by Terri Reed
Watching the beautiful evergreens burn hurt Kaitlyn’s heart. The only saving grace was the snow on the outer branches slowing the fire’s progress. She prayed the fire didn’t jump the perimeter fence and set off a forest fire across the mountain.
“I’ll hold the hose while you turn the water on,” Kaitlyn told him. Her numb hands struggled to grip the round rubber hose.
Soon a spray of water arched out of the end of the hose, hitting the trees. At least they could keep the cinders from reaching the house.
The sound of sirens brought a wave of relief cascading through her. Overhead, a forest service air tanker flew past, dropping water on the trees.
“Kaitlyn.” Nick dropped the hose. “The fire department is here. They’ll take care of the trees.”
Large sprays of water arched over the tops of the trees from the other side of the fence, dousing the flames.
“Come on.” Nick tugged at her. “We need to open the gate for the fire department. I need your help.”
The plea grabbed her attention. She couldn’t let him go alone. She had to make sure the arsonists didn’t make it onto the property.
She was surprised to see the paved driveway had been plowed. “Who did this?”
“Collin keeps the driveway clear,” Nick replied as he ran beside her.
The cold air burned her lungs as she ran. At the large metal gate, Nick punched in a code. Kaitlyn slipped past the gate before it was fully open and met the fire chief and the sheriff where they were coordinating the effort to put out the fire.
“I didn’t see what started the fire,” she told them. “But it was on the backside of the fence.”
The chief moved away to consult with his men.
“Kait,” Nick called from the fire truck, waving. “I’m going with them.”
His apparent glee at riding in a fire truck was apparent and so endearing. Despite the circumstances, she smiled and waved back.
Alex said, “Daniel is on horseback, riding along the outside fence to make sure there are no hidden fires. Or bad guys.”
“I should be with him,” she said as she tugged her phone from her pocket. “I could have my father bring my horse.”
“Kaitlyn.”
Alex’s sharp tone froze her in place. “Sheriff?”
“Take a breath,” he said, his expression softening. “You’ve done your part.”
She wanted to do more. However, the unrelenting expression on his face made her acquiesce. With effort, she worked to calm her racing pulse as she watched the firefighters work. The urge to join in was strong, but she knew she’d only get in the firefighters’ way.
Doing nothing chafed. Because she couldn’t help with the fire or join Daniel, she paced, keeping a sharp eye out for any signs of the bad guys trying to worm their way past the gate.
Finally, the fire was out, and the chief came to report. “We found shards of glass and evidence of gasoline. I suspect a few Molotov cocktails were thrown over the fence. Despite the snow we’ve had, the trees ignited.”
Arson, just as Kaitlyn had suspected.
Alex gave Kaitlyn a ride back to the house in his department-issued SUV. “Are you prepared to stay, or should I assign Chase or Daniel to take over for you?”
Weary, yet wired, Kaitlyn leaned her head back against the headrest. “I’m fine. I’m not going to let anything prevent me from doing my job.”
Alex’s approval shone in his eyes as he brought the SUV to a halt in front of the house. “Okay. I’ll wait at the gate until it’s closed before I head back to town.”
“Thank you.” She climbed out of the car and walked to the front door.
When she entered the house, Nick was waiting in the entryway for her. He was badly in need of a shower. Soot streaked his handsome face, and his hair stood on end. She could only imagine how horrible she looked. “Rosie?”
His tender gaze made Kaitlyn’s insides turn to mush. “She’s safe with Margaret and Collin.”
Knowing everyone was safe allowed the adrenaline letdown to sweep through her, making her limbs shake. “Can you have Collin shut the gate after the sheriff?”
“I will do it,” Nick said. “You look beat. We both need to wash away the grime. We can meet in the library later. Take your time. You’ve earned it.”
“The backyard is a mess,” she said. “There’s cleanup that needs to be done there.”
“It can wait,” he said, shooing her up the stairs.
Giving in to his suggestion, she nodded. Fatigue settled in her bones, making her steps heavy. She’d told Alex she wouldn’t be run off this protection detail because she didn’t want to let anyone down. Especially Nick and baby Rosie. Their lives were in her hands.
* * *
After a warm shower and change of clothes, Nick spent some time with Rosie before feeding her a bottle and putting her down for a late afternoon nap. He entered the library and found Kaitlyn sitting on the couch, barely able to keep her eyes open. The woman was a machine. At some point she was going to need to rest.
The sun, low in the sky, cast shadows through the room. He grabbed two bottles of water from the mini fridge in the corner.
“What made you decide to join your father and brother here in Bristle Township?” she asked, her voice soft, as if she didn’t have the energy for more.
The question came out of the blue. Taking a seat next to her, he handed her a cool bottle of water. “Ian came to see me in New York after the house was completed to invite me for a visit.” Nick twisted his lips. “Little did I realize he had an ulterior motive, but I shouldn’t have been surprised.”
“What did he want? I’ve always had the feeling Ian was more in charge than he let on.”
