Lawman with a Cause

by Delores Fossen

  “I can get Leeroy back in here if you want,” Court offered.

  Egan stayed quiet a moment as if giving that some thought. “Not yet. I’d rather not alert him that we’ve got an ID on the dead guy. His other ranch hands might clam up and not talk to Dakota if they find out their boss could be a murder suspect.”

  True. Maybe one of them saw or heard something that they would spill to a deputy.

  Egan ended the call, looked up at her, and that was when she saw the regret over what they’d done. At least she thought that was what she was seeing, but Egan shook his head. “We’re distractions for each other,” he said.

  Yes, they were, and he was talking about the missed phone call now. It hadn’t been time sensitive, but it could have easily been.

  Jordan was about to make the offer to shut herself up in the bedroom. That way, they could work in separate parts of the house. That wouldn’t stop her from thinking about him, of course, since in Egan’s case, out of sight would not be out of mind. Still, it might help them focus. However, his phone rang before she could even get a chance to suggest it.

  “Dakota,” Egan said, glancing at the screen.

  Since Court had just mentioned the deputy, she thought maybe Dakota was calling to verify that he could indeed go out to Leeroy’s, but the way Egan’s forehead bunched up, something could be wrong. Since he hadn’t put the call on speaker, she went closer, hoping to find out what’d happened.

  “What the hell does she want?” Egan snapped.

  That question definitely caused Jordan’s concern to spike. So did Egan’s response several moments later after he listened to whatever it was Dakota said. “They’re sure?” Egan asked. A few seconds passed before he groaned and added. “No. I’ll talk to her. But I want you to come to the guesthouse to stay with Jordan while I do that.”

  Egan ended the call, looked at her, and Jordan was certain he was about to tell her something she didn’t want to hear. “Is it Tori? Is she here at the ranch?”

  He nodded. “She’s at the cattle gate, and she told the hands guarding it that she needs to see me, that it’s important. She says she’ll only talk to me in person. The hands frisked her, and she’s not armed. But it appears she has been injured. There are possible stun gun marks on her neck.”

  Since a stun gun left distinctive marks, it wouldn’t have been hard for someone to recognize what they were. But that didn’t mean Tori had been attacked. She could have put the marks there herself as some sort of ruse to draw them out into the open.

  And it was working.

  Well, it was unless she could talk Egan out of going out there.

  “This could be a trap,” she reminded him. “The sniper could be nearby.”

  He gave another nod. “I’ll stay in the cruiser, and I won’t let her anywhere near you.”

  Jordan shook her head. “It’s you that I’m worried about.”

  “I’ll be fine,” he assured her, but the heavy sigh that left his mouth suggested otherwise. “We have to get to the bottom of this, and Tori might have the answers we need.”

  She couldn’t argue with the part about Tori having answers, but whether the woman would actually give them to Egan was anyone’s guess. Still, she couldn’t fault him for wanting to try this.

  It wouldn’t take the deputy long to get there. Only minutes. And while they waited, Egan finished buttoning his shirt, adjusted his holster and slid on his Stetson.

  When she heard the cruiser pull to a stop in front of the guesthouse, she thought maybe Egan would just walk out. He didn’t. He hooked his arm around her waist, pulled her to him and kissed her. It wasn’t one of the long, smoldering ones that had led them to bed, but it was a reminder that he was indeed an incredible distraction.

  And she was falling in love with him all over again.

  Jordan kept that to herself. The timing for spilling news like that couldn’t be worse. Plus, Dakota knocked on the door.

  “It’s me,” Dakota called out to them.

  Egan disconnected the security system so he could let in the deputy. Dakota was wearing a Kevlar vest, which meant he’d been well aware that the sniper could return. Hopefully, the CSIs were wearing the same kind of protective gear.

  “Any signs of trouble?” Egan asked him.

  “No. Well, other than Tori. But everything else is going okay. The medical examiner just arrived with his crew.”

