by Susan Stoker
He caught Kara afterward as she suddenly collapsed upon him, crying out his name, her body damp as she slumped across him, both of them breathing like the winded animals they’d become. There was nothing like good, primal sex, Cade thought. But with Kara, it amped up to an entirely different level, leaving him panting, his body still throbbing pleasurably in the aftermath. He loved her. When she nuzzled her cheek against his, murmuring his name, licking his neck, nibbling on his earlobe, he surrendered his heart entirely to her. Before this moment, when they’d collided and melted into a oneness that transcended time and space, Cade still felt he was in the best dream of his entire life. He never wanted it to end. Where did dreams meet reality? Could they combine and become real, forever?
He smoothed his hand down her damp spine, her silky hair covering nearly half his face. She smelled of oranges from her favorite soap. The sweetness of her warm flesh and the scent of sex shared between them made his whole body think about loving her all over again. Kara was all softness and curves. It brought every bit of tenderness out of Cade as they lay with one another in the grayness of the room, their silence heavy with celebration and satisfaction.
Later, he eased Kara off him and tucked her beside him on her back so he could prop himself up on one elbow and see the joy alive within her slumberous eyes. It made Cade feel so damned powerful and even more protective toward her than before. He trailed his thumb across her winged brow, watching her expression as she absorbed his touch.
“I love you,” he said, his voice low with feelings he could barely contain. “I’ll never stop loving you, Kara.” He saw tears glimmer in her eyes as she heard his admission.
Kara reached up, smoothing a few strands off his brow. “I’ll never stop loving you either, Cade.” Her hand stilled on his jaw. “This changes everything. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” he grunted, “I do. Your old man is the first on my list to confront. He’s going to have to get used to the idea that we’re a couple and we’re serious with one another whether he likes it or not.” He saw her grimace, worry in her eyes. “I’ll handle this for us, Kara. I think your mother will be okay with it…”
“Yes, she will be.”
“Your father doesn’t own you now. He never did.”
Nodding, she sighed, leaning over and kissing his chest. “I make it a point to never see him if I can help it. Right now, he and Mom are in Chicago at a cattle breeding conference. They won’t get home for about four days if you’re thinking of going over to the ranch and telling my father how things are going to be.”
“That’s good to know. Are you all right with living here with me? I don’t want you alone until we can apprehend Fuentes and understand what’s going down with his attacks on you.”
“I’m fine living here with you, Cade. I feel safer here.”
“I’m glad,” he murmured, brushing a kiss across her lush lips. “In time, we’ll get this all sorted out.”
“Sophia’s going to have to continue to guard me at Delos then? Follow me to and from work every day?”
“Yes. Until we can find out why you were attacked, Kara, she’ll tail you home as well as meet you here every morning to see you make it to Delos without incident. We can’t afford to let down our guard.”
*
The next morning, Kara was finishing her third cup of coffee, Cade had just left for work, when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Kara, this is Sophia. I’ve got food poisoning and I’m sicker than a dog. I can’t meet you this morning at Cade’s home and follow you to Delos. Can you stay there at his home for the day?”
Groaning, Kara said, “Oh, no. I’m sorry you’re feeling crappy. Listen, I’ve got a lot going on this morning at school. We’re getting ready for the field trip tomorrow, remember?”
Now it was Sophia’s turn to make an unhappy sound. “That’s right. I forgot about that. You can’t drive there by yourself. I need to tail you, Kara.”
“Oh, don’t worry it’s only twenty miles. Nothing will happen. I’ll be fine I’m sure.”
“No, don’t do that, Kara. Please…”
She smiled. “Listen, you just take it easy, Sophia, and get well. I’ll call you when I get to Delos just so you won’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
Hanging up, Kara hurried through her morning routine and was out the door and into her small, silver KIA Sorrento SUV. It had already begun to rain. At this time of year Texas was dry, so a good storm front coming through, dumping water, was always welcome in the state.
