Landon

by Delores Fossen

  Landon cursed, and Tessa couldn’t quite choke back the gasp that leaped from her throat. Courtney had been sexually assaulted.

  “I would have killed Quincy on the spot, but his thugs came in. At that time he was paying some motorcycle gang to play bodyguard and do his muscle work for him. So I left to regroup, to figure out a way to bring him down. And then I found out I was pregnant.”

  “You’re sure the baby is Quincy’s?” Tessa said, though it was a question she hated to ask.

  “I’m sure. I had a real DNA test done, but those test results have been destroyed. Emmett was helping with that, and that’s why I saw him the night he was killed. He’s the one who had those fake results created.”

  Landon jumped right on that. “You think that’s why Emmett was killed, because he was helping you?”

  “I hope not.” The sound Courtney made was part moan, part groan. “But I don’t know for sure. Quincy could have found out Emmett was helping me and sent this hired muscle after him. I can’t rule out Joel, either, because Emmett was investigating him. Both Joel and Quincy certainly have the resources to hire guns not only to kill Emmett but to go after you.”

  “And Ward?” Landon asked. “Can you rule him out?”

  “No,” Courtney said without hesitation. “I don’t have anything on him, though. I don’t have anything to bring anyone to justice. That has to change. I have to make sure Samantha is safe. That’s why I gave you those fake DNA results—to protect my baby. I knew Emmett would have done the same thing if he’d been alive.”

  “He would have,” Landon assured her. “But why leave the fake DNA results on the playground like you did?”

  “I was hoping Quincy would get word of it. After the fact,” she quickly added. “I certainly didn’t want him showing up on that playground. I also thought if you believed Samantha was a Ryland, that you’d do everything within and even beyond the law to protect her.”

  “That was a given,” Landon assured her. “She doesn’t need Ryland blood for us to do that.”

  Tessa made a sound of agreement. They were a family married to the badge, and they wouldn’t have let a snake like Quincy take the baby. She’d learned that firsthand, but then, Courtney probably felt she needed some insurance with those altered DNA results.

  “What do you know about the body that turned up in Sweetwater Springs?” Landon asked. “It had a note similar to the one left on Emmett’s body.”

  “I have no idea.” And it sounded as if Courtney was telling the truth. “But that goes back to Quincy, doesn’t it? I mean, he’s the one with a personal vendetta against you.”

  Yes, but either Ward or Joel could have used that to set up Quincy. Of course, after what Courtney had just told them about Quincy sexually assaulting her, Tessa wanted the man to pay and pay hard. But she also wanted the same for the person behind the attacks. That way they could get double justice if that person turned out to be Quincy.

  “We don’t have anything to help with pinning this on Ward or Joel,” Landon explained, “but we might have something on Quincy. There’s a witness who could possibly help us nab Quincy on a parole violation.”

  “That won’t help. He’ll still send someone after Samantha.”

  Neither Landon nor Tessa could argue with that.

  “I’m still weak from the delivery,” Courtney added. “That’s why I’ve had such a hard time keeping out of the path of these thugs.”

  “If you’re weak, that’s even more reason to let me help you,” Landon insisted.

  “I do need your help,” Courtney agreed. “I have a plan to draw out Quincy. A plan that will put him behind bars for the rest of his life. I’ll text you the details. And, Landon, please come. I’m begging you to help me.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  As plans went, there was nothing about this one that Landon liked. Because it stood a good chance of getting Courtney killed. It was also a plan he couldn’t stop, since Courtney had already set things in motion.

  And that motion involved Landon.

  “Let me get this straight,” Grayson said, sounding as skeptical as Landon and Tessa were, and Landon had no trouble hearing every drop of that skepticism from the other end of the phone line. “Courtney wants you to pretend to bring her baby to the playground at the elementary school so that Quincy’s hired guns will believe that she now has the child?”

  That was it in a nutshell, and it would put a huge target on Courtney. “She said that Quincy knows Tessa and I have the child, so it’ll make it more believable if I show up. Of course, it won’t be the real baby. Courtney suggested a doll wrapped in a blanket.”

  Grayson cursed a blue streak—which had been Landon’s first reaction, as well. “And then what? Quincy’s men gun her down and take the ‘child’?”

  This wasn’t going to sound any better than the first part of the plan. “Courtney believes they won’t shoot her, because they won’t risk hurting the baby.” Maybe that would happen. After all, Quincy seemed determined to get his hands on his daughter.

  “Then what?” Grayson snarled.

  “Then she can use the child to draw out Quincy. When he tries to kill her and take the baby, then she can arrest him for conspiracy to commit murder, rape and other assorted felonies.”

  Grayson stayed quiet a moment, obviously processing that. “How much time do you have?”

  “Not much. Courtney said she’ll be at the playground in about thirty minutes from now. If I’m not there with the fake baby, then she said she’ll just try to deal with the hired guns to draw Quincy out, that one way or another she’s putting an end to this tonight.”

  More profanity. “And how does she know the hired guns will even be there?”

