Sawyer (16 page)

“I hired him,” Bennie admitted, his voice low and weary. “But he no longer works for me. I pulled out of the kidnapping plan. Or rather, I tried to do that, but they wouldn’t let me get out.”

Cassidy stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“I needed that money. You knew that. I told you I needed it—”

“You never said you’d be killed because of it,” she interrupted, “or that you’d be willing to risk my life to get it.”

“Your life was already at risk. The loan shark who owns the bar would have come after you if I hadn’t done something. I was desperate to save us both.”

“Stop all this yakking,” the gunman growled. “I thought I was pretty clear when I said what had to happen. I’ll trade Bennie for his sister, and that’s gotta happen before the boss gets here. After that, all bets are off, and I start shooting.”

“You were clear, all right,” Sawyer agreed, “but if you think I’ll turn Cassidy over to you or your boss, think again. You need to come up with a different plan. One that involves putting your gun on the ground and surrendering.”

Grayson was out there, somewhere, and hopefully could step up to help. Maybe the backup would be here soon, too.

The gunman laughed. “Hey, it’s not my plan. I’m just following orders. And if you think I won’t ice ol’ Bennie here, then think again. He’s not playing on our team anymore. But I tell you, when he was playing for us, he was real eager to put that kidnapping plan into action. Desperate men sure do stupid, desperate things.”

Cassidy had to get her teeth unclenched. Bennie had been desperate, all right, but it had been of his own making. No one had forced him to get involved with a loan shark.

“So, you faked our kidnapping so I’d pay up and never know the truth about what you’d done.” Again, Cassidy wasn’t asking a question. She was pretty sure where this was going, and it wasn’t a direction she liked.

“I changed my mind,” Bennie argued. “I tried to call it off, but these goons said they’d kill April if I didn’t go through with it.”

“April?” Sawyer and she questioned in unison.

It wasn’t much of a surprise that the woman’s name had come up. April had clearly been involved in some kind of way with the kidnapping. But until now Cassidy hadn’t known if April was a victim or the person behind the abductions.

She knew it now.

“Why would they threaten to kill April?” Sawyer asked.

Despite having a gun pressed against his head, Bennie took his time answering. “Because they thought they could use her to make sure that I cooperated.”

“Tell ʼem,” the gunman snarled when Bennie paused. “They’ll get a kick out of hearing this.”

But Bennie still didn’t belt out an explanation for several long moments. “The baby’s mine,” he finally said. “April had a test. An amnio, and it proved I was the father. These goons said they’d use the baby and her to make sure I collected the ransom money.”

Cassidy touched her fingers to her lips. It was so hard to hear this. Hard to learn that Bennie was Emma’s father and that these monsters wanted to use the newborn as a pawn.

“Emma’s yours,” Sawyer said under his breath. Not loud.

But plenty loud enough for Cassidy to hear him and the emotion in his voice. He had to be feeling so many things right now, but he was no doubt pushing them aside because of that gunman.

Cassidy tried to do the same—push the emotion aside. Hard to do. Here, all this time, she’d been with her own blood kin, her niece, at that, and she hadn’t even known it.

“You killed April?” Sawyer asked her brother.

“No.” Bennie not only shouted his answer, he frantically shook his head. “It was one of them.” He tipped his head to the man behind him.

“Yeah, it was me,” the man readily answered. He checked his watch. “Now, time’s up for Bennie here. Either come and trade places with him or he dies.”

The demand didn’t make sense because the gunman could ask for ransom from her for Bennie’s release. So, there had to be more.

But what?

And just how many more crimes would her brother confess to before the night was over? Maybe a confession to the ultimate one—that
he
was the boss.

“What are you not telling me?” Cassidy demanded, and she aimed a glare right at Bennie.

But he didn’t answer.

Because the shot cracked through the air. Not fired from the gun near her brother. This had come from the other side of the truck where she’d last seen Grayson. Cassidy couldn’t see him now, but the cows that were still nearby started to run again.

