Guardian

by Terri Reed

  “Is that wise?” Ian questioned.

  He met Max’s gaze through the computer screen. “Alicia was with me when you called. I told her about Jake’s abduction and the Duprees. She deserves to know why her and her family’s lives are in danger.”

  Max nodded. “Any sign of the perp?”

  “Not in the flesh but he’s out there.” Leo gave them the lowdown on the drone and his suspicion that the suspect was casing the ranch, looking for a weakness. A way to gain access to Alicia. He won’t find one, Leo silently pledged and sent up a quick prayer that the good Lord above would make sure he could keep that promise.

  “Is there any way to track the drone?” Max asked Dylan. “I assume the pilot of the unmanned aerial craft is using a wireless remote to operate it.”

  “Unfortunately, there’s not at this time, but soon something will be invented and released that will allow for remote tracking,” Dylan told him.

  “Which is no help in this situation,” Max grumbled.

  There was a knock on the bedroom door.

  “Excuse me, guys,” Leo said to the group on his laptop screen. He rose and opened the door. Alicia, holding Charlie on her hip, stood there. Instead of being irritated by the interruption, he was strangely pleased to see them even as concern rose. “Is everything okay?”

  Alicia’s gaze darted past Leo to the laptop and back again. “Yes...sorry. Charlie insists on saying good-night to you.”

  The boy launched himself into Leo’s arms. He smelled of the fresh clean children’s shampoo and bubble-gum toothpaste. Holding the boy close made Leo’s chest ache. Protectiveness blasted through him. He tightened his hold on the boy.

  The feel of Charlie’s tiny arms around his neck, the rapid beat of the child’s heart against his own and the scents of childhood were now imprinted on Leo’s mind. He’d remember this feeling for a long time to come.

  “You have good sleep,” he said to the child, his voice thick. “In the morning we’ll play I Spy.”

  Charlie nodded and yawned. “Okay. G’night, Agent Leo.”

  Heart melting, Leo gave the boy a squeeze then handed him back to his mother. Though he had to admit, he missed the unconditional love of a child. “Good night, kiddo.”

  Over Charlie’s head, Alicia’s soft gaze took Leo’s breath away. The trust and gratitude in her eyes scored him clean through. His gut twisted with alarm. He had to be careful not to allow himself to become attached to these two, or let Alicia believe there could be anything more than just a temporary job keeping them together.

  “Good night, Leo,” she murmured before slipping away with her son.

  Leo watched them disappear into a room at the other end of the hall before closing the door and turning back to the laptop screen to find the team watching him with varying degrees of amusement. He resumed his seat and hoped the heat creeping up his neck didn’t show.

  Ian whistled. “She’s pretty.”

  Harper playfully punched Ian in the arm. “Don’t be such a guy.”

  “Hey, I am, though.” Ian rubbed his arm with a grin.

  “The child is adorable,” Nina stated.

  “Did you see his eyes?” Julianne asked. “So blue.”

  “Like his mother’s,” Tim said. “We have to get this guy who’s threatening them.”

  “We will,” Leo vowed. Affection for these folks expanded within his chest. The team had become his family. The only family he needed.

  That he spent too many restless, sleepless nights alone was of no consequence. The price he had to pay for his failures.

  Max cleared his throat. “Leo, I trust you have the best interests of the witness and her family in mind at all times.”

  Leo straightened in his chair. A sudden rush of...not guilt, per se, but definitely something close, throbbed in his chest. There was no way Max could know the seeds of affection for Alicia and Charlie had burrowed deep within him. “Yes, sir. Always. What time should I expect to see you in the morning?”

  “We’ll leave at sunrise,” Max replied.

  “Okay, I’ll call the police chief and let him know to expect us at the station midmorning.”

  “Righto.” Max rose from his seat. “We’ll see you soon, Leo. Go home, everyone. Get some rest. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

  “Night, guys,” Leo said before ending the video chat.

