The sound must have registered finally on the man’s brain. He jerked up, throwing a quick look at the wide-open front door. Then he renewed his effort, pouring into it all the extra seventy pounds he had on Cody.
The blade inched even nearer. Cody’s fingers locked tighter about the wrist, but his hand quivered under the strain.
The sirens came closer, entering the apartment complex.
“Dad!”
His gaze flickered toward Kyle standing in the doorway again, his hands clenched at his sides.
“Don’t,” Cody shouted, tearing his concentration off the assailant for a few seconds.
Suddenly the knife slipped lower and pierced his flesh at his neck. Cody went down on one knee. Kyle ran at the assailant, pummeling his fists into his back. The man roared, wrenched his knife up and out of Cody’s grasp.
The giant rotated toward Kyle. Blood flowing from the cut on his neck, Cody ignored the pain and scrambled to his feet. Kyle backed toward the kitchen. A dead end.
The sound of the sirens and the flashing red lights illuminating the outside doorway lured the assailant’s attention toward the entrance. His gaze flitted between Kyle and Cody.
“Stay, son,” Cody muttered as he assessed how to overpower the man who still held the long switchblade.
Again, the man’s look skipped between Cody and his son. Then, with reflexes that were fast for such a large man, he whirled and raced toward the balcony door. Cody flew after his assailant.
“Dad, don’t,” Kyle screamed, pure panic in his voice.
Cody slowed as the assailant jumped over the railing.
“You’re bleeding.” Kyle covered the distance between them, his eyes huge, his hands trembling.
Cody looked down. Red bled through his white shirt, fanning outward. “It’s nothing,” he quickly said to calm the fear on his son’s face, pale as though he didn’t spend any time outside. “Really.” He opened his shirt to reveal the three-inch slice from his neck toward his heart. With adrenaline pumping through him, he hadn’t realized the extent of the wound. He shed his shirt and held it up to stem the flow of blood. “Son, I’ll—”
The rush of men into the apartment cut off his words. Two officers and the police chief came to a stop, taking in the scene.
Chief Winters closed the space between him and Cody. “What happened?”
After giving a brief description of the giant, and Officers Hudson and Vega going after the assailant, Cody went through what had occurred since he arrived home with Chief Winters. When he finished, he looked at Kyle. “Please get me another shirt and a washcloth.”
“But, Dad . . .” Kyle scanned the chief’s face then pivoted toward the hall to the bedrooms.
When he was gone, Cody said in a lowered voice as he paced, “I don’t think this was a robbery.”
“Why?”
“I think he was waiting in here and once I put up my gun, he came after me. Surprised me when I came back into the living room.”
“You haven’t been here long. Who?”
“Could be tied to the murder cases . . . or I began asking questions today about the attempted murder of Al Garcia.” That nagging sensation he got when something didn’t fit exactly right prompted him to add, “Or it could be because I went back out to where we found Salazar’s cattle and took a look around.”
Kyle reentered the living room, clutching a gray T-shirt and a cloth.
“We’ll talk later,” Cody whispered then continued louder, “Now that I’ve had time to think more, I have a better description of the assailant than I told Hudson and Vega. About six feet ten inches, 280 pounds but not flab, muscles. Almost black eyes and hair. A big nose, broken at least a couple of times. Square jaw with a cleft in his chin.”
“I can draw him. I got a good look at him, too.”
Cody shifted toward Kyle. “You can?”
“Yeah. I love to draw and have been taking a lot of art courses.”
He’d known Kyle was taking an advanced art class at Durango High, but he didn’t know that his son loved to draw. That bit of news only made him realize how much he didn’t know about Kyle. “Chief, after I get patched up, my son and I will get a sketch worked up for you.” And me.
“Good. We’ll take a look around, see if we can get any fingerprints to go with that sketch while you go to the hospital. You’ve got to have that cut looked at.”
