Sawyer (15 page)

And this time, Cassidy could see the intruder’s face.

She’d braced herself for what she might see there, but she obviously hadn’t braced herself enough.

Oh, God
.

Chapter Seventeen

“Diane,” Sawyer spat out like profanity. “She keeps turning up like a bad penny.”

He didn’t have to ask what the heck she was doing there because he could see her taking the DNA samples from the storage vault. She also did something on the computer—probably deleting his DNA info that Quantico had sent over.

“Why would she steal the samples and destroy Sawyer’s info?” Cassidy asked, taking the question right out of his mouth.

Sawyer hoped the answer to that was in the security photos themselves because they had no idea where Diane was now. Last he’d seen her, she had been with the kidnappers.

Yet here she was.

Or at least she had been at the lab about forty-five minutes earlier.

“She doesn’t look injured,” Cassidy said, obviously remembering the blood they’d found on the warehouse floor where she’d supposedly been kidnapped. There hadn’t been enough blood to indicate a serious injury, but the blood had to come from somewhere. Or rather, someone. That bulky coat she was wearing could conceal plenty of things.

Grayson clicked to the next photo, and it showed Diane slipping the two samples into her pocket. The next was a clearer shot of her face, and she was looking over her shoulder at the door.

“Someone’s there,” Grayson pointed out at the exact moment that Sawyer saw it, too. The shadowy figure standing in the door.

Grayson tried to zoom in on it, but the person was too far away, and it only made the shot blurrier. Parts of it anyway. The one part that was crystal clear was the person’s hand.

And the gun he was holding.

“Diane’s kidnapper could have forced her to steal the samples,” Sawyer concluded with a huff. “Or she armed him and placed him in the doorway to make herself look innocent.”

There was nothing in Diane’s body language to clue them in. Yes, the woman looked nervous, but she likely would whether she was innocent or guilty. After all, she was breaking into a lab and stealing evidence from a murder investigation.

And that meant they were back to square one.

Well, unless they could get something from the supervisor to prove which of his techs had helped with this crime. But that would take time.

“I’ll have one of the FBI-lab guys drive over from San Antonio,” Sawyer said, taking out his phone. “This time, the supervisor will run the tests here. With me standing over his shoulder.”

He called the FBI tech first, and when he got verification that someone was on the way, Sawyer phoned Gage, who was at the safe house, to let him know they needed another sample of Emma’s DNA.

“You want me to bring her there?” Gage asked.

“No. Stay put. I’ll come out there and collect it myself.” That way, Emma would stay safe. The last place he wanted her was in Silver Creek, where the most recent attack had occurred. “How is she?”

“Sleeping like a baby. In other words, she’s waking up a lot.”

Sawyer figured that was normal, but he hated to think that Emma might be picking up on the stress of everyone around her. And that was an awful lot of stress for one so young.

He ended the call with Gage so he could make another one. Thankfully, Sawyer didn’t have to hunt for the number because it was in the recent calls on his phone.

“You’re bringing in Bennie?” Cassidy asked.

Sawyer nodded, pressed the number, but it went straight to voice mail. He left Bennie a message ordering him to the Silver Creek sheriff’s office ASAP.

“If Bennie arrives before I get back from the safe house,” Sawyer told Grayson, “get the DNA sample and hold him.”

Grayson nodded. “I’ll have Dade cover the office so I can go with you.” He paused, looked at Sawyer. “Unless you’d rather I stay here with Cassidy.”

“No,” Cassidy said without hesitation. “I want to go with Sawyer. Besides, the gunmen attacked us here. It might not be safe for us to stay.”

Sawyer couldn’t argue with that, and besides, he didn’t like the idea of Cassidy and him being apart as long as the danger was out there. And he hoped like the devil that his feelings didn’t have anything to do with what had happened in the bed upstairs. He had to think with his head. That was the best way to keep Cassidy and Emma safe.

