Christmas Witness Pursuit

by Lisa Harris

  Another noise snapped her out of her thoughts. Someone was moving inside the house. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, but she knew it was probably just Griffin or his parents. She drew in a deep breath, trying to slow her heart rate. It wasn’t anything sinister. Like her, he was probably having trouble sleeping.

  She dismissed the fear and headed down the main staircase and into the kitchen.

  “Tory.”

  She spun around. “Griffin?”

  A sigh of relief escaped her lips. She’d let her imagination take over but she’d been right. There was nothing to be afraid of.

  “There are two men in the house,” he whispered.

  “What?”

  The night-light in the living room went out, leaving them in darkness.

  “They’ve cut the electricity.”

  Fear pressed against her chest. This couldn’t be happening. She was supposed to be safe here. But now...

  Griffin motioned for her to stay quiet as he grabbed her hand and pulled her across the kitchen toward the laundry room. “They’re here in the house. Upstairs. I don’t know how you managed to miss them, but I need you to come with me.”

  She went willingly, an indication in her mind of how much she trusted him. But trust didn’t take away the panic engulfing her. Jinx had no intention of simply disappearing. He wanted her dead and was willing to battle a storm to take her out.

  She caught the glint of the handgun Griffin held as the moonlight streamed through the window and wondered how it had come to this. She was supposed to be safe here. A shelter in the storm until the FBI could retrieve her. She had to have known she was putting her life at risk when she’d decided to testify against a man like Jinx, but now she was risking Griffin’s family’s lives, too. She didn’t want that. And she had no desire for him to put his life on the line to fight for her. But what other options did they have at this point?

  He pulled her into the laundry room and shut the door behind them. She had a dozen questions to ask Griffin. Like, how were they going to escape? But all she really needed to know was that Jinx’s men—and maybe Jinx himself—were here in the house and, with the storm in full force outside, escaping was going to be next to impossible.

  How were they supposed to hide when there was nowhere to go?

  Griffin released her hand and pulled out a handheld two-way radio. “Caden...we’ve got two intruders in the house.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Downstairs in the laundry room.”

  “You need to get her to the safe room.”

  “That was my plan, but they’re blocking it.”

  “Can you take them out?” Caden asked.

  “Yes, but I could use some backup. I’d rather avoid someone getting hurt in a confrontation.”

  “What about Mom and Dad?”

  “I haven’t been able to get through to them.”

  “I’m on my way to the house now.”

  “Copy that.”

  She heard movement behind them. The door swung open, followed by a bright light and then everything went dark.

  Tory grabbed Griffin’s arm, though she couldn’t see or hear anything. Someone pulled her up but she couldn’t make out who it was. Was it Griffin or one of Jinx’s men? She couldn’t tell. Her ears were ringing and her heart pounded as her vision came back into focus. Someone grabbed her from behind but Griffin pounced on the man, forcing him to lose his grip. Free, she snatched an iron off the dryer and swung at a second man with everything she had. A moment later the man dropped to the ground.

  Griffin grabbed her hand. “We need to get out of here. Can you run?”

  “Yeah.” She still wasn’t sure where he planned to go, but she wasn’t going to wait to find out.

  He swung open the outside door and helped her down the porch stairs. The cold hit her like a freight train. She was wearing sweats, a long T-shirt and slippers with soles, but that wasn’t enough to protect her from the freezing temperatures or the snow that was still falling. It wouldn’t take long, exposed in this weather, to bring on the first stages of hypothermia.

  She didn’t question his decision as they headed for the barn, but there was no way they could take a horse out into this weather. That left them with no real escape as far as she could tell. But Griffin had a plan. He had to.

  Her lungs hurt as she took in a breath. “Where are we going?”

  “To the barn. We’ve got a couple snowmobiles there.”

  They crossed the gravel driveway that was now covered with several inches of white, the only light a sliver of moon reflecting off the falling snow. She had no idea what had happened to his parents, but she had a feeling that Jacob and Marci O’Callaghan could take care of themselves.

  God, don’t let anything happen to them, please...not because of me.

  As Griffin opened the door, the wind whipped it out of his hand and slammed it against the barn wall. She heard something and turned around, catching movement out of the corner of her eye. The men had followed them outside.

  “Griffin!”

  One of the men tackled Griffin, shoving him against the wall of a stall. He let out a groan while a second man grabbed her, pinned her arms behind her and started dragging her across the floor. She fought back and pulled away from his grip, but he was too strong. She watched helplessly as the other man swung, plummeting his fists first into Griffin’s rib cage then across his jaw.

  This time Griffin didn’t get up.

  Her feet were numb and she was shaking from the bitter cold. She needed to do something. But she couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. They had Griffin now and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

  “Should we leave him?” one of the men asked.

  “No... Get him onto his feet. I have a feeling we’re going to need them both. Keys are in the snowmobiles. We’ll use them to get to the cabin.”

  Cabin? What cabin?

