One Last Song (A Thomas Family Novel Book 3)

by Kristi Cramer

  By the time Cody climbed to his feet, Mr. Thomas had shaken off Dylan’s grip on his elbow and was glaring at him. Cody thought he knew why, and he did nothing more than make sure he could still move his jaw. The old man had a punch like a mule’s kick.

  “Explain yourself,” Sanderson barked.

  Mr. Thomas turned his glare on her and deliberately chose to answer her first question. “Someone tried to cover their tracks. Used branches cut from shrubs to brush away footprints. Did it around the wreck and in both directions up and down the wash, but I found where they kept going farther out. Saw signs of vomit and blood someone tried to cover up, and faint sign headed toward a trailer home. I’m going to get my granddaughter.”

  “You’ve done some excellent work, Mr. Thomas, but you need to work with us. This is a federal investigation. I can’t allow you to go into this alone.”

  Three burly law enforcement officers had moved in behind him and, judging by the white-knuckled grip he had on his rifle, Mr. Thomas knew they were there. It looked like he was thinking about fighting through them, so Cody spoke up.

  “Think of it like waiting for backup,” he said. “The more agents we can get into place, the better the odds of this ending well.”

  “Ending well for whom?” Mr. Thomas asked. He turned to Sanderson. “You federals will only slow me down, get in my way. If my granddaughter dies waiting for your backup, I will personally—”

  “Five minutes,” she said, cutting him off and stopping him from making a threat she would have to act on. “We’ll be ready to follow your lead in five minutes.”

  Mr. Thomas grunted and turned around, facing down the three agents. The one in the middle gave ground and let him pass, and he stopped at the very edge of the activity, reminding Cody of a hunting dog pointing toward its prey.

  “You okay?” Sanderson laid a hand on his arm. “What was that about?”

  “He blames me for Kylie being a target,” he said, rubbing his jaw, “and he’s right.”

  Callie shook her head. “You risked your life to help us dismantle that ring.”

  “Turns out I risked my daughter’s life, too.”

  ⋘⋆⋙

  “I think we should go,” Vera said, gazing out the window at a sky that was just starting to deepen to a darker blue as the sun dipped below the mountains to the west.

  Jax looked up from where he’d been staring at his hands folded over Kylie’s. She was seated at his side, leaning against him, and they’d both been dozing.

  They hadn’t spoken since he’d kissed her, but she had kissed him back. While she hadn’t said the words he so wanted to hear, he was confident she finally understood his feelings for her, and maybe even felt the same.

  “What’s up?” Kylie asked, climbing to her feet to join Vera at the window.

  “There’s a light that’s just turned on over there,” she said, gesturing.

  “I see it,” Kylie said, a note of hopefulness in her voice.

  “Surely it’s a house or something.”

  “Maybe one of us should go check it out?” Jax suggested.

  “No, we stick together,” Kylie said, giving him an apologetic look for shooting his idea down. “It’s going to get dark pretty fast from here on out, and it will surely be hard to find the way back here with any news. Won’t be any good if we’re scattered and lost out there.”

  As soon as Kylie turned back to the window, Jax tried to push himself to his feet. His head pounded, and his arms—strained from the impact of the wreck—shook with the effort, but he managed to stand up on his own. Kylie gasped when she turned back and saw him upright, and hurried to slip under his arm.

  “I’m all for moving,” he said. “I feel like we’re sitting ducks here.”

  “We’re all agreed then?” Kylie asked, and Vera and Danica nodded. “Right. I’d say we should try to keep as low as we can, but I know that’s going to be tricky for Jax. Plus, we need to be able to keep an eye on that light. So let’s go for speed, okay? If that light belongs to a house, the sooner we get there and make a phone call, the sooner we get help.”

  Danica and Vera nodded, as did Jax, although it caused his head to pound harder for a moment. He wasn’t at all certain how fast he’d be able to move, but he was determined to do his best to keep up. If he had to, he’d force Kylie to leave him behind—somehow.

