by Jana Leigh
“We’re going on lockdown at the ranch. Everyone needs to be there, even you Zach and Jade. We don’t know exactly what’s going on and until we do, we are together,” Jared said.
Jade opened her mouth to protest and then said, “Fine, I’ll ask Frank to run the diner until we are good to go.”
“Not good enough. The diner will have to close down until further notice. Call Rodger and put the ranch on alert, let him know we will all be staying out there, including Jade and Zach. The house is big enough. Zach and Jade can take Mom and Dad’s old room and Traci can take Jade’s. I’ll call Colton back and let him know the latest. We have got to get a lock on this situation right now. Miles, you and Danny go and make sure that Traci is done for now, then take her back to the ranch. Don’t let her out of your sight until we get there. Zach, go and talk to the doctor and get me the hell out of here. I don’t care what I have to sign, just do it. Then after you drop us off, I would appreciate it if you would go and get Colton at the airport,” Jared said briskly and his brothers did not question their orders and left the room. Zach also nodded and went to find the doctor. Jade frowned, watched the men leaving, and stood there for a few moments before saying, “So what about me? I can make sure that we have the shotguns loaded for the ride home,” she said sarcastically. “Oh no, wait. I can pull the bazooka out for the roof.”
“Jade,” Jared moaned.
“What, Mister Hot-Shot-Almighty-I-Think-I’m-Invincible Cassidy? Think I’m going a little over the line? Really? You were almost killed a few days ago and now someone is going to try to finish the job. I think we need to call in the state police or whoever the hell in the military that will help you out. You can’t take them on all on your own,” she said tapping her foot on the ground. “And now Traci? Seriously, what are you going to do, set up a tank in the front yard?”
“Jade, I will be making all of those phone calls when I get out of here. I need to make sure that everyone is safe first. We have no clue who or what we’re dealing with. It may be only the one guy, but what if it’s not? What if they try to hurt those closest to me?
We have to do this,” Jared explained.
Jade narrowed her eyes and stared at him. “Fine, I will go along with it, but don’t think I’m gonna sit back like some fair maiden and let the big, strong men deal with it while I stand to the side and wring my hands. If someone comes after us, I will be armed.” Jared rolled his eyes. “Grandpa’s squirrel gun isn’t gonna be enough.” This was a cluster-fuck, he thought and then opened one eye when Jade stood up and came to his bedside. “What?” he said.
“Traci,” she said and smiled. “You finally gonna do something about that?” He glared at his sister and then sighed. If he didn’t answer her then he would be stuck in Jade hell. She would hound him and he was not in the mood for it right now. He had already been thinking about it. Should he make a play for her now that they were in danger? He didn’t want any of his friends guarding her. They would definitely try and make a play. He thought about Brad and then pushed it aside. All’s fair in love and war, Traci and Brad had barely started dating.
“Don’t know yet. I need to get the hell out of here so I can make plans,” Jared said and then sighed again when his sister folded her arms across her chest and frowned at him.
“Shit, why do you insist on knowing everything? Fine, I’m gonna tell her that she is mine.”
Jade snorted and said, “Yeah, that will work.”
“She and I have already started this conversation, Miss Nosey. If she wanted you in on her personal business, she would have told you she was coming here. So leave off, I know she deserves more. Damn it, let me think,” he said warily.
Jade smiled smugly and then returned to her chair and sat down. “Nice, we could plan a wedding together. You know, since we’re all getting married soon. Maybe we could just have it at the ranch. It would hold the whole town.” She smirked and then got a dreamy look in her eye.
Zach came in with papers in his hand, looked at Jade, then at Jared, and glared. “What did you say to her?”
“Nothing, we talked about Traci,” Jared replied quickly.
“Oh shit, the whole double wedding thing again? Damn it, Jade, I’m not waiting around for your brother to actually make up his mind before we get married. I want that vacation we planned.” Zach grumbled.
“Hey,” Jared said and looked at his sister who started laughing.
“Good news, he’s going to get off his ass and actually court her,” Jade said.
“And I never said anything about courting. Traci knows she’s mine, I’m just gonna tell her we’re getting married,” Jared said.
Zach and Jade looked at him and laughed. “Shut up,” he muttered. “Get my clothes, we need to get out of here.”
Zach gave a smile to his fiancé then turned to Jared and said, “I’ll call the mayor and the rest of the City Council.”
“Keep it on the down low for now. If this guy’s in Johnstown, I don’t want him knowing what we’re doing,” Jared said and leaned back against the pillows with a deep sigh.
Zach went to get the nurse to take the IV out while Jade looked through the bag of things she had brought with her. In a little over an hour, he was dressed and ready to leave, a prescription in hand. The orderly wheeled him to the exit while Jade brought the car up near the door and Zach helped him into the backseat. Miles and Danny had left earlier following Traci home so she could pack a bag, and then bring her along to the ranch.
