Seized by the Lawman

by Rhonda Lee Carver

  Chapter 22

  MELLY FOLLOWED THE path from the house to the stables. Two days had gone by since she spoke with Nix and her father. She needed time to get over the hurt, but eventually she’d forgive her father, but Nix…well, she wasn’t sure what would happen. His betrayal had hurt her the most. They’d shared in many conversations, she’d told him how trust wasn’t easy, how her dad had controlled her life, and yet he hadn’t come clean. A part of her understood he’d been placed in a difficult position, but he’d had ample opportunity to tell her the that her father only had six months, or less, to live.

  Tears filled her eyes. She loved her father, and what would she do when he was gone?

  Stepping into the open door, she called out, “Randy?”

  He didn’t answer.

  The space was dimly lit and it appeared empty. The horses in the stalls were grunting and clawing at the dirt. “What’s wrong, Jewels?” Melly thought the mare seemed unusually apprehensive. A storm was brewing, but normally the horse didn’t behave like this. Curious, Melly carefully rounded the stall and stopped dead. Randy was sprawled on the floor with blood on his temple. She raced to his side, dropped to her knees, and gave him a shake. “Randy? Are you okay?” He didn’t move. She checked for his pulse and was relieved to find that he had one. Reaching for her phone, she started to call 9-1-1…

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  Hearing the soft female voice behind her, Melly looked up into the barrel of a gun. The woman took a step forward, and although her appearance had changed, Melly recognized Claire. Her hair was black and straight and she wore all black. She motioned for Melly to stand. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m sorry. I really am, but I have to do this.” Claire’s shaking voice spoke volumes about the woman’s inner turmoil.

  “Why?” Melly needed to know.

  “Get your hands up so I can see them,” Claire demanded.

  Lifting her hands halfway, Melly knew she needed to keep her talking. “I don’t understand.”

  “You’re not an idiot. You know good and well why. I’m sure by now your man has filled you in.” The woman looked like she hadn’t slept in days. “Spider was the first person to ever love me, really love me, and you and Nix took that away from me. I don’t have anything left.”

  “Claire…Spider did this to himself. He made bad choices that led him down this path. Don’t let his bad choices ruin you like it did him. I understand you must have loved him, but he’s gone.”

  “He was wrongly charged. He wanted a different life. He planned on marrying me and now I’m alone again.” The gun shook.

  “Why are you doing this?” Melly attempted to keep her voice from shaking. “It’s over.”

  “No. I promised him that if things went sour I would see that he got what he wanted. Revenge against Nix.”

  “You don’t have to do this, Claire. You’re not like this. I know you. My father knows you.” Melly hoped to talk some sense into the woman. “Please let me call for help for Randy. He looks like he has a bad gash on his head and cheek.”

  “He’ll be fine. But you and me, we’re going to take a road trip.” Claire waved the gun, motioning for Melly to pass through the door to the outside.

  The last thing she wanted was to leave the ranch. Her chances of survival would drop drastically once she left with Claire. But what choice did she have? No doubt the disgruntled woman was hurt enough to seek her own justice. “Where are we going?”

  “Shut up. Just follow my directions. Now start walking.” Claire gave Melly a hard push.

  Claire forced her behind the wheel of the Lexus and Claire took the passenger seat, still holding the gun aimed directly at Melly’s head.

  “Drive,” Claire mumbled.

  “I need to know where I’m driving to.”