  There was no time to figure out what they were planning. The man who had grabbed her quickly tied her hands in front of her with a long piece of twine he’d been carrying, before securing her to the bar on the back of the snowmobile. The second man aimed his gun at Griffin and ordered him to drive, before sliding in behind him, his gun still pointed at Griffin’s head.

  Seconds later both snowmobiles took off into the blistering storm, leaving her wondering why they hadn’t just killed her. If Griffin was right, and they wanted information from her, what did they want?

  The man sitting behind Griffin fired a round at the barn. She looked back and saw someone running toward them, but it didn’t matter anymore. It was too late.

  * * *

  Griffin’s head pounded as he drove the snowmobile and the frigid air filled his lungs. His chest hurt, making him wonder if he had a cracked rib, but all he could think about was Tory—and the instructions of the man behind him, pointing a gun at his head.

  This wasn’t supposed to have happened. He’d done everything he could think of to ensure her safety, including coordinating emergency plans with his parents, Caden and the local police, but the whole time he’d believed that the men wouldn’t come until the storm died down. And if they did, he’d still have the advantage because he knew this land. Instead he’d underestimated their motivation and the risks they’d take. What worried him the most was that their plan had to be to kill her once they got what they wanted.

  On top of that, not only had he failed to keep Tory safe, he had no idea if his parents were okay. Guilt engulfed him as he worked to focus on the surrounding terrain and a way out of this. Thankfully, he knew the ranch as well as his father, because he needed to know not only where they were right now, but where they were going. There had been a slight lull in the storm, but he knew it was supposed to hit with force again. That meant, if they’d planned their attack based on up-to-date information, they no doubt knew exactl
y where they were going. If he was right, he was pretty sure they also had a man inside the FBI.

  They passed a familiar tower used to collect rainwater. That meant they were heading west, toward the only outbuilding in this direction, a structure used to store feed and other supplies for the outskirts of the ranch. But if that was their plan, then what? If they’d wanted him and Tory dead, they could have done that back at the ranch.

  He’d been right. Their plan was to keep Tory alive, but only until they got whatever information they were after. In the meantime, he was going to be used as leverage to get her to talk. But what if she couldn’t give them the answers they demanded? There was no way for them to know she had no memories of what she’d witnessed, or when those memories might come back. That left him with only one real option. He needed to get Tory away from the men now.

  As soon as the trail widened, Griffin found what he was looking for. He steered the snowmobile over a slight rise that launched them several inches into the air before hitting the ground and skidding to an abrupt stop. A second later he yanked the other man off the snowmobile and onto the ground, slamming a fist into the back of his skull before grabbing for the man’s gun.

  The second snowmobile carrying Tory came to a stop behind him, but Griffin was ready. He pointed the gun at the second man. “Let her go!”

  The driver jerked Tory in front of him, blocking Griffin’s shot. “Get back on the snowmobile or she’s dead.”

  “I thought your boss needed her alive,” he shouted back.

  The man he’d knocked out stumbled to his feet. “You have no idea what’s really going on here. If it were up to me, I’d have ended this a long time ago. But our boss has his own agenda.”

  “What is it?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough.” He motioned for Griffin to get back on the vehicle. “Try anything again and I’ll forget about what the boss wants, and she’ll be dead before she hits the ground. You’ll both be dead.”

  Griffin hesitated then caught the fear in Tory’s eyes. He was irritated. He’d taken a calculated risk and lost. If it were just him, he’d take the chance and fight back, but he couldn’t put her life in any more jeopardy than it already was. Not here, anyway.

  Fifteen minutes later they stopped in front of a supply structure and the men led them into the building by gunpoint. He glanced around the familiar ten-by-twelve filled with building supplies, feed and fencing materials. The thick walls kept out the wind and a small heater provided just enough warmth to keep off the chill. The only positive thing about the situation was that the inside was warmer than outside.

  He turned to Tory. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded, but he could tell she wasn’t. Her face was red from the cold. He didn’t know which was worse, the cold or the fear that had to have settled around her.

  “I—”

  “Shut up.” One of the men stopped in front of him and pulled off the ski mask he’d been wearing.

  Griffin’s jaw slackened. “Max?”

  * * *

  “You know him?” Tory asked.

  “He’s one of our old ranch hands who was fired for stealing.”

  Max frowned. “Wouldn’t have had to if your father paid a fair wage.”

  “He pays more than a fair wage and you know it. But you got caught.”

  Max shrugged. “Maybe things are about to turn around for me. Ran into Jimmy here at the diner today. Found out his boss is willing to pay me a whole lot more.”

  “You’d rather work for a man who murders his employees than one who treats them fair?” Griffin asked.

  “Enough. Both of you.” Jimmy shouted at Griffin, “You’re only here for one reason and that’s not for giving orders but to ensure she talks.” The cold had brought out the red in a two-inch scar across the man’s temple as he turned to Tory. “Which you will do because, trust me, the alternative isn’t going to be pretty if you want your bodyguard here to live.”

