by Terri Reed
The food was good and filling. The stew was savory with spices that Leo couldn’t name but enjoyed. The meat was tender and the vegetables firm. “This is the best meal I’ve had in a long time, Harmon. Thank you. You’re a great cook.”
The older man snorted. “I don’t cook. Alicia made it before she left to take Charlie fishing this morning.”
“Then thank you, Alicia.” He grinned at her, impressed. “I appreciate your culinary talent.”
A blush heightened on the contours of her cheeks. “I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. That makes me happy.”
He was glad he could make her happy. The way she looked at him, as if trying to decide if he was telling the truth, had him wondering just what kind of man her late husband had been. Apparently not a stellar one if he was to believe her father.
“I aim to please,” he replied huskily as he held her gaze.
She blinked and tucked in her chin. “You don’t have a family of your own waiting for you at home?”
Not even close. Romantic entanglements weren’t part of his life plan. Too much responsibility. The risk of failure too high. “No.” Time to steer her in a different direction. “I understand you’re a teacher. That must take a lot of patience.”
Her mouth lifted at the corners. It was clear that his change in subject wasn’t lost on her. “I am. Or was. I’m taking some time off.”
“That’s understandable.” She’d lost her husband six months ago. Leo would imagine she was still in the grieving process. Charlie, too. Leo ached for them both.
True leaped to his feet with a growl.
Pulse jumping, Leo rose. The dog faced the door with his ears forward and tail raised, and bristled with tension. All signs that True detected a threat. Hand on his gun, Leo said to Alicia and Harmon, “Hide in the den.”
Going to the front door, Leo positioned himself to one side and cracked open the door to peer outside. He didn’t see a threat. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t one.
A whirring noise drew closer and louder with each second.
“What is that?” Alicia asked. She’d moved to stand behind her dad’s chair. Neither had done as he’d instructed. Frustration pounded at his temples.
Harmon’s brow furrowed. “Sounds like a swarm of bees.”
Leo clenched his jaw. “A drone.” Which meant the killer was on the property and attempting to get the lay of the land.
To True, Leo commanded, “Guard.” To Alicia, he said, “Get out of sight.”
A surge of adrenaline pumped through his veins as he hurried from the house to his vehicle. Leo popped open the back, where he kept his gear, and grabbed a set of NVGs—night-vision goggles. He searched the now-darkened sky.
The drone was high and coming from the southwest. No doubt the drone had a camera. Leo wouldn’t put it past the Dupree syndicate to have access to military-grade equipment. Anxiety twisted in his gut. Could the drone now flying over the Howard ranch be weaponized?
FIVE
Adrenaline surged through Leo, making his heart pound. He couldn’t take any chances that the small black four-rotor drone hovering over the Howard ranch house had been fitted with the ability to fire rockets or machine-gun rounds.
He needed to bring down the drone while it was high enough not to cause any damage to the house before anything bad happened to the Howard family.
From the back of his SUV, he grabbed his FBI-issued assault rifle. He set it to one-round bursts. Through the night-vision goggles, Leo sighted the rifle on the buzzing drone and moved his finger to the trigger.
The drone suddenly jerked sideways and dipped below the roofline before Leo could take the shot. Frustration ripped through his veins. Clearly whoever was piloting the drone had spotted him.
Inside the house, True’s frantic barking raised the hair on Leo’s arms. The drone had the dog spooked. With adrenaline flooding his system, Leo raced to the house and circled around to the back. The drone hung in the air, level with the kitchen window and the camera pointed inside the house. This close, Leo was thankful not to see any sort of weapon attached to the drone.
Shooting down the remote-controlled device this close to the house would be too risky in case there were hidden defensive explosives inside the casing. Leo put the rifle’s strap over his shoulder and lunged at the drone with both hands, hoping to manually incapacitate the thing. The flying object zipped sideways out of his reach before soaring away.
He tracked it with the NVGs until it disappeared. Anger simmered low in his gut. After removing the goggles, he reached for his phone and dialed the authorities.
“Settler’s Valley police department. What’s your emergency?” the dispatcher asked, her voice clipped and professional.
After identifying himself, Leo said, “I need to speak to Chief Jarrett.”
“I’ll put you through,” she said and the line went silent.
A minute passed before Jarrett answered. “Agent Gallagher, has something happened?” Concern darkened the man’s voice.
“We’re all fine.” Inside the house True peered back at him through the window. “A drone flew over the Howards’ home. It was a quad-copter with a camera on board and came from southwest of the ranch. These things have a range of thirty miles but if it was live-streaming, which I’m guessing it was because it used tactical maneuvers, the controller could be a lot closer.”
“I’ve got two deputies out that way now. I’ll have them scour the perimeter around the ranch.”
“Thank you, though I doubt they’ll find anything. The suspect knows I’m onto him. He’s not going to wait around to be apprehended.”
“Doesn’t hurt to have them make a sweep. And I can have officers go back out in daylight to see if they can find anything to lead us to the suspect.”
