Maverick Sheriff

by Delores Fossen

  The bullets began to pelt the truck, ripping through the glass, one of the headlights and the metal, and Cooper knew it was only a matter of time before one of the shots hit Jessa.

  Hell. That couldn’t happen. It couldn’t end like this.

  She didn’t give up and sure as heck didn’t get down on the seat. Jessa returned fire until she ran out of ammunition, and judging from what Cooper could see of her, she then began to rifle through the glove compartment for more.

  “Stay down!” Cooper yelled to her, and he started running. Toward the back of the barn.

  His best bet was to sneak up on this guy and take him out. Maybe he’d be alone, but if not, Cooper would have to deal with that, too.

  With only one headlight left on his truck, it was hard to see, but Cooper made it to the back of the barn. The doors were shut, of course. Fate wasn’t going to make this easy. But he peeked through the cracks in the wood.

  Just as the shots stopped.

  Cooper heard the movement then.

  Footsteps.

  Not near the back of the barn. But the front. He saw the doors there fly open. And Cooper knew he’d just made a huge mistake coming back here.

  Cooper started running toward his truck. Toward Jessa. But the fear slammed right into him when he spotted her. Not inside the bullet-riddled truck where he’d last spotted her. But outside, several yards away from it.

  The kidnapper was behind her and had her at gunpoint.

  * * *

  “I’M SORRY,” JESSA SAID, the fear obvious in her voice and in every part of her body. Not fear for herself, but for Cooper, her mother and her son. She hadn’t wanted it to come down to this, because the kidnapper could use her to draw out Cooper.

  Cooper gave her a glance and took cover beside the barn. He leaned out, his gaze connecting with hers. It was hard to see his expression, but she knew he was feeling the same thing that she was.

  “Please tell me that Liam is safe,” she managed to say.

  “He’s safe,” Cooper assured her, without taking his attention or aim off the man behind her.

  She still hadn’t seen her captor’s face because he’d been wearing a ski mask when he’d first come at her and dragged her from the truck. However, the mask had come off in the struggle when Jessa had managed to get out of the truck and run.

  She hadn’t gotten far before he’d caught up with her.

  “Liam’s safe for now,” the man snarled. He had something over his mouth, a bandanna, and it was muffling his voice. “It won’t stay that way if I have anything to do with it.”

  She wasn’t immune to that threat. Every word hit her like a fist, and she hated that this monster had any say in what would happen to her son.

  “You don’t need to disguise your voice any longer,” Cooper challenged him. “And you don’t need to hide behind Jessa. Let her go, and we’ll deal with this—just you and me.”

  The man didn’t say anything else, but he was moving. Not in the direction of the barn but rather back to the truck. God, was he planning on trying to use it to escape with her? A hostage could get him off the ranch. Of course, he’d try to kill Cooper and his brothers first.

  “Donovan,” Cooper spat out like profanity. He was staring right at the man and could no doubt see Donovan’s face.

  Jessa’s stomach clenched even more. If the kidnapper had been Hector, she thought she could have reasoned with him. Maybe by offering him money. But Donovan hated Cooper, and that made this attack personal. Donovan wouldn’t stop because of anything she might say.

  “Let her go,” Cooper repeated.

  “Not likely.” Donovan shoved the bandanna from his mouth. “She’s my ticket out of here. My ticket to freedom.”

  Jessa tried to elbow him in the stomach, but he curved his arm around her neck and yanked her back. He put so much pressure on her windpipe that she thought she might lose consciousness. Not good. Because she had to be able to fight if she got the chance.

  “Why the hell did you take my son?” Cooper asked. The pain was in his voice. His face. Every part of his body. He was no doubt reliving the horrible memories of losing his wife and believing his son had been lost, too.

  “This isn’t a good time for conversation.” Donovan eased up the pressure on her neck. Probably because he didn’t want to have to carry an unconscious woman. Besides, she was only of use to him if her body shielded his.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Donovan glance all around them. Yes, she was his human shield, but that wouldn’t prevent one of Cooper’s brothers from attacking him from behind. Jessa prayed that would happen before Donovan got a chance to kill Cooper.

