Intrigue Books 1-6

by Delores Fossen, Rachel Lee, Carol Ericson, Tyler Anne Snell, Rita Herron

  Hoping to stop his guilt trip before it started, Caroline lifted her head and kissed Jack right on that incredible mouth of his. Rolling off him, she landed on her back next to him.

  “Just remember that I’m the one who started this round,” she said.

  His breathing was still a little uneven when he turned on his side and looked at her. “I sure didn’t do anything to stop you.”

  “It wouldn’t have worked if you’d tried,” Caroline assured him. “And that’s all the whining we’re allowed over this.” She gave him another kiss—a quick, almost chaste one—and she forced herself off the bed. “I’m getting dressed so I can start doing computer checks and calls to look for Grace. Besides, Clarie might be wondering where we got off to.”

  “Clarie’s smart,” Jack grumbled. “She’ll figure it out.”

  True, which would make it awkward when Jack and she came out of the bedroom and faced the deputy. Still, it had to be done because Clarie was no doubt working on the case, as well. She might not approve of them rolling around in the sack while she did the job.

  Since her clothes were scattered everywhere, it meant traipsing around the room naked while she gathered them. Jack watched, of course, as if entertained by the peep show. But then he huffed, got up and started doing the same thing.

  Caroline certainly got some entertainment of her own by seeing his incredible body flex and move, and she reminded herself that they wouldn’t get any work done if she kept gawking at him.

  “You do know we’re going to have to do something, well, drastic, to draw our attacker out in the open?” she threw out there, knowing it would get his mind back where it needed to be.

  Of course, he wouldn’t like that word drastic, and Jack expressed that dislike with a scowl. Then a huff, which actually softened his expression. “Look, I know you’re upset about Scotty’s death, but—”

  That was as far as he got with his protest before his phone rang. His jeans were still on the floor, so Jack had to rummage around to locate it.

  Caroline didn’t exactly breathe easier when she saw Kellan’s name on the screen. That was because he could be calling with more bad news. She hurried to finish dressing in case Jack and she had to do something right away. Jack answered the call, and he put it on speaker.

  “We got an ID on the dead gunman,” Kellan said the moment he was on the line. “The name’s probably not going to mean anything to you. Amos Treadwell. He’s got a record and reputation for being a spine cracker for loan sharks and other lowlifes.”

  So just a hired gun. That did nothing to make her feel better about any of this, because a paid killer could have done just as much damage as the person who’d hired him, or more.

  “Please tell me that you can link Treadwell to one of our suspects,” Jack told his brother.

  “I wish.” Kellan sounded disgusted that he hadn’t been able to do that. “But the CSIs did get something when they went through his pockets. Treadwell had other targets, and he’d written down the names on what he called his ‘to-do list.’”

  Caroline felt a fresh coil of fear slide through her. “What names?” she heard herself ask.

  Kellan took his time answering, and that let her know she wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. “Scotty, Grace, Jack, you and me.”

  No, she didn’t like it, but it wasn’t much of a surprise. At least the first four weren’t, but she hadn’t expected Kellan to be on that list. Obviously, neither had Jack, because his now tight jaw muscles went to war with each other.

  “Why would Treadwell plan to kill you?” Jack demanded.

  She had no trouble hearing the long breath that Kellan took before he answered. “The person who hired Treadwell probably thinks Caroline has spilled all by now and that you spilled it to me.” Kellan paused, cursed. “The person could go after Gemma, too.”

  Or anyone else in Jack’s family. That could include his partner, friends. The list could go on and on.

  “I’ve put a reserve deputy on Gemma,” Kellan added a moment later, “and I’m heading home right now. Eli and Owen are doing the same.”

  Caroline filled in the blanks on what Kellan wasn’t saying. He couldn’t keep this level of protection going for long. Eli and Owen had jobs to do along with their families to protect. Their attacker could just wait them out. Maybe wait even long enough until their guards were down and then go after them when they didn’t expect it.

  Mercy.

  They had to do something, now, to put an end to it so they could all get on with their lives. Especially Owen and Eli, since their families included babies who needed protecting.

  “I’ve been mulling over a plan,” Caroline said.

  As she’d expected, her comment caused some concern followed by anger to flash in Jack’s eyes. She figured that if she could see Kellan, he’d have a similar expression. That meant she was going to have to do a hard sell to convince them that what she had in mind could work.

  Probably.

  But she would keep the word probably to herself. They’d have enough doubts without her adding more.

  “Both of you know we need to do something to go ahead and draw out this person,” Caroline continued. “Our attacker seems to believe that I know something. Something that would incriminate him or her. So why not put it out there that I’m remembering more details of what Eric said when he kidnapped me? I could be bait.”

  That, of course, didn’t go over well. Jack cursed and shook his head. Kellan grumbled some of the same profanity.

  “Just let me finish,” she said, speaking over them. “Word could get out that I’m going to the Serenity Inn to meet with a therapist or counselor. Someone who can help me use the place to recall those final details that will help us figure out who Eric actually called that night and what he said to him or her.”