  “Because they’ve been following her, and she’s barely managed to escape them several times.” Obviously, once they’d managed to capture her, because that was when the photo of her had been taken. “She said if she steps out into the open, the gunmen will be on to her right away.”

  “Call her back. Stop this plan,” Grayson insisted.

  “Already tried. Multiple times. She’s not answering her phone.”

  Courtney probably didn’t want Landon trying to talk her out of this, and part of him couldn’t blame her. She was a desperate mother trying to protect her baby, but Courtney was taking a huge risk that might not pay off.

  “Where are Tessa and you now?” Grayson asked.

  “On the way to the sheriff’s office. I wanted to leave Tessa behind, but—”

  “If this is a trap, I don’t want to have gunmen come to the ranch,” Tessa interrupted. It was an argument Landon had had with her from the moment they’d read the text with Courtney’s plan.

  Grayson clearly wasn’t pleased about that, either. Welcome to the club. If there was a pecking order for displeasure here, Landon was at the top of it. Taking Tessa out in the open like this was dangerous.

  “You’re coming here to the sheriff’s office?” Grayson asked.

  “Yeah.” Though that was a huge risk, too, considering everything that’d happened there in the past couple of days. “I have two armed ranch hands and Kade following me into town. I thought it best if the others stayed at the ranch. Just in case.”

  Though the ranch would probably be the safest place in the county since Tessa, he and the baby wouldn’t be there.

  “The two night deputies are here,” Grayson explained. “Tessa can stay here with Kade and them. I’ll go with you and the ranch hands to drop off the doll. I just wish I had more time to bring in backup.”

  So did Landon, but since Courtney wouldn’t even answer her phone, there was no chance of putting a stop to this meeting. “I’ll see you in ten minutes.” Well, he would unless they encountered gunmen along the way.

  “Stay low in the seat,” Landon instructed Tessa.
This was a farm road, no streetlights and only the spare lights from the ranches that dotted the area. It would be the perfect place for an attack.

  “You think this will fool Quincy’s men?” she asked.

  She was looking down at Kimmie’s doll, which they’d wrapped in a pink blanket. Landon was thankful it had been at the guesthouse or they would have had to go looking for one. When the little girl had brought over the gift for Samantha, Landon hadn’t known it would come in so handy.

  “It’s dark,” Landon answered. “And I’ll make sure the blanket covers the doll’s face.”

  It was a little precaution, but he’d taken a few bigger ones, too. Like Tessa and him both wearing Kevlar vests. And asking Kade and the ranch hands for backup. Landon had asked them simply because they’d been outside the guesthouse at the time. Patrolling. Right now every minute mattered.

  “If shots are fired,” Tessa said the moment he made the final turn for Silver Creek, “swear to me that you’ll get down.”

  “They won’t fire shots. Not as long as they think I have the baby.”

  “Swear it,” she repeated.

  Landon figured the little white lie he was about to tell might steady her nerves. “I’ll get down.”

  And that was partly true. He would indeed get down if he could, but it was a playground. Not exactly a lot of places to take cover. And then there was Courtney to consider. He couldn’t just leave her out in the open to be gunned down.

  He saw the lights from Main Street just ahead and knew they had only a couple of minutes before he had to drop her off. “If this doesn’t work,” he added, “you’re going into WITSEC first thing in the morning.”

  Tonight if he could arrange it.

  But even that was a lie. Because either way, she’d have to leave. Catching Quincy wouldn’t put an end to the danger if it was Joel or Ward who was after them. However, it could get Courtney and the baby out of harm’s way.

  “So this is goodbye,” she said, though judging from the slight huff she made, Tessa hadn’t intended to say that aloud.

  Landon considered another white lie, but after everything that had happened between them, he couldn’t do that to Tessa. “Yes. More or less, anyway. If we get Quincy, I’ll be tied up with that, and Grayson can finish up the WITSEC arrangements.”

  She nodded and glanced at him as if she wanted to say more. She didn’t. Not for several long moments, anyway.

  “I’m in love with you,” Tessa blurted out, and that time she looked as if that was exactly what she wanted to say.

  Hell.

  Landon sure as heck hadn’t seen that coming.

  “I don’t expect you to feel the same way,” Tessa added, “and I don’t expect you to do anything about it.”

  But she probably did expect him to give her some kind of response, and he would have done just that—even though he didn’t have a clue what to say.

  But something caught his eye.

  They were still several blocks from the sheriff’s office, on a stretch of Main Street with buildings and businesses on each side, but he saw the woman.

  Courtney.

  Landon got just a glimpse of her before she darted into an alley. But he got more than a glimpse of the two men who were running after her. One of those men lifted his gun, aimed it at Courtney.

  And he fired.

  * * *

  “GET DOWN!” LANDON SHOUTED to Tessa.

  He pushed her lower to the seat, but she was headed in that direction anyway. She also threw open the glove compartment and took out a gun. But before Tessa could even get the gun ready to fire, another shot rang out.

  The bullet slammed into the windshield of Landon’s truck.

  So much for their theory that these goons wouldn’t fire because they wouldn’t want to risk hitting the baby. If Samantha had been in the truck with them, she could have already been hurt. Or worse.

