by Dale Mayer
“I’m guessing there’s a lot more laughter for both of them,” she murmured.
He nodded. “Exactly. For all of us actually.”
“So, now that they’ve led the way, how many more babies are happening?”
Chuckling, Bonaparte said, “I suspect at least four or five in this next year or so.” She looked at him in surprise. He shrugged. “What can I say? Anna and Flynn are pregnant.”
“Wow,” she said. “They’re the ones with the rescue, aren’t they?”
“Yep, they sure are,” he said. “And a couple others, I hear.”
Just then a vehicle came toward them. She watched as it approached. “What about Stone?”
“Not yet,” he murmured. “But there was talk of it.”
“But his wife is highfalutin, right?”
“It doesn’t matter. She’s actually pretty down to earth, when it comes to life in reality.”
“That’s good,” Angela said. “Nothing worse than people with their head in the clouds, who just don’t get it.”
“No,” he said, “and that’s definitely not her problem.”
When the large SUV blew through the gate, then took the corner superfast, she chuckled. “That is absolutely Stone.”
The still-livid man in the suit on the phone watched as the vehicle screeched toward him. He turned and looked at her. “Now who the hell is that?”
“Oh, somebody who you probably need to meet,” she said.
He glared at her. “And why the hell do I have to meet anybody?”
“Well, you’re the one who’s stepping on toes here,” she said. He glared at her, not liking the expression on her face, she presumed. But she just smiled at him, as the vehicle slid to a stop, right in front of them. Immediately the crowd on the ground was covered in dust. “He always did like to make an entrance,” she said affectionately.
Stone hopped out and strode forward. Taking one look at the two of them, he grinned. “Am I in time?”
One of the techs spoke up. “In time for what?”
“To bust a few heads,” he said in a flat voice, as he turned to look at them. Bonaparte was huge and wide, and Stone, although shorter, was definitely no slouch when it came to size, so the techs immediately shrank back.
“We didn’t do anything wrong,” the lead tech said. “We’re not even sure what the hell’s going on.”
“That’s good,” Stone said. “Just watch and learn.” Walking over to Angela, he wrapped his arms around her, picked her up, and swung her around in a great big hug, like she was a two-year-old.
She shrieked with laughter, as he put her down again, and she gave him a big hug and a smoochy kiss on the cheek. “God, it’s good to see you,” she said.
“Way too long a time,” Stone said. Then he reached over and smacked Bonaparte hard on the shoulder. “I see you’ve not missed any meals while you’ve been here.”
She snorted. “Are you kidding? He’s been holding ribs over my head all day,” she complained in a mocking voice, knowing that the rest of the group gathered on the front lawn was staring at the three of them in amazement.
“That’s not good,” Stone said. “But I got to tell you, he does make the meanest ribs of anybody I’ve ever met.”
She stared at him, then turned to look at Bonaparte. “Now that doesn’t help matters at all,” she snapped. “I really want to go home and get ribs.”
“Hey, I’m all for it,” Bonaparte said, “but we better deal with these guys first.”
Angela turned, surveyed the crew, and realized that the two men who had come along with Stone had stepped out of the vehicle. They were currently pinning her irate suited adversary against the vehicle that he’d come in. “Who are they?”
“Two guys who investigate politicians,” Stone said in a quiet voice. “Apparently they were on to some property issue going down here, and they were slowly building a case, but nobody realized just how much it had escalated and needed attention.”
“Well, it sure as hell does,” she snapped. “I don’t want any of these guys in my town.”
“No, I get it,” he said. “By the way, Denver matched your bullet to the rifle and to fingerprints thereon for the uncle, who I hear is in the hospital.”
“Good news, more evidence,” Angela said, nodding at Bonaparte.
“And me?” Stone said, “I’m here as your reinforcement.”
“Glad to have you too,” she murmured. “Of course I’m glad to have you anytime. But today? Absolutely.”
He crossed his arms, matching their posture, and stared out at the others. “Are these techs here harmless?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “They’re just caught in the middle.” She looked over at them and said, “This should all be settled soon.”
They looked at each other, some shrugging. Two of them had sat down on the ground by now and were stretched out with a cup of coffee from nearby thermoses.
She smiled at them. “I guess you get overtime either way, don’t you?”
They just nodded. “Take as long as you want,” said one of them. “Our base hours will be up soon, and we’re more than happy to start into time and a half.”
She chuckled. “At least something good will come out of today.”
At that, the two men who came with Stone turned and whistled. Stone lifted a hand, and the three suits—the two good guys and the one bad guy—loaded the pushy man into his vehicle. She looked over at Stone. “What was that about?”
“Oh, that was just about prioritizing and realigning power,” he said smoothly.
“So what resistance do we have now?”
“None.”
One suit walked over and took a look at the three of them. “Angela?”
“If you mean, Sheriff Angela Zimmerman,” she said in a cool voice, “yes, that’s me.”
He winced. “My apologies,” he said. “I meant no disrespect.”
