Reunion Mission (Rangers Under Fire)

by Virginia Vaughan

  Matt turned as Preston barreled down on him with what looked like a shovel. It smacked Matt’s head and blinding pain ripped through him. He dropped his flashlight and fought to stand, but his knees buckled under the pain.

  He lifted his face again and saw Preston readying for another swing. Matt reached up a hand but couldn’t deflect the second blow. It rammed into the side of his head and sent him reeling.

  As the room began to dim around him, Preston knelt beside him and flashed Matt a sardonic smile. “I told you, Matt. I would do anything for Claire. Anything.”

  NINE

  Claire eyed the storage cabinet. Unlike the lab, this room didn’t hold any chemicals she could use to free them, but if she could get closer, perhaps she could find something that might help them out of this as she’d done before. But this storage cabinet was locked tight.

  Spencer caught her gaze and grinned. “You didn’t think I would fall for that twice, did you?”

  Claire eyed him. “So it was you who attacked me in the lab?”

  “Yes, it was me. I didn’t get a chance to tell you how impressed I was at your ingenuity. That stuff burned like crazy.”

  She was glad it had burned, and wished it had done more damage. Her hand immediately went to her throat. If she hadn’t been able to escape, she would be just as dead as Luke now.

  She looked at Jessica and knew they were in very real danger from this man.

  He fidgeted anxiously in front of the windows. Every now and then he pulled down a slat of the blind and peered out. What was he doing? If he was trying to frighten them, it was working. Jessica quivered in her arms and sobbed quietly. She looked as if she’d lost all hope of making it out of this alive. But Claire had not given up. She used the opportunities when Spencer was distracted at the window to scan the room for something, anything, to defend themselves.

  She jumped at the sound of his phone buzzing. Principal Spencer pulled it out and glanced at the screen. He paled, then put away the phone and picked up the gun.

  The tension in the room changed. Spencer’s demeanor morphed from nervous and waiting to resigned. Claire’s heart kicked up with fear and Jessica whimpered and pressed herself closer to Claire. Something was happening. It was apparent that call had been the one Principal Spencer had been waiting for.

  He gulped with anxiety, and it was clear this wasn’t the route he’d wanted to take. “I didn’t want this,” he stated to them. “I didn’t want Luke to die, but you—” he pointed the gun at Claire “—you convinced him to stop peddling for us. He said he wanted out, but no one gets out. I didn’t want to kill him, but it wasn’t my decision.”

  Now Claire understood. Principal Spencer wasn’t the man in charge. He wasn’t the drug supplier they’d been searching for. He was just a middleman caught up in the web. He had killed Luke—he’d just admitted he’d done it—but it had been on someone else’s orders.

  “I’m sorry, Claire, but you got too close to the operation and it’s not up to me anymore. I do as I’m told.”

  Jessica wailed and sobbed with fear, but Claire clutched her as Spencer raised the gun and readied it to fire. His hand shook and that worried Claire even more. Should she rush him? Should she try to give Jessica an opportunity to escape? She steeled herself for the confrontation. This man disgusted her. He wasn’t even the man in charge. He was a nothing, a lackey who did the dirty work for someone else.

  “Get ready to run,” she whispered to Jessica, then pulled away from the girl and stood to face him, steeling herself against her own fear. “You disgust me,” she told Spencer. “Preying on children, students whom you were supposed to protect. You make me sick.”

  His hand shook even more as he aimed the gun at her. “I’m sorry, Claire.”

  “You’re sorry? You’re sorry for killing Luke? You’re sorry for terrorizing Jessica and holding us hostage and threatening our lives? You’ll never be sorry enough.” She rushed at him, grabbing for the gun and simultaneously yelling, “Run!” to Jessica.

  She struggled with him for control of the gun but he spotted Jessica heading for the door and panicked, his finger pulling down on the trigger. The gun fired and that seemed to bring them both to attention. The pitifully timid man vanished and he must have realized he had no choice now but to barrel through. He straightened and shoved Claire, sending her flying. She hit the wall with a thud and waves of pain rolled over her. He yelled for Jessica to stop and fired again when she didn’t. Claire heard her scream and saw her rush out the door as a bullet whizzed past her head and lodged into the wall behind her.

  Claire screamed and jumped on him to keep him from going after Jessica. She would fight him until Jessica was safe. She clawed at his face and he struggled to pull her off and regain his solid footing.

  He finally managed to throw her off, sending her flying again. This time she hit the floor, which knocked the breath out of her. He turned to her, raised the gun and aimed it to shoot. But before he could, she heard a male voice call out.

  “Lower your weapon now!”

  Her heart hammered at the thought that Matt had come to rescue her, but Claire saw it was Preston there with his own gun raised and pointed at Spencer.

  Spencer started to turn and Preston fired several shots that sent the man toppling toward her. Claire scrambled out of the way as he hit the floor very near to her, his frozen face registering shock at his last, final moment.

  Preston moved through the classroom and stood over him, kicking the gun from the still man’s hand, then bent and felt for a pulse. Claire was certain he wouldn’t find one. She saw the life spill out of Bill Spencer as he lay only a foot away from her.

