Hell Bent (15 page)

“How many pregnant women did you have at the shelter?” he demanded, his stomach rolling because he knew the answer.

“Just Amelia,” she replied with a soft smile as her hand drifted to her rounded stomach.  “You delivered her baby, and I haven’t had a chance to thank you for saving her life.”

Flashes of that delivery ticked off in his mind, the baby dropping out into his hands, him using the turkey baster to clear out the child’s mouth.  The massive amount of endorphins that swam in his blood as he heard the child’s first cry.  His surprise at the child’s light complexion—very light for a Hispanic child.   Not knowing the woman’s heritage though, or who the father was, thinking she was a trafficked woman who could have been raped by a gringo, Cade hadn’t commented. 

She
was
raped by a gringo, because of her age even if she consented—their fucking
degenerate
father!  And Cade had delivered his own fucking
brother
! 
Named
him! 

Rage like he’d never known before consumed him, and his stomach churned violently, so much he covered his mouth until it settled. 

“How old is Amelia?” he asked when he could finally uncover his mouth.

“I’ll have to check the intake records at the shelter, but I think she said she was eighteen,” Ronnie replied, looking at him with a puzzled frown.

“I will bet you she lied,” Cade said, glancing at the living room to make sure they weren’t followed.  It was also a good bet that Phil had paid her to lie.  “If you
really
want money from that bastard, you tell him that Amelia told you she was sixteen and you and I are giving DNA to have a paternity test done on Amelia’s baby.  I think he knows as well as I do what those results will be.”

Cade shoved a hand through his hair, trying to recall what the jail time would be here for manslaughter.  But that would mean he had to stay here and that was totally unacceptable, the worst punishment he could ever imagine. 

Veronica frowned for a second, but then her eyes opened wide with shock, her face paled, and her body began to shake, which told Cade she got the picture too.

“No way,” she said through chattering teeth.  “He’s too old, isn’t he?”

“Obviously not, since it appears we have a sibling.  As much of a peacock as he is, I’m sure he takes boosters and little blue pills,” Cade replied with a snort, but doubts did set in.  Was sixty-five too old, not for the act, but for the procreation? “We are having those tests done to find out for sure as soon as possible.”

Because if that baby was their brother?  Before Cade left Texas, he was going to make damned sure that kid and his mother were well taken care of and not in an abused woman’s shelter.  Phil Winters had just used his last woman and ignored his last child.  It was time for him to step up to the plate and be the responsible man he played at the country club instead of one of the lowlife criminals he’d defended for thirty-five years to get into that club.

“Please do invite him to this shindig because I have a few questions for the old bastard,” he drawled, and Ronnie’s eyes widened more. “Tell him I’ll be there because you know he’ll show up then,” he added with a tight grin. 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Cecelia should’ve known it was too good to be true.  Her excitement at being told her part in the assignment had changed from babysitting the women at the mansion to traveling with Allison, Veronica and Cade to Austin had lasted less than eight hours. 

It lasted, grew even, when they stopped at a mall to find a dress and shoes for some fancy fundraising party they were attending on Saturday night, notched up more as she salivated while she watched Cade be fitted for a tux.  Her excitement lasted until she forced him to stop at a gun shop so she could find a thigh holster that would work under her tight-fitting dress.

Once they were inside the store, Cade didn’t just burst her bubble, he dropped an atomic bomb on it.  He made it plain that she wasn’t going to Austin as personal protection for Allison and Ronnie, or even backup for him—she was
only
going because he needed a
date
to disguise the fact
he
was their protection at the party. 

The last burst of the blast came when he told her that her presence on this trip wasn’t requested by him, that her involvement in the assignment was all his sister’s idea. 

The energy left behind after that explosion was now trapped inside her body as anger and disappointment.  If they hadn’t already been on the road toward Austin, Cecelia would’ve stayed at that mansion with Levi and Caleb and told him to find someone else to be his arm candy.  She was sure he could find an airhead who’d agree do it, because she wasn’t that girl. 

But the men in her life seemed to think she was. 

When they got back to Dallas after this, Cecelia was going to change the men in her life.  Find some who didn’t believe that.  And she knew just the place to find them.  Back in the Army where she belonged, where her skills were appreciated and valued.

“Oh shoot!” Ronnie exclaimed in the front seat.  “Cade and I were out all day yesterday so I forgot all about calling contractors to get bids to repair the shelter.  I had the front windows boarded up, but I need to get the repairs done so we can move back there.”

“I have someone working on it,” Cade replied gruffly.  “They should be finished by the time we get back to Dallas.”

“But I need to take bids,” Veronica said, glancing over at him.  “This is a non-profit, we have to take the lowest bid and get it approved by the board.”

