Lone Star Christmas Rescue

by Margaret Daley

He scanned for Kay. When he spotted her twenty yards away near the police captain, the light from the back deck illuminated her face. For a few seconds, he thought she’d gone into shock. Even from a distance, he could see she was trembling, and the normal rosy hue was gone from her cheeks.

  He strode toward Kay and Brad, who ended a radio call as he approached. “What happened in the field?”

  Brad frowned. “Once the gun went off, my guys knew where the suspect was and cornered him. He wouldn’t surrender. He kept firing.”

  Drake wasn’t surprised he was the first to arrive. Growing up, he and Brad had lived on neighboring ranches and had done everything together. His position at the police department had made Drake’s transition to his new post in Cactus Grove even easier. “I think Dad and the others are in the bomb shelter.” He and Drake used to play in the shelter until one day when the door became stuck and they couldn’t get out. Hearing their pounding and screams, his father had found them an hour later.

  “I’ll be with you in a moment. I want my men to check the house thoroughly and the grounds around it. I don’t want any more surprises.”

  “Neither do I. I thought I was a goner when I heard the shot, but then I saw the assailant hit.” When he heard Kay suck in a deep breath, he didn’t say he’d thought the guy in the field would fire again and he had been looking for a place to protect himself. As Brad walked away, Drake took her hand. “I’m fine, and I’m sure Dad had everyone hide in the bomb shelter. It fit the message in his handwriting on his mirror. Mom referred to it as her place of peace ever since she and Dad hid in it during a tornado. Lots of damage to the ranch, but they were all right. Let’s go tell them it’s safe now.”

  “Is it?” Kay asked, her voice quavering.

  He slowed and faced her. “For the moment.”

  “I can’t put your family at risk anymore.”

  “With all the law enforcement officers crawling around, anyone who stuck around is a fool. We have options. We’ll talk later.” He wanted to give her hope, but he felt he was navigating a maze blind. “I’m not backing out because of this. We have a few leads to work on, and today you remembered more.”

  “I’m not sure it’s the same person, but the guy behind the barn fit the build of the second hiker in the canyon.”

  “I wondered if one of the two men had also been in the park. I intend to press the assailant we have in jail. He won’t know that man was murdered by his partner.” Drake started forward again. “No doubt Dallas heard the gunshots and is wondering what happened.”

  Kay’s gaze connected with his. “I can’t wait to hold Kaleb again.”

  When Drake pulled on the handle a half minute later, he couldn’t lift the heavy door of the bomb shelter. It was locked from the inside, which meant his family was down there. He pounded on the metal door. “Dallas, it’s Drake. It’s all clear.”

  The sound of a latch sliding back sent relief through Drake, overriding the throbbing in his arm. He’d been ninety percent sure that was where they were, but it was so much better knowing for sure.

  Dallas popped up from the hole, took one look at Kay and immediately said, “Kaleb and everyone are fine. Thanks to Tom’s quick thinking and actions.”

  Drake and Kay moved away from the opening to allow everyone to climb out of the shelter. Tears ran down her face. But when Anna appeared holding Kaleb, a huge smile graced Kay’s mouth.

  She took her baby from Drake’s cousin and enveloped the child in her embrace. “Thank you all for protecting Kaleb.” More tears flowed from her eyes as she pressed her baby against her chest.

  His dad surveyed the ranch, his attention lingering on all the police vehicles still there. “We heard the shooting. What happened here?”

  “That’s what I want to know from you,” Drake said and began walking toward the house. “But I’d feel better going into the house, where we aren’t sitting ducks.”

  “Me, too.” Kay accompanied Drake, increasing her stride to keep up.

  “You’ll get no argument from me.” Frank passed Drake and entered the kitchen first.

  A few minutes later all of them, except Anna, sat in the den with every drape pulled shut. Brad and the sheriff would join them later. Kay gave Kaleb a bottle and held him while he drank. No one said anything until Anna finally came into the room with a tray of mugs, filled with coffee.

