In Need of Protection

by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

  Dusk was closing in on them when they finally came upon a road. It wasn’t paved, but it was wide and freshly graveled, indicating a main artery through the forest. In silent accord, Lara hunkered down next to Ethan behind the cover of some leafy bushes that concealed their presence while allowing them to observe the road from a few yards upslope.

  “If a police or marshals service vehicle comes along,” Ethan said quietly in her ear, “let me make the approach and stop them. Only show yourself if I motion you to come.”

  She turned her head and gazed into his eyes. “And if you don’t tell me to come? If there’s a problem?”

  “You take off and let me handle it. I’ll get clear, and I will find you.”

  “But—”

  He pressed a finger against her lips. “Trust me.”

  She grasped his hand and squeezed it. “I do, Ethan. More than anyone else on this planet except for my mother, and you’re right up there with her. But I don’t know how I’d cope if something happens to you.”

  The sheer intensity of the declaration from her own mouth took Lara’s breath away. Just how deeply was she coming to care for this man? Could this depth of emotion be real? Lasting? Or was it born of the desperation of their situation? How could she know?

  His entire countenance softened. “You’d carry on. You’re a fighter, Lara. I trust you to do what’s right.”

  Her insides turned to mush. Matt had never said anything remotely like that to her. He’d always encouraged her dependency and highlighted her weaknesses. Why was she continually comparing Ethan to Matt? There was no comparison, and it was about time she broke the habit of analyzing men through Matt-colored lenses. Something like an electric shock flowed through Lara. Wasn’t that defensive thought process a form of still letting Matt control her? Why had she never seen that simple truth before?

  There was no time to examine the stunning self-revelation as vehicle headlights appeared on the road, along with a steady crunch of gravel. A sedan proceeded toward them at a sedate pace. Friend or foe? Both types of people were looking for them.

  “It’s a county sheriff’s vehicle,” Ethan hissed urgently in her ear. “I’m going to flag them down.”

  Lara opened her mouth to acknowledge his message, but he was already gone. His long legs carried him to the verge of the road in a few strides. One arm waved for attention while the other held the shotgun at the ready. The vehicle braked so suddenly to a halt that it skidded on the gravel. Lara’s heart lightened as the vehicle door opened and a woman in a uniform hopped out. Something had finally gone right.

  “Not a sound!” A voice growled low and menacing behind her as a hard object poked her in the back of the head.

  A gun? Lara’s brain went woozy as if all the blood had drained from it.

  “You’re coming with me,” the harsh voice continued. “Let’s move.”

  * * *

  “Lara!” Ethan called up the hill toward the bushes where they had taken cover. “Come on out. It’s time to go.”

  There was no response. His gaze searched the hillside, but gathering dusk hid many details. Where were she and the baby? He called out again, but no answer came.

  “Something’s wrong,” he told the sheriff’s deputy, who had introduced herself as Cherise Taylor. “Draw your gun and follow me.”

  Ethan led the way up the hillside to the bushes. His insides twisted. No one was there. They had to have been taken, which meant that the Draytons had at least one thug on their payroll who knew how to track and how to move silently in the wilderness. He shouldn’t be surprised. It was only to be expected that the father and son had reached out to a woodsman in this situation.

  How could he find them now with night closing in? But find them—and quickly—he must. The abductor could choose any moment to kill Lara and make off with the baby. The only thing that might have kept him from doing the deed already was the need for stealth and speed to put distance between them and Ethan. That, and he would use Lara as a mule to carry the baby until they reached a safe destination. Safe for the abductor, not for Lara or Maisy.

  Ethan quickly and concisely explained the situation to the sheriff’s deputy.

  “I should call for backup to come to this location,” she said.

  “Negative. The law will swarm to this spot but so will the bad guys, and we could easily end up with multiple casualties. Pull your car over and shut it off, then rejoin me. I’m going to look for an indication of which way our perp took Lara and the baby.”

