Relentless River: Men of Mercy, Book 10

by Lindsay Cross

  Except for his eyes. There was an air of danger in them even she couldn’t miss.

  Think about Lamont. Think about what’s best for him. All you have to do is hand him the package turn around and leave.

  Cheri gripped her steering wheel so tightly her fingers went numb. No matter how much time she spent talking to herself, there was no way her heart would slow down its rapid pace.

  It was now or never. He’d obviously seen her as he was standing in the bright glow of her headlights. Shit. Cheri jerked forward and turned them off. He probably wouldn’t appreciate the light blinding him very much longer.

  Lainey had let her borrow the car, and Cheri reached forward and turned off the engine. The roar of the motor died and the silence of the night air surrounded her. Cheri took a deep breath, clutched the brown paper sack in her hand and got out of the car.

  She’d worn black, twisted her hair into a bun at the back of her head. She didn’t know exactly how these kinds of drop-off illegal meetings went, but even in her ignorant mind, she knew she wanted Jason Dupree to see as little of her as possible.

  She approached him, the gravel crunching under her shoes with every step. And while she felt like she was walking to her execution, Dupree stood perfectly relaxed as if he was waiting on her to bring him a cup of tea. Not a million dollars.

  What was she supposed to say? Here’s your money. Hey, nice to meet you. Now, will you leave my family alone?

  But he didn’t give her the opportunity to speak. “Have you got my money?”

  Her fingers curled involuntarily, crinkling the sack. “Yes.”

  Dupree tilted his head to the side, studying her as if she were some kind of lab rat in a maze. “You look like your brother.”

  Cheri bit back the retort that she didn’t have a brother and instead chose to stay silent, realizing for once it actually was a really, really good idea. Even if her dad had been the first one to tell her to shut up.

  “You’re smarter than him. You know I don’t mess around.” His smooth, almost melodic voice couldn’t disguise the threat lurking beneath his words.

  “No, sir,” she said in a daze. She couldn’t believe she was standing here, alone, in the dark with a known killer. Like some kind of dream…or nightmare.

  “And you’ve got better manners. I like that. So, tell me, why are you making the delivery instead of Lamont?”

  Her cousin’s name snapped her back to reality. She’d practiced her excuse over and over on the drive here. Lamont had gotten hurt in the bar fight. He was laid up in bed and had asked her to do it for him. So why was it so hard to get her numb lips to move?

  “I expect an answer to the question.” Dupree lost some of the smoothness in his voice.

  “We had a fight at the bar, Lamont got pretty banged up, spent the night in the hospital. Asked me to do it for him so you wouldn’t be upset.” There, that sounded very plausible.

  So then why was Dupree smiling?

  “You know, I like people who are motivated. I know people who are motivated. You want me to tell you what I know about motivation? Motivation makes a person complete their job. Motivation gets me my money on time. All those things work out for me.” Dupree paused and closed the distance between them until he was standing only a few feet away. “But motivation also makes people lie. And do you know what I do to people who are motivated to lie to me?”

  Cheri swallowed but her throat got stuck halfway down. The air vanished from her lungs trapped and unable to move.

  “I’ll tell you what I do. I put a gun to their head, and I pull the fucking trigger. And then I go find their wife, their kids, their cousins, and I do the same damn thing until nobody is left to motivate.”

  He was so close now she could feel his breath fanning over her face. He knew. He knew she was lying. She was so fucking dead. She needed to run. She needed to hide. But her feet refused to move.

  “Hand me the goddamn sack right now.”

  Her arm shot out before her brain could even fire. “It’s all there.” She heard the tremor in her voice, knew it made her sound weak, but she also knew there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it.

  Dupree yanked the bag open and quickly fanned through the money before rolling the sack closed. Then he yanked a knife out of nowhere and held the tip to her throat. She couldn’t swallow. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe.

  Only thing she could do was accept that she was about to die.

  23

  “Drop the fucking knife, Dupree.” Bo stepped from the tall grass lining the parking lot with his gun leveled right at the fucker’s head. When he figured out exactly what Cheri was up to, he’d been furious. Livid even. But right now, he couldn’t look at her, because he knew if he looked at her and saw the terrified expression on her face his control would snap and he would put a bullet right between Dupree’s eyes.

