by Mary Winter
Kaden shook his head. “Not tonight.”
Shelby’s gut tightened. No matter how this ended, she would see to it that this young man was safe, that he had a family and square meals of his own. “Has anyone ever hit you?”
Kaden glanced at Bull. “Yeah,” he admitted.
Bull held up his hands. “I didn’t hit you. I tried to detain you, but I’d never hit a child. Never.” The vehemence in his voice made her wonder what exactly he’d dealt with.
“I know,” Kaden said. “My mom hit me when we got home from the police station. Said now the child protective people would be coming around again and it was all my fault.” He broke down in tears.
Shelby felt like doing the same. She pulled the boy against her and held him while he cried. “You’re safe. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can assure you I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re safe.”
The boy nodded and pulled back. “I don’t know why mom calls them child protective. The lady in a suit comes around, asks Kordyn and I questions. Mom makes us lie and once I told her the truth, but she went away and never came back until Kordyn started getting into trouble. She didn’t protect me.”
The pain in Kaden’s voice broke her inside. Her eyes met Bull’s, and in them, she saw the same emotions. “I think we should call the sheriff’s office.”
“No, not them. They’ll come and take me back. They’ve done it before. Please don’t call the cops. They don’t do anything and only make it worse.” Kaden yanked back. He drained his water.
“Okay, we won’t. We have some friends we can call. They can help protect me and you. Would that be all right?”
“I suppose so.” Kaden yawned. “Is it okay if I sleep here tonight?”
It was well past night, with light illuminating the eastern sky in shades of pink and orange. “Yeah. You can do that. Let me get a pillow.” She went to the closet in the second bedroom, making sure to lock the door behind her in case Kaden awakened and started to snoop around. She settled the pillow, and tried not to wince when he pulled off his battered sneakers to reveal even worse-off socks, then curled up on the couch. No sooner had she placed the blanket over his shoulders, reminding herself that Bull had done the same earlier, than he fell asleep. She refilled his water glass, leaving it there if he needed it, and carried hers to the kitchen, motioning for Bull to follow.
“I guess we’ll have to table that conversation.” He rested his hand on her arm. “What are you going to do about the kid?”
Shelby shrugged. “I don’t know. I do think we need to call Hank. If Big Dog is coming here today, or even tonight, then Hank ought to know.”
By the time she finished the sentence, Bull pulled his cell from its holster and had already dialed Hank’s number. “It’s early, but this is important.” A moment later, she heard a gruff voice answer and Bull began explaining the situation to them.
~* * *~
In the end, they had to tell the authorities not only that Kaden was at their house, but that Big Dog also planned to extract a bit of revenge. Bull didn’t like it any more than Shelby did; he also knew the necessity. Big Dog hadn’t shown up at all during the day, and frankly Bull didn’t expect him to. A man like Big Dog, even though he hadn’t met the man, seemed to be the type to show up under the cover of darkness. Shelby remained at the house with Logan by her side. Bull chafed that it wasn’t him. He also knew if Big Dog made it to the house something would have gone horribly, terribly wrong.
He lay flat on his stomach in the pasture. Caid sat on Bubba some distance away, ready to spring into action, or keep the cattle safe. Leroy had decided to go lame in his front hoof, just a sole bruise and nothing serious, but enough to hamper their plans tonight. He would have preferred to be on horseback. Then again, keeping any innocents, even equine ones, out of the line of fire might be the best thing, too.
Little chatter came through his earpiece. The three of them agreed to watch for Big Dog or Kordyn. There wasn’t much the deputies could do, except try to keep one of them in the area with a direct threat. Based on the information provided, Kaden had gone into a temporary situation until more permanent proceedings could take place. He seemed resigned to his situation, and Bull empathized with the kid. He’d done something good in warning them about Big Dog and Kordyn’s threats, and yet still got taken away from what family he had.
“Headlights,” Caid’s whispered voice came through the earpiece.
