with her uncle Charles Salerno. He was the mob boss of Atlanta, Georgia, before an undercover FBI agent busted him and several of his men. The rest managed to get off the charges they were arrested for, but not her uncle and his top four men. The government had a serious hard-on for them and they ended up being separated and sent to different prisons. Her uncle, however, was sent here along with her father.

She checks in with the prison guard and undergoes a search. The last time she came here was when she was just twelve years old. Her father wanted her to smuggle in some drugs for him. He knew the guards would never strip-search a child.

She is taken to the visitation area where a wall of glass and a phone are hung. She waits as the guards bring her uncle into the room on the other side of the glass. She could tell he was looking good.

Charles had wondered who was coming to see him. He never got that many visitors, so to his surprise, when he walked into the visitation room, he spotted his niece waiting. A smile appears on his face because he has been hearing a lot of things about her.

He sits down and picks the phone receiver up. He watches as she does the same.

“Hello, uncle. You’re looking well.” Katlain figures she should start politely before asking her uncle questions.

“So, are you dear? I heard you adopted a little girl and got married. Is that true?” Charles heard about the hit on Katlain’s husband.

“Yes, here’s a picture of my little angel.” Katlain shows a photo of her daughter and husband. She knew the guards would take her cell phone, so she brought a photograph of her family with her.

“You’ll have to bring her up here for me and your father to meet, dear. So, what brings you to a terrible place like this?” Charles figures it had to be about her husband.

“I was wondering if you might know who put the hit out on my husband and several truck drivers as well.” Katlain knew this was shot in the dark, but her uncle had ears inside the prison.

“Why does it matter to you, if a few truckers are killed?” A puzzled look appears on Charle’s face.

“Because they were friends of my husband, now what the hell is going on?” Katlain wasn’t going to play this mouse and cat game with her uncle.
Charles's face becomes a little angry with his niece’s tone “Watch who you are talking to, Katlain, or this meeting is over.”

Katlain takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. She looks her uncle right in his eyes through the glass separator “I don’t take kindly to people killing people I consider friends. I also don’t take very kindly to someone killing my husband either. If I remember correctly, that was something even you were against. So, you know how I feel right now.”

Charles looked into his niece’s eyes and could see that she meant business. He wonders if she can deal with the new group that has expanded into Georgia.

“I don’t know who put the hit out, but why they put it out. Your husband and the other truckers who have recently died are members of a group of truck drivers that help trafficked women. Since the police can’t be everywhere, and since there are more truckers than cops.”

“Which means truckers can do more for these women. So, whoever is going after truckers like my husband and his friends, it’s out of revenge for them sticking their noses into their business.”

“Right, which means you need to be careful. Because these people aren’t afraid of cops and feds. They will come at you when you less expect it.” Charles would hate to see his niece murdered.

“Do you know how I can get in contact with whoever received these orders?” Katlain knew there had to be a place or person who received these jobs.

“Go to the dark web and you’ll find it.” Charles knew you could find almost anything on the dark web.

“Thank you, uncle. I owe you one.”

“Remember that when I come to collect. Now, why don’t you tell me why you are on the other side of the road?” Charles wanted to know why Katlain was no longer stealing cars and doing a few other things.

“Because, I grew disenchanted with that lifestyle, uncle. I have a daughter now and I had a wonderful husband. I wanted to do right by them. I don’t want to end up in a place like this like the rest of my family who choose this lifestyle.” Katlain knew this life wasn’t for her. Stealing cars and other things was a thrill that she was addicted to.

Drugs and dirty bombs weren’t what she was into. Nor was forcing women to sell their bodies for pimps either. She could have gone into any of those fields, including selling illegal weapons.

“I never thought you would end up like me or your parents, you're way too smart for that. Even when you used to be the opposite gender.”
Charles remembered when Katlian had been born a boy, but he never had the same interest as the other boys in the family. He was always different.

Katlain stays until she is told her time is up. She would hug her uncle, but couldn’t. She watches as he is escorted away. She gets her things returned to her and walks out to the parking lot.

Just as Katlian emerged from the prison gate, and was walking back to her jeep. A figure dressed all in black and riding a motorcycle comes speeding into the parking lot. The figure aims his sub-machine gun at Katlain and fires at her. The first shots miss her, but the next three shots hit her.