  “Don’t hurt him, please. Just tell me what you want from me.”

  He thrust Tory backward into a wood chair, while Max did the same to Griffin.

  I don’t know what to do here, God.

  He glanced at the door. If he could buy them some time and the snow hadn’t already covered their tracks, there was a chance Caden and the other men would be able to track them down. The only problem was, they had the only snowmobiles on the property.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Griffin began. “Because you know that in the end you’ll be arrested, and it won’t be Jinx who goes to prison for kidnapping and assault, it will be you. Is that what you want? To take the fall for another man?”

  While he waited for their response, he studied the expression of the man closest to him. He was clearly loyal to Jinx. Griffin wasn’t sure what motivated him, but there was definitely some history there. These men were willing to kill on another man’s orders. Men who lost all sense of conscience and the ability to see between right and wrong. How did he fight that?

  Jimmy took a step forward. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Really? Because I think you know I’m telling the truth. Your boss will get away with murder—and now with the kidnapping of a deputy. He will get away with this, like he always does, because he knows you’ll take the fall if it goes wrong. But he won’t.

  “The authorities know you can’t have gotten far in this storm. They will find us here, and when they do, you’ll be the ones going to prison. Is that really what you want to happen? Why go down for a man who doesn’t care if you live or die? He’s the kind of man who has no problems risking your life by sending you out into a storm to clean up his mess.”

  Planting the seeds of doubt was his last defense.

  Jimmy leaned down and slammed a fist into his stomach. Griffin groaned at the sharp jab of pain at the impact, realizing that appealing to this man’s conscience wasn’t going to work.

  “Don’t...please...” Tory tried to scoot closer to him. “Leave him alone and tell me what you want from me.”

  “Fine. Because I’m tired of all the talk and wasting time.” Jimmy squatted down in front of her. “I want to know who the other witness is you’re protecting.”

  Griffin watched Tory’s jaw go slack. He’d figured they wanted information, but another witness? The FBI had specifically told him that Tory was the only witness in this case. Why would they have misled him about something like that?

  He watched as Tory blinked back the confusion. So that was the information they’d been looking for. Someone else had been there with her that day. Who? A friend? A boyfriend? But if that was true, then why hadn’t it been mentioned in the FBI file? For that matter, what else about that file had been a lie? If there was another witness, the only thing that made sense was that Tory must have either insisted on leaving out the second witness as a bargaining chip when she’d agreed to help the FBI or the FBI didn’t know. He could tell she had no idea because she still couldn’t remember what had happened that day. But one thing was clear. She had to have been protecting someone.

  But who?

  Jimmy leaned forward and spittle flew out of his mouth as he spoke. “Answer my question. Who’s the other witness?”

  Tory bit the edge of her lip. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?”

  He signaled at Max, who punched Griffin, this time against his mouth. A drop of blood trickled down his lip and dropped onto the wooden floor. Griffin’s heart raced. Unless he could find a way out, this wasn’t going to end well for either of them.

  Tory scooted forward. “Don’t...please don’t hurt him.”

  Jimmy set his hands against the armrest and leaned in even closer to her face. “Then tell me what I want to know. Because if you don’t, he’s expendable.”

  Griffin’s gut cinched. They were walking a fine line. If she told him th
e truth about her memory, she was going to take away any leverage the men might have had in keeping them alive.

  SIX

  Tory felt her stomach clench as Jimmy’s stale breath pressed toward her face. Her mind scrambled to make sense of what he was saying, because she couldn’t grasp what he was asking her. There had been another witness? Was that even possible?

  Unless...

  She turned her face away as everything suddenly started coming into place. Griffin was right. They didn’t want her dead because they wanted something from her. The encounter with the agents had been an extraction, not an attempt to kill her. For some reason, Jinx and his men were afraid of what she knew. They still needed one piece of evidence, and that piece of evidence changed everything. Except there was something else vital they didn’t know. If what they were saying was true, she had no idea who had been on that trail with her that day.

  “Answer my question,” Jimmy repeated. “Who was with you that day?”

  Tory felt her heart slam against the wall of her chest from a fresh wave of adrenaline. She had no idea what to answer. If she didn’t have the information they wanted, what reason did they have to keep them alive? She glanced at Griffin. His lip quivered from the pain, but she couldn’t read his expression. Somehow she needed to buy time and the only way to do that was to tell the truth.

  “I don’t know who was with me that day,” she finally said.

  “You don’t know?” Jimmy took a step back and laughed. “That’s your answer? Do you really think that playing stupid is the right call here? If you’re not careful, you’re going to give your friend a death sentence, because apparently we haven’t motivated you enough.”

  Max swung his fist back to hit Griffin.

  “Stop! Please. Don’t hurt him. I’m telling the truth.”

  Max froze midswing. “Then I’ll ask you nicely one final time. Who was with you that day? Who’s the second witness?”