  Vera slipped out the door, followed by a nervous Danica, then Kylie wrapped her arm around Jax’s waist and urged him to follow. They moved out the door, which Kylie pulled closed behind them. Then they were off, walking slightly hunched over at a decent pace.

  Jax had only caught the briefest glimpse of what looked like a floodlight. It was far enough in the distance that it seemed to hover just above the sagebrush and giant tumbleweeds. If he had to guess, he thought it was at least a half-mile off, depending on how tall the post was.

  You can make it half a mile, he told himself.

  He quickly lost track of how far and how long they walked, but they could eventually see the roofline of what looked like an old trailer home through the scrub. Vera waved them to a stop, crouching down. Jax bent over, afraid to drop to his knees like he wanted to. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to get back up.

  “I’m going to skirt around the back really quick,” Vera said, “just to see if anyone is outside. I think we should try to get an idea of what we’re walking into, right?”

  Everyone nodded, and Vera took off at a crouching run, vaguely looking like she thought she was in a video game or an action movie. A short time later, she was back, a fierce smile on her face. “No one out back. I say we just go up and knock on the door.” She let loose a nervous chuckle. “If this wasn’t so serious, it would be kind of fun.”

  No one responded, although Jax shot her a tense smile, then they all stood up together, as if they’d received a signal. Jax half-expected shooting or angry shouts against trespassers, but nothing happened, so they moved toward the rickety steps of the trailer.

  Vera climbed the three steps and raised her hand to knock, but the door swung open and crashed against the inside wall. Her shriek of terror cut off abruptly when an arm reached out and yanked her inside.

  Jax and Kylie were stunned motionless, but Danica screamed and turned to flee. They heard two muffled gunshots and Danica fell face-first into the dirt, coming to rest under a sagebrush two dozen yards from the door.

  Before either of them could move, the man from the RV stepped out onto the top step and pointed a pistol with a suppressor right at Jax. To his horror, Jax saw Kylie step in front of him.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kylie acted without thinking. When the man appeared and pointed his pistol at Jax, she’d known he was ready to kill him just because of their escape. She gambled on the idea that she was the focus of their efforts and stepped between them, risking everything on the notion that they needed her alive.

  The three of them stood like that for what seemed like an eternity, and Kylie felt more heart-pounding terror in those moments than at any other time in her life. When she felt Jax shift behind her, she knew he was going to make a move. It wasn’t in his nature to hide behind a woman. Before he could step around her, though, the woman appeared in the doorway.

  “Don’t do it, Alan.” She put her hand on his forearm to push the gun down until it no longer aimed at Kylie. “You know we need her alive.”

  The look on his face made her question how she had ever thought he was average-looking. There was death written all over his expression.

  “Go ahead.” His menacing voice dared them to make a run for it, and Kylie clutched tightly at Jax, keeping him still.

  Chilled to the bone by the sure knowledge that this man would cut them down as quickly and easily as he’d shot Danica, Kylie shook her head. “N-no,” she said, and cursed the quaver in her voice. She took a step toward him, towing Jax close behind her, still shielded by her body.

  Rather than be caught, they had all vowed to die attempting to escape,
but now that it came to it, she couldn’t bring herself to commit suicide by running. Besides, Vera was inside—possibly still alive. If they ran, they would sign her death warrant, too.

  The man stomped down the steps and grabbed her arm. She couldn’t contain the yelp that escaped as he swung her around and pushed her at the woman, who still stood in the doorway. Reeling, she turned back in time to see him deliver a solid punch to Jax’s side, where his bloodstained shirt betrayed his wound.

  “No!” she cried, and tried to break from the woman’s grip.

  When Jax dropped like a rock, the man scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder. Pushing the two women in front of him, he carried Jax into the house and tossed him to the floor, where he sprawled against a dark-paneled wall. A vicious kick to his side made him curl into a ball.

