Last Stand Sheriff

by Tyler Anne Snell

  “You’re not little kids anymore.”

  Caleb nodded. Desmond and Madi grabbed hands and stood straighter.

  Then the Nash children followed the man in the suit down into the room they wanted to go in least. Right up to the smiling face of a man Declan had never seen.

  Yet the triplets had.

  Madi made a guttural, primal growl.

  Caleb balled his fists.

  Desmond lowered his head but kept eye contact, jaw clenched.

  Declan looked past the man at Remi.

  Then he yelled.

  Guns came out and up from the man in the suit, Redhead and the woman. Declan stopped in his tracks.

  Remi was lying across one of the cots, blood visible across the side of her face.

  “She’s not dead, not yet,” the man said. “She got a little too mouthy so I showed her what that gets you in my house. I hit her a little too hard, I suppose. She fell right over like a twig in the wind.”

  Declan was absolutely seething. His chest was rising and falling in rage-fueled pants. He turned to the man in the suit.

  “You said she was fine,” he roared.

  The man in the suit shared a look with the other. He didn’t seem too happy, but he offered Declan no explanation or apology.

  Then Declan was staring back at the man he was going to kill.

  The triplets had tried their best to describe what their abductor looked like after they were rescued. Madi had talked about his eyes so dark they looked black and made you feel cold when they were on you. Brown hair like dry mud and messy like mud, too. Caleb had focused on his stature. He wasn’t too tall but was wide. Strong but slow. Not overweight but not rail thin. Average. Desmond, on the other hand, had gotten more emotional with his descriptions.

  One had always stuck with Declan.

  “He was quiet but looked like he wanted to break us just because he could,” eight-year-old Desmond had said. It was a statement that had held more weight than the others, considering that same man had badly broken his leg during the initial attack and then made him suffer with it for days.

  Now, standing close enough to strangle him, Declan saw what young Desmond had seen.

  The man wanted to break them. All of them.

  And Declan was over it.

  “What do you want?”

  The man kept smiling.

  “My name is William Gallagher,” he started. “And I tell you that to remind you that you won’t be leaving this cabin, so having my name does nothing for you. As for you, well, I’ll never forget you.” He looked past Declan’s shoulder and listed the triplets off as he looked at them. “Desmond, Madeline and Caleb. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been keeping tabs on you three. Late congratulations on your marriages and children. Your careers are also touching. Not what I would have picked had I had a choice, but it doesn’t really matter in the end, does it?”

  Declan had to breathe in slowly through his nose and let out a breath through his mouth. It was the only way to keep from running at William.

  He seemed to sense Declan’s struggle with his rage.

  “Dean wanted me to take you. Did you know that?” William said. “But if Dean wanted a distraction by taking one of Michael Nash’s kids, boy howdy at the distraction taking three would be.” His smile twisted upside down. Anger flashed across his expression. “I had everything planned out. But what I hadn’t foreseen was how much heat taking you three would be. And after you escaped?” He shook his head, anger apparent on his face. “Dean decides not to pay me. Skips town. So what do I have to do? Go underground. Give up my life to hide as the entire country looks for my face. My scarred hand. Me. And all because I gave a damn about you dying.”

  At this he looked at Desmond.

  What was more famous than the abduction itself was how the triplets had escaped. After having his leg broken and untreated, by day three Desmond was in immense pain and in a bad way. Madi and Caleb knew that if they didn’t get him help soon he could die. So, in a last-ditch effort, they’d decided to have him play dead.

  Up until this point William had only ever brought them food. But when they started screaming and crying, saying that Desmond had stopped breathing, he’d run in to check. The moment he was trying to find a pulse was the moment everything changed.

  It didn’t matter who you asked, neither Madi, Caleb nor Desmond could remember exactly what happened next. The best they could describe it was that they’d simply synced up. Become a hive mind. They’d attacked William as one unit and gotten to the other side of the door to lock it. Together they’d run into the woods, bloody, broken and scarred.

  When Caleb had brought the cops back to the cabin after they’d been found, William was gone.

  “We couldn’t have done it had you not broken my leg in the first place,” Desmond shot back.

  William let out a low, tense laugh.

  “You don’t understand the danger you’re in, son. For years I missed out on the life I wanted, living in the shadows, waiting. So I decided to spend those years building something that could do what I’d been forced to do. All for the purpose of destroying everyone who forced me to abandon what I’d loved.”

  “You started the Fixers,” Caleb said.

  William nodded.

  “And I used them to torment you all the last few years. Help those who despised you, who wanted to harm those you loved.” He shared a look with the man in the suit. It wasn’t a kind one. He didn’t explain it, either. “You might have prevailed each time but you also were waiting. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.” William extended his hands out wide. “Now it has.”

  “Why now?” Madi asked, voice sharp.

  “I wanted you to build your lives. Make careers. Fall in love. Create families. I was getting restless waiting for our dear sheriff to find someone. But then his truck broke down and, well, the mouthy one behind me came into the picture. That was enough for me to start.”

