Backcountry Escape (Badlands Cops Book 3)

by Nicole Helm

“He has her,” Gage said, keeping that tight control on his rage, because fear and rage were too dangerous a combination. “We can’t risk her. We’ll stop here. Go the rest of the way on foot.”

  Brady nodded. “Stick together until we have our target, then split up if she’s not immediately visible.”

  Since that was exactly what Gage had been thinking, he slowed the truck to a stop. “Ideally, backup is here before we have to engage, but I can’t make promises on stopping if she’s hurt. I need you not to get in my way. She’s too important to me. I need you to understand that.”

  Brady didn’t nod at that. He didn’t even agree. But he didn’t argue. “Be smart. For both of you—not just her.”

  Gage flashed a smile he didn’t feel. He couldn’t promise his brother he wouldn’t lay down his life for Felicity. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t. “We’ll see.”

  Wordlessly they silenced their phones, unholstered their weapons and slid out of the truck. The location of the button was one mile due north. Gage had parked the truck outside a cluster of trees. He and Brady moved forward—two men, one unit, one purpose.

  The trailer came into view slowly. It was settled in among thick trees, a rock wall at its back.

  Hell of a spot to hide out—but also a hell of a spot to get trapped. Not many ways to escape. The van was parked on a patch of gravel and the back doors were wide open, as was the passenger side door.

  It was eerily quiet.

  Brady nodded to the right, and Gage gave assent, peeling away to head to the left. If Michael and Felicity were still here, they were in the trailer.

  He didn’t let himself consider what might have happened if they weren’t here.

  The windows were covered on the inside with thick curtains, on the outside with dust and grime and a collection of dead bugs.

  There was no way to see inside. No way to tell if they were in there. Gage moved slowly, quietly, gun trained on the trailer. He skirted the side of the trailer, looking and listening for any sign of people.

  As he came to the back, Brady appeared from the other side. There was a narrow yard, if one could call it that, between the trailer and the steep rock face. If he and Brady could block both sides, there’d be no way for Michael to escape.

  If he was in there. If they could get him out here instead of him running out the front and to the van.

  Gage studied the back of the trailer. It was the same situation. The few windows there were covered. The door didn’t have any kind of window in it. And everything was quiet.

  If they weren’t in there, they were somewhere on foot. Unless Michael had another vehicle at his disposal.

  Based on this setup, Gage doubted it. They had to be in there. The quiet threatened his ability to stay calm. There was nothing good about quiet—too many awful possibilities.

  He wouldn’t let himself think about any of them. He crept forward, Brady moving to flank him. Both had their guns drawn and ready for anything.

  When shouting from the inside started, Gage gave Brady a look. Brady nodded. Gage eased the storm door open, wincing at the squeak and hoping the shouts covered the sound.

  He had one chance. One chance to get in there quick and clean and without putting Felicity at more risk.

  He counted to three in his head, then kicked as hard as he could, the door splintering open.

  Inside things were dim and dingy, and a metallic smell clung to the air. Felicity was on her knees in the corner. Clearly, her hands were tied behind her. She looked up at him like he was a ghost, but Gage had his eyes on the gun in Michael’s hand.

  “What is it with you Wyatts?” Michael gave a bit of a shrug, and Gage had been in enough situations to know what that shrug meant. He wasn’t going to fight his way out. He was giving up.

  But not before he killed everyone he could.

  So, Gage pulled the trigger. It was the only thing to do—the only way to save Felicity—he had no doubt about that. Blood bloomed on Michael’s dirty T-shirt and he jerked back, crashing into the wall. But his face went hard and he got off his own shot before falling to the ground, the gun clattering out of his grip.

  The shot didn’t hit Gage, but he heard a crash behind him. “Brady.” He whirled.

  Brady had fallen, but he was struggling back to his feet, swearing a blue streak as he held his shoulder.

  He glared up at Gage. “Get her out of here, damn it.”

  Brady had been shot. Fresh rage swept through Gage, but if Brady was on his feet it couldn’t be all that bad, and they had to get Felicity out. Get all of them out. He rushed forward, putting his arms around Felicity.

  “Come on, sweetheart. Can you stand up?”

  She struggled to get to her feet, even with his help. Gage had to work hard to tamp down the impotent fury raging through him.

  “I’ll untie you when we’re outside. Come on, sweetheart. Red, let’s move outside.”

  She didn’t move except to shake her head. “I can’t hear,” she shouted, making him wince as her mouth was close to his ear.

  Michael’s gunshot must have gone off close to her ears. He bit back a curse and nodded. “Okay. Okay. That’s okay. It’ll wear off.” He tugged her toward the door, giving one look at Michael, who’d gone still.

  Good riddance.

  Chapter Twenty

  By the time the doctors were done with her, she could hear a little bit. If the room was quiet and someone was close enough, speaking slowly. Her ears still rang, and the ibuprofen they’d given her helped her headache but didn’t eradicate it completely.

  She much preferred thinking about all that than the fact her father was dead, and worse—she’d be dead if it wasn’t for Gage.

  And Brady, who was currently in the ER having his gunshot patched up.