  Preston turned to her, then scooped her up in his arms, hugging her tightly. “Did he hurt you?”

  “No, I’m fine. Jessica!” She realized she didn’t know where the girl had run to. Did she know she was now safe? That she didn’t have to live in fear of her principal anymore?

  “She’s fine. I saw her as I was entering the school. I sent her outside to wait for us.”

  Claire sighed with relief. It was over. It was really over. She was safe. Jessica was safe. Her students were safe. Then she remembered the text message Spencer had received. She was certain he’d been waiting on someone. And he’d said he didn’t want to kill her but hadn’t had a choice. It wasn’t over. There was someone even worse out there.

  She told Preston, and he searched the body and pulled out a cell phone. He checked the text messages. “I’ll run the number, although it will no doubt be a burner phone.” He pocketed the phone, then helped Claire to her feet. “Let’s get out of here. I need to call this in and have the room secured. There’ll be an investigation, since I fired my weapon and killed a man.”

  She was suddenly concerned about Preston. “I’ll tell them and so will Jessica. You saved us. Preston, you saved us both.”

  A big grin spread across his face at her words. “Then it was all worth it.”

  He put his arm around her and walked out. Claire was thankful to see Jessica safe, but she also couldn’t help but wonder, where was Matt? She couldn’t wait to relate to him all that had happened today and how they were one step closer to finding the drug dealer they’d been searching for.

  * * *

  A heavy weight seemed to be holding him down as Matt regained consciousness. He tried to lift his head but it took all his strength to do so. His eyes fluttered open and, once they cleared, he took in the room. He was underground, some kind of basement no doubt. And his hands and legs were bound.

  Memories rushed back to him. Preston had coldcocked him and tied him up down here. But where was Claire? They’d been on their way to find her. Preston had said she’d walked right into a trap. Anger bit through Matt as he realized he’d been the one to walk into a trap... Preston’s trap. There was no emergency. Claire hadn’t b
een in danger. Although he couldn’t be sure she wasn’t now.

  He’d been ambushed...again. This betrayal took him back to the ambush against his ranger team. He’d lost men then, good men with families. Who would he lose now because of this attack? Claire? He wouldn’t allow it.

  He struggled with the binds, frustrated when he couldn’t loosen them. He was trapped and Claire was depending on him.

  He took a deep breath. He could do nothing to help himself, but he had to remember he wasn’t alone. He was never alone. It was something Claire had helped to remind him of. He tried to control his fear and to trust in the Lord.

  “Lord, Claire is in trouble. I need Your help. Please keep her safe and help me get out of this.”

  He used the wall to push himself into a sitting position, then to his knees. Preston had tied his hands behind him with zip ties, but Matt had been trained to escape them. He whipped his hands against his back twice before the zip tie busted apart.

  He rubbed his wrists, then surveyed his area. His gun was gone and so was his cell phone. He had no idea how long he’d been unconscious, but his head seemed to have a jackhammer inside it.

  He pulled at the door but it wouldn’t open and he searched among the other walls. It looked as if that one door was the only way out. He had to get it opened. He listened but didn’t hear any movement outside. He used his shoulder to try to push it open. It didn’t budge, but that didn’t stop him from ramming it again. If opening this door was his only way out, he wouldn’t stop until he got it opened.

  But where was Claire? Preston had told him she’d received a text message from Jessica luring her into a trap. Had Preston set that trap, or had it been just a lure to get Matt out of the way? Either way, Claire’s life was in danger. The longer she was with Preston without knowing who he was and what he was involved in, the more danger she was in.

  Questions rushed through his mind. Was Preston also behind the Trixie ring operating in Lakeshore? Had he killed Luke and tried to kill Claire? He had to warn her about Preston. He’d promised to protect her, but just like his time with the rangers, the enemy had hidden right before his eyes.

  He couldn’t let her down again.

  * * *

  “Thank you for coming for me, Miss Kendall,” Jessica said, giving Claire a hug before running to her mother, who was waiting with open arms.

  Claire was happy to see Jessica reunited with her family and safe. She glanced over at Preston, who gazed at her over the roof of his car. Jessica owed her life to Preston, and so did Claire. She was thankful he’d found them in time.

  “Ready to go home?” Preston asked her.

  She nodded and got back into his car.

  “I thought you might want this back,” he said, handing her the cell phone Spencer had taken from her.

  “Thank you.”

  “I didn’t want you to lose all your contacts.”

  She checked her phone, hoping to see some message or voice mail from Matt, but there were none. She’d received multiple calls and texts from Preston’s phone number, but other than that the last call on her list was the one from Jessica’s phone, the call that had started it all. It was odd, though, that Matt hadn’t phoned her. He would surely have returned from the tux shop with his family by now and wondered where she’d gone. Wouldn’t he wonder if she was in trouble? Wouldn’t he at least want to check to make sure she was safe?

  He’d been practically pinned to her side for the past week. And today, when she’d actually needed him, he hadn’t even phoned her?

  Weird.

  She glanced up and saw Preston was heading out of town toward his house. “Why are we going to your house instead of the Rosses’?”

  “If you’re right and Spencer was just the middleman, you’ll be safer at my house.”

