Roughshod Justice

by Delores Fossen

  “Maybe you can put out an APB for the little girl,” Kelly suggested.

  “There’s already an Amber Alert,” Gabriel explained, “but the Rangers have stepped up efforts to find her.” He paused, and she could hear him talking to someone else in the background. “The emergency dispatcher just called, and he said he has Mandy on the line.”

  Kelly’s heart dropped. She put her coffee cup on the windowsill and practically snatched the phone from Jameson. “Where is she? Is she okay?” Kelly’s words were so fast that they ran together.

  “I’ll have the call transferred here,” Gabriel said, “but I have to put you on hold for a second to do that.”

  “Mandy’s alive,” Kelly whispered while she waited. That didn’t mean her sister was okay, though.

  The seconds suddenly seemed like hours, and Kelly’s hand only shook harder. So hard that Jameson finally pried the phone from her but held it so that she wouldn’t have any trouble hearing.

  “Kelly?” someone finally said from the other end of the line.

  She didn’t recognize the voice, but Kelly looked at Jameson and he nodded. “It’s your sister.”

  “Kelly,” Mandy repeated. “I can’t stay on the line or they’ll find me. God, Kelly, you have to come and get me now. I’m bleeding, and I’m not sure how much longer I can run from those men. Please, just come right now.”

  Chapter Seven

  Jameson wanted to curse. Because that wasn’t a good thing to hear Kelly’s sister say.

  I’m bleeding, and I’m not sure how much longer I can run from those men.

  But it was better than the alternative. He hadn’t come out and said it to Kelly, but he’d figured Mandy was dead. And she soon might be if what she’d just said was true. Just in case it wasn’t or if this was some kind of ploy to draw out Kelly, Jameson fired off a text to Gabriel so he could try to trace the call.

  “Remember, the kidnappers could be forcing her to say whatever she’s about to say to you,” Jameson told Kelly.

  She shook her head, maybe not believing that. Probably because she didn’t want to believe it. “Are you okay?” she asked her sister.

  “No. I told you, I’m bleeding. I’ve been shot.”

  There went the rest of the color in Kelly’s face. “Oh, God. How bad?”

  Jameson wanted to know that, but more important, he needed to find out where to send the cops and an ambulance. “This is Jameson Beckett,” he said to Mandy. “Where are you?”

  Silence. Several long moments of it. That silence put a knot in Jameson’s stomach.

  “I’m not sure,” Mandy finally said. “A day ago, two armed thugs took me and have been holding me in some kind of warehouse. When they weren’t watching, I managed to get out of the ropes they used to tie my hands. I stole one of their phones and started running. That’s when one of them shot me.”

  Jameson would need to hear a lot more details about that, but it could wait. “Where are you?” he repeated.

  “I, uh, think I’m just outside of San Antonio.”

  If she was, then Gabriel should be able to find her. Well, unless she was using a burner phone. “Look around you,” he instructed just in case it was an untraceable prepaid phone. “Do you see any landmarks, anything familiar?”

  There was a rattle of static from the other end of the line, but he could also hear Mandy’s heavy gusts of breath. “There’s a road. Not an interstate, but I can see some buildings in the distance. No cars, though. Please, just come and get me. It’s not safe here. Those men could find me.”

  Yeah, they probably could. “I have someone tracing the call,” he assured her. “Just stay put and if there’s anywhere you can hide, do it. Also, how bad are you bleeding?”

  “It’s my arm. There’s blood on my sleeve and shirt.”

  Jameson felt some relief. An arm wound wouldn’t necessarily be fatal unless they couldn’t find her in time. If they didn’t, she might bleed out.

  “Try to clamp your hand over the wound,” he told her. “It should slow the bleeding.”

  “I just need you to come,” Mandy begged. “Kelly, please. You told me if anything went wrong that you’d help me.”

  “And I will help you,” Kelly assured her. “But I’ve been hurt, too. A head injury. I have amnesia.”

