Twelve-Gauge Guardian

by B. J Daniels

  She realized it would have been folly to have tried to attack him. A mistake that would have gotten her killed—if she was lucky. She hated to think what he had planned for her.

  Carefully she stepped out of the box into the pitch blackness. She recalled where the door to the room was and moved cautiously toward it. Beyond that was the bottom of the stairs. She was halfway up the stairs when she heard the sound of footsteps coming back across the floor toward the top of the stairs.

  One of them was coming back.

  LARA WONDERED WHAT THE woman was going to do with the knife. She stared at the shiny blade in the glow of the flashlight beam, hypnotized.

  A whisper of a sound behind her new mommy with the knife made her look toward the darkness. She caught movement and for just a moment she thought it was the man.

  All hope that he’d brought her food and something to drink evaporated as she saw that it was another woman and the only thing she had in her hand was a gun. The second woman put her finger to her lips for Lara to be quiet.

  Lara was always quiet. She brought her focus back to the knife. Her new mommy had a grip on her wrist, her nails biting into her flesh, but Lara didn’t cry out. She bit back on the pain the same way she did the fear.

  Her stomach growled and her throat was so dry she could barely swallow. She felt dizzy and weak and just standing took all her energy.

  Lara saw that the other woman was dressed in a uniform. The woman again touched her fingers to her lips and Lara nodded and felt tears fill her eyes. She wondered if she should tell her new mommy.

  As if sensing something wrong, her new mommy looked up at her. “Don’t you dare start blubbering.”

  Lara hurriedly shook her head and made a swipe at her tears with her dirty hand.

  But the tears wouldn’t stop. It was as if a dam had broken. Her body began to tremble, then shudder with the sobs.

  “I told you—”

  The slap came as no surprise to Lara. It rang out in the empty house like a gunshot as she tried desperately to quit crying, knowing that what was coming next would be much worse.

  CORDELL SAW THE FLICKER of light through one of the glassless windows of the old house ahead. He slowed to catch his breath and scope out the scene.

  There was a car and a pickup parked outside. As far as he could tell that meant that only Bill Beaumont and Orville Cline were inside the house.

  Beside the car, he caught a small flash of light, then something glowed for a moment in the darkness. The smell of cigarette smoke drifted on the night breeze. Orville Cline leaned against the side of the car waiting.

  Cordell moved cautiously around the other side of the house, the side by the river. No light now shone in the house. Had Bill come back out? Nearing the corner of the building, he peered around it.

  Orville was still smoking over by his car. No one else was in sight. That had to mean Bill was still inside the house. With Raine and Lara?

  Cordell backtracked to the first large glassless window opening and hoisted himself up onto the sill. He knew he would be a perfect target against the moonlit night and quickly lowered himself to the floor as soundlessly as possible.

  The worn floorboards creaked under his weight as he took a step, then another as his eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the old abandoned house. As he moved deeper into the house, he saw light coming up from a stairway that led down to what must have been a partial basement.

  That was where Raine and Lara had to be. The thought sent a shaft of fear through him as there was no sound coming from down there except for the heavy tread on the stairs.

  Weapon ready, he moved toward the stair opening.

  The board under his boot heel creaked loudly and he froze as a male voice yelled up from below, “I told you to wait. I just need to take care of something and then we’ll go.”

  A sound outside, then the flicker of a flashlight beam as it headed this way. Cordell had a split second to make the decision whether to fire, kill Orville and then take care of Bill Beaumont in the basement.

  He couldn’t risk what Beaumont would do to Lara and Raine before he could get to them. He ducked around the corner into a small room as Orville Cline entered the house.

  IN THE GLOW OF LANTERN LIGHT, McCall edged up behind Adele Beaumont. She was so filled with disgust that her heart was pounding. Lara huddled in the corner of the dirt floor, a filthy hand covering the red cheek that Adele had slapped.

  Adele seemed to be alone. McCall made sure before she stepped closer. That was when she noticed the knife in the other woman’s hand.

