by Theresa Hall
Schmille walked over and kicked Jackson’s boot. “Thought you were so smart, didn’t you?”
Jackson didn’t respond. He stared at the floor, refusing to give Schmille the satisfaction of making him mad.
“What’s the matter, boy? You surprised to see me here?”
Jackson kept his gaze fixed on the floor. “Nope.”
Laughter erupted. “You know how much fun it’s been for me the past five years? Watching you become less and less of a man. Less of a cop. Wallowing in grief until you gave up on everything. I hoped you’d just fade away into oblivion and be none the wiser, but you had to go play the rescuer. I guess since you couldn’t save your wife and kid, you thought you’d save her.” Schmille kicked Allison’s foot.
Silence filled the room as every head turned in his direction. He heard Allison say his name, but he couldn’t acknowledge her. Anger swelled deep inside and his body shook from the explosion of emotions rising within him. He glared at Schmille. “Hey, Captain. There’s something I need to tell you.” He whispered so the man would have to bend down to hear him. “Come closer.”
“It won’t matter now, boy. You’re as good as dead.” Schmille bent over, laughing at his own sick joke. Jackson tilted his head back, then slammed it into Schmille’s face, sending him stumbling backward. He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. Blood trickled from his nose.
“Don’t ever talk about my wife and kid again.” Jackson trembled with anger.
“You’re a dead man now, Archer!” Schmille wiped the blood with the back of his hand.
The agent stepped between them with both arms raised in the air. “Hold on, fellas. We don’t have time for this. Mr. Calderón and his men will be here any minute. He might take a notion to shoot all of us if he sees this chaos. We need to get this deal finished and then you two can kill each other.”
Schmille shoved the agent as he walked past him. He turned and pointed at Jackson, then at Allison. “They’re mine. After we pick up this shipment, those two belong to me.”
“How do you plan to pull that off?” One of the other cartel members spoke up.
Jackson hadn’t heard this guy say a word. He wondered who this man worked for. He was either cartel or law enforcement, but at this point it was hard to tell the good guys from the bad. The man answered his own question. “You can’t pull it off. And you know why?”
Schmille snarled at him. “You don’t know anything.”
“Because then I kill you.” The man’s tone was ice-cold. It was clear he wasn’t playing games.
“You go ahead, but not before I kill them.” Schmille pointed at Allison. “She’s first.” He wiped his mouth again. “You had to go sticking your nose where it didn’t belong.” Anger flashed in his eyes. He drew his weapon and aimed it at Allison’s head. “This is ridiculous. I see no reason to keep you alive.”
Jackson felt Allison’s body stiffen next to him. He leaned in front of her and stared Rusty Schmille in his hateful eyes.
Laughter echoed through the barn. “Archer, you’re only making this easier for me. Neither of you are walking out of here. Might as well get me a two-for-one out of the deal.”
Jackson heard a whimper coming from Allison. He needed her to stay quiet. “Don’t say anything,” he muttered between clenched teeth. “This will be over soon.”
The agent interrupted. “Come on, let’s all calm down and wait for Calderón.” He motioned for Schmille and the other man to go with him back to the front of the barn.
Jackson was thankful for a quiet moment to talk to Allison. As soon as they were all out of sight, he leaned over to whisper in her ear. The feel of her hair against his face sent waves of tingles down his back. Her skin smelled of body spray and an unmistakable scent of hay.
“Don’t talk, Allison. Just listen. There are undercover DEA agents in here with us. I can’t tell you who they are. I’m not sure how this is going to play out, but you have to believe that no one is going to hurt you.”
“It’s Tex, isn’t it?”
“Tex?”
“Yeah, the one in the cowboy hat. The one with the thick Texas accent.”
Jackson grinned. She was smarter than he’d given her credit for. “Doesn’t matter. Just stay quiet and let this play out. It will all be over soon.” Jackson rubbed his nose against her ear. “And when it is, I’d like to take you to dinner.”
She pressed her head into his and nodded. “I would love that,” she whispered.
A truck roared up to the barn. Jackson pulled away from Allison to put a couple of inches between them. “Remember, don’t talk to them. And be ready for anything. Just watch my cues. I’ll let you know what to do.”
It had to be Calderón, the so-called head of the snake. He wondered what the DEA planned to do in order to take this guy down. After several slams from car doors, all the men entered the barn.
“What do we have here?” A tall, slender man wearing too much gold jewelry walked in.
Schmille spoke up first. “I’d like to help dispose of them for you, if you’d let me.”
Calderón waved a hand in the air. “Get away from me. I was talking about the shipment. Where are my weapons? I have a plane leaving for Guatemala.” He walked over to Allison and kneeled, putting his face inches from hers.
Jackson made eye contact with the agent and thought he saw a hint of uneasiness. He prayed Calderón didn’t put a hand on Allison. There wasn’t much he could do about it with handcuffs on.
“Do you know why you’re here?”
Allison shook her head as fear cloaked her face.
“You ran my brother off the road, and you took his picture to turn him in. My brother is Mauricio Vega Calderón.” The man’s tone was flat and emotionless.