  And Donovan would do that.

  She needed to do something to give Cooper and herself a fighting chance, so she dug in her heels when Donovan continued to drag her back toward the truck.

  “I want to know,” Cooper tossed out there, “what was going through your head two years ago when you found out Liam was alive.”

  “You were going through my head!” Donovan practically shouted. “You and Molly, and the way you treated me. You deserved to lose them both. The flood took Molly, and I got your son.”

  Cooper’s expression didn’t change, but she figured the words had to hit him like fists, too. “How did Sonya Eakins know to bring Liam to you?”

  “Why does it matter?”

  “It matters.” Cooper paused and took a deep breath. “It hurts to hear it, but I want to know.”

  “It hurts?” Donovan snarled, his tone taunting again. “Well, then, I wish I had a million details to give you. And to crush you. Sonya worked for me, briefly and off the books. She knew how much I hated you, so after she found the kid, she came to me.”

  “How did she know Liam was mine?”

  “She saw Molly’s car, recognized it.” Jessa couldn’t be sure, but she thought Donovan might be smiling. It nearly made her gag. “Go ahead and ask if Sonya could have saved Molly.”

  “Could she have saved her?” Cooper’s voice sounded as strangled as Jessa felt.

  Donovan laughed, obviously enjoying this little torture session. “No. She got there too late for that. She only found the kid. She thought I’d want to use the baby to get you to cough up lots and lots of money. But I figured that’d be too easy, and I didn’t want you to have any part of Molly.”

  Yes, definitely like fists. It crushed her, too, because she’d been part of this monster’s plan and hadn’t even known it. Jessa didn’t regret adopting Liam, but she hated the pain this had caused Cooper.

  “Now come on out,” Donovan demanded, “and take your punishment like a man.”

  “Cooper didn’t do anything to be punished,” Jessa reminded him. It only caused Donovan to jam the gun harder against her head.

  For a second, anyway.

  Then he turned the gun. Took aim at Cooper.

  And fired.

  The sound blasted through her and would have brought her to her knees if Donovan hadn’t kept a firm grip on her. It took her a few moments to realize the bullet had torn through a chunk of the barn, but it hadn’t hit Cooper. Thank God he was all right.

  For now.

  Donovan kept looking around them, kept maneuvering her to the truck. She figured he couldn’t just kill her because he’d lose his protection, so Jessa kept struggling despite the choke hold he put on her.

  “You planted evidence to make Peggy and Hector look guilty,” Cooper said, glancing around the corner again.

  Donovan fired another shot.

  Mercy, this had to stop, but the more she fought, the more Donovan fought, too. If he got her into that truck and off the ranch, he would no doubt use her to bargain with Cooper. Maybe to keep Cooper silent or to get him to obstruct justice or something.

  Either way, Donovan would kill her when he was finished with her.

  “Taking me won’t get you Liam,” Jessa reminded him. “Cooper won’t trade him for me. Nor would I want him to.”

  “I don’t need Coo
per to choose between his son and you,” Donovan insisted. “Though since he’s your lover, that would be a nice way to give the knife another twist.”

  The man was sick, along with being a sadistic killer. Cooper probably hadn’t known just how much Donovan hated him, but he certainly knew it now.

  “What about the DNA report?” Cooper shouted. When he glanced around the corner again, Donovan fired another shot at him. Each bullet ate away more of the barn and more of Cooper’s cover. “You wanted it badly enough to demand that I bring it to you.”

  “That was then and this is now. I don’t care if you have proof that Liam’s yours. Don’t care what happens to him or you. Time for me to regroup, but trust me, this isn’t over. I’ll be back to finish this.”

  She’d doubted some of the other things that Donovan had said, but Jessa didn’t doubt that last part. If he managed to escape, he would indeed kill her and then come back. For Cooper and Liam. For anyone who’d gotten in his way. And next time, Cooper might not be able to keep Liam out of this monster’s path.