  The girl had seen her and burst into tears no doubt with relief.

  Just the sight of the girl huddled there naked, shivering from cold and fear, broke McCall’s heart. She’d known Adele and Bill Beaumont, not well, but had seen them around for years. How could they do something like this?

  She had never felt such fury. It was all she could do not to rush at the woman. She wanted to hurt her like she’d hurt Lara.

  Timing it, McCall shoved the barrel of the pistol into Adele’s back and knocked the knife out of the woman’s hand.

  “You touch that child again and I will blow your brains out,” McCall said through gritted teeth.

  She felt Adele freeze, then begin to cry. “I was trying to save her. I—”

  McCall started to call in her location when Adele made a lunge for the knife.

  She swung the gun, catching Adele across the side of the face. She howled as she fell over onto the dirt.

  “Are you crazy?” Adele screamed. “I was trying to rescue—”

  “Get up and take off your jacket.”

  “What?” Anger flared in Adele’s gaze.

  “Take off your jacket and give it to the girl. Now!”

  Adele shoved herself up into a sitting position, glaring angrily. “I will sue the sheriff’s department for every thing it’s worth. You have no idea what you’ve done.

  Your career is over. I will destroy you.”

  “Shut up.” McCall snatched the jacket from Adele’s fingers and tossed it to Lara. “Put that on, sweetie. Everything is going to be all right now.”

  “Where are this child’s clothes?” she demanded of Adele, the weapon aimed at her heart.

  “You’re making a huge mistake, Sheriff,” Adele said with venom. “You will live to regret this.”

  McCall looked down at her and felt her finger caress the trigger of the pistol. Why waste taxpayers’ money with a trial or letting this woman live for years in prison or a mental hospital? What if Adele pulled strings, hired the best lawyer money could buy and got out one day to do this again?

  She glanced over at Lara, who’d pulled on the jacket.

  “It’s going to be all right.” McCall smiled over at the girl, keeping an eye on Adele, the gun pointed at the woman’s heart.

  Lara took a shuddering breath and nodded, not looking all that sure.

  McCall eased her finger off the trigger. It was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. And she again started to make the call for backup.

  Adele came flying at her with a piece of broken chair leg McCall now remembered seeing nearby. The blow knocked the gun from McCall’s hand. It skittered across the dirt floor out of her reach.

  Adele hit her again, knocking her to the floor. McCall got an arm up to ward off the next blow, but Adele was relentless. As McCall lunged for her gun, she saw Adele scoop up the knife from the floor.

  McCall snatched up her weapon and swung around but too late. Adele had Lara and was holding the knife to her throat.

  “Drop the gun, Sheriff, or you know what I’ll do to this precious little girl, don’t you?”

  IN THE DARKNESS, Raine backed down the stairs as quickly as possible as a flashlight beam played on the steps above her. She’d just reached the bottom when she heard Bill stop, turn back and yell at Orville.

  Like Bill, she’d heard the other set of footfalls on the wooden floor overhead. She’d hoped that it was Orville being
impatient enough that Bill wouldn’t come back down. Why was he anyway?

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” It was Orville. She heard him come storming into the house.

  Her mind raced. The other footfalls couldn’t have been him then.

  Bill had stopped at the top of the stairs. “I told you to wait out by the car.”

  “What do you think I was doing? Then I hear you yelling…”

  Raine backed up, stumbled into something that teetered and threatened to topple over. She spun around and grabbed for a small wooden crate that someone had stood on end. She could barely make it out in what little light spilled down from the stairs from Bill’s flashlight.

  But as her hand closed on it and she heard the footsteps lumbering the rest of the way down the stairs, she hefted it up and pressed her back to the wall. There wasn’t time to close the lid on the box, which meant that within just a few seconds Bill would shine his flashlight beam into the box and realize she was gone.

  Not gone. Since there was no way she’d had time to leave this room. Which meant—

  The flashlight beam flicked over the box.

