by J. M. Madden
“Of course,” he murmured, appearing right beside her.
Lora shook her head. She hadn’t even noticed him walk up.
After breakfast they walked outside. Storm clouds were building to the west and Chad frowned.
“What?” she asked.
Shrugging, he gave her a smile. “Nothing, really. Storms are just difficult.”
Ah. Yes, they probably would be.
Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he tapped out a message. “Asking Palmer if he’s learned anything.”
Then he removed the radio from his belt and keyed the mic, calling Harper back to the cabin. The big man arrived within just a few minutes, weapon cradled in his massive arms. “I’ll take a short break and head back up.”
Lora got the impression that storms gave perfect cover to the bad guys. Harper ate two plain turkey sandwiches and packed another in a sandwich bag for later. Then he went down the hallway and into the third bedroom, door closing softly behind him. Just a few hours later he came out of the room, stretching as if he’d slept all day. When she asked him if he would like coffee, he nodded his head. He drank it black, standing up and looking out the window, staring as if he could see things she could not.
Lora turned away from him. That cold silver stare of his gave her the shivers. And not in a good way.
When the storm moved in, it hit hard. Spring in Texas could mean blistering heat to snow storms, but most recently it had meant drought. Chad’s father had said that they’d had the least amount of rain they’d ever had in the past ten years and that the ranch had suffered. Lora knew they had wells, but she didn’t think they were unlimited. The entire family had been hoping for a better rain year.
As she stepped out onto the porch and looked up, she didn’t think they meant this. Black clouds roiled across the sky, moving toward them fast. Dust and debris flew through the air and she prayed that the rain would come soon. The maelstrom that led the storm would then hopefully ease. Lightning flashed in the sky and looked too close for comfort.
“We should probably go inside.”
Lora glanced up into Chad’s worried blue eyes, not even realizing he’d stepped out beside her. Turning to look out over the land one last time, she nodded her head and shoved her whipping hair behind her ears. Just then the rain broke, coming down in pelting sheets to the parched ground. Lora reached her hand out to catch runoff from the roof, giggling as it splashed all over. When she turned back to Chad, he had a funny look on his face. “What?”
The corners of his mouth tipped up slightly. “Nothing. You’re just beautiful.”
Making a face at him, unwilling to believe he liked the wet, windblown look, she shook her head. “You’re off your rocker.”
Laughing, Chad leaned down enough to press a kiss to her lips. “Maybe.”
The radio on his hip squawked to life. “We’ve got movement on the ranch. Looks like the little blond cowgirl is on her way up.”
Chad cursed as the intimacy was broken. Lora could have cursed as well. With a regretful shake of her head, she headed for the front door. “Don’t take too long.”
Chad gave her a nod before stepping back out to the edge of the porch, just out of reach of the rain. He thought he’d been clear enough that Tara had gotten the message, but here she came.
As the big red truck her daddy bought her turned into the driveway, some twinge in his gut made him check the sidearm at his hip. When the radio squawked again, this time with a burst of sound and several clicks, the hairs stood up on the back of Chad’s neck. He couldn’t see inside the cab and when the male leg clad in alligator leather boots stepped down onto the muddy driveway, he took a hair too long to recognize the danger for what it was. When he did realize it wasn’t Tara, he had a split second to key the emergency button on the mic before he felt the press of a muzzle to his head. A voice he didn’t recognize ordered him to place his hands on top of his head.
Derek grinned at Chad as he ran toward the porch, shaking rain from his brand new black hat. Chad felt his sidearm being taken by the grunt behind him, but didn’t dare glance back.
“Hey, there, Gimp. How the hell are you?”
Chad didn’t respond. He prayed that Rachel had remembered the emergency tone sent through the radio and was even now racing away with Lora and Mercy. Maybe he could distract Derek.
“How’s the nose there, buddy?”
Derek’s pearly smile never changed. “Oh, great. Nothing a well-paid cosmetic surgeon can’t take care of. Oh, wait,” he looked pointedly at Chad’s burned arm, clasped over his head. “Maybe not everything.”