“Good,” she said, “then I don’t have to brace you on it. Accidents can happen,” she said generously.
He smiled at her. “That’s very generous of you, considering the scenario. Thank you.”
“You want to tell me what’s going on here?” she asked.
“Let’s just say somebody overplayed his hand, and he’ll now be coming in with us to answer some questions.”
“Excellent. I also have a jail full in town,” she said, “and I’d really like to get those prisoners off my plate as well.”
“Do you have both Ronnie and Johnny in custody?” he asked in surprise.
“I sure do, as well as Henry, one of their lackeys, and two women involved in this mess, though not necessarily by choice,” she added. “Ronnie’s uncle Hector is at the hospital. We’re still looking for Frank though.”
“We did get a phone call from the prosecutor,” he said, “and their cases are interesting.”
“They are,” she said, looking at her watch. “I don’t know if anybody has come to deal with Mama yet, but, she’s going through chemo and radiation, and she can’t be left alone much longer.”
“Right,” he said. “We’ll head over to your station and pick up your prisoners. Hopefully we’ve got more of a team on the way.”
“Good enough,” she said, then frowned. “I’ll need to come with you.”
“We would appreciate it if this team is allowed to enter to collect all the evidence, and then it will all come back to Denver with us.”
She frowned at that, studying him carefully.
“I know it’s hard to believe,” he said, “but we are the good guys.”
She pulled out her phone and spoke as soon as Levi answered. “They came in with Stone, but nobody has identified themselves.”
“Oh.” The man immediately winced. Pulling out his wallet, he offered her his card and badge. She looked at it, not understanding the government tag on it.
She took a photo of the ID, sent it to Levi, then said, “Photo matches the person. His name is Robert Wagner.”
“
Yes, got the ID. That’s one of the good guys,” Levi said.
“Okay,” she replied, “I’m holding you to it.”
“No problem.”
She put her phone away and faced Robert. “Levi says you’re okay.”
He nodded. “I’m grateful for Levi saying that,” he said. “He’s been very helpful to our team over the years.”
“Yeah, that’s Levi,” she said. She looked at Stone and said, “Can you vouch for these two?”
“Hey, you just said Levi vouched for us,” Robert replied.
“For you yes, but that doesn’t mean I’m not against asking somebody else,” she said, her voice low and hard. “I trust Stone too.”
He looked over at the two men, then grinned and said, “Yeah, they’re clear.”
“Good enough,” she said, addressing Robert again. “Then you can let your team come in and take the materials they need,” she said, “but I want copies of everything found.”
As Robert shook his head, she held up a hand and said, “Look. I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. We have an awful lot of crap going on in town right now and a lot of secondary cases that are related to yours. You decide, gentlemen, right now, before anyone else enters this residence.” She looked from Robert to Stone.
Stone stared at Robert. It didn’t take long.
“Agreed,” Robert said.
And, with that, she stepped aside and let the forensics team enter. They all smiled at her as they headed in, and the last one whispered, “Now that was a class act.”
“Hey, I didn’t get to pull a gun at all,” Bonaparte said. “Not my style.”
“Not a problem,” she said in a low voice. “I want to get back to the station.”
“Problems?” Stone looked at her with a frown.
“Yeah, definitely.”
Chapter 12
Angela looked at Bonaparte, nudged him, and said, “So?”
“It’s all good,” he said.
She turned to Stone and asked, “So do you want to join us for ribs after all this?”
“Well, I’ll stay here and wait to make sure all this forensic evidence goes where it needs to,” he said.
She frowned immediately. “Are you telling me that you’re going back to Denver with them?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m not sure just what else is involved,” he said, “but I don’t like the idea of any of this going by the wayside.”
She nodded. “Absolutely. We’ll go back to the station, if you’re okay to stay here and then transport the goods.”
“No problem,” he said. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
Angela and Bonaparte walked to his vehicle, hopped in, and headed to the sheriff’s station. “Do you think the evidence is safe?” she asked.
“Nope,” he said. “We’re at a very dicey point in time. I didn’t want to leave Stone alone, but I also don’t like the idea of these guys collecting the prisoners on their own.”
“Yeah, more bad guys against those two guys, unless they have a full crew with them or something.”
“We don’t know that they do,” he said, picking up speed, “or what else has happened in the meantime.”
They were only a few minutes out, when she said, “I’m getting a really ugly feeling.”
“You and me both,” he said, as he whipped through the streets of town and came to a screeching stop in front of the station. She was out and running to the front door, before he even had the engine off. She knew he was right behind her because she heard his boots pelting the hardwood floor as she raced inside. She headed for the jail, and, when she entered the supposedly secure area, she stopped in shock.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered. The two women were unconscious or dead on the ground. Considering they were still locked up in their cell, it didn’t bode well for them. As Angela looked farther down the hallway, Henry appeared to be unconscious in his cell. Ronnie and Johnny were both missing. She raced in to check on Henry, but Bonaparte shook his head.
