Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10)

by Laylah Roberts

  What the fuck?

  “Can you zoom in?” Kent asked, leaning down. “Thought I saw something.”

  “Not far,” Jimmy said, but he zoomed in.

  “Now go back.”

  “How the fuck did this happen? Where are they?” Linc demanded. “Marisol is diabetic. She can’t go long without eating, what if she’s somewhere with no food or drink?”

  “We’ll find her, man. I get why you’re worried. Georgie and Kiesha are with her.” And he was feeling fucking frantic himself. He wished he could lose his mind like Linc, but he had to stay calm.

  “There,” Kent said. “Does that look like there’s someone in the backseat?”

  Ed stared at the grainy image. “Fuck. Could be. Jimmy, go through the older footage. See if you can see if someone climbs into the backseat of the truck.”

  “On it,” Jimmy replied.

  “We’ll find them, Linc. I promise.”

  Because nothing else was acceptable.

  “How are you, Marisol?” Georgie asked, crouching in front of the other woman. She was slumped on the dirt floor.

  “I’m okay,” Marisol said faintly. “Just sleepy.”

  “Don’t go to sleep, okay?” Georgie told her. She took her pulse. It seemed a bit on the slow side. Shoot. Night had fallen hours ago. It had to be at least midnight. It was dark and kind of scary down here. She was trying desperately not to feel scared. She had to hold it together for Marisol and Kiesha.

  Marisol had become increasingly lethargic and weak.

  “Should we give her another glucose tab?” Kiesha asked.

  “There’s only one left,” Georgina replied. “I don’t want to make anything worse and I don’t know how long we’ll be down here.”

  “Hopefully not too much longer.” There was a scuffling noise and Kiesha jumped. “Oh fuck, do you think that’s spiders? I hate spiders.”

  “There’s no spiders down here.” She was lying. There was likely a shitload of spiders.

  “Or it could be a giant spider come to eat us,” Kiesha countered.

  “Pretty sure any spider in here is more scared of us than we are of it.”

  “That’s not fucking possible. Believe me. Giant fucking killer spiders kind of terrify me.”

  “They’d terrify anyone,” Marisol said tiredly.

  Okay, at least she was still lucid. But they needed out of here. Fuck! Suddenly, she heard a door slam.

  Saber!

  There was the sound of someone walking above them.

  “Hey! Hey, asshole!” Georgina yelled up at him.

  “What are you doing?” Kiesha asked.

  “We need his help. For Marisol.”

  “Right,” Kiesha replied grimly. “Hey, jerkface! I need to poop. Get down here! I gotta poop!”

  Georgina had to grin. “Hey, smelly breath! Get down here!”

  “Ass stain!” Kiesha yelled. “I got to go! Really bad!”

  There was a stomping noise. He was coming. Shoot.

  The door slammed open. Fudge. She wished she’d thought up a way of taking him down. But right now, getting help for Marisol was more important. Light flooded into the basement from the huge flashlight he carried.

  “What the fuck you bitches yelling about?”

  Crap. She could guess what he’d gone away for. To get more drugs.

  “It’s Marisol,” she said quickly. “She needs medical help. She’s diabetic.”

  “So? What the fuck do I care? Bitch can rot.”

  “But what if she knows where your son is?” Kiesha asked. “She can’t talk if she’s dead.”

  Georgina sucked in a breath. She didn’t expect him to help and she had no clue what to do next.

  “What the fuck does she need?”

  “Food and water,” Georgina told him.

  “Fucking bitches fucking up my fucking life.” He left, unfortunately locking the door behind him.

  Georgina slumped onto the floor and felt Kiesha do the same next to her.

  “I really hope I’m not sitting on the bones of people who were eaten by giant spiders,” Kiesha muttered.

  “Pretty sure that would be uncomfortable to sit on.”

  Kiesha snorted.

  Then suddenly there was the noise of someone moving down the stairs. The door was open, allowing some light in as a bottle of water was thrown in along with a bag of cookies.