The insult didn’t bother Chad, but he let his eyes flash with anger. “How did you find us, you bastard?”
Derek grinned even wider and tapped the brim of the felt hat he’d settled onto his head. “Well, that’s a fun story. After Lora ran away with my daughter, we couldn’t find her for a while. When she did finally turn up, well, Mother convinced me we had to find a way to keep tabs on her.” He leaned against the porch railing. “They really do create some ingenious little tracking devices anymore, you know? Like, tiny enough to fit in a teddy bear or something.”
Chad felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. Damn. Handsome. As conceited as Derek was, he had a feeling he could get him to talk about anything. He took a chance. “How is your mother, by the way?”
Derek’s smile turned cunning. “Ah well, Mother met a sad end. I’m in mourning, can you tell?” He tapped the brim of the black hat. “But I’m excited to finally be back with my family. Where are they, Mr. Lowell?”
Chad looked out at the rain and shook his head. “I don’t know, Mr. Malone.”
Anger flashed in Derek’s pale gray eyes. “We can play this game nicely or not so nicely. Which would you prefer? You may want to make your decision quickly because your lookout up on the hill needs medical attention, I’m told.”
Chad went cold. That last burst of noise had been Harper. God, he hoped he was okay. “Lora and the girl aren’t here. We’re on a training mission.”
With a skeptical look, Derek reached into his pockets to jingle the coins inside.
“Well, we have an issue, then. I can’t leave without the girl, and as of a few hours ago, she was right here at this building. Just where did she go?”
Chad frowned at the shorter man, imagining wrapping his hands around his neck. He shrugged in response. The slam of a fist into his lower kidney bent him over for a long minute, but he straightened. “I don’t know where she is.”
A uniformed guard, hell, a mercenary in a black mask came out of the front door and shook his head at Derek. “They are not inside the building.”
Running his gaze up and down the intruder, Chad realized he was sorely outgunned. These men were loaded for bear. The tall merc in front of him had an MP-6 submachine gun in his hands, a 9mm on his hip, and several canisters hanging from the nylon straps securing his black uniform. And he held the weapon as if it were an extension of his arm. But as competent as he was, the man had not found the girls.
Chad refused to smile, but it took all of his control. He could tell Derek was livid by the way the blood suffused his face.
“I want this place scoured from top to bottom. She has to be here.”
The faintest hint of panic laced his words and Chad wondered what he didn’t know. “Why are you after them? They don’t want you.”
Derek flashed his teeth in a smile. “It doesn’t matter if they want me or not, they’re going to get me. It’s time that I took a stronger interest in my daughter’s life and if Lora doesn’t want that…” He smiled and shrugged. “Well, she can just step out of the picture.”
“She won’t let you have Mercy. Ever.”
“Then I’ll take her. And Lora can take a leap off a cliff. Or maybe have a car accident. We’ll have to see how she welcomes me back.”
Chad’s blood began to boil and it got harder to control himself. The guard behind him seemed to sense the building tensi
on because he pressed the muzzle tighter to Chad’s head and tightened his other hand on top of Chad’s clasped ones. In spite of the warnings, though, Chad knew something was going to happen if Derek kept talking.
Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning flashed. Derek flinched and looked around him at the unrelenting weather. It was just easing into evening and the light was beginning to fade. The second masked guard had disappeared back into the house. Chad had no idea how many men were with Derek and he had no idea where Flynn was.
There were too many unknowns to try anything. The only good he could draw from the situation was that he was taller than the man standing behind him. He could feel the angle of the arm holding his hands and he didn’t understand why the guy didn’t secure him somehow. Inexperience?
He thought he heard one of the horses whicker, but couldn’t be sure over the sound of the rain. If they had by chance made it to the barn, they could go out the back and into the scrub. There were trees on the mountainside, but it wasn’t really forested. There were long open areas between each of the trees and little cover.
Chad watched Derek pace the deck and noted that he stayed close to the edge, as if he was worried about coming too close to Chad. That made him unaccountably happy.