The adrenaline rush receded, bringing forth the throbbing pain. Weary and weak, Cody nodded. “I need a ride to the hospital.”
Hudson reentered the apartment. “He got away. Sped away on a motorcycle, no license plate.”
“Hudson, take Ranger Jackson and his son to the hospital, then come back.” Chief Winters strode toward the balcony to examine the door.
Cody allowed Kyle to help him. As they left, Cody shuddered with the thought that Kyle could have been home before him and encountered the assailant first. The realization this day could have ended far worse scared him more than when he’d been fighting the man for the knife.
Sitting on the couch in the emergency room waiting area, Liliana held Joanna and Sammy against her. Her nephew finally curled up next to her, laid his head in her lap, and went to sleep. Joanna was sucking her thumb, something she did when she was upset.
Liliana wanted to be inside the ER room with Elena as the doctor tended her wounds—some on her face but a lot on her arms and torso. Samuel had used her as a punching bag. But she needed to wait until her mother came to watch the children. They needed her more than her sister at this moment.
Joanna lifted her face toward Liliana and pulled her thumb from her mouth with a smack. “What’s taking so long? Mama said she had an accident. Where’s Daddy?”
“I couldn’t get hold of him. Don’t worry. I’m here for you and your mama. Grandmama will be here soon.”
“She hurt herself bad. I came home from school and found Mama crying. Sammy was still taking a nap. I didn’t know what to do. I tried calling Daddy, but Mama didn’t want to bother him.” Tears shone in Joanna’s brown eyes.
“Next time you can call me. Anytime. I’ll be there for you, Princess.”
“Oh, mis bebes.” Liliana’s mother hurried into the waiting room and sank down next to Joanna on the other side of the long couch. When she took the little girl into her arms, Joanna burst out crying. “It’ll be all right.” She patted the child’s back.
Sammy stirred in Liliana’s lap, rubbed his eyes then looked up at his grandmother. He scrambled to his feet and threw himself into her embrace, too.
Liliana spied the ER doctor who tended Elena in the entrance to the waiting room. They had worked on cases before when a victim of a crime had been brought to the hospital. She rose and went to him. “How is she?”
“Who did this? She keeps telling me she took a tumble down the stairs. This is the second time in the last year.”
“I know and I’ll deal with it. Are you keeping her here?”
“She insists on leaving, which is okay if someone will keep an eye on her. She has suffered a concussion and a bad beating, but nothing is broken. This time. She also has a cracked rib, which is going to hurt for a while. I’ve given her something for the pain. She isn’t going home, is she?”
“No. She’s coming to my house. I’m taking care of her.”
“Good. If she takes a turn for the worse, bring her back immediately. I won’t worry about convincing her to stay, then.” He looked right at her, his jawline rigid. “The person responsible should be locked up. It wasn’t a tumble down the stairs.”
“I’ll do the best I can. Can I see her?”
“Yes. I’ve asked her to stay for a while to make sure the medicine is okay for her. She did agree with that. She’s in room three.”
“Thanks, Doc. If her husband calls, don’t say anything to him. Don’t even let him know she’s here.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“I knew there was a reason I liked you.” Liliana turned back to her mother
and leaned down to whisper, “Stay with them. I’m going to see Elena.”
She nodded, and Liliana left her to continue calming both children. Her mother was good at that. Much better than she was.
Her face turned away, Elena lay in the ER room numbered three. As Liliana neared the bed, she noticed her sister’s eyes closed—one because it was swollen shut. She almost backed out, hating to disturb her, but she halted when Elena shifted, crying out at the movement. Liliana hurried to her.
“You’ve got a cracked rib. Take it easy. Doc just gave you something for the pain. It might be a while before it takes effect.”
Elena tried to smile, but it died immediately. “I can tell you it hasn’t yet.”
“When you leave here, I’m taking you home with me.”
“I can’t. He’ll get angry.”
“Why didn’t you tell the doctor what really happened? Let them take pictures of your injuries?”
