Badlands Beware

by Nicole Helm

  “I’m sure there’s a rational explanation. If you’re all worried, I can—”

  “We’ve already got Gage and Cecilia on it,” Brady said.

  There was something off about Tucker. Something...odd in the way he delivered his responses.

  “Oh, I picked up your mail,” he offered as if it he’d just remembered. “It was falling out of the box.”

  Rachel assumed he put it into Sarah’s hands before he moved over to the table. “I didn’t have a chance to get dinner. You got any leftovers, Grandma?” He moved farther into the kitchen, still acting...strangely. But no one else seemed to notice, so maybe she was taking her worry about Dad and spreading it around.

  There was a thud and the flutter of papers. “There’s a letter from Dad,” Sarah screeched. The sound of the envelope being ripped open had Rachel moving closer even though she wouldn’t be able to read it.

  Sarah read aloud. “Dear girls, I know you probably won’t be able to believe this, but I’ve decided it’s time for a break. If I don’t go right now, I know I never will. I’ve included my vacation itinerary so you don’t worry, but this is something I need to do for myself. Take good care of each other. Love, Dad.”

  “There’s no possible way,” Rachel croaked, panic hammering at her throat. “Maybe he wrote that, but not because he wanted to take a vacation. Not of his own volition.” Nothing would drag her father away from the ranch, away from his daughters. Not even temporarily.

  “And he’d never leave without someone here to help me,” Sarah added, her voice uncharacteristically tremulous. “I can’t handle the ranch on my own.”

  “We’ll work it out,” Dev said gruffly. “Don’t worry about the ranch. Brady—”

  “We’ll tell Gage the latest development,” Brady said before Dev could instruct him. “He can—”

  “Let me look into it,” Tucker said. “I’m the detective. We don’t need to get Valiant County involved or have Gage and Cecilia asking around.”

  “We can all look into it,” Brady said evenly.

  “Yeah, but if we all start looking into it, and something is wrong, we’ve alerted everyone we know. But if I look into it, pretend like I’m just researching one of my cases, we might be able to unearth whatever trouble there actually is without causing suspicion. If there’s any trouble at all.”

  “My father did not go on a vacation. Period. Let alone without telling us. What kind of trouble would he be in?”

  “I don’t know, Rach. Let me look into it. If there’s trouble, we’ll find it.”

  “Yes, you’re very good at finding it,” she replied caustically.

  “Now, now,” Grandma Pauline said, and though the words might have been gentle coming from most grandmothers, from Pauline it was a clear warning.

  Rachel blew out a breath.

  Tucker’s voice was very calm when he spoke, and she could easily imagine him using that tone with a hysterical person on a call. He would promise to take care of everything no matter how upset the person was.

  She swallowed at the lump of fear and anxiety in her throat. Tucker could do that because he wanted to help people. She wanted to blame him for all the trouble right now, but deep down she knew it wasn’t his fault or his brothers’ faults.

  The Wyatts were good men who wanted to do the right thing, and she had to stop sniping at them. Division was not going to bring her father home.

  “What can we do? While you’re looking for him?” she asked of Tuck. “We can’t just sit around waiting.”

  “Unfortunately, I think you should sit and wait. If there’s danger, and we’re not sure there is, we want to know what kind before we go wading in. What we do know is that even if he is in danger, he’s alive. He left of his own accord. He’s made some kind of decision here.”

  “He could have been threatened to leave,” Sarah pointed out. “Blackmailed. Though over what I don’t have a clue.”

  “Yes,” Tucker agreed equitably. “If that’s the case, someone wanted him to leave of his own accord. Think how easy it would be to ambush a man like Duke. How often he’s out in the fields or barn or stables alone. This is more than Duke being in life-threatening danger. It’s deeper and more complicated. If it’s anything other than a mid-life crisis.”

  Rachel scoffed simultaneously with Sarah.