  “Frankie told me about you. Said you was real smooth.” Dupree didn’t move an inch. He kept his arms straight and the blade at her throat.

  “I said drop the knife.” Bo kept moving forward with slow, measured steps, his gun trained the whole time.

  In a lightning fast move, Dupree spun Cheri around and pressed the entire length of the blade across her neck. “Frankie also said you cared about this girl. Said that if you showed up, like I kind of expected you to, I could use her against you.” Dupree’s eyes narrowed.

  Bo chanced a quick glance at Cheri, saw the absolute terror on her face and immediately zeroed back in on the man holding her life in his hands.

  Dupree continued, “And from the way you just looked at her, Frankie wasn’t lying. Damn, girl, your brother don’t give a shit about you.”

  “If you let her go right now, I promise I won’t kill you.”

  Dupree’s pupils contracted, the muscles along his arms shifted incrementally. He was getting ready to do something very stupid.

  Bo leveled his gun, keeping his arm steady for the moment Dupree made a move. If he shot now, he was confident he could kill him, but he might accidentally hit Cheri. Bo wasn’t willing to take that chance, no matter how furious he was with her.

  “The way I see it is, your girl here is gonna walk me over to her car and we’re going to get in it and drive off together. And when I see you’re not following us, I might let her out.” Dupree shifted forward on the balls of his feet.

  Bo glanced at Cheri. The fright he’d seen before was still there, but there was calm too. She glanced down and then back to Bo. The minute she met his eyes, he knew she wasn’t going to stand there and take whatever Dupree planned to dish out. She threw an elbow and dropped. Dupree bent sideways. Bo pulled the trigger. The bullet blasted through the air, ripping through the darkness.

  “Bitch!” Dupree took off running, Bo pounding it out right behind him.

  He darted to the right, into some shoulder-high cattails. There were two more shots fired. Bo ducked. Cheri screamed.

  “You’re gonna pay!”

  Bo was back on his feet, running into the tall green weeds when something in his mind clicked. Cheri’s scream. He ground to a halt. If he didn’t follow protocol and give chase, there was every chance they would escape and keep on dealing and killing.

  But if he chased Dupree, Cheri could die. Bo did not give following standard protocol another thought. He abandoned his pursuit and booked it back to Cheri, who was lying on the ground breathing hard staring up at the sky. She had her hand wrapped around her waist.

  “Are you hurt?”

  She gave a jerky nod, but nothing else. Bo gently peeled her fingers back, his body going hot and then ice cold all at once. Blood stained her left side. He’d shot her. Jason Dupree might be alive right now, but not for long.

  “Hold on baby, I’ve got you.” There was a brown paper sack lying next to her. Bo grabbed it and then gently lifted her into his arms, forgetting his anger at her stupidity. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, inhaled her scent and carried her to his SUV. “Just hold on.”

 
“Bart, get Desha County Memorial on the line, tell them I’m bringing in a gunshot wound. Have them waiting at the door.”

  Cheri hadn’t made a sound in the past couple of minutes, and Bo took his eyes off the road long enough to check the rise and fall of her chest. Her cheeks paled at a rate too rapid for his comfort. Bo accelerated.

  Please don’t die. Not when he’d just gotten her. He needed her. He needed her in his life.

  “Bo, they’re asking for information so they can prepare.” Bart’s voice filled the cab of his SUV.

  Bo held the comm up, hand shaking. “Female, late twenties. Gunshot on her left side. Bleeding heavily. ETA five minutes.”

  “Roger.”

  “Bo, it hurts.” Cheri said weakly from the back seat.

  Fear ate at him, made his stomach churn and nausea roll up his throat. He’d seen a hell of a lot worse; he’d had worse done to him, but not to Cheri. For whatever reason, seeing her covered in blood left him shaken. “I know it hurts, baby. Keep your hand on the wound. Almost to the hospital.”

  Fuck. No way was she strong enough to exert enough pressure to stem the blood flow. He should be back there tending to her.