  He placed the call to Chief Jarrett, letting the man know their plan for the morning. Leo then touched base with the forensic artist scheduled to arrive at the Settler’s Valley police station by midmorning. Once they got a composite of the man who’d dumped the woman in the river, they would have a better chance of capturing him and putting an end to the threat hovering over Alicia.

  And then Leo and the team could get on to the business of finding Jake. Leo prayed they wouldn’t be too late to save his comrade’s life.

  Too keyed up to sleep, he gathered his night-vision goggles and kept watch out the bedroom window. True, on the other hand, had no problem falling asleep. The dog lay on the floor at the foot of the bed atop a folded blanket.

  Ever since Jake had been abducted, Leo had had trouble resting. His mind kept replaying the events of that morning. The way the sunrise had broken over the horizon. The way Jake and his partner had had Leo’s and True’s backs. The hiss of the chemical gas filling the warehouse. Buddy’s yelp as a bullet grazed his hind end. The whomp-whomp of the helicopter taking off. Jake’s blood on the ground.

  True suddenly jumped to his feet, emitting a low growl deep in his throat.

  He searched the darkened night for whatever had spooked the dog. The moon shone high in the sky, its glow outlining the mountains in the distance. He searched the shadows for a threat. True let out a warning bark just as the faint strain of what sounded like a thousand hornets reached Leo’s ears.

  The drone was back.

  Quickly he removed his assault rifle from its case and hurried out of the house with True at his side. Wearing his night-vision goggles, Leo could make out movement in the sky. The drone was coming from the east.

  Hustling for the old Chevy truck to use as cover while he sighted the flying object through his scope, Leo vowed this time the unmanned aircraft was not going to escape.

  * * *

  Alicia lay on her bed surrounded by darkness, concentrating on calming her breathing. This day had not turned out as she’d expected. When she and Charlie had left for the river this morning, she’d wanted a nice relaxing time teaching her son to fish, and she’d hoped to be able to quell the growing restlessness she’d been feeling lately.

  Instead, she’d witnessed a horrific crime and now the lives of both her and her family were in danger. Nightmarish images of the killer haunted her. The moment the woman’s body hit the water looped through her mind like a scratch on a record. It took all her concentration to force herself to think of something else. Someone else.

  Agent Leo Gallagher.

  Charming and kind. Handsome and capable. Leo made her feel safe and cared for when she should be terrified. Like the mountain lions that roamed the Wyoming mountain range, the killer lurked, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. But she was confident Leo would protect them.

  She couldn’t deny her attraction to the tall and broad-shouldered FBI agent. She wasn’t immune to his appeal. He made her heart race. And the caring way he handled Charlie made her insides melt.

  But she was emotionally dead inside and had no intention of allowing any tender feelings to take root. Love had already led her down a perilous path to heartbreak, a place that was desolate and barren, to a pain she couldn’t describe.

  Better to keep her heart tucked away for eternity than to ever risk a repeat of that kind of hurt.

  After learning of her husband’s betrayals, she’d shut down, became numb. The only reason
she hadn’t shriveled up and turned to dust was because of Charlie. He needed her.

  She’d thought Jeff had needed her as well but she’d been wrong.

  So many years the fool.

  Never again.

  Her mind hummed with energy and her body vibrated with tension. She inhaled, filling her lungs, expanding her rib cage the way she’d been taught in her Pilates class, then slowly released her breath. The buzzing in her head intensified.

  She sat up abruptly. The swift realization that the noise wasn’t inside her skull but was outside the house trapped the air in her chest. For a moment she choked on fear.

  The drone was back.

  SEVEN

  Not wanting to take the time to set up a proper shot, Leo steadied his elbows on the edge of the Chevy truck bed and sighted down the barrel of his assault rifle. He waited for the drone to pause for a split second, and then he took the shot. His bullet struck the drone dead-center.

  The flying orb spun off course of its intended target. Several seconds later it exploded in a shower of sparks over the horse barn, lighting up the night sky like a Fourth of July peony firework. He didn’t feel vindicated knowing the drone had indeed been rigged with explosives. Or that the man remotely piloting the drone decided to blow the thing instead of letting it crash to the ground.

