Safe from Harm (26 page)

Then he slipped out of the SUV and texted his brothers:
Doing recon. Will approach with caution
.

He wasn't surprised when he immediately got a message back from Tom.
WTF? Stay put
.

Gabe took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then silenced his phone and his radio. “Sorry, Tommy. See you soon, Bro.”

“Go check the perimeter,” Jeb said, gesturing to his brother James.

His younger brother gave him a sharp nod and gestured to their brother Dave. “Comin'?”

Dave looked to Jeb for permission. “Want me to go with him or stay here and keep watch over these?” He gestured to Jeb's traitorous family.

They'd all betrayed him in some way. Even his youngest boy had chosen his mother in the end. But Jeb's brothers were loyal. He knew that for a fact. That's exactly how he knew that Gabe Dawson wouldn't come looking for his whore without bringing his own kin along.

“‘For the great day of their wrath has come,'” Jeb murmured. Then he turned away from the window and nodded to Dave. “Go on. I'll be fine here.”

He continued to watch from the window until his brothers split up to walk separate paths, then went to sit in the chair across from the whore. She hadn't said a word since he'd brought her back to the house after she'd tried to escape. Now that her hands and feet were tied, she'd just sat there on the sofa, watching him with narrowed eyes.

Well, she could glare all she wanted. Soon he'd be rid of her. He'd planned to give her to his boy Jeremy to enjoy, but Jeremy seemed to have lost the taste for their cause. He'd soon fix that, though. He wouldn't force the boy to take a whore, but he
would
force him to put a bullet in one.

He leaned back to give her an appraising look. She had some fight in her, he had to give her that. It was too bad for her that she chose to serve the tyrants. Now she would pay the price.

“It won't be long now,” he assured her. “We'll give everyone a little time to get here, but if they don't show soon, I've got a little message planned. One of the brothers has a pretty little schoolteacher for a whore, as I recall. Pregnant too. Her death would be a tragic loss to the Dawson family, wouldn't you say?”

He chuckled when the whore's eyes went wide in alarm.

“You're a sick bastard,” she spat at him, her face twisting in disgust. “If you hurt one hair on Sadie's hair, I swear—”

A sudden commotion outside brought Jeb to his feet, and he missed whatever meaningless threat the whore was spewing at him. He pulled back the curtains to peer outside but didn't see the source of the noise. He muttered a curse, stormed over to his son, and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him to his feet.

“You keep watch of them,” he ordered. “Don't let that whore try to sweet-talk you again, boy. You hear me?”

Jeremy nodded and took his father's vacated seat, his shotgun in his lap. “Yes, sir.”

Jeb hesitated for a moment, not sure if he could trust his son to be strong and resist the whore devil's tongue, but he had no choice. He strode to the front door and opened it cautiously, then stepped outside.

* * *

Gabe cursed under his breath as he lowered the man's body to the ground and quickly rolled him onto his stomach to cuff his hands behind his back. The guy had come around the corner of the barn and taken Gabe by surprise, but, fortunately, Gabe's reflexes kicked in faster than the other guy's, and Gabe was able to get the drop on him and knock him out cold.

It was only after he'd laid the guy out with a final right hook that he'd recognized the man as Jeb's brother David.

Gabe dragged the unconscious man around to the back of the barn so he was out of sight, then picked up his gun from where it'd landed during their brief scuffle. The son of a bitch most likely had a broken nose and would have one hell of a headache when he woke up, but he was alive.

Gabe crept along the edge of the barn and peered around corner, checking to see if anyone else was patrolling the perimeter. At that moment, another man came into view. Gabe recognized him right away. Jeb's youngest brother, James Monroe. He should've known this asshole wouldn't be far if something big was about to go down.

As soon as James had passed by Gabe, Gabe came out from around the barn, his Glock trained on the center of James's back. “Drop your weapon, Monroe. And turn around slowly.”

The man went completely still, his muscles visibly tensing. Then he raised his arms and turned slowly as instructed, his rifle still in one hand. Once he was fully facing Gabe, the man's lips curled into a smirk that sent a shiver down Gabe's spine.

