Dade

by Delores Fossen

  At first their attacker seemed to be part of the smoke itself, but she realized that’s because he wore black clothes. Only his face was visible. Definitely a man, tall and thin, and he had the cold, hard look of a killer.

  The man took aim at them and fired. Just as Dade dragged her to the ground. The dirt was like ice, and the cold and adrenaline slammed through her. Her heart rate spiked when the bullet slammed into the ground just inches from her.

  Dade pivoted and fired at the shooter. He didn’t waste any time. He latched onto her wrist with his left hand and yanked her hard, shoving her behind the tree. Dade followed, readjusting his aim, but he didn’t fire.

  Kayla peered out from the pecan tree. She could no longer see the gunman, but thankfully the smoke wasn’t obliterating her view of the ditch. Or the road—where she saw the approaching vehicle.

  “There’s a truck,” she said to Dade.

  His gaze whipped in that direction, but Kayla pinned her attention to the area where she’d last seen their attacker.

  Where the heck was he?

  As menacing as it was to see him step out of that wall of smoke, not knowing where he was chilled her to the bone. She kept her gun ready and tried to steady both her heart and her trembling hands.

  “It’s Grayson’s truck,” she heard Dade say.

  Relief flooded through her, but it was short-lived. That’s because a bullet slammed into the tree just inches from her. Kayla jumped back, bashing into Dade, but both of them somehow managed to keep hold of their guns.

  Volleying glances between the direction of that last shot and the road, Kayla spotted the Silver Creek patrol truck that had come to a stop just twenty yards or so from the house. Grayson was behind the wheel and he was alone. She wished he’d brought the entire deputy force, but at the moment she would take whatever she could get.

  “Keep watch,” Dade ordered, and he took out his phone.

  Because of the shrill security alarms, she couldn’t hear much of what Dade was saying, but he’d no doubt called Grayson because she could see him on the phone, as well. She hoped they were figuring a way out of this nightmare.

  There was movement just to the right of the smoke, and Kayla spotted the gunman again. He aimed and fired. The bullet flew past her, so close that she could have sworn she felt the heat from it.

  Kayla reached out from the tree and fired back. With her shaky aim, she doubted she had hit anything other than the burning house, but she wanted to keep the shooter at bay. She didn’t want to give him a chance to get closer to the ditch.

  Dade slapped his phone shut and shoved it back into his jeans pocket. “We need to keep the gunman busy. Mason and the fire department are on the way, but Grayson’s not going to wait for him. He’ll go ahead and get Connie and Robbie away from here.”

  Kayla couldn’t even manage a thank God, but she was beyond thankful that Grayson had put her baby first. She wanted Robbie far away from the bullets. Still, how did Grayson plan to get them into his truck?

  “Stay here,” Dade told her. That was it, all the warning she got before he dived out from cover and behind the adjacent tree.

  The gunman fired at Dade.

  Of course.

  And she realized this was exactly what Dade wanted their attacker to do.

  Dade moved again, jumping the narrow space between cover and the next tree. From the corner of her eye, she saw Grayson’s truck speed forward.

  The gunman saw it, too.

  And he turned in that direction.

  Kayla forced her hand to steady, and she fired a shot. The gunman jerked back as if he’d been shot and disappeared into the smoke again.

  Grayson came to a stop, and the passenger’s door flew open. Connie must have figured out quickly what was going on because it was only a few seconds before she came out of the ditch. With Robbie clutched close to her, she jumped into the truck. The moment the door was closed, Grayson sped away.

  Kayla was so relieved that tears sprang to her eyes, but she blinked them back. Yes, her baby was safe, but now Dade and she had to finish this.

  She glanced over at Dade when he motioned toward the backyard. At first Kayla didn’t see the gunman, but she picked through the smoke and outbuildings and finally spotted him. He was crouched behind a large metal container in the corral area.

  “You stay here,” Dade mouthed. “I’ll circle around behind him.”

  Kayla wanted to scream no!, that he should wait for backup, but Dade had already turned his back on her and was darting to another tree. He continued that way until he reached the last tree, and then he dropped to the ground.

