Taking Aim At The Sheriff

“We’re on our way to Sweetwater Springs,” she said to Jax. “You need to get all the help you can out to 225 Anderson Lane to stop a kidnapping.”

“A kidnapping? What’s going on there?” Jax asked. At least he didn’t hesitate, or curse her, after hearing her voice.

“Someone’s trying to take...my son.” Not exactly a lie, but Jericho would have to explain the full truth later: that Maddox was his son, too.

Now Jax cursed. Maybe because he’d already filled in the blanks or maybe because he had a child of his own and knew that this was a parent’s worst nightmare.

“I’ll make the call and get every available lawman in the area out there.” And Jax cursed some more when another bullet slammed into the truck. A bullet that he no doubt heard. “Tell Jericho to be careful,” he added before he ended the call.

She relayed all of that to Jericho, emphasizing the last part. Did he listen? Of course not. And she was partially thankful for that. She didn’t want Jericho hurt, but she also didn’t want to waste any time getting to Maddox.

“Hurry,” she said purely out of frustration.

Jericho was already hurrying, because she heard the tires squeal against the asphalt as he took a turn. Likely the one to the main road that would lead them to Sweetwater Springs. It was cold, just below freezing, and it was possible there was some ice on the roads. That didn’t help the panic, either, but she was thankful that Jericho didn’t slow down.

“Are they following us?” Laurel asked.

A muscle flickered in his jaw. “Yeah.”

They couldn’t lead the gunmen straight to Sandy’s house. Of course, it was highly likely that both the gunmen and the kidnappers were working for the same person.

Her father.

“This is all my fault,” she whispered. “I should have never left Maddox with Sandy.”

“Herschel knows who Sandy is?” Jericho asked without taking his attention off the road.

“No, my father doesn’t know her, but he must have found out about her.” Laurel hadn’t expected that. Especially not so soon. She’d only left Maddox with Sandy a little over two hours ago, and she hadn’t thought anyone was following her.

She’d clearly thought wrong.

And her precious son could suffer because of her mistake.

“If Herschel’s the one behind this,” Jericho said, “then he won’t hurt Maddox. Will he?” His jaw muscles tightened again, and there was a low, dangerous tone to that question.

“No. Not intentionally.” But her baby was in the middle of an attack, and plenty of things could go wrong. Especially since both Sandy and the kidnappers would be armed, and Sandy wouldn’t just let the kidnappers take Maddox without putting up a fight.

Oh, God.

Those hired guns could hurt Sandy. Or kill her. Her father would have given them orders to keep Maddox safe, but he wouldn’t have extended such an order to the woman hiding his grandson.

Even though Jericho didn’t say anything to her, Laurel could almost feel him trying to work out some kind of plan. Good. Because they needed something—anything—to save their son. No, her father wouldn’t hurt Maddox, but if he got his hands on Maddox, he would hide him away so she could never find him.

“Hold on,” Jericho warned her. “I have to do something about these SOBs behind us.”

He slammed on the brakes, turning the steering wheel and bringing the truck to a stop sideways on the road. Laurel couldn’t see the men following them, but she heard the squeal of their brakes as they approached. Felt the cold blast of air when Jericho lowered his window. He took aim.

Then, nothing.

Jericho just waited. The seconds crawling by. Precious time that they should be using to get to Maddox. Laurel knew they didn’t have a choice. They couldn’t arrive at Sandy’s house with gunmen on their tail, but the waiting only caused the panic to smother her again.

Her heartbeat was already crashing in her ears. Her chest so tight that she couldn’t breathe. But she could think, and her mind was coming up with all sorts of worst-case scenarios.

Even though she knew Jericho wouldn’t approve, she lifted her head just enough so she could see out the side mirror. Laurel immediately spotted the black car. The passenger’s door opened, and a man leaned out. He had a gun, and he pointed it right at them.

The shot blasted through the air.

It took her several heart-stopping moments to realize the gunman hadn’t fired the shot. Jericho had. And their attacker dropped, falling out of the car and onto the ground.

Jericho fired another shot, this one slamming into the windshield right in front of the driver. The glass was tinted and there wasn’t much of a moon, so she couldn’t tell if the bullet hit the guy or not. Jericho maybe couldn’t tell, either, because he sent two more shots in the same spot.