  “He’s not wrong,” Grandma Pauline said. “Duke hasn’t been himself lately. Wouldn’t be unheard of for someone in their late fifties to have a bit of a personal crisis.”

  Rachel felt like the world had been upended. Why were her and Sarah the only ones freaking out about this? How could Grandma Pauline stand there and say her father was having a personal crisis?

  “I’ll head back into the office right now. Get the ball rolling on an investigation. I’ll update you all in the morning.”

  No one spoke, not to argue with Tucker or demand more answers. Rachel had to believe they were in as much shock as she was. This couldn’t actually be happening.

  And Tucker wasn’t acting right. She couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong, just that something was. She heard him exit, the normal conversation picking back up. Sarah and Dev discussing ranch concerns, Brady on the phone with Jamison, the oldest Wyatt brother, giving him an update, and Grandma Pauline fussing around the kitchen cleaning up.

  Didn’t any of them feel it? Didn’t any of them... She shook her head and slipped out the kitchen door. She couldn’t make out Tucker’s shape in the low light of dusk, but she didn’t hear a car engine so he hadn’t made it that far yet.

  She took a few steps forward until she could make out the shape of him. “What aren’t you telling us?”

  She could tell he turned to face her, but she didn’t have the ability to read his expression. Still there was a lot in that long careful pause.

  “If there was anything I could tell you to make sense of this, I would.”

  She wasn’t sure why that made her want to cry instead of yell at him. Which left her unsure of what to say.

  He stepped close, then his hands were giving hers a squeeze. “I’m going to do everything I can to bring him home safe, Rach. Whether he’s in trouble or not. You believe that, don’t you?”

  She wasn’t sure what she believed in the midst of all this insanity, but in her heart she knew Tucker was a good man and that he loved her father. Maybe none of this made sense, but he wouldn’t promise to do everything he could and then not.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  He gave her hands one last squeeze, released them. “Good. I’ll have an update in the morning. I promise.” Then he left her standing in the cool evening, unsure of how to work through all her emotions, and all her fears.

  * * *

  IT WAS A lot of work. Not looking for Duke, and trying to undo all his brothers had already set in motion. Tucker couldn’t very well have the entire Valiant County Sheriff’s Department out searching for Duke. Even if North Star hid Duke or used him for whatever their plan was, having people sniffing around just wasn’t going to be good.

  Tucker scrubbed his hands over his face. Granger hadn’t given him much to go on. Just that he had to make sure the Knights thought Duke was on vacation while they did the hard work.

  When North Star had first approached Tucker, it had been through a lower operative. The woman had told him they had reason to believe Vince MacLean was gathering intel on the Wyatts, and to do whatever he could to find out who Vince was reporting to.

  It had been a simple mission, straightforward and in Tuck’s own best interest to help his family. And it had, in fact, helped his family a great deal as his following Vince had led him straight to Brady and Cecilia when they were in trouble.

  Tucker locked up his office and headed for his car. He’d have liked to head back to the ranch, but it was two in the morning and he needed to catch a few hours of sleep.

  He d
idn’t know how he was going to face Rachel. He hadn’t lied to her. He would do everything he could to bring Duke safely home. Tucker just didn’t know how much of a say he had in things. But the one thing he did know? That he was never going to convince her Duke had taken a vacation of his own accord.

  He headed for his car. The night was dark, the station mostly deserted. Still, the feeling of being watched had him slowly, carefully resting his hand on the butt of his weapon strapped to his belt.

  “No need, Wyatt.”

  He didn’t recognize the female’s voice, but when she materialized out of the dark, he recognized her as the woman who’d originally contacted him about North Star.

  “What now?” he muttered. Instead of stopping, he kept moving for his car. He wasn’t too keen on being accommodating to the North Star crew right now, considering they were making his life unduly complicated. He kept one hand on his gun for good measure.

  “There’s chatter. Some people know Duke’s missing.”

