Ranger Guardian

by Angi Morgan

  “No, sir. He had...obligations today.” She hoped those obligations would allow him to call her soon.

  “I wanted to introduce you to Agent Therese Ortis. She’ll be taking over the Marrone interrogation. It seems your local complaints have backed into her ongoing investigation.”

  “Of Public Exposure?”

  “Yes,” Agent Ortis said. She stood at the other end of the room, arms crossed, mainly looking into a two-way mirror. “I can’t go into many details. Sorry about that. I know how frustrating it can be.”

  Kendall had known from the beginning that the company she’d been investigating had ulterior motives. She just hadn’t been able to connect anything except the local dots.

  “We wanted you to know that Marrone was released late last night. His lawyer argued it was an illegal stop.” The second-in-command of the Dallas field office took a step to the door.

  “What about the parole violation? Didn’t we have him on that?” She looked from one agent to the other. “This would be one of those things I can’t know?”

  “You did a good job,” Agent Ortis acknowledged.

  “Then why do I feel like I’m being punished?” She shook their hands. “Am I off the case?” she asked.

  “Therese might have additional—”

  “Actually, I’d like to work with Special Agent Barlow—that is, with your permission—wherever I can.” She crossed the room with her hand extended. “There are some things I won’t be able to fill you in on. At least not yet.”

  “Thank you. I’d be glad to help.” Her phone buzzed in her jacket pocket. “Is that all, sir?”

  He nodded, and she left the room to answer. She returned to her desk and redialed Slate Thompson.

  “Kendall?”

  Finally. “I’ve been leaving messages everywhere. I need to talk—”

  “Hey, yeah, about that. I got your messages and called the ranch. Mom took a look and found Stardust, Skylar Dawn’s pony. She returned to the paddock. Alone. Then Jupitar ran up. I’m on my way there now. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”

  It all happened in slow motion.

  Kendall looked up to see agents running toward her. She hadn’t realized she’d dropped to her knees, taking a stack of files to the floor with her.

  Skylar Dawn was gone or hurt? Where was Heath? She’d known something was wrong. She couldn’t speak. Her throat seemed to be connected to every part of her body and it was all shutting down, vital organ by vital organ. Someone helped her to stand, and she felt a chair at the back of her knees.

  Voices talked over one another. Someone called for assistance. The room filled with men and women. All the dark suits seemed to fade to black.

  Kendall took it all in, struggling to think. She stared at her colleagues. None of them could really help. She couldn’t keep her daughter safe. Heath might be hurt.

  “What happened?” Jerry asked. “Someone call a paramedic.”

  “Something’s wrong. What if they took Skylar Dawn? Heath’s... I don’t know what’s happened and I have a terrible feeling.”

  “Someone find out what she’s talking about. And where the hell are the paramedics?”

  “I’m not hurt. I have to get to the ranch.” She shoved herself to her feet, rolling the chair backward, hitting someone who stood behind her.

  “Kendall, you aren’t making sense,” someone said. She didn’t know who, and didn’t have time to figure it out.

  She moved through a throng of agents, all clueless how to help. She did an about-face. “I need my Glock.” She ran back to her desk and slid her weapon into its holster.

  “You aren’t going anywhere alone. I’ll drive you. That’s not a question. You aren’t leaving without me.” Jerry took her elbow and guided her from the building.

  Again, time passed at a snail’s pace. Couldn’t Jerry drive faster?

  Where was the fast-forward button? It had been only a blink of an eye since her daughter was born. One little skip, and now they were planning her fourth birthday party. She needed time to move at the same rate now.

  Her phone vibrated in her pocket. “Heath?”

  “It’s me,” Slate said. “Heath’s unconscious. We’ve called for an ambulance.”

  “And Skylar Dawn?”

  “She’s not here.”

  “Are you arranging a search party?”

  “Kendall, Heath was attacked. He’s really bad off. We found tire tracks.”