  But at least he’d kept the thing from reaching the Howard ranch house. He shuddered at the thought.

  If he’d been off target or late in shooting the thing down...

  Flames and debris rained down. Immediately, the dry timber of the wooden structure caught fire, and the flames licked at the roof, sending curling smoke heavenward, filling the air with a dusty haze.

  Alarmed by the sight of the blaze, he grabbed his cell phone from his pocket to call the fire department. True’s bark could barely be heard over the snapping and popping of the burning barn.

  The front porch light of the main house came on and he heard the door crash open. Alicia raced out wearing jeans, a hoodie sweatshirt and scuffed cowboy boots. Her dark hair cascaded over her shoulders. Adrenaline pumped through Leo as he dumped his rifle into the back bed of the old Chevy as she vaulted down the porch steps and ran toward the barn. He hurried to intercept her and snaked an arm around her waist, drawing her backward against his chest.

  With a terrified yelp, her arms and legs splayed, her elbow smacked him in the chin. Pain reverberated through his head. The heel of her boot connected with his knee. His leg wobbled.

  “Hey, hey. It’s me—Leo,” he rasped next to her ear.

  She stilled then craned her neck to look at him. He could see the panic in her eyes. “The horses!”

  He released her and thrust his cell phone into her hand. “Call 911. I’ll get the horses.”

  Without waiting for her to protest, Leo ran to the barn. He stopped long enough to give True the command to wait. Leo didn’t want the dog inside the burning building. True whined and barked.

  “No,” Leo said to the canine. “You stay.”

  The dog reluctantly sat but continued to bark, the pitch high with anxiety.

  Smoke billowed in acrid puffs from beneath the barn door. Leo drew his black T-shirt up over his nose and mouth. He slid the door open and hit a wall of heat that bit into the exposed skin on his arms. He crouched and hurried inside.

  Thankfully the fire was concentrated on the east wall and roof on the opposite side of the barn from the agitated horses, but that could change any moment if the stacks of hay bales caught a spark.

  Blinking to ease the sting in his eyes from the intense smoke now ballooning through the barn, a precursor to the inferno that was eating its way toward the horses, he grabbed a nylon lead hanging on the wall beside the first stall.

  “Come on, Stardust,” he said to the scared horse. She whinnied and flicked her mane. Her hooves pawed at the stall door.

  “Easy, now.” He reached for her.

  She shied away. Her wide eyes had a wild gleam to them, her nostrils flared and her heavy breaths came out in hot puffs.

  Frustration pounded at his temples as his heart battered his rib cage. He didn’t have time to train the horse to accept his touch. He needed to clip the lead onto the halter and get her out of the stall so he could rescue the other two horses.

  “Let me.” Soft hands took the nylon lead from his grasp.

  Leo jerked around to find Alicia had followed him into the burning structure. She’d pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head to cover her hair and had her nose and mouth tucked inside her collar so that only her eyes were visible in the dancing light of the flames.

  Fear for her safety ignited in his chest. “I’ve got this. You need to get out of here.”

  “We need to get the horses out of here,” she countered in a calm voice that surprised him. “The fire department is on the way. So is Chief Jarrett. Dad’s got Charlie.” She gripped his arm. “We’ll open the paddock doors and get the horses outside then get them to the pasture away from the fire.”

  Seeing the logic in her words, Leo swiftly moved to collect the two remaining leads dangling on hooks by the stall doors, while Alicia slipped inside Stardust’s stall and opened the back door to the paddock. Stardust ran for the fresh air.

  Leo went to Apple’s stall. The mare reared back. He held up a hand. “Whoa, girl. It’s okay.”

  Behind the horse, Alicia opened the paddock door. Her slender dark silhouette filled the door frame. Spooked, Apple didn’t turn and run the way Stardust had. Instead, she pushed toward the front of the stall, pawing at the inside door to get out. Leo blocked the mare, dodging a striking hoof. The only thing he could grab on to was Apple’s ear.