Something or someone had stampeded them.

As if in a panic, some of the cows bashed into the side of the truck. And the panic wasn’t just on that side but where Bennie was standing, as well. The masked man with the gun cursed, hooked his arm around Bennie’s neck and yanked him back.

That’s when Cassidy saw that her brother’s hands were indeed tied.

And she saw something else.

Another person dressed all in black walking through the cows and directly toward them.

That person took aim at Sawyer and fired.

Chapter Nineteen

Sawyer pulled Cassidy down onto the seat but not before he got a good look at the person who’d just shot at them.

Diane.

She certainly didn’t look like a woman who’d recently been kidnapped. Just the opposite. Unlike Bennie, her hands weren’t tied and no one was holding a gun to her head. Sawyer didn’t know exactly how Diane fit into all of this, but he intended to find out.

He glanced in Bennie’s direction to make sure the gunman there wasn’t about to start firing, as well. But the goon didn’t look on the verge of pulling the trigger. He had his hands full with Bennie struggling and the cattle darting in front of him.

Despite the stampede, Diane fired again, the shot taking off a chunk of the steering wheel, but like her comrades, she wasn’t aiming to kill, either. She wanted to take them alive. Or at least take Cassidy alive. And Sawyer had to figure out how to use that to his advantage.

“You’re looking pretty fit for a woman who left her blood on that warehouse floor,” Sawyer shouted.

“I am fit. Drew the blood myself and planted it there. I thought it would take me off your suspect list. No such luck. I also thought the fake robbery at the lab would get me off it. No such luck with that, either. You just don’t give up, do you?”

“Never,” he grumbled.

“You broke into the lab?” Bennie howled, still struggling. “You tried to set me up, tried to make me look guilty.”

“You are guilty,” Diane concluded. “Just not of that particular fake robbery.” She turned her attention back to Sawyer. “I heard the conversations you and your cousins had at the sheriff’s office because I planted a listening device on the front desk the day I visited.”

A bug.

Oh, mercy.

They hadn’t even thought to check for that. And it had allowed Diane to follow their every move. Sawyer quickly tried to go back through everything that had been said over the past two days. There’d been a lot of talk not just between Cassidy and him, but his cousins had also spent a lot of time on this investigation.

“You also put tracking devices on all the vehicles,” Sawyer said.

“I did that as a precaution. And then I had one of my hired men go out to the Ryland ranch. He pretended to work for the electric company, and he tagged all the vehicles there. Just in case.”

“You went to a lot of trouble for someone on the bottom of my suspect list,” Sawyer pointed out.

“I might have been at the bottom, but I was still on the list. After I heard all the calls and speculation, I knew they or you wouldn’t quit until one of you managed to piece everything together,” she continued. “But here’s your chance. Let’s end this before anyone gets hurt.”

“Too late,” Sawyer shouted back. “Someone’s dead.” And he hoped that only applied to April. It was making him antsy that he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Grayson since he’d gotten out of the truck.

“April was a casualty of her own stupidity,” Diane declared. She definitely didn’t sound like the shrink who’d been in the sheriff’s office. She sounded more like a cold-blooded killer. And probably was.

“You’re blaming the victim,” Sawyer snapped. Yeah, it was probably dumb to egg her on, but he hated this cold witch who had placed Emma and Cassidy in so much danger.

“April wasn’t a victim,” Diane argued in that ice-queen tone that set his teeth on edge. “She agreed to help set up Bennie’s kidnapping.”

All right. He hadn’t exactly seen that coming, but with April’s track record, it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. Bennie and April were criminals at the core.

And if he was to believe Bennie—and he did about this—they’d made Emma.

Inside, Sawyer cursed that. Not because he thought they’d passed on those criminal genes to Emma. No, Bennie had good genes. Like Cassidy. He’d just made plenty of bad choices with the good things he’d been given in life. But what gnawed away at Sawyer was that Bennie now had a claim to the little girl who Sawyer loved like his own.