Sawyer retrieved a DNA swab packet from the supply closet while Grayson went to the front of the building to talk to his brother. When Grayson returned, he handed Sawyer a set of keys. “It’s for Dade’s truck, which is parked out front. He’s kept his eyes on it to make sure no one slips on a tracking device.”

Good idea. He couldn’t risk leading the kidnappers straight to the baby. This trip would be risky enough as it was.

They headed to the door, but when they reached it, Sawyer drew his gun and moved in front of Cassidy. So did Dade and Grayson.

Sawyer didn’t see anyone or anything suspicious, but he knew from experience that someone could be there. He hurried to the truck and drove it onto the sidewalk, close to the door. So close that Cassidy had only a few seconds outside before she climbed into the cab of the truck. Grayson followed her inside, and Sawyer sped away.

“We’ll have to drive around for a while,” Sawyer let her know. “To make sure we aren’t being followed.”

She nodded. Didn’t say a word. But because her arm was pressed against his, he felt the muscles tense. Sawyer wished he could say something to take the edge off the tension, but it was hard to reassure her that all would be well when both he and Grayson kept their guns in hand.

Keeping watch all around them, Sawyer drove out of town. It was barely dark, and the vehicles both behind and ahead of them had on their lights, making it easier for him to see if there was a possible threat. But one by one, the cars turned, and the lights from town faded when he reached the farm road.

There wasn’t much of a moon, but he turned on the high beams so he could see the sides of the road. There wasn’t much of a shoulder, either, but it was still wide enough for someone to have parked to wait for them.

Sawyer turned on to another road and watched for anyone trying to follow them. But again, there was no one. After several more turns, he decided it was time to head to the safe house. He made a quick turn on to a farm road so he could backtrack.

But he immediately spotted a problem.

Ahead of them were some cows, all milling around right in the middle of the road, and Sawyer had no choice but to slam on his brakes. The sound of the tires squealing on the asphalt got them moving. So did a few taps of the horn. That’s when he realized how big of a herd it was.

At least a hundred.

Some ambled behind the truck to get away from the sound of the horn. He couldn’t risk hitting them. A collision at such slow speed wouldn’t kill the cows, but it could disable the engine and strand Cassidy and him.

“Did someone do this?” Cassidy asked.

Sawyer was about to point out the remnants of the white-woods fence to their left and tell her that cattle often broke fence. After all, they were on the perimeter of a large ranch where something like that could easily happen. But he stopped when he saw movement just off the road.

Not cows.

But a person.

And Sawyer couldn’t be sure, but it looked as if someone had a gun pointed right at them.

* * *

C
ASSIDY
SAW
THE
BLUR
of motion for just a split second, but a blur was all that she managed.

“Get down!” Sawyer and Grayson said in unison, and it was Sawyer who pushed her down on the seat. It was a tight fit between the two men, and they both leaned over, protecting her.

But from what?

“What did you see?” she asked and wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

It was several long moments before Sawyer said anything. “Maybe just a hunter.” He paused. “Maybe a gunman.”

Her heart went to her throat, and the terror shot through her. Not fear for herself but for Sawyer and his cousin.

For Emma, too.

“How far are we from the safe house?” Cassidy blurted out.

“Far enough,” Sawyer assured her. “A good ten miles or more.” He kept his attention pinned to their surroundings, and like Grayson, kept a dead grip on his weapon. “I wasn’t even headed in the right direction.”

That was something at least. She couldn’t bear the thought of Emma being in danger again. But if the kidnappers had found them, then maybe they’d found Emma, too. She needed to call Gage to make sure everything was okay. However, she reached for Sawyer’s phone just as he threw the truck into Reverse, only to immediately slam on the brakes. The jolt knocked her hand away.

She glanced behind them, following Sawyer’s gaze when she heard him curse. It took Cassidy a moment to realize why he’d done that. She saw the cattle behind them. In front of them, too. If there was truly a gunman out there, then they couldn’t move unless it would be to the left, where there were the remnants of a broken white wooden fence.

“You see him?” Grayson asked.

But Sawyer shook his head. “He must have moved.”

