Her Texas Rebel

by LeAnne Bristow

  “We had a little bit of excitement. Karen’s upstairs trying to get the girls back into bed.”

  Rachel walked away without a word. “You’re welcome,” Sabrina said to the empty door.

  After documenting the incident, Sabrina put the file away and straightened up the office. Lacey was sleeping and there was still no sign of Karen. She’d better call Dad and let him know she might be here a while. But as soon as she picked up the receiver, voices on the line caused her to freeze.

  “I need it delivered tonight.” Urgency marked the woman’s voice.

  A man answered. “You haven’t paid me for the last package. No more shipments until I get my money.”

  “Fine,” the woman huffed. “I’ll have one of the boys meet you at the old roundhouse at midnight. But I want my package.”

  The line went dead and Sabrina replaced the receiver in the cradle as quietly as she could. The light next to the recreation room extension blinked and then went off. She tiptoed down the hall to the rec room.

  Rachel pushed past her and took a few steps before stopping. “Did you pick up the phone just now?”

  Sabrina swallowed the panic. “No. Why?”

  Rachel shook her head. “I thought I heard the line click.”

  Sabrina forced a laugh. “Sorry. I was busy cleaning up blood.”

  “Of course you were.” Rachel tossed her stringy pink hair over her shoulder and coasted down the hall.

  A shudder ran through her. Looked like Kurt had finally found someone who could match up to him.

  * * *

  TONY YAWNED. HE’D barely gotten to sleep when Jarrod called. He’d received a tip that something was going down at the roundhouse. Eager to get his mind off his problems, Tony volunteered to watch the rundown building out of town while Jarrod waited farther down the road.

  Once a train repair shop for the railroad, the building was large enough to house three locomotives. It hadn’t been used in decades, but had seen its share of high school parties. Empty beer cans and remnants of bonfires littered the interior.

  Jarrod’s tip was perfect. At exactly 3 a.m., the same green Chevy Nova Tony’d seen at the park pulled up to the building. The heavy wooden door creaked and the driver entered. A few minutes later, he exited with a large duffel bag, followed by two boys.

  Tony focused his binoculars on them. Thanks to the full moon and headlights, Nick and Martin were easy to spot. The driver pulled another bag from the trunk of his car and handed it to them. Fifteen minutes later, the Nova sped off.

  Jarrod spoke into his radio. “I’ve got a deputy trailing the Nova. Hang tight. I’m on my way. We’ll bust the kids before they leave.”

  Tony stopped him. “Wait. Follow Nick. Find out who they’re taking it to.”

  Nick’s truck didn’t follow the dirt road back to the main road. Instead, it bounced down the rutted out road that once ran alongside the railroad tracks.

  Tony stayed crouched in the brush until all the vehicles had left. “Jarrod, you better move. Nick went the back way. I repeat. He’s not headed to you.”

  “I’ll be there in two minutes.” Jarrod blazed a path to the roundhouse. He signaled for Tony to come out.

  “Good thing I had an officer waiting on the back roads, just in case. My patrol car would never make it where Nick’s going.” Jarrod pulled out his flashlight. “The officer was told not to stop him. Just keep an eye on him.”

  “How many officers does this little town have?” Tony was impressed. In San Antonio, calling for backup was easy, but in this little town, the resources were limited. “Aren’t most of them in Lampasas?”

  “I called in a couple of officers to help tonight. We’ve been waiting for this for a while.”

  The officer tailing Nick’s truck informed Jarrod he’d lost sight of the boys. “Sorry, Butler,” the voice on the radio crackled. “I lost him somewhere around the school. He’s probably halfway down Old Lampasas Road by now.”

  “They aren’t taking it back to Lampasas,” Tony said. “They wouldn’t have brought it here to begin with. This is a drop-off for someplace else.”

  “Where do you think they went?” Jarrod’s eyes darted up and down the side roads of town. “You grew up here. Where would you stash drugs?”