  “So, Lydia, she’s a Fixer.” Declan said it because he already believed it to be true. “She used Jonah to get to Remi.”

  William snorted.

  “You want to know a fun thing about small towns? You get a happy coincidence once in a while. See, Lydia was brought in only to do whatever plan I saw fit. She was supposed to blend in first and build up some grace with the locals until I had that plan. And what better family to attach to than those who ran the Heartland Ranch? Childhood friends to the Nashes? It was a shock to us all when we realized that, not only were you and Miss Hudson no longer just friends, that she was pregnant with your child.” His grin was sickening. “Having Lydia and the others try to take the mother of a future Nash child, even though it didn’t work out the way I wanted? Well that was almost as fun as planting a note in a wall, knowing that just the mention of it would drive you mad. Watching you Nashes obsess has become a fun pastime of mine throughout the years. I think, when this is over, that’s what I’ll miss most.”

  William took a small step forward. Not close enough that Declan could lunge at him but close enough that Declan’s muscles started tensing up, ready for anything. His mirth was gone. He had gotten to what he really wanted to say. “I want you all to know that your violent deaths will become a horror story every man, woman and child will know. A nighttime terror that will haunt your families, your loved ones, your friends, your coworkers. Strangers. I had to live in the shadows and you’ll never leave the spotlight. Not even in death.”

  He turned to the man in the suit. He nodded, but neither man made a move. William looked at Declan as he added one last thing.

  “Any last words before all of you meet horrible ends?”

  Declan took a quick breath.

  Then he turned to the man in the suit and made sure his words were absolutely sincere.

  This was it.

  “I want to hire you.”

>   The man in the suit raised his eyebrow. Redhead and the woman laughed. So did William. The man didn’t.

  “Come again?”

  Declan turned to face him completely, angling away from William. So did Madi, Caleb and Desmond.

  “My father was a good man,” he started. “But when he couldn’t find who was behind the abduction, he became obsessed. Every day, every night. Weekends. He worked the case until it was all he did. Holidays, birthdays. He started to hate every special day that families are supposed to enjoy together. They were reminders that the years were going by and he was no closer to figuring it out. He pushed my mother away first, and then, when we all started to move on, he dug in so deep that he sacrificed himself to it. The obsession. Then he died, and even though I knew not to become him because I’d seen what it did, I still followed his example.” Declan motioned to the room around him. “I own this place. This hell pit. Because he did and he willed it to me. No explanation. No note. Just a deed and an unspoken direction.” That was something no one in his family knew. He could feel six baby blue eyes look in his direction. He kept on. “And I went into law enforcement and I started to obsess. I started walking that line between doing what I wanted and doing what he wanted.”

  Declan glanced at William. He still looked smug.

  “When William took the kids, he ended whatever chance we had at a normal life. That includes you.” This part was a gamble, but it was a theory they had kicked around before coming to Well Water.

  Declan motioned to his hand. To the scar that matched William’s.

  “You were right earlier. I don’t know much about you, but I do know you follow contracts. You never betray them. That’s your code. And since William is your father, I’m going to assume he doesn’t have a contract, does he?”

  A pin could have dropped and they would have heard it.

  The man in the suit didn’t dispute a word he’d said.

  Which meant they had been right. The man in the suit wasn’t the boss, he was their abductor’s son.

  “You want to hire me to kill my father?” he asked after a moment.

  Declan shook his head.

  “I want to hire you and the Fixers to get Remi, take her to the hospital and tell them she’s pregnant, and then do what you all do best. Disappear.” Declan looked around the room to the suits ready to mock such an outrageous idea. He pointed to William, who was looking less smug. “At his prime he was bested by three eight-year-olds. Then he spent most of his life plotting against them when he could have easily killed us time and time again. You’ve been around here. You know who we are. We’re fathers and mothers and husbands and wives. We’re law enforcement. We’re charitable and charming and kind. This town loves us. If you kill us? All because an old man’s pissed he messed up a job by not following orders in the first place? You’ll be hunted to the ground by our loved ones. And if they don’t find you, they’ll have kids that will grow up and hunt your kids down. The cycle will never end.”

  Declan went back to the man in the suit.

  “Let’s show our fathers we’re stronger than they ever were.”

  William made a noise. A snort that clearly said he thought Declan was crazy.

  But he wasn’t paying attention to the suits. Their expressions had turned thoughtful and their gazes had turned to the man in the suit.

  He considered Declan. He considered his father. Then he looked at the scar on his hand.

  That was when Declan knew.

  “There’s money in the trunk of the car, where the spare tire is. I don’t know your going rate, but it should be enough.”

  The man turned back to him. He nodded.

  “Your contract has been accepted.”

  “What!” William was livid. His son paid him no mind.

  “We’ll take Miss Hudson to the hospital and let them know she’s pregnant. Then you won’t ever see us again.” He nodded to Redhead and the woman. They went to Remi and scooped her up. Declan wished it could be him, but the Nash siblings had already guessed that while the man in the suit might accept their contract, he wouldn’t go so far as to interfere with his dad.