He scanned the inky shadows of the barn, the horse corral and beyond to the landscape. That would have to do. For now. He glanced back to the window looking for signs of Alicia and her father. “Any sightings on the muscle car?” Obviously, hiding out on the ranch wasn’t a permanent solution. They needed to find this guy before he hurt anyone else. Especially the lovely Alicia and her child and father. Leo wouldn’t let anything happen to the Howard family.
“None yet. If he headed into town, you’d think someone would have remembered a car like that.”
“Right.” Most of the vehicles Leo had seen driving around town were older pickups and tricked-out trucks and SUV types. Winters in this part of Wyoming could be brutal. “Let me know if your officers find anything.”
Leo hung up and trotted back to his vehicle. He replaced his tactical gear, then grabbed his overnight to-go bag, along with True’s supply bag and an extra clip of ammo for his holstered weapon. Glancing up at the night sky, he searched for signs of the drone. Seeing nothing, he closed his eyes to listen for the telltale hum of the unmanned aircraft, but heard only the nasally peent call of a nighthawk flying over the ranch.
The absence of horns or human life was eerie after having lived the past decade in the bustling metropolis of Billings. Leo had forgotten how peaceful the country could be and would have savored the tranquillity if it wasn’t for some madman out there determined to assassinate pretty Alicia Duncan.
Deciding he needed to be ready and have his rifle with him in case the drone returned, he hefted the weapon’s case from the back of the SUV and took it with him to the house, secure in the knowledge the biometric lock programmed to his fingerprint wouldn’t allow any curious minds to open the case.
He entered through the front door and set True’s bag and the rifle case on the floor, out of the way until he could take them to the guest room. All was quiet. True greeted him with a nudge of his nose. Leo scrubbed the dog behind the ears as he looked around for his hosts.
But Alicia and Harmon were not in the living room, dining
room or kitchen. Concern arced through him. Had the drone been a distraction to take him away from the family? No. True would never have allowed it. But the utter silence of the house after the chaos of the drone nearly wrecked him. Acid burned in his gut. “Alicia!”
Harmon’s den door opened. Alicia ran out carrying Charlie. Relief nearly buckled Leo’s knees. They had hidden as he’d asked. He braced his feet apart to keep from staggering forward to fold the pair in his arms. He didn’t want to contemplate why he had the urge to begin with. Harmon followed his daughter out of the room, carrying his shotgun.
The fear on Alicia’s face knotted Leo’s chest.
“Is it gone?” Her voice shook slightly.
“Yes. Chief Jarrett is sending officers in the direction it came from.” He adjusted his to-go bag on his shoulder. “The drone had a camera attached to its base. It was doing recon on the ranch.”
Alicia hugged Charlie closer. “Are we safe?”
“Yes.” He hated that she questioned his determination to protect them. “True will alert if there’s another threat,” Leo assured her. He needed her to trust him to do his job.
“Thank you.” In the pale depths of her blue eyes, he saw gratitude, sadness and a hint of desperation that tore at him.
“I’m hungry, Mommy,” Charlie said, drawing their attention.
“Okay, sweetie.” Alicia took Charlie to the dining table and set him on a chair. “I’ll warm you some mac and cheese.”
Leo turned to Harmon. “That spare room?”
“It’s upstairs,” he said. “Let me lock this up first.” The old man shuffled back into the den, returning a moment later. He paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked up, as if preparing himself.
“Dad, I’ll show Agent Gallagher to his room,” Alicia said as she secured Charlie in a seat at the table. “You can warm up some mac and cheese.”
Visibly relieved, Harmon walked slowly to the kitchen.
Leo raised an eyebrow at Alicia.
“Bad knees,” she whispered.
“Ah.” Leo nodded to Harmon and picked up his and True’s bags and the weapon case.
Alicia’s gaze dropped to the long hard-side case carrying his assault rifle, and then her eyes met his.
“It has a secure lock on it,” he assured her before she could protest. Though she seemed okay with her father’s shotgun, what Leo carried was far more deadly.
She pressed her lips together and nodded, then gave Charlie a quick hug as if assuring herself he’d be okay while she left the room.
Leo headed to the stairs with True at his heels. “You stay here, buddy,” Leo said to his canine. “Help guard Charlie.”
Alicia brushed past him, her scent swirling in the air and perking up his senses. He hesitated a moment to allow her to proceed to the second floor, careful to keep his gaze from tracing her alluring curves. No matter how pretty he thought Alicia was, he wasn’t here to indulge in an attraction. She was his to protect, nothing more.
“Agent Gallagher.”
Alicia’s soft voice stopped him on the upstairs landing. “Please, call me Leo. We’re going to be in close quarters for a while.”
She nodded but her eyebrows pinched together. “Leo. I appreciate what you’re doing for us.”
“Keeping you and your family safe is my job, Alicia.”
“And finding the man who wants your witness dead,” she pointed out.
“Yes, that, too.”
“I’ll pray that you find him.” Her words wrapped around him. The common bond of faith pleased him. He could use all the help he could get. And the more people praying the better.
“I will, too.”
The corners of her generous mouth curved upward. “Good to know.”
The power of her smile rocked him back on his heels. His chest tightened. She was appealing in a wholesome way that he found compelling. Temptation to open his heart flared white-hot, but he quickly tamped it down. Not going there.