  “What?” Mandy repeated that, the disbelief easy to hear in her voice. “When did this happen?”

  “Last night. Maybe a few hours after you were kidnapped.” Kelly’s expression was already troubled, and it stayed that way. “While Gabriel’s tracing your call, maybe you can tell me why I was carrying around a note that said for me to kill Jameson?”

  Mandy made a sharp sound of surprise. “I don’t know.” The static crackled through the line. “Obviously, you didn’t kill him if he’s with you now.”

  “No. But some men came after us. I need to know why someone would have sent me after Jameson.”

  Mandy hesitated again. “Maybe the same reason those goons took me, but I don’t know that reason.” More static. “Where are Jameson and you right now?”

  Jameson shook his head when Kelly started to answer. “Someone could be listening to Mandy’s conversation to figure out where you are so he or she can send more gunmen,” he whispered to Kelly.

  Her eyes widened, and she nodded. Of course, there were people who already knew that he’d brought Kelly here, but Jameson didn’t want to hand over that information to possible would-be killers.

  “Look around you again,” Kelly said to Mandy a moment later. “Try to figure out where you are.”

  No answer. Just static. “I have to go,” Mandy finally answered, her words were whispered but rushed together. “I’ll call you when I can.”

  “Wait—” But Kelly was talking to herself because her sister had already ended the call. “Mandy!” she shouted into the phone.

  A hoarse sob tore from Kelly’s mouth, and she sagged against him. “We have to find her.”

  “Gabriel should have the phone trace done in a few minutes.” Jameson hoped so anyway, and maybe his brother would be able to pinpoint Mandy’s exact location.

  “We should just start driving,” Kelly insisted. “We could head toward San Antonio—”

  “No.” This wasn’t going to be an easy thing to tell her, nor an easy thing for Kelly to hear, and he slipped his arm around her. “All of this could be a trap to get to you.”

  She dropped her head on his shoulder, but just as quickly, it came back up, and she stared at him. “You don’t think my sister is the one after me?”

  “No.” He didn’t know of any reason why Mandy would do that. Of course, there was plenty about this investigation that he didn’t know. “But the kidnappers could have allowed her to escape so they could use her to draw you out.”

  “Why would they have shot her then?” she asked.

  Good question, and Jameson had some bad answers. “Maybe she wasn’t shot. They could have told her to say that.”

  Kelly was shaking her head before he even finished. “I might not remember Mandy, but she’s my sister.”

  “Siblings do bad things to each other all the time.” And Jameson wished he’d toned that down some. Still, it was true. “Think about it. Mandy called the Blue River emergency number. She must have known you were here. And how would she have known that if she didn’t learn about it from the kidnappers?”

  He watched as she processed that, and her mouth started to tremble. The tears came back to her eyes. Tears that tugged at him almost as much as this blasted attraction between them. Jameson didn’t push her away, but it was something he should have done. Because he found himself brushing a kiss on her forehead. Definitely way too cozy and intimate, considering there was no way he wanted to go another emotional round with Kelly.

  “It doesn’t mean Mandy wants to hurt you,” he added. He pulled b
ack, meeting her eye to eye. “In those memory fragments, you’re not remembering anything about how Mandy is involved in this, are you?”

  “No.” She blinked back tears and wiped away the one that had spilled down her cheek. “But you’re wondering why she said what she did. You told me if anything went wrong that you’d help me.”

  Bingo. “There must have been some kind of plan. One that clearly involved her. One that had the possibility for danger if there was something that could go wrong.”

  She nodded. “Maybe something to do with Boyer. Probably to do with his child.” Kelly looked away from him. “I keep seeing glimpses of a baby, and if I took her... God, Jameson. She could be in danger, too.”

  Yeah, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. Kelly could be charged with kidnapping and sent to jail. But if Boyer wanted revenge, he could kill her long before she made it behind bars.

  His phone rang, causing her to gasp and reach for it. Probably because Kelly thought it was her sister. But it was Gabriel’s name on the screen. Jameson jabbed the answer button as fast as he could and put the call on speaker.

