Stockyard Snatching (18 page)

She wished that reassurance calmed her fast-beating heart. It didn’t.

“You want me to send a deputy?” Tommy called, as they broke into a run.

“I could use an escort,” Dallas shouted back.

Kate’s chest squeezed and she couldn’t breathe.

No way could she allow those men to get near her son.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Dallas raced through the city with a law-enforcement escort clearing the path. He’d enter the property on the west side near his place, because there was more security at that checkpoint. The earlier ruckus had been on the opposite side, miles away, and if he was lucky, he and Kate would be able to slip in from the west before anyone else could realize what he’d done.

Things were escalating and the kidnappers seemed to be zeroing in.

The thought did occur to Dallas that the attempted breach could be a distraction meant to get him and Kate out in the open. Or someone inside, if he took another vantage point. The latter wouldn’t succeed, because there was plenty of security at all the weak spots on the ranch. If the former was the case, then it was working, and he had to consider the possibility that he was playing right into their opponents’ hands.

Still, he had to take the chance. One look at Kate and he knew she needed to hold her baby in her arms after the disturbing news about Seaver.

He had her pull out his cell and call his head of security. “Put the call on speaker,” he instructed.

She did and he could hear the line ringing almost immediately.

“We’re close, about five minutes out,” Dallas said to Gideon Fisher, his security chief, when he answered.

“I’ll be at the gate and ready, sir,” Fisher responded. “Ryder and Austin are here, with a team of my men.”

“Excellent.” Dallas knew all the extra security at the gate would alert anyone watching to the possibility they’d be coming in that way, but his brothers knew how to handle a rifle and Dallas wanted the extra firepower in case anything went down. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Tyler’s up front. Colin’s roaming.”

It sounded like his brothers were ready to go, in addition to the staff of eight…well, seven, since Reece stood vigil in Stacy’s hospital room.

A sport-utility vehicle with blacked-out windows roared up from behind.

Dallas’s truck was sandwiched between the deputy in front and the SUV barreling toward their bumper.

“Hold on,” Dallas told Kate, just as the SUV rammed into them, causing their heads to jolt forward.

“Sir?” Gideon said.

“We have company and we just took a hit,” Dallas replied.

“Roger that, sir.”

Dallas could see the entrance to the ranch in the distance. Once inside, they’d be safe, but it was dicey whether or not they could get there.

He flashed the high beams to alert their escort to the trouble brewing behind him. The deputy must’ve noticed because he turned on his flashing lights. “Black SUV, stop your vehicle,” the officer called out over his loudspeaker.

The SUV rammed them once more, again throwing their heads forward.

“Change of plans.” Dallas gunned the engine and popped over into the other lane of the narrow country road. He was lucky that there was so little traffic in the area and this stretch of road was straight and flat, so there’d be no surprises.

The deputy slowed to allow Dallas safe passage, but the SUV whipped into the left lane, as well, maintaining close proximity to Dallas’s bumper.

Even repeating the message over the bullhorn didn’t work. The other driver persisted.

Dallas got a good look at him in the rearview and he wore similar clothes to the kidnapper at the soup kitchen. He’d bet money it was the same person.

Worse yet, when Dallas moved into the right lane again the SUV pulled up beside him, blocking his turn.

Austin stepped onto the road and aimed his rifle directly at the oncoming vehicle. Dallas pointed and the driver must’ve noticed, because he hit the brakes. Before the deputy could respond, the SUV had made a U-turn and was speeding off in the opposite direction.

The deputy followed in pursuit, lights flashing.

Dallas turned onto his property, and that was when he finally glanced at Kate, whose face had gone bleached-sheet white.

She didn’t speak and he didn’t force the issue.

As soon as he parked in front of his house, she practically flew out of the truck. “Is Jackson in there?”

“Yes.” Dallas followed her inside as she ran to her infant son.

Janis met her in the living room, a sleeping Jackson in her arms, and immediately handed him over. She seemed to know that Kate wouldn’t care if the baby woke. She had to hold him.