  After she handed out the drinks and took a lounge chair, Drake finally asked the question he’d wanted answered a while ago. “What happened here?”

  Dallas took a sip of his coffee. “When we returned from the barn, your dad was the first into the house. He shot an intruder in Kay’s bedroom. The assailant returned fire and fled down the hall to your dad’s room. He escaped out the door onto the back deck.”

  Drake’s father put his mug on a coaster. “And it looked like he was calling or radioing someone as he fled. That’s when we put into motion the plan Dallas came up with right after you two left, in case the place was attacked. Taking the car wasn’t an option, because most likely whoever came with the intruder had an eye on the way out of the ranch, possibly even set up an ambush. We retreated to the bomb shelter. We took the playpen for Kaleb. We didn’t know how long we would be down there.”

  “I tried to call the police while the men snatched what we would need with Kaleb.” Anna shook her head. “The line was dead. How did you get the police here?”

  “The sat phone I took with me. Thankfully, it worked. There were areas in the canyon where it didn’t.” Drake looked at Kay, who cradled Kaleb against her and held the bottle for him as he nodded off. The sight stirred his heart, and he realized in a short time she had become important to him, as had the baby. “I’m glad someone can go to sleep. How did the assailants know Kay and Kaleb were here? It’s not like we’ve ever used our home as a safe house before.”

  Frank and his dad shook their heads while Dallas said, “Don’t know for sure, but if someone was desperate enough, he would check all possibilities out, and you were working the case.”

  “Who trashed the bedroom Kay and Kaleb are staying in?” Drake asked the group while his gaze strayed again to Kay. She set the empty bottle on the end table, then finally relaxed back against the couch cushion, but tension still held her expression, her lips pinched together, her jaw set in a firm line.

  “It wasn’t us, but the guy I shot.” Frank rubbed his nape. “He must have been looking for something.”

  “What? I only had the clothes I had on when I was in the canyon.” She straightened forward, jostling Kaleb enough that he fussed for a few seconds before settling back into sleep.

  “What about the backpack we found today?” Drake hated the fact he couldn’t end this nightmare for Kay and Kaleb.

  “Y’all found some of Kay’s belongings?” Dallas stood. “Where are they? Maybe something is in there that they wanted.”

  “It’s in the back of my SUV halfway down the gravel road.”

  “I’ll get it. I need to talk with the sheriff.” Dallas left the den.

  “The only things in the backpack are for Kaleb—clothes to a few toys. In fact, Mr. Teddy is one of the toys. I think it’s one of Kaleb’s favorites.” Kay sipped her coffee. “Maybe the intruder was angry because no one was in the house and trashed the bedroom.”

  Drake locked gazes with her. “We’ll figure it out.”

  “I hope so. I’m remembering bits and pieces, but I still don’t know who I am or why this is happening to me.”

  Brad poked his head through the doorway. “Can I have a word with you, Drake?”

  “Sure.” He rose. His gut roiled with an uneasy feeling. Brad wore his neutral expression, the one he used when he had grave information.

  Out in the hallway, Drake moved Brad away from the entrance into the den. Whatever he had to tell him, he didn’t want the others to overhear it. Kay was putting up a brave front, but Drake was worried about her. Just inside the kitchen, he pivoted. “Spill it.”

  “The suspect who
hasn’t been talking to us was found dead in his cell tonight.”

  NINE

  Sitting in the den with Drake’s family, Kay tried to push away the feelings that had bombarded her during the past hour. She couldn’t. They had a stranglehold on her, intent on choking off her resolution to discover how and why she and Kaleb had ended up in Big Bend National Park. They threatened to cripple her ability to fight for her real life back. For a few moments while bullets had struck the brick nearby, she’d wanted to surrender. Maybe then she would find answers to the blank slate of memories in her mind.

  What if every image or memory she’d thought was real wasn’t? Kaleb’s name? Childhood remembrances? But when she said she could shoot a gun, she’d been right. She’d wounded an intruder. The numbness she’d encased the incident in suddenly fell away, and whatever led her to this point vanished.

