The Lawman Returns

by Lynette Eason

  Stan simply looked at him, stood still and lifted his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender. Clay pulled his weapon and held it on the man. “Where’s Sabrina?”

  Stan didn’t speak. Clay moved closer. Stan stepped back into the woods. “Be still! Don’t move!”

  Clay held his gun steady and reached for his phone, keeping his eyes on the man who might know something about Sabrina.

  At the edge of the woods, he pressed the button that would bring backup.

  Stan dropped his hands. Clay tensed. “Put them back up, Stan.”

  Lightning pain hit the back of his head. His vision went white. Then black.

  * * *

  Sabrina’s head pounded, and fear nauseated her. She had done away with her sling yesterday afternoon. Working in the barn had stretched the healing area, and it had been sore this morning. With her wrists bound behind her back, pain pulsed a steady beat in the wounded area. Finding a more comfortable position was impossible. With her feet also duct-taped together, she had very limited movement. Her cheek hurt, and her ears still rang. Memory returned in fragments. Stan had punched her. She’d blacked out at some point.

  She let her senses take in all the information she could process. A metal floor beneath her. That meant she was no longer in the brown car.

  So where was she?

  An idling engine. A metal floor. Darkness, but she could see the snow falling through two windows toward the back of the vehicle. She figured she’d been transferred to a van. Time had passed but not too much, as it was still light outside.

  So now she was tied up and scared to death.

  Krissy and Stan had disappeared without a word a short while ago. Sabrina knew it was now or never. She tugged and struggled and cried out until she was breathless. Her head throbbed. Panting, she wiped her tears on her shoulder. “Oh, Lord, please, help me.”

  The back of the van opened, spilling sunlight into the cavernous interior. Another body landed next to her. Sabrina gasped and shrank away.

  Then realized who it was. “Clay!”

  The doors slammed shut once again.

  Sabrina scooted on her hip closer to Clay. He lay so still, so quiet. Was he even alive? She shivered, her teeth chattering. She curled next to his warmth. The front doors opened, and the two criminals climbed in. The van rumbled to life. “Clay,” she whispered. “Can you hear me?”

  Sabrina could see the snowflakes coming down fast and furious through the back windows, but soon the sun would disappear and they would be plunged into darkness.

  Heat from the front started to penetrate to the back, and her shivers eased, but each jolt over the rough ground slammed her against the floor, sending shards of agony through her injured shoulder. She had a feeling any healing that had taken place had just been reversed.

  She noticed Clay having a hard time, too. Every time they hit a bump, his head knocked the metal floor. Ignoring her own discomfort, she winced and maneuvered herself against him, trying to roll him next to the wall of the van without attracting the attention of those up front.

  Finally, she had him trapped between her body and the side of the van. It made the bouncing a bit more bearable.

  And allowed her to tune in to the conversation of the two in the front.

  “...told you this was a bad idea,” Stan said.

  “Shut up and drive.”

  “Why am I listening to you?” The van swerved, then jerked back into the lane. Sabrina grimaced and tried to move with it.

  “Because you’re a fool if you don’t,” Krissy said, her voice so low and lethal that Sabrina flinched and waited for the gunshot that would end Stan’s life.

  When it didn’t come, Sabrina ignored her massive discomfort and tried to nudge Clay awake again. His unresponsiveness worried her. How hard had Stan hit him? “Clay,” she whispered.

  “Quit whining and tell me if you got the pictures,” Krissy snapped.

  “I’ll get them when we get to the cave. I was watching her from the window. She’s got them in that book in her back pocket.”

  “Why didn’t you grab them when you tossed her in the van?” Outrage vibrated in Krissy’s voice.

  “Because I was too busy trying to figure how to get Clay Starke, in case you didn’t notice. I could hear him coming and thanks to my quick thinking, he’s not going to be a problem anymore.” He snorted. “You’re a piece of work, aren’t you?”

  Krissy huffed. “Just drive.”

  “Oh, I’m driving, all right.” The menace in Stan’s voice sent chills up Sabrina’s spine. She wasn’t sure which person scared her more.

  “So they were in the book after all,” Krissy mused after about a minute of silence. “Jordan told the truth.”

  “Looks like.”

  “Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t kill her. We’d still be looking for those pictures if she’d died. This way we have the pictures and can make her and Clay’s death look like an accident.” Krissy paused. “And once we’re done with them, I’ve got to get back and take care of that kid. He saw us put Sabrina in the car.”

  “What kid?”

  “Tony Zellis.”

  “Jordan’s little brother?”

  “Yes. I would have grabbed him, but he ran off and you were fighting a losing battle with Sabrina.”

  “I wasn’t losing.”

  “Whatever. I can’t let that kid live now. He might not know my name, but as soon as he sees me again, he’ll be able to point at me and say, ‘That’s the lady who put Sabrina in the car.’” She blew out a harsh breath. “This is getting messier and messier.”

  “Exactly. So how do you plan to make their deaths look like an accident when the kid is running around telling people she was kidnapped?”