  “You’ll know when we get there.”

  ~~~**~~~

  Nix was sitting at his desk staring at the screen of his computer. Claire had left a trail of debit purchases all the way into Virginia. From what it appeared, she’d left town, but it didn’t settle well with him. Although he wouldn’t stop searching for her. She deserved to pay too.

  He pulled up a picture of Melly and sweat beaded his forehead.

  He wished he could speak to her, but she’d thwarted all his attempts to contact her. She’d even made Riddle, who had been watching the house, leave. She disabled the new cameras, and Nix knew she did that to keep him from watching.

  His phone rang. “Cade here.”

  “Hey, Nix. It’s Hope. Is Melly okay?” Something urgent in her tone made the hair on Nix’s nape stand.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I’m sitting on the road just outside of Shy Brooke. I was coming to see Randy and, I saw her car. It’s sitting alongside the ditch. There’s no one inside, but one door is open. I thought it was odd.”

  Nix was on the move before he finished the call with Hope. It took him a record breaking ten minutes to reach Shy Brooke by taking the back road and curves like a racecar driver. Just as Hope had said, the Lexus was sitting in the grass and the passenger door was wide open, but he found no clues.

  His phone rang from his pocket and he reached for it, hoping it was Melly, but instead his screen read “unknown number”. “Cade here,” he said into the speaker.

  “Come to the junkyard on Trego. Come alone or she’s dead.” The phone clicked off.

  Nix recognized Claire’s voice. Racing to his truck, he jumped in and was off before he even had his door shut. By the time he reached the location, he was infuriated. Stopping at the end of the gravel drive, he made a quick inspection of the area. Parking in front of the shack that had a crooked swinging sign that read, “Office” he saw Claire’s Honda. Taking in as much of the scene as he could as he moved, he pulled his gun from his waist and headed to the empty vehicle. The driver’s side door was open. Without touching anything, he leaned in and looked around. On the passenger side floor he found Melly’s keys and a shirt smudged with blood. The backseat had clothes strewn out all over the seat as if someone had been living in the car.

  Taking a step away from the Honda, Nix clenched his teeth. He hoped that wasn’t Melly’s blood he found inside.

  Knowing exactly what Claire wanted, he hoped he could convince her to let Melly go and take him instead.

  Either way, he would do his best to end this peacefully, but when it came to Melly and his child, he had no patience. He’d do what he had to for the people he loved.

  Stopping at the door into the office, he listened but heard nothing. The one room building was empty.

  His gut ached. He prayed Claire came to her senses and didn’t hurt Melly.

  No one fucked with his family.

  “I’m glad you made it alone.” The voice rang out over the speaker of a radio sitting on the floor of the office. It was Claire. Nix swore vehemently.

  He picked it up and pushed the button. “Yeah, I’m here. Now what?”

  “Oh, I’ll tell you. Be patient. But in the meantime, I want you to look around you. This was where Spider had been staying, so close to you, and you had no clue.”

  “I always said trash had its place,” Nix grumbled.

  “Behave yourself, Nix. I have something very precious. One wrong move and I’ll do to her what you did to my man.”

  “She has nothing to do with this, Claire. I put Spider away and I was the one who shot him. I’ll take her place.”

  There was a long hesitation and then she came back on the radio. “You’d like that wouldn’t you?” There was humor in her tone. “That would be too easy.”

  “Go on,” Nix encouraged. All the while he was looking closely at the area around him. Every hiding spot. Every piece of junk car. He had a feeling she was close.

  “You took him from me. An eye for an eye. Isn’t that how you believe, Nix?”

  “No, it’s not, Claire. I had no choice but to shoot him. He had a knife on Melly. Is she hurt? I saw blood…” Hi
s throat ached with each word.

  “She’s fine. Her wound is seeping, but she’ll live…maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. Just don’t try anything foolish.”

  As each second passed, Nix’s respect for the woman’s ruthlessness grew. There was no match for a scorned woman. “You’re not like Spider, Claire. He manipulated you into believing that he loved you, but he planned to leave you. He had a plane ticket—just one ticket.”

  “That’s not true. We were going to get married.”

  “He was on his way to Mexico. I bet you heard a different story and had no clue that he planned to disappear. He had a fake ID. Everything he needed to start over.” He hoped he could talk her down.

  “You’re lying,” she clipped.

  “I wouldn’t. You’re not so deep in that you can’t get out of this. So what that you broke into my desk and computer and sent an email. No one was hurt. And you haven’t hurt Melly. You can put the gun down and walk away. It’s not too late. Let me help you.”

  Another long hesitation. “Don’t play with my head, Nix. If I walk out, you’ll take me to jail. Spider told me I’m not the kind to last behind bars.”

  His blood boiled. He understood two things. She was a lunatic and didn’t plan to walk away. He wasn’t sure talking would work so he started moving, slowly and deliberately. “Then why am I here?” He came upon a stack of crushed cars. He took refuge against the heap.

  “All my life I had done right, but every time I turned around I was getting stepped on. My ex-husband couldn’t take a trip with me and yet he had time to fuck the college intern. You know how hard it is to have someone you love treat you like yesterday’s trash? No, I’m sure you wouldn’t. You’ve never had anyone who saw right past you even when you were standing directly in front of them.”

  “Claire, we’ve all been there.” He slipped around the metal, keeping his back positioned against the wall. Large storage containers were placed two rows deep around the property. This only made things more difficult. Would Claire keep Melly in one of the units?

  “No, we haven’t. You have no idea what it’s like to lose someone, but it does seem like you comprehend the amazement of finding someone—someone who understands you even on your worst days. I had that with Spider. I really did. He was all I had, but you couldn’t just let things go.” Her voice was monochrome.