“He’s dead.”
She fished out the keys for the other cell, quickly unlocked it, and checked on both women. “They’re both alive, she announced.
“I’ve got an ambulance coming,” he said.
She headed for her security room. As soon as she got there, she checked the cameras and tapped the screen for Bonaparte to see. “Your two guys were taken out by somebody in the station already,” she said in amazement. “Even with my deputy here.”
“Yeah, speaking of that, where is your deputy?”
She stopped, stared, and swore. Picking up the phone, she called the neighboring sheriff and asked, “How good is your deputy?”
“What do you mean?” he said.
“I’ve got two prisoners missing, another dead, and two more knocked out.”
And, with that, he started swearing. “Where’s my deputy?” he roared.
“No idea,” she snapped. “He apparently mentioned some friends he might bring over as backup.”
“Ah, crap,” he said. “Those two friends of his are both bad news. But that doesn’t mean that he was too.”
“We’re checking now to see if he’s lying unconscious somewhere.”
“They might have taken him along,” the sheriff said.
“This is just bad news,” Angela said. “I have two government officials here, with yet another bad guy, coming to pick up the prisoners.”
“And you’re only missing the two?”
“I’m missing the two I don’t want to be missing,” she snapped. “Plus one dead that I don’t want dead.”
“Of course you are.”
She hung up from him and immediately called Stone. “Watch your back,” she barked. “My prisoners are missing. Plus I’ve got one dead prisoner, two unconscious prisoners, and my borrowed deputy is missing too.”
“I’m on it,” he said. “I’m out of sight and keeping guard on the forensic team right now.”
“You need to,” she said, “because I don’t know whether my escaped prisoners are heading your way or if they’re running.”
“Probably both,” he said, “but they need this evidence destroyed.”
“I can’t leave here until the ambulance arrives. Bonaparte is looking for the missing deputy. The security tapes go to about forty minutes ago, and then it’s been unplugged.”
“Of course,” Stone said, “and that sounds like the deputy.”
“I hate to say it, but that is quite possible. Now I’ve got to call the hospital to check on another prisoner I had under guard,” she said. She hung up from Stone, dialed the hospital, and, when she got the administrator, she asked, “Is my security guard still on your patient?”
“Yes,” said the man on the other end. “What’s up?”
“We’ve had another break-in at the jail, and we have two prisoners missing. I need to verify that you guys are safe over there.”
“Okay, I’m heading that way to check. How serious is this?” he asked, sounding worried.
“I have one dead prisoner, two unconscious, and a missing deputy, among other things,” she said.
“Dammit,” he said. “I’m almost to the ward.”
“Hand me off to the security guard the minute you get there.”
“Hang on.” There was relief in his voice when he said, “I see him sitting there.”
“Good. Let me talk to him.”
He handed over the phone and said, “It’s the sheriff.”
“Hey, Sheriff. What’s up?”
“We’ve got trouble, and it could be coming your way,” she said urgently. “We had another break-in at the station. We’ve got a missing deputy, two unconscious prisoners, and one dead.”
He whistled. “Wow, you really need some help.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got it now,” she said. “This is a warning for you.”
“And I appreciate it,” he said. “We should be good. No trouble so far.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I’m not so sure about that, so I want y
ou to be very careful. Johnny and Ronnie are both missing, and they could be tying up loose ends.”
“Of course,” he said in disgust. “Those two are just slippery.”
“Absolutely,” she said, “but listen. The deputy from Yorkston County could also be involved.”
“Who, Harry? I thought I saw him in town.”
“Yeah, Harry.”
“Ah,” he said. “Yeah, that makes sense. He’s friends with that pair.”
“What pair?” she asked.
“You know. Those brothers who run that one mechanics shop?”
“Yeah, are you talking about Floyd? Floyd and Roscoe?”
“Yeah. Turns out Harry is friends with both of them.”
“And is that a problem?” She racked her brain, trying to think about the two of them. “My dealings with them have been petty crimes and small thefts and burglaries. They’re basically lazy oafs, who don’t work very much. Jesus, you’d think Deputy Harry would have better taste in friends.”
“Yep, and they’re looking to score big,” he said. “Remember that part because it’s always at the top of their minds too.”
“Which means they’re exactly the type Ronnie and Johnny would have used for one thing or another.”
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” he said. “The trouble is, that deputy is likely to get killed over this, and he won’t even see it coming.”
“Thanks for the tip on that,” she said. “We’ll head down to the mechanics shop here in a minute.”
“I’ve got this,” he said. “You take care of that.”
She hung up and, hearing the ambulance siren approaching, raced outside and led them to where the two women were. Within minutes, both were loaded up and headed for the hospital. She looked over at Henry. “God, he was too young for this.”
“No,” Bonaparte said. “He was old enough to know better.”
“But he didn’t care,” she said.
He reached out a gentle hand, squeezed her shoulder, and said, “You can’t save them all.”