Texas Law

by Barb Han

  He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles went white, as he waited for an answer.

  “When would you need me to start?”

  Was she seriously considering this? Before she could change her mind, he added, “Now would be good. My mom can hang on for a couple more days if needed.”

  “Can you give me a few hours to think about it?”

  “Take all the time you need, Makena. I don’t have any interviews set up just yet. Mom is on board with helping for a few days. I’m just trying to lighten her load.”

  “Okay.” She nodded, giving him the impression that she liked the idea. “It’s definitely something to think about. Maybe I could just meet the boys and see if they even like me.”

  “That’s a good first step. I’m sure they will, though. They’re easygoing babies. It might be good for you to see if that age scares you, without the pressure of signing on for a commitment.” He liked the idea of taking some of the burden off his mother, considering everything she was going through. And the thought of Makena sticking around for a while.

  “I’ve been so focused on my situation that I haven’t considered what your family must be going through,” she said. The conversation ended when Colton parked at Mrs. Dillon’s house.

  Makena had opened the passenger door and was out of the vehicle before Colton could get around to help her. “I just want to pick up the few things I always have with me.”

  As she walked toward the RV, a bad feeling gripped him.

  He glanced around, unable to find the source that was causing the hairs on the back of his neck to tingle.

  Why did it feel like they were walking into a trap?

  Chapter Eight

  The silver bullet–style RV sat on a parking pad behind the farmhouse and near the river. Makena had placed a foot on the step leading into the RV when she heard Colton’s voice in the background, warning her. She craned her neck to get a good look at him.

  “Stop.” That one word was spoken with the kind of authority she’d never heard from him before. It was the same commanding cop voice she’d heard from River.

  Colton locked gazes with her. “Take your hand off the handle slowly. Don’t put any pressure on the latch. And then freeze.”

  Makena stood fixed to the spot as a chill raced up her spine at the forceful tone. The “cop voice” brought back a flood of bad memories.

  Would it always remind her of River when she heard Colton talk like that? Even a simple friendship, let alone anything more, was out of the question if her body started trembling when she heard him give an order.

  She also knew better than to argue with him. He’d obviously seen something and was warning her.

  “Stay right where you are. Don’t move.” He was by her side in a matter of seconds.

  Makena’s heart hammered against her rib cage, beating out a staccato rhythm. Panic squeezed her chest, making inhaling air hurt.

  “Stay steady. Don’t shift your weight.” Colton dropped down to all fours. In that moment, she knew exactly what he was looking for.

  A bomb.

  Sweat beaded on her forehead and rolled down her cheek. She focused on her breathing and willed herself not to flinch. She reminded herself to slowly breathe in and out. Her hands felt cold and clammy.

  Although she couldn’t exactly say she’d been living the past six months, she didn’t want to die, either. And especially not here.

  Her mouth tried to open but her throat was dry, and she couldn’t seem to form words. Fear was replaced with anger. Anger at the fact that by hiding, she’d allowed River to run her life all these months. She’d been miserable and lonely, and had nearly starved because of him. But she’d survived. Now there’d be no going back.

  Makena decided by sheer force of will that she would live. No matter what else happened, she would make it through this. It was the only choice she would allow herself to consider.

  “There’s a device strapped to the bottom of this step. Stay as still as you possibly can. We’re going to get through this.” Colton pushed up to standing and quickly scanned the area. Based on the expression on his face, which was calmer than she felt, she knew the situation was bad. He was too calm.

  From the few action movies she’d seen, it seemed like if she moved, she’d be blown sky-high. She was afraid even to ask, because a slight shift in her weight, no matter how subconsciously she did it, would scatter her into a thousand tiny bits. More of that ice in her veins was replaced by fire.

  River didn’t get to do this. If anything happened to her, she needed Colton to know who was responsible. “My ex.” She slowly exhaled, careful not to move so much as an inch.

  “His name is River Myers. He works at the Dallas Police Department as an officer. He’s the reason I’ve been on the run for the past six months. He has threatened me on numerous occasions. I walked away from a man who is armed and dangerous. He’s calculating. He’ll destroy me if he finds me before I locate evidence against him,” she said in a voice as steady as the current in the river next to them.

  “Don’t you give up on me now. You’re going to be fine. But the clock is ticking. I have no idea how much explosive is here and we’re running out of options.”

  With that, he literally dove on top of her, knocking her off the step and covering her with his own body. When a blast didn’t immediately occur, he said, “Let’s get out of here.”

  With one arm hooked under her armpit, he scrambled toward a tree near the riverbank. He rounded the tree, placing it in between them and the RV. He hauled her back against his chest. He leaned back against the tree and dropped down, wrapping his arms around her.

  Not two seconds later, an explosion sounded.

  Her first thought was that she was thankful for Colton. If he hadn’t been there, she’d be dead. Her brain couldn’t process that information. It was going to take a while for that to sink in. Her second thought, as Colton’s arms hugged her in a protective embrace, was that everything she’d owned in the past few months was gone.

