by Kim Turner
“Did you see the cat?” Aaron turned to Tuck, who was snapping pictures of the damage with his cell phone.
“Yep. Took me twenty minutes with a broom to shut him in the bathroom off the bedroom.” Tuck shivered from head to toe.
“Would’ve liked to see that one.” Gabe laughed as he glanced around the shambles of the living room.
Aaron headed straight for Jenna’s bedroom. With the place being ransacked and given what Tuck said, it was no doubt Bodi was fit to be tied. Aaron talked at the door, waving off Gabe and Tucker who’d followed. “Hey, Bodi, I’m coming in.”
Aaron went inside slow and sure and knelt down. Bodi was under the vanity hissing and squalling. He held out his hand, steady, but didn’t offer to touch the frightened animal.
Bodi hissed again and backed up but then touched his nose to Aaron’s hand sniffing up and down and then walking out from under the vanity with a slight meow. Aaron picked him up.
“What are you, the damn cat whisperer?” Tucker took a few steps back, pushing Gabe with him.
Aaron walked from the bathroom, carrying the cat. “If he’s still here then Jenna didn’t run. She wouldn’t leave for good without her son or the cat.”
Tucker lifted his brows. “It looks like his father died a few months ago, his career’s in the shitter, the Feds are on his tail and if he has Jenna, he has nothing left to lose except…”
“Except the money and his son.” Aaron spoke in anger. “What about the van outside?”
“I was about to break in but you got here.” Tuck led the way back to the living area.
Gabe looked hard at Aaron, “You bringing the cat?”
“Can’t leave him here. Why, you scared?” Aaron challenged.
“Hell, yeah.” Gabe backed up.
“See if you can find a pet carrier.” Aaron wasn’t about to leave the cat to be in the house with all the shattered glass if nothing else. Gabe nodded and headed off to look.
Aaron followed Tucker back into the living room and glanced in the small kitchen. Things were uprooted there, including the food from the refrigerator and freezer dumped. Every carton of food was open or spilled. He shook his head.
Tuck stepped into the kitchen. “She fed the cat.”
Aaron glanced at the bowls on the floor and back.
“I fed the cat out of those over there.” Tuck pointed to another set of bowls in the corner.
Aaron turned back to the living room. If Jenna had come by and fed the cat, getting what she needed at the apartment, she’d narrowly missed Hanson’s visit for slashing the place. And if she had made it to the bank and the reality office, he couldn’t have gotten to her until after that. “Did he come here more than once?”
“Nope.” Tucker followed.
Gabe held up a cat carrier. “Criminals don’t return to the crime scene unless there’s a reason, and he’s been here more than once before today if we’ve guessed right. He either found the money or her.”
“Time’s wasting.” Aaron grabbed the carrier from Gabe and gently shoved Bodi inside.
Tuck scratched his head, “It’s hard to outthink this guy, Aaron. He’s twisted, man, and if he has her.”
“Then it’s time we get her back.” Aaron hissed.
“Let’s check the van.” Gabe turned.
“What in the hell!” A female shriek caused all three men to turn, drawing their weapons. “Oh my God, don’t shoot!” Brianna screamed, holding her hands up in defense.
Aaron took a deep breath and let his hand drop, putting the gun back into his belt.
“Sorry, you sneak up people and you’ll get that pretty rear of yours shot.” Gabe shoved his gun in the back of his jeans, walking closer to her. “You seen Jenna today?”
“No, I haven’t. Aaron?” Brianna glared at Gabe but turned to Aaron. “Where is she?”
Aaron moved closer. “We don’t know? What?”
Brianna placed a hand to her chest, still catching her breath. “She called me, earlier, but wouldn’t tell me what was going on. Wait…that bastard has her, doesn’t he? That’s why you all are here. Oh, my God.”
“We think so,” Gabe answered.
“I knew it.” Tears spilled from Brianna’s eyes.
Aaron picked up Bodi’s carrier. “Did she give you any idea where she was going?” He headed toward the door, the others following.
