Texas Holiday Hideout

by Virginia Vaughan

  “He did? That’s wonderful.” Her mind went back to the terrible incident in the horse pen. She was surprised Dylan would go anywhere near the horses after that. She wasn’t sure she ever would, but she realized that was probably the very reason John had taken Dylan, so he wouldn’t be scared and traumatized for the rest of his life.

  A tear slipped from her cheek as she realized what a nice thing that was to do. These people were always thinking of her child and had fully accepted them both, despite the lies. They were good and decent people, and she was sad that she wasn’t a part of this amazing family.

  She hugged Dylan to her. She didn’t want to leave this place. She might not be completely safe here, but she was loved and loved everyone. She couldn’t have wished for a better home for her and Dylan if she’d dreamed it—couldn’t have dreamed it if she’d tried, because she’d had nothing to compare it to except for holiday movies and TV shows that she’d been sure were cheesy and unrealistic. But here, at the Silver Star Ranch, this family was something right from a movie. They’d gathered around one of their own in order to protect her. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t really a part of this family. They still made her feel loved and accepted. For weeks, she’d been wondering where God was when her life was being turned upside down. She was beginning to see His hand in all of this. But she still didn’t understand His plan, or how He could turn this to good. Once Miles uncovered who the leak in the marshals service was, she and Dylan would be shipped off to another town to start a new life. She couldn’t move to wipe away a tear.

  “Mama, what wrong?” Dylan asked.

  She held him closer and assured him everything was fine. But inside, she was dying at the thought of leaving the Silver Star. Of leaving the Avery family.

  Of leaving Miles.

  Why bring me here and show me everything I’ve ever wanted if it can never be mine?

  Her heart cried out to God at the unfairness and a bitterness took hold of her heart.

  Kellyanne joined her on the bed and pulled them both into a hug.

  * * *

  “Griffin, I need you to tell me you’ve found the leak.”

  His boss’s sigh of frustration was not what he wanted to hear. “Not yet. I’ve been conducting background checks and going through each marshal’s client log, but so far, I haven’t found any anomalies that would lead me to think one of them is a mole.”

  Miles pinched the bridge of his nose as frustration burst through him. “There has to be another way to find out who is behind this.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “Yes, someone shot at and nearly killed us. They know where we are and I have no idea how they found us.”

  “Then you have no choice but to pack up and leave. Keeping this witness alive is your number-one priority.”

  He understood that, but the fact that his boss couldn’t nail down the leak in the WITSEC program didn’t instill him with confidence that Melissa would be any safer elsewhere. And Melissa was right when she’d told him if they left and were found again, they would be on their own. At least here at the Silver Star, he had his family to help keep her and Dylan safe.

  He hung up with Griffin, frustrated that the man wasn’t making any progress. He stepped into the house and was confronted with his family. From the looks on his parents’ faces, they’d been informed about his situation.

  Miles rubbed his face and took in a long, deep breath. He’d dreaded the day his family found out his secret, but a part of him was glad the truth was finally out there.

  He lowered himself into a chair as he stared at the stunned expressions on their faces. Obviously, they’d never expected him to be so deceitful and secretive. His sister was the first to respond.

  “I can’t believe you could keep something like this from us, Miles. I thought we were closer than that.”

  “We are close, but my job—”

  “No, don’t use your job to try to justify this. We’re family.”

  “And knowing the truth puts you in danger. Loving you means wanting to shield you from that.”

  Paul stood. “We can take care of ourselves, in case you haven’t noticed. And we can help keep Melissa and Dylan safe.”

  He rubbed his face again. “You don’t understand. Someone is after Melissa and, sure, you can help. But knowing my secret, knowing about my job? It’s better for me to seal it off from my personal life as much as possible. I don’t tell the people under my protection my real name, and I don’t tell the people I love my real job. There are good reasons for that—first and foremost, the people I deal with are dangerous. They’re not all innocent victims like Melissa and Dylan. Most of them are criminals who would do whatever it took to protect themselves. If they knew about you, it would compromise me and my ability to do my job. The best way to make sure they don’t find out is to make sure as few people as possible know the full story of who I am and what I do.”

  “Well, we can’t unknow it,” his father commented. “What should we do?”

  “Never tell anyone. I mean it. No one outside this house can ever know.”

  His mother turned away. “I don’t like secrets.” She was a strong woman, but worrying about her children was just a part of who she was, and now, this revelation gave her one more thing to worry about.

  “I know you don’t, but I love my job. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

  His father stood and addressed them all. “We owe it to Miles to keep this within the family. His life and his career are his business. But now we need to get back to the matter at hand. Melissa and Dylan. How can we help keep them safe?”

  Miles stood and paced. His mind worked better when he was on his feet. “I don’t want to leave here. I still believe the Silver Star is the best place to keep them safe. But we’ve obviously been compromised. Somehow, someone has come onto our property and tried to kill them. We have to lock down the ranch. No one in or out that we don’t know and trust.”