Tears sprang to her eyes and Jackson feared the inevitable. Her spirit was too sweet to deal with this kind of evil. She was going to break.
“I tried to help him.” Allison shook her head in denial. “He shot at me. I called for help. I wanted to help him.”
“By taking his picture and turning it over to the police?” It was more a statement than a question.
“He tried to...”
Jackson kicked her foot to keep her from saying another word.
Schmille interrupted. “Calderón, we need to get this show on the road. I don’t have all night. Let’s get this shipment inspected. We also need the drug shipment so we can get it back to the tire shop. Besides, I already told you, I’ll take care of those two. No one will ever find them.”
Schmille walked out of the barn without waiting for a response from Calderón. After Calderón headed outside, the others followed. Jackson studied every man as they left the room. He could feel the raw tension. Minutes passed, but none of them came back.
Jackson remembered a couple of loose boards while he was hiding behind the barn. He’d pried a few open hoping to allow Allison an escape. He slid around Allison’s back and pushed them with the toe of his boot. One fell to the ground outside. He pushed another, and then another until there was a gap wide enough for them to fit through.
“We need to get out of here now.” Jackson hoisted himself up and waited for Allison to pull herself from the ground. “Follow me and be quiet.”
Jackson turned sideways and slithered through the crack. As he slipped through the crack, Schmille and Calderón saw him. Schmille reached for his gun. Jackson sank to the ground and pulled Allison through the crack with him. Bullets hit the wall where they’d been sitting only seconds before.
The sound of commotion filled the night air. Jackson peered through the boards. He turned to her. “Come on.”
He scanned the area for a safe place to go. “This way.” They headed for a thick grove of trees. Once far enough away, he stopped and sat on a large rock.
Allison sat next to him, panting to catch her breath. “What do we do now? We can�
��t go any farther with your hands behind your back.”
The cold breeze stung as he inhaled large gulps of air to steady his breathing. “I have a key in my coat pocket. See if you can get it out.”
Allison reached into the right pocket of his jacket and pulled the key out.
“I never asked you how you escaped the truck that night.”
She smiled up at him. “I took a survival training class. I learned how to break free if someone zip-ties your hands together. Too bad you’re not tied with plastic. I could show you how to get out.”
“I’m speechless. I didn’t know you could do something like that.” He liked her resiliency. If he had to be honest, there wasn’t much he didn’t like about Allison Moore.
“Let me get those cuffs unlocked so we can get moving.” She fumbled through the different keys on the key ring and looked up at him.
“It’s the small key next to my truck key.”
“Got it.”
He turned around so she could unlock the cuffs. She handed him the keys and the cuffs, and he shoved them into his pocket.
Jackson smiled. “That’s my girl. Now let’s get out of here.” He grabbed her hand and turned to run. He didn’t know when he’d started thinking of her as his girl, but he liked the way it sounded. Jackson flinched as a tree branch snapped.
Gunfire exploded behind them.
* * *
Allison’s heart skidded to a stop. Fear paralyzed her. It took her a second to determine if she’d been shot. Jackson pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
“Don’t move,” he whispered. “They’re right behind us. We won’t get far if we run.”
“Well, well. I guess you two lovebirds thought you could get away.”
Rusty Schmille pointed a gun at both of them.
“How’d you get out of there alive?” Jackson’s tone was blunt.
“I knew you’d run. I wasn’t about to let you get away with her.”
Schmille paced in front of them as if he were trying to figure out his next move. She didn’t know how this would play out, but she worried that it would not go in their favor. Not with a gun pointed at them. She was almost sure Jackson didn’t have a weapon on him. It didn’t seem likely that they would’ve allowed him to keep one if they were taking him as a hostage. Allison noticed Jackson keeping a steady eye on Schmille.
“I’ve been doing my job better than you think I have, Captain.”
“Really? I doubt that, Archer. You can’t do your job any better now than you could five years ago. You’re still wallowing in grief like a pathetic loser.”
Allison felt Jackson’s body stiffen. She didn’t know what Schmille was getting at, but it was enough to throw Jackson off.
Schmille grabbed her and pulled her to him. He wrapped an arm around her neck and shoved the end of his pistol into her temple. Tears formed in her eyes as the realization set in that this was it for her.
“Let her go!” Jackson’s voice echoed through the trees.
Schmille mocked him by laughing. “I want to play a little game first. I want to see the look on your face when you find out what a fool you’ve been. You were so full of yourself before your wife died. You and Devon acted like you could run that department all by yourselves. You never did warm up to me being your superior.”
“Don’t do this, Rusty. Let’s talk this out.”
Allison couldn’t figure out what he was up to. Jackson wasn’t one to back down without a fight. She’d just met him, but she knew him better than that.
“Talk? I don’t think so. There’s nothing to talk about. I can’t let you both walk away from here knowing I work with the cartel.”
Jackson shook his head. “The DEA already knows about you, Schmille. It’s always a shame when a cop goes bad. You just couldn’t resist the temptation of seeing all that money and not being able to have any of it for yourself. You got greedy.”
The grip around Allison’s neck grew tighter as he pressed the gun harder against her head.
“Greed? It had nothing to do with greed.” Schmille removed the gun from her head and pointed it at Jackson.
