Unfortunately, she was fresh out of unarmed-untrained-heroine-saves-herself ideas.
But she’d saved Lexy. That was the most important thing.
Napier shepherded them back into the living room, then gave Hallie an expectant look. “I fulfilled my end of the bargain. Where’s my disk?”
She remained motionless for a moment, then slowly led the way into the kitchen. “It’s on top of the cabinets.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know. I threw it. It’s up there somewhere.” She gestured toward the cabinets on the wrong side of the sink.
“Jeff, get the CD,” Napier said sharply. “Bud, get my laptop.”
As the tall one climbed onto the base cabinet, Bud returned to the living room. He came back with a black leather carrying case that Napier had obviously brought with him. Hallie hadn’t even noticed it. But then, she’d been preoccupied with a few other things.
Napier removed the laptop from its case and booted it up while Jeff crabbed his way across the sink to the corner, then around so he could reach the disc. When he got it, he jumped to the floor with a loud thump and triumphantly handed it to his boss.
While she waited, Hallie strained to hear even the faintest hint of powerful engines, squealing tires, blaring sirens, but there was nothing. She wondered if she could get out the back door before one of them caught her, but she would have to get past Bud, and besides, how fast could she run in heels?
If this was one of Max’s movies, supper would be cooking on the stove and she could throw a pot of boiling water on the men, wield a butcher knife against them and crack someone’s skull with an iron skillet. But her countertops and stove were empty of weapons.
Napier was smiling when he removed the CD from the drive and shut down the computer. “Well, Ms. Madison, now you’ve lived up to your end of the bargain.”
“And now you plan to kill me.”
“Me? Oh, no. I don’t do that sort of thing.” He zipped the carrying case, then slid the strap over one shoulder. “I pay people to do it for me.” As he started toward the hall door, he made a gesture to the men that she assumed meant, Take care of her. Both Bud and Jeff began closing in, the taller man wearing that slick grin again. He had just taken hold of her upper arm when she made one last desperate attempt to stall.
“Mr. Napier, what about another deal?”
He turned in the doorway. “What could you possibly have to offer? I’ve got my disc.”
Hallie smiled as if she hadn’t a care in the world. “How about the copy I made?”
“Something’s wrong. She should have been here by now.” Brady headed out the door of the sheriff’s department and cut through the courthouse lobby to the rear entrance, with two deputies right behind him. “Come with me, Ryan,” he commanded as he unlocked his SUV. “Mitch, follow us.”
He never should have left Hallie alone at the house, but he couldn’t have stayed there one more minute. He’d had to do something, to feel as if he were somehow helping in the search for Lexy. But he should have brought her with him, or taken her someplace safe. He shouldn’t have left her alone.
Turning on the emergency lights, he accelerated out of the parking lot, then screeched to a halt when a slight figure darted out in front of him. “Lexy!” He jumped out of the truck, and she collapsed into his arms, sobbing. “Thank God you’re all right! I’ve been so worried—”
She grabbed his shirt with both hands. “They’ve got Hallie, and they’re gonna kill her! She made ’em let me go before she’d give ’em the CD, but when she gives it to ’em, they’ll kill her! You have to stop them, Daddy, you have to save her!”
For one awful moment Brady couldn’t think, couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything but panic—and panic was one sure way to get Hallie killed. Then the moment passed and an icy, angry calm came over him, chilling him from the inside out. “How many men are there, Lex?”
“Th-three. Adam and th-those guys who set our house on fire.”
“Are they all armed?”
She bobbed her head.
“Ryan, get on the radio. Have everyone meet us at the old Tucker place—no lights, no sirens. Mitch, take Lex inside and tell Harvey to take care of her, then come on down to the Tuckers’.”
“I want to come with you!” Lexy wailed, clinging to him.
“It’ll be okay, babe,” he promised as he uncurled her fingers and Mitch pulled her away. “When we come back, we’ll have Hallie with us.” Please, God!
