The Deputy's Witness

by Tyler Anne Snell

  “No need to be afraid,” Dupree huffed, catching her forearm and turning on the light with the other. Like the man, his hand was large. Overpowering. It wrapped around her like a vise she couldn’t escape.

  She wanted to laugh at his comment, saying he’d shot her and gunned down two others and she had every right to be afraid of him. She wanted to break free from his grip, get something heavy, and make him feel at the very least an ounce of the pain he had caused her and everyone in the bank that day. She also wanted to grab her cell phone and call the cavalry in, guns blazing and ready to put down a man who seemed untouchable.

  But all she could do was continue to scream in terror.

  She’d spent the last year trying to overcome just the idea of the man. And now here he was, somehow managing to sneak into her house in the middle of the night.

  It didn’t seem real.

  It didn’t seem fair.

  “You’re coming with me,” he grunted out, trying to contain her as she threw her body away from him. She tried to become deadweight in his grasp. She didn’t want to make anything easier on the man. “Whether you like it or—”

  Something slammed into Dupree’s back so hard it caused his hold on her to break. However, the momentum of the hit sent both of them to the floor. Alyssa scurried backward until her back hit her nightstand. The lamp on it clattered to the floor just as she realized what had helped her escape Dupree’s grip.

  “Caleb!”

  Caleb Foster, in all his beautiful glory, picked himself up and readied to take her nightmare head-on.

  “Run,” he managed to yell before Dupree was on his feet and in his face.

  Alyssa didn’t have time to examine the situation any closer. Caleb grabbed the front of Dupree’s shirt and threw his weight into him again, hard. Together they went into the wall.

  “Go—now!”

  Alyssa didn’t want to leave Caleb alone with a man like Dupree. She’d seen the evil that he created—lived through it too. She didn’t want that for Caleb. She wanted to help the deputy to subdue and stop him, as a team.

  “I’ll still get her,” Dupree growled. It was an awful sound, but it did the trick.

  Thoughts of helping flew out of her mind. She got to her feet and ran for everything she was worth.

  All Alyssa wanted to do in that moment was listen to Caleb and make sure Dupree never touched her again.

  * * *

  THE MAN WAS TALLER, more muscled, and had already found his second wind. However, Caleb had two things on him.

  He put his arm up to block a punch Dupree threw and swung hard with a right cross. It connected with the man and he staggered. Angered, Dupree kicked out and flailed in his direction. Both moves Caleb avoided.

  For one, Caleb had more discipline. He waited for an opening and took it, sending his fist into his chest, making Dupree wheeze. It didn’t matter how big or bad your opponent was, if he didn’t have patience he wasn’t disciplined. In Caleb’s career he had seen up close what happened to those without discipline in a fight.

  They’d lost.

  Caleb used Dupree’s hesitation while he caught his breath to create more space between them so he could grab for his gun. He’d only holstered it for fear that he’d hit Alyssa in the scuffle. He was sure Dupree wasn’t above using her as a last-second shield. Now that she was gone, though, Caleb could do some damage. He pulled out his service weapon, but before he could pull the trigger, Dupree recovered and sent him barreling back into the wall.

  A crack sounded as the drywall broke against Caleb’s back. The air was knocked clear out of him and his gun shot out from his grip away from both men. Dupree used his free hand and brought it up to his neck. It was such a sudden move that Caleb had to bring both of his hands up to keep the man from choking him. He was surprised at how strong Dupree’s grip was.

  “You think after everything I’ve been through you are going to stop me?” Dupree’s voice had lowered to a dark, almost tangible level. Caleb peeled off his hand, but his focus faltered in doing so. Dupree delivered a knee to the groin so severe that Caleb knew he wouldn’t be able to stand. He stepped away as Caleb fell to his knees, the pain nearly blinding him.

  “I waited an entire year in prison for this,” Dupree seethed, taking the moment to gain his own breath back. Blood dripped down his nose and fell to the carpet. He swiped at it. “And if taking her is all I have to do to finish what I started, well, then, Deputy, you aren’t going to stop me now. No one is.”

  Dupree staggered toward the door to leave. Or so Caleb thought. For the first time he saw a gun, discarded near the opening. It must have fallen from Dupree’s possession in the scuffle. If Dupree got the gun, Caleb had no doubt that the man would kill him. He’d already killed two guards from his transport and most likely the two guards from his partner’s. Not to mention the female robber herself.

  Then, once he had killed Caleb, he would find Dante, if he hadn’t done so already—they had split up to search, but the deputy shouldn’t have been too far behind—and then shoot him too. And if Dante couldn’t best him, that left Dupree Slater to go after Alyssa.

  Caleb swallowed his pain and got to his feet.

  Because while Dupree had height, width and violence on his side, Caleb had something better than just discipline on his.

  He had someone to fight for.

  Caleb charged across the room and once again slammed into Dupree. Together they staggered out into the hallway. This time they didn’t hit the floor. Dupree used the wall to keep from falling and turned with a fist ready. Caleb had one too. Neither avoided the other’s attack. Pain burst bright in Caleb’s right eye while Dupree made his own grunt of pain as he took a fast one to the nose. The blood already there wet Caleb’s fist, but he didn’t stop. Bringing his other fist around, he drilled it into the man’s stomach.