  That gave Tessa a jolt of anger. Not that she needed the thought of that to do it, but it helped. She was fed up with someone putting Landon and the others in danger. Fed up with all these attempts to kill her. She wanted to shout out, demanding answers, but the gunmen obviously didn’t have answers on their minds.

  They fired more shots into the truck.

  “Hold on,” Landon said. “I’m getting us out of here.”

  He threw the truck into Reverse, hit the accelerator and just as quickly had to slam on the brakes. He cursed, and it took her a moment to realize why. The truck with Kade and the two ranch hands was behind them.

  But so were two more gunmen.

  There was one on each side of the street, and they were shooting into Kade’s truck. While in Reverse, as well, Kade screeched out of there, getting out of the path of those bullets, but Tessa figured he would double back to help them.

  “Text Grayson.” Landon tossed her his phone. “He needs to stay the hell back for now. I don’t want him hit with friendly fire.”

  Neither did she, and while she did the text, she got a dose of what could be friendly fire. Landon leaned out from his truck window and fired at the guys behind them.

  That was like turning on a switch. Suddenly, shots started slamming into the truck, and they were trapped with gunmen both in front of and behind them. Landon put the truck back in gear, jerked the steering wheel to the right and drove into one of the alleys.

  But it was a dead end.

  “Come on,” Landon told her. He took his phone and shoved it in his pocket. “Move fast.”

  She did. Tessa hurried out of the truck, but she had no idea where they were going. She knew all the shops on Main Street, but she certainly didn’t know the back alleys. Thankfully, Landon did. With his left hand gripping her wrist, they ran toward a Dumpster, and he yanked her behind it.

  Just as the next shot came.

  This one smacked into the Dumpster, the bullet pinging off the metal, which acted like a shield for them. But it wouldn’t be a shield for long if all four of those thugs came in there with guns blazing. For now the four stayed back, using the fronts of the buildings for cover.

  “Shoot them if they try to come closer,” Landon told her, and he began to kick at a wooden fence on the left side of the Dumpster.

  Tessa kept watch and tried to tamp down her breathing. Hard to do, though, because she felt ready to hyperventilate. It didn’t help when one of the men darted out. She fired.

  Missed.

  And she fired again.

  She wasn’t sure if she winged him or not, but at least it got him scurrying back behind the building.

  Landon gave the fence a few more kicks, and it gave way. Tessa had no idea what was on the other side, but it was behind the secondhand store run by a local charity group. The area wasn’t very wide but was littered with all sorts of discarded furniture and another Dumpster. That was where Landon took her.

  There wasn’t much light at the back of the building. The only illumination came from Main Street and a pale moon, and there were enough shadows that it would be easy for a gunman to be right on them before she saw him.

  “Keep watch there.” He tipped his head to the alley between the store and a hair salon. The alley where she’d seen Courtney running. But there was no sign of her now.

  What had gone wrong?

  Had Quincy realized this was a trick and sent his thugs after her? Probably. This plan had been so risky right from the start, and now Courtney was running for her life again. But then, so were Landon and she.

  While he kept watch of the area they’d just left, he also texted Grayson. No doubt to let him know their location. The moment he did that, though, he eased his phone into his pocket and put his finger to his mouth in a “stay quiet” gesture.

  And Tessa soon knew why.

  She heard the footsteps, and they were com
ing from both sides of the thrift store. Either the four gunmen had separated and were now in pairs or else this was someone else.

  Tessa pulled in her breath. Held it. Waiting.

  Other than the footsteps, everything was so quiet. At least for a couple of heart-stopping seconds.

  “Ryland?” someone called out. She didn’t recognize the person’s voice, but it was likely one of Quincy’s hired guns. Or whoever’s hired guns they were. “Do the smart thing and give us the kid. That’s all we want.”

  So definitely Quincy’s men.

  Well, maybe.

  Unless this was yet another attempt to set him up.

  “The kid’s not in your truck,” the guy continued. “We checked. So tell us where you have her stashed and you and your kin won’t die.”

  Maybe it was out of frustration or maybe just to let the jerk know he wasn’t cooperating, but Landon fired a shot in the direction of the voice.

  The man cursed, calling Landon some vile names.

  “It’s me you want,” someone else shouted.

  Courtney.

  Tessa couldn’t tell where exactly she was, but she was close. Maybe just one building over.

  Now Landon cursed. “Stay down!” he yelled to Courtney.

  “No. I’m not going to let Tessa and you die for me. Just promise me you’ll take care of my baby.”

  And then it was as if the world exploded.

  The blast came like a fireball to their right. In the same area where Courtney had just been. It was deafening, and the flurry of shots that followed it didn’t help. Tessa couldn’t tell where the gunmen were, but she had no trouble figuring out where they were aiming all those shots.

  At Courtney.

  “Don’t get up,” Landon told her.

  But that was exactly what he did. He leaned out from the Dumpster and fired two shots. Even over the din of the other bullets, Tessa could hear that the last one he fired sounded different.

  “I got one of them,” Landon snarled.