  “I never touched the stuff or associated with anyone who did.” Tony tapped his fingers on the dash. “Wait a minute. The first night I saw the kids, Nick waited for Kyle on top of Little Mountain. I bet that’s where it is.”

  Jarrod nodded. “Right in plain sight. They’ll probably lay low until later. I’ll get a drug-sniffing K9 unit out there.”

  Despite the fact that it was almost four o’clock in the morning, Tony was nowhere near sleeping. The night’s adventure had convinced him of one thing. He couldn’t quit being a cop. It was in his blood. But what was he going to do about Levi? About Sabrina? Could he convince her to go to San Antonio with him?

  When the sun came up, he was sitting on his grandparents’ front porch, still trying to think of ways to prove to Sabrina his job wasn’t too dangerous.

  Clangs from the kitchen told him Abuela was up, too. He stood and stretched. He trudged into the house. Coffee. He needed coffee.

  Abuela smiled at him. “Good morning, mijo. Were you out all night? Did you get supper?”

  He poured a cup of coffee, sat at the table and bit into a piece of the toast that Abuela had stacked on a plate. “I just grabbed a hot dog at the park last night.”

  Tony looked at the mail on the table. His letter from the SAPD was on top. “Did you read this?”

  “It’s not addressed to me.” Abuela reached out and took his hand. “I’ve kept my mouth shut long enough. I think you’re making a huge mistake.”

  “How?”

  “You can’t go back to San Antonio. Your son is here. Your life is here.”

  Tony reached across the table to hold her hand. “I’m working on it, Abuela.”

  “We all have choices to make. Choose wisely.”

  Easier said than done. A job with the sheriff’s department wouldn’t open for at least a year. In the meantime, he could take over the hardware store and help Papa. Or he could accept Travis’s job offer and work at the children’s home. But neither of those would make him happy. His dream job waited for him in San Antonio. But how happy could it make him if it meant leaving everyone else behind?

  By 9 a.m. he was going stir-crazy. He sent Jarrod several text messages to see if the dogs had found anything yet.

  Not yet. Hold tight.

  He needed to do something to expend some energy. Papa was already at the hardware store and Abuela had gone shopping in Lampasas.

  He picked up his phone. Going nuts. Will be at the hardware store.

  Twenty minutes later, he was stocking shelves at the store. This was what he needed. A mindless chore to keep his body busy. The back door opened and Kyle peered around the corner. “Hi, Tony.”

  “Hi, Kyle.” He stepped off the ladder. “Did you call Chris about that job?”

  The teen shook his head. “Why bother? If you go back to San Antonio, I won’t have a sponsor anymore.”

  Papa came around the corner. “I’ll sponsor you, mijo.”

  Kyle’s eyes opened wide. “Really? You will?”

  “You do real good work. Chris needs a mechanic like you. If Tony is not here, I’ll be happy to sponsor you.”

  Tony followed him to the back room. Kyle had started a variety of new projects since finishing up the car. Currently he was fixing a lawn mower for Mrs. Whitaker.

  “Uh...Tony?”

  Tony glanced up. “Yeah?”

  Kyle toyed with a wrench he’d removed from the toolbox. “Why do you want to leave Salt Creek?”

  “I don’t. I want to be here with my son. But I ca
n’t walk away from my job.”

  The door between the storage room and the main building opened and Jarrod stood in the doorway. “Tony? Are you in here?”

  “Back here.”

  “Whoa.” Jarrod’s eyes widened when he spotted the old car in the middle of the room. “Nice car.”

  Tony nodded toward Kyle. “He did all the work.”

  Kyle sidled by them and bent over the lawn mower.

  Jarrod pulled up a stool and sat next to Tony. He nodded.

  Tony sat up straight. The dogs must’ve found what they were looking for. Had they found who else was involved?

  Jarrod eyed Kyle and Tony knew he couldn’t say much in front of the kid. “By the way, the sheriff wants to talk to you later this week.”