  When the woman closed the front door, the light in the trailer’s interior dimmed, and it took Kylie’s eyes a second to adjust. Finally, she saw a ratty loveseat where Vera huddled, trembling with fear. Her hands had been tied behind her and her feet trussed so she couldn’t walk.

  Kylie’s vision sharpened slowly until a shadow, accompanied by a voice muttering in the next room, resolved into the shape of a man slumped in a kitchen chair. Kylie gasped when he looked up and she saw bloody cuts on his face, his eyes almost completely swollen shut.

  “I don’t know anything about any kids,” she heard him say, and realized he’d been repeating the same words over and over, his soft sobs a confused plea for mercy.

  Alan turned his glare on the hapless man and, without a word, walked up, put the barrel of the pistol against his head, and pulled the trigger. Kylie shouted in horror and Vera squealed at the snapping hiss of the suppressed round as the chair tipped backwards and the lifeless body hit the floor.

  Alan stooped to untie the rope that had bound him to the chair. Once it was free, he kicked at the body until it lay twisted under the table, then he righted the chair and gestured for Kylie to sit.

  Maria pushed her from behind and Kylie stumbled forward, but her stomach heaved at the sight of the body. Alan spun her around and forced her to sit, even as she felt the bile rising in her throat. She gagged.

  “You throw up on me, I’ll feed it back to you using his hand as a spoon. You get me?”

  Horrified, Kylie nodded, swallowed the bitter fluid and choked on it as he tied her hands to the arms of the chair. She clenched her fists to keep from thinking about what her fingers might touch. Once she was secure, he used his foot to prod Jax, who didn’t stir.

  “See if there’s any more rope in that closet,” he ordered, and Maria scrambled to do as he asked. Within moments, she returned with a length of what looked like paracord, and Alan quickly used it to bind Jax’s hands and feet.

  “Now what?” Maria’s voice was strained. She didn’t sound any less afraid than Kylie felt.

  “We wait. His wife is bound to be back soon. We’ll take her car and find somewhere else to hole up until Price can send us another RV. He isn’t going to come anywhere near this place with the FBI just down the road, so we’ll have to leave.”

  Kylie knew that meant another body was going to hit the floor, and her muscles convulsed with a shudder at the thought.

  Alan paced to the window and flipped the curtain out of the way so he could peer out.

  ⋘⋆⋙

  Cody brought up the rear of the group moving quietly up the wash in the fading light. Sanderson had threatened obstruction charges to make him stay behind, but he called her bluff when he absolutely refused.

  He’d been on his share of hunting trips, and was confident he wouldn’t give away the group, although he wondered how well hunting game translated to hunting criminals.

  He estimated they’d gone about two miles when Mr. Thomas abruptly cut up the right side of the ditch and, keeping his head down to study the sign, moved slowly into the shrubs. As Cody reached the lip of the ditch and slipped over the edge, he looked down to see if he could see anything. While he considered himself an adequate tracker, he could barely see the boot heels of his companions in the hard-packed dirt, much less whatever sign Mr. Thomas followed.

  At a signal from Sanderson, several agents fanned out from her position, keeping back in a shallow V formation and maintaining their line of sight with her. He could hardly hear his companions as they moved off, and he did his best to emulate them, staying low to the ground and ghosting around the sage as he drew up to Sanderson. She glanced at him, but made no sound as they continued to move forward at a slow, steady pace.

  The light was fading fast when he saw Mr. Thomas raise his fist in the universal gesture to stop. He became aware of a light on a pole above a building ahead of them and realized that was their goal. Several hand gestures were exchanged between Sanderson and Mr. Thomas, then he nodded. Another hand signal sent the other agents skirting away from them, apparently to surround the building.

  Over the tactical radio, he heard a whispered comment through the earbud he’d been issued—they hadn’t given him a mic—that almost made him stand upright. “Got a dead girl.”

  He turned a startled glance on Sanderson, who put her hand to the button strapped on her vest to key her throat mic. “Describe.”

  “Young, brunette. Shot in the back, looks like...two entry wounds.”

  The strength left Cody’s body and he fell to his knees. It wasn’t Kylie, thank God.