He shifted a little, just to see what kind of play he had in his movement. Not much. The guy shifted behind him, as if readying himself.
There was a burst of sound from inside the house. Chad didn’t wait to see what it was; he spun into action. Ducking straight down, he jacked his left arm up into the merc’s gun hand. Though it went off when the merc flinched, Chad was well outside of range. He grabbed the gun hand and slammed it down over his knee. The weapon dropped to the ground, but the merc shifted into a ready stance, then charged. Chad let him come, wrapped his arms around his charging form and twisted, using his height to fling the merc away. As soon as the other man lost his balance, Chad lunged, landing several sharp punches to the guy’s jaw and ribs.
A gun discharged behind him and pain blazed across the back of his right shoulder. Rolling away from the threat, he slammed into the front of the house, but got his legs under him quickly. The gun went off again, but he didn’t have a chance to duck. Luckily, it seemed to go wide. When he turned to look at the source of the attack, he saw Flynn ripping the weapon from Derek’s hand and slamming a fist into his face. The other man went down hard, senseless.
The merc lunged, but Chad had seen the movement from the corner of his eye. Twisting, he slammed his right hand down into the guy’s jaw. It struck just right, because the guy fell to the porch, out cold.
Scrabbling sounds came from inside the house, then another blast of gunfire, muffled this time. Flynn rolled toward the house and when he raised up, the gun was in his hands, aimed at the door.
When Rachel lunged out of the doorway, gun raised to mirror Flynn’s, they both jerked away at the same time. Chad was dismayed to see she had blood running down her head and even more blood running, sheeting against her shirt on the right hand side. Her eyes were clear and determined though as she met Chad’s gaze. “I got them out the back, told them to head toward the barn, but I don’t know if they made it.”
Chad swung around and cursed out loud. Derek was gone. He snatched up the 9mm the merc had tossed away. “Take care of her, Flynn.”
Rachel shook her head. “I’m good. This is fine. Go get the bastards.”
Leaping from the porch to the muddy driveway, he took off, running as fast as this leg would allow him to go. The rain was coming down in sheets, ending the terrible dry spell Texas had been suffering under, but making it incredibly hard on him to do his job. Derek was nowhere to be seen. He’d only had a few moments to get away, so he couldn’t have gotten far, but the visibility could be measured in feet right now rather than miles. He pushed his boots as fast as he could pump them toward the barn. Flynn veered to the opposite corner to sneak around the back.
As he neared the open doorway, Chad checked his weapon and slipped inside. The relief from the pelting of the rain was significant, but the barn was even darker than outside. Daring to reach his hand out, he flipped the light switch.
The horses shifted a bit, and seemed aggravated, but that could be because of the storm. He debated grabbing his gelding and taking off into the rain, but he’d make an incredible target then. They still didn’t know how many hostiles were outside.
Chad took the time to go stall to stall, checking for anybody hiding out. Flynn met him on the far side. “It’s empty and nobody has come through here.”
A flicker on movement caught their attention and a black-clad form ghosted through the trees about twenty-five yards away.
“Fuck,” Chad breathed. He nodded Flynn after him and headed out into the rain again.
Tracking was useless. Intuition told him to head toward the rocky outcroppings that might offer some protection. Paralyzing fear tried to take over several times, but he forced it away. Lora and Mercy were out there alone with that jackass, and he needed taken out.
The slippery mud was giving him fits and he knew it would be even worse for Lora, because she would be towing, if not carrying Mercy.
Chad climbed, eyes searching, skin stinging from the pelting rain. Finally, finally, it began to ease, until suddenly it stopped as abruptly as it started. The lack of sound was deafening. It allowed him to hear the echo of a little girl’s scream.
Adrenaline pounded through his veins and he turned in the direction he thought it had come from, further up the hill.
The mud had turned slimy and his boots were not the best for climbing, but he forced his body faster. Fear gave him propulsion and he prayed he could get there in time.
If Mercy was screaming, Derek had found them.