  Dupree lost his breath for the second time. In that moment, even in the poor hallway light, his eyes found Caleb’s. Rage. Pure and simple rage. Dupree let out a thundering yell and threw his elbow so it caught Caleb against the eye that had managed to avoid all punches so far. More pain lit up his face as he stumbled backward, trying to keep from falling.

  “You won’t—won’t stop me,” Dupree said, anger funneling from his mouth and into his words, seemingly strengthening his will to take a beating and then dole one out. “He wants her, he gets her.”

  That surprised Caleb.

  “Who wants her?” he couldn’t help asking. He had put a few steps of distance between them, and now he needed a few seconds to right himself.

  Dupree busted out a grin that was chilling. “What? You thought you were the only one sweet on her, Deputy?”

  Caleb laughed for the sake of being more dramatic. It sounded hollow, mechanical almost. Definitely not a sound the man was used to making.

  “Don’t look so worried. Norman’s been waiting for her for so long. He will treat her nice.”

  Caleb wanted to ask who Norman was and why he wanted Alyssa, but the way Dupree had said the word nice had put straight fire into his bones.

  “No one is taking Alyssa,” he seethed, a mile past defensive. A familiar anger was building within him. Last time it had consumed him and destroyed his career. His life. And now?

  Now he was going to let it destroy again. And this time he wouldn’t be looking for redemption for it.

  He had to keep her safe at all costs.

  He had to.

  With all the silent fury created by the senseless death and violence Dupree had been responsible for, Caleb closed the space between them with a kick. It was short but not sweet, connecting with Dupree’s abdomen with such force it laid the man out.

  Right down the stairs.

  He rolled and clattered in a heap of flailing limbs, trying to stop himself until he went stationary at the bottom.
Caleb flipped the lights on, hoping to see a man so broken that he wouldn’t attempt to prolong their fight. That he’d be finished with trying to resist capture. A man realizing he’d reached the end of the road and would finally, finally pay for everything he’d done.

  Instead he saw a man sitting motionless.

  And then, slowly, start to get to his feet.

  “Don’t you ever—” Caleb stopped midsentence as Dupree produced a gun from his waistband. There was no hesitation on his part as he pulled the trigger.

  * * *

  ALYSSA’S FEAR PUSHED her legs harder than they’d ever been pushed. She didn’t just leave the upstairs, she left her house altogether. Later she’d wonder if her feet even touched the sidewalk as she ran full tilt toward Deputy Mills’s patrol car out front. It felt like some kind of dream. No. It felt like a nightmare.

  Her body was shaking, her breathing was erratic and her heart was surely about to tear itself from her chest. The situation wasn’t improved by the fact that Dante was missing.

  Where did he go? Was he helping Caleb?

  She fumbled for the door handle, ready to attempt to use the radio to call for help, but the door didn’t budge. None of them did.

  Alyssa knew the Rogerses next door weren’t home and didn’t even bother to try her other neighbor, an older woman with a bad hip, to see if she could help. Panic was king. It ruled over her mind and replaced all rational thought with the basic need to survive kicking in. She turned tail and ran across the street to a two-acre lot covered in trees.

  I’ll hide in there, she thought, pain buoying up from her feet as she picked up speed. Caleb will find me. He’ll find me and we can—

  “Alyssa!”

  Alyssa skidded to a halt next to the curb. She spun around, ready to ask Caleb if he was okay. Her question died on her tongue. It wasn’t Caleb standing in her driveway.

  “You,” she exclaimed, confused. “Why are you here?”

  The man wearing horn-rimmed glasses from the courthouse smiled.

  “I was worried,” he said, walking into the street. “I needed to make sure you were okay.”

  Alyssa started to back away. She didn’t have to understand the entire story to know the man was someone else she needed to run from. Without asking any more questions, she turned once again and ran for the trees.

  “Don’t run from me,” he yelled after her. A moment later footsteps sounded behind her. “I’m not going to hurt you!”

  Even over the sound of her fear and panic, Alyssa heard the certainty in his words. It almost made her falter in her escape.

  Was she missing something?

  Was the man in the horn-rimmed glasses there to help them?

  To help her?

  An explosion behind her shattered her concentration. Another one followed.

  Her body tried to keep running while her head turned so she could look back at the house. Before she could understand anything, her feet tucked under each other. She pitched forward. There was no stopping the impact. She let out a scream as her body crashed to the ground. A beat later and her head whiplashed against the grass.

  Pain and nausea paraded to the forefront of her senses and began to cloud her vision.

  Those aren’t explosions, she thought, mind fogging so fast she didn’t have time to fear the man chasing her. Instead darkness swam up, took her hand and dragged her down into the depths of unconsciousness.

  But not before she finished her thought.

  Those are gunshots.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Caleb dove backward and missed the bullet by inches. He got to his feet but stayed low as another gunshot cracked through the air. Dupree couldn’t see him from his place at the bottom of the stairs, and Caleb wanted to keep it that way. At least until he could put his hands on his own gun.