  Okay, not ideal but better than nothing.

  The door shut and the light was gone.

  Kiesha whimpered. “Do you think that spiders like cookies?”

  “Where’s the sheriff?”

  Ed frowned as the deep voice reverberated through the building. He didn’t have time to deal with anything else right now. He was too busy trying to track down the missing women. They’d been gone over twelve hours now and there was no sign of them.

  Jimmy had gone through the footage and found video of a big guy dressed all in black with a hood over his head hiding himself in the back of the truck. There had been just one shot of his face, but it was enough to identify him.

  Saber Mason.

  This asshole had been after Marisol. And Georgie and Kiesha had gotten caught up in it.

  Where were they?

  What was happening to them?

  If they were hurt in any way . . .

  “I demand to speak to him. I want to know where my sister is and he better have some answers considering it seems she’s been living with him!”

  Sister? Shit! But he hadn’t called her brothers yet. He still had August’s number. He should have called. Had been gearing himself up for it.

  “Um, Ed?” Jace appeared at his door.

  “I heard, send them through.”

  A tall, well-built man dressed in a suit stepped into the office. He was followed by five other men. They all formed a wall in front of him. All of them big. All of them well-dressed. And all of them frowning.

  “I’m Sheriff Ed Granger,” he said. He didn’t stand. He hadn’t slept all night. And he wasn’t playing some sort of posturing game. “I take it that you’re Georgie’s brothers.”

  “Georgie?” a female voice asked from behind them. “August, Sebastian, move.”

  A thin woman dressed in a green skirt with matching blazer stepped forward. Her hair was swept back into a bun. Her face was largely unlined and perfectly made-up. It was like looking at an older Georgina. But without the life in her eyes. The smile. The cheekiness.

  This was her mother.

  “You’re Mrs. James.” It wasn’t a question.

  “I am. Who are you to call my daughter, Georgie? How well do you know her? Why has she been staying with you?”

  “Is that really what you think is important right now?”

  She sucked in an outraged breath. Ed could care less if he’d pissed her off.

  “It’s not,” one of the men said. His gaze pierced Ed. “What is important is why squirt hasn’t answered any of our calls in the last twenty-four hours.”

  “Do not call her that,” Mrs. James said.

  “Not important, Mother,” said the man she’d shot an angry look at before. “I’m Gareth. Georgina said she was staying here. But she promised that she would check in once a day with me. Now she’s not answering calls. And then when we got here, we asked some questions and found out that she’s fucking missing. Oh, and that she’s been living with you.”

  All of her brothers scowled down at him.

  “Language,” Mrs. James said primly.

  All the men shot her a look.

  “Georgie has been kidnapped,” Ed confirmed. “Along with two other women.”

  “Kidnapped!” Mrs. James screeched. “How can she do this to me again? It was hard enough on me to deal with this the first time. What are people going to say? This is why I never wanted her to become an FBI agent. Because she is always getting herself in trouble.”

  “Is that really what you are concerned about?” Ed asked, standing. He was aware his voice had a dark edge to it
.

  But he didn’t give a fuck. His woman was missing. Two other women under his protection were missing. And this bitch was concerned about herself?

  “We barely kept all of that nonsense out of the press last time,” her mother continued on. “What am I going to do?”

  “What you’re going to do is sit down, shut up, and stop annoying me.”

  Mrs. James just stared at him. Then her face went hard. “I’ll have your job for that, sheriff.”

  He grinned. “Like to see you try, Catherine.”

  “That’s Mrs. James to you.”

  “That’s very formal considering I’m going to marry your daughter.”

  “Over my dead body would she marry an uncouth, inconsiderate, likely poorly educated sheriff.”

  Oh. This cow.

  “What happened?” Gareth demanded. “When did she go missing?”

  “Last evening. By a gang member called Saber Mason.”

  All of the men looked devastated at the news. Something inside him relaxed to know that at least her brothers cared about her. Even if her mother was a selfish bitch.

