Expired Game (Last Chance County Book 5)

by Lisa Phillips

  Ted usually wasn’t so bloodthirsty, but he was having a bad day.

  He sighed. Sitting around wouldn’t help things. Maybe the gunman’s assailant needed Ted’s help. He wouldn’t be useful staying in the back seat, waiting for someone else to kidnap him all over again. He’d been handed off between bad guys plenty of times as a teen. Mostly when his father farmed out his services in exchange for a favor. Ted would have to hack some computer system or take down some kind of network. A power grid. A fiber optic system. Didn’t matter.

  Same job, different city. Sometimes different countries.

  He got his legs in front, leaned his elbow on the passenger seat back, and climbed into the front. A backpack lay in the foot well, passenger side. Ted kept his head low and rifled through it. As soon as he was seen, he would need a way to defend himself.

  Another gunshot went off.

  He ducked, sucking in a breath, and glanced over. Whoever the gunman was fighting with was smaller than he was. Dark hair swung around. Not anyone he knew, considering the object of his thoughts was generally a little powerhouse blonde.

  Ted rifled through the backpack. He found rope and a camping shovel in the bigger compartment, along with a folded-up tarp.

  He didn’t want to know what that was for, but he was pretty sure he could guess. This guy planned to bury Ted. After he murdered him.

  The driver’s window splintered. Ted only realized after the fact that a bullet had shattered the glass. It embedded itself in the passenger window, not far from the back of Ted’s head. Had he been leaning an inch or two back instead of hunched over, he’d be dead right now.

  Ted checked the smaller front compartment, keeping lower than before even though his previous position had saved his life.

  “Bingo.” His bound hands lit on the grand prize, and Ted pulled out his watch with the fingers of his good hand. Ignoring the vomit-inducing pain in his other wrist, he tapped the screen.

  It wasn’t broken.

  He’d have to… And then… The screen flashed as it rebooted. He kept his head down and waited that forever-yawning expanse of time while his smartwatch came back online and connected. Not to his phone. This one worked independently of his cell. It connected to a satellite, much like a sat phone. Limited capability. But he could get a call out even without a cell signal.

  And that was what he did.

  “Ted?” Dean’s voice came through the small and tinny-sounding speaker on the watch.

  “Dean.” He nearly whimpered. “You need to come here.”

  He didn’t even know what he was saying. All he knew was he needed his big brother. Everything he’d ever said about goal setting. About inner strength. About drive and growth. All of that stuff went out the window. He was injured, in danger, and he needed his big brother.

  Again.

  Déjà vu much.

  “Ted.” His brother’s tone was so relieved a tear rolled down Ted’s face. Dean said, “You need to tell me where you are.” It sounded like he was already on the move though.

  “You don’t know?”

  “I think Jess does. She left a while ago.”

  Ted frowned. He glanced at the window. Dark hair. “She’s here.”

  “What?”

  “She needs backup.”

  “Send me your location.”

  Ted touched the buttons on either side of his watch. It vibrated for a second in his hand.

  “Got it. Ten minutes.”

  Another gunshot went off. Ted yelped and flinched so hard he nearly smacked his forehead on the dash. How come he’d never known gunshots were that loud? He gritted his teeth. “Make it five.”

  Ted left the line open, the watch on his seat, cracked the door, and got out. He wobbled a bit and put his knee down. Better than his hands. He probably had a broken wrist, or so he figured.

  Jess cried out.

  Ted scrambled for the backpack and got out the camping shovel, which he managed to open up to its full length. By the time he had it, the world was spinning around him. He took a minute and breathed through it.

  The urge to pray was strong, considering how bad things had gotten today. But how could he do that when he had no right to ask God for anything? He wasn’t a good person. No matter that everyone else thought he was—that only meant Ted had succeeded in fooling them all these years. Especially his brother. Dean was always talking about God and going to church. As though that would solve all of Ted’s problems.

  Ignoring his errant thoughts, Ted scrambled to the back bumper. Jess lay on her back on the ground. Above her, his kidnapper had both hands on her throat, squeezing the breath out of her.