Two big black luxury SUVs coming from the opposite direction of Eagle Rock turned down the driveway and parked next to the fence. The doors opened and two men got out of the first one. No one exited the second vehicle.
“Shit,” Bull muttered when he saw they were carrying AR-15s slung over their shoulder.
One man stood watch while the other snapped the wires as if they were nothing, peeling it back so both vehicles could pull into the pasture, stopping so both men could get back into the first van.
Bull relayed the details, and the fact that he suspected the second vehicle carried armed men. They were going to need backup—and fast.
“I’ll come,” Logan said.
“No. Stay put. We need someone on Shelby in case this is a setup. No matter what happens. Keep her safe. So that others may live!”
“So that others may live!” echoed through the earpiece, and then Bull was moving forward, thinking the Glock .45 and extra clips he had just weren’t enough. Not when the windows rolled down and four muzzles were pointed into the field from each vehicle. “Eight hostiles, all armed,” Bull whispered as he moved closer to the herd. His gut, and the direction the SUVs moved, told him that was the plan. Were they really going to kill all of Shelby’s cattle? “Moving toward the herd. Caid, check Bubba. There’s about to be—” The rap-rap-rap of gun fire filled the air.
“Roger that,” Caid’s voice came back.
“We going to have reinforcements?” Bull asked as he scurried on his belly toward the cows. Already two were down, the herd stampeding away from the vehicles. At least that was in their favor, though he had no idea how much land or how many fences were between the herd and the house.
“On their way.”
With the cover of the men’s fire—it seemed they weren’t so much as aiming for the cattle as shooting in their general direction—Bull took out two back tires on the van. It lurched, coming to a halt. Two more shots, and the second van stopped.
Damn, this had turned lethal real quick. Two quick shots took out the men on the side facing him. Two more and they were down to four assailants.
The van doors opened. A big guy in a suit, as wide as he was tall, stepped out, moonlight glinting from the heavy gold watch on his wrist. Two men stood on either side, their guns pointed in Bull’s general direction. He didn’t doubt for a moment the big guy was packing too.
“Two on the other side of the van,” Caid said.
“Show yourself,” the big guy said. “We were just having some fun. Now it’s going to get personal.”
Bull remained concealed. Even as bullets sprayed the ground around him, he didn’t move. To do so would give away his position. He thought he heard sirens in the distance, hoped like hell that they were the promised reinforcements. Another spray of bullets came way too close for comfort.
Two shots rang out. A few grunts, and a moment later Caid’s voice said, “The other two are disarmed.”
“Go see what happened,” the big guy ordered, leaving him with just one guard. Those were more even odds, and though he had no doubt the big guy was armed, it looked like he was just going to stand there and let his goons do the shooting. Good.
A flash bang rang out, presumably tossed beneath the SUV. The explosion momentarily deafened him. Thanks for the warning, buddy. He didn’t wait for the ringing in his ears to subside, instead bolting up and darting to the men. He kicked the rifle out of the goon’s hand and dropped on the big guy, wrenching his arm behind his back and putting the muzzle of his Glock against the back of the g
uy’s temple. “Nobody move.” He growled the words, putting all the hate and anger that these men would dare harm a child, would dare harm Shelby into them, and the tone would have turned a lesser man’s blood cold.
Behind him, the sounds of men coming to only to find themselves bound and gagged filtered through the subsiding ringing in his ears. Good. It meant Caid was on them. Sure enough, he stepped around the front of the truck and pointed his gun at the man.
“I suggest neither of you move.”
As if on cue, the sirens roared louder, the police SUV barreling into the pasture and flooding them with headlines.
“Before they get here, what did you have to do with the boy stealing cattle?”
“Nothin’,” the big guy spat.
Bull pressed the muzzle of the gun harder into the man’s head. “Try again. I could blow your brains out, tell the sheriff there’d been a struggle, and no one would question me.”
“He kept his parents fed. Okay?” the big guy said. “And I’m not talking food.”