He climbed into the truck and pulled out of the parking lot. He was more grateful than he could put into words that Lexy was safe, but damn it, why did they have to drag Hallie into it? She didn’t deserve to die, and God help him, he couldn’t bear it if she did. There were so many things he hadn’t told her, so many things they hadn’t done. If he lost her now….
“What are we going to do?” Ryan asked when he got off the radio.
“Damned if I know.” He dragged his fingers through his hair as the Tucker house came into sight. He switched off the emergency lights and slowed to a stop on the side of the road. “First we need to close the highway.”
“I’ve already taken care of that.”
Brady smiled mirthlessly. “Of course you have.” Ryan was nothing if not efficient.
He rolled down the windows, then studied the house. It looked as if every light in the place was on, as well as the lone light outside by the driveway. There were two Mercedes in the drive, his own pickup and a fourth car, an older-model sedan. Three men, three guns.
He and Ryan had five between them. Unfortunately, he would be shooting with his off hand, thanks to the cast, but he practiced for that. He was almost as good as with his right hand.
But was almost good enough when Hallie’s life was at stake?
Mitch pulled in behind him, followed by Lucy, and, after Brady reached in back for his rifle, he and Ryan got out to meet them. “Lucy, let’s see if we can find out what’s going on inside.”
“I’ll go, Brady,” Mitch volunteered.
Brady rested his hand on the deputy’s shoulder. “I know you would….”
“But I’m a better shot than you are,” Lucy finished for him.
Lucy’s marksmanship was a large part of his decision, Brady admitted as they crossed the highway. But she was also older and more experienced. She’d never killed anyone before, but if she had to, he figured she could deal with it better than Mitch. He was a good deputy, but he was just twenty-one. Too young to deal with taking someone’s life, no matter how necessary it was.
As they made their way through shadows to the property, Brady explained the layout of the house to Lucy. To minimize the risk of being seen from the living-room windows, they both went down the north side of the house. She lagged behind, meticulously checking each room. He went ahead, anxious to reach the south-facing living-room windows. Instinct told him that was where Napier and his thugs were holding Hallie.
He stumbled over a chunk of sandstone sticking up out of the ground and bumped one shoulder against the house. For one endless moment he remained frozen, but when no response came from inside, he continued toward the front of the house, ducking underneath the dining-room windows that spilled out yellow light, then easing up to the first living-room window.
Hallie sat on the edge of the chair seat, her fingers knotted together. She was pale and unsteady, and faint tremors shivered through her. Other than that, though, she appeared all right. They hadn’t done anything to her…yet.
The bastard he’d caught in his house was standing a few feet behind her, a .9 mm pistol in his right hand, and the one who’d broken Brady’s wrist was off to his side. He had a .45.
And then there was Adam Napier. In Brady’s entire life, he’d only truly, violently hated two people—his parents. Now he could add Napier to the list. He stood near the front door, and on the table beside him was a laptop case, as well as a small handgun.
“Brady.” Lucy whispered his name from a few feet away. Wit
h one last glance at Hallie, he moved back to meet her.
“The back door’s open a few inches,” she murmured in his ear. “If we could get a couple people inside….”
“Napier would see them,” he whispered. “Unless…”
Abruptly he gestured for her to go back the way they’d come, and he followed. They moved swiftly and quietly back to the highway, where he outlined his plan for the officers gathered. Accompanied by Mitch and two other deputies, they returned to the house.
Brady stood in the shadow of an oak and watched as they moved silently to the back of the house. When the last deputy turned the corner, he crossed the yard to the steps, avoiding the creaky places, stopping in front of the door. After drawing a deep breath, he waited a few beats for Ryan to let Lucy know via radio that he was going in, then he opened the door and stepped inside. “Hey, darlin’, I’m—”
Napier spun around so fast he almost fell, and the other two men immediately pointed their guns his way. Brady looked at each of the three men before letting his gaze settle on Hallie. “Looks like we have company,” he said softly.
