Colt immediately pulled Elise to the ground with him. Darnell dropped down behind them, his gun still ready. Their attention all went to Reed.
Had he been shot?
But he was standing there. Unharmed.
The blast had been so sudden that it took Colt a moment to realize it hadn’t come from inside the shed. Instead, it’d come from the direction of the house, and it was soon followed by a second shot.
Then another.
“He’s trying to kill me!” Meredith yelled.
And that’s exactly what seemed to be happening. Both shots slammed into the shed just above Meredith’s head.
Colt still didn’t move to help the woman, but he didn’t stop Meredith when she scrambled behind the shed with them.
Another shot came their way, this one tearing through the shed. Reed cursed and dropped down.
“Are you hit?” Colt immediately asked him.
Reed shook his head. “I’m fine.”
But the words had no sooner left Reed’s mouth when there was more movement next to them.
From Meredith.
Before Colt could even turn his attention from Reed and back to Meredith, the woman brought up her gun and put it right to Elise’s head.
Colt’s stomach went to his knees.
The duct tape had been a ruse. Colt could see that now. The strip only stretched across the front of her body. She’d been free this whole time, and now she was free to try to kill them.
“Drop your gun,” Meredith ordered Colt.
Colt shook his head. “You drop yours.”
“I should probably clarify something.” Meredith’s voice was eerily calm. “I’m wired with a communicator, and my brother’s on the other end of this line. If you don’t drop your gun now, he’ll act according to my orders.”
“Orders,” Colt spat out like profanity. “What orders?”
The corner of Meredith’s mouth lifted, and she turned her gun on Colt. “I have your father. If you don’t cooperate, he dies.”
* * *
ELISE GLARED AT the monster holding the gun aimed at Colt.
If Meredith was lying about having Roy, then she was doing a convincing job of it. Of course, anyone who could put together a string of chaos like this was certainly capable of lying through her teeth.
“Why the hell would you take my father?” Colt snapped. He didn’t move to put down his gun as Meredith had demanded.
“To make you cooperate, to make this plan work,” Meredith readily answered.
Without shifting the gun away from Colt, Meredith motioned toward the back of the house. A moment later, the third gunman stepped out from the shadows and made a beeline toward her.
“If you shoot him, I shoot Colt,” Meredith warned Darnell, Reed and her.
Elise’s finger tightened on the trigger, but there was no way she could try to end this. Not with Meredith’s gun on Colt. Hopefully, Reed and Darnell wouldn’t fire, either. They could all get off a shot, but so could Meredith.
A shot that would indeed kill Colt.
The goon with the bulky shoulders came closer, and Elise saw that he had something in his left hand. A phone.
“Show them,” Meredith told the man.
He turned the screen in their direction, and Elise had no trouble seeing a photo of Roy, tied up and gagged. He was on the floor, his feet bound as well, and he was glaring right at the person taking the photo.
Colt obviously saw the photo, too, because the muscles in his jaw turned to iron. “Let him go.” He didn’t shout, but there was definitely a dangerous edge to his tone.
“Not until you cooperate.” Meredith glanced at Darnell and Reed. “Sorry that you two got caught up in this, but if you do what I tell you, neither of you will get hurt.”
Judging from the sound that Reed made, he didn’t believe her. Neither did Elise. Because she knew Meredith’s plan included murder.
No way would she leave witnesses behind when she was so desperate to make this asinine plan work.
“Even if we’re dead, you might still be brought up on criminal charges because of what’s in my report,” Elise said. “That is why you’re doing this.” And it wasn’t a question.
“It is, and conversation won’t distract me if that’s what you’re trying to do.”
“I’m trying to figure out how you could have gone stark raving mad,” Elise snapped.
Meredith didn’t even react to that. She turned her attention back to Colt. “I have no intention of me and my brother going to jail for what Elise uncovered, and once you’re out of the way, I’ll make the report disappear, too.”
“But Frank Wellerman’s turning it over to the cops,” Elise reminded her.
“He can’t turn over what he doesn’t have. Let’s just say my computer skills are good enough to make things like that disappear. And if Wellerman doesn’t cooperate, he’ll find himself in just as much hot water as you are.”
Elise sucked in her breath. “Sweet heaven. Are you going to kill him, too?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Meredith snapped. “Because this isn’t just about me. It’s about Leo, too. He’s already on probation, and a charge like this could put him away for a long time.”
“You mean for life,” Colt corrected. “Because the charges aren’t just for embezzlement. It’s murder. Leo’s the one who killed Martinelli, isn’t he? Or maybe he just helped you set that explosive. It doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s still murder.”
That tightened Meredith’s mouth, but she didn’t address Colt, only Elise. “You understand what it’s like to protect someone you love. Well, that’s what I’m doing. I’m protecting my brother, who I love. I don’t want him to spend a minute in jail for offing a lowlife like Martinelli.”
Yes, definitely stark raving mad. But that only made Meredith even more dangerous.
“Martinelli tried to kill me when he ran me off the road,” Elise said.
“Not kill you. He was supposed to bring you to me so I could get on with my plan to set up Roy. In addition to being a lowlife, Martinelli was an idiot.”
