Isolated Threat

“You going to cook me dinner?” Cecilia asked, trying to infuse some levity into her tone.

“That’s my lot in life,” Rachel returned. “Cooking for a passel of helpless Knights.”

“Helpless seems harsh. And not a word Sarah would appreciate.” Sarah was the only one of the Knight girls who’d taken an interest in ranching, keeping her at home full-time. She was everything a ranching woman should be—tough, hardworking, and hardheaded.

“But it fits when she refuses to even learn how to make spaghetti. I won’t be around forever.”

A blip of panic bloomed in Cecilia’s chest, but she kept her tone light. “Going somewhere?”

Rachel shrugged restlessly. “You got off the ranch. You have a life.”

“You do too. You’re here every summer and—”

“And driven by my daddy. Or my sister, which is fine. The rez isn’t for me like it is for you. But maybe the ranch isn’t either. Felicity is getting married and having a baby and I… Well, I’m never going to meet anyone the way my life currently is.”

“Just get yourself into a life-threatening situation like Felicity did. Brady will follow in Gage’s footsteps of falling for the damsel in distress and bang.”

Rachel wrinkled her nose. “Felicity was hardly a damsel. Besides, Brady is so…stuffy.”

“He’s not—” Cecilia clamped her mouth shut. Defending Brady’s stuffiness was not what she needed to be doing right now. Luckily, a knock on the door made the subject easy to change. It was probably Mrs. Eldridge wanting to share another story. “Be right back,” Cecilia said, heading for the front door.

She opened it, expecting her elderly neighbor’s face and finding no one. She looked around. No kids giggling in the bushes playing ding-dong-ditch. Just…quiet.

She began to close the door before she noticed the small lump of fur on the porch. Cecilia stopped short as her stomach heaved.

There was an arrow sticking out of it, though the prairie dog clearly hadn’t been killed by an arrow. Cecilia swallowed, forced herself to look, to pay attention.

Worse than the fact it was a tiny dead prairie dog, there was a note attached to the arrow with three simple words written on it in capital letters.

See you soon.

She stared at the scrawled words until her vision blurred. She was only shaken out of her frozen state by Rachel’s voice.

“Who is it?” Rachel called.

“Just a prank,” Cecilia replied, swallowing down the bile in her throat as her fingers closed over the butt of her holstered gun. “I’ll be right back.” She stepped outside, closing the door behind her. She scanned the area—houses, a quiet street, no one skulking around.

Anymore.

She let her hand fall off her weapon. She’d dispose of the dead animal, and then get Rachel the hell back to the Knight ranch.

Then she’d play Elijah’s game, she decided grimly. It was the only way to keep him off Mak’s trail.

Chapter Four

Brady was bleary-eyed the next day. Since Mak had slept so much before Felicity had left, he’d spent most of the night up and fussy. Brady and Gage had a list of instructions on baby care, but it had still taken three tries and watching a how-to video online to get the diaper on right. Making bottles and feeding them to the kid was pretty easy, and Mak was mostly a happy baby. Still, Brady was glad Gage was here with him. He wouldn’t have survived the night without help—at least not with his sanity intact.

Brady had filled Gage in about Elijah…to an extent. There were things he hadn’t told his brothers. The reasons he’d had for keeping Elijah a secret still existed, so keeping some parts of his story to himself made sense. Giving them the truth didn’t mean giving them all the truths.

It bothered him that he hadn’t heard from Cecilia. Not even a text. Shouldn’t she want to check in on the baby? What was he supposed to do all day? Gage would go in to work, and Brady couldn’t keep having visitors. If someone was watching or looking into him, the trail of people would be suspect.

Not as suspect as it might be at another time in his life. People had been traipsing in and out of his apartment to help out for too long now. Maybe it wouldn’t send up any red flags, but there was no reason to chance it.

Gage had smuggled up a foldable, portable crib thing in his duffel bag. Mak was currently sleeping peacefully, and Brady knew he should try to catch a few hours too. Maybe even wake the baby up in an effort to keep him on a correct day/night schedule.

But he couldn’t bring himself to wake up the boy when he looked so peaceful, and Brady’s shoulder was currently throbbing too much to sleep through.

He went to the kitchen and made coffee, took some ibuprofen and the last of his antibiotics—praying they worked this time. He was tired of hospitals and doctors and being poked at and hmmed over.

Gage came out of the spare bedroom dressed in his uniform. It was the last week he’d be putting that particular uniform on. He was transferring from Valiant County to Rapid City PD to be closer to Felicity’s job at the National Park, and Brady still hadn’t fully grasped the reality of not working with his twin brother anymore.

“I know you miss it,” Gage said, either not understanding the pain Brady felt, or purposefully changing the topic to another painful one.

Brady gestured at his bum shoulder, tried to sound nonchalant. “Not much I can do with this.”

“It’s not permanent.”

“No.” It felt it, though. He was supposed to be back at work by now, not sidelined by an infection. He was supposed to go back to work knowing Gage would be there, but Gage only had three shifts left before his life changed.

He’d marry Felicity, have a kid, be a cop somewhere else.