She made sure the house was locked and quickly got into her car, not wanting to be late for work.
Kara was ten miles from the Delos school when her cellphone rang. The highway was empty and the rain heavy, so she was driving more slowly than normal.
“Hello?”
“Kara?”
“Cade! Is something wrong?”
“No, everything’s fine at my end. Sophia just called and told me you were taking off by yourself to go to Delos. I’m five minutes behind you. I’ll escort you the rest of the way to your school.”
“Oh I’m sorry, Cade. I felt I’d be safe enough and could drive without an escort just this once.”
“Sweetheart, until we resolve what’s going on with Fuentes we can’t take a chance.”
Kara gasped, suddenly aware that a chromed black pickup truck with a lot of chrome trim on it was racing up behind her. Its bumper loomed in her rear window. She dropped the phone, grabbing the steering wheel with both hands. He was going to hit her!
The pickup slammed into her left rear fender and the jolt jerked Kara. The noise was like a thunderclap around her. The seat belt bit into her shoulder. The airbags deployed. In seconds, she was spinning around and around as the car skidded off the wet highway. It leapt over the berm, slamming her hard down into her seat. She saw a flash of the black truck racing by her, headed toward Clayton.
Another cry tore out of her as her SUV canted and slid down the wet, slippery embankment, coming to rest against a rancher’s barbed wire fence below.
Everything went suddenly quiet.
Breathing harshly, Kara was dazed by the suddenness of the attack. Thank God she was wearing her seat belt. She pushed the air bag away from her face, trying to see where she was at.
“Kara!”
She jerked to the left, seeing Cade outside her car window, his face grim, eyes wide with concern. Quickly, she opened the door after struggling to get the air bag out of the way.
“Cade—”
He crouched down between the car door and the frame, his hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right? Are you injured?”
“N-no, just shook up. Someone hit me from behind on purpose.”
“Yeah,” he growled. “I saw it. I’ve just called it in. I need you to come with me, Kara. Can you walk?” He quickly took the seat belt off her, giving her his hand. She nodded and jerkily extricated herself out of the car, in shock.
“W-what are you going to do?” she asked, giving her car a look. The trunk was smashed in, the rear window shattered. She could have died.
Cade was wearing his dark brown nylon jacket to keep dry and he tucked her beneath his arm, leading her quickly up the bank to where his cruiser was parked. “We’re going after that truck. Hurry! Climb in!”
In moments, she was in the passenger side of the cruiser. The light bar on top of the vehicle flashed its red and blue lights. He helped her put on the seatbelt then got in, slamming the car into gear, wheels spinning as he aimed it back onto the shining black asphalt highway.
She hung on, her heart pounding. “W-who was that? Who hit me?”
“I don’t know,” he growled, slowly accelerating the cruiser on the slick highway. What he didn’t want to do was start hydroplaning and then lose control of the vehicle. “I’ve got four cruisers coming up fast on me from the sheriff’s department. We’re going to try and locate the black truck and finish this off, one way or another. I’ve alerted U.S.
Border Patrol at the other end of the highway and they’re ready to stop them if they get that far. They’re not getting across the border.”
*
A chill bolted through Kara as she hung on, her hair damp around her face. Pushing strands away from her cheek with trembling fingers she said, “I’m sorry, Cade. I should have listened to Sophia and stayed home. I honestly thought it would be safe to drive twenty miles to my school. I really did.”
“It’s all right. Sophia called me right away after you two hung up with one another. I happened to be at the station, getting ready for my shift. No harm, no foul.” He gave her a quick look of reassurance.
“I just didn’t think I’d get attacked again,” she whispered lamely, giving him a woeful look.
“We’ve got to find out what the hell is going on,” he told her grimly, his gaze riveted to the wet, rainy highway.
Kara saw the posts go from wood to white metal pipe fence, indicating they were now flying down the road, paralleling her father’s huge, sprawling ranch. “There’s the truck that hit me!” she cried out, pointing out the windshield.