“Didn’t think so,” Bull muttered. He looked up. “Officer. If you and your men would like to take over.” He finished wrapping the zip tie around the man’s wrists, and with the help of two deputies, got the big guy into custody, followed by his goon. There was little discussion of what had happened and little talking until the prisoner transport van was filled, and the deputy remarked it would be a long night.
“You guys want to come to the station with us?”
Bull nodded. “Yeah. We have a friend back at the house. We’ll follow in a bit.”
“I need to put my horse in a stall,” Caid said.
“Understood. We’ll give you an hour.”
Bull nodded again, and Caid disappeared, then returned with Bubba. For most of the way back to the house, they walked in silence. As soon as they were in sight of the barn, the front door flew open and Shelby ran out.
“You’re safe!” she yelled, clearly relieved.
Caid clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll be in the barn.”
A moment later, Shelby hit him, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a huge kiss on his mouth. He melted into her. The sting on his cheek, which he thought was probably a bullet graze, faded away, as did the ache in his knee where he tweaked it going after the big guy. There was nothing but Shelby, her mouth, and the way he felt for her.
She pulled away. “You’re hurt.” She touched the skin just beneath the graze.
“It’s okay. Just a scratch. Caid and I have to go to the station and give a report. We’ll be back. Logan will stay with you just in case.”
“I’ve called Erika and Jenny. They’re going to come and wait with us,” Logan said. “By the time you get back, I suspect there will be a big breakfast.”
Shelby nodded. “We heard the gunfire here. I thought—” She squeezed her eyes closed. “We both have incidents from our past. I’m glad this one is also behind us.” She kissed him again. “Hurry back.”
“I will.”
“Ready?” Caid asked, striding from the barn.
“Yeah. Let’s get this over with.”
Shelby put clean dishes away, and Jenny mixed up some fluffy pancake batter as soon as Caid texted her to let her know that they were returning from the police station. Erika chopped bacon, eggs, onions, and peppers with the efficiency of a television chef, and soon the sounds of sizzling and the smell of a scrumptious breakfast filled her kitchen. “How do you do it?” she asked, not really addressing her question to anyone in particular.
“Cook like a goddess at seven in the morning?” Erika asked with a chuckle.
“Handle the guys working for the Brotherhood Protectors. Jenny knows a little about what happened before I moved here. I’ve lived the lifestyle where I had to worry about my cover and my life on a daily basis. I didn’t like it, but it was a necessary evil and one that seemed okay because my parents lived over a thousand miles away. Now? I don’t know that I could go back to that.”
“And you’re worried about your guy going on assignment and getting hurt. Or worse.” Jenny said. She tapped the spoon on the edge of the bowl. “Those are ready for the griddle as soon as we see the guys’ truck pull in.”
“You’re so calm. I listened to the shots and I thought—” Her throat closed and she swallowed hard. “I mean he’s good. Really good at what he does, I’m sure; otherwise he wouldn’t have hired on or been hired. I know what PJs are and they’re no strangers to diving right into danger. They may not be in war zones now, but I heard that gunfire.” Even now, thinking of the memory of it, her blood ran cold and chills raced along her spine.
“No one knows what may happen,” Erika said. “Anything could happen, even picking up groceries or on your shift at the café.”
Shelby nodded. “Yeah, I know. And my therapist back east said the same thing. That I could get hit by a car, and so the trick was to manage risk the best you can and make sure those in your life know how you feel.” No one mentioned her parents, though the freak nature of their accident, which was completely accidental and caused by her father’s health crisis, hung heavily over the conversation.
“That’s what these guys know how to do, Shelby,” Jenny said. “They know how to manage risk, weigh situations, and do whatever it takes to keep themselves and those they’re protecting safe.” She sounded as if she’d done a lot of thinking about it. No doubt she had. Before Caid’s return to Eagle Rock, she’d sworn she wouldn’t look at anyone in the military like her brother. And yet, she had fallen for one of his brothers in arms.