  “I’m Marcus. I run a private detective firm. I’ll get my guys onto this if you can give me all the information you have about my sister.”

  He could refuse. But he wouldn’t. Unlike her mother, he knew this wasn’t about him and his ego. It was about finding his woman.

  “Appreciate it.”

  “Marcus!” Mrs. James snapped. “Aren’t you going to defend me? This man was rude to me.”

  “That’s because you’re being a selfish bitch,” another of Georgie’s brothers drawled.

  Mrs. James turned to him. “August, how dare you! I’m still your mother and you will not swear at me like that.” Her arm came back and she slapped him.

  Holy. Shit.

  August just stared down at her passively, which made Ed wonder if it was the first time she’d slapped him.

  “I could arrest her for that if you like,” Ed said calmly.

  The bitch gasped. If she thought he wouldn’t, then she needed to think again because he would love nothing more.

  “Not worth the paperwork,” August told him.

  “I think it’s time you left,” the man to her right said. “You’re not helping, Mother.”

  “I have every right to be here, Sebastian,” she told him haughtily. “I’m going to need to get hold of our PR firm, in case the press gets wind of this. It could be detrimental to the firm’s shares.”

  “I will handle all of that,” Sebastian said coldly.

  “Well, we need to hire people to find her. It’s obvious this incompetent sheriff can’t find her. He couldn’t even keep her safe.”

  Ed just glared at her, although he felt the words hit him in the gut. He hadn’t kept her safe. Any of them safe.

  “I can assure you that the full force of the Wishingbone sheriff’s department is behind this. And we’re being aided by Jensen Security International.”

  “You are?” Marcus asked, looking surprised.

  “One of the missing women has ties to JSI.”

  “They’re good,” Marcus told his brothers. “I’ll add my guys, we’ll find her.”

  “Mother, you should go back to the motel,” Sebastian told her. “Spencer will take you.”

  The guy who was obviously Spencer glared at his brother.

  “I will not. I will not be silenced or ignored. I demand to know what’s going on. And I can assure you, sheriff, that if my daughter isn’t found, heads will roll.”

  “You don’t need to threaten me. If we don’t find her then my life is over anyway. She means everything to me.”

  “You seriously want to marry her?” August asked. His cheek was pink from where that bitch had slapped him.

  “That won’t be happening. She won’t marry someone like you. Georgina knows how important the James name is.”

  “Oh, shut up, Mother,” Spencer said disgustedly. “Nobody cares about upholding the James name except you. And we’re sick of your put-downs and criticisms. Especially when it comes to squirt. She, out of all of us, deserves to be happy. And if he makes her happy, I’m going to welcome him with open arms.”

  Her mother’s mouth dropped open and she looked around the room as though waiting for one of them to stand up for her. Nobody said a thing.

  “I can tell when I’m not wanted.” She huffed, turning away. “Evan, take me to the airport.”

  The biggest of the guys, who hadn’t yet spoken, turned to his mother. “No.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Not wasting time taking you. Need to find squirt.”

  “Sometimes I believe it was a mistake even having that girl, she’s given me nothing by problems since the moment she was born.”

  The air in the room seemed to evaporate as everyone stared at her. Ed’s hands clenched into fists. He was trying hard to remember that he was the sheriff. That she was a woman. That he was much bigger than her, and he’d never once hit a woman in anger.

  But fuck, he was tempted.

  “Get. Out.”

  She pursed her lips. She looked like she was sucking on a lemon. “Excuse me?”

  “Get out. Out of my office and out of my town. And don’t come back until you have a civil tongue in your mouth. Because if you ever dare to say something like that to Georgina then I won’t hold back.”

  She glanced around. “Are none of you going to defend me?”

  “Go home, Mother,” Sebastian said tiredly. “You’ve done enough damage.”

  “I’m taking the jet. You can all find your own way home.”

  She left and August let out a breath. “Thank fuck for that.”

  “August,” Sebastian warned then he turned to Ed. “Tell us what you need us to do.”