  All because she’d been stupid. She sighed. She kept trying to work up enough blame and guilt to think this was all her fault, but she couldn’t muster it. If she went back, she’d do the same. Maybe put up a bit more of a fight in the jail parking lot, but she still would have gone to see Ace, without telling any of the Wyatts.

  Would that have changed anything?

  It might have changed everything.

  But she’d done what she’d done, and she couldn’t really hate the result. Except Brady being shot.

  She wanted to go home. She wanted Gage. Most of her life when tragedy had struck, she’d wanted to be alone, to deal in peace and without having to worry if she looked weak or stupid or whatever.

  But Gage had showed her that it didn’t really matter how you looked, especially when the other person understood. He’d understand the complicated feelings at her father being dead.

  She wasn’t so sure he’d understand her decision not to tell him she was visiting Ace, but she didn’t know how to deal with that, so she just kept pressing forward.

  She walked through the hospital, the buzz still in her ears, but she could hear some things. She could understand people if they were close enough and talked directly to her.

  The doctors had said the hearing loss would likely wear off, but she had to come back in a week to be checked out again. It had been a relief to know her hearing wasn’t irreversibly damaged, but she would have accepted that. Accepted anything over being dead.

  She found Gage exactly where she knew he would be, in the waiting room of the ER. She wasn’t sure she could accept it if he was angry enough at her to want to end things.

  She swallowed. He looked desolate. Pale and lost. But when his gaze moved to her entering the waiting room, he tried to hide that away.

  “How’s Brady?” she asked.

  He spoke in low tones, looking down at his hands.

  When he was done, she tapped his arm and then her ear. “Sorry, I didn’t catch all that.” She slid into the seat next to him.

  He shook his head a
nd forced a pathetic smile. “That’s okay. He’s okay. You’re okay.” He touched her cheek and slid his palm over her hair. “It’s all okay.”

  She put an arm around his shoulders. “Then why do you look so miserable?”

  He shook his head and looked down at his hands for a while, until she tipped his chin toward her so he had to look at her.

  “It should have been me,” he said simply.

  “Why?”

  “He wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for me.”

  “And you wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for me.” He gave her a look and opened his mouth to argue, but she shook her head. “You can’t play it only the way you like. Either we blame the people who are actually responsible, or you have to blame me.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  It was hurt that chased across his face before he shook his head again and tried to turn away, but she kept a firm grip on his chin. “I should have,” she said, hoping her voice sounded as strong as she wanted it to. “I knew you wouldn’t like it, so I didn’t tell you. I wanted to handle it on my own, thought I had to. Thought you wouldn’t let me. But I should have told you. I shouldn’t have been... If I was determined to do it, I shouldn’t be afraid to tell people. I can’t be afraid to disappoint people. If you had been mad at me, I would have dealt with it. I should have told you. Things would be different if I had.”

  “Well, hell, Felicity, you make it real hard to hold on to a mad.”

  “You weren’t mad. You were hurt.” He tried to turn away again, but she wasn’t done. “You saved my life. You really did. He was going to kill me. The only reason it took so long was he was trying to find a way to make sure it couldn’t be connected back to him. It wouldn’t have lasted much longer. He was losing his patience.”

  He blew out a breath like she’d physically hurt him. “Well, guess we’re even, Red.”

  She swallowed at the lump in her throat. “I’m sorry Ace isn’t dead.”

  “I’m not.” He brushed a hand over her hair. “I wouldn’t want that on your conscience.” He pulled her in, so she leaned on his shoulder.

  She wasn’t sure it would have weighed all that heavy, certainly not any heavier than him being alive to wreak havoc.

  “So, you’re not...” Felicity didn’t know how to put it. They hadn’t been dating in any traditional sense. It had been a relationship, of course, but the words of how to describe anything failed her. Still, she had to be sure. “We’re okay?”

  It was his turn to take her chin, tip her face up and make her look him in the eye. He brushed his mouth against hers. “You and me, Red? We’ll always be okay. One way or another.”

  She wouldn’t cry at that, though she wanted to. So, she looked away. “Where is everyone?”

  “Brady told me not to call anyone. Said he was fine and—”

  Felicity made a noise of outrage. “What! They’re going to hear it through your cop grapevines? I don’t think so. If you don’t call them, I will.”

  “You can’t hear well enough to make a phone call.”

  “We’ll see about that.” She made a move to grab her phone, then realized her purse was still somewhere in her father’s van. Dead father. She shuddered. It was necessary, but that didn’t mean she’d have the images from today out of her head anytime soon.

  Gage handed her his. “Here you go, tough girl.”

  She took it primly, then wrote a text because Gage was right—trying to talk to anyone on the phone would be difficult.

  When she handed it back to him, he was just staring at her. So serious. Everything inside of her jittered with nerves.

  “I love you. It would have killed me, just killed me, if he’d hurt you. And I can’t promise you that Ace will never come after you again. Worse, I think if we’re together, that’ll make it more... He’ll take it as a challenge to hurt us. All the ways he can. I don’t know how to live with that.”