The bullets hit her left shoulder, right above her heart, and her right shoulder. She drops to the ground as the person rides off. She hears the guards sound the alarm as several guards come out to her.

Katlain tries to stay conscious, but finds it hard to do. She passes out from shock and blood loss. She opens her eyes temporarily and notices lights overhead, and passes out again.

The next time she wakes up, she is hooked up to a bunch of medical machines. A young woman is sitting next to her hospital bed. Katlain didn’t know who she was or why she was in her hospital room.

Kelli had gotten a message from Taylor about his cousin being shot. He was her emergency contact, but couldn’t come to the hospital where she was. So, he asked if she could go to the hospital and check on her.

Kelli didn’t mind checking on Taylor’s cousin. It was just another favor he owed her. She lied and said that Taylor was her husband and said he was unavailable to come.

She looks over at Katlian and notices she is awake. A smile appears on her face. “Well, welcome back to the living, Mrs. Zane.”

“Where am I?” Katlian felt a tightness in her chest.

“You’re in Bell Haven Hospital. You were shot three times; luckily for you, two of the bullets went straight through. Unfortunately, they had to remove a bullet from your chest area. You’re extremely lucky that the bullet didn’t hit your heart.” Kelli had spoken to the doctor who operated on Katlain.

“Who are you? And where is my cousin?” Katlain had no idea who this young woman was sitting next to her bed.

“I’m Kelli Hart, and I work for your cousins. They are paying me to be your bodyguard, and they said this isn’t negotiable.” Kelli had been given a breakdown on who Katlain Zane was.

“I don’t need a bodyguard. I’m capable of taking care of myself.” Katlain tries sitting up, but falls backward.

“Current events would suggest that isn’t true. Look, I know you’re a cop and a former car thief, but that is all and good. However, you seemed to have drawn the attention of a dangerous group, and they want you dead. Your cousins are concerned for your safety and don’t want their niece to lose her mother.” Kelli had heard rumors that Katlain was responsible for stopping a dirty bomb attack by a white supremacist group, bringing down a powerful drug leader down, and for jailing several corrupt police officers.

“Fine, since I don’t have a choice in the matter.” Katlain hated backing down, but her cousins and Kelli both had a point that if something happened to her, Katherine would be left without a mother. Katherine just lost a father; she couldn’t let Katherine lose a mother as well.

“So, what do you have in mind?” Katlain looks at Kelli for an answer.

“First, you’re going to heal up some before you go back out in the field. While you are healing here. Give me the information you have, and I’ll check into it while you recover here.” Kelli figures Katlain would be safe in the hospital.

“Okay. Take my jeep, it's lightly armored and will protect you. There’s also a weapons locker in the back compartment with a sniping rifle and a few other weapons, including grenades and flash bangs.”

“Where did you get…, never mind.” Kelli didn’t want to know where Katlain got the weapons she described.

“Good answer.” Katlain knew the paramedics would have put her items in the nightstand next to her bed.

“The keys should be in the nightstand with my other items.” Katlain looks over towards the nightstand.

“I thought with you being a former car thief, you wouldn’t use just a key.” Kelli opens the drawer on the nightstand.

“I don’t. There’s a hidden switch on the floor that looks like the old-style headlight switch. Most people have forgotten about those. You need to step on it for the jeep to start.” Katlain wasn’t going to tell Kelli she also had a kill switch app on her cellphone in order to cut her jeep off and lock the person in the car.

“That is sneaky.” Kelli forgot about the old floor switch used to flip the headlights from low beams to high beams.

“Oh, I have more tricks up my sleeve, but I’ll save those for later.” A smile appears on Katlain’s face.

“All right, now I need to know what you were going to do next.” Kelli knew that with Katlain being a cop and a former car thief, she would have connections.

“I need to talk with a friend of mine, who is a computer hacker, to find out who I’m dealing with. My contact in the prison said the contract was put on the dark web.”

“Who’s your computer hacker friend?” Kelli had a good memory and didn’t need to write anything down.

“He goes by his online name of Rat.”

“Rat? Seriously? Why Rat?” Kelli wonders why anyone would call themselves a Rat.

“Let’s just say, he isn’t very social. Also, I never bothered to ask him. However, once he befriends you, he cherishes that friendship.”

