Army Ranger Redemption

by Carol Ericson

  “Once those drugs are found, they can be payoff for another round of kidnappings, but what’s the purpose of the kidnappings? Where are those three—Kayla, Stevie and Heather?”

  “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’m thinking it had to be some child-trafficking ring.”

  “My uncle?” She twisted the corner of her towel between two fingers. “I know he’s not a good guy, but that?”

  “What else? If some sicko was just murdering kids, he’d do it himself. Why go through some elaborate scheme of using drugs to compensate a bunch of bikers to kidnap the children?”

  “And why those bikers?” Shivering, she crossed her arms.

  Jim tucked her towel around her body. “Go get dressed and dry your hair. You’re getting chilled.”

  “This conversation isn’t helping.” She turned and scurried back to the bathroom. “And I’m going with you to see Dax.”

  An hour later, after checking out via the TV, they slipped out of the hotel.

  Scarlett watched the hotel entrance in her rearview mirror as she drove out of the parking lot. “If that was Danny in the stairwell, he can’t know for sure that I was the one listening to him. I’m so glad you didn’t call out my name.”

  “Me, too, but you need to watch your back.”

  “We both do.” She tugged on the sleeve of his flannel shirt. “Do you think anyone’s going to notice we’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday?”

  “I don’t think it matters unless you want to go home and change.”

  “That’s okay. I at least had a shower.”

  “I remember.” He brushed one knuckle down her thigh.

  “Jim, about last night...” She bit her bottom lip.

  He squeezed her leg above her knee. “A night to remember.”

  Her nose tingled and she nodded. “I’ll never forget it.”

  And maybe that’s all she’d ever have of Jim Kennedy—the memories. Would they be enough?

  * * *

  SCARLETT PULLED INTO the parking lot of the main hospital, which was around the corner from the emergency entrance. Jim checked in at the reception desk on the ICU floor, and the nurse gave him Dax’s room number and the go-ahead to visit him.

  When Jim pushed open the door, he froze and Scarlett bumped into him.

  Jim asked, “Who are you?”

  Scarlett peered around Jim’s large frame and met the heated gaze of a redhead sitting next to Dax’s bed.

  “Who the hell are you? If you take one more step into this room, I’m going to scream bloody murder for the nurse.”

  “Whoa.” Jim held up one hand. “I’m Dax’s brother, Jim Kennedy.”

  The redhead gave Jim the once-over and the deep lines around her mouth softened. “You’re J.T. I see it now. You look just like my man—maybe a little softer around the edges.”

  “You’re Belinda?”

  “I drove here as soon as I got the call from that Deputy Stevens.” She jerked her head toward Scarlett.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m Scarlett Easton, a friend of Jim’s.”

  “You’re the one who found him.” Belinda tossed her mane of hair over her shoulder. “I’m grateful to you.”

  Scarlett brushed past Jim and approached the bed. “How’s he doing?”

  “Not great, but he’s a fighter. He’ll pull through, but then he’s got another problem.”

  Jim edged into the small room and took a spot at the foot of Dax’s bed. “What would that be?”

  “Didn’t you get my text? If you don’t find those drugs and stop the kidnappers, they’re going to come after Dax again—and this time they’ll kill him.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jim gripped the metal bar at the end of Dax’s hospital bed. “You sent the text?”

  “Dax told me to send it to you if anything happened to him.” She flung her hand out toward Dax’s still form. “Something happened to him.”

  Jim hunched forward, bracing his hands on the bed. “What do you know, Belinda? What did Dax tell you?”

  She raised one eyebrow. “I’m not telling you anything here.”

  “Have you had breakfast yet?”

  “A cup of coffee and a candy bar.”

  “Scarlett and I will buy you breakfast.”

  Pushing to her feet, she slung her leather jacket over one shoulder. “Dax said you were a hotshot sniper. You packing heat?”

  Jim’s hand moved to his pocket.

  “Good, because I’m not going anywhere in this hick town without protection.”