  “Will do,” she said. “I’ll be on your six as soon as you know which direction to go in.”

  Keeping the shotgun at the ready, Ethan palmed his flashlight from his utility belt and shined the beam over the surrounding terrain. There! A broken twig testified to recent passage, and farther on, a flower had been crushed by a foot. Clever. The abductor wasn’t taking his captives back along the deer path into the interior of the forest. He was moving them parallel to the road just inside the tree line. The objective must be to meet up with a vehicle carrying Drayton muscle.

  “Change of plan,” he said to the deputy as she came up to him. “The direction Lara and Maisy are being taken tells me the perp has called his friends to come meet them farther up the road. Take your car and keep driving slowly like you were before. I’ll stay on the trail here. I’d like to stop the kidnapper by stealth before he reaches his friends, but failing that, you’ll be there to back me up if we all converge on the perps’ getaway car. We cannot allow them to get Lara and Maisy into the vehicle.”

  “Understood.” Cherise jerked a nod.

  “Take this with you.” Ethan stripped off his backpack and handed it to the deputy. “I don’t need the bulk when I’m trying to move quickly and quietly.”

  Cherise took the pack and loped off toward her vehicle.

  Ethan moved on foot as swiftly as he was able in the gloom, along a slope that got steeper the farther he went. It wouldn’t do for him to make a misstep and take a tumble, possibly sprain an ankle or worse. At least he could be assured that the terrain was also slowing Lara and Maisy and their captor. Ethan had turned off his flashlight so as not to betray his position, but he was able to make out trampled grass along the route, assuring him that he was still hot on the scent.

  A twig snap and a soft cry close ahead alerted Ethan that he was nearly on top of his quarry. He slowed to a creep, ears straining for further direction.

  There!

  A growled curse wafted out of the gloom mere paces away. He made out a shadowy figure almost straight ahead of him.

  “Move faster!” ordered a harsh whisper.

  “Do you want me to go top over tail down this hill with the baby strapped to me?” retorted an indignant female voice.

  Ethan used the sound of the conversation to ease closer to the confrontation.

  “How about I put a bullet in you right now and take that baby?” the man snarled.

  Ethan surged forward and slammed the butt of his shotgun into the man’s head. The abductor crumpled like a rag.

  “How about you don’t,” he said to the unconscious thug.

  “Ethan!” Lara cried out.

  The next thing he knew, she was in his arms. He hugged her close, but Maisy squawked against being crushed between them and they separated. With one hand, Ethan caressed the infant’s downy head, and with the other, he cupped Lara’s soft cheek.

  She leaned into his palm. “You found us so fast. Thank you!”

  “There’s no way I was letting you go.”

  His heart skipped a beat at what he heard his mouth say. Did he mean those words in more than an immediate sense? When this was all over, did he want to explore the possibility of something more permanent with her in his life? He firmed his jaw. Poor time to be asking himself those questions. They needed to put distance between themselves and the bad guys.

&nb
sp; The crunch of tires on gravel brought him into a crouching turn. He motioned Lara to remain silent. The vehicle suddenly blipped a siren and flashed its lights.

  “Good. It’s Deputy Cherise. Let’s get out of here before any enemies show up.”

  Ethan assisted Lara and her precious cargo down the embankment. They soon caught up with the sheriff’s vehicle and piled into the back seat. Ethan closed the car door just as another vehicle’s lights appeared around a bend ahead and closed on them rapidly.

  “Swing a U-turn fast as a yo-yo and blare those lights and the siren. We’ve got to make a run for it.”

  “On it.” Cherise cranked the wheel even as she accelerated the vehicle.

  The car performed a sliding turn, and they blasted up the road in full-pursuit speed—only they were the ones being chased. Maisy, still in her baby harness attached to Lara, reacted to the loud siren by adding her wails to the din. Lara cuddled the child close and attempted in vain to comfort her.

  “Now call it in,” Ethan yelled to the driver. “You can be sure our pursuers are also reaching out for their cronies.”