“She was so upset on the phone, but said she had some errands and was letting me know she was all right. She called from the phone here.” Brianna followed Aaron down the stairs to the parking lot.
“Let’s take it one step at a time.” Aaron made his way to Gabe’s truck and shoved the carrier with Bodi in the short back seat, walking to the abandoned blue van.
“Wait.” Gabe pulled a baseball bat from the back of the truck and without any hesitation knocked out the driver’s window with the butt of the bat, glass shattering with a loud crack.
“Oh my God, we’re all going to jail.” Brianna took a step back.
“Shhhhh.” Gabe raised an eyebrow at her.
Aaron reached inside and opened the van door. Besides the two front seats there was very little inside. Empty boxes in the back and rusted tools of some kind in a small toolbox. Likely stolen. He climbed inside looking around the dash at papers and trash, including various food wrappers. Someone had been sitting here and watching her for a time.
Gabe walked to the other side of the van and tapped the window with the bat.
Aaron leaned to open the passenger door and went back to searching, tossing aside papers as he looked through them, nothing giving any hints.
“Aaron.” Gabe had opened the glove box.
Aaron leaned closer. Inside was a single black rose with a small picture of Jenna and a large card. He grabbed the picture and then the card, letting the black rose fall to the floor of the van.
“What is it?” Tucker asked.
“Another flower.” Brianna put her hands to her mouth.
Aaron looked at the picture of Jenna. It wasn’t current as her hair was shorter. He opened the large folded card.
‘Up for an old-fashioned gunfight? Come alone, Cowboy, and bring my son or there’s gonna be a hanging’
It was scrolled in tidy red ink penmanship. Aaron turned the card over. On the back was an inked handprint. He touched it, comparing his hand to the size of the print. Jenna. So the son of a bitch did have her. He bolted from the van, tossing the card aside.
“Aaron, wait.” Gabe took off after him.
Aaron pulled the gun from his belt as he arrived back at Gabe’s truck. Removing the cartridge, he checked the bullets and shoved the cartridge back inside the gun. Laying it on the console he climbed in.
Gabe wedged his boot in the door, stopping him. “You aren’t going alone, bro.”
Aaron glared hard at his brother.
Tuck walked over having bagged up the evidence of the note, picture, and black rose. “Old-fashioned hanging…what the heck does that mean?”
“He’s gonna kill her, isn’t he? Isn’t he?” Brianna screamed, her body shaking as tears began.
Gabe took a deep breath. “We don’t know…hold off for a minute until we figure this all out, then you can cry all you want.”
Brianna wiped her eyes, her mascara smearing as she gave Gabe a scowl.
“He’s at the set.” Tucker understood. “Old fashioned hanging.”
“No!” Aaron shouted. “I’m going alone. The set was closed this afternoon.”
“That’s plain suicide, brother. You aren’t in any condition to put up a fight.” Gabe ran his hands through his short dark hair. “Not happening.”
“He’s setting you up, man,” Tuck added shaking his head. “We go together.”
Aaron growled. “So be it, but I’m going to get her back.”
“How, by getting your ass shot?” His brother walked away but turned back around. “He’ll think you are alone, but we’ll be there with you. We can come in the back way, the loop road to
the canyon. No one knows much about that but us.”
“The set’s deserted by now; he waited us out, doing it right under our noses.” Aaron shook his head. They were wasting time and he had to get to Jenna. If she had only stayed put, but then she would have already been on the set making Vince’s job easier.
Gabe looked at Tucker. “I’ll have Aaron drop me a mile up the road before the set. When you make the turn for the loop road, I’ll meet you in the woods.”
“Got it. I’ll wire us all with mics.” Tuck jogged toward his truck, already on his cell phone.
Aaron cranked the truck as Gabe walked around to the other side and climbed in. Looking at Brianna who still stood beside the truck, Aaron nodded to the back seat. “Can you take the cat for now? I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
Brianna opened the back door where Bodi’s crate sat. Instead of taking it, she pushed it to the other side of the truck, across the seat. Without asking, she climbed in the back seat, slammed the door shut and tugged on her seat belt. She folded her hands in her lap, looking straight ahead.
