by B. J Daniels
His heart swelled to bursting. He’d never known such love, and for a moment, he almost chucked this deal and walked away. But at the thought of Hale and the others, he knew he still wouldn’t be safe. If only he had met Molly before all this.
“I didn’t think you would ever get here,” she said, smiling up at him. Her beautiful face was freckled, her green eyes wide and luminous, her lips were bowed and the faintest pink.
He kissed her, whirling her around, before setting her down again. He had to finish what he started. “I just stopped by because I missed you so much. I have to run an errand, but when I get back—”
“No,” she cried. “Whatever it is, I’m going with you.”
“Molly—”
“You have to stop protecting me. Do you hear me?” She touched his cheek, turning his face down until their eyes locked. “I know you, Gun. I love the man you are. Stop trying to hide from me.”
What was she saying? “Molly—”
“Take me with you. You promised that we would be together after today,” she said, shaking her head. “Let’s be in this together from this moment on. No matter what.”
She knew. He wasn’t sure how, but she knew. His heart plummeted for a moment. She was too smart.
He heard his stepfather. “No smart woman would ever fall for you.”
“Wrong again, Ray,” he said under his breath.
Molly looked at him quizzically. “Talking to your stepfather again?” She laughed. “You do it in your sleep. I hope you killed that bastard.”
Gun let out a laugh. “You really do know me, don’t you?”
She nodded, holding his gaze again. “You don’t need to keep secrets from me. I’m on board whatever you want to do.”
“I am the luckiest man in Butte, Montana. Hell, the world.” He picked her up and kissed her hard. When he set her down, he said, “Get your coat. I assume you’re packed?”
“Of course,” she said with a grin.
“Then let’s go finish my business and start really living. I need to pick up a few things I hid in the house.”
* * *
KITZIE TOPPED HOMESTAKE PASS to see Butte in the distance. Around the next curve, she got a glimpse of Our Lady of the Rockies. The ninety-foot statue gleamed in the morning sun from atop the Continental Divide.
She kept going straight on the interstate past the Berkeley Pit off to her left until she saw the turnoff and swung onto the dirt road.
Her cell phone rang. She didn’t check caller ID, just answered, thinking it was Pete with an update. It was Pete, but it wasn’t the update she had been expecting.
“I just heard that Ainsley Hamilton was taken captive by some guy who was stalking her,” Pete said.
“No, Lance Roderick was stalking her, and he’s dead.”
“Apparently, it wasn’t him. I just heard on the scanner that Sawyer called for backup. The man has Ainsley in a house in Livingston. You must know him. He delivered the groceries to the hotel for you.”
Kitzie had been having trouble breathing because of her broken ribs. But now, she couldn’t draw a breath for the life of her. “Are you sure?” she managed to gasp.
“Sawyer is probably breaking down the door right now. Where are you?”
She was trying to process what he’d told her when she came around a corner and swore. “The gate’s back up and locked.” That meant that the last person of the group, probably Gunderson, had locked it.
“What are you going to do?” Pete asked.
Kitzie slammed the gas pedal to the floor. “See if this VW can take it out.”
But as she sped toward it, she was thinking of Ainsley. Kitzie had been so sure that she was safe. Now she feared that she’d played a part in getting the young woman abducted—if not killed, and Sawyer, too. What had she done?
* * *
SAWYER CALLED FOR BACKUP, but he wasn’t about to wait for help to arrive. He rushed the back door. Crashing into the old flimsy door, he heard it splinter, but only found himself on a back porch. He tried the next door, knowing it would be locked. It was. This door was solid wood.
He started to put a shoulder to it, but saw a large window that looked out on the porch. Picking up a chair from the porch, he put it through the window. The glass shattered, sending shards flying. He quickly beat out most of the broken glass and dove through the window to land in the kitchen.
Immediately, he knew he’d hurt his leg again. He lay listening, waiting for the pain to subside. Jason had to have heard him enter the house, and yet he heard nothing. He had to get to Ainsley.