He leaned back on the headrest and closed his eyes. Soon, he would be back home, where he would feel safe and comfortable. He hoped that Traci and the rest of his family were already there. Once Zach dropped them off, he would go and get Colton and then they would be able to plan what they were going to do. In the meantime, he was going to pull out his service records and see if there was something in them that would give him a clue as to who and what they we up against.
Chapter 5
“What do you mean we have to close down the diner for a few days? Does Jade know about this? Why do you have my suitcase in the back? Damn it, would one of you answer me?” Traci yelled from the back of the truck. Miles and Danny looked at each other and shrugged. She had not given them much of an opportunity to talk since they hustled her out of the hospital.
She had ranted and raved about people controlling her life. The sketch artist was going to be at the ranch within the hour. Brad was waiting at the station for her and he would bring her out. Danny chuckled at the confused look that Traci had been wearing since they got her in the truck.
“Traci, we told you. There’s some things that need to be discussed, and Jared wants you and the rest of us at the ranch. There’s a lot we don’t know yet, he will explain them to us all when we get there,” Danny said smoothly.
“Ha, sure, you’re just going to lock me in a room and leave me there. Don’t think I don’t know how you work. Remember that time you wanted Jade to miss that date with the lawyer dude? You locked her in her old bedroom and wouldn’t let her out until the following day. She had to reschedule and then you showed up on her date. I know how you Cassidy men work. You’re all bullies.” Traci grumbled from the back.
Miles and Danny would have apologized if they had not heard the wistful tone in her voice. She wanted Jared to pay attention to her, just not the sisterly kind that he had been. They let her mumble under her breath the entire way out to the ranch. When they pulled in, they saw that their foreman, Rodger, had taken their warning and secured the ranch. The gate was closed and one of the hands was armed and guarding.
All of their hands knew how to defend themselves and the ranch. They hired each of them after extensive background checks. Ranching was usually backbreaking work for little pay. Because the Cassidy family had investments outside of ranching, and because they had such a large spread, they could afford to pay top dollar. Working for them was a dream job for most cowboys. And there was not a man on the ranch that couldn’t shoot a gun and ride a horse
well. None of them had attitudes, they all appreciated the money they were paid and more than that, they respected the men they worked for. It made it so much easier when times such as this came up. But they knew their men would help them.
Miles nodded to the man who opened the gate and waved them through. Tracy had finally stopped talking when she saw the security the ranch had instituted. The last time they had done something like this had been when someone tried to take equipment in the middle of the night. Until the thieves were caught, they had locked down the ranch.
They pulled up next to the house and Rodger came to greet them. He had been with the place since their parents ran it. Jared and their parents loved the old man like he was family. And his wife was an amazing woman. She took care of them when their parents died all those years ago in the plane crash. She became their surrogate mother. Jade had gone to her with questions about female things when she couldn’t go to them.
“Miles, Jade just called, they’re on the other side of Loveland, should be here in less than fifteen minutes. We have everything locked down. Marguerite is in the house cooking up a storm getting ready for y’all,” his foreman said.
Miles nodded and smiled when Traci jumped out of the truck and hugged the older man.
She looked around the yard and saw all the hands were either carrying shot guns or had guns holstered while they were working. The horses were corralled up and the cattle in their pens. It looked like they were settling in for a battle.
She glared at the bothers and then stomped her way into the house, yelling over her shoulder, “Don’t even think about locking me up!”
Danny chuckled and yelled, “Jared will be here soon. Handcuffs will probably do.” Traci threw him a glare over her shoulder and continued into the house. Marguerite was standing at the stove, smells of homemade green chili and tortillas filled the kitchen.
Traci grinned and went and hugged the woman from behind.
“Hey, sweetie,” the older woman said, turned, and smiled. “Where’s your side kick?”
“She’s currently on her way with Jared and Zach. They just said they were only a few minutes away. When she gets here, there will probably be a storm of yelling. She won’t be any happier than I am that we have to remain here,” Traci said. “But at least we will be all together.”
Marguerite grunted and then smiled. “Right, this is gonna be a nice vacation with all of you in the same vicinity for more than five minutes. I would guess that Jade will come up with a harebrained scheme and suck you in like the old times.” Traci laughed and shook her head. “Not this time. There are real bad guys involved here.”
***
After failing to kill the soldat schweine in the hospital, Helmut waited and watched. He found a restaurant that had a vantage point on the hospital entrance his target would leave by.
When he’d arrived at the airport early that morning, he’d gone to the designated washroom and found the locker key taped on the rear underside of the sink. In the locker he’d found a burn phone, the key to a motel room in Denver, and the key and location of a rental car in the airport lot. So he took his luggage, got into his rental car, and followed the directions pre-loaded into its navigation system to the motel. All this was accomplished without speaking to anyone in the small local airport.
In the room, as in the car, he either wore his leather gloves or pulled on a thin pair of latex gloves. In the room, he found an envelope with a picture of the intended target and dossier including pertinent details on the target’s schedule and family. Also, pictures of his family members and descriptions of their places of business and their homes. Luca had done quite little surveillance, but it looked as if most of the data had come through public information sources. The idiots posted their entire lives on facebook.