  “Are you saying my daughter was kidnapped?”

  There was a long pause. Jerry flipped the lights to warn cars to get out of the way.

  “I’m on my way.”

  * * *

  SITTING ON THE PORCH, Heath listened as Slate tried to issue orders indoors. Jerry Fisher and Major Clements were arguing. Both wanted their respective agencies to be in charge of the investigation. Law enforcement officers searched the area, but they wouldn’t find anything. He’d told them that.

  Skylar Dawn had been kidnapped by Public Exposure. No doubt in his mind about that. Two hours had passed, and still no word. Drained, his body ran on autopilot, sipping a cup of coffee Mama Thompson had put in his hands.

  The idea that someone would hurt his daughter kept replaying in his mind, caught on an endless repeating loop. He couldn’t stop it.

  “Yes, Ranger Murray is conscious, but the kidnappers wore masks. He said there were six men.” Slate was speaking to someone in the living room.

  Heath had lost track. Everyone was involved. Local PD, Rangers, Public Safety, FBI Dallas and surrounding departments—they were holding off on issuing an Amber Alert. And he sat there...doing nothing except holding a cup of coffee. He couldn’t bring himself to even drink.

  “The paramedics said you should go to the hospital, son.” Slate’s dad laid a kind, gentle hand on his shoulder.

  “I’m good.”

  “You need X-rays. What if you’ve punctured a lung or something? What good will you be to your little girl then?”

  Heath took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. His eyes met Kendall’s. “Nope. I’m good.”

  He hadn’t really spoken to Kendall. He hadn’t told her he was sorry for not protecting Skylar Dawn. He took a sip. The breeze across the porch was cool today.

  “Did someone find her hat?” he asked. The words came out, but he thought they sounded weird. Maybe it was a weird thing to worry about. “She’s going to want her hat.”

  Kendall moved to sit next to him. “Her hat is with the little bit of evidence they found.”

  “I told all of them they didn’t leave anything.”

  “They took seven sets of footprints, the ATV tire tracks. But nothing that will point us in the right direction.”

  “No one knew I was here, Kendall. I should have been working with you. Slate and his parents saw me this morning. That’s it. I asked them not to mention us if you called. Sorry about that.”

  She shook her head.

  “Why do you think it was Public Exposure?” Kendall’s voice dropped to just above a whisper.

  “It’s logical after this week. They were organized. They listened to one guy. We know something’s happening in their organization. You have the flash drive. They obviously don’t want you to discover what’s on it. Then they kidnap our daughter.”

  A cell phone rang. From across the porch, they heard Slate answer. “Ranger Thompson.”

  Slate ran over to them. “It’s the kidnapper. He’ll only talk to Heath. No speaker.”

  The bastard had his daughter. He wanted to curse, rant, say a hundred things, but he kept his mouth shut. Slate placed the phone in his hand.

  “Ranger Murray?”

  “I’m here. What do you want?”

  “Your daughter or your wife. You choose.”

  During the long pause that followed, Heat
h wondered if the man had hung up. “You must choose, Ranger. Your daughter? Or your wife? Which will it be? I’ll telephone again.”

  “Wait! Is Skylar—” The call disconnected. “Dammit!”

  “What? What did he... Is she okay? Did she say anything?” Kendall stayed next to him.

  Others gathered close. He wanted to tell Kendall that everything would be all right, but he didn’t know if it was true. He desperately clung to whatever courage he had left. Courage that kept him from collapsing like a desperate father, while Kendall held it all together. Another mother would have fallen apart long before now.

  “He wants me to choose between you and Skylar Dawn.”

  “There’s no choice.” Her gaze held his.

  “You’re damn right! I can’t choose. I won’t.”

  Kendall cupped his face. “I’m not asking you to. I already have. We’re doing everything exactly as he says. We have to if we want to see Skylar Dawn again. She needs to be safe.”

