Close Range Christmas

by Nicole Helm

  But Jamison being specifically targeted was a much bigger issue at hand. “We’re going to survive this. All of us intact. When we do, you’ll have your chance to adopt. I know it’s an awful thing to have to put it off, but—”

  “But what if this is the time we don’t win, Sarah? Even if we do, how many times are we going to think it’s over when it’s not?” Liza’s eyes were getting shiny again.

  Cash’s barking was growing incessant, but Sarah focused on Liza. “As many times as it takes, because... Well, you love Jamison. You always have.”

  “Of course I do.”

  “So, you can be mad at the circumstance. You can think it’s unfair, because it is, but it’s Jamison. So we’ll all suck it up and keep him safe, whether we should have to or not. You can be mad as hell about that, Liza. No one’s stopping you.”

  “You’re trying to stop me with all this wisdom.”

  “It’s not wisdom. It’s just common sense. You can feel what you feel and still suck it up and do what you have to.”

  “Sarah sense. Life’s a crapshoot so suck it up and do what you can.”

  Sarah lifted her hands. “Hard to argue with that kind of sense, isn’t it?”

  Liza stepped forward and pulled Sarah into a hug—which was notable since neither of them were particularly touchy-feely. Still, Sarah could tell Liza needed some kind of comfort. Jamison would comfort her too, but Liza would convince herself it was only to make her feel better—not because he actually believed that they could beat the threats against him.

  “I do think they’re right. The letter is a warning,” Sarah said, hoping to soothe Liza more. “For whatever reason, this Anth wants us to know he’s coming. Which gives us a much better chance to win.”

  “A man who can wait like this one has isn’t stupid. If he’s giving us a warning...” Liza shook her head. “That could be just to mess with our heads. After all, he accuses Jamison of killing his own kin and we know he hasn’t and never would. I was with him all those years in the Sons, so I know. He didn’t kill anyone.”

  “He’s been responsible for the death of Sons members since leaving, though,” Sarah pointed out, pulling away from Liza’s arms. “Jailed some too, which may have led to their deaths, including Ace. If we look at it from their perspective, maybe Anth really does believe Jamison is responsible for killing his brethren. Maybe Ace made sure he believed it.”

  Liza grimaced. “I don’t know how any of them could think the Sons were ever Jamison’s kin, even when he was stuck in there. Even Ace.”

  “But you said it yourself. Another son of Ace’s was never mentioned. No one named Anth was around when you were stuck in there. Maybe this guy only knows what Ace has told him about the Sons and the Wyatt brothers.”

  “Maybe. The horrible part is it’s all possible. We at least knew Ace was our enemy before. Even knowing he was a dangerous psychopath gave us something to go on. We don’t know anything about Anth Wyatt.”

  Sarah thought about the fact that she did. She knew that she shared blood with the man. That her mother had been afraid enough of her own son to ask someone else to take her brand-new baby with another man.

  Technically, she herself was Anth’s kin and brethren too. Did he know that? Did he consider the Wyatt brothers his kin? And why had he used those two words? Repeatedly?

  Cash’s barking had stopped, but he hadn’t run back with the ball. A little flutter of panic started in her chest, but Sarah pushed it away. There were a million things Cash could be out there chasing.

  Including bad men.

  Sarah whistled for him, called his name, but he didn’t reappear.

  Dread skittered up her spine. Wouldn’t Anth expect Jamison to come right here after that letter—to his real brethren? Wouldn’t he be able to plan some kind of ambush?

  Sarah grabbed Liza’s arm. “We have to get inside.”

  Liza’s eyes widened, but she didn’t argue. Clearly she understood Sarah’s train of thought. She reached for the storm door, pulling it open. An explosion sounded and the glass shattered as they hurried through it. Sarah dropped to her knees. She tried to wriggle away from Liza, who was using her body to shield Sarah from the falling glass.

  “You’re going to get hurt,” Sarah said, giving another ineffective push on Liza’s body.

  “That’s the point. Better me than you and your baby. Can you crawl forward? Get to the main door?”

