* * *
JAMESON AUTOMATICALLY PULLED Kelly to the ground and covered her with his body. Not a second too soon, either. That’s because the flaming pieces of the car started raining down on the yard and smacking into the house. He heard glass shattering and something else.
The baby crying.
Hell. Jameson prayed that she hadn’t been hurt and was just frightened from the noise.
“Mandy,” Kelly said, her voice as ragged as her breathing. “She called out right before the explosion.”
“I don’t think she was near the car.”
Jameson hadn’t been able to pinpoint her voice, but he thought it might have come from the other side of the house. That’s where the family room was located. And the baby if they hadn’t moved her. If Mandy was indeed there, the line of trees should have protected the debris from getting to her.
“You would have been killed if you’d gone closer,” Kelly said, her voice as ragged as her breathing.
Yeah. In fact, they still could have been killed if one of those metal chunks had hit them. There were huge pieces of what was left of the car scattered all around them. The question now was—had there been anyone in that car? If so, they were dead.
“Why would the kidnappers do this?” Kelly asked. “Why would they take a risk like that?”
“I’m not sure they did,” Jameson mumbled.
From that second-floor window, the kidnapper was cursing. Clearly, he wasn’t pleased with what had just happened, which meant either it was malfunctioning explosives or someone else had set it off.
Someone, maybe, like Boyer?
But that didn’t feel right, either. Boyer seemed to love his little girl, and he wouldn’t want to put her at risk. Of course, it was possible that Boyer had just gotten unlucky and parked on one of the explosive devices the thugs had set.
Jameson’s phone dinged with a text message, but he passed it to Kelly because he didn’t want to take his eyes off their surroundings.
“It’s Gabriel,” she relayed. “He’s on the way down here.”
Not exactly the best news, but Jameson doubted he could stop his big brother. “Tell him to watch for explosives.”
While she was doing that, Jameson saw some movement on the far side of the house. Mandy. She was leaning out and looking in their direction. Kelly saw her, too, because she lifted her head, tracking her sister as Mandy moved to the front porch. Jameson wanted to throttle her for that. It was too big of a risk, and if she wasn’t the one behind this, she was going to get herself killed.
“Cowboy,” the kidnapper shouted. “You and Kelly can start moving again now.”
“Is the baby okay?” Jameson demanded.
“For now. Keep it that way, and do as I say. You walk to the center of the front yard. Better find a spot that’s not on fire from your little prank. I’m guessing that was your brother’s doing.”
Not a chance. But Jameson kept that to himself. “What about Kelly?”
“I want her on the front porch. And no more lollygagging around. Move fast.”
Kelly started to stand up, but Jameson pulled her back down. “I can’t stop this,” he said, and that ate away at him. He could lose her, right here, right now. “But let me go out there first. That way, I can be in position to pick off anyone who tries to shoot. And when you get to the porch, drop down by the steps. They’re stone, and they’ll give you some cover.”
She nodded, staring at him, and even in the moonlight, he could see the fear in her eyes. “What about you?”
“I’ll take cover, too.” Though he wasn’t exactly sure where that would be yet. Nor did he have time to work it out now. Jameson just had to pray that the kidnappers didn’t gun them down the moment they stepped into the yard.
“I love you,” she said, dropping a kiss on his mouth.
It wasn’t a good time to be stunned, but that’s exactly what those words did to Jameson. They probably weren’t even true. This could just be Kelly’s way of saying goodbye. Well, it wasn’t goodbye for him. One way or another, he was going to save her and get them out of this.
“Move it now!” the kidnapper shouted. “And remember, no guns.”
Jameson did. He got up, tucking his gun in the back waist of his jeans. He walked out into the yard. Fast. He fired glances all around them, especially at the house and Kelly. But he saw Mandy, too. She was crawling her way to the door. He shook his head, but Jameson doubted it would do any good.
Behind him, he heard a strange sound. A gasp. And he whirled around in that direction to see something he damn sure didn’t want to see.
Kelly.
She was on her feet, but she wasn’t alone. There was a man behind her, and he had a gun. Jameson got just a glimpse of him before the guy fired a shot. Not at Kelly. But at Jameson.
It slammed into his chest.
He heard Kelly scream. There was nothing he could do about it, though. The pain exploded inside him, and Jameson had no choice but to drop to his knees. The bullet had hit the Kevlar, but it had knocked the breath out of him. Had maybe cracked some ribs, too, and the hot metal was burning a hole in him. But the worst part was, he couldn’t get to Kelly.
And the man who’d shot him had now put the gun to Kelly’s head.
Jameson got a better look at him then. Saw the man whispering something in Kelly’s ear.
That man was August Canton.
* * *
KELLY TRIED TO call out to Jameson, but her throat had clamped shut. Oh, God. He’d been shot. And it didn’t matter that she couldn’t see any blood. He was down on the ground, writhing in pain and clutching his chest. He needed help.
Help that she couldn’t give him because the man had her in a choke hold.
Too bad she couldn’t use her gun; her captor had stripped that from her the moment he’d grabbed her.