Nothing.

“Which word of stay down didn’t you hear me say?” Jericho snarled. He didn’t even spare her a glance, but he threw his truck into gear and got them moving again—fast.

She’d heard every word just fine, but Laurel had to see for herself if the gunmen were going to follow them. They didn’t. Much to her relief, the black car didn’t move when Jericho sped away.

Laurel got back down but gasped when another sound shot through the truck, and for one terrifying moment she thought the gunmen had returned fire, after all. But it was just Jericho’s phone that she still had gripped in her hand.

“It’s Jax,” she said, glancing at the screen. Laurel answered the call and put it on speaker.

“I’m not far behind you—” Jax started.

“Look out for the black four-door car that’s maybe still in the middle of the road near the creek,” Jericho interrupted. “The guys inside are the ones who attacked Laurel and me.”

“Did you kill them?” Jax asked.

“Maybe. But even if I didn’t, I doubt they’re in any shape to drive.”

Good. It seemed wrong to celebrate anyone being shot or killed, but the men were another obstacle they didn’t need.

“If they’re alive,” Jericho continued, “arrest them. Get answers from them and get them fast. But be careful. I don’t know what kind of orders they have.”

Neither did Laurel, but she did know that wounded men could still kill, and she didn’t want that happening to Jax and Dexter.

“I’ll keep an eye out for the men and the car,” Jax assured him. “I just got off the phone with Sheriff Cooper McKinnon over in Sweetwater Springs. He and two deputies are at the residence. Two men fled on foot, and the deputies are in pursuit.”

“Did they take Maddox?” Laurel couldn’t ask fast enough.

“They didn’t have a baby with them, but Cooper said he’d call me back once he was sure the residence was secure. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.” And Jax hung up.

Her stomach tightened. It wasn’t over. Just because those would-be kidnappers were running, it didn’t mean there weren’t other hired guns inside the house. Maybe holding Sandy and Maddox hostage.

Or worse.

“Don’t go there,” Jericho warned her. The glance he gave her this time let her know that he didn’t want to deal with a hysterical woman. “You said your friend was a former cop, and I’m guessing she can handle herself or you wouldn’t have left Maddox with her.”

Laurel managed to nod. Sandy could indeed handle herself. But that didn’t mean something couldn’t have gone wrong. She should have hired a team of bodyguards to help, but there hadn’t been time.

Maybe still wasn’t.

“Any chance we’ll be able to link any of these hired guns to your father?” Jericho asked.

“No chance whatsoever. My father is thorough.” Among other things. She’d always known he was capable of breaking the law, but Laurel hadn’t realized until recently just how far he would go to make sure he got what he wanted.

And what he wanted was Maddox.

“Now that I’ve defied him,” she said, “my father will stop at nothing. Nothing,” Laurel repeated.

Jericho stayed quiet a moment. Kept driving, the tires squealing when he took the curves too fast. “And you really think marriage will stop him?”

“No,” Laurel readily admitted. “He’ll put me in jail or a mental hospital. But what the marriage can do is prevent him from taking Maddox.”

She hoped.

Still, it was a long shot. And judging from the way Jericho’s forehead bunched up, she hadn’t convinced him this was the way to go.

“Hang on,” he said just as he took another sharp curve. The truck went into a skid, but Jericho quickly regained control.

Laurel was far enough down on the seat that she couldn’t see out the windshield, but she did see the lights filtering in. No doubt from the town of Sweetwater Springs. That meant they were only minutes from Sandy’s parents’ house. However, it seemed to take an eternity for those minutes to pass.

She finally saw the swirl of blue lights from a police cruiser. Red lights, too. Probably from an ambulance.

That put her heart right back in her throat.

Laurel sat up, her gaze firing all around while she tried to spot Maddox and Sandy. No sign of them, but she’d been right about the cruiser and the ambulance. Both were in front of Sandy’s parents’ house, and there were several lawmen milling around in the yard.

Before Jericho even pulled the truck to a full stop, Laurel tried to bolt out, but as he’d done at the house, he caught onto her arm and stopped her.

“I have to get to Maddox,” she insisted.