  Scarlett put her hand on his arm. “Let’s go to one of the restaurants in the new shopping center. Nobody needs to see us with Belinda at Sutter’s.”

  “I like the way this girl thinks.” Belinda shrugged into her jacket, covering the sleeve of tattoos that decorated her left arm.

  Jim raised one finger and then leaned over his brother. “Hang in there, Dax. We’re going to figure this out.”

  On their way to the elevator, Belinda stopped at the reception desk and rapped her knuckles on the surface as she hunched forward. “You’re going to call me if there’s any change, right?”

  The nurse scooted her chair back an inch. “Yes, ma’am.”

  They stepped into the elevator, and Jim leaned toward Belinda, the smell of her heavy perfume tickling his nose. “Are they afraid of you?”

  “They’d better be.”

  Belinda wanted to leave her car at the hospital, so Scarlett drove the three of them to the new shopping center, not far from the hotel where they’d stayed last night.

  Jim swallowed. That hotel would always bring a smile to his face—wherever Scarlett wound up in the world. She only thought she wanted something more with him, but she was the same bright girl she’d been in high school and she’d made good on the promise of her youth.

  He still had a long way to go, and she didn’t need to be along for his journey.

  “This place is open for breakfast.” Scarlett pulled into a parking space and cut the engine. “Hopefully, we won’t see anyone we know here.”

  “And if we do?” Belinda took the gum out of her mouth and stuck it in a wrapper.

  “Why lie?” Jim shrugged. “You’re Dax’s girlfriend. You’re here because he’s injured and we’re having breakfast with you.”

  Jim scanned the mostly empty restaurant and blew out a breath when he didn’t recognize one person.

  They settled in a booth in the corner, and the waitress poured them some coffee.

  Jim planted his elbows on the table. “Tell us what you know, Belinda. If Dax had confided in me instead of you sending me cryptic messages after someone stabbed him, maybe he wouldn’t be lying in that hospital bed right now.”

  “I don’t know much.” Belinda swirled some cream in her coffee. “Dax got out of the joint and came to me in Seattle. We had a good thing going. He was off the pills and the booze, and then he got a phone call that sent him over the edge.”

  “Dax? Nothing sends Dax over the edge.”

  “I know, right? This did.”

  Scarlett asked, “Did he tell you about the phone call?”

  “He didn’t say much. It had something to do with his past. He’d planned to ignore the whole thing until he found out you were in Timberline, J.T.”

  “Me? He went back to Timberline because of me?”

  Belinda traced the rim of her coffee cup with the tip of her finger as she gazed into the caramel-colored liquid. “He was damned proud of you, J.T., of your service. He always bragged about his medaled-up little brother.”

  A knot formed in Jim’s chest. “I didn’t... We haven’t had much contact.”

  Belinda lifted one narrow shoulder. “Dax is an ex-con. Just fi
gured you didn’t want him around.”

  Jim opened his mouth to ask a question and then snapped it shut when the waitress showed up. They ordered, and then Jim crossed his arms on the table, hunching forward.

  “What did he think he was going to protect me from in Timberline?”

  “He wouldn’t tell me and he wouldn’t let me come with him. All I know is the phone call had something to with whatever he’d been involved in here before with his old man. I got the feeling that the person on the other end of the line wanted him to pick up where the Lords had left off.”

  Scarlett tapped her water glass. “Rusty and Chewy must’ve been called back, too, and it looks like Chewy’s the only one who was game—unless he turns up dead like Rusty.”

  “What the hell is going on in this town?” Belinda cradled her coffee cup as if warming her hands. “Who’s inviting the Lords back and for what purpose?”

  Scarlett shot Jim a glance. “We’re not sure and it’s best you don’t know anything more. What we think is that someone hired the Lords to kidnap children twenty-five years ago in exchange for a piece of the drug trade on the Washington peninsula.”

  Belinda’s heavily lined eyes widened. “Dax kidnapping kids? I don’t believe it.”

