A Different Kind of Valentine

by K. J. Dahlen

  "That’s not good." Bethany thought out loud.

  "What else did you see that night?"

  Bethany pressed her hands to her head, obviously searching for the smallest item. "I’ve told you everything I can remember."

  "There has to be something else." Colton began to pace. "Grayson wouldn’t push this hard if there weren’t something more damning."

  Bethany shrugged. "I honestly can’t remember anything else. I never saw the face of the man in the shadows and I can’t remember what he told Travis before I ran."

  "There has to be something more." Colton placed a heavy hand on her left shoulder, giving it a shake. "You have to think. Can you remember anything else from that night?"

  "No I can’t." Bethany struggled from his grasp. "Don’t you think I would have told you already if there were? I don’t know why Grayson wants me dead. Or what happened after they shot my brother. I just don’t know."

  "I’m sorry." Colton ran his hand through his hair. "You must know this is hard on me as well as you."

  She rubbed her upper arms trying to keep a shiver from snaking up her spine, "What’s the nearest town around here? I really need to make a phone call."

  "There’s a phone at the Four Corners. That’s a bar at the corners where I-90 crosses Interstate 61. It’s not that far from here," he told her.

  Bethany nodded. "Good, let’s go then. The sooner we start the sooner this will be over."

  Colton made sure the fire from the night before was out and a few minutes later they were on their way. Colton steered his horse away from the cabin. They had to go through the trees and when they came out the other side, Bethany could see the highway and the bar in the distance. They were about to break out of the tree line when Colton backed his horse up. Bethany peeked over his shoulder to see what the holdup was and that’s when she saw the parade of police cars coming down the road.

  Four police cruisers, all with their red and blue lights flashing came right at them. It wasn’t until the cars passed where they were that Bethany exhaled the breath she was holding. Turning her head she watched as the four police cars split up at the off ramp. Two went left and the other two went right. The two cars that went left took the off ramp to the interstate road and the two cars that went right were going toward the small town of Benton.

  "I wonder whether that parade has anything to do with us." Bethany said.

  "You can bet Grayson won’t like the extra cops around," Colton murmured.

  "What do you mean?" Bethany frowned.

  "Grayson and Travis are out at my place with a crew you can bet aren’t police officers. They’ll have the few men who don’t mind breaking the law for the Trainer family. They can get away with a lot if Grayson and Travis are in charge. They can get away with murder."

  "That doesn’t sound good," Bethany whispered. "The sooner we get to a phone the better. The bureau can take you into protective custody until this is over."

  Colton was instantly dismissive. "I go to jail while Grayson and Travis break the law. Somehow that doesn’t sound right."

  "It wouldn’t be for long and you won’t go to jail. You’ll be going to a safe house until we have everything we need to put them away for life."

  "I still don’t like it." Colton murmured as he moved his horse toward the road.

  Chapter Seven

  As Bethany approached the restaurant the more intensely she felt that the events of the past few days would dominate her actions, to the point of distracting her from the objective of this mission. Making contact with her chief had to be paramount. The next few moments were all she had to collect and sort the newest developments in the case against the drug Lords. Her only time, now, to learn what others might know about the death of her brother.

  When they crossed the road and reached the payphone, she felt more than saw Colton dismount the horse. Bethany turned, lifting her right leg over Beau’s rump and slid off the horse right into Colton’s arms. As much as she wanted to stay right there and let the rest of the world go by, she pushed herself away. Inside the phone booth, she dialed the operator, asked for a collect call, and gave the number.

  A few minutes later she returned to Colton. "Well, that’s done."

  "What exactly is done?" Colton asked.

  "Within the hour the DEA will raid the warehouse and arrest everyone inside. There are agents on the way to your ranch to arrest the Trainer brothers and anyone else who happens to be at the ranch. If they find drugs at the warehouse, that will close the case. At any rate Travis Trainer will go to jail for the death of my brother," Bethany told him.

  "What about Grayson Trainer?" Colton asked.

  Bethany shook her head. "I told them I couldn’t see the man in the shadows. If Grayson is involved, we’ll have to find the evidence to connect him to the crime and to his brother."

  "What are we supposed to do?" Colton wanted to know.

  "We are supposed to wait here. Someone will pick us up after the arrests are made." Bethany looked around. She didn’t really want to spend the morning in a bar but then she noticed there was a restaurant too. "Let’s go get some breakfast. I’m starved."

  ~ * ~

  Colton nodded and tied the horse up. Inside they chose a table. Neither of them said too much while they ordered and ate. After the meal was over, though, Bethany kept a close eye on the front door. Colton knew she was waiting for someone to come and pick her up. It seemed to him she couldn’t wait to go back to her life in the city.