Not exactly a comforting thought since he could be using the cattle for cover closing in for a better shot. But there was something about that theory that didn’t make sense.

“How would the kidnappers even know we were out here?” Cassidy asked.

Sawyer shook his head. “Good question. But I don’t know the answer.”

Well, they hadn’t been followed, and since Dade had kept watch on his truck, there wasn’t a good chance that someone had planted a tracking device on it.

But there was a slim chance.

That certainly didn’t steady her fears or her heartbeat. Willy had been at the sheriff’s office. Diane had been spotted near there, too. Maybe one of them had managed to get to Dade’s truck or any of the other vehicles they would have used. After all, the suspects knew that Sawyer and she were at the sheriff’s office, and it wouldn’t have been a stretch for them to assume they’d be leaving soon.

And headed back to the safe house.

“I need to call Gage,” she said on a rise of breath.

Sawyer didn’t question why, and she could see the concern on his face, too. He handed her the phone but kept his attention on their surroundings.

Thankfully, Gage’s number wasn’t hard to find, and he answered on the first ring. “Trouble?” he asked before she could say a word.

“Maybe. Someone might have followed us.” She had to swallow hard before she could continue. “There might be a gunman. Is Emma okay?” And she held her breath, waiting and praying.

“Yeah. She’s fine, but I’ll head to the front window and keep watch. If anyone comes down that road, I’ll know it.”

Cassidy reminded herself that Gage was a capable lawman, and between him and the other deputy, it would be enough to keep Emma safe. “Thanks.”

“You need me to call backup?” Gage asked.

She looked up at Sawyer to repeat the question, but he just shook his head. “I want everyone to stay put until we know what we’re dealing with. This might be a trick to draw Gage away from the safe house.”

If so, it wouldn’t work. No way would Cassidy put Sawyer’s or her safety ahead of the baby’s.

“Keep me posted,” Gage said, and she ended the call.

Sawyer honked his horn again to try to budge the cows, and he must have seen an opening because he started to back up. Not speeding but rather creeping along while Grayson fastened his attention to the front of the vehicle.

It seemed to take an eternity for them to go a few inches, and because she was watching Sawyer so closely, she saw the change in his expression. Relief, maybe? He pushed his foot harder on the accelerator, taking them away from the herd and the possible gunman.

However, the relief was very short-lived.

“Look out!” Grayson shouted.

His warning barely had time to register in Cassidy’s mind, when there was a swishing sound. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn’t the wind or a cow brushing against the truck.

Someone had fired a shot through a silencer.

The bullet tore through the windshield and flung the safety glass right at them.

Sawyer hit the accelerator again, only to have to brake because of the cows. “I can’t see behind us,” he let Grayson know. “Where’s the shooter?”

“Just ahead to the right. I only got a glimpse of him,” Grayson said, lowering his window.

Another shot came at them. Also fired from a gun rigged with a silence. Then, another shot. But this time it didn’t just come from the front of the truck.

It came from behind them.

More glass crashed onto them, this time from the rear window. So, not just one gunman. But two. At least.

“They’re shooting high,” Sawyer mumbled.

Cassidy’s mind was whirling with all sorts of bad thoughts, and it took her a moment to realize the high shots probably meant the shooters weren’t trying to kill them. This was probably another kidnapping attempt. But it didn’t matter. Any one of those shots could still hit them.

“There’s a truck behind us blocking the road,” Sawyer warned them.

No
. This couldn’t be happening. They couldn’t drive forward because of the cattle and the shooter. But now there was at least one shooter behind them, too.

They were trapped.

Chapter Eighteen

Hell.
Sawyer knew he had to get them out of there, but he didn’t have a lot of options. The cows were still ahead, and he couldn’t go in reverse, either, because of the vehicle behind them.

His only option was the left side.

There were only a few cattle there and beyond them, a pasture. The truck could easily break through what was left of the white wooden fence, but first he’d have to get past the ditch.

More bullets slammed into the roof of the truck. A stark reminder that he didn’t have to time to debate his decision.