  “No!” He scrambled up, hoisting the shovel above his head and sprinting to her while everything in him cried out.

  The gunman twisted.

  Ted saw the weapon at the last minute. He brought the shovel down. Oh, well. If this was going to be the end, then at least everyone who knew him would keep thinking he was a good guy. Maybe even a hero.

  Jess jerked her whole body. The gunman tipped to the side, dislodged by her movement. The weapon slammed into Ted’s ribs a split second before Ted slammed the shovel down on the man’s shoulder. Too bad he’d been aiming for the head.

  As the gunman’s body folded at the spot where he’d been hit and fell to the side, Ted realized the gun had no bullets left. Empty.

  Ted collapsed onto the ground.

  Jess grunted. The gunman was up on one knee, trying belligerently to come at Ted again with his gun. She scrambled up and took the shovel from Ted—even though his fingers didn’t want to let go—and slammed the gunman in the face again.

  His body crumpled to the ground.

  Jess landed on her behind with a whimper of relief. “Ted?”

  He looked up at her not too far away but didn’t get up off the ground. “Hi.” His voice sounded thick, gruff. He cleared his throat. Or tried to. Emotion collected in a lump. He tried to swallow it but felt moisture run from his eyes down the sides of his head to his hair. Ted lifted his hands and covered his head. Ouch. He bit his lip.

  “Hey.” He heard her shift, then felt her hand on his arm. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

  “Are we?” He lowered his hands and shot her a look that indicated just how much he agreed. Or didn’t, as the case was.

  She touched his shoulders. Ted stretched the fingers on his good hand to touch her face and said, “Are you okay?”

  “What do you say we call an ambulance and let someone with years of medical training make that determination?”

  Ted made a face. “Fine. Only because I’m pretty sure I’m going to need a cast on my wrist.”

  She gasped. “You hurt it more?”

  He managed to shrug one shoulder, though it was clear she didn’t seem to buy his attempt at nonchalance. “It’s been a really long day. I haven’t yet had the chance to have it looked at after I injured it earlier. What with a bank robbery and being kidnapped.”

  She bit her lip.

  “There’s more?”

  Jess nodded. “Your dad escaped federal custody.”

  Everything in Ted stilled. His hand dropped from her soft cheek.

  “Don’t pull away, please. Don’t pretend everything’s fine when I know it isn’t.”

  “So you’ve seen through me this whole time,” he said. “Is that it?”

  “You thought you were fooling me?” One eyebrow rose.

  “I guess you’re the only one good at acting.” And she was. Jess was the best at undercover work. But no one else had ever realized he held so much back.

  Before she could object to his comment, he continued, “It doesn’t matter. Not right now. Unless you’re planning on going after West.”

  “I am, but you’re right. I need your statement, and we’re going to interrogate this guy.” She motioned to the unconscious man, his back to them. “Plus, Sally Peters. There’s a lot of work to do, but it all gets us one step closer to identifying West.”

  He no
dded, and yet his thoughts strayed to his father. Would the old man come here? He’d caused more than enough damage already. And if he was trying to avoid the cops, why come to a place where people knew him—a place they’d assume he might go?

  No. Ted didn’t think his dad would show up. But at least now he knew it had been his dad calling before. Not someone else. He hadn’t told anyone anything.

  Jess started to speak.

  Ted heard a rustle, but only in time to watch the shovel come down and slam into Jess’s head.

  She crumpled on top of him, unconscious. Blood coated him from a head wound in her hair. He scrambled out from under her, grabbed the first thing he could find—the empty gun—and slammed it into the man’s arm as he came down with the shovel again. This time to hit him.

  He launched up, tackled the guy, and they hit the asphalt. He heard the moment his attacker’s skull hit the ground.

  He got up on his knees over the man. A red haze fell over his world. Jess was down. She could be dead from a skull fracture, and he’d been laying there thinking about his dad?

  He’d let it happen.