  “What I understand is that you’re hurt, but you’re a smart woman. You knew I wouldn’t let Spider get by with his threats. So how about you do the right thing and let Melly go. She hasn’t done anything to you or Spider. She’s the true victim here.” Making his way silently between two containers, Nix paused. He heard a noise, it was so low that he almost thought he’d imagined it. Hunkering down, he moved like a hunter targeting its prey.

  “I’m done talking.” The radio went eerily dead.

  “Claire? Don’t leave me hanging. We can talk about this.”

  He received silence in response. “Shit!” He shoved the device into his back pocket. He inched across the hot cement. A nearby trash can stunk so badly that it made his stomach rumble. The loose rock scraped his skin as he crawled, but he couldn’t feel anything because his adrenaline was so high. Once he reached the end of the container, he stood. He wasn’t sure what he expected to see around the corner, but it wasn’t the fat, black fur ball that jumped out of nowhere and sped across the lot. Nix’s heart thumped hard against his ribcage and it took him a good, long moment to focus again. Damn, he was a trained lawman who’d faced gunman in the military and in his career, and a scrawny cat almost took him out. He gave his head a jerk and positioned his gun.

  Nix was starting to realize that things weren’t going to go easy. Claire was in a resistant state of mind. As much as he wanted things to go smoothly with no one hurt, his top priority was saving Melly and their baby.

  Chapter 23

  MELLY LOOKED DOWN at the white bandage now red with her blood. Her wound was oozing, but at least it had stopped bleeding some. She jerked her arms against the rope binding her wrists and shifted in the rickety old chair. The binding was too tight and there was no way she’d get it off so her best bet was breaking the wood of the chair to at least try and get away.

  Scanning the camper, she searched for something—anything—that might help her. The small confinement was a mess. Melly guessed Claire had gone apeshit when she heard about Spider getting shot and ransacked the place. The smell was so overwhelming that Melly thought she would vomit.

  Melly had tried to talk the woman out of this craziness, but she’d been hell bent on making Nix—anyone really—pay for Spider’s death.

  Well, the one thing Claire didn’t include in her plans was the fact that Melly was the daughter of a lawman who’d taught her to never give up, even when things seemed bleak. So, that’s what she planned to do. No way in hell would she go down without a fight.

  It took her three tries and she was finally able to stand, but clumsily because the chair was strapped to her. Wobbly and awkwardly, she took the three steps to the table and with a force hindered by the rope, she struck the chair against the edge of the Formica. She heard splintering, but the wood stayed intact. This time she pulled the chair back as far as the limited space would allow and hit the chair again. One leg went flying and the other zoomed past her head. At least she was getting somewhere…

  Third time was the charm. The wood fractured into pieces and Melly was free enough that she could move inside the camper, dragging splintered wood with her. There had to be something she could use to help her cut the rope at her wrists.

  Using her feet to push around the contents, she finally found something that might work. An open can that had the jagged lid sticking up. Perfect.

  Lowering to her bottom, which was far from easy with pieces of the chair still stuck in the rope, she moved the can in a position that worked in her favor. Putting her wrists above the lid, she made a slicing movement, missed the rope and caught her skin. She flinched in pain but was determined to make this work. She didn’t know how much time she had until Claire would go completely batshit. Melly guessed by now the woman had called Nix.

  Another slicing of her hands and she felt the rope give way some. Not sure how many minutes had passed, she hadn’t gotten too far and sweat beaded her forehead and she felt dehydrated. The camper was sweltering. Although her shoulders were cramping and her wrists were aching, not to mention the wound on her arm was bleeding again, she couldn’t quit. Claire would be back and if she found Melly like this, it was hard telling what would happen. Melly knew the quickest way to get revenge on Nix would be to kill her, and because she loved Nix and her baby, she refused to go down like that.

  After several more minutes, she felt the rope fray, loosen, and then her wrists were free.

  “Thank God!” She hurried to a standing position and, because her body was weak, she wobbled and caught herself against the counter. Bending over the small sink, she turned on the faucet and drank thirstily. She knew time was wasting and stepped to the door, not surprised that Claire had locked it from the outside.

  Melly flittered from window to window, which didn’t take much time considering there were only four, and finally the last one was the only one that didn’t have the knob broken off. It would be a tight fit, but Melly believed she could squirm through the opening if she pushed out the glass. There wasn’t anything in the camper heavy enough to help. Climbing up on the twin bed, she gave the frame a good kick and the glass cracked. Another good kick worked to her advantage and the entire dry rotted frame fell out.

  The second her boots hit the dirt outside of the camper, she felt cool metal against the back of her head. Her heart dropped to her ankles.

  “Did you think it would be this easy to escape?” Claire asked. “Now lift those hands.”

  Hesitantly, Melly did as the woman demanded. There was one thing left that could be done, but Melly knew she had to bide her time. Slowly, she turned to face Claire. “It’s not too late, Claire. Spider manipulat
ed you and now he’s gone. Tomorrow is a new day.”

  Her eyes turned cold and she didn’t even look like the same woman who’d feared her own shadow. “Stop talking.”

  At that moment a cat scurried over and startled Claire just long enough for Melly to reach into her pocket and pull out the pink vestibule. She pressed the trigger.

  Thank God she’d gotten into the habit of carrying around the mace.