If Brady looked too closely at all that, he might find the source of the low feelings he’d been having before he’d been shot.

So he decided not to look closely. “Coffee?”

“I’ll just grab some at the station. I want to check on Felicity before my shift starts. She’s feeling a little off in the mornings.”

“It fits, you know, you two. I wouldn’t have predicted it. But it works.” Brady didn’t know what possessed him to say it, but there it was.

Gage grinned. “Yeah, I know.” His smile dimmed. “This Elijah…” Gage sighed. “What do I tell the others?”

Brady loved all of his brothers—would fight next to, protect and die for every single one of them. But he and Gage had escaped the Sons together, thanks to Jamison. They’d been together from the very beginning, and no matter how old they got, there was a deeper bond or connection between them. They were twins.

The fact Gage was willing to keep part of the story a secret from their brothers only made Brady feel guilty that there were still things Gage didn’t know.

Brady didn’t like to deal in guilt—he refused to wallow in it. If a man was guilty, he needed to change his actions to not feel guilty anymore. Maybe there’d been reasons to keep Elijah a secret, but the reasons had lost their weight.

“I think I should tell them. Everything. Together. I don’t think Mak and I should stay here. I think we should hide. I just have to figure out how I can get him somewhere without being seen—and making sure Cecilia is okay.”

“Heard from her?”

Brady shook his head.

“I don’t like it. I know she can take care of herself, but I don’t like it.”

“Same, but I also know there’s no getting through to that hardheaded woman.” Brady didn’t know why she had to be contrary for the sake of being contrary, but he knew she would be. No matter what he said.

“Let’s set up a family dinner. Cecilia comes and you come. We find a way to hide Mak. If everyone descends on the ranch and there’s no baby—it’ll throw anyone off the sent.”

“But how do we completely hide the presence of a six-month-old?”

Brady looked down at the baby in the portable crib. Mak was still fast asleep, little fist bunched and tucked under his chin, knees bent but spread wide-open. Felicity had brought some clothes so he was wearing dinosaur footie pajamas.

Though he didn’t say anything, Brady could tell Gage was thinking about his future as a father.

“I hate to bring anyone else into it…”

Gage fixed him with a stern look. “I think you know everyone else would be more than happy to help keep that or any child out of the Sons’ clutches.”

Brady nodded. He knew it was true, but it was still against that moral compass he’d always listened to. Don’t bring more people than necessary into Sons danger. Especially innocent ones.

“Gigi has that doll she carries around. She was even pushing it around in a stroller last time she was at the ranch.” Brady shrugged away the guilt that was already poking at him. Gigi was four, and though she’d spent most of those four years in the Sons’ camps before Liza and Jamison had saved her, she didn’t deserve to be dragged back into it.

“Mak’s a bit bigger than a doll, but it’s not the worst plan,” Gage said thoughtfully. “Especially if it’s just between apartment door and truck. I bet Cody could find us a truck with tinted windows.” Gage rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

“I can—”

“You got a baby to take care of. You take care of him. I’ll take care of getting him to the ranch.”

Brady looked at Mak’s sleeping form. Completely and utterly defenseless. Brady might want to protect him all on his own, but this child deserved everyone he had in his arsenal.

“Let’s do it as soon as possible.”

THE NICE THING about Rachel staying with her was that Cecilia was so worried about Rachel, she didn’t have much worry left for herself. She spent a sleepless night checking and rechecking the doors and windows in her house to make sure they were locked.

Bleary-eyed the next morning, she subsisted off coffee—which she normally didn’t drink—and as much sugar as one human could possibly stand. She did a quick walk around the house looking for any more dead animals or threatening notes.

As she stepped back inside, Rachel was shuffling into the kitchen with a big, loud yawn. Rach had never been a morning person. Cecilia didn’t know why she’d taken a teaching job that required her to do most of her work in the morning, but she could only assume Rachel loved it.

When Rachel stayed with her, she usually walked to and from the school with her probing cane. Cecilia would feel better if she had a support dog, but Rachel had lost hers last year to old age and hadn’t had the heart to go through the process of trying to get a new one.

“I’m going to drive you in today.”

Rachel frowned as she deftly poured herself some coffee. “Why would you do that?”

Cecilia had prepared for that question, and still she winced. She hated to lie to Rachel. So she didn’t lie…exactly. “There’s been some stuff going on. Pranks most likely, but the kind that can escalate if given the opportunity.”

Rachel’s frown deepened. “That’s vague.”

“It’s a vague kind of thing. You’d probably be fine walking, but it’d make me feel better if I drove you.”

Rachel sighed a little, and Cecilia half expected her to press the matter.

“It’s too early to argue,” she said around another yawn. “But I’m walking back after my classes are done.”

Cecilia tried not to snap that it wasn’t an option. Compromise was the best bet when talking to a stubborn Knight woman—she should know. “Can you walk with someone? Maybe one of your older students?”

“If you really think it’s necessary.”

“I do.”

Rachel shrugged and sipped her coffee. “I’ll be ready in about twenty.”

While she waited, Cecilia rechecked the house to make sure it was all locked up. She called in on her radio to start her shift, and drove Rachel to the school.