  “I don’t know!” she screeched. “I’ll just have to think of something, won’t I?”

  “Well, if Jordan had just kept his mouth shut, none of this would have happened.”

  “Yeah, well, unfortunately, Jordan has a big mouth. One even his best friend couldn’t shut up.”

  Silence reigned in the front. Then Krissy spoke again. “If he had just followed the plan at your trailer, all of this would have been unnecessary.”

  “Plan? What plan?”

  “The plan to make it look like Jordan turned against everyone and killed them. And then turned the gun on himself and ended it all.”

  Stan seemed to think about that. Then he spoke. “I’ve never killed a kid before.”

  “Well, neither have I, but if comes down to him or me, it’s not going to be me. And now that we have the pictures, we don’t need Jordan.”

  “You’ve killed a kid. You killed Trey.”

  “He doesn’t count. He was killing himself with the drugs anyway. I just helped the inevitable happen a little faster.”

  “I’ll fill the boss in on everything after we dump these two.”

  Sabrina stilled. Boss?

  The two fell quiet once again, and a violent shiver racked her, the chill having nothing to do with the temperature outside.

  SEVENTEEN

  Clay groaned and wished dire things upon the people using the jackhammer on his skull. A roar filled his ears and the ground shook...and rocked. His head throbbed, and his stomach lurched.

  He rolled and had to bite down on the scream that wanted to escape him. Blackness covered him once again.

  “Clay?”

  The whisper ricocheted through him. He blinked and wished he hadn’t.

  “Clay? Wake up.”

  Sabrina. He opened his eyes again and stared into darkness. Panic gripped him. Was he blind? He lifted a hand to his head. His fingers came away wet. Blood, he figured. “Where are we?” he rasped.

  A sob reached him. “Oh, Clay, I was so scared you weren’t going
to wake up. Are you okay?”

  “I think I’m blind. I can’t see.”

  “You’re not blind. We’re trapped in one of the caves. They set off dynamite or something and closed off the entrance.” She paused. “And exit, I’m afraid.”

  A shiver racked him. Fortunately, he had his heavy Sherpa coat on. Not so fortunately, he didn’t have his gloves on. His hands felt frozen. The throbbing in his head had eased only slightly, and the nausea churning didn’t bode well.

  “Are you okay?”

  “My hands and feet are duct-taped together. Can you get me loose?”

  Remorse hit him. “Why didn’t you say so?” The blow to his head had scrambled his brain. Keeping his head as still as possible, he moved toward her. For a moment he thought he might black out. He rested his head against the cold cave floor. “Hang on a second.”

  He heard her scooting toward him. “Just stay there. I’ll come to you.” More scraping and he felt her next to him. He reached out and felt her shoulder. He slid a hand down her arm and found the tape.

  “My hands are so cold I’m not sure how fast I’ll be.”

  “Well, we need to hurry and get out of here. They’re going to kill Tony. Not only that, I didn’t bring all the pictures with me. They’ll go back to the ranch to find them.”

  Clay sucked in a breath. He winced. “Explain while I work on this.”

  Sabrina filled him in on the conversation she’d overheard. “But there’s another thing that worries me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “They didn’t sound like they were working alone. They referred to someone as ‘boss.’”

  Clay tugged and felt a strip loosen. He unwrapped and unwound until finally her hands fell free. She gasped, and he reached up to rub her arms. “Get the circulation going.”

  “Oh, wow. That hurt.”

  “Swing your feet around here.”

  “I can do it. You rest a minute.”

  He didn’t argue. Couldn’t. His head swam, and he was losing the battle with the nausea.

  Being as still as possible for the next several minutes restored him slightly. “I’d kill for an aspirin.”

  “Or four?”

  “Exactly.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  “Did they hurt you?” He reached out to find her hand.

  She squeezed his fingers. “I’m fine. But we need to get out of here.”

  “It would help if we had some light. Do you know what cave we’re in?”

  “No.”

  A scraping sound found his ears. He paused. “You hear that?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “What could it be?”

  “Bats, I’m guessing.”

  “Ew. Please tell me no.” She pressed closer to him.

  He heard more movement from up above. “Just ignore them.” He took a deep breath and pulled himself into a sitting position, then had to stop and rest for a minute. The feel of her next to him helped, not necessarily physically, but her nearness gave him the emotional motivation to overcome his weakness and get her out of the cave. He refused to let her die here. And as soon as his head quit spinning, he’d get started on a plan of action.

  “I’m scared, Clay,” she whispered.

  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll work on getting out of here in just a sec.” There wasn’t any way he could move at the moment. Please, God, give me strength. “You know when you asked me about Bryce England back at the diner?”

  She laid her head on his shoulder. “Yes.”

  “Bryce was one of the bullies who targeted my sister when she was in high school.”

  “Oh.”

  “I didn’t burn down his house, though.” The dizziness started to ease, and he leaned his head back against the wall of the cave. She clasped his hand in hers. At least he thought she did. His were so cold he almost felt numb.

  “What happened?”