  ~~~**~~~

  Nix heard the gun shot and his lungs deflated. There was no time to waste. He rushed through the maze of crushed cars toward where he believed the shot rang out. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of movement. He spun on his heels and fifty feet away he spotted Melly. She was alive. Relief spread through him, but didn’t last long. Claire was right behind, one side of her face red and her eyes oozing, with her gun pointed at Melly’s head.

  “Good thing I’m a better shot with a gun than she is with mace,” Claire said.

  Nix lifted his gun. “We both know I’m a better shot.”

  Claire grabbed Melly by the hair and dragged her to use as a shield. “Sure, but you wouldn’t risk hurting her and the baby. Would you?”

  He swallowed through the constriction of his throat. He searched Melly’s pale features, then dropped his gaze over her to visually examine her body for injuries. The bandage on her knife wound was covered in blood and it dripped down her forearm and off her wrist. One wrist was bleeding from a cut, but none were life threatening. The biggest danger was the gun pressed against her head. He calculated the best odds of shooting Claire without her gun going off, but no matter how he premeditated the act, it always came down to the muscle in her finger jerking and pulling the trigger once she was shot. His only chance was to watch and wait. She’d screw up, and when she did, he’d do what he had to do to save Melly.

  “Listen, Claire. Let Melly go and I’ll put my gun down. You can take me. I’m the one you’re angry with. You’re not the type to kill a baby, and if you shoot Melly, they’ll both die.”