After reading and memorizing all of the information, he tore it into small pieces and then burned it in the bathtub. He made sure it was well burnt before running the water, it wouldn’t do to stop up the drains. Helmut then called Luca and found out that an opportunity had arisen to try for the target. He wasn’t dead, but he was wounded. Luca himself would be leaving town. So Helmut spent the morning tracking down the target, this Jared Cassidy, with his burn phone. After finding the hospital and the room number, he brought up the hospital’s website and located a map.
It was several hours later, and now, he too had failed. However, while he’d been going over and over the day in his mind, making sure he hadn’t left a trail, he saw the soldat get out of a wheelchair and climb into a car being driven by his sister, Jade. Then another man, mentioned in the file named Zach, climbed into the passenger seat. He knew their most likely destination, so he left the restaurant and went to get his rental car. He could afford to keep back by as many as six cars and not lose the target.
He had always gotten his man, he would get this Jared too.
***
They heard the car pull into the long drive way and Traci pulled the curtain aside and looked out to see who was there. It was Zach, Jade, and Jared. She watched as they helped Jared from the car and then turned him over to his brothers. Jade kissed Zach and then watched as he jumped back in the car and left. She wondered briefly where he was going. But the thought was fleeting as she watched Jared slowly make his way into the house. She quickly moved to the side door and held it open for them. Jared paused on the step he was standing on and frowned at her.
“I hear you’re not happy about being here,” Jared said.
Traci put her hand on her hip and said, “I refuse to get into an argument with you when you’re about to fall over. Get inside and settled, then we can have a nice long chat about your high-handed behavior.”
Jared grimaced, nodded, and entered the house, she heard Marguerite begin fussing over him, and she grinned. Jared grumbled about the food in the hospital and then shuffled with help into the living room and sat in his chair. Marguerite bustled around the kitchen, preparing a tray for Jared.
Traci decided to let Jared stew for awhile. She planned to help Marguerite in the kitchen.
“Traci honey, take this tray in to Jared for me,” Marguerite asked with a smile. She could see the signs and saw no reason not to push, just a little.
“Anything for you.” Busted, she thought and lifted the tray and walked out. Jade was helping her brother settle in the chair, making sure that he had not pulled any of his incisions out getting in the house from the car. She looked up at her friend and grinned but didn’t say anything.
Miles and Danny were watching their brother’s expressions closely. They hated that he was in so much pain. To make the situation even more tense, Miles looked at her and said, “What was that you were saying in the yard, Traci? Something about not being locked up?”
Traci glared at him and then turned to look at Jared who was opening his mouth. She set down the tray and held up her hand. “Before you start, Jared, I have something to say. I have a life. I understand that there’s something going on here. But I refuse to be held against my will in this house. The diner can’t just close down, I have customers, employees and suppliers depending on me. Jade can stay and take care of you and I can cover for her. I’m sure Brad wouldn’t mind being my bodyguard while I’m in town. In fact, he said I could stay with him if I needed to. That would be so much better than all of us trying to fit in here. Besides, I don’t see how I’m in any danger. That creep doesn’t know I got such a good look at him.” She finally came to the end of the speech she’d been mumbling under her breath during the ride to the ranch.
Jared looked at her and smiled, never taking his eyes off of her he said to his siblings,
“Can we have a few minutes please?”
Miles and Danny stifled the chuckles that were threatening to burst from them. Jade smiled at her friend and then followed her brothers into the kitchen.
Traci felt a moment of panic at being alone with Jared. So far, in the last eight hours she had embarrassed herself twice, she didn’t know if she could stand it ag
ain. She had finally come to the decision it was time to move on with her life and Jared was making it impossible. Her frustration was showing on her face, she knew it.
“What?” she snapped out after a few moments of silence.
“We have a few things to discuss before we go any further. You will stay here, and you will follow directions to the letter. It’s for your safety,” Jared said firmly and she rolled her eyes.
“Really, Jared, I’m not three. I can make my own decisions,” she said and folded her arms across her chest and looked at him defiantly.
“That remains to be seen. We’re not going to have an argument about this, possible death beats job every time. You saw the man who attacked me, which means you have a big target on your back. I need to know that you will follow directions.” Jared growled at her.
Traci narrowed her eyes and looked at him. “I already told you, the guy can’t possibly see me as a danger. So you’ll have to come up with a better reason than ‘do as I say’. I’ll give you until morning. Unless you say something a little more meaningful, I’m out of here.”
Jared laughed when she turned on her heel and went to tell the others to come back in.
She had almost made it as far as the doorway to the kitchen when she heard him say,
“By the way, you should know, I don’t think of you as a child. I never have. I was trying to show you how much I cared about you, and not in a brotherly way. Now that you have a boyfriend though, I think I can gear up for the competition.” Traci froze and turned to look at the man she had loved for most of her life. She had always wanted him to say something like this, but now that he had, she didn’t believe him. “You just want me ‘cause someone else does. If I hadn’t started dating Brad, you wouldn’t be saying that, you’d be re-surfacing my driveway and asking for pot roast,” she whispered.