Elena lowered her head and stared at the white sheet covering her. “It’s no one’s business but my own.”
“Do you want your children to grow up like we did? Always afraid? Joanna and Sammy deserve better than that. We deserved better than that.”
Elena flinched. “You know how to hurt me worse than him.”
“If it’ll get you to leave him, then I’ll continue to speak the truth.”
“How can you say that? Marriage is for life.”
“Not if he’s beating you up. One day he’ll go too far and kill you. I repeat, do you want your children left with a man like that?”
“He’s their father.”
“You need to press charges against him tonight or tomorrow. You need to get a restraining order against him.”
“No! I can’t. I don’t want people knowing what happened.”
“Remember what we went through growing up. Do you want that for your children? When we got older, Papa started taking his frustration out on us, too.”
“But I messed up.” Elena’s one good eye filled with tears.
“Yeah, marrying Samuel.” She was fighting for more than her sister now, and she couldn’t be less than brutal. “Get out. I’ll protect you. You and the kids can live with me. He’ll quickly figure out he can’t mess with me.” Liliana put her hand on the handle of her gun nestled in its holster.
Elena wailed. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret. I can’t worry about you, too.”
“You worry about me? I may want to show Samuel he can’t mess with the Rodriguez women, but I wouldn’t do anything illegal.” Liliana stepped closer and took her sister’s hand. “You and the kids are coming home with me tonight. No argument. I know a lady you need to talk with. She’ll help you with what you’re going through. Promise me you’ll do this.”
“I don’t—”
“If you don’t, I’ll make your husband’s life difficult in Durango. I’m not without resources. Everyone will know what’s going on.”
“No! I know I have to come home with you. I just don’t want Samuel to retaliate.” Tears running down her face, Elena tugged her hand free from Liliana’s and swiped it across her cheek. She winced when her fingertips touched the bruised skin.
“If he steps foot on my property, I’ll press charges against him,” Liliana said in such a convincingly tough voice she hoped Elena believed every word.
Her sister sank back against the pillow, closing her eyes. “I want to leave here. Please see if the doctor will let me go now. I’ve caused enough of a scene for today. I can only imagine what the people here are thinking.”
“You’ve caused nothing. Don’t worry about them. You have enough on your plate without doing that. I’ll track down the doctor and see what I can do.”
“Who are the kids with?”
“Mama.”
“Does Mama know that . . .” Her sister looked at her feet, twisting the sheet in her hands.
“Say it, Elena. You have nothing to be ashamed about. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“That Samuel—hit—me.”
That was a start, but the hesitant way Elena had spoken sent up a warning. Liliana’s battle to get Elena to leave Samuel wasn’t over. “I haven’t told her, but Mama knows. She went through the same thing.” And stayed in the situation. Anger knotted Liliana’s stomach. “I’ll be back.”
She left before she said something she would regret. She’d thought she’d forgiven her mother for staying with her husband when he had first physically abused her and then turned it on Elena and Liliana.
But I haven’t.
Out in the hall, she stopped, curling her trembling hands at her sides. Leaning against the wall, she drew in gulps of the antiseptic-laced air until she felt composed enough to talk with the doctor and face her mother. When she pushed upright, the doors to the emergency room burst open and Officer Hudson with Cody and a young man came into the ER. Clad in a gray T-shirt, Cody held a white cloth, stained with blood, against his upper chest.
She hadn’t thought the day could get any worse. It just did.
Now that Elena and the kids were sleeping in the spare bedroom, Liliana needed to leave and check on Cody. Trying to forget her earlier thoughts concerning her mother, Liliana pasted what she hoped was a smile on her face and said, “Mama, I appreciate you staying here until I get back, but you must promise me you’ll not answer the door or phone if it’s Samuel.”