  “Yeah. Like his entire family? They’re worried about him, because no one in their right mind is going to believe Duke Knight left South Dakota to go on vacation.”

  “Like the Sons. From what I’ve been able to gather, they think the Viannis got him. While they think that, there are certain parties who are going to be interested in friends of the Wyatts being unprotected, so to speak.”

  Tuck tossed his bag in the passenger side of his car. He was tired and irritable and this wasn’t helping. “And who’s fault would that be?”

  “Look, I’m trying to be friendly here. I know enough about the setup from your brother. Someone needs to keep an eye on the Knight ranch. Just because the Viannis are focused on Duke, doesn’t mean the Sons won’t focus on a weakness in the Wyatts’ armor if they can find one. Last I heard, the Knights are a weakness.”

  “I’m pretty sure I told your boss to be just as worried about Duke Knight’s daughters as he was about Duke. He didn’t seem too concerned.”

  “Yeah, because his concern is the mission.”

  “And what’s your concern?”

  She muttered something incomprehensible under her breath. “Watch their backs, huh?”

  “Why don’t you go talk to my brother about it?”

  “Because your brother got kicked out, pal. You, on the other hand, are in the thick of things. So, grow a pair.” She melted back into the dark shadows before he could retort.

  Which was for the best. No use taking his nasty mood out on someone who was trying to help.

  Especially when she was right. Sarah and Rachel alone in the Knight house, even with Dev’s dogs, just wasn’t a good idea. He wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Cecilia had decided to spend the night over there herself, and she was trained law enforcement.

  She’d also been injured not that long ago, and Brady still wasn’t on active duty due to his injuries. They’d saved an innocent child from being taken into the Sons, but they hadn’t come out unscathed.

  So, sending him over there to spend the night with Cecilia wasn’t enough of a comfort. Dev would be helping out with ranching duties, but he’d been a cop for all of six months before he’d sustained serious injuries that left him with a limp.

  Thanks to dear old Dad.

  Jamison and Cody both lived in Bonesteel, and while he knew they’d all pitch in to help, it’d bring Cody’s young daughter and Jamison’s even younger sister-in-law into the fray and they deserved to be as far from danger as possible after what they’d endured when Ace Wyatt had come after them and their families. The only other option was Gage and Felicity, who both worked almost two hours away. Not to mention, Felicity was pregnant.

  Which left him. He didn’t mind that. He was happy to protect whomever needed protecting. It was the convincing the women involved they needed protecting that was going to be the headache. On top of the one he already had.

  Tucker slid into his car. There was no going to his apartment now. Even if it was the middle of the night, he needed to head to the ranches. He had to figure out a way to convince Rachel and Sarah it was best if he stayed with them for a while.

  As he drove through the thick of night, he considered just telling everyone the truth. What could the North Star Group do to him? He didn’t owe them silence. And with the whole Wyatt clan in on things, wasn’t it possible they could help take down the Viannis and the Sons themselves?

  The list of reasons not to have his brothers spend the night at the Knight house went through his head. Because for all the same reasons, it didn’t feel right to bring them into this. They’d built new lives, survived their own near-death injuries. And what had he done? All this time, all these months of danger and threats from Ace and the Sons, and he’d investigated. Between his brothers and their significant others, they’d all been tortured, shot, temporarily blinded and more.

  Tucker had fought off a few Sons goons, but had mostly emerged unscathed.

  So, no, he couldn’t tell them. It was his turn to take on the danger, take on the Sons. His turn to protect his family, and the Knight girls.

  Whether they wanted protecting or not.

  Chapter Four

  Rachel woke up from the nightmare in a cold sweat. The recurrence so soon after the last one made sense. She was stressed and worried. Of course, she’d have terrible dreams to go along with those terrible feelings.

  But there’d been no mountain lion in this nightmare. She sat up and rubbed her eyes and then hugged herself against the chill.