“Yeah, I see it,” Cade said, grim satisfaction in his tone.
“Look!” she yelped in disbelief. “They’re turning into the main entrance of my father’s ranch! What’s going on here, Cade?”
Cade shrugged, speaking into his radio, giving the deputies who were racing to catch up with him the update. Signing off the radio, he began slowing down, braking to make the turn over the wide cattle guard. “I don’t know what’s going on, Kara. Maybe they think they can run onto anyone’s ranch and try to escape us.” His lips thinned. “It’s not going to work.” He swung the cruiser through the entrance, watching the truck fishtail ahead of them on the slippery asphalt. Every deputy familiarized him or herself with the ranches in Kenedy County. He recalled the layout on the Knight ranch, knowing there was an asphalt road to the main house and about half a mile down, the barn area. The rain had stopped and he saw the white two-story home up ahead and three red barns sitting half a mile behind it.
On either side of the road were fenced pipe rail pastures. In one, there was a small herd of white Santa Gertrudis cows with young calves.
“Where are they going?” Kara demanded, leaning forward, eyes narrowing as she watched the pickup continue at high speed toward her parents’ home.
“I have no idea,” Cade said, glancing in her direction. “They may be trying to lose me.”
“Well,” Kara muttered, “that asphalt road turns into a dirt road at the three barns area. If they think they’re going to lose you on that muddy dirt road, it gets really slippery after a rain. They can’t speed or they’ll crash, Cade.”
“My thoughts exactly. Listen, you need to stay with the cruiser if they stop and bail. All right?”
“Oh, I’m not getting out,” she promised, giving him a worried look. She frowned. “They’re turning into the barn area. What gives?”
Cade didn’t know, tightening his hands on the wheel, slowing down as they quickly approached the ranch home. He saw several wranglers in one pasture on horseback, herding a group of cattle toward another area in the distance. There were two wranglers in the ranch yard, doing clean up duties. Everything looked normal and quiet, but it wasn’t.
His mind churned with possibilities. Once more, Cade got on the radio, advising the deputies where the suspect was headed at the Circle K. They would arrive within minutes.
“They’ve stopping at barn three!” Kara gasped, giving Cade a wide-eyed look of confusion.
“Isn’t that the barn you said was off limits to you by your father?”
“Yes, yes it was. I don’t know what’s inside it. I never went in to find out.”
Cade saw the truck screech to a halt. Two men with rifles as well as pistols on their hips, leaped out, running hard for the closest door to the barn. “Stay in the cruiser, Kara, no matter what happens. Don’t leave it. If they start shooting, get down on the floorboards and keep your head down.”
“I-I won’t leave this car. Why are they running inside the barn? I don’t understand this. They act like they know our ranch and that barn. This doesn’t make sense, Cade.”
Hearing the confusion in her strained voice, he said, “We’re going to find out.” He braked the cruiser no more than ten feet away from the pickup. Both men had already disappeared inside the barn.
It was three-stories tall. What the hell was in there? Cade knew he was in danger by going in after them alone and he needed back up, but he wasn’t willing to wait. Wearing a Kevlar vest beneath his khaki shirt, he quickly parked the cruiser.
“When Burt Larson and the rest of the deputies arrive, they’ll follow me in and give me backup. You stay put. Tell them what you know.”
Giving a nod, she gripped his arm. “Be careful, Cade! Please! God, don’t get hurt!”
“I’ll be okay,” he promised, unsnapping the harness, pushing open the door, and un-holstering his pistol. “Lock the car doors behind me.” He saw how frightened Kara was. Sweeping the area, he saw no other wranglers nearby. He clicked on the radio attached to his shoulder epaulet and alerted the deputies on their way that he was entering barn three to apprehend the two fleeing suspects. He gave clear details about which barn it was and the weapons the men were carrying. The air was humid and warm, and Cade was already starting to sweat as he swept the immediate area for other intruders. Then, he raced toward the small, opened door to barn three. He could hear the lowing of some cattle, a bark of a dog within the white picket fence of the main ranch house. Everything seemed so peaceful.