  The guitar her mother had given her had been blown to smithereens. The few clothes she had were gone along with it. It wasn’t much but it was all she owned in the world.

  A few tears of loss leaked out of her eyes. She sniffed them back, reminding herself this could’ve been a whole lot worse. It was hard to imagine, though. She had so little left from her mother.

  She brought her right hand up, tracing the rose necklace with her fingers. Thankfully, she had at least one thing left from her mother.

  A little voice in the back of her head pointed out that she had someone in her corner for the first time in a very long time. It wasn’t the security of her mother’s guitar or the few articles of clothing that meant something to her. But she had the necklace and she had Colton.

  She would have to rebuild from there.

  And then another thought struck. She was in danger. Real danger. Colton had a young family, and because of her, his twins had been almost orphaned. She’d never been more certain of the fact that she couldn’t accept his help any longer.

  Moving forward, she planned to ask him for a loan, some kind of cover identity and a ticket out of town. She’d been crazy to stay in Texas. It was only a matter of time before River and his buddies would find her there. She’d adopted the hiding-in-plain-sight strategy and it had backfired big time.

  Staying in the country was no longer an option. Since Mexico bordered Texas, she could slip across the border and make a new life. Maybe she could get down to one of the resorts and work in a kitchen or someplace where she’d be hidden from view.

  A ringing noise in her ear covered the sound of Colton’s voice. The only reason she realized he was talking at all was because she felt his chest vibrate against her back. The blast had been deafening. And at least temporarily, she’d lost hearing. Bits of metal had blown past her and the last thing
she’d heard was the bomb detonate.

  Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. It was like time had stopped and everything around her moved in those old-fashioned movie frames and some mastermind stood behind a curtain clicking slides.

  When the last of the debris seemed to have flown past and everything was still, Colton scooted out from underneath her and whirled around to check the damage.

  Her heart went out to the owner, the sweet woman who’d just lost a remnant from her past.

  Makena balled her fists and slammed them into the unforgiving earth in frustration.

  Colton had disappeared from view. She rolled around onto all fours to see for herself. The door had been blown completely off its hinges. Many of the contents had gone flying. The RV was on fire. Colton had raced to his sport utility and returned with a fire extinguisher before she was able to get to her feet.

  River hadn’t just sent a potent message. His intention had been to kill her. All those times he’d threatened her came racing back. And so did the memory of the pair of men she’d seen the other day.

  * * *

  WITHIN THE HOUR, Colton had cordoned off the crime scene. A few of his deputies arrived on-site to aid in the investigation. There was no need to call in a bomb expert. The one that had caused the kind of damage the RV had sustained was a simple job. One that anyone could’ve logged onto the internet and bought materials to make.

  Hell, any person old enough to know how to use a phone and have access to a credit card could grab the materials used here. The bomb was crude but would’ve done the job of killing Makena if he hadn’t been there.

  A ringing noise still sounded in Colton’s ears, but his hearing was coming back at least. People didn’t have to shout at him anymore for him to hear what they were saying.

  Deputy Fletcher walked over. He had on gloves. His palm was out, and a key chain was on top. It was a classic hotel style, with the words Home sweet home inscribed on the black plastic.

  “What’s this?” Colton asked his deputy.

  Fletcher shrugged. “Found it about fifteen feet from the RV.”

  “Let’s check with Makena to see if she recognizes it.” He led Fletcher over to the spot where she was being examined by EMT Samantha Rodriguez. There were no visible signs of bleeding, so she’d been spared being impaled by debris. Colton, on the other hand, hadn’t been so lucky. He’d taken a nick to his shoulder, and he was holding a T-shirt pressed to the wound to stem the bleeding.

  Samantha’s partner, Oliver Matthew, had tried to get Colton to stop long enough for treatment, but he had a crime scene to manage and wouldn’t take any chance that evidence could end up trampled on.

  “Does this look familiar to you?” he asked Makena, pointing toward the key chain on Fletcher’s palm.

  She gasped.

  “I bought one just like that for River after moving in together. He kept losing his key, so I ordered a key chain for him. That looks exactly like the one I bought,” she stated.

  “Bag it and see if you can lift a print,” he said to Fletcher.

  “Yes, sir.” Fletcher turned and walked toward his service vehicle after thanking Makena for her confirmation.

  Although any Joe Schmo could make this bomb, Colton had zeroed in on one name: River Myers. And now he might have proof. Colton was a little too familiar with the law enforcement statistics. Police officers battered their spouses in shockingly high numbers. The stress of the job was partly to blame and the reason why Colton, as a law enforcement leader, went to great lengths to offer programs and resources to help combat a pervasive issue with his deputies and employees. He saw it as his responsibility to ensure the mental and physical fitness of the men and women who served under him.