  He probably wanted a statement on what he’d observed at the home over the last few weeks. “Sure.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  SABRINA NEVER LEFT Little Mountain during her lunch hour, but Karen’s words rang in her ears all morning. She clocked out and ran to her car, dialing Tony’s number. No answer. Where was he?

  No one was at his grandparents’ house. It was Saturday. Maybe he was at the hardware store. She drove slowly through town, and her heart caught in her throat when she saw his Durango parked outside the hardware store.

  The Closed sign was on the door. For as long as she could remember, Antonio closed the store for lunch. Sometimes he reopened at one. Sometimes not until two.

  Sabrina pressed a hand to her jittery stomach and pushed the door open, anyway. The store was dark and silent.

  Her shoes didn’t make a sound as she searched the aisles. Maybe he was in the back storage room.

  A light peeked from under the crack of the door. She took a breath and reached for the handle, just as the door flew open.

  Tony stood in front of her, his back rigid and straight. “What are you doing here?” His voice was stilted.

  She swallowed. “You didn’t answer your phone. I’ve been looking for you.”

  “Is Levi okay?”

  “Levi’s fine. I wanted...” Her throat felt like sandpaper. “I wanted to apologize.”

  “Apologize?” He frowned. He didn’t move.

  Oh, good grief. He wasn’t going to make this easy for her. She took a deep breath. “Yes. For misleading you at the fireworks. And to tell you not to do it.”

  In two steps he pushed her back into the store and closed the door behind them. “Not to do what?”

  “Karen told me you were going to quit your job to work at the group home.” Her voice was shaky. “You love being a cop. You can’t give it up. Especially for me.”

  Tony took her hands in his. “As long as I have you, I’d be happy being a pooper scooper.”

  She shook her head. “No, you wouldn’t.”

  A knock on the wall behind them pulled them apart. Jarrod held up his phone. “I really hate to interrupt, but Tony, we have a meeting we need to get to.”

  “Now?”

  Sabrina dropped her arms to her sides. “What’s going on? Does this have anything to do with Rachel Johnson?”

  “Rachel?” Tony and Jarrod spoke in unison.

  Jarrod crossed the room. “What do you know about Rachel Johnson?”

  His tone of voice alarmed her. “Nothing. I just heard her on the phone last night. That’s why I sent you that text.”

  “You sent me the text? Why did you block your number?”

  Jarrod’s gaze was intense and she stiffened. Tony traced circles on the back of her hand with his thumb, absorbing some of the stress. She swallowed. “I didn’t want Rachel to find out it was me. So I blocked my number and deleted the text as soon as I sent it. Did I do something wrong?”

  Tony grinned. “You know what this means?”

  Again, they spoke in unison. “Kurt Johnson.”

  Sabrina’s eyes darted back and forth between the two men. “Someone want to tell me what’s going on here?”

  Tony took her by the hand and led her to the door. “I’ll explain it later. Go home and wait for me. I’ll be out there as soon as I get finished.”

  “I’m on my lunch break. I have to get back to Little Mountain.”

  Both men exchanged worried glances and Tony shook his head. “Call in and tell them you got sick or something. Don’t go back there today.”

  “You’re scaring me, Tony. What’s going on?”

  Tony walked her to her car. “I’m not at liberty to say right now. But something is about to go down, and if it spills over to Little Mountain, I don’t want you anywhere around there.”

  “What about the kids? If it’s too dangerous for me, it’s too dangerous for the kids.” She couldn’t just walk away knowing the children might not be safe.

  “It’s not like that.” Tony opened the car door for her. A battle raged in his eyes.

  “Don’t lie to me,” Sabrina said. “Not after all this time.”

  He let out a long slow breath. “We think Kurt and Rachel Johnson are using some of the teenagers at the children’s home to smuggle drugs. People do desperate things when they know they’re about to get caught and I don’t want you in the way.”

  Her heart lodged in her throat. “You think Kurt might try to hurt me?” Thank God Levi was still camping.