Jackson put his hands into the air. “If you say so.”
He turned the gun back on Allison and pressed it into her temple. “I think I’m getting a little tired of this game. Let’s say I kill her first, then you.” Schmille slid the gun down the side of her face to her cheek. “Such a shame to kill another woman that you love.”
Allison’s mouth fell open. It felt as if the ground had fallen away from under their feet. Jackson’s face blanched and he stumbled backward. He grabbed onto a tree to steady his balance. Grief washed over his face, then changed into something else. Fury filled his eyes.
They were looking into the face of Hope and Natalie’s killer.
* * *
Jackson’s hands trembled as rage boiled to the surface. After all these years, he had his answer. What he didn’t know was why. In that moment, however, why didn’t seem to matter. He couldn’t save them, but he could save Allison.
“Behind you!” Jackson yelled.
Schmille’s eyes darted around to see what was coming. Jackson lunged at Schmille, knocking him to the ground. Schmille’s gun flew from his hand and landed in a pile of leaves and sticks.
Jackson tumbled across the ground and pinned the man beneath him. As he drew back a fist, the sound of gunfire caused his arm to freeze in midair. Allison stood over them holding Schmille’s pistol.
“She doesn’t have the guts.” Schmille scoffed at her.
Jackson glanced at Allison. “Don’t be so sure.”
“Do it then!” Panic shook Schmille’s voice.
“Don’t do it, Allison.” Jackson turned back to Schmille. “I think I’ll let them take you in. Prison is a tough place for dirty cops.”
“If I go, you’re going with me.”
Jackson couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You’re insane.”
“You’ll go for attempted murder.”
“I didn’t try to kill anyone. Yet.”
Schmille snickered. “You will. I’m the one who killed your wife, Archer. It was me. And now I’m going to tell you how I did it.”
Anger burned through his body like lightning. Schmille rolled and threw Jackson off him. He raced toward Allison, but Jackson scrambled up and lunged at him. Both men fell to the ground. Jackson was fighting in a blind rage as he swung and landed a fist on Schmille’s jaw.
Jackson pinned Schmille down again, then pulled his pistol from his waistband and pointed it at the dirty cop’s head. His hand shook as he fought the urge to kill him.
“Jackson, no!” Allison’s voice echoed through the trees.
“Explain! Tell me how you killed my family!” Anger raged through his veins.
Schmille grinned at him. Jackson landed another blow on the man’s face. Blood covered his lips as he spoke. “She came to the tire shop to get her tire fixed. You’re the one who sent her there, remember? She was spoiled and entitled. A beautiful little rich girl.”
Jackson raised a hand to hit him again. Schmille’s eyes closed as he braced for it.
“Jackson.” Allison’s soft voice pleaded with him.
He lowered his arm and sucked in a ragged breath. He had to know the truth. It was going to hurt, and it would haunt him for the rest of his life, but he had to know.
“What did you do? Tell me what you did to them?”
Schmille laughed again and lifted a hand to wipe the blood from his lips. “She came inside the office because she was in a hurry. She caught me making a drop-off. I could see it in her eyes that she knew what she’d witnessed, and she was heading straight to you with that information.” He shrugged. “So I waited for her to leave, and then I followed her. Once we got to the bend in the road, I pulled up next to her and ran her off into the
ravine.”
The world around Jackson grew hazy. Years of anger and grief melded together deep inside, ready to explode their way out. The urge to get even robbed him of his senses. Jackson’s body shook. He stood and backed away, keeping his gun trained on Schmille’s head.
“You left them there to die.”
Schmille laughed like an evil villain. “I wondered when you were going to come find me. Kill them both and dispose of the bodies.”
Jackson spun around to find the DEA agent with a gun pointing right at Allison’s head. Jackson turned his gun on the agent.
“Drop it, man. Don’t make a move, or I’ll kill you.” Jackson’s voice shook.
The agent stared him in the eyes, then turned back to Allison. “Drop the weapon, ma’am.”
“Do it, Allison.” Jackson kept his gun on the agent.
Allison bent down and gently placed the weapon on the ground.
The agent kept his gun on her. “Move over there with him.” He motioned for her to stand with Jackson.
Allison shuffled her feet across the rocks and slid next to him. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. Her body shook against him.
Schmille scrambled off the ground and grabbed his pistol, aiming it at Jackson. “Archer, you’re a terrible cop.”
SEVENTEEN
Allison hid her face into Jackson’s shoulder. She didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that they were going to die right here. As afraid as she was, she couldn’t help but think about Jackson’s pain. To find out what had happened to his wife and child like this must feel as bad as dying.
Schmille yanked Allison from Jackson’s grip and pulled hair back. He shoved the tip of his gun under her chin. “I think I’ll kill her myself. I want Archer to see it this time.”
Allison closed her eyes and began to pray. It wasn’t dying that she was afraid of. In that moment, she was more afraid for Jackson. The seconds that Schmille held his gun under her chin felt more like minutes. She braced for the inevitable as she ached to tell Jackson that she loved him and didn’t blame him for anything. Allison closed her eyes and waited.