  However, he could only keep an eye on his employees and do his level best to ensure they had plenty of tools to manage the stress that came with a career like theirs. He couldn’t force them to take advantage of a program. An old saying came to mind: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”

  One of the advantages of running a smaller department like his office came in the form of being able to be up-front and personal with each one of his employees. A large department like Dallas wouldn’t have that same benefit. Running an organization that large presented challenges.

  In no way, shape or form was Colton condoning or justifying what a cop under duress might do. He held his people to the highest standards. Part of the reason why he was so selective in the hiring process. In a bigger setup, it would be easier to slip through the cracks.

  When the site had been secured and medical attention given, he made his way back to Makena. Samantha turned to him.

  “Her hearing should return to normal in a few days. Other than that, she was very lucky.”

  The last word Colton would use to describe Makena was lucky. Bad things happened to good people sometimes. But he understood what Samantha meant. The situation could’ve been a whole lot worse, with neither one of them walking away from it.

  They’d also been fortunate that the pressure on the step had set off a timer and not a detonator. Those critical fifteen seconds had saved both of their lives.

  “I’m so sorry, Colton. I should’ve known something like this would happen.” Makena’s pale blue eyes were wide. Fear flashed across them for a moment, followed by anger and determination. Two emotions that could get her in trouble.

  “You know this isn’t your fault.” He needed to reassure her of the fact. He thanked Samantha.

  The EMT folded her arms, put her feet in an athletic stance and shot him a death glare. “You are going to let me check out that shoulder now. Right?”

  Samantha knew him well enough to realize he would put up a fight. Colton always made sure everyone around him was okay first.

  “I’m standing here right now, aren’t I?”

  “Good.” She didn’t bother to hide the shock in her voice. She bent down to her medical bag and ordered him to take off his shirt, which he did.

  “This is the only injury I sustained other than the ears, just like Makena.”

  Samantha stood up and made quick work tending to the cut in his shoulder. Within minutes, she’d cleaned the wound, applied antibiotic ointment and patched it up with a butterfly bandage.

  “This should help it heal up nicely. I’d try to talk you into stopping by the ER for a few stitches, but I didn’t want to push my luck.”

  “I appreciate the recommendation. This should be good.” He’d grown up working a cattle ranch, so it wasn’t the first time he’d ended up with a scar on his body. Nor would it be the last. He thanked Samantha for doing a fine job, which she had.

  She told him it was no trouble at all before closing up her bag and heading toward the driver’s seat of her ambulance. He would’ve just patched himself up but didn’t want to appear a hypocrite in front of Makena after urging her to seek care.

  Before he could open his mouth to speak, Makena threw herself into his chest and buried her face. He stroked her long, silky hair, figuring this was a rare show of emotion for her.

  He couldn’t be certain how long they stood there. Being with her, it was like time had stopped, and nothing else mattered except making sure she was okay.

  When she pulled back, his heart clenched as he looked at her. She wore the same expression as she had that last day of biology lab. He’d been so tempted to ask her out despite the fact that it had been made clear she was with someone else. It would’ve gone against everything he believed in. Honor. Decency. He’d never break the code of asking someone out who was married, in a relationship, or dating someone else.

  He’d cleaned up his own relationship at home, realizing that he and Rebecca would never have the kind of spark that he’d felt with Makena. He’d decided right then and there, with his nineteen-year-old self, that he’d hold out for that feeling to come around aga
in. Little did he know just how rare it could be.

  All these years later, he’d never felt it again until recently. It was then he realized what he and Makena had had was special.

  “It’s not safe for me to be here anymore, Colton. I know you need a statement from me, but I’d like to keep my name as quiet as possible. He obviously found me here and he’ll find me again. I’ll be ready next time. I took his threats too lightly. Not anymore.”

  “I do need a statement from you. And I have no authority to force you to stay in Katy Gulch. Whether or not you do, a crime happened here in my jurisdiction. Someone’s property was damaged and there was an attempted murder and that makes it my responsibility. So, whether you’re here or not, I plan to investigate.” Why did the news of her wanting to run away impale him?

  She had every right to do what she felt was necessary to protect herself. Now that he knew her ex was in law enforcement, so many of her reactions made sense to him. That fact alone made a relationship between them practically impossible.

  Given Colton’s line of work, she would always be reminded of her ex.

  Makena shook her head furiously. “I understand you have to file a report. Believe me when I say you don’t want to chase this guy down. Look what he’s capable of, Colton. You have a family. You have young boys who depend on you. I won’t have your life taken away from them because of something I did.”

  “Is that what you believe? That any of this is somehow your fault?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that. I know what River did in the past and now is completely on him. I didn’t deserve it then and I don’t deserve it now. I won’t take responsibility for any of his actions. That’s all on him. But I brought that man to your doorstep. That’s the responsibility I feel.”

  “You’re right about one thing. You did nothing wrong.”

  Her chin quivered at hearing those words, so he repeated them. “You did nothing wrong.”

  She was nodding her head and looked to be fighting back tears. “I know.”