No sound came from within the house. It was the silence that scared him. Jason knew he was coming. He would be ready. What terrified Sawyer was that he might kill Ainsley simply out of meanness. If he couldn’t have her, no one would.
He was on his feet, limping badly, but moving. The scream he’d heard had been muffled. She wasn’t being kept on this floor or upstairs. He spotted the door to the basement, limped to it and, standing off to the side, opened it.
A gust of stale musty air rushed up at him. He listened, heard nothing and started to step through the door when he heard Jason’s voice.
“Come join us, cowboy. But first, throw your gun down or I will cut out Ainsley’s black heart before you can reach us.”
Sawyer felt the weight of the gun in his hand. It was his only defense, given that his leg might fail him. But he had no choice. He tossed the gun down the stairs. It hit a lower step, bounced, hit another stair and then clinked down on what sounded like concrete floor.
He heard a shuffling sound. This time, Jason’s voice was closer. “Ainsley can’t wait to see you. Sounds like that leg of yours is bothering you, though. Be careful on the stairs. I wouldn’t want you to fall and break your neck.”
Gingerly, he took a step with his good leg. His wounded one roared in pain. He braced himself, determined that Jason wouldn’t see just how badly he was hurt as he took the next step and the next.
* * *
AINSLEY SMELLED HER burning flesh, felt the searing pain, her eyes brimming with fresh tears as she looked at Jason Bowman.
When she’d come out of the bathroom to find him smoking a cigarette she’d thought about making a run for it, screaming her head off as she headed for the stairs. She’d realized that she was in a basement. She just had no idea where.
What had stopped her was Jason. He’d grabbed her and pressed the end of the burning cigarette into the underside of her wrist. She’d screamed in pain before he’d dragged her back toward the makeshift bedroom.
This time, he’d shoved her down on the bed and quickly bound her ankles together with the tape. But this time she’d fought him, kicking and hitting at him, catching him off guard.
He’d slapped her senseless, then stopped for a moment before taping her wrists together to admire his handiwork. His gaze rose to hers. The cigarette had dangled from one lip, before he slowly took it again in his fingers.
She’d seen what he planned to do. She knew from the way Jason had looked pressing the tip of the searing hot end into her flesh that he enjoyed this too much. He would do it again. And again. Just as it had been done to him as a child.
Ainsley had screamed and tried to hit him, clawing at him, this time in anger and anticipation of the pain. He’d put the cigarette down to grab one wrist, then the other as she flailed at him with her fists. He’d only wrapped the tape around her wrists above the burn twice when he heard the noise from above them. He froze.
Ainsley had heard it, too. It sounded as if something had crashed into the house.
The only thing that had stopped him was the sound of someone breaking into the house. She’d felt her heart soar for a moment.
“Looks like we have company. Want to guess who it is?” He sounded too happy.
No, it couldn’t be Sawyer. How could he have possibly found her? But suddenly she was weak with worry. Jason had expected someone to try to save her. He’d expected Sawyer. Hoped he would come.
She heard a sound that broke her heart. The intruder upstairs had a distinct limp. “No,” she cried as Jason pulled his knife.
A door opened above them.
“Don’t come down!” she yelled when she’d heard the groan of the top stair under a heavy tread.
Jason backhanded her, making her cry out in surprise and pain, and called to Sawyer to throw down his gun and join them.
The sound of the weapon tripping down the steps made her jump.
Jason smiled and hurried to pick it up before returning to her. “Come on down, cowboy!”
At the noise from above them, Jason had stopped taping her wrists. He wasn’t paying any attention to her now. He had a new victim. Her heart broke at the thought. She struggled to free her wrists and felt the tape give a little.
She’d heard how badly Sawyer had been limping on the creaky old wooden floor above them. Jason, she knew, had heard it, as well. From his expression she could tell that he thought Sawyer would be easy prey.