Both men turned to eye her in confusion.
“She’s my best friend.” Brianna set her jaw. “I’m coming along.”
“No way,” Gabe spat.
“Uh huh.” Aaron shook his head. “This might get ugly.”
“I am not getting out of this truck unless you boys think you can remove me physically, but I have to warn you, I bite, kick and scratch worse than the cat in this crate.” She gave them both a set of raised brows.
“Sounds like a damn challenge. Drive on brother.” Gabe chuckled looking at her for a second and then turning back around.
“Hang on.” Aaron ripped the truck into forward, peeling out and sending black smoke across the pavement. If he knew anything about Brianna, she was rather feisty and he didn’t have time to deal with a hysterical, fighting woman.
It was early afternoon and by now the set would be a ghost town.
Gabe laid a large gun on the seat and reached underneath Aaron, pulling out an automatic pistol. Dropping the cartridge, he double checked and put it back, clicking the safety, nodding to Aaron, and setting it on the console beside the other.
“Maybe we should call the police.” Brianna’s eyes widened.
Both men turned in unison, “No!”
Brianna shifted left as Gabe leaned over the seat back, reaching above her to grab a rifle from the gun rack. She ducked as he brought the weapon to the front. “My God, you men have more weapons than The Army National Guard.”
Gabe smiled at her and pulled a large knife case from the seat back behind Aaron. “The one with the most toys wins.”
Brianna shivered.
“A little insanity helps in times like this.” Gabe turned back around, leaning to shove a smaller knife into Aaron’s boot.
“There’s another pistol in the door,” Gabe said as he loaded up his own arsenal of weapons.
Aaron’s phone buzzed and he struggled to slide a thumb across the glass. “Jer.”
“Aaron?” Jeremiah was on the other end. “Look, I went to the realty office and got the card from Jim. It’s from Jenna; you’re not going to believe this one brother. She’s purchased the back one hundred acres in full for you, deeds in your name. All legal, according to Jim.”
Aaron remained quiet. He sucked in a breath still shocked but worried more about what he needed to anticipate in getting to Jenna, “Read the note.” The truck swerved and he fought to gain control.
Gabe grabbed the dash. “Easy with my truck man, should’ve let me drive.”
“Oh my, God,” Brianna shouted from the back hanging onto the seat back as the old cat squalled his meows.
Aaron righted the truck and made himself take a breath. It was all he could do to speak again. “Read it.”
On the other end of the line Jeremiah spoke. “Uuuhhh. Dear Aaron, I can’t begin to explain more than simply saying I want you to have your land. If anything good can come from all this it would be to know that you have the land to make the boys’ ranch what you want it to be. Remember, you taught me it isn’t about the fall, but about the landing and once all this if over, my prayers are we both land on our feet. Not every woman has the chance to love a hero and you are mine. Please accept this gift and build your dream. I will love you always, Jenna.”
Numbness plowed through Aaron. Gut punched to the point he had to focus hard to drive. Had Jenna been going to leave? She couldn’t have. Even if she left him she would never leave Mason. He knew that for a fact.
“What the hell’s going on, Aaron? You told me enough for me to know it’s gone bad,” Jeremiah shouted into the phone.
Aaron handed the cell phone to Gabe. “Tell him.”
“Jer?”
Aaron listened as Gabe talked to Jeremiah explaining the details. He let his mind wander. So if Hanson had Jenna and he wanted a fight, he was about to get one. If the bastard so much as touched a hair on her head, he’d kill the man without a second thought.
He still hurt like hell, but this was Jenna, and he could worry about the pain later. This was insane and now Jeremiah was on the way. Hanson was dangerous and he’d have men helping him no doubt. Putting his brothers and Tucker at risk wasn’t to his liking, but what choice did he have? No matter how things went down, he’d get Jenna back—and of that he was certain.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jenna shifted gears, glancing at the road ahead. Amos’ old truck sputtered through a stall and then forged ahead. She’d accomplished what she set out to do, making sure no matter how things went, Aaron would have his land. She gripped the steering wheel tightly as the engine stalled again but picked up. She’d been gone longer from the set than she had intended and Aaron would be terribly worried, though she wondered how she would explain other than to say there was something she’d had to do.