  “The killer won’t go for that,” Jack concluded, but she knew that he’d said that more out of worry for her than any doubt over the workability of the plan.

  “He or she will, if word gets out,” Caroline argued. “And we can use Grace to do that.”

  Jack huffed again. “Grace won’t even answer her phone.”

  “No, but I’m pretty sure she’ll read a text. We can ask her to leak that I’ll be at the Serenity Inn. Tonight,” she added, though Caroline cast an uneasy glance at the window. “If Grace is in on the plan to murder us, then she’ll get the info to the right person. To the person who wants us dead. If she’s innocent, then she can help us with the leak so we can lure out the killer.”

  The curtains and blinds were closed, but she could hear the rain battering against the glass. It wouldn’t exactly be a good night to go to the old, abandoned hotel, but enduring the weather would be the least of their problems.

  No huff from Jack this time, but he gave her a very flat look. “Our attacker could just send another hired thug.”

  Caroline nodded, knowing that was a strong possibility. The proof of that was the now dead gunman.

  “We weren’t expecting the other attacks,” she explained, “but if we know this one is coming, we can be ready for it. Instead of killing any henchman who shows up, we can take him alive. Maybe shoot him with a tranquilizer gun instead of bullets. After we have him, we can make some kind of deal to get him to talk.”

  Jack certainly didn’t jump on that, either, but she was hoping that once he got over his emotional objection, he would see it could work.

  “What makes you think you can trust Grace?” Jack demanded. “What if she shows up and tries to kill you?”

  “I’m not sure I can trust her, not completely, but that doesn’t matter. If it’s Grace who comes to the inn, then you can take her into custody and get her to tell you what she knows about Scotty’s death.” She paused. “But if she gets out the word, then the real killer or his hired gun might show up. It’s worth a try.”

 
Judging from the swear words that poured out of him, Jack didn’t agree with her. “I don’t want you at the inn,” he snapped.

  Caroline nodded, knowing he would say that. “I don’t especially want to be there, either.” Not with all the horrible things that had happened to her. There was the possibility of flashbacks. Heck, there was also the risk of a full-blown panic attack that would pretty much put her out of commission in a fight. “But we can’t let this danger and the attacks go on.”

  “She’s right about that,” Kellan said before Jack could spout what would have almost certainly been more arguments. “It’s dangerous for too many people. I can’t protect everyone that this snake might target. He or she is desperate. That’s obvious. Maybe because we’re getting close to finding out what really happened that night Dad was murdered. A plan like this could be the tipping point to get us that truth.”

  “Yeah, and it could be the tipping point to getting Caroline shot,” Jack fired back. But then he groaned.

  Caroline went to him, looked him straight in the eyes. “This could end the danger in just a few hours,” she reminded him. Then, she played dirty by adding, “We’d be able to get on with our lives.”

  Of course, Jack was ready for that to happen. Ready for them to be a couple again. To not have to look over their shoulders to make sure a hired gun didn’t have them in his sight.

  “Option two,” she went on when Jack and Kellan didn’t say anything. “I leave Longview Ridge. I disappear. Not through WITSEC or any other way that my location can be hacked or traced. And once I’m gone, none of you will be in danger.”

  Oh, that brought the storm straight back to Jack’s narrowed eyes. “No,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’m not losing you again.”

  Once more, it was exactly the answer she’d expected. Kellan voiced a version of the same by just saying, “You can forget doing that.”

  Caroline hadn’t exactly expected them to agree. Nor did she want to leave Jack. But she’d offered it to give them a choice—which really wasn’t a choice at all. So maybe now they’d see that her plan of using Grace was the only way to go.

  Jack shook his head again. “What if we have Grace leak that you’ll be at the inn first thing in the morning with the therapist? That would give us more time to get everything in place and maybe come up with something better.” But almost immediately he waved that off. “It’d give the killer more time, too, and that’s something we don’t want.”

  “True.” Caroline went even closer, until her body was right against his. “Jack, we need to text Grace and set this all up. We need to do this.”

  Silence was his reply, but despite it, she could practically hear Jack thinking. Trying to figure out a different way. One that didn’t involve her. But other than her walking out of his life, he wouldn’t be able to come up with anything that didn’t put her in the mix.

  Because she was at the center of it.

  As long as she drew breath, the killer would come. Caroline just wanted that to happen on their terms and not the killer’s.

  “Well?” Kellan prompted when the silence dragged on.

  Jack hesitated several more seconds before he scrubbed his hand over his face. “Okay. Let’s get started.”

  * * *

  JACK HAD SO many bad feelings about this, and those feelings came at him like a tornado. He didn’t know which one he could latch on to and try to fix, because the whole plan was whirling around in his head and twisting up his insides.

  The text had gone out to Grace, and the woman had actually responded right away, saying that she was on board with leaking the information, and that she wanted to help catch the person who’d murdered her friend Scotty. The woman assured them that she’d get the fake news to all three of their main suspects: Lily, Kingston and Zeller. That was good if the leak would actually lure out the killer or his hired gun. That was also good if they could trust Grace, but Jack wasn’t sure on either of those counts.