“You don’t have to do anything,” he replied gruffly.  “The guy I called is a specialist in security upgrades.  He’s putting in bulletproof glass, an alarm system and video surveillance so this doesn’t happen again.”

Veronica gasped, and put a hand at her throat.  “We can’t afford that!  You didn’t have the right—”

“I’m paying for it, so I can do what I damned well please,” he shot back angrily.  “Just say thank you and give me a receipt for a donation.”

“Wow, thank you,” she replied, relaxing against the seat back.  “Mercenaries must make a helluva lot of money.”

“I make enough to help you with this,” he replied, glancing in the rearview mirror for the hundredth time since they left the gun store.  He’d been doing it since they left the mansion, but since their last stop it had gotten worse.

Cecelia twisted to look out the back window, but saw only three or four cars behind them on the interstate.  Just normal traffic as far as she could see.  When she turned back Cade’s eyes were on
her
in the rearview and they were angry.  She folded her arms over her chest and lifted a brow to give him a return glare.

“I’d suggest you watch the road, James Bond.  I’d like to arrive alive,” she said.

“If you don’t watch your mouth, Brat, you may not arrive alive even if we
don’t
have an accident.” Veronica put her hand on his forearm and Cade looked back at the road.

Cecelia burned holes in the back of his head, until she slammed her head back into the seat and closed her eyes.  This was already an interminable trip and they weren’t even a third of the way to their destination.  Quiet settled in the cab of the truck, and the hum of the big truck tires lulled her to sleep.

Cade braked sharply, Allison gasped and Cecelia’s body lunged into the seatbelt then slammed back into the seat as he accelerated.  Once she got her bearings she looked out the window to see they were on a very desolate stretch of road lined by nothing but barbed-wire fenced pastures which held nothing but dry grass, red dirt and overgrown mesquite scrub.  Sitting forward, she saw Cade’s tense body, his fixed stare in the side view mirror and knew something wasn’t right.  Twisting, she looked out the back window, but only saw the tail of the black truck that was passing them.

“Get
down
!” Cade shouted, right before he twisted the wheel hard to the left and metal ground against metal for a long sickening minute. 

The truck jerked and Allison whimpered as she laid on the middle of the seat covering her head with her hands.  Cecelia unfastened her seatbelt and slid to the floorboard to unzip her duffle.  Her hand shook as she pulled out her pistol and checked the load. 

The front of the truck crashed into something, slamming her head against the seat back so hard she saw stars.  The powerful engine roared, screamed, but the truck moved very slowly telling her they were pushing another vehicle.  A loud pop that she hoped was a tire and not a gunshot rang in her ears over the sound of her pounding heart.

“Stay down, Ronnie!” Cade growled, as the truck swerved again, crashed into something like they were at a demolition derby. 

Another pop and Allison screamed when the back window of the truck shattered, sending small chunks of glass raining down on them.  Cee Cee had enough—with a quick bob of her head she looked out the back window to assess the situation, and saw a big silver truck riding their tailgate with two men inside.  Another man rode in the bed, balancing a rifle on the top of the cab.  Bobbing up, she saw the mangled black truck gaining ground in its attempt to pass them again.  The truck behind them rammed them, flinging her against the seat back.

She had to do something, or they were going to die. 

Fear churned in her stomach as she crawled onto the seat and hunched down, picturing in her mind the position of the sniper on the top of the truck.  Elbows bent, she raised up straightened them and aimed, but before she even pulled the trigger the gun went off, jarring her body and taking fifteen years from her life span. 

What you improved are your chances of accidentally killing someone, maybe even yourself!

And wasn’t that the damned truth?  Cecelia was getting another pistol as soon as possible, but at the moment this was all she had.  Stunned, she stared at the sniper, tried to aim for a second shot.  A loud boom preceded a belch of fire from the end of the rifle and her hair stood up as the bullet whizzed right past her right ear to shatter the front windshield.

“
Fuck
—shoot him or lay down, Brat!” Cade growled, swerving the truck into the black truck beside them.  Cecelia got her balance, crouched and took two deep breaths before she swung her pistol into the opening that used to be their back window.  Lining up the shot, she flinched as she squeezed the trigger.  The shot hit the windshield and the silver truck swerved as the glass shattered.  That gave her a momentary better view of the sniper who was holding onto a bar at the top of the cab. 

Holy shit, that rifle was mounted to the cab!

These guys were serious about killing them and if she didn’t make one of the six shots she had left in her magazine count, they well could.  Focusing, she aimed at the side of the sniper’s head as the truck moved left to get back behind them.  She pulled the trigger, moved more left and fired again.  On the third shot, the man’s body jerked before he fell back and disappeared into the bed of the truck.

“One delta tango,” she said loudly, and smiled until she saw the man in the passenger seat lean out of the window with an assault rifle.  “He has an AR!” she shouted, then ducked quickly just as rapid fire shots thunked into the metal of the truck.