  “Steven and I went over to confront him, to tell him to leave Amber alone. Bryce’s parents were gone and, being teenagers, we decided that was the perfect time to do a little bullying of our own.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “Yes.” He shifted and grunted at the shaft of pain that shot through the back and base of his skull. Her hand tightened around his. “Bryce and his brother had built a bonfire out back. Steven and I walked up and said our piece. Bryce simply laughed at us and started throwing pieces of burning wood at us. Steven punched him pretty good one time. His brother jumped me, and we all went at it. None of us noticed that one of the burning pieces of wood had caught the patio carpet on fire.”

  He felt tremors race through Sabrina and lifted his head, testing it. It hurt, but he wasn’t dizzy. A small improvement, but he’d take it.

  “And the fire reached the house?” she asked.

  “Yes. From the outdoor carpet to the wood railing. By the time the flames caught our attention, it was too late. Bryce ran screaming into the house. Steven and I went after him. Steven found him and pulled him out.” He swallowed, his dry throat aching. “I called 911. By the time it was all over and done with, Bryce and his brother blamed me.”

  “But not Steven?”

  He shrugged and then winced as he made a mental note not to move. Yet. “No. I guess he figured he owed Steven for pulling him out, but he sure made my life miserable with his accusations. Steven tried to defend me, but everyone just assumed it was because he was my brother.”

  “But they couldn’t prove anything, because you didn’t do anything, right?”

  “Right. My name was just dragged through the mud for a while. People still remember.”

  “I remember some of that. Lily seemed to think it was true, and I didn’t know what to believe.”

  “Well, now you know. We’re going to get out of here. Where’s the entrance?”

  He heard her move.

  And gasp.

  “What is it?”

  “We’re not the only ones in here.”

  * * *

  Sabrina shuddered as she reached out a hand to touch the body she’d just rolled into.

  “Who is it?”

  “I don’t know,” she whispered. She ran her hands up and found the person’s throat. A faint pulse beat beneath her fingers. “He’s alive, though.”

  “Who is it?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t tell.”

  “All right, let’s get busy getting out of here.”

  “But how?”

  “I guess we dig unless you’ve got a better idea. We’ve got to get to my family. I refuse to let these people win.”

  Sabrina made her way to the blocked entrance of the cave. Debris, small and large, made her travel difficult, but she pushed aside the rocks, pulling and shoving. Clay joined her. After what seemed like hours, she clutched her bleeding hands and leaned her head against the rocks. “This is hopeless.”

  “No, it’s not,” Clay said. “Look.” Excitement and relief filled her at the faint beam of light seeping through a crack in the rock wall.

  Clay dug faster, and she added her own efforts.

  Until a noise on the other side stopped them. Her shivering had ceased, the exertion causing a sweat to break across her forehead. “Did you hear that?”

  “Yes.” Clay leaned toward the faint light. “Hello! We’re trapped! Get help!”

  Rocks tumbled from the other side. “Just dig. There’s a weak spot here—it’s not very thick. I’ve been digging since they left.”

  “Jordan?” Sabrina nearly went to her knees. Dizzy with relief, she sent up a prayer of thanks.

  More rocks tumbled on the other side.

  “Yeah. They had C4 planted in the cave. They were planning this all along, I guess. I found some of the C4 and re
moved it, but obviously I didn’t get it all. At least I got enough that it didn’t bring the whole cave down on top of you.” He finished the sentence on a grunt as more debris fell away from the opening. “Which is what I think they were hoping for.”

  The sliver of light widened. She turned to find Clay beside her digging. Together they worked in silence until the sliver became a hole. Hands bleeding and sore, she didn’t let up. She couldn’t. She had to get to the house.

  The hole grew bigger, and Clay paused, gasping. He rested his head against the cool wall and she touched his cheek. “Just a little more.”

  “Yeah.” His slanted glance went to the hole. “You could slip through there now.”

  “I’m not going until it’s big enough for you to crawl through, too.” She thought she might have to help him. Jordan could pull, and she could push on her end.

  He shoved out of his jacket and tossed it through the opening.

  With another five minutes of digging, the hole was big enough for Clay. And whoever was in the cave with them.

  She moved and felt the man’s pulse. “Still beating. Let’s get him out.” She moved to the hole. “Jordan?”

  “Yes?”

  “We have someone else in here. Clay can’t pick him up. I need you to crawl through the hole so I can hand you his arms. You’ll have to pull him out while I push from this end, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  She saw Jordan’s face, and Clay lifted the man’s arms. Jordan grasped them. Clay was able to push while Jordan pulled and finally, they had him on the other side.

  She turned to Clay. “Go.”

  “No way. You first.”

  “Clay, you’re hurt. I might have to help push you through. Please. Go.” She looked at the exit. “I might need you to pull me through anyway.”

  He gave her a tender smile. “Trying to save my pride, huh?”

  “Doesn’t matter, it’s true. Now go.”

  Clay climbed through. Jordan helped from his end. Sabrina reached up to push on the heels of his boots. The bats behind her put up a screeching protest at the light now invading their territory. She shuddered. Clay’s feet disappeared.