Ah, shit.

The guy was totally gonna go suicide-by-cop on him if he didn't diffuse this situation seriously fucking fast.

“Put your weapon down,” Gabe ordered again. “There's still time to walk away from this, James. There's still time to end this peacefully. Don't let your brother drag you down with him.”

James shook his head, his chilling grin widening. “You're wrong, pig. Jeb's going to usher in a new day for this country. And it starts today.”

Gabe heard sirens in the distance. Odds were it was the local police on their way to what had all the makings of a shoot-out that could end with casualties on both sides of the line.

In the next few moments, time seemed to slow to a crawl. James's gaze flicked toward the road, where the police cars would soon be arriving, then back to Gabe. “‘And free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death,'” he called out, his voice raised. Then his face went blank and he dropped his hands, aiming his rifle at Gabe's chest.

* * *

Elle started violently at the sound of the gunfire outside the house, her heart in her throat.

Oh God. Gabe.

“Untie me,” she pleaded with Jeremy. “Please! You know your father's insane!” She turned her gaze to Janice. “Mrs. Monroe, you have to stop this. Your sons and daughter are in danger! Look what he's already done to you.”

Janice blinked at Elle as if she was coming out of a trance, then let her gaze light on each of her children. “You'll help them? You'll make sure they're all safe? That they won't go to prison?”

Elle glanced frantically toward the door. “I can't promise that—”

“Oh my God,” the woman moaned plaintively, her arms wrapped around her torso as she rocked.

“—but I'll do what I can to make sure your son gets a fair trial, that they understand what his father has forced him to do.”

“Mom, I swear, I didn't want to do any of this!” Jeremy cried, setting aside his gun and coming to his mother's side, dropping down to his knees and taking her hands. “I swear it!”

“Untie me,” Elle ground out. “
Please
. Jeremy, you said you didn't want to hurt me. I believe you. Help. Me.”

Jeremy swallowed hard. Then he shoved a hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out a pocketknife, making quick work of the rope. Elle was instantly on her feet, desperate to get to Gabe.

She bolted toward the open front door, which had been closed just a moment before…

* * *

The same instant Gabe's gun fired, a blow to his back brought him to his knees. But not before he saw James Monroe drop. Another blow to the back knocked the wind from his lungs and sent him face-planting into the grass.

In spite of the pain, he rolled over in time to see Jeb's rifle aimed at him and he kicked hard, nailing that crazy-ass bastard Jeb in the kneecap with his boot. As the man fell to his knees, wailing in agony, Gabe scrambled to his feet and brought up his Glock, relieved as hell that some sick sense of honor must've prevented the bastard from shooting him in the back—or maybe he'd just wanted to see the look of fear in Gabe's eyes before he killed him. Fuck if he knew. But this was ending
now
.

Monroe's hand edged toward the rifle where it lay next to him on the grass. “Don't move,” Gabe barked.

Monroe's hand stilled.

Gabe heard the approaching sirens growing louder as the backup got closer but didn't glance away from Monroe to see how close they were. “Leave the gun on the ground and get up slowly.”

Monroe took a deep breath, then managed to push himself up to his feet, favoring his knee. “You think this is over, Dawson? This is just the beginning. Now the world will be my audience. My message will spread through the discontent and usher in a new day.”

“Where's Elle?” Gabe demanded.

“‘Deliver me, my God!'” Jeb called out over the wail of the sirens, ignoring Gabe's question. “‘Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the—'”

When Gabe heard the report of the gunshot, for a split second, he thought he'd been ambushed, that this time he wasn't going to be lucky enough to walk away from it. But then he saw Jeb drop.

Gabe's head whipped toward the sound of the gunshot to see Sandra Monroe standing there holding a .22, her entire body trembling, tears streaming down her face. “Sandra, honey,” he said, edging toward her, “you need to put down the gun.”

In his periphery, Gabe saw several local police cars as well as his brothers arriving, getting into position to assess and assist.

“Gabe!”