  “I’m not excusing him, Belinda, but he was just a teenager himself and influenced by our father. It was always hard to defy our old man. Dax was also using. Who knows what kind of pressure the Lords put on him.”

  “And the important thing?” Scarlett tapped Belinda’s tattooed wrist. “He said no this time. That’s why he’s in that hospital bed fighting for his life.”

  The waitress brought their plates of food, but even after she left nobody started eating.

  Belinda chased a potato around her plate with a fork. “I think Dax pretended to go along with it to buy time...and to protect you. I think he took a delivery of those drugs.”

  “I think you’re right.” Jim nodded and grabbed the ketchup bottle. “He took the drugs, hid them and then reneged on the deal.”

  “So, that’s the text he had you send to Jim, Belinda, but what does it mean?”

  “He didn’t tell me. He texted me yesterday morning and asked me to send those words to his brother if anything happened to him. When I tried to call him to ask him what the hell was going on, he wouldn’t respond.” Belinda dabbed at her nose with a napkin.

  “It has to mean something to me and to Dax—where it all started.” Jim scratched the stubble on his chin. “Just wish he hadn’t been so vague. Where what started? The whole Timberline Trio case?”

  “Whatever happened to those kids?” Belinda finally sawed off an edge of her omelet and took a bite.

  “Nobody knows. Poof.” Scarlett flicked her fingers in the air. “They disappeared—no bodies, no trace.”

  Belinda’s fork clattered against her plate where she dropped it. “That’s horrible. I have a little boy and I can’t even imagine. Dax is like a father to him. I still can’t stomach the thought of him being involved in snatching children.”

  “And whoever was behind it twenty-five years ago wants to do it again. That’s what I can’t fathom. Why?” Scarlett shoved her full plate away.

  Jim said, “As long as those drugs stay hidden, they’re not going to get another chance. Whoever Danny has lined up to kidnap children this time is not going to do it without payment in the form of those drugs.”

  “Danny?” Belinda looked up from her coffee cup. “You do know?”

  Scarlett kicked him under the table. “W-we have a good idea but no proof.”

  “Maybe that’s where we start—with Danny. If he launched this whole plot years ago, maybe that’s what Dax means. We need to start with him. We need to start at the reservation.”

  “Reservation?” Belinda’s gaze darted between them. “This Danny, he’s Native American like you?”

  “Unfortunately, we’re related, but forget everything we told you about his involvement. You did your part by sending that text to Jim. Now you just need to make sure Dax gets better.” Scarlett aimed her fork at Belinda’s plate. “And you can’t do that on an empty stomach.”

  Jim dragged Scarlett’s plate back in front of her. “And you can’t investigate on an empty stomach.”

  “You’re not sending me away?”

  “How am I going to get on the reservation without you?”

  “Granny has pretty much adopted you. I’m sure she’d be happy to entertain you.”

  Did she want to go back to San Francisco? He should be insisting instead of dragging her into this any further.

  He tucked an errant strand of silky hair behind Scarlett’s ear. “Then I’ll go on my own.”

  “Oh, no.” She jabbed a potato with her fork. “Granny might be ready to adopt you, but the rest of them still hate you. I’ll be tagging along.”

  The three of them managed to finish their breakfasts and leave the restaurant without running into anyone they knew. The sooner Belinda could get Dax out of this town, the better.

  When they dropped her off, Jim turned to Scarlett. “Can we go by the sheriff’s station first? Stevens wanted me to check in today when Musgrove was there.”

  Their visit to the sheriff’s station was a waste of time. The Timberline deputies didn’t know much of anything about his brother’s case, and Musgrove wasn’t even at the station.

  As they walked out, Jim mumbled, “How much golf can one guy play?”

  “Especially at the tail of autumn on the Washington peninsula.” Scarlett tipped her head back to take in the gray sky.

  Jim joined her in the car and put his hand over hers. “One more stop? I’d like to drop by my place for a change of clothes.”