He couldn’t let himself develop any sort of feelings for this woman. It wouldn’t be fair to her. Yet he could barely contain the yearning from arcing through him to discover if her lips were as soft as they looked, to learn if she was as nice as she seemed. He had to force his feet to move to follow her down the hall instead of turning tail and running away.
He didn’t do commitment. He didn’t do relationships. There was too much at stake to allow any sort of romance in his life. The sad fact was, he didn’t know how.
She pushed open the door to reveal a spacious guest room with a queen-size bed decorated with a multicolored quilt and several pillows. A dresser stood next to the window and an armchair was perched in the corner. A small cherrywood desk and chair stood beneath the curtained window.
Growing up, he’d never had a home like this. There’d been no guest room in his house. No guests, either. His dad had been abusive and his mom too busy ducking his fists to entertain. She barely had the wherewithal to care for her two children.
Alicia gestured to two closed doors. “There’s a walk-in closet and a bathroom. You’ll find towels under the sink.”
“This is nice. Thank you for your hospitality.” Leo set his bag on the bed. “Where do you sleep?”
Color raced up Alicia’s cheeks. “Charlie and I are at the other end of the hall.”
Close enough to protect them should the need arise. But as he stared into her pale blue eyes, he wondered if he would be the one needing protection from his burgeoning feelings for this woman by the time all was said and done.
* * *
“I’ll let you freshen up.” Mortified at the realization that she was blushing, Alicia slipped from the room before Leo could respond to the sleeping arrangements.
Instead of going downstairs, she hurried down the hall to her room, where she closed the door and leaned against the cool wood. She put her hands to her hot cheeks.
Why was she blushing? It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Agent Leo Gallagher, but the man was too handsome for words. And charming. So charming. She didn’t want to admit it but she found him extremely attractive. And kind and protective. Also good with Charlie. All wonderful traits.
But he scared her in ways she didn’t like.
She would not let herself form any attachment to the agent. She’d have to make sure to protect Charlie as well. The last thing either of them needed was another man to let them down. She’d had enough disappointment to last a lifetime. She wouldn’t subject herself or her son to more.
With that resolve firmly in place, she left her room and went downstairs. Charlie sat in his booster seat at the dining table, eating his mac and cheese while her father did the dishes. True sat next to Charlie’s chair.
The big dog turned his brown eyes toward her, his ears twitching and his tail thumping on the ground. Was he happy? She wasn’t sure how she felt about having a dog in the house and so close to Charlie. The only animals she’d had growing up were horses and cows.
She moved to the table, stepping around the dog, and ruffled Charlie’s hair. “Good job on your food.”
“I was hungry,” he said around a mouthful.
“No talking with food in your mouth,” she chided gently.
Something wet nudged her hand. True had scooted closer and pushed his nose into her. Tentatively, she patted the dog on the head. “Nice dog.”
“He hasn’t left Charlie’s side,” her dad observed as he draped a dish towel over his shoulder. He stood by the kitchen sink. The counters were spotless and the dishwasher loaded. She was thankful Dad didn’t mind cleaning. “It’s nice having a canine in the house. A good alarm system.”
There was a wistfulness in his tone that made her curious. “Why didn’t we ever have a dog?”
Sadness entered his gaze. “When your mom was a young girl she w
as attacked by a stray dog,” Dad said. “Ever since then she’d been afraid of dogs. It didn’t seem worth having one if it upset her.”
Love for her father filled her heart. Alicia had hoped her marriage would be like her parents’. The fact that her marriage hadn’t been, not by a long shot, left a raw, aching gash deep in her core. “I miss her.”
Dad swallowed hard. “Me, too, sweetheart.”
Leo came down the stairs, distracting her from her melancholy thoughts. He’d changed into comfortable-looking jeans that hugged his lean frame and a pullover sweatshirt with the team logo for the Kansas City Chiefs emblazoned on the front. “True and I are going to do a perimeter check.”
She liked how thorough he was. “Do you need a flashlight?”
“I’ve got one in the truck,” he replied. “Are there wild animals around here I should be concerned about?”
“We get the occasional elk or mule deer,” Dad informed him. “There have been sightings of mountain lions within Settler’s Valley, but we haven’t had one close to the house.”
“Good to know,” Leo muttered as his hand went to his hip as if searching for his sidearm. She wondered if it was concealed beneath the hem of his sweatshirt.
“I’ll go out with you,” Alicia said. “I need to check on the horses.” She looked at her father. “Can you give Charlie his bath?”
“Of course,” Dad replied evenly, though his gaze narrowed slightly.
Uncomfortable beneath the weight of his stare, her pulse jumped. There was no reason to feel self-conscious about the request. It wasn’t like she was hoping to get Leo alone in the barn for a romantic tryst. She had to feed the horses and she’d prefer to have the agent close by. That was all.
She grabbed a down vest to ward off the evening chill and headed out the front door. Leo whistled and True left Charlie’s side to follow Leo. The cool night air was refreshing on her face as she paused at the foot of the porch stairs. Leo strode to his SUV and returned a few minutes later with a high-powered flashlight. He’d clipped a leash on True’s collar.