  There was another gunshot, but no shattering glass this time.

  “That came from inside,” Liza said, pushing Sarah toward the door that led into the kitchen. “They’re shooting back.”

  Sarah crawled over the concrete floor of the mudroom. It was awkward and painful in her current state, and the panicking beat of her heart didn’t exactly help her arms stay steady as she tried to crawl without cutting herself on the glass.

  She reached up to grab the knob, but another shot rang out, splintering into the house somewhere too close to Sarah for comfort. She snatched her hand back and huddled lower.

  Liza scooted up next to her, but before she could pound on the door, it opened. Then, before Sarah had a chance to crawl forward, she was being pulled inside and immediately out of the doorway.

  Despite her extra girth, Dev had moved her quite easily, Liza scurrying in behind her. Dev practically had Sarah in his lap by the time she looked around the room. Liza was sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. Jamison and Tucker were at the window above the kitchen sink, guns pointed out the opening. With no words spoken, Gage took the gun from Jamison and replaced him at the window. Jamison fell to his knees next to Liza.

  “I’m okay,” she said before Jamison could say or do anything. She reached out and cupped his cheek. “Might have a few cuts from the glass, but nothing serious. Would have been worse, but Sarah figured things out.”

  “I’m not sure I figured them out so much as Cash... He was barking. Then he stopped.” Sarah tried not to think the worst. After all, no gunshot had gone off before Cash’s barking stopped. He couldn’t have been killed. Please. Sarah looked up at Dev, who was smoothing down her hair. “He’s out there.”

  “That’s okay. He’s a smart dog. He’ll be all right,” Dev said roughly.

  Then another, more horrifying thought pierced Sarah’s mind. She whipped her head toward Liza. “Is Gigi with Nina and Brianna?”

  “And Cody. We told them about the note before coming here, so they’re being careful,” Liza said, but she had paled, and she looked to Jamison as if seeking reassurance.

  No one mentioned that someone had snuck past all the security defenses Cody had set up around the property—and if someone could do that here, surely they could do it at Cody’s house in Bonesteel.

  “He didn’t kill anyone, and he could have,” Dev said. “Maybe this is just another warning.”

  But it was a warning with bullets, and Sarah knew that meant things were escalating. Danger was well and truly here, and they somehow had to find the strength to fight it again.

  * * *

  WHOEVER WAS OUT there stopped returning fire after Sarah and Liza were safely inside.

  After minutes of endless waiting, there’d been a heated argument about how they would go about determining if the gunman had left, had been injured in return fire or was waiting them out.

  Tucker had called Duke and Rachel immediately, having them take shelter at the Knight house since that’s where they’d been closest to while dealing with the cattle feeding. He’d kept them on speakerphone, so if anything changed on their end, they’d know about it right away and could send help. Brady had Cody on speakerphone for the same reason.

  Grandma Pauline was upstairs with Felicity and Claire, and Cecilia was still at work at the reservation. They’d texted her to stay put for the time being.

  “It’s been long enough. If we don’t go ou
t soon, we’re going to lose daylight,” Jamison said, pacing the length of the kitchen.

  “Maybe that’s what he’s counting on,” Liza insisted.

  “Maybe, but how will we know if some of us don’t look?” Dev asked. He was doing his best to remain still, to remain calm. Not to let his brain go back to when that gunshot had gone off and they hadn’t known if Liza and Sarah were okay.

  It had been a brief second before Tucker had looked out the window and been able to see them crawl inside. But it had been a terrible, bleak second.

  “Any luck on those cameras, Cody?” Brady said into his phone.

  “No. Whatever he did, he cut my mainframe. I don’t have any video feed—or anything recorded.”

  “How would he do that?” Dev asked.

  “Not a clue.” Cody didn’t have to be in the same physical space as Dev for him to be able to read Cody’s frustration.

  “We have to do a sweep,” Jamison demanded. “Nobody goes alone, and we don’t do anything stupid. But we have to look.”