  “Of course.” Her gaze flicked over her body. “Although you look fine to me.”

  “At least my boxers are dry.”

  As she started the car, her shoulders dropped and a smile touched her lips.

  He’d never been much of a comedian, but someone had to lighten the mood. Scarlett had been so tense he was afraid she was ready to crack.

  Hunching forward, he smacked the dashboard. “I think we’re going to get to the bottom of this, Scarlett. Bit by bit, we’re piecing things together.”

  She pulled onto the highway, back to the center of town. “Begin at the beginning. So, you think the beginning is with Danny and the reservation?”

  “If he’s the one who ordered the kidnappings or was part of the ring that originally ordered them twenty-five years ago, and it looks like he was. Unless...” Jim massaged the back of his neck as a shaft of pain shot through his skull.

  She twisted her head to the side. “Unless what?”

  “Maybe the beginning was with me. The kidnappings started after someone tried to snatch me, and instead of turning the guy in, my dad had a long talk with him. Maybe that’s where it all started.”

  Scarlett’s eyes got wide. “D-do you think your dad made some kind of deal with the kidnappers that night?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Do you have any reason to suspect that it was Danny in your room that night?”

  “I don’t remember enough about him to make that call.”

  “I can see it for you.”

  “No.”

  “If a Quileute was involved, I’m sure I’ll be able to sense that. The reason my vision worked so well with Beth St. Regis, that TV host, is because it turns out Beth was Quileute herself. It might tell us what we want to know, Jim.”

  “I think I already know it. I don’t need further confirmation, especially at the risk of harming you.”

  Slicing her hand through the air, she said, “It doesn’t harm me.”

  “It’s not a bed of roses for you, either.”

  “Beds of roses are highly overrated. Look at you.”


  His brows shot up. “Me?”

  “Your life hasn’t been easy.”

  “That’s an understatement. You don’t think I wanted it otherwise?”

  “Sometimes we don’t get to choose. What you went through—all of it—made you the man you are today.”

  “A wreck?” His lips twisted.

  “Jim Kennedy, you are the strongest man I’ve ever met. Sure, you’re battered, bloodied, beaten up—but not defeated.”

  “So, you’re saying you’re glad I went through hell?”

  She smacked his arm. “Of course not. You know what I mean. I’m saying, if you can endure, I can endure. It’s not a big deal.”

  “Let’s see what your grandmother has to say first. If we spill everything we suspect, she might be able to fill in some details.”

  “But we won’t find any drugs at the reservation. There’s no way your brother could’ve hidden them there, and he wouldn’t have wanted to.”

  “You’re right about that.” Jim drummed his fingers on his knee. “If the beginning was the attempt to kidnap me, maybe he hid them on our property.”

  “And maybe that’s why he was stabbed. One of Danny’s guys came looking for the drugs and Dax wouldn’t tell him where they were.”

  When Scarlett pulled up to the cabin, the yellow police tape crisscrossed over the porch was a stark reminder of his brother’s condition and the seriousness of their quest. Who would’ve guessed Dax Kennedy would turn out to be one of the good guys?

  Jim opened the car door and turned to Scarlett. “Wait here. I’m going through the back and it’ll take me two minutes to change.”

  “I hope you don’t mind if I leave the engine running...just in case.”

  “You mean you’d leave me behind?”

  “I mean in case someone approaches the house, so I can shift into gear and run him over.”

  “Oh, in that case.” He flashed her a quick smile, but somehow he had the feeling she was dead serious.

  It probably took him less than two minutes to exchange one pair of jeans and a T-shirt for another set and glance at the bloodstained entryway. If only Dax had confided in him. They could’ve handled this together. Dax still had the mind-set that he needed to protect his baby brother—just like he’d tried to protect him from their father during their childhood. Dax had played the role of the bad boy to allow Jim to be the good boy because the old man had needed—no, demanded—one son to follow in his criminal footsteps. Dax had sacrificed himself to spare him.