OUTLAW LAWMAN

by Delores Fossen

  Nothing.

  Where the devil was this guy?

  Harlan glanced up the road at the building. Still no sign of anyone there, not even any vehicles. Not that he’d expected the kidnapper to have Declan in plain sight, but he hoped that his brother wasn’t anywhere in the line of fire.

  Caitlyn was trembling now, and her breath was gusting to the point that he was worried she might hyperventilate. He didn’t want to say anything out loud for fear it would help the shooter pinpoint them, but Harlan did brush his lips on her temple. It wasn’t much, but it was the best he could offer for now. Once he got her out of this, though, he’d owe her a huge apology for nearly getting her killed.

  That thought had no sooner crossed his mind when he finally heard something. Definitely not a shot.

  But footsteps.

  Not coming from the front of the truck either, but from the back.

  Harlan moved again, pushing Caitlyn behind him so he could face the person making those footsteps. The person wasn’t exactly skulking and was coming at them fast. Maybe it was one of his brothers trying to make enough noise so that Harlan wouldn’t shoot first.

  Even though Harlan couldn’t actually see Caitlyn, he felt her adjust, and she moved her gun into position, too. They waited, breaths held.

  They didn’t have to wait long.

  The person came out from the back of the truck. Running. Harlan couldn’t make out who the guy was before he launched himself at Caitlyn and him.

  * * *

  BEFORE CAITLYN COULD get out of the way, the man plowed into them, knocking Harlan, her and himself to the ground. Once again she lost the grip on the gun and it went flying. Too bad she couldn’t have flown with it, because both men crashed right down onto her.

  Suddenly she was fighting for her breath. She couldn’t move, but mercy, she could feel. She felt as if she’d been hit by a couple of Mack trucks.

  Harlan latched on to the guy and shoved both himself and the man off her. Thank God. Still fighting for breath, Caitlyn rolled to the side and tried to pick through the darkness to see who’d done this. She seriously doubted it was Clayton or Slade, because they probably would have said something before launching an attack.

  And there was no doubt about it—this was an attack.

  The man threw a punch at Harlan, and it connected, but it glanced right off his jaw as if he hadn’t even felt it. Maybe because the blow hadn’t been that hard, but also because Harlan had to be operating on pure adrenaline.

  Caitlyn certainly was.

  Despite the crushing pain in her chest, she groped around on the ground, searching for the gun she’d dropped. Harlan might need her as backup if something went wrong with this fight.

  A shot blasted through the air.

  Sending her heart to her knees.

  Despite the other shots, the sound was still unexpected, and deafening. And it robbed her of her breath again.

  “Harlan?” she shouted. But she couldn’t tell if he’d been hit or if he’d even been the one to fire that shot.

  The scuffle continued with fists flying and with the men tangled around each other in the fight. They stumbled backward and would have crashed into her again if Caitlyn hadn’t scrambled out of the way just in the nick of time.

  Harlan’s back bashed into the tree. She heard the sound of pain he made. His profanity, too. And despite that pain he came up fighting. He drew back his gun and knocked the guy upside the head.

  Still the man didn’t stop.

  Caitlyn saw the weapon he had clutched in his hand. He made a feral sound. More animal than human. And though she didn’t recognize his voice, there was something about that sound, some raw emotion in it that she did recognize.

  “Farris?” she called out.

  The man stopped. For just a fraction of a second. And he turned toward her as if he were trying to launch himself at her.

  Harlan didn’t let that happen.

  He grabbed Farris by the throat and slung him to the ground. Unlike her, however, Farris held on to his gun, and even though he was on the ground, he pointed the weapon directly at her.

  Caitlyn froze.

  “Marshal, if you pull the trigger, I’ll pull mine,” Farris warned. “And Caitlyn will die.”

  God. This was exactly what she’d spent months trying to avoid. Yes, Harlan was armed, and he had his gun pointed at Farris, but Farris could get off a shot, kill her and then turn that gun on Harlan.