Thank goodness. If he’d been more efficient at his job, Elise might already be dead.
“The gun,” Meredith reminded Colt, and with a simple motion of her hand, the goon latched on to Colt and dragged him to his feet.
Meredith knocked the gun from Colt’s hands while she aimed her own weapon at the rest of them. Since her hired muscle now had his gun trained on Colt, Elise had no choice but to drop her gun.
Reed and Darnell did the same.
Maybe at least one of them had some kind of backup weapon on them, and while Elise was hoping, she added that maybe Meredith wouldn’t search for any other weapons before she took them wherever she was planning on taking them.
“How did you even know Colt and Elise were here?” Reed asked.
“I hired someone to watch the sheriff’s office, and he used binoculars to look through the window. He saw you give them your keys.”
So, Meredith had covered all the bases. Maybe. But Elise was hoping that the woman had missed something. Something that would keep them alive.
“Why not just kill us here?” Elise asked her.
Meredith made a sound to indicate the answer was obvious. “Because I need to be able to pin your death on Roy, and that means having you two at the same place at the same time. Colt and the others will be unfortunate accidents who got in the way when Roy and his hired gun came to kill you so you can’t testify against him.”
Elise shook her head. “But I did hypnosis and didn’t remember anything incriminating against Roy.”
“That doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Roy will want to stop you from remembering anything that could come up in a future hypnosis session. The McKinnons haven’t exactly been quiet about how much they’re concerned about what you’re going to say when you take the witness stand.”
That sent a chill through Elise. She was already shivering from the cold, but that made it
worse. “And then you’ll kill Roy,” she concluded.
“He’ll commit suicide,” Meredith said as casually as if discussing the weather. “Let’s go. Once we have this contained,” she added to her hired goon, “then you’ll need to do cleanup here.”
Elise didn’t want to know what that entailed, but she figured Meredith would make sure there was no evidence left behind that could be traced back to her or anyone she’d hired.
“Move,” Meredith’s man ordered. With Colt in his meaty grip, he started walking, and dragged Colt right along with him.
Elise quickly followed because she wanted to be near Colt in case things turned worse than they already were. Or in case they were able to come up with some way to escape.
But how?
Anything they did right now would endanger Colt.
The hired gun started leading them away from the house, toward the spot where she’d seen the SUV pull off the road earlier.
“Don’t count on your brothers or Deputy Pete coming out to help,” Meredith told Colt. “They’re all out trying to find your dad.”
“And I’m sure you planted some false information to send them on a wild-goose chase,” Colt mumbled.
Meredith didn’t confirm it, but Elise figured that’s exactly what the woman had done. However, she couldn’t imagine all his family leaving Colt in the middle of a gunfight, so maybe Cooper had arranged for help from one of the deputies of a nearby town.
Elise listened for anyone who might be out there. Obviously, so did Meredith and her hired gun, and they approached the SUV with caution, both of them looking around to make sure they weren’t about to be ambushed.
But no one was there.
Well, no one except a driver. Yet another hired thug, no doubt. And that meant Meredith had an extra gun and some muscle to make sure she led them to their deaths.
Colt’s gaze met hers, and even though he didn’t say a word, she knew he was trying to tell her not to get in the SUV. Once they were inside, Meredith would have even more control over them than she did now.
But what should she do?
She glanced back at Reed and Darnell, who were glancing around as well, no doubt trying to figure out their best way out of this.
Meredith threw open the back door to the SUV. “It’ll be a tight squeeze, but I want Colt, Reed and Darnell in the back with Gordy here.” She smiled when she looked at Elise. “You’ll be up front with me. I think Colt will be less inclined to do something stupid if this gun’s pointed at you.”
He would be, and that’s why they had to do something now.
Meredith took hold of her arm, to shove her onto the seat. But the sound stopped her.
A low, menacing growl.
One of the dogs.
“Get in now!” Meredith yelled, and she volleyed her attention between them and the direction of that growl.
Elise saw the movement from the corner of her eye. Then heard the sound of more movement.
Colt lunged at Meredith, and in the same motion, he pushed Elise out of the way. The hired goon, Gordy, reached for her. No doubt to pull her in front of him and use her as a shield to stop Darnell and Reed.
But it was too late for that.
One of the Dobermans came out of the bushes and went straight for Gordy. The dog knocked the man down, and his gun went flying. Before it even hit the ground, the second dog tore through the bushes to come at the man, too.
That didn’t stop the thug behind the wheel, though.
He took aim at Reed and fired.
Reed got out of the way in the nick of time, but he didn’t stay down. Darnell and he both went across the seat to grab the guy’s gun.
With her heart going way too fast, Elise frantically searched the ground and finally spotted the thug’s weapon. She snatched it up and took aim at Meredith. At least she tried, but Colt and the woman were too close. No way could she risk firing a shot because she might hit Colt.
The dogs continued to keep Gordy on the ground, and Reed and Darnell managed to wrestle the gun away from the man behind the wheel.
Then Elise heard another sound.
One that she didn’t want to hear.
A shot blasted through the night.
Oh, God.