“Hold on,” Sawyer warned them.

He turned the steering wheel to the left and hit the accelerator. Maybe, just maybe, the ditch wouldn’t be too deep and he could clear it. And while he was hoping, he added that none of those shots would stray into the cab of the truck. So far, they’d been lucky, but he hated that Cassidy’s life hinged on luck.

The truck lurched forward toward the fence and came to a dead stop when the front tires hit the ditch. The jolt was as bad as if he’d had a collision, and it slung them all forward. If they hadn’t been wearing their seat belts, the impact would have sent them flying through the windshield.

“What happened?” Cassidy asked.

He hated to tell her, but she had to know. “We didn’t clear the ditch.” The cattle had obviously made it worse by trudging through it, and the truck’s tires had instantly bogged down in the mud and the muck.

The shots continued—all muffled with a silencer maybe so that the sound wouldn’t spook the cows. Again, all the shots were high, tearing through the roof of the truck. And worse, Sawyer could tell the shooters were moving closer. Ready to do whatever they’d come here to do. His guess was they would kidnap Cassidy.

Or they’d try.

He wouldn’t stand by and let her be taken. But Grayson and he were almost certainly expendable. Unless the kidnappers planned to hold them all for ransom. Either way, a lot could go wrong in the next couple of minutes.

Because he had no choice, he texted Gage and asked for backup. Not from Gage himself. Sawyer wanted his cousin and the ranch hands with the baby, but Gage could ask for help from the sheriff of a nearby town. Of course, that kind of backup would take a long time to get there.

The bullets had already torn away most of the front windshield. Sawyer used the butt on his gun to knock down the rest. “Climb through, and we’ll use the front of the truck for cover.”

He hoped. But at least if they were outside, he’d be able to better see the location of their attackers.

“I’ll cover my side,” Grayson said to him. “You cover yours.”

“Stay down,” Sawyer added, and he rid Cassidy and himself of their seat belts.

He helped Cassidy maneuver through the gaping hole and onto the hood of the truck. It was hot from the engine and littered with glass. The flying bullets sure didn’t help. Still, he got her to the front of the truck and positioned himself so that she was sandwiched between Grayson and him.

“They want to kidnap me,” Cassidy said. “I need to get in front of both of you. They won’t shoot me.”

“Not going to happen,” Sawyer quickly let her know. But he wasn’t exactly sure how he would get them out of this mess. He only knew he had no choice but to succeed.

Another shot rang out. And this one wasn’t silenced. The sound blasted through the night.

“Watch out!” Grayson practically shouted.

Since Sawyer had his attention on the direction of the shooter, he didn’t see what was coming at them from behind.

More cattle.

And these weren’t loping around.

They were running right toward them, and it meant they were in the middle of a stampede. The cows couldn’t run through the truck, but in a panic, they could trample all of them.

Sawyer caught onto Cassidy and moved her back onto the hood of the truck. As before, he and Grayson tried to position themselves to best protect her. But the shots just kept coming. And this time they weren’t hitting the roof of the truck.

They were coming right at them.

“Get Cassidy back in the truck,” Grayson insisted. “I’ll try to stop these guys.”

He didn’t give Sawyer a chance to disagree—something he definitely would have done. Grayson was a husband and father, and despite that sheriff’s badge clipped to his belt, Sawyer didn’t want him taking these risks. This was his fight, and he should be the one going after the gunmen.

Grayson eased off the hood, and staying close to the truck, he worked his way to the back.

“Let’s go,” Sawyer told Cassidy, and he started the trek over the hood and back into the cab. They moved fast. Had to. The bullets were coming at them nonstop now.

“If you want her to live, you’ll let her go,” someone shouted. Sawyer didn’t recognize the voice.

The truck’s headlights were still on, and it was enough for Sawyer to see the frozen look on Cassidy’s face. “It might be the only way to get us out of this,” she whispered. “They won’t kill me. They only want the ransom money.”