  She had to do something to stop this.

  “You have no reason to kill Harlan.” She tried to keep her voice level. Hard to do, since she was shaking from head to toe.

  “Yeah, I do.” Farris was shaking, too, and she prayed he didn’t pull that trigger before she could talk him out of it. “I know you’re pregnant, and I know it’s his kid.”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m not pregnant.”

  “You’re lying. I heard Harlan when he said it, and he was practically gloating.”

  So Farris had been listening in on that call. No surprise there, since it was his hired gun they’d been talking to. The person had likely kidnapped Declan and Billy, too, because Farris wouldn’t have wanted to get his hands dirty like that.

  But he’d saved his fight to come after her.

  “How could you have gone to his bed?” Farris spat out the words, and without taking his eyes or gun off her, he got to his feet. Less than a yard away from Harlan.

  “I didn’t,” she lied. She shook her head when Harlan inched closer to Farris. Probably because he was planning to knock that gun from his hand.

  Or try.

  But Caitlyn was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

  “Harlan hates me,” Caitlyn said, “because I’m writing an article about his foster father. I’m spilling all the details of how the marshals are covering up his involvement in Jonah Webb’s murder.”

  Farris glanced at Harlan. Maybe to see if he could tell if that was true. Harlan didn’t jump to defend her, thank God, but there must have been something about Harlan’s expression that made Farris’s mouth twist into a snarl.

  “Don’t you know that I see you’ve been with him?” Farris fired back.

  Yeah, she could see that, and she could argue it until she was blue in the face, but Farris wasn’t going to believe her. It was time to go with plan two.

  “I’ll go with you,” she told Farris.

  Now Harlan protested. First with some vicious profanity. And while he didn’t exactly look at her, she could feel every muscle in his body reacting to that. “You’re not going anywhere with this nutcase.”

  “That’s not your decision to make,” Farris fired back. Though he still didn’t sound convinced that she was telling the truth.

  And she wasn’t.

  No way would she leave with him. Heaven knew what kind of sick ways he could come up with to torture her before he killed her. And he would kill her. His obsession and rage wouldn’t allow him to keep her alive. But Caitlyn was counting heavily on Harlan being able to stop a getaway. All she needed to do was give Farris enough distraction for Harlan to get the jump on him.

  She took a step closer to Farris, hoping that it was distraction enough.

  It snagged Farris’s attention, all right. His split-second glances turned just slightly longer each time his gaze swung in her direction. He was obviously trying to figure out if he could trust her. Or at least trying to figure out how to get her out of there while neutralizing Harlan.

  “I’ll go with him,” she said to Harlan.

  Like Farris, Harlan gave her only a quick glance, but in that simple glance something passed between them. She saw his silent assurance that he was not going to let her die.

  Too bad that Farris must have seen it, too.

  A strangled groan tore f
rom Farris’s throat. “You’re in love with him. You bitch!”

  And that was the only warning she got before Farris launched himself at her. He didn’t reach her.

  Thanks to Harlan.

  Before Farris could get to her, Harlan tackled him, and again both men crashed to the ground. This time, though, she saw Farris’s gun go flying, and Caitlyn knew this fight was pretty much over. Harlan not only outsized him, he’d been trained how to fight.

  Still, Farris fought like a wildcat, all the while yelling and flailing his arms around. One punch from Harlan, however, and Farris’s head flopped back.

  Caitlyn reached for Farris’s gun so that he wouldn’t be able to snatch it up, but reaching for it was as far as she got.

  Someone hooked an arm around her neck, and her body snapped back. She landed right against his chest. And before she could make a sound, someone shoved a gun to her head.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Harlan had to restrain himself, but part of him wished that Farris was dead so the man could no longer torment Caitlyn.

  But he wasn’t about to murder an unarmed man.

  Especially one he could restrain. He grabbed Farris and hauled him to his feet so he could drag him to the truck and get a pair of plastic handcuffs from the glove compartment.