  Donovan gave her a fierce jerk and climbed onto the truck seat, dragging Jessa right along with him. Despite all the glass littering the seat, he got behind the wheel and kept her positioned between Cooper and himself.

  He fired another shot at Cooper, enough to get him to duck back behind cover. Then Donovan started the engine.

  Oh, God. He was getting away.

  Jessa looked around for anything she might be able to use as a weapon. Her fingers closed around a large piece of glass from the windshield, and she brought it up to jab it in his eye.

  She didn’t get far.

  As if he’d known all along what she planned, Donovan knocked the glass away, and in the same motion he drove his elbow into her chin. He hit her so hard that Jessa not only lost her breath, she saw stars. She had to fight hard to stop herself from losing consciousness.

  Donovan loosened the grip he had on her slightly, and he didn’t waste even a second before he slammed his foot on the accelerator.

  And he drove the truck right at Cooper.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Cooper didn’t have time to think. He could only react. He dived to his right, barely in time. The truck’s fender bumped into him, but he managed to stay on his feet.

  He got just a glimpse of Jessa then. At the stark terror on her face. Donovan still had his left arm hooked around her neck, and even though he was holding his gun in his right, he somehow managed to get off another shot.

  Cooper had lost count of how many shots Donovan had fired, but he prayed the man ran out of ammunition soon. While he was praying, he added that Tucker had managed to rescue Liam and Linda. There’d been no other texts from his brother, and he hoped nothing had gone wrong.

  With Donovan, anything was possible.

  Cooper had always known the man hated him, but he’d had no idea just how much until tonight. Donovan wanted to make him suffer in the worst way possible and then kill him. Jessa, too. And it didn’t seem to matter that others would know of his guilt. Donovan was just hell-bent on getting even for what he considered an old, unforgivable wrong—Molly no longer loving him.

  “Watch out!” Jessa shouted to Cooper when Donovan turned the steering wheel, aiming the truck right at Cooper again.

  Cooper didn’t want to run toward the tree where he’d last seen Linda and Liam. They could still be there or nearby, and it was too big a risk to take. There was no other nearby cover, so Cooper went behind the barn instead.

  Donovan followed right along behind him. So close that Cooper could feel the heat from the engine on his back and legs. He couldn’t risk shooting at the SOB because he could accidentally hit Jessa. She was already in too much danger without him adding more. However, Cooper did aim for one of the tires. He missed.

  Cooper made it around the barn, hoping it would take Donovan several seconds at least to maneuver the vehicle. It didn’t. Despite being hindered by a struggling Jessa and a weapon clutched in his hand, Donovan just kept coming.

  And he fired another shot.

  This was one didn’t hit the barn, and it put Cooper’s heart right in his throat. Liam was out there somewhere, and that bullet could have come close to him.

  Or worse.

  Cooper got back to the front of the barn, and he ducked around Peggy’s lifeless body and inside the still-open doors. Maybe when Donovan reached him, Cooper could somehow get Jessa out.

  However, Donovan didn’t slow down enough.

  Nor did he turn away from the barn.

  He swerved around Peggy, and the truck bashed through the doors and came right at Cooper. He had no choice but to run again and try to get back outside. If he stayed inside, Donovan could hit one of the thick posts while trying to get him, and since Jessa wasn’t wearing a seat belt, she could be thrown through what was left of the windshield.

  Jessa screamed, and Cooper glanced over his shoulder to see her sink her teeth into Donovan’s arm. The man cursed and let go of the steering wheel so he could bash the gun against her head.

  Cooper could have sworn that he saw red.

  Cooper darted to the side, hoping he could still try to pull Jessa from the truck. But Donovan regained control. Not just of the steering wheel but also his weapon.

  He fired at Cooper.

  And this time Cooper wasn’t so lucky at dodging bullets. The pain sliced through his arm.

  Hell. He’d been hit.

  He couldn’t take the time to figure out how badly he was injured, because the truck was coming right for him again. Worse, Jessa was dazed or something. Her eyes were half-closed, and she looked ready to faint. Donovan had obviously hurt her when he’d hit her.

