Always a Lawman

by Delores Fossen

  Gabriel took out his phone, and while she couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, he asked for backup and gave them their location. It wouldn’t be long before one of the deputies arrived, and maybe another cruiser could come up behind the car, and they could sandwich in the shooters.

  “I want at least one of these clowns alive,” Gabriel said under his breath.

  Jodi wanted the same thing. Because then they might find out who was behind this. Heck, they might even be able to confront the person directly since it could be any one of their three suspects in that car.

  “Hell,” Cameron said. He didn’t hit the brakes, but he did slow down.

  That caused Jodi to peer over the seat again. One look and Jodi was doing some cursing, too. Because straight ahead, sideways on the road, was another car.

  Jodi doubted it was a coincidence. And it wasn’t. Because almost immediately someone from inside that vehicle started shooting at them.

  “I can’t get around the car,” Cameron said, slowing down even more.

  Again, that wasn’t a coincidence. So, they’d either have to stop and be sitting ducks caught in cross fire or crash into the car with the hopes of taking out that set of gunmen while not disabling the cruiser.

  Not exactly stellar options.

  Gabriel glanced at her. “There’s not a ranch trail we can use,” he let her know.

  The gunmen probably knew that, too. And that meant Cameron, Gabriel and she were going to have to fight their way out of this. It wasn’t the first time Jodi had been caught in gunfire. There’d been two cases where someone had tried to kill people she’d been assigned to protect. Like those other times, there was no feeling of panic. Strange, but in some ways this felt more comfortable than having someone touch her.

  “I’ll keep an eye on the guys behind us,” she offered, and Gabriel didn’t decline. Probably because he knew it would no longer do any good for her to stay down. The closer they got to the second car, the more bullets riddled the cruiser.

  Cameron cursed when one of the shots tore through the front windshield. It was just a matter of time before more made it into the interior, and that meant they had to do something fast.

  “Slow down enough to minimize the impact for us,” Gabriel instructed. “But ram the cruiser right into the shooter.”

  The shooter wasn’t hard to see because he was leaning out of the passenger’s side of the second car. “I might be able to take him out,” Jodi said. “I’m a good shot.”

  For a moment she thought Gabriel was about to agree to that, but two more shots tore through the glass, one in the front and one in the rear.

  “Hit the second car!” Gabriel told Cameron. He pushed Jodi back down, but both knew she couldn’t stay on the seat. Once they collided, all three of them would have to start firing.

  “Hold on,” Cameron warned them.

  Jodi braced herself for the impact, and she didn’t have to wait long. It was only a couple of seconds before she jolted forward, and she heard the slam of metal crashing into metal. Someone yelled out in pain. Probably the gunman in the second car. But that didn’t stop the shots. They continued to come at them, shredding what was left of the front and back and windshields.

  “Cameron, get down,” Gabriel warned him.

  Gabriel took aim at whoever was continuing to shoot at them from the second car. That made him an easy target for whoever was behind them. Jodi unbuckled her seat belt, came up on her knees and pivoted in that direction.

  And fired.

  She took out the shooter who was on the passenger’s side. That didn’t stop the driver, though.

  “He’s about to hit us,” Jodi shouted, but the words had barely left her mouth when the first car slammed into them.

  The jolt sent her flying into both Gabriel and the back of the seat. Her shoulder was hit so hard that it nearly knocked the breath out of her. Gabriel didn’t fare much better. He landed partially over the front seat with his head just a few inches from Cameron. That wasn’t good. Because the other shooter in the first car was clearly trying to kill him.

  Gabriel fixed that.

  Cursing, he emptied his clip into the driver of the second car.

  The shots stopped then.

  From that direction anyway. They continued behind them, and while Gabriel reloaded, both Cameron and she returned fire. She wasn’t sure which of them managed to hit the driver, but she finally saw him slump forward onto the steering wheel.

  Not dead, though.

  He was groaning in pain.

  Gabriel finished reloading and threw open the cruiser door. “Cover me,” he said, the urgency not just in his voice but in his movements, as well. “I need to get to him before he dies.”

  * * *

  GABRIEL CURSED HIMSELF for being too late. He couldn’t go back and undo the attack, but in hindsight he should have never agreed to take Jodi to the jail. At least not without more backup. Now, they had four dead men on their hands, and he still didn’t have any answers. Because the fourth one had died before Gabriel could question him.

  “Anything?” Jodi asked when his phone dinged with a text.

  He glanced at the text from Jameson and shook his head. “No ID on the gunmen, but they’re running the prints now. Jameson is rescheduling our visit to see your father. We’ll go in the morning.”

  With plenty of extra security. No way did Gabriel want a repeat of today. Judging from Jodi’s shell-shocked expression, neither did she.

  She was no longer pacing. Probably because the spent adrenaline had left her too tired to do much of anything. Still, she was searching through Sentry’s archived files, trying to find anything that could help them with their investigation. She almost certainly didn’t feel like doing that, but it was better than focusing on the fact that they’d come damn close to dying again.