  She reached out and pressed her palm to his cheek. She’d known he was a good man, but she thought he didn’t have that core of nobleness that Jamison and Brady had, which was often more annoying than impressive. Like this was. “You’ll have to find a way, because I love you, too, and I’m not going to be shaken off that easy. Ace can try to hurt us.”

  “Feli—”

  “No. You don’t have a choice. Quite literally. I won’t live my life afraid of Ace. Neither will you. If he tries to hurt us again, we’ll fight again. Together. So, just shut up.”

  He managed a chuckle. “All right. Sounds good.”

  “Good.” She let out a breath and leaned against him. “You’re probably going to have to marry me, too, but we can talk about that later.”

  She felt him stiffen underneath her, but it made her smile. It’d give him something to be anxious about besides his brother and trying to protect her, so that was good.

  A nurse came in and smiled kindly. “Gage. You can go back and see your brother now.” Felicity stood, too. “I’m afraid you’ll have to stay out here, ma’am.”

  Gage gave her arm a squeeze. “By the way I’m telling him it’s your fault when everyone shows up.”

  “That’s just fine.”

  Since he still looked haunted, she reached up on her toes and brushed her mouth against his. “It’s over, and it’s okay.” She was ready to believe it.

  * * *

  BRADY WAS LAID out in a bed. He was pale, but at least he looked pissed. It took energy to be pissed.

  “Hey. How’s it going?” Gage asked lamely, hanging by the door rather than stepping farther inside.

  “You know, I’m a trained paramedic. I know a thing or two about medicine. You think any of these doctors or nurses will listen to me?” Brady grumbled.

  “So, it’s true. Medical professionals really are the worst patients.”

  Brady grunted as he eyed Gage. “I’m not going to shout all the way over there to have a conversation with you, and you can leave the guilt right there. I’m fine.”

  “You won’t be able to work for weeks.”

  Brady pulled a face, but then he lifted his uninjured arm. “It happens. It’s what we risk every day we work, isn’t it?”

  “It wasn’t work. You didn’t have to be there.”

  “Where else would I be?” Brady shook his head. “Reverse it, Gage. Where would you have been?”

  Much as he didn’t want to admit it, he would have been right behind Brady. Always.

  “I don’t think you realize what you did,” Brady said, once Gage got closer to the hospital bed.

  “Let you get shot?”

  “Gage. You stepped in front of me. We both saw what Michael was going to do. We’ve both been there before. The only reason I couldn’t get off a shot, too, was because you’d stepped in front of me, blocked me. Damn stupid. But that’s what you did. The only reason I got shot was because...well, bad luck really. Your shot got off first and his aim was off.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Maybe it’s not how you remember it, because you were focused on Felicity, but that’s what you did. I’m not going to argue about it. I’m tired and my shoulder hurts and they keep wanting to pump me full of medicine I don’t want. So, if you can’t get over it, get out.”

  Get over it, maybe not. But he could set it aside.

  “It isn’t like you to play martyr,” Brady said with no small amount of disgust.

  “I’m not—”

  “And since it’s me, why don’t you just say what you’re really all wound up about.”

  Because it was Brady, it was hard to pretend he wasn’t right on the money. “I guess I know what she felt like after she left Michael to die. I thought I did. I did, in a way, but not like this. I know I did the right thing.”

  “There’s not a doubt in my mind he would have killed her.”

  “Min
e, either. Or hers. But, Brady, if this was all Michael, those charges don’t get used against Ace.”

  “Ace tried to kill you. Himself, not through some two-bit lackey. You can testify to that. Even if we can’t get him on murder, he’ll go to a higher security prison for attempted murder.”

  “If he doesn’t, Felicity is in even more danger.”

  “Then I guess you’re pretty lucky to have each other’s backs, huh?”

  Gage didn’t know if he’d go so far as lucky, but it was certainly a blessing to have...this. His brothers, his family. Everyone would rally around and protect. It was what they did.

  “We know how this goes, I think. He took a swing at Jamison, then Cody. It doesn’t work, then he moves to the next. If he finds a way to go after one of us again, it’s probably not going to be Felicity.”

  Gage looked at the bandage on Brady’s shoulder. They left it unsaid, but it was pretty clear that if Ace found a way to manipulate the system again, Brady would be the next target. He was weakened.

  “He said he had a list. A list and I’d messed it up. I wasn’t supposed to be next. Which means, we could—”

  Brady shook his head. “I’m not here to out-manipulate Ace. If we ever beat him, really beat him, it won’t be using his own tactics.”

  Gage looked down at his hands. “Growing up, Ace told me I was smart, and could take his place, so I did a lot to prove I wasn’t and couldn’t. He told you you were stupid and weak, so you did a lot to prove you weren’t.” Gage had never believed he was his father, though sometimes he’d been afraid he could have inherited his impulses. But he fought them and that was all that mattered. He’d never considered that his father might have stamped him in different ways. “Did he shape us?”

  “Are we running the Sons? Come on, Gage. If he shaped us, if he left a mark on us, it only got us here. We help people. You saved Felicity. Whatever he did, didn’t work. We’re the good guys.”

  Gage looked up at his brother, pale but alive and irritable. He smiled a little. “Felicity saved me first.”

  Brady chuckled, then winced. “Your ego can take the hit.”