  And that made him a dead man.

  Cooper couldn’t stop the shout that roared from his throat, and he turned, not to get away from the truck. But rather to face it head-on. He took aim, praying he had a clear shot so he could stop Donovan for good.

  Donovan came right at him as if he was playing a game of chicken. Cooper cursed because he still didn’t have a clean shot.

  “Be seeing you,” Donovan said, smiling.

  He gave the steering wheel a sharp turn to the right and plowed through the back door. The splintered wood burst out like daggers, some of them slicing across Cooper’s face, but they didn’t stop him. He barreled out the gaping hole and hurried outside.

  Donovan was getting away.

  Cooper hadn’t thought that knot in his stomach could get any tighter, but he’d obviously been wrong. Donovan was taking Jessa God knew where, and there was no telling what the man would do to her to get back at Cooper.

  Again, he couldn’t shoot because he had no idea where Liam and the others were. But Cooper started running. He had to get to the truck before Donovan managed to get off the ranch. He took out his phone, and without slowing down, he hit the button to call Tucker.

  “Don’t let Donovan get away,” Cooper insisted, and he shoved his phone back in his pocket in case he had to fire.

  His heart was already racing, but it started to pound against his chest. It only got worse when he heard Jessa scream again. Cooper could only see shadowy movements in the cab of the truck, but it looked as if Jessa was in another fight with Donovan.

  And then Cooper heard the shot.

  This bullet hadn’t come at him; he was pretty sure it’d stayed in the cab of the truck.

  Hell.

  Had Donovan shot Jessa?

  That only made Cooper run faster, even though he knew he’d have a hard time catching up with the now-speeding truck. That didn’t stop him. No way. Somehow he had to get to Jessa and make sure she was all right.

  Ahead of him, he saw the bloodred flash of the brake lights, and it took Cooper a moment to figure out why Donovan had done that. But there were several horses in the pasture, and Donovan had nearly run right into them. If he had, it would have not only injured or killed the horses, it would have disabled the truck. That was probably the only reason he hadn’t cras
hed into them.

  That delay gave Cooper some much-needed seconds so he could close the distance between him and the truck. Even over the engine, he heard Donovan curse. Saw more of the struggle going on in the cab.

  Thank God.

  It meant Jessa was alive, but she wouldn’t stay that way for long.

  Cooper was still running when he saw the truck door fly open, and he caught just a glimpse of Jessa trying to get out before Donovan hit her with the gun again. He dragged her back inside with him, slammed the door.

  “Jessa!” Cooper yelled, just so she’d know that he was close. He wanted her to keep fighting. Wanted her to stay alive so he could get to her.

  Donovan must have realized it, too, because he floored the accelerator. Maybe it was because of the struggle going on inside the truck.

  Or maybe Donovan suddenly had a death wish.

  Either way, Cooper could only watch as the truck slammed right into a tree.

  * * *

  JESSA WAS SO caught up in her fight to get away from Donovan that she didn’t see the tree in time to brace herself for the impact.

  Not that she could have done much.

  She wasn’t wearing a seat belt. However, she was squeezed against the driver’s-side door and Donovan, and he was the one who went through the windshield first. Jessa wasn’t far behind. She smashed into him.

  The pain slammed through her, so hard and fast that it blurred her vision and knocked the breath out of her. She did a quick assessment and didn’t think she was hurt too badly. But Cooper could be a different story. She’d seen the shot that Donovan had fired at him in the barn.

  And she’d seen the blood.

  He was hurt. Maybe it was a serious injury, and she had to get to him to see if he needed help.

  Jessa forced herself to get moving. Not easy to do. Both Donovan and she were on what was left of the hood of the truck, and they were wedged against the tree. Worse, Donovan had somehow managed to hang on to his gun. She reached for it, but that was as far as she got.

  Donovan’s eyes flew open, snaring her in his gaze.

  God, no.

  He should be dead or at least unconscious, but here he was ready to attack her all over again. And try one more time to kill Cooper. He latched on to her wrist, digging his fingernails into her skin.