“No. You have to wait here,” he ordered. “And I mean it.”

With his gun already drawn, Jericho threw open the door and made a beeline toward the tall, lanky man on the porch. Laurel recognized him—Sheriff Cooper McKinnon. Like Jericho, Cooper had had some run-ins with her father, but she hoped that wouldn’t prevent him from doing his job and saving Maddox.

Laurel did wait in the truck. Several painful seconds. As long as she could manage. And then she got out, running toward the two sheriffs. Another lawman in the yard, a deputy, tried to stop her from getting closer, but she batted his hands away.

“My son is in there!”

“It’s okay,” Cooper assured the deputy. “Let her through.”

Laurel didn’t take the time to thank him or to respond to the glare Jericho was giving her for disobeying his order. She rushed past the men and hurried into the house. The room was dark, only a corner lamp for illumination, so she needed a moment for her eyes to adjust and take everything in.

Some of the furniture and a Christmas tree had been toppled over. Things were strewn around. Evidence of the struggle that’d taken place here.

Then her heart bashed against her ribs.

Because she saw the blood. On the floor. And on the front of Sandy’s white T-shirt.

“Oh, God.” Laurel’s gaze flew past her friend and to the medic.

Who was holding Maddox.

“He’s all right,” Sandy quickly told her. The medic repeated a variation of the same thing.

Laurel didn’t believe either of them. She hurried to her son, praying there’d be no blood on him. There wasn’t. She took him from the medic’s arms, trying to check every inch of him. Maddox didn’t cry, didn’t seem upset, but he did look a little confused about what was going on.

“He wasn’t hurt,” Sandy insisted.

Laurel shook her head. “But the blood.”

“It’s mine.” Sandy lifted the sleeve of her T-shirt, and Laurel saw the angry gash on her friend’s arm.

That gave Laurel a new burst of emotions. Concern and the sickening dread that she’d put her friend in danger. “I’m so sorry.”

Sandy shrugged. “I just got grazed by a bullet, that’s all. Nothing serious. The medic will stitch me up, but I wanted him to check out Maddox first.”

“The kid’s fine,” the medic assured her. He goosed Maddox in the belly and went toward Sandy to start examining her.

“I can’t ever thank you enough,” Laurel told the woman.

“No thanks needed.” Sandy’s attention went to Jericho. “But I’d appreciate it if you caught the scum who did this.”

Jericho nodded. “I will.” And it sounded like a promise. One that Laurel hoped he could keep.

“Boo-boo,” Maddox said, pointing to Sandy’s arm.

Since Laurel didn’t want him to see that, she sheltered his face against her shoulder and moved to the other part of the room.

And practically ran right into Jericho.

The moment seemed to freeze. Or maybe she felt that way because Laurel’s feet suddenly seemed anchored in place. But then, Jericho didn’t move, either. He just stood there, his attention fixed on Maddox.

Maddox gave him a wary look, his gaze sliding from Jericho’s cowboy hat, face and finally to the shiny badge on his shirt. Maddox smiled.

Jericho sure didn’t.

Laurel saw all the emotions go through his eyes. The love, instant and strong. The fear that he’d come so close to losing him. And finally the hatred. Not aimed at Maddox but at her.

For keeping Maddox from him.

“We need to leave,” Jericho said to her. Not easily. His jaw muscles were as hard as granite.

Well, they were until Maddox smiled again.

Jericho’s expression softened a bit. Then it softened a lot when he reached out and touched his son’s cheek. That seemed to be the only invitation Maddox needed, because he reached for Jericho and that badge.

But Jericho didn’t get a chance to take him.

Because Cooper stuck his head through the partially opened door. The lawman’s attention went straight to Jericho. Then her. “My deputy caught one of them,” Cooper said. “It’s not good.”

No. Laurel wasn’t sure she could handle any more bad news tonight.

“What’s wrong?” Jericho asked, walking closer to his fellow sheriff.

“I have to get all of you out of here now,” Cooper insisted, glancing at both Jericho and Laurel. “The kidnapper we caught told my deputy that more men were on the way here, and they have orders to shoot to kill.”

Chapter Five

Shoot to kill.