The door opened and Caid, along with Bull and Logan, stepped inside. “That smells great. I’m starving.” Logan grabbed Erika in a big hug as if he’d been away for days, rather than a couple of hours. Caid pulled Jenny into his arms, and that just left Bull, who stared at her as if she were a huge slab of bacon in a frying pan and he wanted to eat her up.
He rested his hands on her upper arms. “I think everything is settled. We may have to give some more statements, and you’ll need to testify. I told the sheriff you were pretty shaken up and you’ll be in later today to give your statement. It looks like Kordyn will be tried as an adult because of his crimes and connection to Big Dog. A warrant is being served on his parents’ home. Kordyn was turning in the cattle to pay for his parents’ drug habit. ”
She nodded, trying to process his words. If everything were taken care of, then he had no reason to stay. She swallowed hard. “What about Kaden?” The young man had weighed heavily on his mind.
“Let’s talk later.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m hungry and that smells good.”
She nodded. Most likely that would be a tough conversation, and not one to be had in front of their friends, who were filling their plates with food. Jenny set a stack of pancakes on a plate and handed it to Bull, then did the same for her. Finally, she added pancakes to her own plate, and they sat down at the kitchen table.
Shelby looked at her friends and their husbands, also her friends, sitting at her parents’ big oak dining table. When she’d worked for DHS, she’d felt so alone. Couldn’t talk to anyone. Couldn’t confide in anyone. This would be different. She had friends here, and a home for Bull to come home to. She shoved a large bite of food into her mouth, because she was starting to think of this as Bull’s home as much as hers. Yeah, they had quite the conversation to have when their friends left because she was standing on the ledge with him, ready to jump feet first into love.
Chapter 9
With their friends gone and the dishwasher humming, Shelby held out her hand to Bull. “Come sit with me on the front porch,” she said. Caid had taken Bubba back into the front porch and ridden through to check on her cattle. Other than a few scratches, none were harmed. He and Jenny had left, finally leaving them alone.
Bull tangled his fingers with hers, a bemused smile on his face. He sat down next to her on the porch swing. “So about Kaden.”
“First us,” she said. “I’ve never had a safety net bef
ore. Friends. My parents were good, don’t get me wrong. But they were a long way from where I was living and I couldn’t tell them about my DHS work. I still can’t reveal some things. I also know you understand.” She squeezed his hand. “I was scared before, always needing to check and double check because I wasn’t sure that anyone would catch me. I know better. I know you’ll catch me. If this is love, Bull, then I think I’m falling in love with you.”
“Shelby.” Just one word. Her name. Yet the layers of meaning as he said it, then when he claimed her mouth, filled her with a rush of warmth. She opened her mouth to him, welcoming the sweep of his tongue, the skim of his hand along her side. The porch swing creaked.
He pulled away. “We better not press our luck out here,” he said. “But even if we fall, or the porch swing falls,” he added with a chuckle, “I’ll catch you. You’re one special lady, Shelby. And I know I’m falling in love with you.”
The porch swing creaked again, and with a laugh he stood. When she rose to her feet, he grabbed her waist and set her on the edge of the porch, then wrapped his arms around her and held her.
“Kaden is a complicated situation. With the warrant being served on his parents, CPS thinks he shouldn’t stay so close to home. They’ve placed him in a temporary home. I don’t know the location. We can come see him, and she said that once things settle down he can even come visit if he wants. She seems to think that we’re rather attached.”
“I care about the kid. He seemed so lost, so worried about his older brother. If they’re trying him as an adult, and they’re serving a warrant on the parents, I don’t think Kaden will have anyone to go to. At least not locally.” She worried her lower lip. If he had family close by, surely they would have placed him with them. She voiced her thoughts.
“You’re right. I think it’s safe to say there’s no grandparents or aunts or uncles nearby. I don’t know where his parents were from. He might not even know. Right now it’s emergency foster care and I think once they figure out what to do about the parents, they’ll probably make a decision then.”