Jason had easily overpowered her. She feared what he would do to Sawyer in his injured condition.
The tape gave a little more. She worked her hands. Just a little more and she thought she could slip it off.
Sawyer limped farther down the stairs, but she could tell it was taking everything in him. She wondered at what cost to him. Her fear had shifted from herself to him the minute she’d realized he was the one who’d come to save her. At the thought that Jason would kill him...
She freed her hands, keeping an eye on Jason. He had his back to her. He was listening to Sawyer’s awkward descent. She couldn’t bear it as she hurried to free her ankles.
Sawyer might have broken her heart, but he’d also stolen it. And there was nothing she could do to help him unless she could get free of the tape.
* * *
KITZIE DROVE AS fast as she could up the switchbacks. The road was narrow and rough, with large rocks sticking up. Fortunately, the VW was small and went around most of them. Also, it sat high enough that the undercarriage didn’t scrape on anything.
“I just came out in an open spot up on top. I’m going to hide my rig in the trees and go on foot from here,” Pete said when he called with an update.
“I’m not far behind you.”
She concentrated on her driving as the road climbed in twisting turns up and up. She caught a glimpse of the valley far below a couple of times. No wonder this was where Gunderson was meeting Harry Lester. The top of the world and with no one around this time of year since the guided trips up here were only seasonal.
With every turn, though, she felt the pain in her chest. Her right arm was growing numb. Good thing she was left-handed and was a crack shot on the firing line. She tried not to think about Sawyer or Ainsley and the part she had played in their current circumstances, because it made her feel sick and weak, and right now she had to be strong.
As she came out of the pines in an open spot near the top of the mountain, she got the call from Pete.
“It’s going down! I’ve got it on video. I’m going in!”
Kitzie sped up. She wouldn’t have time to hike to the base of the statue even if she wasn’t so beat up that she wasn’t sure she could make it. There was only one thing to do. She raced up the dirt road and came around a curve.
There was the back of Our Lady of the Rockies perched on the edge of the mountaintop. The gleaming white statue towered high into Montana’s big blue fall sky.
In front of the statue, the small group of people gathered turned in surprise at the sound of the VW’s roaring engine.
Kitzie sped at them at full speed. Off to her right, she caught movement as her partner, Pete Corran, came out of the nearby pines, gun drawn.
* * *
SAWYER REACHED THE bottom of the stairs and turned toward Jason. Ainsley appeared to be bound on the bed. Jason was blocking his view of her. But he could tell that she was alive. At least for the moment.
He could see that she’d been crying and still looked as if she was in pain. Jason stood a few yards from her, holding a knife. Sawyer didn’t see the gun he’d tossed down the stairs, but he knew that the man had it.
“I’ve called for backup.”
“No, you haven’t,” Jason said with a laugh. “You knew what I would do if I heard even one siren headed this way.”
“So, what now?” Sawyer asked, taking a couple of painful limps forward. He wanted to be within striking distance, but Jason halted him by pulling the gun with his free hand.
“Stay right there. I can kill her before you can reach me. I want you to watch what happens to this woman you...soiled,” Jason said.
“You’re mistaken. I did nothing to her.”
The man’s face reddened with anger. “You cheapened her by putting your hands on her, by kissing her, by...” His words came out in sputters that sent saliva flying. “Now she has to be punished.”
Sawyer shook his head. “You’re the one who needs to be punished, you sick son-of-a—”
“I adored her. I would have treated her like a princess.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Ainsley had managed to free her hands. But she pretended they were still bound by hiding them in her lap, waiting. Waiting for him to make his move.
He’d been in situations like this before with his job, but never had he felt so helpless. Jason had already hurt her. He’d made up his mind that she was ruined. Even now, he could see the man struggling with his need to punish her against his obsession with her.
Sawyer took a step. His leg gave out under his weight, and he dropped to his knees. Just as he’d planned, the move forced Jason to turn his attention away from Ainsley.