  “What the hell?!” Bill cried.

  Behind him, Orville said, “What is it?”

  Raine stepped around the edge of the wall and swung the crate with all her strength.

  The sound of the wood splintering as it connected with her abductor’s face couldn’t drown out his scream. It surprised her that she took no pleasure in the sound.

  His flashlight fell to the floor, the light cutting a swath through the empty room toward the far wall. As he reached for her, Raine kicked out at him, catching him in the knee.

  He slammed into the wall next to him as the knee gave way.

  But before she could strike again, she saw the gun and heard the click as he snapped off the safety and aimed the barrel at her heart.

  “I should have killed you sixteen years ago.”

  CORDELL MOVED FAST. He had no idea what was happening down in the basement, but something was definitely happening.

  He came up behind Orville Cline swiftly and jammed the gun into his back. “Downstairs,” he ordered, forcing Orville ahead of him.

  The basement was a partial one just as Cordell had thought. The ceiling was low, the air dank, the space dark and claustrophobic. He’d feared that the moment they reached the basement, Bill Beaumont would see them.

  But Cordell couldn’t take the chance that Beaumont would hurt Raine and Lara if he waited. He kept the gun in Orville Cline’s back as he quickly assessed the situation.

  No Lara. And Beaumont was holding a gun on Raine.

  “Got a problem here,” Orville said.

  “Well, I’m about to end this problem,” Beaumont said.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Cordell said.

  Beaumont swung around in surprise, leading with the barrel of his gun. He got off a shot before Raine attacked him. That shot caught Orville Cline in the chest. He let out a grunt and started to fall forward.

  Cordell shoved him out of the way, Orville crashed through an open doorway and into a coffinlike box, as Cordell scrambled to get to Raine. Raine and Beaumont were on the floor, fighting over Beaumont’s gun.

  Just as Cordell grabbed for the gun, Beaumont pulled the trigger. Fire shot through Cordell’s arm. Then he was knocked back, his gun wrested from him, and Beaumont had an arm locked around Raine’s throat and the gun pointed at Cordell’s head.

  “Emily and I are leaving,” Beaumont said, sounding winded. “If you follow us, I will kill her.”

  Cordell looked into Raine’s eyes. One of them had started to swell where Beaumont must have hit her.

  “Do as he says,” Raine said. “I’ll be all right.” She was looking at his bleeding arm with concern.

  “Listen to her. Emily was always the smart one,”

  Beaumont said. “The only one who got away.”

  Cordell watched him drag Raine up the stairs, the gun to her temple. He didn’t dare try to stop Beaumont.

  Just as Beaumont reached the top, he swung the gun barrel away from Raine’s temple and fired back down the stairs. Cordell dove, but not fast enough.

  BILL MADE RAINE DRIVE, all the time holding the gun on her. She’d known when he hadn’t killed her the moment they stepped out of the old house that he was taking her to where he’d hidden Lara.

  She thought she would die at just the thought of Cordell lying, bleeding in that basement. She’d called his name as she was being dragged out of the house, the gun again to her head, but Cordell hadn’t answered.

  He’s not dead. She would know if he was, she would feel it.

  Of course, he hadn’t answered when she’d called his name because Bill might have gone back to finish him off.

  Think of Lara. Once Lara was safe…

  As she drove down to the highway and, following his instructions, turned onto it, Bill pulled out his cell phone. She could hear the phone ringing. Once, twice, three times before it was finally answered.

  “I need you to meet me. You know where.” He swore. “You’re what?” He swore again and barked into the phone, “Damn it, Adele. Don’t do anything until I get there. We’re on our way.” He snapped the phone shut and glared over at her. “This is all your fault.”

  Did he really believe that? Apparently so. She wanted to argue the fact, but she feared he’d lose his temper and kill her beside the road. He’d already gotten in a few punches. She could feel her left eye threatening to swell shut and her ribs hurt where he’d gotten her with an elbow.