  The mountain lion had been a man. She could still visualize him. Blue eyes glowing, burn scars all over the side of one face. She could hear his voice in her head, rough and growly with an odd regional American accent she couldn’t place.

  She shuddered. It was a dream. Yeah, a creepy one that was still lodged in her head, but it was fiction. Dreams weren’t real.

  Though this one had felt particularly, scarily real.

  She got out of bed even though it was still dark. She didn’t bother to check the time. Too early. She’d just go downstairs and get a drink of water. Hopefully, it would help settle her.

  She was safe. Maybe Dad wasn’t, but she was. Here in this house, with Cecilia and Sarah down the hall. Though she felt a little guilty that Cecilia had insisted on spending the night since Brady had to stay at Grandma Pauline’s due to his leg injury.

  She wished she could say her and Sarah could handle it, but while they could manage anything around the ranch, they weren’t trained law enforcement, and they didn’t have any background or experience in fighting off bad guys.

  Cecilia did. In fact, everyone else did. Rachel blew out a breath as she tiptoed downstairs. She stopped at the bottom, frowning at the odd sound. Like the scrape of a chair against the floor.

  Her breath caught, pulse going wild as panic filled her. Someone was in the kitchen. Someone was—

  “What are you doing up?”

  Tucker’s voice. Coming from the kitchen table. The Knight kitchen table. Long before sunrise.

  “What are you doing here? It’s...dark still.”

  “Honestly? I got a little tip that I shouldn’t be letting you two be here alone. A friendly tip, but still. I thought it was better if I headed over here rather than stayed the night in my apartment.”

  “You didn’t need to do that. Cecilia’s here. We have our law enforcement contingent.”

  “Good.” But he made no excuses to leave. Instead, they stood there, together in the dark.

  “Which means you don’t have to stay,” she continued. She wasn’t sure why she’d said that. It was a nice thing he was doing, and she should be thanking him. But she was braless in her pajamas and Tucker Wyatt was in her kitchen. She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t agree.”

  She scowled in his general direction, whether he could see it or not. “A penis is no
t the protector of womankind, Tucker.”

  He sighed heavily. “I never said it was, but Cecilia is still recovering from her injuries. It’s good she’s here. She’ll be able to notice and address a threat, but will she be able to neutralize it? No one heard me pick the lock, did they?”

  “You picked the lock?” she screeched.

  He immediately shushed her, which did not do anything to make her feel better about the situation. “It’s just a precaution. Regardless of what’s going on with Duke, the Sons know he’s missing. We don’t want them looking at you as easy pickings.”

  “Because I’m blind,” she said flatly.

  “Because we don’t know where this threat is coming from, if it’s coming. I don’t think Sarah should be out in the fields alone, and I don’t think you should be in this house alone. And before you lecture me about sexism, it isn’t about your gender, it’s about numbers. When there’s danger, two is better than one.”

  “Then I can accompany Sarah out in the fields, and you aren’t needed.”

  “What do you have against me, Rach?” His voice was soft. Not sad exactly, but there was a thread of...hurt in his voice. “I thought we were friends, but you seem to have something very specifically against me right now.”

  “I don’t.”

  “You’re sure acting like you do.”

  “I...” She felt like an absolute jerk, which wasn’t fair. She wasn’t acting like she had anything against Tucker. He was just...

  She felt him approach and his hands rested on her shoulders. “I know it’s a tough time. I’m not trying to make it tougher. I’m honestly just trying to help. Can you let me do that?”

  There was no way to say no and maintain that she was a reasonable human being, which she was. Plus, he was giving her shoulders a squeeze—a kind, reassuring gesture. He smelled like stale coffee and she wondered if he’d been up all night worrying over Duke and his girls.

  It made her heart pinch. Here he was, doing all he could to find out what was going on with her father, and she was taking out her fear and anxiety on him. She sighed. “Of course I can,” she said gently. “I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m just scared.”