That argument wasn’t going to work, and he pushed her down onto the floor of the truck. “Remember what they did to April. They probably hadn’t planned to kill her, either.”

Well, unless April had double-crossed them in some way. And there was the problem—Sawyer didn’t know who was behind the bullets, and it might not even matter. Cassidy could end up like April if these goons got their hands on her.

“At least consider it,” Cassidy said.

He paused a heartbeat. “Considered it, and the answer’s no. You’re not sacrificing yourself for me or anyone else.”

And he hoped that put an end to any further argument because he wanted to focus on their attackers and not talk about something that wasn’t going to happen—ever.

The shots slowed until there were several seconds between each one. Sawyer hoped that didn’t mean the gunmen were closing in on them. Instead, maybe it meant they were low on ammo, but he didn’t think he, Cassidy and his cousin would be that lucky.

He could no longer see Grayson. His cousin had disappeared amid the cattle and the darkness. Grayson was a smart lawman, and maybe he’d be able to stop at least one of the shooters. That would leave the other for Sawyer. Maybe there were just two of them, and he could manage to get Cassidy safely away from here. If he did, he was moving her straight to the safe house, where she would stay until he had arrested every person involved in this mess.

And he
would
arrest them.

No way would he let them get away with this.

Sawyer heard the shot on the left side of the truck. Maybe it had come from Grayson because the angle and sound were different from the others. He waited, listening, but there were no other shots and nothing from Grayson to indicate what had just happened.

Some movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention, and Sawyer looked into what was left of the side mirror. The broken pieces created an eerie broken image of the moving cows. No gunmen though.

But Sawyer quickly amended that.

There was someone using the cattle for cover.

“Stay down,” he said to Cassidy, and Sawyer adjusted his position so he could blast this idiot to smithereens.

He fastened his attention to the spot where he’d last seen the person, and it didn’t take him long to get another glimpse. And then a look at the face.

Hell
.

* * *

E
VEN
THOUGH
S
AWYER
didn’t say a word, Cassidy could tell from his body language that something else had just gone wrong. She prayed something bad hadn’t happened to Grayson or that they weren’t about to be ambushed.

She lifted her head just enough to follow Sawyer’s gaze, and her shoulders snapped back.
No
. It couldn’t be. But it was. She could see the person staring straight at them.

Bennie.

Oh, God. He’d been the one behind this.

Her chest tightened into a vise. Her breath vanished. It felt as if someone had taken hold of her heart and was crushing the life right out of it.

“I’m sorry,” Sawyer said a split second before he shoved her back down. Out of the line of possible fire. Sawyer’s gaze also fired all around them, probably looking for the second gunman.

But Cassidy couldn’t stay down. She couldn’t let her brother finish what he’d obviously started, and she couldn’t sit by while he shot Grayson or Sawyer.

“Bennie, don’t do this!” Cassidy called out.

She wasn’t sure what kind of reaction she’d get, but Cassidy was a little surprised when Bennie just stood there and shook his head.

“Sawyer, don’t shoot,” Bennie added, surprising her even more.

Sawyer must not have anticipated that response either because he mumbled, “What the heck’s going on?”

Cassidy had no idea.

However, that didn’t stop Sawyer from taking aim at Bennie. “Put down your gun and get your hands in the air so I can see them,” Sawyer ordered, sounding very much like the lawman that he was.

But Bennie shook his head. “I can’t. I’m not armed. And my hands are tied.”

Sawyer glanced at her to see if she knew what this was all about, but she had to shake her head, too.

“Don’t you get it?” Bennie snapped. “Someone kidnapped me again. That’s why I’m out here. The kidnapper brought me to you.”

“It might be a trick,” Sawyer whispered.

Cassidy was already considering it. Her brother could be so desperate for money that he’d be willing to fake his kidnapping twice. And in doing so, he could have put them all in danger—again.

“Who kidnapped you?” Cassidy pressed.

He didn’t jump to answer that. In fact, he seemed to dodge her gaze. Never a good sign. “The same men who kidnapped you and me before,” he finally said. “They grabbed me and put me in the truck.” He tipped his head to the vehicle on the road. “They used a tracker to follow you.”