  The voice went on in a soft, clinical tone. “Got signs of movement inside.”

  Sanderson whispered more commands. “Akers, are you in position to get eyes on the interior?”

  “Negative,” came a different voice. “No access on this end, and the windows in back are boarded up.”

  “Sullivan?”

  After a slight pause, a third voice responded. “Got a window, but it’s dark. If anyone’s in there and watching, they’ll see my approach.”

  “Fall back out of range of the light,” Sanderson ordered. “I’m going to make contact.”

  Cody knew the glare she turned on him meant he should stay put. He gave a jerky nod, not knowing what he could do to help anyway. She duck-walked to Mr. Thomas’ location and put a hand on his shoulder. When he didn’t spare her a glance, Cody suspected the old man would do whatever action presented itself, with or without her permission. He already lay prone in a sniper’s position, his rifle trained on the door.

  She hesitated a moment longer, as if willing him to obey her, then faced the trailer and stood up. She’d taken no more than five steps when the door cracked open.

  “That’s far enough,” a male voice said.

  ⋘⋆⋙

  Motionless in a heap on the floor near Kylie’s feet, Jax pretended to be unconscious, although he’d made eye contact with her, so she knew he was awake.

  Lying still while a man's head was blown off right next to him had been the hardest thing he'd ever done. His legs had spasmed with the desire to flee, and he’d almost sat up to follow the urge, but when the man kicked him, Jax had been able to refrain from reacting. When he was tied, he’d been able to turn his wrists out, spreading the bindings. The dim light worked to his advantage when the man failed to check his work.

  Jax watched Kylie squirm against the ropes binding her hands to the chair until the woman, Maria, stepped up and smacked her on the back of the head.

  “Stop that,” she hissed. “Do you want him to see you?”

  The woman’s blasé, confident manner had disappeared, replaced by an attitude of fear far more disconcerting to Jax than her cold and calculating demeanor had been.

  Maria was terrified of the man, and utterly failed to hide her fear. Jax couldn’t blame her. Not when there were at least two people in their vicinity dead by Alan’s hand. Three, if he counted the cop.

  Poor Danica, lying out there in the dirt. She hadn’t moved after she’d fallen. The corpse in the kitchen was another matter, entirely, and he had to suppress a shudder at the thought of it.

  The man prowled from w
indow to window in the darkened room. Jax could see him silhouetted against the dimly lit squares whenever he passed. Every few moments, he would lift the corner of a curtain and peer outside, then snarl and glare at Kylie as if blame for the whole predicament fell squarely on her shoulders.

  Then one of his glances produced an altogether different response. “Just perfect.” He walked to the door and cracked it open. “That’s far enough,” he said to whomever was outside.

  A female voice responded in a firm, authoritative tone. Jax couldn’t quite make out the words.

  “Yeah, they’re alive. For now. Try anything and they won’t be for long.”

  The voice from outside again, followed quickly by the man’s response. “I’m sure you do, but we’ve secured the house. Anybody tries to breach, and another one dies. I’ve got three hostages, Agent Sanderson. How many are you willing to lose before I just decide to give you another Ruby Ridge?”

  There was silence from outside, and Jax tried to remember what had happened at Ruby Ridge. It was way before his time, but he thought he remembered his dad watching some history show about a federal raid on a farm somewhere in Idaho that had ended with everyone in the family dead, their blood on the hands of the FBI agents at the scene.

  After a few moments, the woman’s voice came again, and the man’s response was immediate. “I want a way out of here! What else did you think?”

  A male voice rose up from outside, coming through the door loud and clear, and Jax thought it was familiar. Kylie gasped, apparently recognizing the voice, too.

  “We’ve got a helicopter. Release the kids and take me instead.”

  “Dad?” Kylie whispered in confusion, then louder. “Dad!”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The sound of Kylie’s voice almost made Cody break cover and run into the house, but Sanderson grasped his forearm with a shockingly strong grip and stopped him.