He almost ran over them when he did finally find them. Lora and Mercy were under the boughs of a pine tree, scrambling away from Derek, who was on the ground reaching for them. Chad holstered his gun, grabbed the man’s legs and dragged him out. He tripped and landed on his ass with Derek’s legs sprawled over top of him. The other man took the opportunity to swing a fist toward Chad, but he dodged the blow. Rolling away, he scrambled to his feet and then leapt on top of Derek, slamming his right fist into him as fast as he could. Bones crunched and the other man’s head lolled on his shoulders. Letting him slump to the ground, Chad waited, but he seemed to be unconscious. Levering himself off the other man, Chad staggered back, aware that his body was throbbing with pain. Though he’d been on top, Derek had definitely gotten in some blows.
Chad turned to scan the area for other threats and heard Lora cry out, then there was a blast of sound. When he turned back around, he realized Derek hadn’t been out cold as he’d pretended. Chad looked at the knife in the unconscious man’s limp hand, and the huge tree limb hanging from Lora’s. Blood coated the end of the wood, glistening in the evening light, and he was a little shocked at what she’d done. But appreciative. He moved to the man’s side and without even checking for a pulse, knew that he was gone. There was a crater in his head the size of a softball. He pressed his fingers to the carotid artery and confirmed what he suspected. Derek was dead.
Chad looked up at Lora and saw the knowledge in her eyes, but he also saw the disbelief. With one blow, she’d ended years of torment and subjugation. As Mercy climbed out from underneath the tree and clutched her mother’s legs, he saw the fear of what she had done change to fierce satisfaction. She had protected her daughter to the end.
When he heard the report of weapon fire, he lunged forward to wrap himself around the two of them and took the brunt of the fall on his side. Half a dozen more shots, sounding different than the first, echoed across the mountain before silence moved in. He peered over his shoulder.
Brock was just swinging down off his dark gelding and Flynn was moving in from the house side of the hill. Chad couldn’t believe his eyes. What did Brock think he was doing?
“What the hell are you doing up here?”
Brock took off his dripping
hat as he peered down dazedly at the black clad merc he’d just shot, then looked up. “Tara came up to the house. She’d been bound and gagged and her truck had been stolen, but she managed to get loose and make it to help. I knew something was going on so I came up the mountain.”
Chad looked at the gelding again. It was breathing hard and lathered. He’d raced up the mountain it looked like.
Lora shifted and he moved, setting them away from him. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head, her bedraggled hair hanging down into her face. “We’re fine. Is that all of them?”
He looked at the mercenary on the ground. Flynn was checking his pockets and unloading the weapon the man had carried, but even from here Chad could see the man’s life had already leaked away. “We need to contact law enforcement. We’ve got a hell of a mess to explain.”
* * *
LORA WATCHED YET another truck pull into the driveway and pull into the yard. They had been coming and going for hours. First it had been the local sheriff’s department, and then it had been the FBI. The federal agency had had Derek under surveillance for the past several weeks. Months, actually. Duncan’s quiet probes had spurred them to focus their attention.
After they’d come down off the mountain, she’d given Mercy a bath, but her little one didn’t want to go to bed alone. Which was why she was curled up on the couch, even in the midst of the chaos around her, sound asleep. She stroked her hand over Mercy’s feet, where they rested on the cushion beside her. At Chad’s request, Garrett had brought up an old bear that had belonged to Chad years ago and she’d taken to it instantly. Handsome had been gutted, revealing the tiny black box GPS Derek had tracked them with, and placed into an evidence bag. Chad had explained that the receiver had had enough battery life to send a single ping every day. Just enough for Derek to keep tabs on them.
A black coroner’s van had arrived to collect the dead. Ambulances had arrived to collect the living. Harper had had to be flown out by Careflight to Amarillo, and she prayed that the big former SEAL would be okay. He’d been struck in the chest with a round and from the look on the other’s faces, it didn’t look good. There’d been a lot of blood. She’d known that. Flynn had been the one to find him and his pale eyes were more haunted than normal.