  They all agreed. He couldn’t do any better than his family, but he still wished Lawson and Colby were there as additional backup. What they were about to do—attempt to capture a paid assassin—was dangerous. Even though Josh was the sheriff and Paul had infiltrated enemy camps and rescued people during his time with the Navy SEALs, his father was still recovering from a heart attack six months ago and his mother and sister would be no match for Richard Kirby. Besides, they still had that unidentified WITSEC informant and a mob boss to deal with, too.

  A truck pulled into the yard and Miles reached for his weapon, startling his mother. He started to apologize, but didn’t. They would figure out that locking down the Silver Star meant not taking any chances.

  He spotted Josh hopping from the driver’s side of his truck as the passenger door opened and another man exited. Together they headed for the house.

  “Who is this with Josh?” Miles asked.

  His dad hurried to the window. “That’s Zeke. He’s worked for us off and on for the past several years part-time while he attends school. You know Zeke.”

  He remembered him, but he hadn’t recognized him right away. The kid had filled out since Miles had seen him this past summer.

  Josh and Zeke entered the house and both removed their cowboy hats. “I need to talk to you,” Josh told Miles. “It’s important.”

  “You can tell us all,” his dad chimed in. “After all, we don’t have secrets in this family. Not anymore.”

  Miles rolled his eyes at his father’s jab. Fine, it was going to take time for his family to forgive him. He got that. “What’s up?” he asked Josh.

  “You remember Zeke?”

  “Sure.” He reached and shook the young man’s hand. “How are you doing, Zeke?”

  “I’m good.” He fidgeted with his hat in his hands and shifted nervously from foot to foot.

  “Zeke came to me with some information,” J
osh explained, then nudged the boy. “Go on. You tell them.”

  “I don’t want you to think I’m the type of person who hangs out with criminals or anything because I don’t. I just know a lot of people around town and, well...they approached me. I thought you should know and I called Josh just as soon as I could without drawing any suspicion.”

  “What’s going on, Zeke? What are you talking about? Who approached you?”

  “It was just some guys I know from one of my classes. They know I work at the ranch part-time and I guess they thought I would see it as an easy way to make some fast cash.”

  Miles didn’t like the way this conversation was going. Zeke was being evasive, although it didn’t appear it was on purpose. “Why don’t you tell us what these guys wanted from you.”

  “Well, they wanted me to kidnap your wife.”

  His heart sank at the young man’s words. “Kidnap Melissa? Why? For what reason?”

  “I don’t know. There’s a man in town who’s been approaching local gang members. They’ve put a price on her head. They’re willing to pay anyone who can get to her.”

  “And these friends of yours thought you’d hand her over?”

  “Well, I guess they knew I could get close without anyone getting suspicious. After all, it wouldn’t be strange to see me around here, and why would someone like me want to kidnap Melissa Avery?”

  Miles didn’t like this one bit. He’d asked the same question of the boys in the bunkhouse, and now he knew the answer. Money was the only reason anyone needed. And if someone was in town offering up money for Melissa, it meant the danger could be coming from anywhere and anyone. Zeke might have been honorable enough to come to Josh with the information, but that didn’t mean others would balk at kidnapping, if the reward was great enough.

  He looked at Josh, who only sighed. “That explains why all the attacks against her haven’t been direct threats.” Until last night. Until Kirby had decided to take matters into his own hands. “They were kids trying to make some quick cash.”

  “By threatening my family.”

  “Don’t you mean your witness?” Kellyanne asked, correcting him.

  He turned to glare at her, a reminder not to speak of Melissa as his witness in front of others. Even though he’d known Zeke practically since the kid was born, that didn’t mean he was trustworthy. After all, he apparently hung out with friends who saw absolutely nothing wrong with setting fires or leaving a little kid to be trampled by a bunch of spooked horses in order to get to her in the chaos. At least, he assumed that was the reason. Even if the boy was well-intentioned, he might accidentally let something slip.

  He was glad Melissa was upstairs with Dylan and not a part of this conversation.

  Miles watched the kid. He continued to look nervous, and even after setting down the cowboy hat, he rubbed his hands nervously on his jeans.

  His dad made a pot of coffee and offered Zeke a cup, which he took, and they all sat down.

  “So tell me how you know these guys who made you the offer.”

  Zeke shrugged. “Like I said, we hang out sometimes. They’re not bad guys, just looking to have fun.”

  “And kidnapping a woman is having fun?”

  Zeke paled. “No. I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant, they sometimes do drugs to have fun so they know some rough types. They hear things. I don’t think they would have really gone through with it.”

  Miles had way too much experience with people who hadn’t meant for a crime to go too far. Often they were the very ones he helped protect when they got in over their heads and had to make plea deals to turn on the bigger fishes. They hadn’t meant to become criminals, but the temptation of easy money was often just too strong to resist. Yet, this kid had chosen to do the right thing. Miles admired that.

  “Can you identify the man who made this offer?”

  “No, I’ve never met him. When my friends approached me, I said I wasn’t interested.”

  But Josh had other ideas. It appeared he wanted Zeke to work for them. “Can you find out from these friends of yours how much they’re offering and who is making the offer?”