  If only he’d gotten to her faster. Figured it out sooner. He knew how much she cared for her cousin. He should’ve known she’d do something stupid to try and save him. Bo had every intention of putting his hands around Lamont’s neck strangling the dumb ass.

  “Bo?” Her voice came out in a whisper, and he had to lean back to hear.

  “What is it, baby?” She didn’t need to be talking; she needed to preserve her strength.

  “I know you’re mad, but you have to find Lamont. Drop me off at the hospital and go get him. Dupree…” She coughed and then whimpered in pain.

  Bo crushed the steering wheel in his hands, every muscle in his body rigid. “Your fucking cousin got you into this.”

  Her breaths became shallow and too fast. “No, he doesn’t know what I did. Please don’t let him die.”

  Bo took a deep breath, and attempted to calm some of the white-hot rage boiling inside him. When Bo got his hands on Lamont, he might kill the man himself. But making Cheri worry wasn’t helping her injuries. “I’ll find him, baby. I promise.”

  Bo intended to find Lamont and throw his ass in jail, if he could keep from strangling him. Cheri would be pissed for a while, but he could work around her anger.

  The bright overhead lights of the hospital appeared in the distance. Bo floored it. The radio crackled and Bart’s voice filled the cruiser, “Suspect spotted heading south on Highway One. Oralee has the radio. I’m in pursuit.”

  “Bo, he’s going to my house,” Cheri said, panic lining her words.

  Bo pressed the comm button, “Be advised, suspect is armed and hunting Lamont Boudreaux.”

  “Roger. I’m on the way, ETA three minutes.”

  Cheri moaned and Bo reached back, grabbing her hand. “We’re at the hospital. Bart will get to Lamont. Don’t worry. Concentrate on yourself.”

  Bo roared into the parking lot, slammed on his brakes and skidded to a stop right in front of the emergency room doors. He was out and pulling Cheri from the back seat within seconds. Blood immediately soaked through his shirt. “Here comes the doctor now.”

  She gave him a barely there nod. Her eyes were closed and her mouth pulled tight. Bo met the gurney on the other side of the SUV. “She’s losing blood fast. She’s got a gunshot wound. Left side.”

  “How long ago?” Dr. Simmons, had been the only doctor in Desha County for nearly forty years. He’d stitched up a few of Bo’s wounds received on duty.

  “It’s been ten minutes and counting.” He walked carefully to the gurney, but couldn’t make himself put her down.

  “Bo, you need to put her on the stretcher so I can check her,” Dr. Simmons said in a kind voice.

  Her cold body was a stark and frightening contrast to the warm blood seeping from her side. Bo forced his fingers to uncurl and gently lowered her to the stretcher, wincing when she grimaced. “Take care of her.”

  Cheri grabbed his arm before he could straighten. “Lamont.” She gasped for breath.

  “I promise.”

  Dr. Simmons and his nurse rolled her inside. Bo followed at a close distance, ignoring the wide-eyed stares as they ran past. They were buzzed through a set of double doors, and then another.

  When they reached the last set of doors, a young nurse behind a long counter stopped him. “Sir, I’m sorry, but you can’t go back there.”

  “Try and stop me,” Bo bit out, his heart dropping down to his stomach as he was forced to watch helplessly as Cheri disappeared around a corner.

  “Please, go sit in the waiting room. The doctor will come get you when she’s stable.” She put a hand on his chest, halting him before he could take another step. “You’ve done your job, now you need to step back and let him do his job.”

  Let someone else take over? Bo glanced at his hands. Hands he’d thought capable until now. Hands that were covered in her blood.

  A sharp stab of fear pierced him right between the shoulder blades.

  “Are you injured? Do I need to call someone?”

  Bo vaguely registered her voice, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from his hands. He’d only failed once before, the one time he hadn’t followed protocol, and half his unit had been decimated. This was the second time in his entire life he’d broken protocol. He’d chosen not to pursue the suspect and instead went to Cheri. Please, God, let his choice save her life instead of end it.

  The handheld at his waist crackled. “Sheriff?”

  Bo unclipped the radio from his belt and held it up to his mouth. “Go ahead, Bart.”