  “I nearly got Cameron and you killed,” she said, glancing up at him. “I’m sorry.”

  So that was the reason for the look on her face. Not because she’d been in danger but because Cameron and he had been. Both of them were fine, literally not a scratch on them, but Jodi wasn’t seeing that, only the possibility that it could have been much, much worse.

  Gabriel sighed and sank down on the sofa beside her. His own legs were feeling the effects of the adrenaline, too, but he was afraid if he stopped moving, he’d crash. Still, he wanted to make something crystal clear, and it was best if he looked her straight in the eyes when he said it.

  “Those men could have been after me,” he reminded her. “We don’t know why we’re being attacked, but when the dust settles, I could be the one who owes you an apology.”

  She shook her head. “I’m the one who made myself bait, and in doing so, I put targets on all of us.”

  That theory only worked if their attacker was someone trying to cover up nearly killing Jodi ten years ago. But this might not have anything to do with that.

  “Maybe your dad can give us some answers tomorrow,” Gabriel added. Then, he paused. “Will it do me any good to ask you to stay at the sheriff’s office while I go to the jail?”

  “No,” she immediately answered. “I’m going. Plus, if my father does know anything, he’s far more likely to tell me than you. He still considers you the enemy.”

  No way could he argue with that. Because Gabriel considered Travis the enemy, as well.

  “If anyone stays behind, it should be you,” Jodi went on. “I can’t imagine it’ll be easy for you to see the man convicted of murdering your parents.”

  “It won’t be. But I’d visit Travis a thousand times if it meant stopping another attack. Besides, it’ll be just as hard for you since he was also convicted of attempting to kill you.”

  She made a sound of agreement and took a deep breath. “Being here brings it all back.” Another deep br
eath. “But it’s not all bad. I’d forgotten that.”

  Yeah. Easy to forget the good stuff after being knifed and left for dead on the very land where she’d played as a child.

  “For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a crush on you,” she said. She winced a little, probably because she hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

  “I know,” he admitted, since she had been so honest. “You used to follow me around and talk to Ivy about me. Once you turned eighteen, she started trying to play matchmaker.”

  Jodi nodded. “But she didn’t get to play it for long. Ivy and I left for college, and when I came back, you were dating that lawyer from over in Appaloosa Pass. When I finally caught you in between women, it was too late.”

  Because the attack had happened.

  The timing had certainly sucked.

  “I’m the one who found you,” Gabriel admitted. “You didn’t remember?”

  “No.” She stayed quiet a moment and repeated it.

  Hell. He shouldn’t have brought that up because she got that haunted look again, the one that was deep in her eyes.

  “You did CPR on me,” she whispered.

  Gabriel wanted to drop this, but Jodi was staring at him, waiting for him to say something. “Do you remember that or did someone tell you?”

  She moved the laptop to the table, motioned toward her head. “I get little flashes of memories. Pieces. Most of them I push away because of, well, just because. But I remember a little of the CPR. You saved my life.”

  Believing that had helped him get through some god-awful nightmares, but Gabriel wasn’t sure it was true.

  She smiled a little. “I thought you were kissing me, but you were giving me mouth-to-mouth. You were giving me your breath.”

  He was, all the while cursing himself and praying that the ambulance would get there in time. Now, Gabriel cursed himself again because he leaned in and kissed her. Much, much better than mouth-to-mouth and the memories of that.

  Well, better for him anyway.

  But as he’d done in his office, he pulled away to make sure Jodi was okay with this. Apparently, she was because she slipped her hand around the back of his neck and drew him to her.

  No.

  That was the thought that went through his mind. Jodi’s hand slide was the same as a green light. One that could lead straight to sex. And that couldn’t happen. This went back to the bad-timing thing again, but he certainly didn’t push her away when she kissed him.

  It was Jodi who deepened the kiss. Jodi who pulled him so close to her that they were touching in plenty of the wrong places. Or the right places, he amended, if they were going to have sex.

  But they weren’t.

  She moved, angling herself so that her leg was on the outside of his thigh. Not fully in his lap but close. The kiss, which was already too hot, turned even hotter, and the heat slid right through him. Hard to think with that kind of fire going on inside him. And his body reacted all right.

  He went rock hard.

  Unlike Jodi. She seemed to be softening. Her silky skin, against his. Her moving in for the taking. Gabriel had to do something to stop this or at least cool it down to give her time to think. Because once she thought about it, Jodi would probably decide this just wasn’t a good idea.

  “You’re a virgin, aren’t you?” he said when she broke for air. She also stopped her hand, which was in the process of going to his stomach.

  She didn’t have to confirm it because he saw in her expression that the answer was yes. Of course, she was. This was a woman who had panic attacks when a man touched her. Well, most men anyway. She didn’t seem to be having trouble with the touching now.

  She studied his eyes as if trying to figure out what was going on in his head, and she cursed. “I missed my window of opportunity for sex. Because I wanted you to be my first. And then...afterward, because I didn’t want to be with anyone.”