Letting out a small, affection-filled laugh, Nick nodded. “You’re not wrong. My big brother wanted for us to be a family again.” He shook his head. “I thought maybe he’d sustained a head injury or something. But our father’s health is declining, and Ian’s determined that we have the remaining years with him together, as a family.” With a shrug, he added, “I’d had no intention of sticking around for more than a few days when I first arrived.”
Genuine curiosity brightened her gaze. “What made you stay?”
He stared at her for a moment. “The beauty of the mountains. The town and the people here.”
Was that fond regard in her pretty eyes? Or maybe only a trick of the shadows.
Was she one of the reasons he’d stayed?
The question echoed through his brain.
Of course not. That would be ridiculous.
Still, the idea warmed him from the inside out. But he chose to keep that tidbit to himself. A little secret that maybe one day he’d share with her.
* * *
Kaitlyn couldn’t shake the feeling that Nick was keeping something from her. Something important. But what, she couldn’t guess.
Hearing Nick’s reasons for staying in town was unexpected. She’d thought for sure he would tire of their small community a long time ago. But that was before Lexi Eng and her daughter arrived in Bristle Township with danger hot on their heels. Now Kaitlyn was beginning to see Nick in a different light. And she wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Collin came into the library. “The Christmas tree delivery is here.”
Kaitlyn’s gut tightened. “That should be Trevor Howard.”
“It could be a trick,” Nick pointed out as he stood.
Collin winced. “You said to expect him.”
“Yes, we did. And we are. But it doesn’t hurt to be cautious,” she said. “I’ll go out front.” Anxiety twisted in her chest. Would the bad guys try something so soon after their failed attempt to burn them out of the estate with the fire? She touched the grip of her holstered weapon.
“I’m coming with you,” Nick said, dogging her heels to the front door.
>
Their coats were waiting on the marble table. Quickly donning the warm gear, they went outside and stood on the porch, listening. The smell of fire lingered despite the couple of hours since the flames had been extinguished.
Down the long driveway, the scraping of the large metal gate wheeling open echoed through the still air. They waited for the vehicle to traverse the half-mile drive. The sound of an engine grew closer and a blue pickup truck with a large Douglas fir tree strapped to the bed slowly made its way up the curvy drive toward the front porch steps.
Two people sat in the front cab.
Wariness knotted her shoulder muscles. “I told Trevor to come alone.”
“He probably brought help, considering the size of that tree,” Nick stated. “It’s quite large. Maybe too large?”
The driver’s-side visor was down, as was the passenger’s.
The hairs at the base of her neck shook with warning. “I have a bad feeling about this. Go inside, Nick.”
“I’m not leaving you here by yourself,” he said.
As tempting as it was to school him on the fact that she was a deputy with a gun and didn’t need his macho attitude, she kept her focus on the two people in the truck.
“Trevor?” she called out as she reached beneath her coat and rested her hand on her service weapon.
The two truck cab doors popped open, but neither of the occupants moved.
“Kaitlyn?” The concern in Nick’s tone ratcheted up her own unease.
Removing her sidearm from the holster, she stepped in front of Nick. “Show me your hands,” she yelled to the occupants of the truck.
The two men climbed out of the cab but turned so that their backs were facing Kaitlyn.
Uh-oh. The bad feeling that had taken hold of every muscle in her body turned into a full-blown storm of horrible. She nudged Nick as she stepped backward, keeping her weapon aimed at the truck. “Nick, inside. Now!”
In a coordinated move, both men whirled around, using the truck doors as shields, and leveled the barrels of automatic assault rifles at Kaitlyn.
Her heart stuttered to a stop. She and Nick were exposed and vulnerable.
“Put your weapon down, Deputy,” the guy on the passenger’s side shouted.
His knowledge that she was on duty, even though she wasn’t in uniform, heightened Kaitlyn’s tension even more. She couldn’t see his face clearly, but the voice was familiar. The truth slammed into her brain. He was the thug who’d escaped from the hospital. That was how he knew she was with the sheriff’s department.
Nick gripped Kaitlyn by the shoulders. Keeping herself in front of him, she allowed him to pull her toward the front door.
“What do you want?” she yelled to the two men.
“Hand over the flash drive,” the driver said in a loud, booming voice.
“What’s he talking about?” Nick asked softly.
Kaitlyn didn’t have an answer.
“It’s gotta be with the baby’s stuff,” the passenger yelled. “Bring us the baby and her stuff.”
“Over my dead body. No way will I allow those goons to ever get their hands on Rosie,” Nick muttered.
Afraid that would be exactly what would happen, Kaitlyn couldn’t let Nick be harmed. The thought of something happening to him on her watch made her stomach drop and her mouth go dry. She swallowed back the bile churning in her gut to yell, “We searched everything. There is no flash drive.”
Nick popped open the front door and yanked Kaitlyn backward into the house, slamming the door shut behind them.
The earsplitting sound of gunfire filled the air, and the noise shuddered through Kaitlyn. She dived over Nick. Collin crouched with his hands over his head. The pinging sound of bullets riddling the door, but not penetrating, brought Kaitlyn’s head up. The firepower hadn’t breached the door.
She rolled to the side and stared at Nick. “Armor-plated front door?”
“Only the best for my father,” he said as he sat up. “It’s a good thing, no?”