  Chilled, with tremors rippling down her body, she clasped her hands together to keep the others from seeing her fall apart. Kay glanced at Kaleb, now in Anna’s arms, and shot to her feet. “Excuse me.”

  Before they could ask what was wrong, she fled the room, seeking the bathroom. But instead, she came to halt as the captain left the kitchen and passed her in the hallway. She nodded at him, then glanced toward Drake in the doorway. He was assessing her.

  He knew what she was feeling. She saw it in his eyes. She couldn’t move, as though a blizzard had flash frozen her.

  He covered the space between them and took one of her trembling hands, then drew her toward the kitchen. The compassion in his expression urged her forward, as if he’d offer her a haven from all that had happened in less than a week.

  Exhaustion prodded her toward the table. She sat. Drake pulled out the chair next to her and eased down onto it.

  “It must be bad if you’re talking to me alone in here. What did the captain want?” Kay leaned back, trying to relax her tensed muscles. She couldn’t.

  Drake covered her hand near him. “The man in jail was found dead tonight in his cell.”

  “Someone killed him? How?”

  “There are no visible signs, but Brad thinks he might have been poisoned. He’ll know for sure after the autopsy.”

  “So he doesn’t think it’s from natural causes?”

  Drake shook his head. “As to the how he got hold of a poison in jail, not sure. What the poison is might help us answer that question. Some cause death quickly while others don’t.”

  “Do you think he was poisoned to keep him quiet?”

  “That’s the most likely answer to why.”

  “Just like the assailant in the field earlier killed his partner. We don’t have any leads to follow.” Kay dropped her head and closed her eyes, trying to digest the latest news and its implication. What in the world was she in the middle of? She willed herself to remember—anything that would help them—but nothing came to her.

  “You and Kaleb can’t stay here.”

  She lifted her head, disappointment warring with anger. “I certainly understand. You can’t put your family in danger. I appreciate what you’ve done for us. Will one of the deputy sheriffs drive Kaleb and me into Cactus Grove?”

  Drake’s eyebrows slashed downward. “Why do you want to do that?”

  “You said we shouldn’t stay here.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere without me. I made a promise to you—and Kaleb. You are not alone in this. What kind of person would I be if I kicked you out of my house at a time like this? I could never live with myself if something happened to you. I thought you knew me well enough to know that.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “But this isn’t your problem. Tonight your family was put in danger because of me. I don’t have a right to ask that of you.” A tear track ran down her face.

  Drake scooted his chair over until his left side pressed against her, then he encircled her in his embrace and drew her toward him. “We’re in this together. And I’m not going to tell you that again. Just believe it. I’m not walking away from you or Kaleb.”

  “But your dad, Anna—”

  He laid his fingers over her mouth. “Two deputy sheriffs are staying outside on guard tonight, then tomorrow we’re leaving. Dallas has a place we can go where we should be safe. He’ll be staying, too, until we get to the bottom of this.”

  “I… I…can’t let—”

  Drake cupped her face and covered her mouth with his. His gentle kiss drove all thoughts from her mind. All her focus narrowed to the feel of his lips on hers. Coaxing. Persuading her to give in to the feelings she’d held in check ever since she opened her eyes and looked up into his in the park.

  When he leaned back, breaking their connection, bereavement swept through her. For one brief moment, she’d forgotten all her worries. Now they returned in full force.

  He brushed his fingers along her cheek, hooking stray strands of hair behind her ear. “My family will be all right. They’ve decided to visit my grandparents in the Florida Panhandle, and if they have to, they’ll stay for Christmas. They’re leaving tomorrow at the same time we do.”

  “But what are you going to do about the holidays with your family?”

  “If this hasn’t been solved by then, we’ll celebrate some other time. It won’t be the first Christmas I missed with my family. Besides, the twenty-fifth is a couple of weeks away.” He cocked a grin. “But I don’t plan for this to go on that long.”

  Dallas and Frank came into the kitchen and headed for the rear door.

  “Where are y’all going?” Drake asked, reclining in his chair.