Not exactly orders that Jericho had wanted to hear, but it’d gotten Laurel, Maddox and him hurrying away from the scene and to the sheriff’s office in Appaloosa Pass. That wasn’t exactly ideal for a toddler, but it would have to do until Jericho could make other arrangements.

And put an end to the danger.

The first would be a whole lot easier than the last.

Sandy didn’t have any info about the kidnappers, and the one captured kidnapper was no longer talking, other than to tell them that those shoot-to-kill orders were meant only for Laurel and him. Jericho felt no relief about the fact that Maddox had been excluded in that hit plan because the baby could have easily been hurt in the attack.

Someone would pay for that.

Herschel, no doubt. But it was going to be a bear to prove his involvement.

Too bad Jax hadn’t found the two gunmen in the black car who’d followed Jericho after the attack at his house. Jericho had indeed wounded at least one of them, because his brother had found blood on the road. But neither the car nor the men had been there by the time Jax arrived.

Not good.

He needed all these thugs in jail to up their chances of finding information to stop Herschel. Or anyone else who might be involved in this.

Jericho finished up his latest round of calls and made his way to the break room at the back of the building. Hardly living quarters, but there was a small bed that he and the deputies sometimes used when pulling double shifts. Tonight, however, Laurel and his son were sleeping in it.

It might take a while before those words—his son—didn’t sound foreign to him. Not because of his feelings for the baby. No, he already loved the little boy. But his son was still a raw reminder that Laurel had kept Maddox from him.

Jericho didn’t knock on the door because he didn’t want to wake Laurel and the baby, but when he stepped inside the room, he saw that only Maddox was on the cot. The little boy was on his stomach, snuggled in some blankets. No snuggling for Laurel. She was pacing.

And crying.

Jericho saw that right off, though she did quickly wipe away the tears and turn from him. He shut the door so the noise from the squad room wouldn’t disturb Maddox.

“Sandy just called,” Laurel relayed before Jericho could say anything. “The doctor at the hospital checked her out and released her. She’s on her way to Houston to stay with friends, and she told her parents not to come home until she’s sure it’s safe.”

That was a smart move. The hired guns probably wouldn’t go back to her place, but there was no sense taking that kind of risk, especially since they might see Sandy as a possible witness who needed to be eliminated. Jericho made a mental note to call Houston PD and arrange for some extra security for her.

“Please tell me the kidnapper you arrested is talking,” she added. “And that he’s got evidence to lead to my father’s arrest.”

“Afraid not.” But she already knew that would be the answer. If he’d gotten big news like that, he would have come straight to her with it, and he darn sure wouldn’t have been sporting a scowl.

A scowl that faded considerably when he went closer to his son.

Hard to scowl when looking at Maddox’s face. Jericho could see so much of himself in the boy. Some of Laurel, too.

“What about the other man?” she asked, walking to Jericho’s side. “The one who tried to run you off the road. Is he talking?”

Jericho had to shake his head. “We know from his prints that his name is Travis DeWitt. He’s got a record, a long one, but so far we haven’t been able to connect him to your father.”

“There’s probably a connection.” Laurel gave a heavy sigh and turned away from him again when she swiped at more tears.

She had plenty of reasons to cry. Someone had tried to kill her tonight, and that someone apparently wasn’t giving up.

Part of him wanted to put his arm around her and try to comfort her. Thankfully, that part of him didn’t win out, because the last thing he should do was have Laurel in his arms. Despite the bad blood, the attraction was still between them, too. No sense flaming that kind of heat when it would only make things more complicated than they already were.

She went to the table, picked up a notepad and handed it to him. “Those are the names of the people involved in the money laundering deal.”

The deal that Herschel was using to try to have her arrested. There were only two names: Quinn Rossman and Diego Cawley.

“I’ve tried to dig up anything on them, of course,” Laurel continued. “But so far, nothing. I thought it was just a simple real estate deal.”

Because her father had no doubt wanted it to look that way.

“That’s also the time line, as best as I can remember.” She pointed to some dates, times and a brief description of phone conversations she’d had with Rossman and Cawley. “I didn’t have any face-to-face meetings with either of them.”

Jericho checked through the time line and saw that something was missing. “I’ll need the exact dates of your mother’s death and when you broke off your engagement.” Because one or both of those could have triggered what was happening now.