  Egan made a sound of approval, and he gave Jordan one last look. “Reset the alarm after I leave.” He rattled off the code to her. “I won’t be long.”

  She hoped that was true, and while she was hoping, Jordan added that Egan would stay safe. If the sniper had managed to shoot into the main house before, he could do it again, and this time they might not get so lucky.

  As Egan had reminded her to do, Jordan reset the security system and went to the window to watch him drive away in the cruiser. From where she was standing, she couldn’t see the cattle gate or even the road that led to it, but Dakota would have had line of sight of it from the main house.

  “Did the hands check Tori’s car trunk to make sure no one was with her?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” He walked to the window and stood next to her. “You think I should call Court for backup?”

  Obviously, Dakota was as uneasy about this as she was, but she had to shake her head about calling Court. If Egan had wanted that, he would have already made sure Dakota called him. But Egan had likely figured that his brother already had his hands full without doing backup. Plus, Dakota was there if something went wrong.

  Since it wasn’t a good idea for her to stay at the window, Jordan went back to the sofa so she could start searching through her files again. She knew she was on edge, but she didn’t know just how much until she gasped when the sound of her phone ringing shot through the room.

  She hoped it might be Egan’s name on the screen and that he was calling to tell her that he was nixing this plan to talk to Tori. But it wasn’t Egan. It was coming from an unknown caller again. Since this was probably Christian, she debated if she wanted to talk to him or not. Her nerves were already right at the surface, and a conversation with him likely wouldn’t help that. Still, he might be calling about something important so she hit the answer button.

  “Jordan,” the caller said. Not Christian. Or if it was, he was using a scrambler to disguise himself. This was the same voice of the person who’d called earlier.

  The killer.

  “What do you want?” Jordan snapped.

  The man laughed. “Ready for some fun?” he taunted.

  Before she could even respond to that, Jordan heard something she didn’t want to hear. The security alarm went off.

  Someone was breaking into the house.

  * * *

  FROM HIS REARVIEW MIRROR, Egan kept watch of the guesthouse until it was out of sight. He hadn’t wanted to leave Jordan, but he had to do something to put an end to the danger. Those hired thugs had already come way too close to killing her, and he couldn’t risk another attack.

  Not that Tori would for certain be able to help him with that.

  Still, he had to try.

  Egan drove past the main house, glancing at the CSIs who were still at work. It was nearly six pm, past what some would consider normal duty hours. However, the CSIs would stay until the job was done.

  The body was still there, but since the medical examiner’s van was indeed already in place, it meant they’d be moving it soon. That didn’t exactly mean things would return to normal. However, it was a start.

  He soon spotted the silver car on the other side of the cattle gate. The hands had wisely kept the gate closed, which meant Tori couldn’t have driven onto the property even if that was what she’d intended to do. She didn’t look ready to do that, though. She was leaning against the driver’s door, and she had one hand pressed to her neck. He
r other hand was on her forehead.

  Tori looked up, her attention zooming straight toward him as he drove closer. Egan stopped, but as he’d told Jordan, he didn’t get out. Instead, he backed up and angled the cruiser so that the driver’s side would be facing Tori. He drew his gun, holding it on his lap in case he needed it, and he lowered the window just enough for her to see him.

  “You have to help me,” Tori said. She went toward him, stumbling several times, before she caught on to the wrought iron rods that made up the gate. “Someone tried to kill me.”

  “Welcome to the club,” he grumbled.

  She flinched as if he had struck her. “You’re a cop. People probably try to kill you all the time, but this is a first for me. You need to let me in. You need to put me in protective custody.”

  Egan had to admit that Tori did look as if someone had attacked her. Her hair was a tangled mess, and her blouse sleeve had been torn. There were also what appeared to be bruises and scrapes on her knees.

  “What happened?” Egan asked her.

  She glanced around, obviously trying to make sure they weren’t about to be attacked. Of course, Tori could be faking that glance, and that was why Egan kept watch, too.