  Zeke shrugged. “I can try. I suppose I can go back to them and say I’ve changed my mind. They know I need the money. I’ve been bumming rides from them ever since my transmission conked out on me two weeks ago.”

  But Miles was hesitant to ask this of Zeke. Josh had the best of intentions, but he had no idea the kind of people who were after Melissa. Shearer and his men were hard-core dangerous and Kirby was a killer. He could never ask a twenty-two-year-old college kid to take on that sort of risk.

  “I think he can handle it,” Josh responded when Miles questioned the plan.

  “I don’t mind,” Zeke said. “I hate to see anyone get hurt, especially after how good the Avery family has been to me.”

  “And no one wants to see you get hurt, either,” Miles assured him.

  Josh stood. “This is a serious development, Miles. We need to get in front of it and if Zeke is willing—”

  “He’s a kid. We can’t involve him in this.”

  Zeke stood and faced Miles. “I understand you don’t know me that well, Miles, but you should know that I’ll do almost anything I can to help this family. To help you.” He slipped on his cowboy hat and headed for the door. “I’ll find out who is behind this and, don’t worry, Miles, I won’t let anything happen to your wife.”

  He walked out before Miles could protest again. Not that he thought it would do any good. Zeke seemed determined.

  Josh slipped his hat back on his head and also headed out. “I’ll keep in constant contact with Zeke.”

  Miles followed Josh out the door and onto the porch. He had a feeling that, if Zeke lived, he was about to have another witness who needed protection.

  * * *

  Miles paced the conference room at the sheriff’s office while Josh and Cecile readied a recorder on the table. Paul leaned against a wall in the corner and Melissa sat waiting at the table. He didn’t like having her here and didn’t think she needed to hear this, but she’d insisted on being present.

  “These are the recordings Zeke took when he approached his friends,” Cecile told them. “They, in turn, took him to the guy who had made the offers.”

  “Were you able to capture him?” Miles asked, hoping for a quick resolution to his problem.

  “No,” Josh said. “But we recorded his conversation with Zeke and he’s definitely placed a target on Melissa’s head. He’s still offering a reward for anyone who can kill her or bring her to him. I’ve got Zeke working with a sketch artist, but it was dark and he said the guy kept to the shadows.”

  As Cecile hit the button to start playing the recording, Melissa leaned forward, obviously having a difficult time making out what was being said.

  Miles heard Zeke’s voice asking questions and another man responding. Something about his voice seemed familiar, but Miles couldn’t quite place it.

  “Are you certain you can get close enough to her to grab her?” the man asked Zeke.

  “I’ve worked for the family for years so they know me. They won’t suspect anything if I’m around.”

  “Good. You do that. Grab her. Kill her if you can. If you can’t, bring her to me and I’ll take care of it.”

  Miles didn’t like the coldness in the speaker’s voice. This was all business for him and, whoever he was, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Melissa if given another chance. He might have been the one shooting at them on the road after his accomplices ran them into a tree.

  “There’s a time limit for this job. It needs to be handled quickly. The first person who brings her to me gets the prize.”

  Whoever this man was, he knew things about Melissa and about the Silver Star. But how had he known Melissa would be at the ranch? Miles still didn’t understand that. Even with a mo
le in WITSEC, the information that he was on the case, and where his family could be found, should not have been available to them. How then were they receiving their information?

  “How did you know she was here in town?” Zeke asked the very question Miles had been wondering himself and the man growled at him.

  “That’s not your concern. Do your job and collect your money. It’s as simple as that.”

  The recording ended and Cecile clicked it off. Melissa sighed and sat back in her seat. Miles could see how listening to someone offering money for her life had her shaken. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She nodded, but then pushed back her chair and stood. “I think I’ll go check on Dylan.” They’d placed Dylan in Josh’s office when they’d arrived and asked the receptionist to keep an eye on him.

  He nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.” She left the room and Miles turned back to his brothers and Cecile. “Zeke did good. Did you show him the photo of Kirby?”

  “I did,” Josh stated. “He said it wasn’t the guy he met with. I also showed him Shearer’s photo, too, just in case, but it wasn’t him, either. In fact, he couldn’t identify him as any of Shearer’s known associates. He described the guy as in his thirties, tall and athletic with dark hair but, again, it was dark and this guy made certain Zeke didn’t get a good look at his face. I doubt he’ll be able to give us a good enough sketch.”

  “Shearer isn’t the type to do his own dirty work, but I can’t believe it wasn’t Kirby.” Griffin had said Kirby had gone underground, but he certainly had the most to lose since Melissa could identify him as the man who’d murdered her mother. But Shearer had other men on his payroll, including whoever was leaking him WITSEC information. Was he the one leading the attacks against Melissa? If so, they had to uncover his identity soon.

  “Whoever this guy is, he’s careful,” Cecile told them. “He blasted a vague but pointed notice on social media, but made sure it didn’t lead back to anyone in particular. We traced the user name he used to a fake account and the IP address to a local library in Dallas, where he signed in under a fake name. He’s using a cloned phone for text messages. He’s covering his tracks.”