Showdown in West Texas (17 page)

The ache in Cage's knee woke him up that night. He'd put too much stress on it in the past couple of days, and now he was paying the price. He could feel the puffy tautness of the swelling, but there wasn't much he could do about that right now except to make an ice pack.

Slipping out of Grace's bed, he left her sleeping as he pulled on his jeans and boots. After putting on his shirt, he grabbed the ice bucket from the bathroom and went out the balcony door. Miss Nelda had told him that her nephew had replaced the lightbulbs, but the one near the stairs was still burned out.

Between the moon and the streetlight in front of the house, Cage could see well enough. He took his time with the stairs, favoring his good knee as much as he could, then went around the corner to the small enclosed porch where the ice machine was kept.

He'd just slid up the lid and reached for the scoop when he felt a gun barrel shoved up against the base of his head.

The ice bucket clattered to the floor as he slowly raised his arms.

“Nice and slow,” a voice said behind him.

Cage turned. There were two of them, dressed much the way they had been the first time he saw them. Dark suits, white shirts. The only things missing were the shades.

The shorter of the two held him at gunpoint, while the taller man leaned a shoulder against the door. “Nice of you to accommodate us this way,” he said. “It might have gotten a little messy upstairs, what with your girlfriend and all, but this way nobody has to get hurt—except you.” He straightened, took a leisurely step toward Cage, and in the second before he drilled his fist into Cage's gut, bending him double, Cage caught a glimpse of the man's face.

He had the coldest eyes Cage had ever looked into.

The two men took turns pummeling him until he lay in a bloody heap on the floor. Then they grabbed him by the arms, dragged him off the porch and across the yard to the black SUV parked at the curb.

 

A
SOUND WOKE
G
RACE
.

She lay for a moment wondering what it was, and then she heard it again. She still couldn't place it, but she figured it was probably nothing. A cat in the yard next door. A car on the street. No reason to be alarmed. But ever since the windmill had awakened her that night all those years ago, she'd been highly attuned to nighttime noises, especially those that didn't seem to belong.

It wasn't until she sat up in bed that she realized Cage was gone. Had he slipped away in the middle of the night? That would be like him, she decided. Unpredictable and impulsive. Never a dull moment around him.

She thought of the climax she'd had earlier—the first one—and she tingled all over as she went to the door and slipped out on the balcony. Cage's car was still parked at the curb, so he hadn't left yet. Maybe he'd gone out for a walk.

As she hurried to the stairs, a tiny piece of glass dug into her foot. She leaned against the wall, balancing on one leg as she tried to pick out the splinter. Then she saw the tiny shards glistening all over the balcony where someone had broken a glass. But in the next instant, she realized that the milky-like slivers were from the overhead light. The bulb had shattered. With shoes or boots, the miniscule pieces would have gone unnoticed, but they were treacherous on bare feet. The larger chunks must have been swept away, Grace thought.

Walking on her heel, she moved to the top of the stairs, then paused when she spotted someone moving about below her. She thought at first it was Cage, and then she saw the shadows separate and realized that it was two men. No, three. The third was being dragged unconscious to the curb where a black SUV waited. A door opened, and the lifeless figure was shoved into the back. One man climbed in behind the wheel, the taller of the two strode to the other side. As he opened the door, his gaze lifted and Grace jerked back, flattening herself against the wall, praying that she was hidden by shadows.

For the longest time, the tall man scoured the darkness. Finally, he climbed in and the SUV glided away from the curb.

 

I
T HAD TAKEN
G
RACE
less than a minute to hurry back to her room, grab shoes, clothes and her gun and then
she was running down the stairs and across the yard to her truck, cell phone to her ear as she called for backup. The roar of the wind through the back window was a graphic reminder of the close call she and Cage had had the day before. But now
he
was the target. He was in grave danger—if he was even still alive—and unless Grace could pick up the SUV's trail—

There it was, three blocks ahead of her and turning right, onto the highway. This time of night, the road was deserted. Grace spotted the huge vehicle easily, but the trick was to keep them from seeing her.

Once on the highway, she ran without lights, hanging back as far as she dared. Up ahead, the SUV lights cut off suddenly, and Grace reduced her speed, not wanting to run up on them. After a few minutes, she began to think she might have lost them, but then she saw the lights flash up ahead and off to the right. The driver had turned off the highway onto the trail that led back through the rocky terrain to Willow Springs.

Even in her truck, Grace knew she couldn't make it. She didn't know how long it would be before she had to take to the trail on foot. But to her amazement, the ruts smoothed out after a couple of miles, and she realized the road had been recently graded. Someone must have been using this trail for some time now.