  Using hands-free mode, the deputy notified all law enforcement vehicles in the area to converge on their location. The gravel road reached a terminus with a paved highway. Ignoring the stop sign and without slowing, the deputy whipped the vehicle into a rubber-burning, tail-swishing turn onto the larger thoroughfare.

  The abrupt change of direction threw Lara into Ethan’s shoulder, and she cried out. Maisy’s bawling ramped up a notch. Ethan resisted the impulse to wrap his arms around the pair. Sure, he needed to keep them safe, but the hired guns in the SUV nearly riding their bumper were the greater threat. Ethan pumped a load into the barrel of the shotgun.

  He glanced over at Lara. “I’m going to take a page out of your book and add my own twist.” Then he looked toward the driver. “Roll down my window, please, Cherise.” The rear windows of law enforcement vehicles had to be operated by the driver.

  The sheriff’s deputy complied, and Ethan leaned his torso outside. Humid night air created a slipstream around him. He pointed the shotgun’s barrel at the pursuing vehicle’s hood and pulled the trigger. Instantly, smoke geysered from the SUV’s engine, and the vehicle began swerving all over the road.

  “You did it!” Lara cried even as their driver let out a whoop.

  Ethan eased back into his seat and Cherise powered up the window.

  He blew out a long breath. “Now we keep on driving and see who reaches us first, the good guys or the bad guys.”

  TWELVE

  Would this nightmare never end? Lara shrugged her shoulders out of her bulky go bag, tossed it on the floor and then bounced and snuggled a crying and kicking Maisy.

  Moments later, a set of flashing lights zoomed toward them from the other lane ahead. The vehicles passed each other, but the other car did a swift U-turn and came up on them to form a rear guard. Then a second law enforcement vehicle, lights strobing, entered the highway ahead of them from a side road. Now they had a complete escort.

  “Can we slow this circus down a little?” she asked Ethan.

  “Sorry.” He shook his head. “We need to be sure we’ve broken through whatever dragnet our enemies have spread, as well as pick up another protection vehicle, before I’ll feel comfortable doing that.”

  “I get it.” Lara sighed. “But at least can we do without the siren?”

  “You heard the lady.” He tapped the driver’s shoulder, and the din faded away. “Let’s douse the bubble lights, too,” he added. “Let your people know.”

  “Roger that,” the deputy answered and got on the radio.

  As the vivid reds and blues ceased searing her eyes, Lara slumped against her seat. What was causing her hand to start feeling numb? She looked down to find the diaper bag strap twisted around her wrist. In all the excitement, she’d hung on to Maisy’s tote—or, rather, the tote had hung on to her. She dug out the baby’s pacifier, and the child immediately settled down.

  A rumble began to draw near overhead. Helicopter? Lara exchanged a glance with Ethan. Friend or foe?

  The ringtone on Ethan’s burner cell began to play. Frowning, he pulled the item out of his shirt pocket and stared at the screen. Lara’s insides clenched like a fist.

  Ethan tapped the screen. “Partner?”

  “I’m in the chopper overhead—” Terry’s voice came out of the speaker “—along with a couple of our best sharpshooters. Anyone from Drayton’s crew tries to get close, and we’ll take them out.”

  The breath Lara had been holding gusted out. Friend. Finally.

  “Welcome to the party, buddy,” Ethan said with a laugh.

  “We’ll keep you company all the way to Cheyenne,” Terry answered. “Along with your vehicle escorts. I don’t know what your status is in that car down there, but unless someone is injured, we don’t recommend you stop anywhere until we arrive at our destination.”

  Lara leaned toward the phone. “We’re all right, Terry. Thank God!”

  “Amen to that,” Ethan added. “Little Maisy is pristine, and Lara and I collected nothing but minor scrapes and bumps during our flight through the forest. No thanks to the goon squad trying its best to take us out.”