  Unlike Caroline.

  He wasn’t certain how she managed it, but she looked confident and as tough as nails. For the first time since she’d gotten back her memory, he didn’t see fear in her eyes. Ironic, since this was the time when fear was plenty warranted. Too many unknowns. Too many things to go wrong. And here she could be within an hour of facing down someone who wanted her dead.

  She sat across the dining room table from them, listening while Kellan went over the details. She wasn’t nibbling on her bottom lip. Her hands weren’t trembling. And she even gave Jack a smile when their gazes met.

  Oh, man.

  He hated putting Caroline in this position, and it was a potentially dangerous position despite Kellan’s and his measures to keep her as safe as possible. One of those precautions was for her to wear a Kevlar vest beneath her clothes. Kellan, Clarie and he would, too, but that wasn’t going to protect any of them if the killer or hired guns went with shots to the head. That was why once they arrived at the inn, they’d have to move fast to get Caroline inside.

  Kellan’s phone dinged with a text message, and he gave Jack a nod. “Gunnar says there’s still no activity in or around the inn.”

  That wasn’t a surprise, since the killer likely wouldn’t have had time to get there yet. Unlike Gunnar and Deputy Manuel Garcia. Before Jack had even sent Grace the text, Manuel and Gunnar had gone to the inn to make sure it was vacant. That way, the killer couldn’t get a jump on them and maybe set explosives or some other kind of trap.

  Gunnar and Manuel had searched through each of the dilapidated rooms and around the grounds to make sure there’d be no surprises. After the two deputies had done that, they’d parked their vehicle on a hidden ranch trail where they could keep watch. They were armed with both tranq guns and their service weapons, with the tranquilizers being their first option so they could take the person alive. It wasn’t foolproof—someone could still sneak by them on foot, but at least there would be backup nearby in case something went wrong.

  And yes, there was a good chance something would indeed go wrong.

  Kellan was right about the killer being desperate, and that increased the risk that the person might do something stupid. Stupid enough to try attacking Caroline with lawmen around. Jack didn’t know exactly what the killer might do, but they had to be prepared for any-and everything.

  At both Caroline’s and Jack’s insistence, Kellan would be going to his place with Gemma. No way did Jack want this plan to backfire and have the killer go after someone in his family and hold them hostage. That would give the killer plenty of bargaining power to try to get to Caroline.

  “Are we ready to do this?” Caroline asked.

  Jack couldn’t come up with a reason to delay; they had to hurry this along. He wanted Caroline inside the inn before their attacker had a chance to get there first. Of course, if that did happen, then Gunnar would alert them, and Jack could get Caroline out of harm’s way while they dealt with the snake that’d made their lives a living hell.

  “Be safe,” Kellan said, giving them one last look before he headed outside.

  Jack didn’t waste any time. He grabbed his equipment bag and got Caroline and Clarie out to the cruiser. The rain had slacked up some, but he’d checked the forecast and knew they could get drizzle on and off all night. He doubted that would keep a killer away, but it would make things uncomfortable for Gunnar and Manuel, who were outside in this weather.

  “This is your last chance to change your mind,” Jack told Caroline the moment they were in the cruiser.

  She immediately shook her head. “You know this is something we have to do.”

  He wasn’t sure of that at all. Yes, he was well aware that the threats couldn’t continue. Especially since the dead gunman had been planning on going after Kellan and Grace. The person who’d paid him for that could just turn around and hire someone else to carry through on that to-do list.

&nb
sp; Clarie drove, and Jack sat with Caroline in the back seat. Even though it was nearly dark now, he continued to keep watch. They’d also had a couple of the ranch hands patrol the road to make sure no one had pulled off or was lying in wait for them.

  More precautions.

  And Jack took yet one more. He slid a backup weapon from his equipment bag and handed it to Caroline. If he’d seen any indications that she wasn’t comfortable with the gun, he would have rethought his offer. But she took it right away.

  “Obviously, it’s not a tranq gun,” he explained, “but you might need it if someone gets past Gunnar and Manuel.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “By the way, I do know how to use it, and Lucille taught me a lot of self-defense moves.”

  Hell, he prayed it didn’t come down to that, and he forced himself to believe that the best-case scenario would happen. That their attacker would rush to the inn and they could catch him or her.

  Even though it was only a few miles, it seemed to take an eternity to get to the inn, and Jack’s concerns continued to snowball with each passing second. However, he didn’t see or hear anything to make him tell Clarie to turn around and go back to the ranch.

  When Clarie reached the inn, she pulled up as close as she could to the wide front porch, and Jack leaned down a little so he could look up at the place. Once it had been a mansion. A showcase for someone who’d had lots and lots of money. When the rich owner had passed away, his heirs had turned it into an inn, a business that had ultimately failed, and they’d let it go when they couldn’t pay the taxes. So it had stood abandoned, empty and neglected for years. That was why there was definitely nothing welcoming about it now.

  “Talk about creepy,” Clarie grumbled.

  Yeah, that was the right word for it. Most of the windows had been boarded up, and the ones that hadn’t been were just dark holes of jagged, broken glass.