  For a brief second the horse stilled, allowing him to clip the lead in place. A loud whistle split the air. Apple’s head jerked toward Alicia.

  With a hand on Apple’s shoulder and a firm grip on the lead, Leo maneuvered the horse out of the stall, managing to get stepped on only once, and into the paddock.

  “Get them out of here,” he shouted to Alicia. He inhaled smoke and coughed. His lungs burned as he hurried out of Apple’s stall. He needed to get the final horse out. In the last stall, Brutus kicked at the door. This wouldn’t be easy. Leo did an about-face, raced back through Apple’s stall into the paddock and over to the door leading to Brutus’s stall. He yanked the door wide.

  The horse didn’t need encouragement. Brutus charged out, head down, ears back. Leo jumped to the side but wasn’t quick enough. The horse knocked into him, sending him flying.

  He slammed against the paddock railing and his head cracked against the wood. Stars danced before his eyes.

  Not stars.

  Sparks.

  Cinders.

  Flames engulfed the barn, consuming the structure.

  The shrill sound of sirens drew closer. Help arriving. It would be too late for the barn. But the firefighters would keep the blaze from jumping to the house.

  Soft hands tugged at Leo. “Come on—you have to get up.”

  He staggered to his feet. True’s panicked barking echoed inside his head. Gripping Alicia’s arm, he urged her to move. His lungs were seared from the inside but he ignored the pain—his focus was on getting Alicia and the horses to safety.

  The freaked-out animals ran in jagged paths around the paddock, looking for an escape. Dodging a frantic Brutus, the two of them made it to the back paddock gate that led to the pasture. He quickly unhooked the steel latch and pushed open the gate. Alicia whistled again, a sharp long blast that brought the horses’ attention to her.

  “Out!” she yelled. Brutus didn’t hesitate. The horse bolted into the pasture, disappearing into the muted shadows of the landscape.

  Stardust followed him. Apple ran back toward the barn as if seeking safety in her stall. Alicia whistled again and wave
d her arms, cutting her off.

  Leo vaulted forward and snatched the lead that hung from Apple’s halter and tugged her toward the open pasture gate. Once the mare made it safely into the pasture, he closed the gate, then turned to watch the barn collapse in an array of burning embers, dancing flames and coiling gray smoke.

  “That was a huge explosion,” Alicia gasped. “Did your bullet hitting the battery on the drone cause it to blow up?”

  “No, lithium ion batteries don’t do that,” he told her grimly.

  “Then why did it explode so spectacularly?”

  He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “That thing was rigged with some type of explosive, either on a timer or triggered manually. Though I’m leaning more toward the latter.”

  He heard her breath hitch.

  “You mean the house was the target?”

  He kept silent, unwilling to voice his speculation.

  “To silence me.”

  “I’m sorry about your barn.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she countered. “We saved the horses. They are all that matters. Everything else can be replaced.”

  He appreciated her pragmatic attitude. “I promised to keep you safe and I nearly failed. If not for True alerting me when he did...”

  She slipped her hand into his. Her fingers were slender and strong as they wrapped around his. “You did save us. And praise God for that. If you hadn’t shot down the drone, the house would be on fire.” She squeezed his hand and looked up at him. The glow of the fire reflected in her eyes. What he saw there made his insides clench. “There’s no telling if we’d have made it out alive.”

  She was looking at him like he was her hero. He wasn’t anyone’s hero. Could never be a hero. Not the way she’d deserve. He wasn’t a man to pin one’s hopes on. He did his job then moved on to the next job. Getting emotionally involved on an assignment wasn’t smart or practical.

  He flexed his fingers, forcing her to release his hand. “Come on. We need to let everyone know we’re okay.”

  Putting his hand to her lower back, he guided her around the burning barn. Harmon stood on the porch of the house with Charlie in his arms. True paced the length of the porch. Leo was thankful to see the dog safe and unharmed. A fire engine with hoses blasting a steady stream of water sat in the driveway. Men in turnout gear rushed forward to escort them out of the way.