  When the door finally opened and a stranger walked in, Bethany smiled and waved at him. Colton knew the time had come to say goodbye. Unresolved feelings flooded his body as he realized he might never see her again. When they stood up he reached for her and pulled her into his arms. He bent his head and kissed her with all the passion he felt for her. Then he let her go.

  Bethany looked stunned. He hadn’t been looking forward to saying goodbye and his kiss had weakened his defenses, not to mention it had taken his breath away. The feelings he had been trying to hide all along had come out in his response. The look in her eyes had told him that she understood.

  The stranger joined them before either could say another word. Bethany had to clear her throat to greet him, "Hey, Ron, how did it go?"

  Ron smiled. He looked from her to Colton and back. Red in the face but smiling at the corners of his mouth, he made his report. "We got it all. The raid on the warehouse was barely in time. They were already loading the stuff on several trucks headed for places unknown, but we managed to stop them before any of the trucks drove out the door."

  "Was there any gun play?" Bethany asked.

  Ron nodded. "There was some resistance but we managed to get the drop on them. It was over before they had a chance to really get into a firefight."

  Bethany smiled. "I've always known I can’t halt the flow of drugs, but anytime I can put a hole in the pipeline is a great day, and so worth the effort. What about the guys out at Colton’s ranch? Did you manage to get the Trainer brothers into custody?"

  Ron smiled. "Oh yeah, but we only got one of them. He tried really hard to convince us he was on our side of the law but it didn’t work. After the raid on the warehouse, several of the guys we busted spilled their guts about the guys in charge. They were looking for a deal before we even cuffed them."

  "Which one did you get?" Colton asked.

  "We got Travis. Apparently Grayson bolted when he saw the DEA and FBI moving in." Ron continued, "He and three other people got away. We chased them but they all separated and as we didn’t have snowmobiles, we just watched them go. Until we catch up with him, you both need to go under wraps."

  Bethany glanced over at Colton. "I know you won't like hiding--" she began

  No, and he didn't want to leave her quite yet. They had to talk about that kiss.

  Bethany nodded. "By the way, Travis is the one that murdered Ian. I saw him shoot my unarmed brother in cold blood."

  Ron sobered for a moment. "I’m sorry Ian is gone. H
e was a nice guy. We’ve taken care of his body. He’s at the morgue waiting for you to decide how you want to care for his remains."

  Colton saw the tears burning in her eyes and his heart wrenched for her.

  "Well, it looks like you’re still stuck with me for a little longer. It shouldn’t take too long to run Grayson down. Then you can have your life back."

  "What about Beau? I can’t leave my horse here alone."

  "Can you call Barry and have him take Beau back to the stables?" Bethany asked.

  "I suppose that would work best, although I hate leaving him her."

  "We can get someone to stay with him until Barry gets here with the trailer," Ron offered. "But we need to get the two of you somewhere safe, fast."

  "Ok, let me call Barry to make arrangements for Beau and then I’ll go with you."

  Bethany watched him walk outside and pull out his cell. She turned to Ron and asked, "What happened at the ranch?"

  Ron frowned. "We came in on two sides. There was a firefight. We saw part of the group bolt. Three of the men escaped. We managed to get the remainder of the group contained and the FBI went after the three who got away. They found snowmobile tracks behind the ranch. That’s where they split up and disappeared into the woods."

  "Damn," Bethany swore.

  The door opened and a man with a gun strode into the restaurant. Ron saw him come in too--he pushed her to the floor. He reached for his gun but the intruder raised his weapon and got a round off. Ron went down clutching his shoulder.

  From outside Colton watched Bethany fumble for Ron’s gun then begin firing at the man by the door. Her first bullet hit him in the chest and knocked him off his feet but it didn’t put him down. The man shot off another round. His bullet splintered the table over her head. Her second bullet put a hole in the man's forehead. The gunman dropped to the floor. Everything happened so fast Colton hadn’t had time to even think, he simply watched her react, a blessed consequence of endless training. Feeling sick to his stomach, he went to get Beau.

  ~ * ~

  Ron was struggling to sit up, holding his shoulder, in pain and rapidly going into shock, but he was alive. Bethany looked at the front door. She hadn’t seen Colton come back in before the bullets flew. She glanced back at Ron and found the bartender holding a cloth to Ron’s shoulder. She knew he would be taken care of. "I’m going to find Colton. I didn’t hear any shooting outside but he might be hurt."

  Ron nodded. "Be careful out there. There are two more suspects at large."