The look on Kate’s face, the same damn expression from yesterday morning, cut a hole in Dallas’s heart.

Jackson wound up to cry, then belted out a good one. The boy had strong lungs.

Kate cradled her son while Janis excused herself.

The crying abated a few minutes later as Kate soothed her baby, and the sight of the two of them together like that stirred something in Dallas’s heart.

He didn’t want to have feelings for anyone right now.

The timing was completely off, now that he was chasing down what had happened to Susan. Besides, he was busier than ever, between the ranch and the business. He was helping Kate and didn’t need to confuse his feelings for more than that.

Dallas excused himself to work in his home office.

He hadn’t turned on his computer in a few days and that would mean an out-of-control inbox. He’d seen the emails rolling in on his smartphone, but he’d been too busy to give them much thought.

Then there was the ranch to run, and Halloween Bash just around the corner.

After answering emails until his eyes blurred, he stretched out his sore limbs while seated in his office chair.

The stress of the past few days was catching up with him and at some point he’d need to sleep. There wasn’t much chance of that as long as Kate was in the house. His mind kept wandering to her silky body curled up on the bed in the guest room, her soft skin…

Just thinking about it started stirring places that didn’t need to be riled up. Especially since there was no chance for release.

So he focused on his inbox again, wishing he’d receive an email or text from Tommy stating that they got the guys in the SUV.

The next time he glanced at the clock, it was three o’clock in the afternoon. The house was quiet. He’d worked through lunch, which wasn’t unusual for him. His stomach decided it was time to eat.

Work might have distracted him for a little while, but more and more he wondered what had happened to Susan. Given Morton’s death and both their associations with Safe Haven, Dallas feared the worst.

There were 437 messages in his spam folder and he checked each one to see if Susan had tried to contact him but her note had gotten hung up in his filter.

Nothing.

He pulled the set of keys Stacy had given him from his pocket, set them on his desk and lazily ran his fingers along them.

Granted, he and Susan had no business being a couple, but he still felt angry at the possibility of something bad happening to her.

Was she in trouble when she’d called him and told him about the baby? Had she been hoping for his protection? He’d assumed all along that she was trying to trap him into marriage, and she had been, but now that he’d seen the look on Kate’s face when it came to a threat to her son, another reality set in. Susan might have been desperate and looking for protection. Marriage to Dallas might’ve been a way for her to secure her son’s future.

She had to know that Dallas would’ve figured out the truth at some point if the child hadn’t been his. Then again, if her life had been in danger, she might have figured she’d tell him after the deal was sealed.

Saying he was the father could’ve been the equivalent of a Hail Mary pass in football, a last-ditch effort to save the game.

Frustration nipped at his heels like a determined predator. Dallas searched his memory for anything he could remember about the last conversation they’d had before she’d gone missing, and he came up empty.

His cell phone buzzed. The call was from Tommy, so Dallas immediately answered.

“I have news,” his friend said.

“What did you learn?”

“We got a few hits today. Of the six abductions that we know about so far, four of them used Seaver,” Tommy related.

“So most likely he was involved in the others,” Dallas reasoned.

“True. And there’s something else.”

“Okay,” Dallas said.

“Don Radcliffe was found dead in his apartment in Houston.”

“Isn’t that who Seaver worked with at Safe Haven?” Dallas asked.

“It was.”

“Any word on Harold Matthews?”

“We can’t locate him. But he’s roughly the size and shape of the man you described as the kidnapper from yesterday morning,” Tommy replied, then paused for a beat. “Are you alone?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I have personal news.” The ominous tone in his friend’s voice sat heavy in Dallas’s thoughts.

“What is it?” he asked.

“At first I thought I should wait until all this is over, but I figured you’d want to know the minute I found out. It’s about your parents. I got a report from the coroner a couple of days ago that indicated your mother had a heart attack,” Tommy said quietly.

“What are the chances of both my parents having a heart attack on the same day?” Dallas asked.