Meredith still had hold of her gun, and she’d managed to pull the trigger. For one heart-stopping moment, she thought that maybe Colt had been shot. And maybe he had. But she saw him move.
He was alive and still wrestling with Meredith to get that gun away from her.
Nothing could have stopped her at that point. Elise couldn’t fire, but she brought back the gun, and with as much strength as she could muster, she bashed it against Meredith’s shoulder. Then, the side of her head.
Meredith howled in pain, and even though she didn’t move off Colt, it was enough to give Colt the edge. He knocked Meredith’s gun from her hand, and in the same motion, he pinned Meredith to the ground. Colt didn’t waste a second. He got to his feet and dragged Meredith to hers.
Thank God, it was over.
Elise handed Colt the gun, and Reed and Darnell came out of the SUV. Reed had a firm grip on the hired gun. With just a low whistle, the dogs stopped their attack and backed away. However, Elise was pretty sure Gordy was too injured to do much fighting back.
Reed took some plastic cuffs from his pocket to restrain the guy, and he handed a pair to Colt to use on Meredith. “Let’s get this trash to jail,” Reed grumbled.
But Meredith laughed. “You think you’ve won but you haven’t.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Colt snarled, and he pushed Meredith into the backseat of the SUV.
“It means I have someone holding your father. Or did you forget?”
“I didn’t forget,” Colt assured her and caught onto the collar of her coat. “Where is he?”
Meredith laughed again. “If I can’t get back at Elise, at least I have the pleasure of knowing that your father’s dead. Or at least he will be soon if I don’t make a call to save him.”
“Where is he?” Colt repeated.
“There’s only one way you can save him.” Meredith paused, her oily smile aimed at Colt. “Let me go now, and your father gets to live. Once I’m out of the country, I’ll call and tell you where to find him.”
“Right.” Colt added some profanity. “Like I’d trust you after everything you’ve done.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Meredith insisted, staring him right in the eyes.
“I think I do.” Colt caught onto Meredith and tossed her out of the SUV and onto the ground. “Watch them, and call my brothers,” Colt told Reed. “I’m going after my dad.”
Chapter Nineteen
Colt didn’t want to risk taking his truck in case Meredith or one of her henchmen had managed to plant some explosives in it. So he jumped behind the wheel of the SUV. The problem was that Elise got in with him, as well.
“I’m going with you,” she insisted, and he could tell from her tone and body language that it wouldn’t do any good to argue with her.
And he wouldn’t.
For one thing, he needed to get to his father ASAP and didn’t want to waste even a second. For another, he wasn’t sure that he wanted Elise at Reed’s place, what with the dead bodies and the chaos. At least if she was with him, Colt could make sure she was all right. Of course, so far his track record at keeping her safe wasn’t that good.
Something he’d kick himself for later.
Elise buckled up and looked at him. “I think your father’s at my house. I think the photo was taken in my living room.”
“Yeah.” Colt had already come to that conclusion, too, and that’s the direction he headed. “I figure Meredith would want to do the murders there. Maybe to make it look as if my father broke in to kill you so he could silence you.”
Of course, that didn’t explain what Meredith had planned to do with his, Darnell’s and Reed’s bodies. Maybe she’d planned on setting up his father for that, as well. Maybe Meredith could
have made it look as if Roy had gone insane.
When it was Meredith who’d gone off the deep end.
The woman would pay for what she’d done, but Colt prayed his dad didn’t become another casualty.
“Are you okay?” Colt asked her. He was almost afraid to take a closer look. With everything that’d gone on tonight, it was possible she had injuries he didn’t even know about.
“I wasn’t hurt,” she said, her voice almost soundless. She cleared her throat, repeated it. “How about you?”
“We’re both alive,” he settled for saying. Though he figured the nightmares would be with him for a long time.
Other memories, too.
Ones that he didn’t want to deal with right now, not until he was sure his father was safe.
His phone buzzed, and that’s when he remembered that Elise still had it. She fished it from her pocket, and when she saw Cooper’s name on the screen, she put the call on speaker.
“I just talked to Reed,” Cooper greeted. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Long story,” Colt answered. “But Elise and I are on our way to her place now. We think that’s where Meredith has someone holding Dad, and we’re about ten minutes out.”
Cooper cursed. “I’m not that far from there—less than five minutes. Pete and one of the ranch hands are with me.”
Colt wanted any and all help right now. “Elise is with me, and we’re in a black SUV that Meredith brought to Reed’s place. So, don’t shoot when you see the strange vehicle.”
“Thanks for the heads-up. The only reason we’re out here is because we got a message saying Dad was being held at the old Saunders farm.”
Colt had been right about Meredith’s attempts to throw them off track. And, heck, maybe he was still wrong about the location, but he prayed he wasn’t.
If he was wrong about this, it could cost his dad his life.
“Is everyone else okay at the ranch?” Colt asked. “Did Meredith hurt anyone?”
“Everyone’s fine. What I want to know—was Meredith working alone?”
“Her brother’s probably involved, and she hired some muscle. Two of them are dead at Reed’s place, but I’m pretty sure she wasn’t working with Buddy. He’s dead, too,” Colt added.
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