That didn’t stop her from fighting, though. She tried to slam her elbow into his stomach so she could break free from him, but she failed. He dodged her blow, tightened his grip on her and dug the barrel of his gun against her temple.
“Move and I shoot Jameson again,” he growled right in her ear. “And this time, the bullet goes in his head.”
As sickening as that threat was, what twisted at her even more was that she recognized that voice. She hadn’t managed to see the man before he’d grabbed her, but she knew who their attacker was now. August.
“Why?” she managed to ask. However, Kelly already knew the answer. This had to do with that blasted file.
A file that no doubt incriminated August in some way. Or so he thought. But Kelly honestly didn’t remember if there was anything in there that would do that.
“Now, let’s go into the house and wait for Gabriel.” August started pushing her in that direction. “Then we can really settle some things.”
“What about Jameson?” The grip he had on her throat made it hard for her to speak. Hard to breathe, too.
“Oh, he’ll be coming, too. This plan wouldn’t be complete without him.”
That sounded like the vile threat that it was, and she prayed Jameson would be able to move soon so he could scramble out of the way.
Kelly looked on the porch but didn’t see her sister. Maybe that meant Mandy had slipped inside. Of course, that didn’t mean Mandy was in there to help them out. No. She could be working for August and these thugs. Or for Boyer.
But where was the agent?
And where was Gabriel? She still had Jameson’s phone, but there hadn’t been a text message. It was possible, though, that Gabriel had already seen what was going on and was trying to figure out a way to stop it.
“This would be a bad time for cops to arrive,” August warned her. “Anyone who comes near the house now will die.”
She figured that applied to anyone who went inside the house, too, and that’s exactly whe
re August was taking her.
“I don’t remember where the file is,” she lied. She couldn’t offer to give it to him, because once he had it, she had no bargaining power whatsoever.
“Then I’ll torture Jameson and Gabriel until you do remember.”
August kept dragging her across the yard, and when she got closer to Jameson, he looked at her. She could see the pain etched on his face, and he was fighting to get the vest off him. Probably because the bullet was burning like fire.
“If you try to get up, I’ll shoot Kelly,” August snarled to Jameson, and he kept on moving up the steps and onto the porch. When they went inside the house, though, August froze. “Randy,” he called out.
There was some movement in the adjacent room, but apparently something was wrong. She could tell by the way August’s arm tensed. Maybe the hired thug was supposed to swoop out and get her so that his boss could deal with Jameson.
Finally, a man staggered into the foyer. There was blood streaming down his face, and he was mumbling profanity. “That bitch sister of hers clubbed me on the head, grabbed the baby and climbed out the window with her.”
Despite everything else that was going on, that caused relief to flood through Kelly. Mandy had gotten the child, and maybe her sister would be able to get the little girl safely away from all of this. It also meant that Mandy wasn’t working for August.
“Have someone find her now,” August growled. “She could have seen me.”
That told Kelly plenty about this situation. August didn’t intend on leaving any witnesses behind because he planned on getting away with this. And she soon saw how he’d intended to do that.
Someone had used what appeared to be red paint or maybe blood to write on the foyer walls.
Time for more Becketts to die.
Back to finish what I started ten years ago.
August was going to make it look as if the “real” killer had returned to the scene of the crime. And she doubted the timing was a coincidence, since it was the decade anniversary of the murders.
“You killed them,” she said. “You murdered Jameson’s parents.”
August certainly didn’t deny it. He turned her so that she was facing the door. That meant if anyone came charging in through there, he would use her as a human shield.
“Have someone bring in Jameson,” August ordered his thug. The guy was still bleeding, still looked pretty shaky, but he was repeating August’s order through a small communicator.
“That’s why you want my file,” Kelly pressed. Along with the fear, the anger roared through her. “You butchered two people, and you’ve let your brother rot in jail this whole time.”
August cursed her and whacked his gun against the side of her head. It hurt—bad, but she’d obviously hit a nerve.
“My brother will be released once the law finds this new crime scene,” August insisted.
“No. He won’t be. Unless there’s proof someone else did the killings. Planted proof...” She stopped, groaned. “You’re going to set up Boyer. That’s why you took his child, so that he would come out here. Where is he? Do you have him tied up somewhere?”
“He was in the car that exploded. Don’t worry. There’s enough evidence on his computer to convince the cops he did this.”
A hoarse sob tore from her mouth. She certainly hadn’t cared much for Boyer, but if August was telling the truth, then he’d just made Amy an orphan. Worse, August planned to get away with all of this death, pain and misery.
But Kelly didn’t intend to let that happen.
Somehow, she had to stop him.
There was some movement by the front door, and Kelly steeled herself up for more thugs. However, it was Jameson. He still had that pained look on his face, was still having trouble moving, but one of the hired guns shoved him into the foyer, sending Jameson to the floor.
Without thinking, Kelly tried to break free and go to him. And she paid for that when August hit her with the gun again. The pain was the least of what she felt, though. She saw the rage that put in Jameson’s eyes, and he came off the floor, ready to launch himself at August.
