“Why you—” Maverick said, standing up.
“Hey, Maverick, let’s go raid Crewe’s kitchen. I’m starving and I had something to run by you,” Halligan said, standing and hoping that Maverick followed him into the kitchen. At the swing of the door behind him, Halligan opened the refrigerator.
“There’s some cold pizza Crewe made last night that we could heat up for a snack,” Halligan offered.
“Did you really have something to discuss, or were you trying to keep me from pounding some sense into my Secretary?” Maverick asked, taking a slice of the cold pizza and biting off a chunk.
“A bit of both. I was thinking about the front of the bar and how it’s exposed from a lot of angles. I know we’ll have snipers but what about if we only gave Franco one option to come into the parking lot?” Halligan asked.
“Like how?” Maverick asked, taking another slice of the cold pizza and finishing it in three bites.
“We have our trucking company. I was considering bringing a couple of our semis over and parking them on the street and in the parking lot in a way that would basically funnel Franco’s vehicles where we wanted them,” Halligan said.
Halligan waited while Maverick ate another slice of pizza, thinking through his suggestion.
Nodding, Maverick grabbed a piece of paper. “If we had one in your delivery area blocking the entrance to the kitchen, one here in front of the bar in the street, and one in the parking lot directly in front of the bar, he’d have no choice but to enter from this way. It’s a great idea because it would allow us to focus our efforts and not have to watch all entrances.”
Halligan smiled. He hoped Franco had enjoyed the hotel and the meal last night because his days of being happy and in charge were over.
Chapter Fourteen
Loni sat on the couch and then got up and paced across the room and back. She’d been talking with Elijah and Morgan about racing. She appreciated the boys trying to distract her, but she needed to move.
Peck, Burt, and Bill had gone on alert after Schaefer had notified them that Franco’s motorcade was five miles out of Dodge City. Her brother wouldn’t stop until he completed whatever plan was in his head.
She’d never thought she was the type of woman who would consider ending someone’s life, but if it came down to losing someone here or her brother dying, her brother would need to die.
Peck, Burt, and Bill’s phones all went off. They scooted closer to confer and Loni couldn’t handle it. She walked over. She was all for the plan, but if she needed to help now, she wasn’t standing idly by.
“What’s going on?” Loni asked.
Burt and Peck stayed silent, staring at Bill.
“Two of our wells and the outbuildings beside them were hit with explosives. They’re both on fire. Police and fire are responding,” Bill said.
“It’s Franco,” Loni said. He had to have a reason to hit the wells besides him being mad at her and Halligan. Then it hit her like a light bulb moment.
“He’s diverting all the police and fire to the wells. With the fire danger of it spreading to fields because it’s windy, he’s hoping that all the first responders won’t be anywhere near here. Do any of you need to go? I can see him leaving someone behind to pick off any of the family that went to check the status,” Loni said.
“Halligan has a good second in command. He’s already been in contact with him. I agree with you, Loni, as does Halligan. It’s a diversion but it’s also a tell. He doesn’t have the element of surprise. We know he has grenade launchers because that’s what our people reported seeing before the wells exploded. He gave up a key piece of his attack plan, which gives us an advantage,” Bill said.
Loni understood that. What worried her was that her brother wasn’t concerned with catching the attention of authorities in Dodge City, which told her that he considered himself above everyone here. If Franco wasn’t stopped here, then who would stop him?
“Hey Loni, how about you come start a list of what needs to be done to the apartment to have a baby there?” Morgan suggested.
Loni turned toward Morgan. “Are you trying to give me busywork?” she asked.
“Is it working? I mean, the apartment has four large bedrooms, though one of them is Halligan’s gaming system, but I was just curious if you’d thought about what you’d like there. Do you need an office to continue designing cars?” Elijah asked.
These two were the sweetest, trying to distract her from worrying. There wasn’t anything she could do to help Halligan besides leave him alone. Maybe if she concentrated on the apartment, then she wouldn’t feel the need to call Halligan and check on him.
She walked back over and sat down. “Now, tell me about this gaming system taking up one of the bedrooms,” she said.
Halligan stood behind Schaefer, looking over his shoulder.
“Will you step back? I can’t work with your breathing down my neck. It’s distracting,” Schaefer said.
Halligan huffed and walked away. He wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t used to waiting for something. In business, he made a decision and moved on. Halligan had hoped that Franco wouldn’t target any of their wells, but he’d had contingencies in place if Franco did. Unfortunately, he couldn’t protect all their wells, and the two Franco had hit, Halligan had discounted them because they were farther out of town. Hindsight was twenty-twenty. Of course, Franco would want ones within the Dodge City area but far enough away to pull first responders from anywhere close to the bar.