  “No trace on Mandy’s call,” Gabriel said right away. “It was a burner.”

  Jameson tried not to let his expression show that it was a devastating blow. That’s because it hit Kelly as hard as he figured it would. This time, though, she didn’t lean on him. She groped behind her to find the chair and dropped down into it. She buried her face in her hands and was no doubt crying again.

  “Mandy did tell the dispatcher that she’d put the phone on silent because she didn’t want her kidnappers to hear the ringing. That way, if you do call her back, at least the men after her won’t be able to hear it.”

  That was a good precaution to take. One he was surprised that Mandy would remember considering she was on the run.

  “Mandy thought she was outside of San Antonio,” Jameson explained to his brother. “She said two men had been holding her in a warehouse. She was near a road.”

  “I’ll give all of this to SAPD so they can start using traffic cameras to try to locate her. Just hang tight for now,” Gabriel added before he ended the call.

  Hanging tight was easier said than done. The moment Jameson put his phone away, Kelly got up and started to pace. She groaned softly, pushed her hair away from her face. And winced again. This time, though, it wasn’t from hearing her sister. It was almost certainly because she’d brushed her fingers over her injury, and she was in pain.

  “You could take some meds,” he reminded her.

  Kelly waved that off and kept pacing. “I have to try to help her,” she said. “I can’t just wait around here while something bad happens to Mandy.”

  Apparently the bad had already happened, but Jameson kept that to himself. He also continued to keep watch out the window. He’d alerted the ranch hands that there could be some trouble, but Jameson wanted to make sure none of those hired guns got anywhere on Beckett land, much less close enough to his house to fire some shots.

  “Mandy and I must’ve planned something.” Kelly seemed to be talking to herself now. Probably trying to work it out of her head. “She didn’t know anything about that note I was carrying, the one that said I should kill you.”

  “No,” Jameson agreed. “But maybe your plan didn’t involve me. Not directly anyway. But that could have changed when the kidnappers took Mandy. You were obviously heading either here or Blue River when those two men attacked you.”

  And that led him right back to August, not Boyer. Because as far as Jameson knew, Boyer didn’t have a reason to want him dead. He couldn’t say the same for August. He really did need to get the man back in for questioning, and he could use the financial paper trail to do that. Of course, he’d interrogated August plenty of times and had rarely learned anything useful.

  Well, except for August handing over Boyer on a silver platter by connecting the agent’s missing daughter to Kelly. In this case, though, August might not have been blowing smoke.

  “Tell me about the baby you’ve been recalling,” he said. He didn’t expect much, but maybe if he got Kelly’s mind on something else, it would keep her from bolting for the door—something she looked as if she wanted to do.

  She gave a heavy sigh. “Dark hair. Definitely a little girl because she’s wearing a dress and smiling. Not a newborn. She’s sitting up, in my lap, I think. In someone’s lap anyway.” Kelly squinted as if trying to give him more, but then she shook her head. “Sorry. That’s all.”

  Definitely not much, but it was a good start. “Just keep focusing on it. If you don’t have your memory back soon, I can get a sketch artist. That way, we can maybe do an age progression of photos of Boyer’s daughter and see if they match.”

  “There are photos?” she asked.

  “Yes. Ones taken shortly after she was born.” And he wanted to kick himself for not showing them to her sooner. “I found them last night when I was looking into Boyer’s personal life and his recent investigations.” He tipped his head to the laptop. “I’m pretty sure I left the tab with the photos open.”

  Kelly hurried there while he stayed at the window, and Jameson volleyed glances between her and the road. Even though he couldn’t see the computer screen, he knew the exact moment Kelly spotted them because she held her breath and leaned in closer to study them.

  Jameson realized he was holding his breath, too. A lot was riding on whether or not she recognized that baby.

  “I don’t know,” Kelly said several moments later. “The baby in my memory is older so I can’t tell if the features are the same or not.”