“A tracker?” she repeated, and Cassidy certainly didn’t make it sound as if she believed him. Because she didn’t. “Did you put some kind of tracking device on the truck?”

“Not me,” Bennie insisted. He shook his head, repeated it. “But someone did. One of the men, I suspect. When I saw what they were doing, I tried to warn you, but I couldn’t get to one of their phones.”

She hoped that was true, that her brother had tried to help her, but again, Cassidy wasn’t sure. What they needed were answers.

“You must know who brought you here,” Sawyer challenged. “And how the heck did the kidnappers get past the cop guarding you?”

Bennie opened his mouth to speak, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything else. A guy wearing a dark ski mask came up behind him, and Cassidy had no trouble seeing the gun that he jammed against Bennie’s head. She also had no trouble seeing her brother’s reaction.

He was terrified.

Cassidy’s own reaction was automatic. There was that overwhelming need to protect him. She’d done it for so long that it had become second nature. But she couldn’t let her second nature get Sawyer and Grayson killed. Because Bennie could have hired the man with the gun to convince her that he’d indeed been kidnapped. If so, it was very convincing. That gun was real, and the man’s finger was on the trigger.

“Cassidy, you’ve got one choice and one choice only,” the man threatened. “Surrender or your brother dies where he stands. I figure you got less than ten minutes to make up your mind about it because that’s when the boss gets here.”

That thinned her breath, and her pulse was crashing in her ears, making it hard for her to hear. She forced herself to remember that the threat could be another part of the setup to draw her out into the open. Not that Sawyer would have let her anyway, but Cassidy had no plans to surrender.

Well, unless it was the only way she could save Sawyer.

Something he definitely wouldn’t appreciate.

There was no chance she could convince Sawyer that this was her fault. She should have seen what Bennie was up to and nixed it. She should have stopped him before anyone got hurt. And that was something she’d have to learn to live with. Still, that didn’t make the pain in her heart any easier.

“Who’s your boss?” Sawyer snapped.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” the gunman taunted. “Guess you’ll find out soon enough, won’t you?”

Judging from the profanity Sawyer mumbled, that didn’t help him choke back the anger. Cassidy was having a hard time choking it back, too, but it wasn’t the only emotion she was feeling.

“Bennie, why is this happening?” she asked. Her voice broke. She thought she might break, too. This was tearing her heart into a dozen little pieces, and she doubted it would get better any time soon. “Just how deep are you mixed up in this?”

Her brother didn’t jump to deny his innocence. He only shook his head and looked away again as if he was afraid she’d see the guilt in his eyes. But Cassidy could see it without eye contact. Everything about Bennie’s body language told her what she didn’t want to hear.

“How deep?” she pressed, her voice raised.

Bennie groaned softly but still didn’t look at her. “I didn’t mean for it to come to this. I swear, I didn’t.”

That was it—his admission of guilt. Something she’d prayed she wouldn’t hear and yet something Cassidy had already expected.

“You did it for the money,” she said. And it wasn’t a question. Only money drove Bennie, and this time there was a lot of money at stake. “You needed to pay off that bar owner.”

He nodded. Groaned again. “He would have killed me. Maybe killed you, too. I thought I was saving us both.”

“You thought you were saving yourself,” Cassidy argued.

“I was thinking of you, too!” Bennie shouted back.

“Enough of this,” Sawyer snarled. He gave her a look. One of sympathy. But it didn’t last long. His jaw muscles turned to iron when he looked at Bennie. “Tell your henchman to put down his gun,” he added.

“He’s not my henchman,” Bennie insisted.

“Right,” Sawyer said. “You hired him. Now, tell him to drop the weapon or you both die.”

Cassidy didn’t think that was a bluff. Bennie had obviously gone too far over the edge to be saved. All it would take was for the gunman to make a move to shoot again, and Sawyer would have no choice but to fire first. With Bennie between them, he could easily be shot.