“What did you see in him?” Jason demanded of Ainsley over his shoulder as he moved away from her and closer to Sawyer. “Look at him. He’s weak. What you need is a man who can—”
Sawyer pulled the gun from the top of his boot and fired point-blank into Jason’s chest. Just as he’d known would happen, the bullet didn’t stop him. Jason kicked him in his bad leg, managing to knock the gun from his hand as he came at him. The gun skittered a few feet away, but Jason didn’t seem interested in it.
The pain of the kick to his bad leg set stars dancing before his eyes. Everything threatened to go dark as he did his best to hold Jason off. The man was strong, the gunshot seemingly doing nothing to weaken him. Jason was frantically stabbing at him with the knife as if he knew that eventually through blood loss, he wouldn’t be able to fight.
Sawyer managed to grab the man’s wrist holding the knife. He felt the tip of the blade pierce his shoulder an instant before he heard the earsplitting second gun blast and looked up to see Ainsley standing over them, his gun in her hand. But the bullet found its mark just as the first had. Only this time, it took some of the life out of Jason Bowman.
He fell to one knee. The knife clattered to the concrete floor. With a shove, Sawyer sent Jason falling backward. He hit the floor hard, his head snapping back and smacking the concrete.
It took more than effort to get to his feet with his bad leg. Sawyer grimaced but managed to rise and work his way to the man on the floor. He could hear sirens in the distance.
Jason’s eyes were open. He looked from Sawyer to Ainsley, who was still holding the gun on the man and crying softly.
“Too bad we didn’t have more time,” Jason said, his words strained. “I would have left you with a lot more scars to remember me by.”
She glared down at him. “I’ve already forgotten you,” she lied.
Jason laughed and closed his eyes. Sawyer watched the rise and fall of the man’s breathin
g stop before moving to check for a pulse. Then he limped over to Ainsley. She met his gaze and began to cry harder as he took the gun from her and pulled her into his arms.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
GUN’S FIRST THOUGHT, when he heard the approaching vehicle, was to curse himself for bringing Molly with him. No matter what took place, he couldn’t let anything bad happen to her.
He’d been so sure that he hadn’t been followed. With a silent curse, he realized that it was Harry Lester who must have brought the tail. He’d thought the old man was smarter than that. Or maybe his worthless nephew.
“What’s going on?” LeRoy asked, looking from his uncle to Gun and back.
“What the hell do you think?” Harry Lester demanded.
“One of you was followed,” Gun snapped as he reached down to pick up the briefcase full of money. He grabbed Molly’s hand and started for his own vehicle. “Let’s get out of here.” Harry Lester was already starting toward his car after loading four boxes of the loot from the trunk of Gun’s car.
“Hold on,” Hale said. “You aren’t taking all the money with you.”
The sound of the approaching vehicle was growing louder—and closer. “Don’t be a fool, Hale. We have to get out of here. Now!”
The carnie came after Gun, latching on to his arm and swinging him around to face him. “This is a trick so you can take off with all the money, and we’ll never see you again.”
Before Gun could respond, a man came out of the trees with a gun yelling, “FBI. Hands up!”
Gun tried to free himself from Hale, but the fool wouldn’t let go. He swung the briefcase, catching the carnie in the side of the head and breaking his grip. He pushed Molly toward the car, saying, “Run!”
Behind him, Hale stumbled under the blow but quickly recovered and plowed into Gun from behind, sending him sprawling. Gun came up with his weapon, and as Hale launched himself at him, fired three quick shots.
Hale’s momentum had him still coming. Gun rolled to the side as the older man hit the dust.
“Get to the car and go!” he yelled at Molly as he heard shots over the roar of the approaching vehicle. Looking up, he spotted a blue VW barreling down on them. The federal agent had taken cover behind a low wall at the edge of the parking lot. He was firing at LeRoy, who was making a run for it.