  “He’s right,” Gage added. “We can’t just sit in here and twiddle our thumbs. Especially when we know he’s cut the video. Who knows what other security measures Cody put up have been tampered with?”

  “Why don’t two of you search the main area around the house. Have Duke and Rachel drive over, keeping an eye out on that end. I’ll pack up the girls here and drive for you guys—which will give me a look around the highway side of the property. There’s no way we can reach everything, but we can scope out a lot.”

  “He’s right,” Dev agreed. “If we do a quick sweep and don’t find anything, we’ll need all hands on deck to keep a lookout through the night.”

  Liza scowled, but she didn’t pose an argument.

  “Rachel and I are on our way,” Duke said from Tucker’s speakerphone.

  “Nina and I will be on our way with the girls in a few,” Cody said from Brady’s speakerphone.

  “We’ll go out,” Dev said to Jamison. “Search around the house and the stables.”

  “Why you?” Sarah demanded at the same time Liza did.

  “I know where everything should be better than anyone,” Dev said to Sarah. “And Jamison is the best shot,” he said to Liza.

  “Well, now, I wouldn’t go that far,” Gage muttered.

  “He is and we all know it. So, he’ll have my back and I can see if anything is off.”

  “Don’t you think we should all agree and not just listen to orders from you?” Sarah said. She looked terribly uncomfortable, fidgeting in the kitchen chair like she couldn’t find a position that didn’t hurt her back. They’d tried to convince her to lie down or at least go relax in the recliner in the living room, but she’d refused.

  “We’ll never get anything done if we wait for consensus,” Jamison said gently. He was holding Liza’s hand. Even though she looked furious, she wasn’t arguing anymore. He gave Dev a nod.

  Dev followed Jamison to the door, shrugging on his coat as he went. He looked back once at Sarah. Her face was a storm of fury, but she didn’t say a word, so Dev followed Jamison into the mudroom. There were two bullet holes in the siding of the house. One had come through the window of the storm door before Liza and Sarah had a chance to close it. The second had sliced through the bottom aluminum portion of the storm door and into the wall of the mudroom.

  Dev tried not to think too deeply about how close Liza and Sarah had been to those bullet holes—and how there’d been nothing to do to get them inside any quicker except shoot back in the general direction of where the original shots had come from.

  “Head for where the shots came from first?”

  “Surely he’s moved on from there,” Jamison said. He had his gun in his hand, gaze sweeping the vast landscape in front of them. The rolling hills of the ranch were brown this time of year, dotted with patches of snow from the last accumulation they’d had.

  “Unless we hit him.” Dev hoped to God they had. Let this be over. Now.

  Jamison grunted, which wasn’t an argument, so they headed for the stables. Dev looked around for anything off. Shells, debris of any kind. A footprint in the patches of snow. Anything that shouldn’t fit the normal day-to-day of the ranch.

  Nothing out of the ordinary...except a sound. He and Jamison stopped, ears straining.

  “It sounds like...scratching,” Dev said. Then he broke out in a run, though it jarred his bad leg. He made it to the back of the stables, and then there was a bark. It was coming from the old chicken coop that hadn’t been used in years.

  “How the hell did Cash get in there?” Jamison muttered, jogging with Jamison to the old coop. Someone had used an old pipe to latch the door closed. Dev supposed he should be relieved whoever had been out here hadn’t hurt Cash.

  Dev pulled the pipe out so the door swung open. Cash flew out, snarling and barking. He darted off due north and Jamison and Dev exchanged a glance.

  “I guess we follow.”

  Dev nodded, pointed at the shells littering the ground on this side of the stables. “This was his shooting point. Then he ran away?”

  Cash darted back, then ran off again, the barking becoming more frenzied. The darting becoming more insistent. Quietly, gun tight in hand, Dev followed. They wouldn’t sneak up on anyone with Cash losing it like this, but they didn’t have a choice.

  Dev and Jamison stopped on a dime at the top of a small rise of land. The grazing pasture stretched out before them, but not far off was a body. A very still, facedown-in-the-dirt body.