  Half of him knew she meant it. The other half of him couldn’t believe her logical, matter-of-fact response. None of him believed she would’ve asked such a thing of him.

  “Right. How do we convince them?” He nodded toward the men scattered all over the Thompsons’ lawn.

  “Tell me again what he said. Word for word.”

  * * *

  HEATH SAT ON the porch and repeated the short phone call word for word. Then he sat in the living room and repeated it. Then he repeated the conversation in the dining room. He answered all the questions they asked with an “I don’t know.” He couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed Kendall’s hand, leaning on her a bit more than his masculinity preferred.

  They left the porch and the crowds. Kendall released his hand and draped his arm around her neck.

  “Thanks. Not keeping my feet under me is kind of embarrassing.”

  People kept reminding him there’d been six men and a gun pointed at his daughter. Hearing it over and over didn’t help.

  “Where are we heading?” she asked.

  “The barn. I don’t think anyone’s unsaddled Jupitar and Stardust.”

  “Okay.” She didn’t try to change his mind, but she did wrap her arm around his hip and take more of his weight.

  They walked together and he gained more strength. It was better than sitting around, listening to the different law enforcement agencies argue about who was in charge. Bottom line—he and Kendall would decide how to move forward. Skylar Dawn was their little girl.

  “It’s going to be hard to fight the bad guys in my current physical condition.”

  She released him to lean on the corral rail, then pointed to his horses at the water trough. “I don’t think you can unsaddle, feed and rub down both horses. But I bet Mr. Thompson would care for them.”

  “I’ll ask him.” He reached for his cell. “Dammit, they destroyed my phone. It’s somewhere in the neighbor’s field, or collected for evidence.”

  “Sorry, the FBI took mine to trace any possible incoming calls.”

  “You know that I’m... It was my fault. I’m the one who’s sorry.” He cupped her face with his hands, staring into the sadness in her eyes. “If only I hadn’t brought her here. There just wasn’t anything I could do when they showed up.”

  She wrapped her hands around his wrists, holding him where he was. “I know. We all know. My God, Heath, there were six of them. You’re lucky to be alive.”

  “If anything happens to her...”

  “You heard what the kidnappers said. They wouldn’t have said anything about me unless I’m the one they really want.” She cupped his cheeks like he still held hers. “Promise me you’ll go after Skylar Dawn. You do whatever they tell you to do and find her.”

  She looked at him expectantly. He nodded. The promise just wouldn’t come. He’d find a way. He had to.

  “Do you hear that?” he asked.

  “It sounds like a cell phone. Wait here.”

  Kendall ran into the barn. Then grabbed Stardust, leading her inside. He waited. The barn had been cleared by three agencies. Nothing would harm her there. It was easier than attempting to catch up. Physically, he felt better than he had two hours ago, but he needed time to recover—something they didn’t have much of.

  “Heath!” she called.

  He limped his way through the door and heard the cell phone. It was tucked under the edge of Skylar Dawn’s saddle.

  “There are clear bags in the tack room.” He pointed.

  “Do you think it’s them?” She ran, shouting over her shoulder.

  “It has to be. None of the men clearing the scene would have left their cell.”

  Once back, she carefully slid the phone from the pony as he lifted the saddle.

  “We have a choice here, Heath. We answer it and move forward, possibly on our own. Or we let the FBI set up the trace and answer it the next time it rings. And to be honest...I don’t know which is the best way to go.”

  “Does it say there are any missed calls?”

  “Not that I can see, but that doesn’t mean anything, Heath. It might not be programmed to show that. How could all those agents have missed this?”

  The phone stopped ringing. He shrugged while looking into the corners of the barn. He couldn’t see anything. There were too many places to look for hidden cameras. But he knew.

  “They’re watching us, Kendall. I can feel it. They were here.” He pointed to his feet. “Probably here in the barn. They waited for one of us to come here to the barn to call.”