  “I’m not willing to risk it, so I’d rather not tempt him. He knows the best way to get to me is through you.” He ran the back of his hand along her jawline. “Levi’s still out of town with your friends, right?”

  Her mouth was too dry to speak. She nodded.

  Jarrod said, “We need to roll, partner.”

  Tony pressed a kiss against her forehead. “Go home. Promise me.”

  She nodded. Did she have any other choice? Her hands shook so much she could barely start the car. Finally, the engine roared to life. At the intersection, instead of turning toward Little Mountain, she went straight. In her rearview mirror, she could see that Tony watched until she was safely through the intersection.

  It took a moment to locate the cell phone in her purse while she was driving. She hit the speed dial button and waited for Karen to answer the phone. “Karen, I’m going to take the afternoon off. I think I ate something bad at lunch and I’m not feeling too well.”

  “Don’t you worry. You go home and get some rest. We’ll manage without you.”

  She ended the call and waves of hysteria washed through her. Had Jarrod recruited Tony for some type of undercover sting operation? He hadn’t even gone back to San Antonio yet and she was already living out her worst nightmare. If he made it back to her, she was never speaking to him again.

  * * *

  JARROD AND TONY stood in the parking lot of Little Mountain. A search warrant for Martin’s cabin had already been served and they were waiting for a drug-sniffing K9 unit to arrive.

  All the residents and staff were being escorted into the recreation room. Tony followed a uniformed officer there and scanned the room for Martin.

  He raised his hand to quiet everyone. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I’ve been asked to speak to all of you and inform you of what’s going on. The county sheriff’s office suspects that there may be drugs on campus. They are waiting for a K9 unit to arrive from Lampasas. So if anyone has something to admit, now is the time to do it. Before the dogs find it. And they will find it.”

  Martin shifted in his chair, his eyes darting around the room.

  Karen walked to the front of the room and smiled. “We’re going to be here awhile, so we might as well get comfortable. Pizza’s been ordered and will be here soon. Until then, let’s watch a movie.”

  The room was buzzing with action as chairs were stacked and pushed to the side. The younger students plopped on the rug in front of the projector screen.


  All the while, Tony kept an eye on Martin. The chaos in the room seemed to be exactly what Martin needed. He slipped out the back door. He quickly texted Jarrod: Headed your way.

  “What’s going on here?” A loud voice caused everyone to stop what they were doing.

  Tony slid over to Allen Johnson. “Didn’t an officer brief you outside?”

  “No. They just told me to come in here and that no one was allowed to leave.” Allen straightened the tie of his three-piece suit.

  Tony pulled a flash drive out of his pocket. “This is video footage from a security camera behind Montoya Hardware. You’ll see two boys, Nick Johnson and Martin Burton, sneaking around in the alley.”

  Allen’s mouth twitched. It was video footage from the same camera that had proved Tony innocent of the robbery Kurt and Allen had set him up for.

  The other man frowned. “That’s impossible. The boys here have a curfew. And why would my nephew be hanging out with them?”

  Tony shook his head. “You’ll have to ask him. All I was told is that the police caught Nick with a bunch of drugs and he implicated some staff and students here at Little Mountain.”

  Allen cursed under his breath. “It’s Rachel, isn’t it? I should’ve known better than to let Travis hire her.”

  Jarrod walked through the door and nodded. Tony pointed him out. “I think that officer wants to speak to you and Travis.”

  They all went to Travis’s office.

  Jarrod closed the door. “Last night, one of your employees made contact with a known drug dealer. She helped Martin sneak out of the residence where he and Nick exchanged money for drugs. The boys hid four hundred pounds of marijuana on top of Little Mountain where it was recovered this morning by Nick.”

  “What does this mean for Little Mountain?” A note of panic laced Travis’s voice.

  “It’s been determined that the employee was acting without the knowledge of other members of the staff and the county sheriff’s office has decided not to pursue a charge against the home. Rachel Johnson has already been taken into custody and booked on a variety of charges. Officers are now looking for Kurt.”