  Dev started forward, but Jamison grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Could be a trap.”

  Dev gestured around. “We can pretty much see everything. Cody will check out the trees over there when he drives in, but that’s too far away to get any good shot off on us—even with a high-powered weapon.”

  Jamison frowned, but he let go of Dev’s arm and together they started forward. They took careful steps, guns at the ready, eyes trained around them until they reached the lifeless body. There was a gun still in the man’s hand, but there was also a piece of paper pinned to the back of his shirt.

  “It’s set up just like my note,” Jamison said, crouching to get a better look. Dev kicked the gun out of the lifeless man’s hands.

  “‘Mike Christopher,’” Jamison read aloud. “‘Crimes: armed robbery, battery, second-degree murder, but most of all—failure. Sentencing: death by firing squad.’ Signed AW.”

  “Hardly a firing squad,” Dev muttered. There was one bullet hole and it was clear the shot had been close range.

  “Anth thinks he’s judge, jury and executioner,” Jamison said, looking away from the body and around them as if he could see something that would make any of this make sense.

  “Then why did he send someone else to kill you?” Dev crouched too and studied the paper. It was typed like Jamison’s, and set up exactly the same. Sort of like a court document, but more informal.

  “Kill my family, you mean. That gunshot was meant for Liza.”

  But the more Dev thought about it, the more he wondered. Idly he petted Cash, who’d finally come to sit next to them now that he’d led them where he wanted them to be. “I’m not so sure it was meant for anyone. Maybe it was just to scare us. To scatter us like this.” Jamison looked around them. No sign of another soul. “He sure didn’t give this guy much of a chance. He got off two shots—then got murdered for his trouble.”

  “I think that means he didn’t hit his target, Dev.” Jamison stood, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll call County. They’ll want to do their own investigation, and get the ME to take the body.”

  “Sure,” Dev agreed. Something about this was off to Dev, but that didn’t mean more eyes trying to figure it out was a bad thing. “Good boy,” Dev murmured, giving Cash a scratch behind the ears. “I bet we can even convince Grandma Pauline to let you
sleep inside tonight.” They’d need the extra lookout, because one thing was for sure.

  This wasn’t over. It was only the beginning.

  Chapter Nine

  The house was even more crowded now, though Sarah had to admit it helped her nerves feel less...frayed, she supposed. She was still nervous and scared. She kept thinking every little unexpected noise was a gunshot, but there was always someone to talk to or a kid or dog to play with.

  The local police came and Jamison and Dev headed outside with them to show them all they’d found. Liza, Nina and Gage went upstairs to put their girls to bed. Once the police had finished their investigation and the removal of the body of the man who’d shot at them, Brady and Tucker drove out to the reservation to pick up Cecilia.

  There was no more arguing, and no one tried to go off on their own. The aftermath was subdued.

  Sarah was dead on her feet, and she knew she should go upstairs and sleep while she could. But she couldn’t make herself leave the kitchen when Dev and Jamison hadn’t come inside yet.

  “They’ll be in soon enough,” Duke said gruffly from where he sat next to Grandma Pauline, working on a puzzle. They both had their reading glasses on and Sarah wanted to be amused, to feel cozily, Christmasy happy.

  Instead she was jittery and anxious and...

  She heard the outer door creak open, followed by the sound of stomping feet. When Dev and Jamison stepped inside, they’d shed their coats, but snowflakes still clung to their hair and Dev’s beard.

  Dev frowned at her. “I sure hope you’re planning on cooking that baby a while longer. Roads are going to be a mess tonight.”

  “That is the plan.”

  “If Brady doesn’t get back, you’re full out of luck on the emergency medical personnel.”

  “I wasn’t really planning on your brother delivering my baby, EMT training or no. And if you’re trying to make some point about me staying in town—”

  “I’m not trying to make any points. I’m just saying,” he grumbled.

  The kitchen descended into an uncomfortable silence. All eyes were on them and Sarah felt suddenly...see-through. Which was silly. They were always bickering. There was nothing weird about this to garner looks.