  He lifted the shovel, determined to give payback. If she was dead, then this guy would be too. That was only fair.

  “Ted!”

  He twisted to see a handful of people, guns out. Including his brother. “Put the shovel down.”

  It clattered on the asphalt, and he lifted his hands.

  Eleven

  “For the record—” Her sister threw the car into park. “—you should be at home. Isn’t that what the doctor said?”

  Jess unclipped her seatbelt and reached for the door handle, trying not to turn her head too much. Or too fast. The hospital had given her some good meds. It still hurt, though. And it was making her grumpy.

  “I slept at the hospital. I was there all night,” she pointed out. “I can sit down as well here as I can at home, and I’ll feel useful.”

  She pushed the door open and got out. Why argue? That would take energy she needed to conserve for the fight ahead.

  “Are you even listening?”

  Jess didn’t turn. Her sister did that thing where she talked over the roof of the car, usually with one foot still inside. She’d seen it so many times Jess could picture her in her head.

  She had to be here. Why argue trying to convince her sister of that?

  “No one is saying you need to feel useful right now, let alone actually be useful.”

  Jess hoped it was just her head. “Is that supposed to make any sense?”

  Ellie approached her around the car, smiling as she moved. Dean was with Ted. She knew that much. And maybe more, even. What she’d heard from Donaldson in the middle of the night gave her pause.

  Her sister said, “You should be at home, doing nothing. Not even thinking about work.”

  “Resting?”

  “You make that sound like a moral failing.”

  “In the middle of a case like this?” Jess shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe it is.”

  “Sure, if you didn’t look like you’re about to pass out.”

  “I don’t look that bad. Do I?”

  Ellie shot her look.

  “Wow.” Jess shoved at her shoulder while her sister laughed. “So we’ll do this quickly. I just want to check in.”

  Too much had happened yesterday. Despite her injuries, she’d told the truth. In the middle of a case like this, there was no way Jess would take a day off. They had to bring down West. Then they’d be able to take a day off. She might even go on vacation.

  Ellie made a noncommittal but very opinionated noise.

  Jess ignored her and went to the front door. Inevitably, thoughts of Ted slipped in. It looked like he was gonna kill that guy. Donaldson had been practically speechless, retelling the details of how they’d found her and Ted. And the unconscious man Ted had been about to kill. Or, so it looked.

  No way. No way would he kill someone.

  He’d been standing over the guy, shovel in hand. Donaldson had told her every second of how they’d raced over just in time to see him about to “deliver a death blow.” As though that made any sense whatsoever.

  Jess believed anyone could be driven to kill another person—it just depended on the circumstances.

  She’d been unconscious. He’d been alone and freaked out. She didn’t know where his head had been at. But apparently it had been serious enough he felt the need to strike out at the kidnapper. Who knew, maybe Ted had been hurt somehow in a way they didn’t know. Or terrorized. Could be he was only taking the control back. Regaining the power he’d lost.

  All she knew? Dean had told Ellie that Ted didn’t want to see her.

  Jess sighed and pulled open the door. Her sister caught it, and she stepped inside first.

  Jess had been unconscious on the ground, and he’d tried to kill the man that hurt her. It turned out his hit to her head hadn’t been that bad. They’d put one staple in her head. Sure, it hurt. But it would heal.

  “Jess!” A fresh face hopped off her stool and rushed through the security door to swamp her in a hug. Ruby.

  “Hey.” She circled the woman’s middle with her arms. “Wow, that’s way better.” When Ruby pulled back, Jess said, “I knew there was a reason I came here.”

  “Oh, you.” Ruby nudged her shoulder. “I know you don’t mean that since you had no idea I’d be here covering for Kaylee. Not to mention, Officer Workaholic doesn’t know how to take a day off.”

  “You know what they say,” Jess fired back. “Crime never sleeps.”

  Ruby made a face at Ellie over Jess’s shoulder, then said, “Literally no one says that.” She set her hands on her hips. “Don’t let Sergeant Basuto catch you here.”