  Harlan stopped when he caught a movement from the corner of his eye, and without loosening his grip on Farris, he whirled in Caitlyn’s direction.

  Everything inside him came crashing down.

  No, hell, no. This couldn’t be happening. But it was. Caitlyn was standing there, white as a ghost in the pale moonlight, and someone had a gun on her.

  “I didn’t see him in time,” she whispered.

  That felt like a fist around his heart. She was apologizing for being put in another life-and-death situation. One not of her own making. It was Farris’s making.

  Or maybe not.

  Harlan had to amend that theory when he caught a glimpse of the man’s face. Not some hired gun. He knew this man.

  Curtis.

  “You said I could have Caitlyn,” Farris practically shouted. “You said you wouldn’t hurt her.”

  “There’s been a change of plans.” Curtis’s voice was eerily calm, and unlike Farris, his hand wasn’t shaking.

  The mark of a cold-blooded killer.

  “Marshal McKinney, you need to put down your gun and step away from Farris,” Curtis ordered.

  Harlan didn’t budge, but Farris struggled, fighting to get away from him. However, Harlan held on. He didn’t want Farris going after Caitlyn. Not with that gun right at her head. Even if Curtis didn’t have plans to shoot her, the gun might accidentally go off.

  “This guy isn’t dealing with a full deck,” Harlan said, tipping his head to Farris. “If I let him go, he might try to kill all of us.”

  “He won’t.” And there didn’t appear to be a shred of doubt in Curtis’s tone, which meant they’d worked out some kind of sick deal.

  Caitlyn didn’t say a word. Didn’t take her gaze off Harlan, and he cursed when he realized that she was still giving him an apologetic look.

  “Your gun,” Curtis reminded Harlan. “And let go of Farris so he can leave.”

  Farris made another of those outraged sounds. “I’m not leaving without her.” Again he tried to tear himself away from Harlan, but Curtis shifted the gun toward Harlan and him.

  “My advice—cooperate.” And coming from Curtis, it didn’t sound like a suggestion. “If things work out as planned, you might be able to have Caitlyn after all.” Curtis’s mouth tightened. “Though why you’d want a woman in love with another man, I don’t know.”

  It was twice in one night that someone had accused her of being in love with him, and if Harlan hadn’t been between this rock and a hard place, he might have given it some thought. However, the only thoughts he had right now were how to get out of this.

  Caitlyn muttered something and shifted her body weight as if she might drop to the ground. Curtis hooked his arm around her neck, snapped her to him and pointed the gun at her again.

  As bad as it was to see that gun right on her—and it was bad—Harlan had to look at the bigger picture here. He had to keep Curtis’s mind off the fact that Harlan was still armed. The longer he could hang on to his gun, the better.

  “Where’s Declan?” Harlan wanted to know the answer to that, but he wasn’t sure he’d get the truth from Curtis. Still, the conversation might distract him until Harlan could figure out a way to get that gun from his hand.

  “He’ll join us soon. At gunpoint, of course.”

  Harlan didn’t doubt the gunpoint part. In fact, there might be several hired guns in on this. But why was he bringing Declan here?

  “You plan to use Declan for more leverage?” Harlan asked. But he already had the ultimate leverage with Caitlyn.

  “You don’t need Declan or Harlan down here if you have me,” Caitlyn volunteered. “You can let them go.”

  Curtis made a sound of disagreement. “I need you both, actually. You and Harlan,” he clarified, aiming a glare at Farris. “Temporarily. Just hold on to your sanity a moment or two longer, and you might get what you want from this.”

  Because Harlan still had a grip on Farris, he felt the man’s muscle tense. “I paid big money to get her,” Farris shouted. “Hell, I funded this entire operation for one reason. Her.”

  So that explained, well, pretty much nothing. Farris had the money to pay for an attack like this, but Harlan still didn’t know the reason Curtis would plan their capture and murder.