Napier snatched up the gun from the table and waved it. “Come in, Sheriff…or is it Deputy? Come in and join us. We were just debating the best way to determine whether Ms. Madison is being truthful with us. Jeff just wants to kill her and be done with it. Bud, though, has a taste for inflicting pain. I understand that’s his handiwork.” He gestured to the cast, then went on. “He insists if he had just a few minutes alone with her, he could find out. I understand you’re quite the expert on torture. What do you think?”
From the corner of his eye, Brady saw Lucy and Mitch moving stealthily through the dining room. That meant the other two deputies were coming down the hall. He smiled coolly at Napier. “I think you’ll be lucky to leave here alive.”
“Really? There are three of us and only one of you, and we have your woman. You do have a weapon, but—oh, by the way, I’ll take that now. Carefully.”
Brady undid the thumb-snap strap that secured his pistol in the holster, then eased the gun out and handed it over. That was the deputies’ signal to come into the room. They advanced quickly and had the two punks covered an instant before Napier noticed them.
Though he smiled, he couldn’t hide the panic that flared in his eyes. “Well, this is interesting.”
“Drop your weapons,” Lucy ordered.
No one obeyed. No one even twitched a muscle.
“You see, they’ve got Bud and Jeff covered, but I’ve got you covered,” Napier went on, centering his aim on Brady’s chest.
“Frankly, I couldn’t care less what you do to Bud and Jeff. They’re expendable. But I’d bet a million bucks that every one of those deputies cares a great deal about what happens to you, Sheriff. And you are, unfortunately, unarmed.”
Brady slid his left hand behind his back and pulled out the .38 he’d borrowed from Ryan earlier. “Not necessarily,” he murmured as he brought the muzzle up dead center on Napier’s chest.
The bastard’s panic flared again, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed convulsively. He managed another smile, though not nearly so smarmy or confident. “I believe this is what’s called a standoff. If we don’t shoot you, you won’t shoot us.”
Brady let his gaze slip to Hallie for one second. He thought of the terror these bastards had put her and Lexy through, of how carelessly they intended to destroy their lives—his life—and then he looked at Napier again. “I’m not sure that’s exactly how it works,” he said agreeably, then lowered his aim to about midthigh on the man and pulled the trigger.
Napier went down with a howl of pain, screaming curses as his pistol clattered to the floor, and Brady shifted his aim to the shorter of the two punks. “You want to be next?”
Apparently not, particularly after that expendable comment. They sullenly surrendered their weapons, and the deputies took them into custody.
Looking shaken and teary, Hallie stood up, took a few halting steps, then flew into his arms. Brady hugged her tightly, murmuring, “It’s okay, darlin’, it’s okay,” over and over.
When the trembling eased and her breathing returned to something close to normal, she raised her head. “Lexy?”
“She’s safe.”
“Thank God.” Then she shuddered once more. “They were going to kill me.”
“I know.”
“You saved my life. Thank you.” Rising onto her toes, she pressed a kiss to his jaw, then pulled out of his arms, waited for several deputies to enter, then walked out the door.
Bewildered by her behavior, Brady started to follow her, but Ryan caught his arm. “We need you in here. She’s not going anywhere.”
Grimly Brady nodded. But when he turned to follow the deputy into the dining room, his gaze fell on the luggage near the door. Hallie’s luggage. She’d been packed and ready to leave before Napier had shown up. Where had she planned to go? When had she planned to tell him? And damn it, why?
He wanted to go outside and shake her until she told him—to kiss her senseless and make her change her mind. He wanted to hear her say it wasn’t so, that she would never leave him.
But deep inside he already knew why. She hadn’t wanted anything more than a fling. No relationship, no involvement, no risk of a broken heart. Just a temporary affair to help her get over her last divorce. And that was what she’d gotten.