  “You can’t be sure—”

  The phone rang again. He stretched for the plastic-covered cell.

  She met his hand with her own, reaching across Stardust. “That was the FBI agent talking. Kendall Barlow trusts you.” She scooted the ringing phone out of the plastic enough to push the green answer button and then speaker.

  “It’s about time,” the same voice from earlier said. “I’ve got a couple of errands for you. There won’t be another call, so you better remember. You with me?”

  “Yes,” they both answered.

  “There are no exceptions. Keep this phone. I’ll call you tonight to give you further instructions. You’ll need a black suit and a bright red dress. No exceptions. There’s a wedding reception at the Anatole Hotel tonight. Be there.”

  The phone went dead, and they stared at each other.

  “They’ll never let us do this on our own.”

  “This guy didn’t even ask us not to involve the cops.” As inconspicuously as possible, he looked around the barn again.

  “It would be impossible to assume we wouldn’t find a way.”

  “Kendall, he didn’t ask for anything.”

  “Except me.”

  The grip they both had on each other’s hand was rock solid. They hadn’t been unified in a long time, but there wasn’t any question they were now. They’d follow the kidnapper’s instructions. They’d get their little girl back.

  And somehow, he’d save Kendall, too.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Fancy red dress? Check. Black suit, white dress shirt? Check. Boots for the suit? On Heath’s feet. Small clutch purse with the Cherry Bomb lipstick she’d bought ages ago to match the dress? Check.

  Jeans and T-shirts for them both...just in case. And a change of clothes for her daughter. Red high heels?

  “Mother, where are my red high heels?” In a flash, she remembered that Heath had given those to Company B to attach a tracker. “Never mind.”

  Everything was beside their bag. Just like it was supposed to be. She went over the list a second time, unable to accept that it was complete. It was a simple list and a simple task. Her mother had pulled everything together and laid it out on the end of Kendall’s bed.

  Their bed—hers and Heath’s.

  In spite of checkin
g the list twice—make that three times—she had the nagging feeling that she had forgotten something.

  “You’re forgetting your jewelry,” her mother said, coming up behind her and sniffing into her tissue. “You really shouldn’t go to a wedding without any jewelry. It will look odd.”

  “That’s it.” She removed her wedding rings and walked to her vanity to put them away.

  “I meant that you can’t attend an evening wedding without jewelry, darling. Not to take your rings off.”

  “I don’t want to lose them.”

  She dropped her ring set on the porcelain hand Skylar Dawn had given to her. Or, more accurately, Heath had given it to her for her first Mother’s Day gift.

  “Would they do that? They’d not only kidnap your daughter, they’d steal your wedding rings?”

  “I don’t know what they’ll do, Mother. This is a first for me, too.”

  Her mother gathered the extra clothes she’d set out, placing them in a garment bag. Kendall couldn’t remember owning one. Taking a step toward the door she stopped herself. She’d been heading to Skylar Dawn’s room again.

  It was silly how long she’d just sat there, staring at the half-built Lego castle. She wanted to finish it for her daughter. But they were working on it together. She couldn’t touch a piece without Skylar Dawn telling her where it went. That was the rule.

  Kendall returned to her vanity instead and reapplied her eye makeup. It was getting close to the time Heath’s partner would pick them up. She should go check on him. But twenty minutes ago, he’d drifted fitfully off to sleep. Obviously still in pain, but refusing to take anything that would impair his judgment.

  Her mother watched from the doorway of the bathroom. She was sighing a lot, a cue that she wanted to say something.

  “Thanks for staying here, Mother. There will be agents outside. You’ll be perfectly safe.”

  “I’m not worried about that.” She lifted a finger, indicating that Kendall should join her in the bedroom.

  A sinking feeling hit between her shoulders. She wouldn’t like what her mother was about to say. “Are you sure this can’t wait, Mother?”

  “You’ve got plenty of time, I think. Heath isn’t awake yet.”