“If April was on your side,” Sawyer said, “then why is she dead?”

Diane shrugged. “Because she got greedy. Wanted a bigger cut of the ransom, and I wasn’t willing to give up a dollar more than I’d promised her.”

“And that’s when you had her killed,” Bennie shouted.

Diane certainly didn’t deny it, and she turned her stony gaze in the direction of Bennie and the gunman. They stepped out, the gunman dragging Bennie closer to the truck. The man had removed his mask, and Sawyer got a good look at him. He was a stranger. A hired gun.

But what exactly was this gun supposed to do?

And where was Chester Finley’s brother, Joe? Chester had already indicated that Joe worked for the kidnapping boss, and that likely meant he was somewhere out there. Hopefully, not putting a bullet in Grayson.

“If you hurt Cassidy,” Sawyer reminded Diane, “you won’t get a penny.”

“And that’s the only reason she’s still alive.” It was as if she had ice water in her veins, and that sent Sawyer’s blood boiling. How dare this witch risk Cassidy’s and Emma’s lives for money.

“Cassidy will come with me,” Diane continued, “and when I have the cash, I’ll let her go.”

“No, you won’t.” Sawyer hated to lay it all out there like that, especially since the color had drained from Cassidy’s face. But Cassidy no doubt already knew what Diane had in mind—she wanted to kill them all so there would be no witnesses to her crime.

The gunman and Bennie stopped just a few feet from the truck. “Your cousin, you and Bennie will stay here,” Diane ordered, and she motioned for Cassidy to get out.

Sawyer caught on to Cassidy so she’d stay put. “How was the baby involved in this plan of yours?” It was something he could learn later, but he wanted to buy some time. Maybe for Grayson to get into place. Maybe for Diane and her hired goon to let down their guard.

All Sawyer needed was a split-second distraction.

“Talk time is over,” Diane snapped.

Sawyer shook his head. “If you want Cassidy to get out, then tell me why you had her bring me the baby, why you let me believe it was mine.”

Diane’s glare got worse, and she didn’t say anything for several heart-stopping moments. “I figured once you learned the baby was Bennie’s, you’d blame him for all of this. He’s a good scapegoat.”

“I didn’t know she was going to use the baby. Or kill April,” Bennie blurted out. “If I had known, I would never have agreed to the fake kidnapping—”

“Shut him up,” Diane said. And her henchman bashed his gun against the side of Bennie’s head. He went down to the ground like a rock.

“Don’t worry, he’s not dead—yet,” Diane added. “But if Cassidy doesn’t step out now, then my next order is to put a bullet in Bennie’s head.”

“I have to go,” Cassidy immediately said. “I can’t let him die.”

Sawyer got that. After all, he had a kid brother, too. But he couldn’t let Cassidy do this.

“If you think your cousin can help you, you’re wrong,” Diane continued, her voice more than a little smug now. “One of my employees has him tied up.”

Sawyer had no idea if that was true, but just in case, he knew he couldn’t rely on Grayson for help. Or Bennie. And that meant he had to do something now.

But
now
came a little sooner than planned.

Yelling like a man on fire, Bennie got up and although his hands were tied in front of him, he swung his elbow back and connected with the gunman’s gut. The guy yelped in pain.

It was just the distraction Sawyer needed.

He leaned forward, putting the weight of his chest onto the horn. The blare got the cows moving again. And in the same motion, he took aim at Diane.

However, she fired first.

Not at Sawyer.

But at Bennie.

Diane’s shot slammed into Bennie’s chest.

* * *

C
ASSIDY
HEARD
HERSELF
SCREAM
, and she tried to get to her brother before he hit the ground. But Sawyer stopped her from doing that.

He pushed her aside, took aim at Diane and fired.