  “Preston, I appreciate—”

  “He could have killed you, Claire. This time, I’m not taking no for an answer.”

  She didn’t bother protesting any further. “I should let Matt know my plans,” she said, opening her phone.

  “He knows.”

  “You spoke to him?”

  “Sure. He’s checking out a lead out of town. He’ll be gone for a while. He asked me to watch after you.”

  That struck her as odd. Why hadn’t he called or texted her to let her know he was leaving town? “Does he know what happened with Principal Spencer?”

  “Absolutely, we discussed it. When we realized Spencer was only a middleman, he said following up on this lead for Spencer’s boss was his top priority.”

  Claire felt as if she’d been slapped by his indifference. Had he really said that? But why would Preston lie about Matt’s actions, and why hadn’t Matt told her so himself?

  “He’s DEA, Claire. You knew he was only in town to ferret out the Trixie ring.”

  She sank into her seat. She had known that was why Matt had come to town, but her naive, hapless self had hoped something else, that true love would make him stay. Warmth spread through her face. Had she been a first-class fool for Matt Ross? Again?

  When they arrived at Preston’s, he led her to a guest bedroom. “You’ll be safe here,” he promised. “At least until we can figure out who is behind this all.”

  She barely saw the room. Her only thoughts were of Matt and what a fool she’d been. Had he stayed after the DEA closed the investigation because he was worried about her or, as Preston insinuated, because he wanted to bust this drug ring?

  Preston must have noticed her sadness because he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her face. “I know he’s hurt you, but I will never leave you, Claire. I will always be here for you.” He planted a kiss on her forehead, then walked out and left her alone to rest.

  She tried Matt’s phone again and it went straight to voice mail. She left another message asking where he was, then texted him again. She was growing more and more worried with each unanswered call. Where was he? And was he safe? And that annoying, planted doubt crept back in... Was he ignoring her calls and texts because he really didn’t want her?

  She glanced at her phone and saw a number she didn’t recognize in her phone list. She remembered Matt had used her phone to call his ranger friend Garrett. Was he in contact with Matt? Would he even answer her call? She didn’t know, but she had to try.

  She pushed on the number and her phone dialed. Soon a click sounded and a male voice answered. “Hello.”

  “Hi, Garrett, it’s Claire.”

  “Hey, Claire.”

  “I was wondering if you’d talked to Matt recently. I haven’t been able to contact him and I’m really concerned about him.”

  “How long has he been out of touch?”

  “He went to go check out a lead on our drug dealer, but he’s not answering his phone or responding to text messages. I was wondering if you’d spoken to him this afternoon.”

  “I haven’t, but I’ll try to contact him. Stay by the phone. I’ll call you right back.”

  She hung up, confident that Garrett would somehow be able to do what she could not. She turned and saw Preston standing behind her, leaning against the door frame. She hadn’t even heard the bedroom door open. How long had he been standing there watching and listening? And why had he sneaked up on her?

  “You startled me,” she told him.

  “Who were you talking to?”

  “An army friend of Matt’s. I’ve tried calling him several times, but each time it goes straight to voice mail. I’m getting worried about him, so I wanted to see if his friend had heard from him.”

  “I told you not to worry about Matt. He can take care of himself.”

  “I know, but why isn’t he answering my call?”

  Preston sighed, the irritation in his voice obvious. “I didn’t want to tell you this, Claire. I wanted to
spare you for a while longer.”

  “Spare me from what?”

  “Matt isn’t checking out a lead. He’s gone. He left town.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, he’s gone back to where he came from. He left you, Claire. He left you just when you needed him.”

  She shook her head. She didn’t believe it. “He wouldn’t do that.”

  “He already did it. Twice! Why is it so hard to believe? He’s done it before, left you when you needed him.”

  She sucked in a breath, stunned by his words and what they meant. Matt wouldn’t leave her, would he? He’d promised her he wouldn’t. But why had he told Preston he was leaving? And why wasn’t he responding to her call?

  Hot tears pressed against her. This could not be happening again. She’d let her guard down. She’d let Matt in again despite promising herself she wouldn’t.

  Preston’s face softened and he approached her, his arms outstretched. He pulled her into a hug. “I didn’t want to tell you. I know how much he’s hurt you, but I’m here, Claire. I’ve always been here for you. I will never leave you and I promise I will always protect you.”

  She let Preston hug her, but she couldn’t let herself be comforted by his words. She didn’t want to believe Matt was gone, and she didn’t.

  Nothing except hearing it from his own lips would convince Claire that Matt had left her.

  * * *

  She phoned Garrett back and repeated what Preston had told her.

  Garrett was adamant that it wasn’t true. “Matt would never leave you. He’s crazy about you.”

  She believed he wouldn’t leave, but it felt good to hear Garrett confirm it. They were no longer frightened teenagers. Matt had grown into a man who didn’t walk away from danger, especially when it included someone he cared for.

  “But why would Preston tell me that?”

  “I don’t know, but no one else has heard from Matt, either. I don’t like that. I think he’s in trouble. I’m going to see if I can track his cell phone. If it’s turned on, I should be able to get a location. I’ll be in touch.”