The morning was warm but with a hint of a chill. Fall was starting its slow unfurling, usually Cecilia’s favorite time of year.

It wouldn’t be this year with Layla in the hospital and trying to keep Mak from Elijah and the state.

Cecilia pulled to a stop in front of the school, tried to bite her tongue and failed. “Don’t forget to have someone walk with you back to the house. Someone you trust,” she said as Rachel got out of the car.

Rachel paused. “You’re going to have to tell me what this is all about.”

“When I’ve got more information, I will,” Cecilia lied.

Rachel made a disbelieving sound, then closed the car door and walked toward the school. Cecilia watched until she disappeared inside.

Once she was sure Rachel was inside, she did her normal rounds. It didn’t appear she was being followed today, which was only a minor relief. Someone could start at any moment.

After her first call of the day, a minor vandalism situation that had been solved by involving the mother of the teenage perpetrator, she almost felt relaxed.

Of course, that was when she noticed her tail. She tried to act nonchalant, to keep doing her job, but every hour it was harder to pretend to be unaffected. If they were watching her, was Rachel safe? If they were following her, would Rachel be left alone?

If they were following her in particular, what would they do if they found her isolated and alone?

Nothing, because you’re a trained police officer carrying many weapons with which to defend yourself.

She wanted to believe that voice in her head, to feel sure of it, but she also knew she was one police officer. She didn’t know how many people were following her.

She got another call, this time a disturbance, and had to put her stalkers out of her mind while she tried to make peace between two neighbors fighting about property lines. It was an annoying, pointless screaming match—but it was her job to smooth it over.

It took a full hour, and her head pounded by the time she was walking back to her patrol car. People who couldn’t—wouldn’t—compromise always gave her a headache.

She glanced at her watch. Rachel would have walked to the house by now. Maybe Cecilia could drive by the house, just check in on her. Pretend like she’d forgotten her lunch and was grabbing a sandwich so Rachel didn’t get unduly worried.

The pounding in her head stopped, as did her breath and perhaps even her heart when she saw a piece of paper tucked under her windshield wiper. It fluttered in the breeze.

It could be anything, but Cecilia knew what it would be. Another note—sans dead animal this time.

Or so she thought, until she stepped closer to her patrol car. Under the wheel was a dead raccoon. As if she’d run it over.

But she hadn’t.

No, it was another sign. Another warning.

Steeling herself for another threatening note, Cecilia pulled a rubber glove out of the glove pouch on her gun belt. She picked up the note and read it.

She’s pretty.

Cecilia didn’t let herself react outwardly. Inside she was ice, her heart a shivering mass of fear and panic. But outside, her hands were steady and her gaze was cool. She slid into the patrol car and set the note carefully on the passenger seat, pulling off the glove as she did so.

She turned the ignition, calmly eased on the gas. Keeping her attention evenly split between phone and road, she clicked Rachel’s name on her phone screen and called.

The phone rang. And rang.

“Pick up,” Cecilia muttered, swearing when it went to voice mail.

She was tempted to increase her speed, fly through the rez to her house on the eastern edge.

The only she the note could refer to was Rachel. It was a threat against Rachel, and Rachel was alone. Cecilia should have predicted this. Should have insisted Rachel…

What? Not teach her class? Hide away? It wouldn’t have been a fair demand, but Cecilia still knew she should have done something.

Cecilia drove within the speed limit, watching her surroundings in case it was a trap. An ambush. Because threatening Rachel was only about getting to her. Rachel didn’t know anything.

Or would Elijah think she did?

Cecilia swore again, increasing her speed, though not enough to draw attention. She came to a screeching halt in front of her house. If anyone was watching or following, she’d broken her calm facade.

Since she already had, she raced inside, hand on the butt of her weapon. But Rachel was safe as could be, curled up on the couch, earbuds in.

She pulled one out and looked at Cecilia’s form with raised eyebrows. “Everything okay?”

Cecilia let out a ragged breath. This couldn’t go on. She knew Elijah was purposefully trying to scare her, and giving in to threats and scare tactics would give him what he wanted, but…

She couldn’t risk Rachel.

“I have to take you back to the ranch.”

“Cee, you’re being super weird this week.” Rachel’s expression wasn’t confused so much as concerned. “You’re going to have to tell me what’s going on.”

“I know. I know. Look… I’ll explain everything when we’re home. With everyone.” She had to fill everyone in on what was happening. It was the only way to keep Rachel and Mak safe. To make sure none of them were brought unwittingly into this.

Because Elijah was clearly ready and willing to threaten everything she loved. She didn’t have to live with threats. She should act.

“Let’s get to the ranch,” Cecilia said. “I just have to call someone to take the last two hours of my shift.”

“I can have Dad—”

“No. No, I’m taking you.”

“This is really bad, isn’t it?” Rachel asked, twisting her fingers together.

Cecilia didn’t mind lying to the people she loved if it saved them from worry, but she wasn’t sure she had that luxury anymore. “It could be, if I’m not very careful.”

Rachel slid off the couch, crossed the room and took Cecilia’s hands in hers and gave them a squeeze. “Then let’s be very, very careful.”

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