  Bill looked worse than she did, she thought. His face was scratched and bleeding when the slats of the crate had connected with it. His nose looked broken. He kept wiping it with his sleeve, glaring at her since it must have hurt.

  Raine drove down the deserted highway, trying to focus only on saving Lara and getting back to that house by the river. Hang in, Cordell. It was the wee hours of the morning and there didn’t seem to be another soul alive in the entire world.

  As she drove, though, Raine memorized the way so she could return as soon as Lara was safe.

  But Bill’s phone call troubled her. The woman he’d called Adele was obviously with Lara—just as Raine had suspected. So why had Bill been surprised by that?

  Because if Cordell hadn’t shown up when he did, Bill would be taking Orville Cline to Lara now. Adele wasn’t supposed to be there. Was it possible she had gone there to free the girl?

  “So is Adele your wife?” she asked.

  He didn’t answer for a moment and she was thinking of asking another question when he said, “Thirty-six years of marital bliss.”

  Raine shot him a look to see if he was serious. She must have looked surprise to find that he seemed to be because he demanded, “What?”

  “I just thought you must not be happy in your marriage if you have to steal little girls and—”

  “I don’t molest them,” he snapped. “What do you think I am?”

  She thought he really didn’t want to go there. She checked her words. “Then I guess I don’t understand why you—”

  “No, you don’t understand. I love children. I only take the ones who need me.” He swore, seeing that she still wasn’t getting it. “I wanted children but Adele couldn’t have any. I didn’t want someone else’s child so adoption was out of the question.”

  “So you pick up children to satisfy your temporary need for a child.” Raine couldn’t believe what a sick bastard he was.

  “You make it sound dirty,” he snapped. “But it’s not. I’m good to them. I show them probably the only love they get. It’s not my fault that it is only for a short time. They become demanding after a while. They no longer appreciate what I’ve done for them. They want to go home.” His tone had turned nasty.

  Raine stole a look and saw that he’d become angry. She didn’t dare open her mouth for fear of what she might say.

  He glanced behind them as he had several times since they’d hit the highway and mumb
led that he should have made sure that bastard was dead or at least disabled the car Orville Cline had stolen.

  Raine hadn’t dared look back. But from Bill’s satisfied expression she knew there were no headlights behind them. That, however, didn’t mean that Cordell wasn’t alive and following them at this very moment with his headlights turned off.

  She prayed that was the case because she needed it to be so. She needed to believe that Cordell was all right—because once they reached wherever Lara English was being kept, Raine knew she was going to need all the help she could get.

  Chapter Fifteen

  From the floor, the sheriff stared for a moment at the woman holding the knife to Lara English’s throat. There was a wild, inhuman look in Adele’s eyes that glowed in the lantern light.

  McCall slowly dropped her gun.

  Adele smiled. “Now don’t get up. Just kick the gun over here.”

  She did as she was ordered and kicked the gun over to Adele. McCall had left her shotgun outside against the door. She hadn’t wanted to scare Lara. She looked at the little girl. She seemed calm again. Earlier she’d cried when it looked as if she might be saved. Now she seemed to know better.

  “Lara, sweetheart,” Adele said as the pistol came to a stop at her feet. “I’m going to put you down. I want you to hand the gun to Mommy. But be really careful.”

  “Yes, Mommy,” Lara said in a robotic voice that tore out McCall’s heart—the same thing she wanted to do to Adele Beaumont.

  Lara knelt down slowly, the blade pressing against her small throat, and picked up the pistol. “Here, Mommy.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart. You are such a good girl,” Adele said, as she took the gun in her left hand. She made the exchange from the knife to the gun too quickly for McCall to do anything more than watch. The gun was now pointed at the back of Lara’s head.

  Lara gave a small brave smile.

  “Now,” Adele said, holding Lara’s arm and the gun to the child’s head, “the first thing we are going to do is walk over and take the sheriff’s pretty handcuffs. Don’t move, Sheriff. You don’t want this poor child to die, do you?”