“Mine is under the seat!” Cade yelled, swerving to slam into the black truck again.  This time the pop she heard was followed by a whoosh of air. “Two delta tangos!  Be careful!”

“I’m always careful,” she shouted back, sliding to the floorboard to reach under the seat.  She slid out the rifle, Allison whimpered, and Cecelia met her terrified eyes.  “I’ve got this, don’t worry.”

When the shots from the silver truck stopped, Cee Cee figured he was reloading.  Popping up, she flicked off the safety and aimed at the driver.  He slammed on the brakes, but not before she braced and pulled the trigger.  Bullet holes appeared in the hood, but she knew she’d gotten some inside the cab too.  That was the beauty of assault rifles, you didn’t necessarily need to be accurate to hit something.  As they zoomed off, she lowered her aim to fire at the front grill of the truck and kept her finger on the trigger.  When the last bullet fired from the magazine a huge plume of steam came from under the truck as it swerved toward the shoulder.

“Three delta tangos,” she said, with a smile when she could finally breathe again.  “And I think my shoulder is going to be too bruised to wear that dress.” 

Blood frozen in her veins, her brain unable to process all the fear-induced adrenaline zooming through her body, Cee Cee melted down into the seat.  The hot barrel of the rifle touched her leg and she yelped as she tossed it onto the floorboard.

“You won’t be needing that dress,” Cade said, as he jerked the wheel right when an exit suddenly appeared.  He zoomed to the bottom of the exit ramp, then turned right.  “We’re going back to Dallas as soon as I can get Hawk to come get us.”

Ronnie’s head popped up, and she shoved her hair from her face.  “Oh,
no
we’re not,” she said stubbornly.  “Those bastards are not going to scare us off.  That bill will pass and we are going to fund that shelter.”

“Want me to call your husband and ask his opinion?” Cade grated, as he pulled into a truck stop.  He zoomed past the parking spots up front and didn’t stop until they were behind the building in a work bay.

“Want me to—to—to kick your ass?” she shouted.

“Oh, that’s real lawyerly, Veronica,” Cade said, slamming the truck into park, before he shoved a shaking hand through his hair and blew out a breath.

“Pass me that rifle, Cecelia,” Ronnie growled, twisting in the seat to look at her.

“It’s ah, empty,” she replied, wondering from the look on her face if she was kidding.

“I’m with Cade—I think we should go back to Dallas,” Allison said, swiping a hand over her pale face as she sat up.  “It will be close, but I think the bill will pass anyway.  Sophie can handle the fundraiser.”

“They had to be watching the house so they knew when we left and followed us,” Cade surmised, a muscle ticking near his jawline.

“Oh, my God—the
women
!” Cee Cee covered her mouth with her hand as the fear in her gut quadrupled.  “I need to call Levi and Caleb to let them know.”  Reaching down, she yanked her duffle up and fished in the pocket for her cell phone.

“I absolutely can’t believe you are folding, Allison!” Veronica twisted to perch on her knees and look into the back seat.  “So what—every time these assholes don’t like a piece of legislation all they have to do is send a couple of redneck thugs to shoot at us and they win?”

“Of course not,” Allison replied, running a wrist over her forehead smearing a small drop of blood with it.

“Well, that’s what we’re telling them if we go back to Dallas.  And I for one am not going to cower down to terrorists—homegrown or otherwise.  It’s sending the wrong message, and we’ve worked too damned hard to keep this shelter going to quit now.”

Cee Cee scrolled through her agent list until she found Caleb’s number.  It rang three times before he answered.  In the background she heard giggles and cheers, machine gun fire then Lou Ellen yell, “Take that mu
chacho
!”

Caleb grunted a few times, before he answered. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“Are you playing
video
games?!?” she screeched, gripping the phone tighter.

“Yeah, Levi’s in the garden watching half the girls, and Lou and I are entertaining the others in here,” he replied.

Anger boiled her blood, before fear froze it back solid.  “
No
—get everyone back inside, Caleb!”  Cee Cee said, her breath coming in short spurts.  “We were just shot at and barely escaped with our lives!  Call Dave and get more guys there—do it
now
!”

“Chill out, Ceese—Levi and I did a walkaround of the property just fifteen minutes ago, before he brought the ladies outside.  Everything is clear.”

That could change on a dime as they just discovered. 

“You need to keep them
inside
, Caleb—I’m serious—
this
is serious.  It’s not babysitting like Logan said, it’s a real live operation where people could be killed—now
act
like it!  Call him and get Slade
and
Jaxson out there and anyone else he can find.  Hell, tell David to come to the mansion too.”  With every word Cee Cee’s chest got tighter, until she was wheezing by the time she finished.  “It’s an em
erg
ency—”