“Yes. It is a very good thing. What about the front windows?”
Nick grinned. “Bulletproof. My father’s paranoia is working in our favor.”
Amazed by the security efforts put in place that she hadn’t known about, Kaitlyn sent up a prayer of thanksgiving. At the back of her mind, she wondered why Patrick Delaney was so paranoid that he’d build an impenetrable fortress. But her curiosity would have to wait.
Collin scuttled backward and disappeared into a back room.
Rosie’s screams penetrated through the chaos of the gunfire. Nick’s eyes widened and he jumped to his feet. He was moving toward the stairs as he said, “Rosie. I can’t let anything happen to her.”
Concern for the child’s well-being burned in Kaitlyn’s chest. “Grab her and get to the panic room,” she called after him. “I’ll take care of this.”
She fumbled for her phone and dialed the sheriff’s number. Putting the call on speaker, she crawled into the den that faced the front drive. The large plate-glass windows were pockmarked with bullet indentations. How long would the safety glass hold? The oversize couch provided excellent cover as she tried to see outside to assess what the assailants were up to.
The sheriff’s voice came over the line. “Kaitlyn! The silent alarm for the estate went off.”
“We’re under attack. Armed men with AK-47s. Need backup.”
“We’re coming,” came Alex’s terse reply. “Keep this line open.”
“Will do.” She tucked the phone into her coat pocket.
Keeping low, she peered through an unmarred section of the window to see the two men had moved from behind the truck’s doors and were walking toward the house, all the while indiscriminately peppering the front of the house with bullets.
Movement behind the truck caught her attention. A dark sedan raced up the drive at a fast speed. It stopped about twenty feet from the rear of the truck. More bad guys?
Where was Trevor?
Kaitlyn gritted her teeth and sent up a quick prayer that backup would arrive before the men found a way inside the house.
SEVEN
The sedan’s driver’s-side door was flung open, and a man who had short light brown hair and was wearing a navy wool peacoat and dress slacks jumped out. Friend or foe? He looked too well dressed to be a thug. Interesting. Kaitlyn tensed, waiting to see what he would do.
In a crouch, he ran to the back of the truck, drawing a handgun from an underarm holster as he went. Using the truck as a shield, he aimed and fired. Not at the house, but at the men from the truck, wounding the driver in the leg. The driver went down.
Stunned by this turn of events, Kaitlyn ran to the front door and eased it open to take advantage of the opportunity created by the new arrival. She aimed and fired at the second gunman, the one from the hospital. The goon jerked, losing his hold on the assault rifle, sending it sliding beneath the truck. Her bullet had winged him. Grabbing his now bleeding arm, he fled back to the truck, dived into the cab and started the engine. The vehicle reversed, backing into the sedan.
The well-dressed man jumped out of the way as the would-be Christmas tree protruding from the truck bed crashed through the sedan’s front window. The sedan was pushed backward as the truck continued in reverse. Then the gunman driving the truck turned the truck, tree and sedan in an arc. The tree broke with a loud crack, its top half firmly wedged through the front windshield of the sedan. Released, the truck peeled across the snow-covered lawn. Throwing dirt, sod and snow in its wake, the truck sped down the drive toward the open gate.
Kaitlyn clenched her jaw in frustration that one of the gunmen was getting away. But the other wasn’t going anywhere, was still writhing on the ground and clutching at his wounded leg.
The newcomer advanced on the man he’d shot and kicked the assault rifle away. He quickly holstere
d his weapon. Then he crouched down to flip the injured man onto his stomach and zip-tie his wrists together.
Obviously, he was some sort of law enforcement, but Kaitlyn had never seen this man before and wasn’t about to trust him. Cautiously, she moved closer, keeping her gun trained on him. “Identify yourself.”
The man rose and held up his hands. “I’m going to reach for my ID.” Slowly, he reached inside his jacket pocket and produced a black leather credentials wallet.
Kaitlyn took the leather case and inspected the identification. FBI was embossed on it in big blue letters, and there was a photo of Special Agent Jim Porter that matched the man standing before her. The ID looked legitimate.
Kaitlyn stared at him for a long moment, remembering the last time a stranger had come into town claiming to be a member of law enforcement. The man had actually been an assassin sent to kill Kaitlyn’s friend Ashley Willis. “How do I know this is real?”
“At the moment, you’re just going to have to trust me,” Porter said.
“Not likely,” she said. “Keep your hands in the air.”
The distant wail of a siren let Kaitlyn know the sheriff was close. Keeping her weapon aimed at the men in front of her with one hand, she used the other to dig out her phone, still connected to Alex’s phone, from her coat pocket and told him what had happened. “Be on the lookout for the Howards’ blue truck with half a tree in its bed. The guy driving is the gunman from the hospital. I wounded him this time.”
“Yeah, the truck just passed us,” Alex said. “I’ll have Daniel intercept.”
“You need to find Trevor Howard,” she said. “He might be injured.” She lifted a prayer that he wasn’t dead. She’d known him and his family her entire life. It would devastate the community of Bristle Township to lose one of their own.
“I’ll put a call out to the mounted patrol,” he promised. “We’ll find him. An ambulance is right behind us.”