He was the one with the broken heart.
Brady was in his office early Sunday morning—easy to do since he hadn’t gone to bed the night before. It had been hours before the investigation at Hallie’s house was wrapped up, and long before that, one of the deputies had delivered a message to him that Hallie was taking Lexy to the motel and getting a room. She hadn’t bothered to tell him herself, hadn’t said, Come over when you’re done, or even Call me when you’re done. Once everyone had cleared out, he’d spent the rest of the night sitting on the porch steps, wondering what the hell he could have possibly done to deserve losing her. Maybe this life was payback for the truly despicable person he’d been in a previous life—or five or six previous lives. Maybe God hated him. Or maybe he was just the damned unluckiest man in the world.
He’d been getting phone calls all morning—from the feds, newspapers both local and in Texas, and various other interested parties. A handful of feds were coming up from Texas and wanted to talk to Lexy and Hallie, and Brady wanted Ryan to interview them first. He’d started to call Hallie at the motel and ask her to come over, but the fear that that wouldn’t be the question coming out of his mouth stopped him. He had little doubt if he heard her voice on the phone that his first words would be, “Why are you leaving me?”
Instead, he had the dispatcher call. They were due any minute…and no way was he ready to face her. So he was staying in his office, the door closed. Lexy was welcome to come back and see him, but right now he’d rather face anyone else in the world than Hallie.
The intercom buzzed, then the dispatcher said, “Someone here to see you, Brady.”
“Is it Lex?”
“Uh, no.” Wilda picked up the phone. “This is your…uh…her name is Napier. Mrs. Napier. Should I send her back?”
Sandra. Well, hell, she’d just proven him a liar. He’d much rather see Hallie than her. “No. I’ll come up.”
The walk from his office at the back to the lobby at the front seemed endless. By the time he got there, the muscles in his stomach were knotted and, he swore, he was about to break out in a cold sweat. Stopping at the front desk, he rested his hands on the countertop and faced her. “Sandra.”
She turned from the window she’d been staring out, and he blinked. Funny. He’d always remembered her as being beautiful, but truth was, she didn’t qualify as anything more than average. Maybe it was the years; they didn’t appear to have been kind. Or maybe it was just her true nature showing through.
Maybe he’d finally found out what true beauty was.
She came to the counter and laid her bag there. �
��Where is she?” Her words were clipped, cold and filled with anger. “Where’s that incredibly stupid daughter of mine? I cannot believe the trouble she’s caused this time. You know, we’re going to sue you for assault and excessive force and kidnapping and anything else our lawyers can think of, and she’s going to a school for troubled children. I won’t have her living in Adam’s home again after this mess she’s made.”
Brady stared at her. He shouldn’t be surprised—God knows, he was well aware how petty and selfish she could be—but he couldn’t help it. She didn’t show the slightest concern for her daughter, less than the total strangers who’d helped search for her. He couldn’t believe it.
“Well? Where is she?”
“Lexy will be here soon.”
“Lexy.” Sandra snorted. “Another stupid nickname. Hell, she can call herself Moron for all I care. She doesn’t deserve my name, anyway.”
“You do know your husband kidnapped your daughter yesterday and was going to kill her?”
“More of her lies,” Sandra said, waving her hand in the air.
“Alessan— She doesn’t like Adam, and she’s constantly causing trouble for him.”
“There were witnesses, Sandra. One will be here soon, and two are locked up in jail.”
“Liars, all of them. You know, she didn’t have permission to come here. She stole money and Adam’s business records, and she ran away. It took his investigators nearly a week to find her.”
And then the trouble had started. “If she hadn’t stolen the records, would he have bothered to send someone looking for her?”
“Probably not.”
“Would you?”
“Probably not.”
Her answer, and the callous way she said it, made Brady sick inside. “She’s your daughter, Sandra. How can you not care that she was missing? That your husband was going to kill her?”
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