  Dallas paused at the exit. “Kaleb will need his playpen. We left some other items in the bomb shelter, too. We decided we’ll all camp out in the den for the night.”

  “You know, safety in numbers.” A smile flittered across Frank’s face, but it waned quickly.

  When the door closed behind the two men, Kay drew in a composing breath and centered her thoughts on the positive. Negative thinking would only drag her down. God was in control. He wouldn’t give her more than she could handle. She did have help. She wasn’t alone in dealing with the assailants. Thank You, Lord, for sending Drake.

  *

  As the sun kissed the western horizon the next afternoon, Drake held up his binoculars and scanned the flat desert terrain surrounding the cabin where he, Kay, Kaleb and Dallas would stay. One of Dallas’s distant cousins owned the cabin and wasn’t using it right now. To be on the safe side, Dallas had taken the long way to their new refuge. The immediate land around it was flat, with few places someone could hide. To the west about four hundred yards away were low, gently rolling hills. The only other building on the property was a detached shed where they had stashed his SUV.

  The sat phone worked here, so they had a way to call for help if they needed it. No one knew where they were, not even the police in Cactus Grove. He’d arranged for Texas Ranger Ian Pierce in the El Paso office to gather information about the progress of the case; when Drake called in, Ian would update him so they could continue trying to figure out what was going on.

  The sound of the door opening behind him caused him to turn in that direction. Dallas exited the cabin to begin his four-hour shift standing guard.

  Drake swept the landscape one last time before going inside, passing the high-powered binoculars to Dallas. “Boy, time flies when you’re having such a good time.”

  Dallas chuckled. “Essentially this is a stakeout, and that’s always been my least favorite part of our job.”

  “Me, too. I did a walk around about fifteen minutes ago,” he said, then went into the cabin through the only door.

  Drake hadn’t realized how cold it was outside because of the wind that blew in from the northwest until he shut the door and the toasty warmth of the interior enticed him toward the blaze going in a large fireplace. A mouthwatering scent hung in the air. Dinner? On the way to the cabin, Dallas had gone inside a convenience store and bought supplies from a list they had all contributed to.

  Slowly Drak
e turned in a circle. Where were Kay and Kaleb? He hadn’t realized how much he’d been looking forward to seeing her until he found the main area empty. He’d made it a point never to become emotionally involved with a case, but somehow in the past several days, he had. Last night during the shootout, he’d realized he couldn’t dismiss his feelings any longer, which was a big problem for him.

  The only thing he should be concerned about was protecting her and Kaleb. Nothing should be allowed to divert his attention. But all she had to do was smile at him and something shifted deep inside him, making a mockery of his decision only to concentrate on his job. A noise to his right drew him around to face Kay emerging from the only bedroom in the small cabin.

  She quietly shut the door and grinned at him. “Kaleb is finally taking a nap. He fought it for hours. Too much going on, but exhaustion won out in the end. Would you like me to fix more coffee? Dallas finished the last bit left in the pot.”

  “Yes, that would be perfect. Something smells great. Dinner?”

  “Chili seems to be a dish I know how to make, but I have no idea where my recipe came from.” Frustration laced her voice as she fixed more coffee.

  “I’ve never lost my memory, but I can imagine how hard that is on you.”

  She stirred the large pot on the stove. “What if I’m having false memories?”

  “What you remembered in the park helped us find your backpack.”

  “But it didn’t help us.”

  “How about Mr. Teddy? Kaleb has been clutching it since you gave it to him.”

  “True.” She came into the main room, carrying two mugs. “But I wanted to find my driver’s license or some other form of ID. Why didn’t I have my license with me, and yet I have items that were obviously for Kaleb? Nothing for myself.”

  If she’d run away on the spur of the moment, he could see her grabbing what she could for the baby first. But then where had the money come from? Most people didn’t carry that kind of money around unless they were planning a trip. Drake grabbed his coffee from her outstretched hand and then sat at one end of the worn brown leather couch, hoping she took the seat next to him.