  “When I was leaving the sheriff’s office, someone was hiding in my car. I didn’t see the person until it was too late, and he used a stun gun on me.” Tori turned to show him the marks on her neck.

  “Interesting. That’s almost identical to what Kirk said happened to him,” Egan commented.

  Tory’s eyes widened, and a quick burst of breath left her mouth. “Kirk was hurt, too?”

  Egan studied her to see if she was truly surprised, but he couldn’t tell. “He’s at the hospital now.”

  He wouldn’t mention that Kirk might not make it. If Tori was genuinely shocked, hearing that might make her hysterical, and he might not get any information from her.

  “Did the same person attack both of us?” she asked.

  Egan lifted his shoulder. “I’m still trying to work that out. Did you get a good look at the person who used the stun gun on you?”

  “No. He was wearing a ski mask. It happened so fast, and then he clubbed me on the head. I didn’t black out, but I couldn’t move. I could hear, though.”

  Again, that was similar to what’d happened to Kirk except Kirk had then been shot. “Did the man say anything or threaten you?”

  “Not that I can recall. Like I said, it happened fast. But I think he was about to shoot me when he heard someone.” She touched her fingers to her head as if she was trying to recall something. “I think the guy got spooked. Maybe because Kirk called out to him?” She looked at Egan again. “Was Kirk there, or did I imagine he was?”

  “I have no idea.” But it was possible that it was indeed Kirk if he was the person behind this. Maybe he’d set it all up, and then one of his hired thugs had turned on him.

  But why would Kirk have wanted to hurt Tori?

  They’d seemed pretty chummy when they’d been at his office, and Tori had mentioned she’d been staying at Kirk’s house. Maybe Kirk hadn’t intended for things to go this far. Still, there was something about this that didn’t make sense.

  “If you honestly thought your life was in danger, why come here?” Egan asked her. “Why not go back to the sheriff’s office or the hospital?”

  “Once I could move, I knew I had to get out of there. I was afraid the guy with the stun gun would come back to finish me off. So, I started driving, and I ended up here.”

  Egan was even more skeptical now. “How’d you know this was the McCall Ranch and that I’d be here?”

  “I’d looked it up when I first thought someone might be trying to kill me.” She paused, her mouth trembling. “I thought maybe you were the one who wanted me dead.”

  Jordan had thought that, too. At first. She didn’t feel that way now, and that was because of their...well, relationship. If that was indeed what they had. One thing was for certain, he no longer felt the same about Jordan as he had two days ago, and he could partly blame the sex for that. Sex had a way of ripping down barriers. And clouding his mind.

  Like now.

  Tori was clearly still a suspect. Maybe she’d been a victim or she could be just playing the part. Either way, it was obvious he wasn’t going to get what he needed from her.

  “Wait here,” Egan told Tori, “and I’ll have a couple of the hands follow you back into town. I want you to go to the hospital so your injuries can be checked.”

  And that way, Egan could get a report back from the doctor so he could figure out if her injuries were self-induced.

  “I don’t want to wait here,” she protested. Her grip tightened on the gate. “It’s dangerous. I want to go with you.”

  No way would that happen, but he had a sickening feeling that Tori might be trying to stall him. And there was only one reason she would do something like that.

  Hell.

  Egan glanced back at the medical examiner’s van and the other two cars that the CSIs had almost certainly used to get onto the ranch. “Did either of you search those vehicles?” he asked the hands.

  The hands both shook their heads, causing Egan to curse. Tori called out for him to stop, but he ignored her. He turned the cruiser around as fast as he could, hit the accelerator and sped toward the guesthouse.

  He kept watch in his rearview mirror to make sure that Tori didn’t try to get past the gate or attack one of the hands. She didn’t. She appeared to be cursing at him when she hurried back to her car and got inside. Egan slowed just enough to make sure she wasn’t going to ram into the gate, but instead she drove out in as much of a hurry as Egan was.