  Before he could answer there was another commotion in the front room. Then a well-dressed older man walked into his office. There was an intent look in his eyes as he glared at Ed.

  “Who the hell kidnapped my daughter? And what are you doing to find her?” Harrison Sanderson demanded.

  He nearly groaned. He couldn’t catch a break.

  Georgie-girl, I’m coming. Just hold on.

  38

  “We need to get out of here,” Georgie said quietly to Kiesha. Marisol wasn’t doing so great. The water and cookies had helped. But she didn’t like how pale and sweaty the other woman was.

  Kiesha nodded. “You tell me what to do, bestie and I will. Plus, I’m really busting.”

  Georgie got that. Too much longer here and she’d be peeing in a corner. It had been light for a while, and she’d been expecting Saber to come back down. But they hadn’t heard anything from him since he’d thrown in the food for Marisol. There were two grimy, small windows that let enough light in so she’d been able to explore the basement. But they were too small and high up to reach.

  “I don’t think we can wait for him to come down. We have to draw him down.”

  Kiesha nodded. They’d already discussed what to do.

  “Remember the plan. We can do this.”

  “Anything that gets me away from the giant killer spiders.”

  They’d managed to smash up one of the wooden crates and Georgie grabbed a piece of wood. Holding it, she moved to the side of the door.

  “Ready?”

  Kiesha nodded.

  “Just do what you have to in order to get him to walk into the room.”

  Kiesha moved into the middle of the room. Marisol sat, leaning against the wall.

  “Hey, smelly butt-breath! Get down here! Marisol is ready to talk!”

  Nothing.

  “Jerkface! Get down here! We have some info for you!”

  Still nothing. Shoot. What if he’d overdosed? What if he’d left?

  “I know where Tiger is!” Marisol managed to yell.

  “Hear that, slimy-penis-breath! She knows where Tiger is!”

  Finally, there was the sound of someone walking down the steps then the door opened. Georg
ie stood still, the piece of wood already raised above her head. This was it. Her chance.

  “What?” Saber demanded, sounding off. “Where the fuck is my son, you bitch?”

  He sounded drunk. This was going to work in her favor.

  “He was given to someone,” Marisol whispered.

  “What? What did you say?” He stumbled into the room.

  Clever girl.

  She stepped up behind him and then swung the piece of wood at his head. For a moment he just stood there.

  Shoot!

  Then he suddenly crumpled.

  Oh Lord. Hell.

  “Hit him again!” Kiesha screeched as he moaned.

  Fudge.

  Raising the piece of wood, she struck again. And he quietened. Without letting herself think about what she’d done, she dropped the piece of wood then raced over to help Kiesha with Marisol.

  They managed to get the other woman out. Georgina slammed the door to the basement shut then used the deadbolt to lock him in.

  Asshole.

  Slowly, they managed to help Marisol up the stairs then out of the cabin. They put her gently down on the porch to catch their breaths.

  Georgina looked around. “Shit, it’s a different truck.” There was a rusted-out old pick-up in front of the house. He must have gotten rid of the Sanctuary Ranch vehicle. Probably sold it for booze and drugs. Kiesha walked over and opened up the driver’s door.

  “Are there keys in it?” Georgie asked.

  “No, but I got this.”

  What did that mean? Kiesha disappeared under the dashboard and then did something to the wires. Suddenly the truck started up.

  “You know how to hotwire a vehicle?” Georgie asked.

  “Got taught by the best. But I can’t drive for shit.”

  “Help me with Marisol. I’ll drive.”

  They got Marisol into the back. Then dived in the front. She took off with a spray of dirt.

  Okay, this truck might look run down but it had a hell of an engine in it. She slid around a corner. This truck was the bomb. She raced out onto the road.

  “Oh God! I don’t know what I’m more scared of, Saber or your driving!” Kiesha screamed as they raced towards the town.

  To her shock, she laughed.

  They were on the outskirts of the town when a cop car caught up to them, his sirens and lights on. But she wasn’t stopping until she got to the hospital. She squealed into the hospital car park.