  But he could guess why.

  “It’s your fingerprint they’ll find on Sherry’s neck,” Harlan challenged.

  Curtis didn’t jump to deny it. “There’ll be no fingerprint to find, because right about now someone’s blowing up the morgue.”

  Harlan had no idea if that was true, but at that exact moment his phone buzzed. He couldn’t take his attention off Curtis to see who was calling and why. But maybe if someone had tried to set an explosive at the morgue, then the person watching the place had managed to stop it.

  He could hope anyway.

  Curtis obviously hoped the opposite because he smiled. For a moment or two anyway. Then he glanced down at his watch and cursed.

  Was this profanity for Declan because he hadn’t arrived yet? Or was something else going on? Either way, Harlan hoped he had his own backup in the area. Certainly by now Slade and/or Clayton should be nearby, and he hoped like the devil it didn’t take them too long to get here.

  “This is the third time I’ve asked you to put down that gun,” Curtis warned Harlan. “If I have to ask again, I start shooting, and Caitlyn will get the first bullet.”

  Now Harlan cursed. Because he knew time for distraction was over. He couldn’t risk Caitlyn’s life, so he dropped his gun on the ground. Right by his feet. Maybe he’d be able to get to it in a hurry if things turned bad.

  And he was afraid bad was just getting started.

  “You murdered Sherry,” Caitlyn concluded, obviously trying to make her own distraction. “And now you’re trying to cover it up by using us.” Despite the gun at her head, she tossed Curtis a glare. “Did you kill Tiffany, too?”

  “I had to. I’d already killed Sherry and needed a way to cover it up.” Curtis lifted his shoulder. “I figured if the Rangers would try to link Tiffany’s death to Webb’s murder, then they’d try to link Sherry’s, too.”

  “And you wanted Sherry dead because she was asking questions about some of your shady business investments.” Plain and simple, it was a guess, but judging from the way Curtis’s eyes narrowed, Harlan had hit pay dirt. “So you sent out those threatening notes to make everyone believe her disappearance was connected to Rocky Creek.”

  “I sent those notes,” F
arris piped up.

  Curtis huffed as if dealing with an annoying insect. “Because I told him to do it. Farris isn’t much of a self-starter when it comes to detailed plans like this one. All that psychosis gets in the way.”

  Taunting a crazy man wasn’t how Harlan would have gone about this. However, it was obvious Curtis wasn’t pleased with the man who’d paid to cover up a murder, all so he could get his hands on Caitlyn.

  “I’m guessing that Curtis promised he’d draw out Caitlyn for you,” Harlan asked Farris.

  “He promised more than that,” Farris confirmed. “He contacted me out of the blue and said he could draw her out. He told me I could do whatever I wanted and that I wouldn’t have to go back to that place.”

  To the institution, no doubt.

  Curtis checked his watch again. Cursed some more. The man was obviously unaware or just didn’t care that Farris was about to snap.

  “Henry?” Curtis called out. Probably to the man who’d kidnapped Declan.

  No answer.

  And that only made Curtis’s profanity even worse.

  “You think Curtis will keep his promise to you?” Caitlyn asked, her attention nailed to Farris now. “You really believe he’ll let you out of this alive? Not a chance. No way would he let a loon like you go so you could spill to every lawman in the state.”

  Farris stopped struggling, his gaze locked with Caitlyn’s. Hell. She was baiting him. The very thing Harlan didn’t want her to do, even if she was trying to get Farris to go after Curtis and not her.

  “Don’t listen to her,” Curtis snapped.

  “He doesn’t want you to listen because he knows I’ll tell you that you’ve been duped. All that money you spent, and he has no intention of following through on his promises.” She paused, managed a syrupy smile. “Because he intends to keep me for himself.”

  Farris froze. Unlike Caitlyn, Harlan couldn’t see the man’s expression, but he didn’t need to see it to feel the rage roar through Farris’s body.