  “Lamont’s AWOL and his home has been trashed. The suspect is missing.”

  Bo lifted his gaze to the operating room doors, thankful Cheri wasn’t around to hear Bart’s report. “Check Ginger Burnell’s place. I’ll meet up with you soon as I can.”

  “Roger.”

  “Ma’am, tell the doc I’m in the waiting room. I want to know the second she’s stable.”

  24

  Cheri came back to consciousness in a daze, blinking a few times before her vision cleared. Bright florescent lighting pierced straight through her skull and she immediately closed them again.

  What happened? Her memory danced just outside her reach, hazy and lethargic.

  She took a moment to listen to her surroundings. There was a steady beep, beep, beep on her right. Footsteps going back and forth somewhere to her left. Cool air covering her arms.

  Her memory slammed home in crystal clear clarity. The hospital. Bo. The gun. She grabbed her side, the sharp bite of pain confirming her memory. She’d been scared to death, watching Bo give chase after Dupree. And then she’d heard the shots. Felt a searing pain in her side. And then an icy coldness had seemed to seep into her bones.

  “How are you feeling?” Bo said.

  Cheri jerked, she hadn’t realized anyone else was in the room. He’d been standing in the far corner, watching her this entire time. Blood covered his uniform. “Are you hurt?”

  He glanced down at his shirt. “It’s yours. Doc said the bullet grazed your left side, and he had to do some stitching. Didn’t do any major organ damage.”

  “Oh.” No major damage – but her side felt like there was a blowtorch on it.

  Bo came to her side and took her hand in his. His warm touch immediately soothed her.

  “How do you feel?”

  She offered him a smile. “I guess like I’ve been shot.”

  “Do you need me to call the nurse to get you some pain medication?” Bo frowned and reached for a little remote control button hanging from her bed.

  “No, it’s not bad. I swear.”

  His grip tightened incrementally. Silence filled the hospital room, filled in by the beeping of the equipment.

  A niggling anxiety started up her chest. He was looking at her, but she got the distinct feeling he was staring
through her. “Bo?”

  “When I saw him with a knife to your neck.” He stopped talking and cleared his throat. “Promise me, you’ll never do anything so stupid again.”

  Cheri licked her suddenly dry lips. She couldn’t make a promise like that until she knew Lamont was safe. “Did you catch Dupree? Is Lamont okay?”

  Bo’s grip tightened again. “I need your promise, Cheri. I can’t lose you, not when I just found you.”

  His admission flooded her with warmth. He’d never indicated he’d cared about her before, as a matter of fact, he’d seemed more annoyed with her than attracted to her.

  Bo cupped her cheek and she tilted into his warm callused hand. He had strong hands, the kind a real man should possess. Hands capable of holding her burden. Her heart clutched. Could she trust him to help her?

  The way he was staring at her right now, with such honesty and concern, told her she could. “Bo, I need to tell you something.”

  “We’re definitely going to talk, and you’re going to tell me everything.” Bo leaned in as he spoke, and taking her face in his hands, he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. Desire spread from her lips down. “But not here. I’m taking you home. And Cheri?”

  “Yes?” She asked breathlessly.

  “You know the punishment we talked about earlier? Take that and multiply it times a million. I’m going to make sure you never think about risking your life again.”

  Her mind scrambled, imagining dozens of different scenarios, each of them painful. “Would it make a difference if I told you the reason?”

  He kissed the tip of her nose, and then her head, caressing her with his lips. “It might help me understand a little better, but reason or not, you’re still getting your punishment.”

  *

  Bo took her to his house. He propped her up in his bed and proceeded to totally pamper her over the next twenty-four hours. It was heaven…almost. Except for the niggling anxiety she had about Lamont. Bo had flat out refused to talk to her about his now open investigation into Jason Dupree, and any time she brought it up, he shut her down cold.

  She’d understood at first, sensing his hurt lingering just beneath the surface, and realized he’d expected her to trust him to take care of the situation. But now, as the day gave way to the night and Bo kept mute, her understanding gave way to frustration. And when he walked into the room carrying a tray of stew and a cup of milk like she was an invalid, she snapped.