“Don’t,” August warned him, “because I’ll kill her where she stands.”
“I got his guns,” the thug informed his boss. “And the sheriff is here. He’s in those bushes off the trail where you were waiting.”
August’s arm muscles relaxed a little. “Good. Bring him here so I can finish this.”
If looks could have killed, Jameson’s glare would have blasted August to smithereens. “Why?” Jameson growled, his voice low and dangerous.
“Because I have to do something to get Travis out of jail. And that file that Kelly and you put together has too many pieces that can lead back to me. I’d hoped that you two wouldn’t find so much, but I knew if you did that you’d be easier to take care of than the cops.”
“What pieces?” Kelly asked. “Because I’d like to know the reason I’m about to die.”
“It’s the interviews with Hattie’s friends,” August said after a long pause. “Not the official ones. But the later ones that Jameson did. He talked to them, the other folks in the area.”
She had to shake her head. “Hattie, the woman you milked out of her savings? The woman who died?”
“The woman who started Sheriff Sherman Beckett’s investigation into me. Sherman was a little too good at his job, because he started poking around in other things I was involved in. Like money laundering.”
“And that’s why you murdered him,” Kelly concluded. “I’m guessing, though, that his wife was just collateral damage. She probably walked in while you were killing her husband, and she tried to stop it.”
August didn’t deny any of that.
“This is all for nothing,” Kelly assured him. “Because there wasn’t anything in those secondary interviews to incriminate you.”
“Yes, there was. If you dig hard, you’ll see there’s a problem with my alibi. When you talked to Marilyn, she got the times wrong. Stupid woman.”
“We have the sheriff,” the wounded thug said to August. “They’re bringing him in now.”
Kelly’s stomach went to her knees. She’d hoped that Gabriel might be able to escape. Now this meant August would get all of the key players in the house. Where he would kill them.
“Tell them to hurry getting Gabriel here,” August told the goon as he checked his watch. “Time is running out.”
What did he have up his sleeve now? She didn’t want to wait around and find out.
Her eyes locked with Jameson, and Kelly could sense he was about to do something. What exactly, she didn’t know, but she didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Jameson lunged forward, and in the same motion, he shoved the hired gun who’d brought him inside. The thug flew right into August and her, and it felt as if a Mack truck had hit her. But she instantly knew why Jameson had done that. That’s because they all fell, and she heard at least one of the guns clattering to the floor.
August spewed out some vile profanity, and from the corner of her eye, Kelly saw the bleeding gunman about to join the fray. She put a stop to that by tripping him. He dropped down next to them, and she snatched up his gun.
But she didn’t have a shot.
August, Jameson and now both thugs were in a fierce battle, and she couldn’t fire for fear of hitting Jameson. Worse, the third gunman was probably about to come in at any moment, and since he had Gabriel, he would be able to stop this by threatening to kill Jameson’s brother. That’s why Kelly had to do something now.
She shifted the gun in her hand and bashed it against the wounded man’s head. He howled in pain and rolled out of the heap.
And that’s when Kelly took aim and shot him. Not to disable him, either. She went for a kill shot, and she made it.
With that one out of the way, she turned back
to the fight. Jameson had August pinned to the floor, but her heart skipped a couple of beats when she saw the hired thug lift his gun toward Jameson. Since she couldn’t risk firing, she kicked him as hard as she could. His muscles were rock-hard, and it didn’t even seem to faze him, but it did cause the goon to look back at her.
Big mistake.
Because Jameson took advantage of that. Even though the man was much larger than he was, Jameson managed to take hold of him, and he shoved him at August.
Just as August fired off a shot.
A shot that went straight into his man.
Even in the darkness, Kelly saw the look of shock on August’s face. For a split second anyway, before Jameson grabbed August and dragged him to his feet. Kelly quickly handed Jameson her gun, and he put it to the man’s head.
She could feel the rage in Jameson. The need for him to avenge his parents’ death. The muscles in his jaw were tight. His hands were shaking a little. And the moments crawled by with his finger tensing on the trigger.
Kelly also saw the exact moment Jameson remembered he was a lawman and not a killer. Nothing like the piece of slime he was holding.
“August Canton, you’re under arrest,” Jameson gutted out.
Behind her, Kelly heard the footsteps on the porch. This was no doubt Gabriel being led in by one of August’s henchmen. She snatched up the dead thug’s gun so she could use it to free Gabriel.
But there was no need for that.
Gabriel was alone. And unharmed. He came into the foyer, and he took in the scene with a sweeping glance. His eyes met Jameson’s. Even though they didn’t say anything, a dozen things passed between them. All the pain and loss. All the grief they’d suffered for the past ten years.
“The ranch hands have rounded up the hired guns,” Gabriel said. His voice was a little unsteady, but that was a vicious glare he had nailed to August. “Let’s get him locked up.”
Gabriel used some plastic cuffs to restrain August, but when Kelly looked at the man, she saw something she didn’t like.
Roughshod Justice Page 17