She stopped and cut the engine. The windows were all down, and she could hear the faint hum of the SUV, and a moment later, the thud of tires as they crossed the old wooden bridge. If a vehicle that heavy could make it across, so could she.

Grace pressed the accelerator and her truck shot forward.

 

W
HEN
C
AGE CAME TO
, he found himself in the middle of a dirt road, surrounded by dilapidated buildings. He'd been lying on his side where he'd obviously been dumped, but when he groaned, hands grabbed him, pulled him to his knees, and tied his wrists behind him.

There were three other men in the road beside him, all in the same position as he. All, no doubt, with the same cold feeling of horror and dread and disbelief as they closed their eyes and awaited their execution.

The other three were members of a rival drug cartel, from what Cage could gather. His kidnappers, ex-DEA agents, apparently worked for the highest bidder.

The man with the cold eyes walked to the end of the line, put the gun barrel to the back of a dark head, and fired.

The victim pitched forward—dead before he even hit the ground.

 

A
QUARTER OF A MILE
from the ghost town, Grace had abandoned her truck. It was so quiet out here, someone would surely hear the engine if she drove any farther.

She was fully dressed now, including boots and her gun belt, which she buckled around her as she moved as quickly as she dared toward the tumbledown buildings of the ghost town.

It had been years since she'd been out to Willow Springs. There wasn't much left. Just a few decrepit shacks and a graveyard of rusted-out vehicles. Grace could hear voices just ahead, and flattening herself to the rotting walls of one of the buildings, she peered around the corner.

What she saw nearly stopped her heart.

Pressing herself against the flimsy boards, she closed her eyes and braced for what was about to come, for what she had to do. She gripped the handle of her gun, took another breath and then a voice said from inside the building, “You just hold it right there.”

Sookie stepped through the sagging doorway with a .45 trained on Grace. “I didn't want it to come to this, but it looks like if I want you dead, I'm going to have to do it myself. Should have known better than to send a boy to do a woman's job.”

“You mean Ethan?”

“‘I know a hit man,'” she mimicked. “‘You want Grace dead?
No problem.'”
She rolled her eyes as she took another step toward Grace. “Now I ask you? What kind of idiot hires a hit man over the Internet, sight unseen, no references, no credentials, no nothing. God, what a doofus. Now, he'll be sweating it out in Huntsville for the next ten to twenty. Like I said, don't send a boy to do a woman's job. Ain't that right, sugar?” she called over her shoulder. “Just throw your gun over here. Let's not draw this out any longer than we have.”

“Better do as she says, Gracie,” Colt said as he came up behind Sookie.

For the longest moment, Grace's gaze held his in disbelief. Then she got mad. “You son of a bitch. Why are you doing this?”

He shrugged. “Money. Excitement. Does it matter?”

“Rescuing wild horses, my ass,” she said. “You want Jesse's ranch because of its proximity to the border. I'm guessing you've already been using it for quite some time now. What happened? Did Jesse want out?”

Sookie laughed. “Poor Jesse's still living in a dream
world. I think he's still got a thing for you, Grace. You know what he thought? He thought he could just show you that deed and you'd sign over your share without blinking an eye. But you and me, we're realists aren't we? You said it yourself, we have a lot in common. We might even be friends if, you know, I didn't have to kill you and all. And I still need you to toss that weapon over here.”

“Do as she says, Grace. You can't shoot us both. The moment you fire that gun, those guys will be all over you.” He nodded toward the street. “And trust me, you don't want to die that way.”

“Just tell me one thing. Why did you want me to come back here?” When Colt merely smiled, she said, “I see. You don't have much faith in my ability, do you?”

“Your reputation in Austin preceded you. It's a shame, really. You once had so much potential. But now…I'm afraid it's come to this. So toss down the gun and let's get this over with.”

Grace made sure to throw the weapon at Sookie's feet, out of Colt's reach. When Sookie bent to pick it up, Grace pulled a .38 from the back of her jeans and fired twice.

 

A
T THE SOUND OF GUNFIRE
, all hell broke loose. Suddenly, the execution was in complete disarray.

Cage swung around and lunged at his would-be killer. They both went down, fighting like mad dogs in the dirt.

He got his hands around the man's throat and dug his thumbs into the windpipe. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a second guy bearing down on him. The
man smiled, took aim, then dropped to his knees as a .45 slug caught him square in the chest.

Bullets riddled the air. Cage thought the cavalry must have arrived, but he would later learn it was just Grace, mad as hell and armed with both a .38 and a .45.

He was still battling it out with the cold-eyed man in the dirt. And losing ground. The man tore Cage's hands from his throat, heaved him aside, and then somehow managed to get a foot in Cage's groin to send him sprawling.