  The other suits seemed to agree and, just like that, the man in the suit became the real boss of the Fixers. He saw to Remi being taken to the stairs and only stopped at the door. He turned around and looked his father up and down. His last words before he left the room, however, were for them all.

  “There’s a gun in the middle kitchen drawer. Good luck.”

  The door shut and the sound of it locking became the background noise to a whirl of motion.

  William was faster than Declan would ever give him credit for. He couldn’t grab him in time. None of them could though they tried.

  Madi got to him just as he flung the drawer open. She grabbed at his face, lashing out with her nails. It tore at his skin, making him yell so loud it hurt Declan’s ears. Still he pulled the gun out and turned. Desmond gave his own battle cry as he hit the man in the gut with a devastating tackle. He, Madi and William slammed backward into the wall. The gun hit the ground and skidded away but William kept struggling.

  Caleb joined the fray next with a punch that hit William’s face so hard it echoed.

  Declan scooped up the gun. He aimed it at William but there was no reason to use it. William had gone slack from the hit even though Madi held one arm, Desmond held the other, and Caleb had his hands against his chest so he wouldn’t move an inch from where he was.

  Despite everything, Declan smiled.

  The Nash triplets had, once again, bested their abductor.

  He wasn’t dead but, this time, there wasn’t a chance in hell that he was getting away.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Remi was shocked.

  By many, many things.

  First, she was shocked to wake up in her car being driven by the man in the suit. They were alone, which made her feel such an intense wave of anger and anguish that she nearly got sick again. The throbbing headache from being knocked out by his boss in the basement wasn’t helping.

  “Declan hired me to take you to the hospital,” he’d said when she moved. “From there you can call for help to go out to the cabin. It’ll only be the Nash family and one other man.”

  Remi hadn’t known what to say or believe but, sure enough, he’d dropped her off right outside the hospital doors. Then he’d gotten out of her car, which apparently Declan had driven to the cabin, and stepped into one that had been following them.

  And then he’d left.

  The second shock was, after sending almost every member in law enforcement to Well Water Cabin, she got a call from Declan. Remi blamed the pregnancy hormones on how hard she cried at hearing his voice.

  The shocks only got better after that.

  Remi was seen by a doctor alongside her mother, who had finally made it to the hospital. Together they learned something that made them both freak out and squeal at the same time. After that Remi found out her father was awake and asking for her.

  She hugged him fiercely, told him what she’d just found out and then the decisions she’d come to while being trapped in the basement. She’d cried again as he’d teared up. Josh and Jonah were next on the list for some familial love and the good news.

  Then Declan arrived as she settled into a seat in the lobby to wait for him.

  He ran in, saw her and was upon her before she could stand. He only broke their kiss to ask a volley of questions.

  “Are you okay? Why are you out here? How’s the baby?”

  Remi laughed.

  “I have a headache but am okay. I came out here to wait for you.” Remi took a deep breath, then let it out. “And the babies are fine.”

  Declan’s eyes tripled in size.

  He smiled like a wild man.

  “Babies?”

  Remi held up her fingers.<
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  “It’s still too early to really tell anyone but, there are two sacs, Declan. Two.”

  She laughed, unable to stop the giddiness.

  Declan shook his head, then was laughing.

  “I’m guessing that means you’re okay with the idea of having twins?”

  “Are kidding me? I’d love it!” He laughed again, throwing his head back. Then he wrapped his arms around her. “Man, my family is going to flip. The singleton Nash might have twins?”

  He pulled away from her and dipped low for another kiss.

  Then those green eyes she loved were on her. Suddenly his expression changed to a serious one.

  “Huds, we said we were going to have a talk about the future and here’s what I’m thinking. I want to move to Colorado with you,” he said. “I want to raise our kids together, in the same place. I want to wake up next to you and go to sleep with you in my arms.”

  That was the second biggest shock of the night.

  “You’d give up being sheriff? You’d leave your family?”

  Declan put his hand on her stomach. Remi could have melted.

  “You’re my family, too. And I’d cross oceans for you if that’s what you wanted.”

  Butterflies dislodged and had a frenzy in her stomach.

  “Well, look at that. My wild cowboy ready to hang up his hat for me.” She ran a hand across his cheek. Every part of her softened. “I suppose this is a good time to tell you my new life plan. I have a feeling you’re going to really like it.”

  * * *

  ONE CHRISTMAS PASSED.

  And then another.

  By the third Christmas, so much had changed.

  And so much hadn’t.

  Declan sat on his horse wearing his cowboy hat. Desmond and Caleb wore theirs while Madi was sitting on the fence next to the stable wearing her boots. She was pregnant again and her bump was the reason she’d decided to sit on the fence rather than a horse. Still, she wanted to hang around her siblings until Julian showed up so they could go home.

  “You know, Ma is bringing a date to Christmas Eve dinner, right?” she asked, no hard feelings in the words. Between Desmond and Riley becoming parents, Caleb and Nina expanding the retreat, and Madi and Julian preparing for their fourth child, spending time together had lessened. They still had Sunday dinners together, but that was at their mother’s, which meant gossiping about her hadn’t been ideal.