  His pulse was pounding by the time he braked to a stop on the side of the guesthouse behind Dakota’s cruiser. He got his weapon ready, stepped out and immediately heard something.

  The security alarm.

  It was clanging, which meant something or someone had triggered one of the sensors. He figured it was too much to hope that Jordan or Dakota had accidently set it off.

  And then he saw something else from the corner of his eye that confirmed that this wasn’t a false alarm.

  He saw the man climbing through the bedroom window.

  Egan took aim and fired. But it was too late. The man was inside the house.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jordan had gotten her gun the moment she heard the security alarm go off, but the alarm was also masking other sounds that she needed to hear.

  Like the specific location of the intruder.

  Dakota readied his gun, too, and they both fired gazes around the guest cottage, looking for any signs of what was going on. Nothing. Well, nothing until the thick blast from someone firing a shot outside.

  That caused her heart to jump to her throat, and she hurried to the security keypad so she could turn off the alarm. That was when she heard the sound of hurried footsteps coming from the bedroom. The door was open, and she pivoted in that direction.

  But it was too late.

  A man was already there. Someone whom she didn’t recognize, and he had his gun aimed. Not at her but rather at Dakota.

  The thug pulled the trigger before either Dakota or she could, and the shot slammed into the deputy’s chest. Dakota made a sharp sound of pain and dropped to the floor.

  Jordan knew the bulletproof vest had probably stopped it from being a fatal shot, but it had obviously knocked the breath out of him. The next one could kill him if she didn’t do something to prevent it from happening. Since the gunman was also wearing Kevlar, it meant she had to go for a head shot.

  Jordan was about to fire, but the man lunged at her. There were only a few feet of space between them, and that was gone within a split second when he crashed into her and knocked her gun from her hand. They both went to the floor with the back of her head slamming against the door. It hit s
o hard that the pain shot through her, and her vision blurred. Not good. Because she needed to be able to see her attacker to try to stop him.

  Her attacker obviously had no trouble seeing her, though. He bashed his elbow right into her chin, causing her head to slam against the door again. This time, it was more than just blurry vision. She saw the dark spots and knew that she was about to lose consciousness.

  “Jordan?” someone called out.

  Egan. He was close. Right outside from the sound of it, and it made her wonder if he’d been the one to fire the shot she’d heard. Of course, it could have been this goon shooting at Egan, and if so, she prayed he was all right. Dakota, too. The deputy was alive, but he was clutching his chest and moaning in pain.

  The man hit her again with his elbow when she tried to reach back for the doorknob. This blow was the hardest yet, and she was surprised that it hadn’t broken her jaw. It only added to the god-awful pain she was already feeling.

  She fought to stay alert. And tried to fight the thug, too, but he outweighed her by a good fifty pounds. Jordan latched on to him with the only weapon she had. She sank her teeth into his hand and bit down with every ounce of energy she could muster.

  The thug howled in pain and punched her again. That stopped her, temporarily, but she would have gone back for a second assault if he hadn’t caught on to her hair. He grabbed a huge handful, and he dragged her to her feet.

  He put the gun to her head just as Egan threw open the door.

  “Watch out!” Jordan tried to warn him.

  But it was already too late. The thug turned his gun in Egan’s direction. And he fired. Thankfully, Egan jumped out of the way in the nick of time, and he landed on the ground just to the side of the door.

  Since the thug’s gun was right against her ear, the shot, and the one that followed, was deafening. The sound roared through her head and made the pain even worse. But she tried to push the fear and pain aside so she could help Egan. That was hard to do, though, because her attacker had her in a choke hold.

  Egan glanced around the corner of the door and lifted his gun. He cursed, though, probably because he realized he didn’t have a clean shot. Her attacker was using her as a human shield. Plus, if Egan leaned out too far, he would make an easy target, and this time the thug might not miss.