“Well, I will need to talk with him.” Kelli likes meeting people face-to-face.

“I’ll arrange it.” Katlain reaches for her cellphone, but winces in pain.

“Here, let me.” Kelli hands Katlain her cellphone.

“Thanks.” Katlain accepts it. She takes a picture of Kelli and texts Rat about meeting with Kelli. She sends the picture, so Rat will know what Kelli looks like.

Kelli notices what Katlain did with taking her picture. She figures it was for her friend Rat.

“I take it that was for Rat?”

“Yes, like I said, he’s not very social and doesn’t trust many people.”

Rat’s Place, Augusta, Georgia:
It was late in the afternoon when Kelli arrived at Rat’s Townhouse. She had driven Kat’s Jeep and hit the kill switch. She gets out and looks at the brick townhouse in front of her. She could hear club music coming from inside. She also spotted a hidden camera looking towards her.

She walks up to the storm door and notices Rat has one of those new Ring doorbells. She presses the silver button and waits for him to answer. She noticed the neighborhood he lived in had neatly trimmed lawns and cars that very from midsize to trucks and SUVs.

Rat gets a notification on his computer screen letting him know someone was at his front door. He clicks on the alert and spots a young woman with shoulder-length light brown hair standing outside his front door. He compares the video to the picture that Kat sent him. It matches the picture. He pauses the search he was doing and heads towards the front door.

Kelli breathes in and listens to the club music playing behind the door. After a few seconds, the door opened, and standing on the other side was a young man around her and Kat’s age. He had unkempt grey hair and pink color eyes.

“You must be Rat, I’m Kelli.” Kelli holds her hand out to shake.

Rat looked at the young woman and saw that she had hazel eyes. A cute face and a nice body. He reaches out and shakes her hand. “How do you know Kat?”

“I work for her cousins.” Kelli figures honesty is the best policy.

“Come in.” Rat knew Kat’s cousins and had done jobs for them off and on, including doing DJ jobs at some of their other clubs.

“Thanks.” Kelli walks into the townhouse and waits for Rat.

Rat shuts the door and leads Kelli into his private office. He had used the remote to turn down the music playing in the house.

“How is she?” Rat was a close friend and Kat meant a lot to him.

“She’s recovering. She’s going to be in the hospital for a few days.” Kelli looks around as they pass a few rooms and notices the house is kept extremely clean. She figures Rat must suffer from OCD.

“Kat speaks very highly of you. How long have the two of you known each other?” Kelli was curious about Kat’s and Rat’s relationship.

“Since we met at one of her cousins’ clubs. I was DJing the music there.” Rat ushers towards a seat in what was to be the den, but was filled with all sorts of computerized equipment.

“She never said that you were a DJ.” Kelli noticed all the equipment in the room. She sits down in a chair near Rat’s desk.

“She doesn’t always tell everything. However, what she had me look into goes back to a case I worked with her on.”

“Oh?” Kelli was surprised.

“Yes, the person who has taken a contract out on her is Ventusky Ricci.” Rat found the information after reaching out to a friend who also had a black site.

“Okay, so if he put a contract out on Kat. Who put the contract out on her husband?” Kelli was curious.

“There’s been chatter on the dark web about hits against a group of truckers.” Rat had found a couple of offers to kill certain truckers.

“Do you know why and who was posting the request/offer?” Kelli was curious.

“No, but I am hunting them down right now. Whoever they are, they have some serious computer training.” Rat taps a few keys on his keyboard.

“So, the person who came after Kat was hired by Ventusky Ricci. And the person who killed Kat’s husband and the other truck driver was hired
by someone else. Now, that brings up the question of why?” Kelli wanted to know who had a grudge against Kat’s husband and the other truck drivers.

“You might want to see if Kat might know.” Rat turns and looks at Kelli.

“I think you're right.” Kelli stands up and looks at Rat.

“Do you mind if I stay in contact with you during this investigation and afterwards?”

“I don’t mind. I’ll keep digging to find out who is going after truckers.” Rat wasn’t going to give up.

“Okay, thanks. I might know someone who might be able to help as well.” Kelli had a few contacts among the different truck stops and repair shops in the state.

Kelli lets herself out and walks towards Kat’s Jeep. She gets in and drives towards the nearest truck repair shop that she had a contact at.