Relief washed over him at the sound of Elle's voice, and he sent a glance her way that he hoped conveyed how full his heart was at seeing her alive. But he held up a hand, motioning for her to stay where she was when she took a step forward to come to him, and turned his attention back to Sandra.

“Honey,” he said softly, “it's okay now. Let me help you.”

Sandra blinked once and finally turned her eyes away from her father's body to meet Gabe's gaze. “Deputy Dawson.”

He gave her a slight smile. “Yeah, it's me. I'm going to help you now. You just need to give me the gun.”

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

He came to her at an angle, holstering his Glock, then slowly reached out and took the gun from her trembling fingers. Then he gently put an arm around her shoulders and led her toward the line of police cars. He turned her over to his brother Tom and gave a terse nod to his father, who was on the radio calling for EMTs. Kyle was on his cell phone, most likely reporting on the situation to the FBI field office.

“Jeb's other brother is behind the barn in cuffs,” Gabe muttered to no one in particular, motioning in the general direction of the outbuilding. Joe clapped him on the shoulder as he headed that way.

When he turned back around toward the house, the lawn was a sea of activity as local officers rushed forward to check on Jeb and James Monroe and to intercept Janice Monroe and her sons as they exited the house with their hands raised.

But it was pretty much all a blur. The only clarity in the chaos was Elle's beautiful face as she rushed toward him. Then her arms were around his neck, holding him tightly. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in the scent of her, letting the warmth of her love envelope him.

* * *

“Are you okay?” Elle asked when she pulled back enough to peer up into his face. Her heart was still racing, her head still spinning. He looked okay, but she had to be sure, had to hear him say it. Her voice broke when she said, “My God, Gabe, when I heard that gunshot, I thought—”

He stopped her words with a slow, tender kiss, and her heart was racing for an entirely different reason. When the kiss ended, Gabe took her face in his hands. “I'm fine,” he assured her, “now that I know you're safe.”

“Where's Joe?” she asked in a rush. “You have to get someone out to check on Sadie.”

“Sadie?” he frowned. “Why?”

She grasped the front of his uniform. “Monroe—he had someone at the ready to harm her if luring me here didn't get your attention. Please, Gabe.”

He kissed her forehead. “I'll be right back.”

When he hurried off to talk with his dad and apprise him of the situation, she leaned back against the nearest car and wrapped her arms around herself, missing Gabe's embrace already. A few moments later, he returned, a deep scowl creasing his brows.

“Dad's sending two cars over right away,” he assured her. “And Joe's on his way. Whoever Monroe had watching Sadie better be glad that the other deputies will get to him before Joe does.”

“Ms. McCoy?”

Elle turned toward the sound of her name, glad Gabe kept his arm around her shoulders, pulling her tight against him. “Mrs. Monroe.”

The woman came toward her, an officer at her elbow, her youngest son tucked close to her side, and took Elle's hand in hers. “Thank you. For saving my children. For saving me.”

“I didn't save you,” Elle assured her. “That was all you. You made the right decision, Mrs. Monroe.”

Janice glanced at Jeremy and Sandra being loaded into the backseats of police cars, but then pressed a kiss to the top of her son Brian's head. “I hope so, Ms. McCoy. My Sandra…” Her expression was pained when she met Elle's gaze. “What he did to her… I hope they'll understand why she did what she did.”

Elle squeezed her hand, wishing she'd been able to help the woman and her children sooner, that she'd been able to reach out to them before their situation had come to this. “I hope so, too.”

Elle didn't know how much time passed before she and Gabe were able to finally leave, but her head was pounding and it was all she could do to make it to where Gabe had left his Tahoe.

“I need to call Charlotte,” she told him as he handed her into the SUV. “Before she hears anything on the news.”

He took her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “I'll take care of it. You look completely drained. Just rest while I drive you home.”

She nodded, her eyelids drooping as the exhaustion dragged her down. The next thing she knew, she was waking up in Gabe's arms as he carried her into his house and down the hall to his bedroom.

“Hey there, handsome,” she drawled sleepily.

“Hey there, beautiful.” The dimpled smile he gave her was so sultry, warmth began to spread through her body, pooling in all the right womanly places and bringing her fully awake and alive.