“Oh, he will be so angry, but it can’t be helped.” She talked to herself as she thought of Mason. She missed him so, the pain was almost physical but with the last flowers, the ones Aaron had probably found by now, she gulped a deep breath, knowing he was safe.
She glanced into the review mirror at the maroon car following idly a few lengths behind, always a bit unnerved that she might be followed, but the car turned off onto another road. She lifted her gaze again just in time to slam on her breaks at a large black SUV pulled out in front of her. She screamed as the old truck collided with the front end, sending her against the dash.
Trying to regain her wits, she blinked hard. And then the laughter found her and every part of the terror she’d been living the last few years bolted through her. Vince. She glanced to the driver’s side of the SUV and there he was, his evil gaze holding her hostage as he revved the truck pushing her further in the old truck. She hung onto the steering wheel, unsure what to do and contemplating her escape.
The old truck was edged to the ditch little by little, the tires and metal squeaking and scarping along the pavement until it hit dirt and rolled hard to its side, tossing her forward again. Her head bounced off the windshield as the old truck settled. Stunned, Jenna rubbed her head and her side, fading in and out from the impact and confused at first.
Vince pulled her from the passenger door of the old truck, jerking her to her feet where she swayed before she could do anything. She shrieked and tried for escape but he slammed her against the SUV, pinning her there.
“Hello, Jennifer, what’s your hurry?” He shoved a gun in her face causing her head to hit the truck again.
She sucked in a needed breath, fighting the severe pain scorching through her head and trying to contemplate her situation. Funny she had been in such fear of Vince finding her but now, she shivered but more so from the cold. She fought to hold his evil gaze.
He wiped a sleeve across his brow and smiled. “What did you think, sweetheart, you could scheme against me with my old man?”
Jenna said nothing.
“He’s dead you know, but he got the last laugh until now.�
� His eyes narrowed and then he screamed. “Where’s my son?”
Shock flew through Jenna, and anger welled to the surface. She spoke in loud even tones. “He will never be your son.” Mason would only ever be her child, never his, never this monster’s. And now she knew for sure that Mason remained safe and sound.
He grabbed her face and pressed her head back into the truck. “You knew right what you were doing playing dear old daddy for all his money, didn’t you?”
Jenna met his gaze, gaining a bit of her composure. “That money was rightfully mine from my father.”
He laughed then. “Sweet little Jennifer, you don’t know do you?”
She looked at him trying to force her mind to hear his words, her head ached and she was sure she had a concussion if not worse.
“It seems my father wasn’t so interested in my campaign after all. But he always saw the good in you, didn’t he sweetheart?” He laughed again. “And he left all my inheritance to my son, so you will produce him or you will suffer. He’s what, about a year old now? Cute I’ll bet, just like me.”
So his father had left his full inheritance to Mason? Mr. Hanson had been worth millions and Vince had long planned on what he would inherit when his father died. “That is not my doing, but no matter, you will never know any part of your son in this lifetime.”
He laughed sadistically. “Well, let us just see about that. Think that cowboy biker might just be up to an old-fashioned gunfight to win the girl. Well, he won’t win until I have my son, you bitch.” With that he slammed her against the SUV, her head hitting hard and her world going dark.
****
Jenna sat in the back seat of a large black SUV, hands tied behind her back, belted in. She was groggy, her head pounding and the coppery taste of blood in her mouth lingered where she’d been hit—more than once. In front of her Vince drove the vehicle along back roads heading them outside of Great Falls, from what she could tell.
She’d been unwise; to say the least, in thinking no one was following her when she left the small realtor’s office. But he’d come out of nowhere and pushed the old vehicle off the road, trapping her. She’d slammed hard against the steering wheel, bumping her head. He’d then grabbed her before she could regain her composure to run and he’d slammed her more than once against the large SUV. Her head ached to the point the sunlight hurt and she closed her eyes briefly.