However, Diane had already moved out of the way by the time Sawyer’s bullet made it to her. She dived to the side of some cows, out of the line of fire. But Sawyer and she weren’t out of danger. Neither was Bennie. Because the gunman who’d been holding Bennie suddenly had his hands free when Bennie dropped, and the guy fired at Sawyer and her.

Sawyer pulled her down onto the seat with him but kept the horn blaring. It was hard to think with the noise, and it took her a moment to realize why he was doing that.

It got the cows moving.

Away from Diane.

And that made her an easier target. She must have realized it, too, because she fired a shot at Sawyer and bolted behind a tree.

There were so many sounds. The shots. The horn blaring in spurts. But Cassidy was able to pick through all of it and hear her brother. Bennie was moaning in pain. That meant he was alive, thank God, but he wouldn’t be for long with Diane’s bullet in him.

“Stay down,” Sawyer told her. He threw open the glove compartment and took out a gun. He put it in her right hand and put her left on the horn. “Keep up the sound so Diane can’t hear me when I open the truck door.”

“No.” Cassidy tried to make him stay put.

“Bennie needs an ambulance. I have to stop her.” And he pressed a quick kiss on her mouth and scrambled out the passenger’s side.

The movement got Diane’s attention. She leaned out, ready to fire at Sawyer, but Cassidy took aim. Pulled the trigger. She’d never fired before, and she missed. But it forced Diane to dart back behind the tree.

Sawyer threaded himself between the cows, using them for cover, and made his way closer to Diane. Cassidy was so focused on him that the shot startled her.

The shot hadn’t come from Diane or her henchmen.

But rather from behind.

The gunman fell clutching his chest, and that’s when Cassidy spotted Grayson in the side mirror. He wasn’t tied up, after all. He’d taken out the gunman, but Diane was still armed and just as dangerous.

She held her breath, waited and watched. Each time Diane looked out, Cassidy fired a shot at her. Her aim was still awful, but it got the job done. Diane was forced to stay put while Sawyer inched his way to her. But Cassidy was forced to stay put, too, and each step Sawyer took seemed to take an eternity.

Sawyer made it within just a few yards of the woman, when the cows bolted to the side, leaving him without any cover. Diane instantly spotted him and fired.

She missed. Barely. Cassidy thought the bullet came so close to Sawyer that he could probably feel the heat from it.

Sawyer spun away from her, and both Sawyer and Cassidy pulled their triggers.

The combined blasts were deafening, but as before, Diane had already moved before the shots could get to her. Diane pulled the trigger.

And her gun jammed.

Cassidy thought maybe her heart had stopped, and she froze. But Sawyer didn’t. He lunged at Diane, and they crashed to the ground.

Cassidy hurried out of the truck, and she glanced at Bennie first. There was blood covering the front of his shirt, but he was alive. He motioned toward her, and it took her a moment to realize he was telling her to go to Sawyer.

“Help him,” Bennie said, his voice weak. “Diane’s a dangerous woman.”

Cassidy was well aware of that. Diane was a killer and would no doubt do the same to Sawyer if given the chance. She hurried toward them and glanced behind her when she heard footsteps. It was Grayson, and he stopped to help her brother. Cassidy hurried on, and when she got to Sawyer, she saw him in a tangle with Diane.

The woman still had her gun.

And her finger was on the trigger.

She fired, and Cassidy could only pray that the bullet hadn’t hit Sawyer. He caught on to Diane’s wrist, bashed her hand against the tree until her gun went flying. Diane screamed and scrambled for it.

But it was too late.

Sawyer caught on to her and pushed her hard against the tree. In the same motion, he put his gun to her. “Give me a reason to fire.”

Cassidy didn’t think that was a bluff. Sawyer was more than ready to shoot, and she totally understood why. The greedy witch had nearly gotten them all killed.

“We need an ambulance fast,” Grayson shouted, his voice tearing through the silence. “Bennie’s bleeding out.”