Her mother bit her bottom lip. “He’s such a nice young man to me. How could he do that to Elena? Maybe she did—”
“Don’t, Mama. Elena didn’t do anything. Just like you never did when Papa hit you. No man has the right to beat his wife. I don’t care if he’s upset with her. There’s no reason for it that is acceptable.”
Her mother lifted a quivering hand to pat her neat bun as though there was a stray hair out of place. “When they work hard and things aren’t like they want, when they come home after a long day, don’t you think—”
“I’m going to the hospital. I shouldn’t be gone long, but I need to find out how Ranger Jackson is. With Brock gone, he’s been my partner on these murder cases.”
She sighed. “I hope he’s all right. Too much violence around here.”
The irony of what her mother said nearly caused a laugh to escape. Mama had lived in the middle of violence a lot of her adult life. “He’s tough. I’m sure he’ll be okay.” I hope.
But the sight of the ashen cast to Cody’s tan features wouldn’t leave her mind as she drove toward the hospital. At a stoplight, she called the ER to see if Cody was still there. He would probably be worse than Elena about staying overnight. Sure enough, the nurse on duty told her he had left twenty minutes ago.
Liliana made a U-turn on Alamo Boulevard and headed toward Cody’s apartment complex. When she pulled up, she saw Officer Hudson sitting in a patrol car outside Cody’s apartment building.
She tapped on the window, and Hudson rolled it down. “What’s going on?”
“We’re keeping an eye on the place. Chief Winters doesn’t want another Texas Ranger hurt in his town.”
“Did the chief find any evidence in the apartment?”
“One smeared print on the railing on the balcony and a shoe print on the ground below where they had recently watered.”
“No other prints from the perpetrator?”
“No.”
“He didn’t wear gloves. Strange? This has a feel of a pro.”
“Maybe he doesn’t care. He didn’t disguise himself.”
“Because he intended to kill Ranger Jackson.”
“Yeah, that’s what the chief thinks.”
Liliana mounted the stairs to the second floor and rang the bell. When the door opened, Cody stood in the entrance, still pale. She could see part of the bandage he had over his wound sticking out of the neckline of his fresh black T-shirt. “I didn’t get to say much before they whisked you into the ER room. How are you doing?”
He stepped to the side. “Come in. I didn’t get a chance to ask why you were at the hospita
l. Your sister?”
She nodded. “She’s at my house now.” Her gaze swept the living room, any evidence of a fight cleaned up except some drops of blood on the carpet and tile.
“Chief Winters just left. I haven’t had time to take care of everything.”
“In the hospital it didn’t look like your son was hurt. He’s okay, then?”
“Physically, yes. I’m not so sure otherwise. When the doorbell rang, he escaped to hide in his room. I think he’s on overload. He’s trying to sketch the assailant and his perfectionism is getting in the way.” The tired lines around Cody’s eyes and mouth spoke of the effect the assault had on him. He moved slowly into his living room and sank onto the couch. “It’s been a long day, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”
“So a long night for you, too.” She could understand that. She didn’t think she’d be able to sleep either—not after Elena’s and now Cody’s injuries. After sitting across from him in a chair, she nearly collapsed back, the feel of the softness beneath her welcoming her to relax for the first time in hours.
“Kinda hard to sleep too soundly when you know there’s someone out there who wants you dead. And believe me, that man did. I could see it in his eyes.”
“Why?”
“Good question. I intend to ask him when I find him.”
“Do you think this has to do with the murders we’ve been investigating?”
“I don’t know. It’s interesting that I’m attacked the day after I was out at the box canyon looking around and then checking into Garcia’s case.”
“Maybe those guys didn’t like us following them from Carlos’s house.”
“If that’s the case, watch your back. The flat tires and rock thrown into your house may be connected to what happened to me.”
“Your assault was with lethal intent. Those incidents that happened to me were more like harassment.” Was it Samuel? That wouldn’t surprise her if she found out it was.
“Or a warning—we didn’t heed.”
Shattered Silence: Men of the Texas Rangers Series #2 Page 14