  He got that. “But if we have sex now, it’s going to complicate things.” That was not only stating the obvious but putting it mildly.

  She nodded. “Plus, there’s that whole commitment thing you don’t want. But what if we take commitment off the table? What if this is only about sex for us?”

  Gabriel gave her a flat look to let her know that wasn’t possible. She must have believed it, too, because Jodi cursed again and moved off him.

  “It would have been a bad idea anyway,” she said, but it didn’t sound as if she believed it.

  Because he still had an erection, Gabriel didn’t believe it, either.

  Thankfully, his phone buzzed again, giving them a much-needed interruption, and since it was Jameson’s name on the screen, it could turn out to be important.

  “It didn’t take long for us to get IDs on the dead guys,” Jameson said the moment Gabriel answered. He put the call on speaker so Jodi could hear. “That’s because all four had prints in the system. Kevin McKee, Scott Hartman, Walter Bronson and Barry Hiller.”

  She repeated the names and shook her head. “I don’t recognize any of them.”

  “Neither do I,” Gabriel agreed. “What do you know about them?”

  “That they’re not from here. McKee and Hiller are from Houston. The other two are from Laredo. There’s something not quite right about this,” Jameson added. “These guys were thugs. Long police records. Drug users. In and out of jail. Not the sort to hire out for an attack on two lawmen and a security specialist.”

  Gabriel thought about that for a moment. “You believe they were hired because they’d work cheap?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m thinking. I’m betting these clowns came after you for just a couple of thousand dollars.”

  Which would make it next to impossible to find a money trail. Any of their three suspects could have that kind of cash on hand. Still, it had to be a risk to hire someone who was underqualified and maybe even high.

  And Gabriel thought that might point to Hector. Because Jodi’s boss dealt with criminals like this.

  “Did these thugs have cell phones?” Gabriel asked.

  “No. No IDs on them, either. Nothing in their pockets and nothing in the cars. We might be able to get something on those, but they’re late models, so it’s possible the person behind this bought them used through someone online.”

  Again, hard to trace that.

  “I’ll keep looking,” Jameson said. “We can’t keep having this string of bad luck.”

  You’d think they would get a break. Gabriel just hoped it was sooner than later.

  He was about to thank his brother, but Jameson spoke before Gabriel could say anything. “Hold on a second. I’m getting another call from Cameron.”

  Cameron was supposed to be home, having some downtime after the attack, but Gabriel suspected the deputy was already back at work. He certainly would be, but he didn’t want to have to take Jodi out in the open. They’d already had one attack too many today.

  The seconds crawled by with Jodi making uneasy glances at him and the phone. It seemed to take an eternity for Jameson to come back on the line, and when he did Gabriel knew it was bad because Jameson cursed.

  “It’s Billy,” Jameson said. “Someone murdered him.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Every muscle in Jodi’s body seemed to be aching, and her head was throbbing. That probably had a lot to do with the fact that she hadn’t slept and was using caffeine to help her stay alert.

  It wasn’t a good idea to go into a visit with her father when she couldn’t think straight, but she had no choice. Now more than ever, they needed answers.

  Because someone had murdered Billy.

  The one person who could have possibly cleared all of this up.

  It was hard to grieve for him. After all, Billy had likely murdered a cop, but he’d no d
oubt been manipulated into it. It was a sick, dangerous person who would do something like that to a mentally disturbed teenager.

  A smart person, too.

  According to the preliminary report, someone had injected Billy with a lethal dose of barbiturates. And the suspect? His high-priced lawyer, Mara Rayburn. The problem, though, was that Mara was missing.

  “Are you okay?” Gabriel asked, pulling Jodi out of her thoughts. He was seated next to her in the prison visiting area where they were expecting her father to arrive at any minute. He wouldn’t actually be in the room with them but rather on the other side of some thick Plexiglas.

  “I’m okay about this visit,” she said, choosing her words. The rest of her was pretty much spent. She was tired and confused. Confused not just about who wanted to kill them but also her feelings for Gabriel.

  Until she’d come back to Blue River, Jodi had been so certain that what she’d once felt for him was long gone. She had also been sure that she would never again want a man to touch her.

  Well, she’d been wrong about that.

  She had certainly wanted Gabriel to touch her after the latest attack. Even after “sleeping” on it, she should have realized that would be a mistake. But it didn’t feel as if it’d be one. And that was a problem. Because the last thing they needed right now was to have their thoughts straying in the wrong direction. She had a strong suspicion that handing Gabriel her virginity would drop them smack-dab in the “wrong direction” category.

  “It’d be so much easier if I hated you,” she admitted. That caused him to smile. Which, in turn, caused her to go all warm.

  She so didn’t have time for this.

  “Part of you probably does hate me,” he answered.

  He was talking about the attack now, but somehow even it had changed in her mind. Not the attack itself but rather her blaming Gabriel. He’d saved her, and no part of her body or mind was going to let her forget that.