The Shack series

Chapter 25

"I never wanted your name, asshole. I never wanted anything from you. I never Damning heard of you until this."

"That's immaterial, Miss Dawes, the potential was there. It would be tabloid fodder. It would make a mockery of what I've built here, of what I intend for Jason to achieve."

I saw the corner of Delaney's mouth twitch upward. I chuckled, and Delaney shook her head trying not to laugh. "So it was all for nothing."

He stared at us, puzzled, until I pulled the sheaf of papers out of my back pocket and tossed it in front of him.

"What is this?"

"A DNA test. You can buy the kits at any corner d**g store these days. We had to do this one a little more... unconventionally." I'd had to scrape bits of Jason Bradley Calloway off of the remains of his car.

"And...?"

Delaney rolled her eyes. "Jesus. Even I can understand that test. It says I'm not related to Junior and that means I can't be related to you." She shuddered "Thank God. That'd be Damning awful." She stopped suddenly. "This is like that bird movie!"

"Bird movie?" I had no idea what the hell she was talking about.

"Yeah." She nodded. "The one with the trench coat guy, the creepy guy, and that old fat guy..."

"The Maltese Falcon?"

She squinted thoughtfully. "That sounds right. I'm like that bird statue everyone was after. All that s**t happened, people died and nobody even bothered to check if it was real."

Obviously irritated, the old man picked up the papers and looked at them carefully. "If this is accurate, then I have no further interest in you." He sat back, apparently convinced he had dismissed us.

I looked at Delaney. "You think we should tell him?"

"Oh yeah, I want to see his face."

I looked at the old man. "You haven't heard from your son in a few days, have you?"

"That's not unusual, he's his own man. He travels a great deal for his racing and other sports."

"Junior won't be continuing your Legacy or anything else. He appears to have had a fatal accident." He stiffened up abruptly, face darkening, but I cut him off before he could speak. "It seems he was concerned over Delaney's potential, but it was more centered on whether or not she was going to get some of your money than your Legacy. Delaney figured out that it was either him or her, and that just didn't end well for him. Darwin, you understand. Survival of the fittest."

He studied Delaney for a moment, and from her bitter-proud expression, he knew I'd spoken the truth. I could see the shock etched on his, suddenly, much older face. "I..." He couldn't complete whatever he wanted to say.

"You can send somebody else after us, of course. Hire better people, make it interesting for us. But we'll be ready for them, and I promise you won't survive it, next time. I will burn everything you've ever built to the ground." I pulled a thumb drive out of my pocket and tossed it on his desk." And you might want to look at that before you make any decisions. Signed affidavits from a number of people regarding the way the men of your firm behave. Tara was more than a little put out by the plans you assholes made for her. There's even a couple videos on there. I'd appreciate if you would look at those in private after we leave. I don't want to expose my daughter to that shit."

Charlotte hadn't wanted to, but Tara and Tiffany were coldly relentless. With her help, and the passkey to her thumb drives, they found four more women and two young men, then convinced them that their only real hope for protection was to work with us. One of the men had managed to video one of the parties.

The shock had turned Calloway pale, but he was a hard old man and he rallied quickly. "That would child's play to defeat in court."

I chuckled. "Probably. I'm not a Damning lawyer, but you're probably right. Hell, I'll even take your word for it. So it won't be in court. It'll be in public. You'd make all the late-night talk shows. The firm you built, your name, would be just punchlines in off-color jokes. You'd be a laughingstock. A sad dirty little joke."

He studied me grimly. He knew I'd found his weakness.

"It's a failsafe. Anything happens to any of us, or to anyone who helped us, it goes to a thousand different news outlets. You couldn't suppress them all. So I'd suggest spending the money searching to see if Junior left any little bastards laying around that you could turn into your heir. He'd have slept with a snake if the snake had low enough standards, so there's a chance there are a few little Calloways slithering around."

That seemed to catch his interest. I had no doubt chasing some possible heir sounded like a much better choice than reaching his hand into the badger's den again. From everything Tara had said, he hadn't even really liked Junior; he just wanted that Legacy that was so godawful important to him.

As we headed out, I hoped that Jason Bradley Calloway, Esquire, hadn't fathered any living spawn.

Delaney looked down at her feet as we walked back towards Sally. She seemed more than a little down, so I elbowed her. "So you're the Maltese Falcon?"

A smile quirked the corner of her mouth. "Yeah, I guess I am, aren't I? We ought to watch that again; tonight is Movie Night, you know."

"You know what the makes you?"

She looked up a touch puzzled. "What?"

"The stuff dreams are made of, kid. The stuff dreams are made of." My terrible Bogie impression didn't bother her at all, she shot me a grin.

She couldn't quite shake the foot dragging mood. "What the hell is wrong with me, anyway? Everybody keeps trying to kill me."

"The bigger question is what the hell is wrong with me?"

"Why?"

"I'm the only father you've had that hasn't tried to kill you. Yet."

"Yet?"

"Just keep leaving that power sander out on the bench instead of putting it back, Thugbunny. See what happens."