He worried about the two men as he raced into the entrance of barn three. Who on earth were they? Did they work here? His mind spun with questions as he pressed himself to the door jamb, swiftly looking from side to side as he entered, pistol drawn.
The barn was huge and airy, light pouring in from various windows above from the second and third story of the building. It was grayish light though, which made it hard to see things clearly. His heart was racing as he kept his hands around his pistol and silently slipped inside. Hunkering down behind bales of straw stacked near the door, he heard the rough panting of the men echoing throughout the structure. Their boots struck a floor above him, the thunking sounds reverberating throughout it. His nostrils flared as he caught another scent. Damned if it wasn’t the odor of marijuana! Swiveling his head, Cade saw another group of what appeared to be bales of alfalfa. They were stacked in dark green plastic, to the rear of the first floor, which was where the smell was originating.
However, Cade didn’t have time to check it out. Leaping to his feet, he rapidly covered the distance to a barn ladder attached to the side of the southern wall. It was the only way up to the second and third stories of this place. Where the hell were they going? What did they know that he didn’t? Making sure he moved silently, he quickly ascended the ladder, pushing his pistol into his holster first. Barely easing his head to eye level with the second floor, he saw the two men hurriedly scrambling up the ladder to the third floor.
Grimacing, he took advantage of the situation, throwing himself up on the floor and running quietly to the north side of the barn where that ladder was situated. Neither suspect was looking back to see if someone was following them. That either spoke of their overblown confidence or their stupidity, he couldn’t decide which. It didn’t matter anyway. It played into his hands.
Below, Cade heard other men’s voices. The deputies had arrived. The men disappeared, clunking across the wooden floor, weaving in and around huge lots of bales that were wrapped in dark green plastic. The smell of marijuana was intense up here. Leaping off the ladder, slipping off to one side, Cade gave Burt his position. He didn’t want them shooting at him. Burt informed him that he’d already placed a deputy at the other two entrance/exit points on the first floor of the barn because Kara had told him about them. The rest of the law enforcement officers were coming inside with Burt to join him.
Satisfied, Cade w
aited for his team to arrive. Only one man at a time could ascend those ladders. Where the hell were they going? What was up on the third floor? Wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm, he waited impatiently, hearing the echo of deputies’ heavy boots coming up the ladder to the second floor. The cavalry had finally arrived.
*
Kara sat tensely in the cruiser, her hand pressed against her throat, her gaze riveted on the door of barn three. One grim-looking deputy, armed with an assault weapon, stood guard next to it, keeping watch. She’d seen two other deputies race around the barn with the same weapon, wearing Kevlar vests, heading for the other barn exit points. Her heart wouldn’t stop pounding and all she could think of was Cade and the other deputies being in danger. Cade had just gotten together with her for the first time in their lives. Would they have another day together? Terror ate at her as she twisted and moved restlessly in the passenger seat.
Two of her father’s wranglers had come over after all the sheriff’s cruisers had parked near the barn area. She told them to stay with her and not go near the barn. In as few words as possible through the opened window, she explained what had happened. The two cowboys looked worried and confused by the unexpected intrusion, but remained steadfastly by the cruiser with her, more in a protective stance, which Kara appreciated. They weren’t armed, but she was grateful they remained nearby.
Her mind whirled with so many questions. Neither cowboy had recognized the black truck or its occupants as it had raced by where they had been working in the front yard of the main ranch house. One part of her was glad her parents were in Chicago for the conference and not here to see this happen. She knew her father’s pompous stance in regards to law-enforcement and he would have been a pain in the ass to the deputies here on a manhunt. Word spread fast on a ranch this size and Kara knew that all the wranglers carried a radio. She didn’t know where the foreman was but she was sure he was getting word out to all the employees about what was going down.