“It made me suspicious, too, so I requested a lab workup. The toxicology report came back showing cyanide in both of their systems. Enough to cause heart attacks,” Tommy said.

“What does that mean, exactly?” Dallas was too stunned to form a coherent thought beyond that question.

“I’m opening a formal investigation into their deaths and I wanted you to be the first to know.”

Those words were like a punch to Dallas’s gut.

“I know it’s a lot to process right now, and I may not find anything, because ingestion could’ve been accidental,” Tommy added. “But I’m not leaving any stone unturned when it comes to your parents.”

Dallas sat there. He couldn’t even begin to digest the thought that anyone could’ve harmed his parents.

“Dallas, are you still with me?” his friend asked.

He grunted an affirmation, then drew a deep, rasping breath. “Is it possible that their accident might have been staged?”

“Yes, but I’m not ready to jump to any conclusions just yet.”

The line went quiet again. Because the implication sitting between them was murder.

“You know I’m here for you anytime you want to talk,” Tommy said at last.

Dallas realized he was gripping his cell phone tight enough to make his fingers hurt. “Any word on the SUV? Because the driver easily could’ve been the kidnapper from yesterday.”

“It disappeared and we lost the trail.”

* * *

T
HE
NIGHT
WAS
pitch-black and the temperature had dipped below freezing. The wind howled. At least Jackson was with Janis, in a cozy bed sound asleep.

Kate’s teeth chattered even though she wore two layers of clothing underneath her coat.

She and Dallas had decided to wait until after dark to go to Wayne’s house, reasoning that if they left too late, then dogs in the neighborhood might give them away. He’d parked four blocks over.

Ever since she woke from her nap, she’d noticed something was different about Dallas. His mood had darkened and he’d closed up.

Was he preparing himself for the news as to whether or not he was a father?

He had to have considered the possibility that if he’d had a son, the boy could’ve been targeted in the kidnappings, as well.

At nine o’clock, lights were still on and households busy with activity. Dallas put his arm around Kate’s waist and even through the thick layers she felt a sizzle of heat on her skin.

Wayne Morton’s house was on a quiet lane in a family neighborhood. Smoke billowed from chimneys on the tree-lined street of half-acre lots. The crisp air smelled of smoke from logs crackling in fireplaces. Halloween lights and decorations filled front yards.

There were enough neighbors about that she and Dallas could slip in and out of Morton’s house without drawing attention.

As Kate walked down the sidewalk, tucked under Dallas’s arm, she could see kids in the front rooms watching TV or reading on couches, their mother’s arms curled around them.

Someone whistled and then called out, “Here, Dutch. Come on, boy.”

A tear escaped before Kate could sniff it away. She turned her face so Dallas wouldn’t see her emotions, while wondering what it must be like to have a mother’s unconditional love and acceptance. She wished that for her and Carter.

Another person half a block down was rolling a trash can onto the front sidewalk for weekly garbage pickup.

“Morton’s place is on the next street,” Dallas said in a low voice, interrupting her thoughts.

When she didn’t respond, he glanced at her.

A second, longer look caused him to stop walking. He turned until they were face-to-face.

Another errant tear escaped and he thumbed it away.

“Are you okay?” He spoke and she could see his breath in the cold air.

Instead of speaking, she nodded.

Dallas’s thumb trailed across her bottom lip and then her jawline. Kate had never known a light touch could be so sweet, so comforting.

A set of porch lights turned off across the street and they both pulled back.

Dallas laced their fingers together as they strolled down the lane.

As Morton’s house came into view, Kate couldn’t help but notice it was the only one on the street that was completely blacked out. That image was sobering and a sad feeling settled over her, making walking even more difficult.

Thinking of Stacy in the hospital, how sad she’d been, made Kate feel awful. Would she come home to an empty, dark house in a few days when she recovered? How would she get past this? Wayne, her job, seemed to be her life. She’d said they were all she had. Before Jackson had come into Kate’s life, she could relate to feeling empty inside. And now with Dallas in the picture, she’d never been more aware of how alone she’d been when she was married to Robert.