  He kept low and went into the guest bedroom. Sergeant was all-out howling from his crate. Caleb wished he could calm the pup down. Instead he picked up his gun and prepared to enter a firefight. To stop the evil that was Dupree in his tracks. He held his Glock up and out. Steady and ready. Taking a deep breath, he went back into the hallway.

  No sound floated up the stairs. Had Dupree been hurt worse than he thought, or was he just waiting Caleb out?

  Either way, Caleb was about to find the answer.

  He aimed downward and moved into position to get the man at the bottom.

  But he wasn’t there.

  “Dammit,” Caleb said beneath his breath. He pulled his gun high again and descended the stairs.

  The bottom floor was mostly dark. Alyssa had left the porch light on when she went to bed, and it alone tried to illuminate as much of the entryway as it could. It was enough to see blood on the tile but not the man who had left it.

  Where had Dupree gone?

  Where had Alyssa?

  Caleb moved through the entryway and into the living room. He kept the lights off, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. From there he went to the kitchen.

  He cursed below his breath again. The back door was open.

  Dupree might have been hurt, but that didn’t mean he was slow.

  Caleb went down the back porch and scanned the backyard for the man. No one shot toward him, let alone moved. He kept his gaze sweeping as he rounded the side of the house. Despite the noise of gunshots, the night stayed quiet. No neighbors yelling or sirens blaring. Normally that was a good thing.

  But for Caleb all it did was highlight the fact that he didn’t know where Dupree, Alyssa or Dante was. It was amazing how quickly he’d lost control of the situation.

  He should have stayed with her.

  Why hadn’t he?

  Just because he was inside the house didn’t mean anything other than he wanted to keep her safe.

  But he’d been afraid of exactly what had happened.

  Afraid he’d lose control of the situation.

  For someone trying to keep from emotions getting the better of him, he sure had let fear do a number on him.

  He should have stayed with her.

  The outline of a body pulled his attention toward the front corner of the house. Caleb focused his gun on the man.

  “Don’t move,” he warned. However, the man wasn’t moving. He wasn’t Dupree either.

  Dante’s face was bloody. His eyes were closed. The gun in his holster was gone along with his cuffs. Even the radio was missing.

  Caleb didn’t lower his gun for fear that Dupree was near. He crouched to check for a pulse. He let out a sigh of relief as a beat pushed against his skin. It was shallow, but it was there. Feeling inside the man’s pocket, Caleb was happy again for the keys the deputy had kept on him. Hopefully it meant the car was still out front. Caleb left his side to peer around the corner and confirmed the car was indeed still there.

  After a quick scan for Dupree came up empty, Caleb ducked and ran for the patrol car. When no one shot at him he unlocked it and reached for a radio. He was quick to call in that a deputy was hurt and Dupree Slater was on the move. It wasn’t until he put the radio down, ready to continue the search, that he noticed one detail that put ice in his stomach.

  In the lot across from him, right before the tree line started, was one blue slipper, all on its own.

  * * *

  ALYSSA WAS LYING down when she woke up.

  Had it all been a dream? she wondered.

  But then the blanket of unconsciousness lifted completely, ushering in a wave of pain. It thudded along the back of her head all the way to the roots of her teeth.

  Then she remembered she’d fallen and hit her head.

  And then she remembered the man in the horn-rimmed glasses.

  Alyssa slowly focused on her surroundings, knowing full well she wasn’t in her room anymore based on the
smell alone. It was a heavy musk with mildew swirled in. Old.

  The room was dark but not to the point she couldn’t see. A fluorescent light on its last legs cupped the middle of a popcorn ceiling and showed a small, faded room. Its one window was boarded up. That alone might have terrified her, but coupled with the man sitting in a corner opposite her, and her heartbeat began to pick up speed. The new surge of adrenaline made the pain in her head worsen.

  Apparently it showed.

  “You wouldn’t have hurt your head if you hadn’t run from me,” he greeted. “I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you, didn’t I? So why did you run, Alyssa?”

  The man leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, further showing his disappointment.

  And that was what it was. Disappointment.

  Alyssa might have been confused and scared, but she read that feeling in his body language and expression as clear as day.

  But who was he to be disappointed in her?

  Also, who was he?

  “You can talk to me, Alyssa,” he continued in her silence. “You’re safe here. So, please, feel free to say anyth—”

  “Who are you?” she interrupted. “And where have you taken me?”

  The man, who she placed in his thirties if not early forties, let his words hang unsaid for the moment before his smile widened. Had they been in any other setting, maybe a picnic at the park with friends or at a neighborhood barbecue, that smile would have been pleasant. Comforting and friendly. However, in the outskirts of the fluorescent lighting in the beginnings of the shadows of the room, the simple showing of mirth was downright chilling.

  “You’re a smart woman, Alyssa,” he said. “So I won’t go along with you being coy on your first question, but I will help you with the second.” Before she could ask what he meant by her being coy, the man motioned to the room around them. “We needed to make a pit stop before we went home. I have some business I need to finish, and this place is safe for us until I can do that.”