Kick Start: Dangerous Ground 5 by Josh Lanyon Read Free Book Online

out.
     
     
    “Any regrets about leaving the DSS?” Bill asked, passing the basket of cornbread to Taylor.
    Will winced inwardly, but Taylor caught his eye and winked. “Nah,” Taylor said. “We were ready for a change. This way we get to be our own bosses and take vacation when we need it.”
    “Like now,” Will said.
    “And you boys are working as private eyes or what exactly?”
    That was the question, wasn’t it? The ongoing debate between them.
    “Mercenaries?” Cousin Dennis said, showing his first interest in the suppertime conversation. It was easy to forget about Cousin Dennis. He sort of blended into the oak paneling.
    “Global security consultants,” Will said.
    Taylor gave Cousin Dennis a narrow look. “Definitely not mercenaries.” He did not like mercenaries in any way, shape or form. They’d had a few arguments on the topic over the years. Will had friends who’d moved from the military to mercenary work for companies like Blackwater. He saw it as a viable option. Not for himself, but for a certain kind of guy, yeah.
    Taylor, not so much, and Will smiled inwardly at his tone. He caught Grant’s scowl, and his amusement faded. He was stupid not to have foreseen Grant’s reaction to his coming out, but Will hadn’t spent a lot of time with Grant over the last decade. The fact was, he didn’t really know the adult Grant all that well. It was a sad thought.
    “There’s good money in mercenary work,” Cousin Dennis said, showing an unexpected streak of stubbornness.
    “It’s not just about money,” Taylor said.
    “Not that we have anything against money,” Will said cheerfully. He nudged Taylor’s boot under the table.
    Taylor’s mouth quirked but he went back to eating his chili.
    “Nothing wrong with a steady paycheck,” Bill said. “But a man has to be able to look himself in the eye every morning.”
    “What does that mean?” Cousin Dennis said. “You can look at yourself in the mirror or you can look someone in the eye, but how do you look yourself in the eye?”
    “Eat your cornbread and shut up, Cousin Dennis,” Bill said pleasantly, and Taylor laughed.
    “Anybody want another beer?” Will asked, rising.
    “I will,” Cousin Dennis said. Taylor nodded. Will’s father shook his head.
    Grant said suddenly, “Jem Dooley got released from prison last week.”
    “Let’s not ruin a good meal talking about the Dooleys,” Bill said in a tone Will remembered well from his youth.
    “Have you heard from him?” Will asked his father, frowning.
    “Nope. And I don’t expect to.”
    Will had gone to school with Jem Dooley, with all the Dooleys. No-accounts and troublemakers pretty much summed them up. Jem had taken his no-account status to a whole new level when he’d tried to rob a local gas station and ended up killing the owner when the man had opened fire on him. Bill Brandt had been the Columbia County Sheriff at the time, and it had been his job to track Jem to Deer Island and arrest him. It had not endeared the Brandts to the Dooleys. Not that they had ever been neighborly exactly. But after Jem went to prison, it had felt more like the Hatfields and the McCoys. No one had been killed, but it had come close a couple of times.
    Jem had sworn to seek revenge on Bill Brandt once he got out of prison, but he’d had his sentence extended twice for committing assault and battery on fellow inmates, so Will had started thinking Jem would spend his entire life behind bars.
    Will continued his trip out to the kitchen to get the beer. He could hear Cousin Dennis asking, “Who are the Dooleys?”
    He sounded like an easterner to Will. Not Jersey. Not New York. Maybe Connecticut? Maryland? Not a tough guy. Definitely not a tough guy. A smart-mouth. A too-smart-for-his-own-good guy. Maybe an accountant or a business owner who’d made the mistake of hooking up with the wrong partner. It happened.
    “A local family with more than their share of bad luck,” Bill said with