  “Speaking of goons,” Terry said, “we arrested a few this afternoon who were getting out of line with forest staff and patrons. One of them even exchanged gunfire with a ranger.”

  “That must have been the shots we heard this afternoon,” Ethan said.

  “Likely.”

  “Was anyone hurt?” Lara put in.

  “The ranger winged the attacker.”

  “What about my friend Jake?” Lara asked, heart beating a little faster.

  “Is that the ranger who put his truck in the path of an SUV full of the hard cases who tried to attack you on the road?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “I’m told he’s in the hospital for observation. Suspected mild concussion from the collision, but I hear he’s doing fine.”

  Lara smiled at Ethan, and he reached over and grasped her hand. She gladly left it resting in his possession.

  “I’m putting that guy’s name in for a commendation, for sure,” Ethan said, “and Deputy Cherise behind the wheel here deserves some sort of expert-driving award.”

  The woman up front laughed and gave them a backhanded wave. “Think nothing of it. My privilege.”

  “How is my mother doing?” Lara asked Terry.

  “Fine and feisty at last check-in,” he answered.

  “Sounds like my mom.” A giggle escaped her throat. The tone was a bit high and giddy, but relief after a long day of terror had that effect on a person’s vocal cords.

  “How are we doing on the hunt for Ronnie and Vinnie?” Ethan asked.

  “We’re currently squeezing every drop of intel out of those thugs we arrested today. I’ll let you know what we find out.”

  “Do that.” Ethan ended the call and turned his head toward Lara.

  She met his gaze with a stern stare. “I’m praying we catch a break because we can’t go on being chased like sheep. I won’t do this anymore. We have to settle on a plan, no matter what the danger.”

  “You mean some version of the scenarios we’ve been discussing where you feature as the lamb staked out as bait and the Draytons come to us?”

  “Yes, one of those plans. And don’t worry, I can shed my wool in a hurry when it’s time to get fierce.”

  “Don’t I know it. But what we haven’t come up with yet is some ploy that doesn’t smell like a trap to bring the Draytons themselves out of the woodwork.”

  Lara pressed her lips together and turned her head away. Always, those vital details had been sticking points in their discussions. She agreed that being used as bait would be a pointless exercise unless there was a strong probability of drawing out th
e father-son team behind all this mayhem. However, she didn’t have a solution to the problem.

  God, help us see our way. The simple, desperate prayer was the best Lara could muster.

  * * *

  Ethan gently deposited a sleeping Maisy in the play pen bought for her use in the Wyoming headquarters of the US Marshals Service and stood quietly observing the child’s utter relaxation. The infant was the embodiment of innocent sweetness and ought to be raised in an atmosphere of loving kindness and integrity. Bottom line: both Maisy and Lara deserved to be happy and safe and Ethan had to give them that opportunity. Failure was not an option.

  Firming his jaw, he left the small office that had been set up as a temporary nursery and joined Lara in the staff break room. Savory scents wafted from takeout containers sitting on the table. Ethan’s stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten anything since he and Lara had inhaled energy bars while they’d been on the run in the forest.

  Lara saluted him with the chopsticks she was using to scoop food into her mouth from one of the containers. “Kung pao chicken. My favorite. I think there’s beef and broccoli, sweet-and-sour pork and pot stickers in these other containers.”

  Ethan grabbed the beef and broccoli and settled across from her. “Maisy’s down for the count, I think.”

  “That’s good. I don’t believe I’ll be far behind her.” A yawn smothered against her wrist punctuated her words.

  “Food and rest are probably the best things right now. You can sleep secure. Armed guards are stationed all over this building. Tomorrow, we can think things through with fresh minds.”

  She sent him a mild frown. “I’m okay with that answer for tonight, but we need to have some serious discussions tomorrow and make decisions. If running and hiding, then being found and running and hiding again is your version of playing it safe, I’m all for taking some risk by going on the offensive, as long as Maisy isn’t a part of the plan.”