While Laurel jotted down those dates, Jericho fired off a text to his brother Levi, who was a cop at the San Antonio Police Department, and asked him to run background checks on both men. Maybe Levi could dig up more than Laurel had. He also told his brother that he’d be faxing him a copy of the time line Laurel had just provided.

“So, what happens now?” she asked, handing him back the notepad.

Good question. But Jericho didn’t have anything remotely resembling a good answer. “We keep looking for the idiots who attacked us. Keep looking for anything we can use to stop Herschel.” He paused. “Please tell me you’ve got some dirt on him. Any kind of dirt that I can use to start legal proceedings for an arrest.”

“No.” Another heavy sigh. “Within minutes of Theo telling him that he wasn’t Maddox’s father and that I’d broken off the engagement, all my computer files and backups disappeared. They were corrupted by a virus that someone triggered.”

That someone was no doubt one of Herschel’s lackeys. “What about paper files?”

She shook her head. “All missing. By the time I got to my office, everything was gone.”

Herschel had worked fast. But then, he’d probably had this backup plan ready to go for years just in case Laurel turned against him. Still, there was something about this that didn’t make sense.

“You must have known your father would retaliate when you stopped being the perfect daughter.”

“I did. But I didn’t think he’d go this far.” Her voice broke, and again Jericho had to stop himself from lending her a shoulder to cry on.

Hell.

He only managed to hold himself for a couple of seconds, and then, as if it had a mind of its own, his arm eased around her and pulled her closer. Until they were touching far more than they should. Of course, any kind of touching was out between Laurel and him. That didn’t stop him.

Nope.

Jericho just waited until she wrestled with more of those tears. Thankfully, it didn’t last long. But it was long enough for his body to get really stupid ideas about the touching.

“Sorry,” Laurel said, and moved away from him.

Jericho got the feeling that the apology extended to a lot of things. Things he didn’t want to get into right now since he was still seething over the fact that Laurel had kept his son from him. And all because she was afraid Herschel would have tried to kill him.

Which Herschel would have tried to do.

All the more reason to figure out how to put that idiot behind bars.

“I guess you didn’t know Theo was going to tell your father the truth about Maddox when you broke off the engagement?” Jericho asked.

“I figured he would. Just not so soon.” She pushed her hair from her face. “I wasn’t thinking straight. My mother,” Laurel added.

Yeah, he figured her grief for her mother had played into this. From all accounts, they’d been close.

“So, after your mother’s death, you decided...what?” Because Jericho was having a little trouble filling in the blanks. “That you didn’t want to live by your father’s dirty rules?”

Her gaze slowly came to his. “I think my father murdered my mother.” No tears this time. There was a totally different emotion in her eyes and voice.

Anger.

And lots of it.

“You said she died from cancer,” Jericho pointed out.

“I think he helped her death along with an overdose of pain meds.” Laurel folded her arms over her chest. Started pacing again. “My mother wanted me to break off my engagement to Theo. She wanted me to leave and tell you the truth about Maddox.”

Jericho didn’t cheer out loud, but he was on her mother’s side on this. “She was right.”

“She was. And I think my father eavesdropped on our conversations and arranged for her to get an overdose of painkillers. Yes, she was sick. Very sick. But the chemo was working, and she wasn’t so much out of it that she would have taken too big of a dose by accident. I think my father might have put them in her food or something.”

That gave him a new surge of anger, too. Herschel preying on a sick woman because she wasn’t toeing the line. “Was there an autopsy?”

“No. And my father had her cremated the same day she died.”

Jericho wanted to curse. Hell. Now they were looking at murder. Two counts of it, since he was certain Herschel had also been responsible for his father’s death.

“I was grieving,” Laurel added, “and by the time I figured out what might have happened, it was already too late. Any evidence proving his guilt was cremated with my mother.”

Which Jericho was betting wasn’t an accident.

There was a soft knock on the door, and a moment later Jax opened it. “DeWitt’s lawyer is here.”

Good. Maybe the lawyer would convince his scummy client to talk.

Jax walked closer to them, and his gaze slid from Jericho to Laurel. Then to Maddox.