  “Too late.”

  Jess didn’t look at him. She moved through the open door and strode to him, both her hands up. Palms out. “I know I’m not cleared to work.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “Then why are you here? If you wanted an update, you could have called.”

  “I know.” She lowered her hands.

  “Jess!” Conroy stood at his door, a wide smile on his face. Mia, his lieutenant and fiancé, was right behind him, trying to peer over his shoulder.

  “Hey, Chief.” Might as well keep it professional.

  “I’m sure Officer Ridgeman was just grabbing something,” Sergeant Basuto said. “And then she’s going to be on her way. Home. To rest.”

  Conroy smirked. Mia wiggled around him and moved to Ellie, where the two had a low conversation with their heads together.

  Jess needed to figure out how to hang out here. She didn’t want an update. Wasn’t here to grab something. And she wasn’t going to leave. She would be way out of the loop if she went home.

  She glanced at Conroy. “Has Sally Peters said anything?”

  He shook his head. “We’ve ID’d the man who took Ted, though. He’s at the hospital under guard.”

  “Who is he?”

  “Local guy with a long list of priors. He used to work for Ed Summers. Did a couple of years before that for breaking and entering after a stint for assault with a deadly weapon.”

  “So he’s been around?”

  Conroy nodded. “After we arrested Ed, we lost track of him.”

  There were a few like that. She’d halfway thought that guy with the spider web was the one behind it, but their attacker hadn’t been nearly as big as him.

  “Are you really okay?” His gaze softened. She knew he genuinely cared. He’d been a cop and a good guy she respected when he’d been her lieutenant. Now he was her chief, a title previously held by her grandfather, and there wasn’t a decision he made that she didn’t agree with—or at least know he had everyone’s best interests at heart.

  And when had she ever been able to say that about a boss?

  “I’m okay.”

  “You just want to feel useful.”

  Jess decided to just go for it. “I’d like to talk to Sally. See if she’ll give some
thing up to me that she might not with anyone else.”

  “I already tried.” Mia stepped up to the side, keeping professional distance between herself and the boss. He wasn’t her fiancé at work, when they were chief and lieutenant. “But I think it’s a good idea. Wear her down. Keep coming at her, using every resource at our disposal.” She studied Jess’s face. “But I also think you should give yourself a day or two. Try it then.”

  So long as the lieutenant was going to allow it, Jess didn’t mind what qualifiers there were going to be. She nodded. “Okay. Sounds good.”

  “Good.” Ellie nudged her shoulder. “See? Everything is in hand, and you can go home to rest.”

  Jess pressed her lips together. No way was she going to argue with her sister in front of two superiors.

  Ellie grinned. She totally knew it.

  Jess turned back to Conroy and Mia. “Maybe tomorrow afternoon? I’ll see if I can get Sally to flip on West.”

  Conroy said, “Intel from Ted is that West had him shut her out of the operation. She’s been cut loose.”

  “So she has no reason to defend him.” That only made Jess want to go in there right now. Not wait until tomorrow.

  “She’s not going anywhere.” Conroy gave her a pointed look. “No reason you can’t rest and do this tomorrow. Take some time, figure out how you’re going to broach it with her.”

  Okay, that made sense. Given how much her head hurt, she probably wasn’t firing on all cylinders. “Yes, Chief. That sounds good.”

  “Good.” He grinned. “Because you have no choice. We don’t interrogate on our days off.”

  Jess smiled back at him, and Ellie laughed. Even Mia looked to be fighting a smile.

  “Let’s go.” Her sister tugged on her elbow, and Jess let her sister steer her while the lieutenant and chief headed back into his office.

  Jess wasn’t ignorant that their relationship occasionally crossed into personal territory at work. No one could keep their boundaries that straight all the time and small towns had their own rules about basically everything.

  But she knew Conroy and Mia never played favorites with any officer over another. They all got a fair shake. And the two of them had plenty of people who kept them accountable—including members of the city council and the pastor of the church in town. The whole police department did that, too.