  Jameson took out his phone again to text a Ranger friend about getting access to some age progression software, but before he could do that, he got a call from Gabriel. Kelly must have known it was important, and she went back to him.

  “It’s Mandy again,” Gabriel explained. “She won’t talk to me and is insisting on speaking to her sister. I’m transferring the call to you now.”

  As with the other call, it took Mandy several seconds to come onto the line. “I got away from them,” she immediately said in a hoarse whisper. “But I don’t know how soon they’ll find me again.”

  “Where are you now?” Jameson asked.

  “Put Kelly on the line,” Mandy insisted.

  “I’m here,” Kelly assured her.

  “Good. Because I doubt I’ll have long to talk so listen carefully. I’m hiding in a warehouse. There’s no one here, but there are some boxes that say Carswell Shipping. I think that’s the name of the place. I need you to come and get me, but don’t call the cops.”

  Jameson had been about to text Gabriel with that info, but he stopped. “Why no cops?”

  “Because I think the kidnappers have cop friends. Or hell, they could be cops themselves. Definitely some kind of law enforcement connections. I can tell that from the snatches of their conversations I’ve been able to overhear.”

  Jameson wanted to know more about those conversations, wanted to know more about a lot of things, but he would trust Mandy on this. For now.

  “Gabriel’s not on any kidnapper’s payroll. Nor are his deputies,” Jameson told her. “They can come and get you.”

  “No. I want Kelly and you. Only the two of you. I don’t trust anyone but my sister.”

  “That can’t happen,” Jameson said at the exact moment when Kelly said, “We’ll get there as fast as we can.”

  “Good.” He could hear the relief in Mandy’s voice. “Please hurry.”

  There was no way Jameson was going to agree to what Kelly had just assured her sister. “Mandy, someone’s trying to kill Kelly. It’s not safe for her to be at some warehouse looking for you. Especially when that might not even be the name of the place.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry. So sorry,” Mandy repeated. It sounded as if she was crying now. “But please, just come.”

&n
bsp; Jameson shook his head when Kelly opened her mouth. No doubt to assure her sister they were on the way. He even took hold of Kelly’s arm to make certain she didn’t grab his keys and make a run for it.

  “I’ll come to you,” Jameson finally said to Mandy, “but I’m leaving Kelly where it’s safe.” Which in this case would be the sheriff’s office. No way would Jameson tell Mandy that, though.

  “No, bring Kelly. You have to bring her. I won’t trust anyone unless she’s with them. And if you don’t bring her, I’ll just keep running.”

  Then Jameson heard something he didn’t want to hear.

  “Oh, God, they found me,” Mandy whispered.

  And that whisper was followed by the sound of gunfire.

  Chapter Eight

  “This is a mistake,” Jameson said. He’d been repeating a variation of that since Mandy’s second phone call.

  Kelly figured he was right. It was a mistake, but she didn’t have a choice. Just as Jameson hadn’t had a choice to bring her along. Of course, he hadn’t done it willingly, but she’d finally convinced him that one way or another she was going to get to her sister.

  Apparently, she’d promised her sister that she would help her if anything went wrong. And something had. Now it was up to Kelly to try to make that right.

  If that was possible.

  She would hear the sound of that gunshot for the rest of her life. It had cut her to the bone. Since just thinking about it nearly caused a panic attack, Kelly reminded herself that Mandy could have gotten away from the men. After all, she’d managed to escape from them once, so perhaps she had been able to do it again.

  “Mandy wouldn’t have met with you if I hadn’t been with you,” Kelly pointed out to Jameson.

  It also was a repeat, and they’d been hashing out the same argument since leaving for the Carswell Shipping warehouse on the outskirts of San Antonio. Not a long trip. Less than forty-five minutes, but each mile seemed like an eternity.

  They hadn’t followed Mandy’s orders to a T, though. Yes, Kelly was with Jameson in a cruiser. Not alone. Cameron was driving it, and behind them was Gabriel and another deputy, Susan Bowie, in an unmarked car.