  She nodded, scrambled to her feet, and went for the door. She still had Ron’s gun in her hand, automatically checking the load as she carefully scanned the lot around the door. There was no sign of Colton or his horse. She opened the door part way and slowly slid through it, plastering herself against the wall of the restaurant. She couldn’t see anyone but if the man she shot was one of Grayson’s men, she couldn’t take the chance that Grayson wasn’t out there somewhere.

  Bethany turned back into the restaurant. Going out the back door she made her way around the building. She found Colton’s horse but again there was no sign of Colton. She turned to go around the other way and ran into a man’s arms. "Colton! Oh thank god. I was looking for you."

  "I had to get some fresh air. How is Ron?" Colton asked quietly.

  "A man walked in and started shooting. Ron will be fine," Bethany told him. "I’ve never seen him before."

  "I have. He’s one of Grayson’s men, Jared Fry," Colton admitted. "I saw him from the corner of my eye when I brought Beau around the side of the bar."

  "Did you see Grayson out there somewhere?" Bethany asked.

  "No, Grayson wouldn’t be here." He pointed toward the other side of the road to the snowmobile sitting there. "You can be sure he sent Fry. I was about to come in behind him when the shooting started so I stayed out of sight."

  "So where is Grayson, do you think?"

  Colton rubbed his chin with the back of his hand. "Hiding. I’ll have to think about where he might go. Jared must have found our tracks by the cabin and followed them."

  "Either that or Grayson is smart enough to have had someone waiting for us at the nearest phone in the area. The quicker we can get to the safe house the more time the agency men will have to find him. Bethany took his elbow. "Let’s go see how Ron is. Jared shot him in the shoulder."

  Colton followed her back inside the restaurant. Ron was sitting in a chair while one of the staff manufactured a pressure bandage from several laundered kitchen towels. He badly needed to see a doctor.

  Ron glanced up at Bethany. "I called the DEA office. They are sending another team to pick you up." He gazed over at the dead man. "Do you know who he was?"

  Colton nodded. "Jared Fry. He’s one of Grayson’s men."

  "Three men escaped the ranch this morning. He could have been one of them," Ron told them. "Grayson is still out there somewhere."

  A few minutes later two agents entered the restaurant, Steve Houser and Ben Loock. They quickly assessed the situation. "We have orders to take Bethany and Colton Rivers into custody and you to the hospital."

  "Have you heard anything new about Grayson Trainer yet?" Ron asked as he got to his feet.

  Steve shook his head. "No, but we have all possible police personnel looking for him." Steve glanced back at the front door to the body on the floor. "We’ll call an ambulance for that one."

  Ron nodded. "Bethany shot him before he could finish what he started."

  Ben looked over at Colton. "I’m ready to take you and Bethany to a safe house. Steve will stay here with Fry until the ambulance gets here then he’ll meet us."

  "Barry will be here in about ten minutes to take Beau home. I told him I’d check with him in a few days. It shouldn’t take much longer than that for you to bring in Grayson."

  A few minutes later the ambulance pulled up. The medics argued hard to take Ron with them as his situation had deteriorated. Ron kind of minded riding with a corpse, but in the end he had no choice. Ben drove Colton and Bethany about forty miles to a town called Winona. Turning off highway 61 onto Huff Street Ben drove through town toward the Mississippi River. Ben took Huff Street right into the heart of the city. He turned on Broadway and traveled several blocks to Walnut Street. Turning left he traveled several more blocks before he pulled into a driveway on the left, a light blue house on the corner of the block. The safe house faced the Mississippi River. They could see ice along the shoreline from where they stood.

  Bethany, Colton, and Ben got out of the car walked to the front door. Bethany glanced down the street but didn’t see anything out of order. All the other houses in the area were a little run down. They wore fading and peeling paint while their sidewalks hadn’t been shoveled since the last snowstorm. Yet everywhere she looked she could see signs of the Christmas holiday. The porch across the street had Christmas lights wrapped around the railing, a Christmas tree in the window. The red and green lights sparkled through the glass. The neighborhood looked quiet, homes sat on large lots making rows of just five to a block face. It was just the place to hide in plain sight. Ben dug in his pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. He unlocked the front door and inside they all went. Ben let Steve know they had arrived safely then went out to scout the perimeter.

  ~ * ~

  Colton sat down on the sofa and watched them at work. In the first place, he wasn’t happy being there. He’d rather have been able to go back to his ranch. He had been unusually quiet throughout the trip down here, and he didn’t have too much to say right now. He had been thinking about where Grayson Trainer might hide out. Likewise, he had been thinking about the kiss he gave Bethany. Starting out of a brown study, he looked in her direction only to find her looking back at him. When she winked at him, he was surprised and intrigued. "Where are we exactly?" Not much of a conversational starter, but the best he could do at the moment.