And that was all the time the man needed.

He dove for his gun.

Cage heard his name, saw Grace moving up rapidly, still exchanging fire with someone holed up in one of the buildings. She screamed his name again, tossed him the .38 and Cage pulled the trigger as the cold-eyed man turned. He got off a round, grazing Cage's arm, but the second bullet took the guy down for good.

A moment later, there was nothing but silence.

Dead silence.

Whether the man in the building had been hit or was on the run, Cage didn't much care at the moment. He struggled to his feet, clutching his arm as Grace ran over to him.

And there, in the middle of a ghost town, with the smell of gunpowder perfuming the night air, Cage finally kissed Grace beneath a blanket of stars.

Grace's office had soon been overrun with agents from the DEA, the FBI, the TBI and maybe even a Texas ranger or two. Cage had lost count of how many times he'd had to tell his story. The legalities would likely take weeks to sort out, but he wasn't up to worrying about any of that just now. He had his arm patched up and enough painkillers to stabilize an elephant. He felt like a new man.

Grace had finally managed to tear herself away from all the red tape, and she, Lily and Cage had met up at the diner to hash everything out amongst themselves.

Lily was beside herself with guilt. “I'm so sorry, Grace.” She must have said it a million times by now.

And Grace's response was always the same. “It's not your fault. You didn't cause Ethan to go off the deep end like that.”

“But maybe I did. If I hadn't acted the way I did toward you, he never would have gotten the idea to try and kill you. He did that for me.”

“No, he didn't. He did it for his own sick, selfish reasons,” Grace said. “You had nothing to do with it.
And besides, if you hadn't had the good sense to listen to Cage here—” He threw her a sheepish grin. “I'd be dead by now. You two saved my life, and I'll never forget it.”

“There's a lot I want to say to you,” Lily said.

Grace smiled. “There's a lot I want to say to you, too. But we've got plenty of time.”

Unlike us,
Cage thought.

After Lily left, he and Grace walked across the street to Miss Nelda's and sat down on the steps.

“So, what's going to happen now?” she said.

He shrugged. “I guess at some point I'll either have to give a deposition or testify, depending on how everything gets sorted out. After that…”

“Where will you go when you leave here?”

He looked out over the street where the sun baked down from a cloudless blue sky. “Maybe go on to El Paso and see if I can salvage the equipment deal for my brother-in-law. After that, back to Dallas, I guess.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

He turned and studied her for a long moment. She had cuts and scratches all over her face and dark circles of exhaustion underneath her eyes. She looked like hell and Cage had never been more attracted to her.

“I'm not big on making long-term plans,” he finally said.

“I kind of figured.”

“But I've had in mind for some time now that I might like to get back in the game.”

“Football?”
she asked in disbelief.

“No, but thanks for your vote of confidence,” he said with a grin. “Law enforcement. Although I could
never pass the physical to be on a police force again, I was thinking I might like to open up a P.I. shop, something like that.”

Grace thought about it for a minute. “Whereabouts do you have in mind? Dallas?”

“I don't know. Maybe someplace out west,” he said. “I've kind of grown partial to the scenery out here.” He gave her another quick once-over and a grin.

“Yeah, me, too.”

“So here's what I'm thinking. You asked if we'd ever see each other again. The truth is, I don't know. I don't know where I'll be tomorrow, much less a year from now. And I don't know if what I'm feeling at this moment is even real. We've only known each other for what…thirty-six hours? And getting shot at for about half that time kind of screws with your perspective.”

“No kidding,” she said dryly, but he could see a curious, hopeful spark in her eyes.

“What I do know is this…I don't want to look back five years from now and wonder if I let the best thing that ever happened to me get away.”

She took a deep breath and smiled. “What do we do?”

He put his hand on her knee and squeezed. “I'll tell you exactly what we'll do. I'm going off to start my business and you're going to finish the job you started here in Jericho Pass. And then in six months…oh, what the hell, let's make it three…we meet right back here, on these steps, and see where we want to go from there.”

“Sounds kind of cheesy, but I like it,” Grace said. “Three months is a long time, though. Anything can happen.”

“Don't I know it,” Cage said. His football dreams had died in a heartbeat, and so had his career as a cop. And in just the space of a few short days, he'd fallen in love for the first time in his life. Despite what he'd told her, he didn't need three months to know how he felt about Grace. He didn't even need three days. But she did. She was the kind of woman who needed to take her time, and Cage could live with that. He wanted her to be sure.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

“I was just thinking about what a lucky guy I am,” he said softly.

“Just wait until we get upstairs,” she said. “You're about to get even luckier.”

And he did.