  When her lungs began to ache, Kayla forced herself to breathe, even though the air was clogged with smoke. She kept her wrist braced to help with the jitters, and she prayed her aim would be good enough to help Dade and keep him alive.

  He was risking so much for Robbie and for her.

  And the risks continued.

  Kayla’s heart started beating like crazy when she lost sight of Dade. The gunman was still there, lurking behind the container. He wasn’t far enough out in the open to give her a clean shot, and she couldn’t take one for fear of accidentally hitting Dade.

  She spotted more movement. Not from the gunman, but from Dade. He was creeping along the side of the wooden corral fence. Because she could see him, she did something about creating a diversion. Kayla fired a shot just to the left of the container. It worked.

  The gunman shifted in that direction.

  It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Dade vaulted over the fence and raced across the corral. Kayla was terrified and could only watch and wait. If necessary, she could fire another diversion shot.

  It wasn’t necessary.

  Dade made it all the way to the container before the gunman whirled around. Too late. Dade knocked the gun from his hand and jammed his own weapon against the man’s head.

  Kayla broke into a run toward them, and she kept her gun aimed and ready. Dade made eye contact with her. Just a glance. Just enough to reassure her that this attack had come to an end.

  But then she got a good look at the gunman’s face.

  A face she recognized.

  And Kayla realized this wasn’t over. No. This was just the beginning.

  Chapter Ten

  Every muscle in Dade’s body was primed for a fight. Yeah, Kayla and he had managed to capture the person who’d tried to kill them, but that person wasn’t talking.

  Danny Flynn, however, was smirking.

  Despite the handcuffs and ankle shackles, the SOB lounged in the interview room while Carrie and another medic bandaged the graze wound on the top of his left shoulder. It wasn’t a serious enough injury for him to go to the hospital. Besides, Dade didn’t want this snake out of his sight.

  “If this were the old days, I could beat a confession out of him,” Mason mumbled. His brother was right behind Kayla and him, and all three of them were glaring at the hired gun who had refused to answer a single question, much less admit his guilt in nearly killing Kayla and Dade.

  “I wish I could just slap that stupid smile right off his face,” Kayla added, earning as close to an approving nod as Mason ever gave. “He put my baby in danger, and by God, he’s going to pay for that.”

  Dade felt the same way. But Flynn had already lawyered up, and that meant Brennan would probably pay the bill for the attorney who was on his way from San Antonio. Somehow, they had to get Flynn to confess that Brennan had hired him to kill Kayla.

  If that’s what had really happened.

  The pieces all seemed to point in that direction, but there was a niggling doubt in the back of Dade’s mind. Maybe that had something to do with the way Carrie kept glancing back at him. Dade didn’t trust her, and he was trusting her less and less with each passing second.

  Kayla groaned again, and glanced first at Dade’s phone, which he held in his hand. Then, she glanced at the dispatcher who was seated behind the front counter.

  “Grayson will c
all as soon as he has Connie and Robbie settled,” Dade reminded her.

  That didn’t soothe her. Nothing short of holding her son would, and Dade couldn’t give that to her right now. Grayson hadn’t wanted to bring Robbie and Connie back into town where they might be spotted by one of Brennan’s cronies or someone who might inadvertently reveal their location. Instead, Grayson had decided to go ahead and establish a new safe house, somewhere, and Dade wouldn’t know the location until everything was in place.

  Kayla glanced up at him. There was no longer fear in her eyes. Just the anger fueled by what had to be a bad adrenaline crash. “I don’t know how much more I can take of this,” she whispered, leaning closer so that only Dade would hear.

  “I know.” And even though he knew it would earn him a glare from Mason, Dade slipped his arm around her and eased her out of the doorway and away from Flynn’s line of sight.

  But Mason didn’t glare. Well, not at Kayla and him away. He glared at Flynn.

  The medics finished and packed up their equipment. Tommy Watters came out first and nodded a farewell to them. Tommy was fresh out of his EMT training, and this was probably his first gunshot wound. He seemed in a hurry to get out of there.

  Not Carrie, though.

  She stopped, snared Dade’s gaze. “How did this joker find you?” Carrie asked as if she hadn’t already considered the possibilities.

  “He followed you.” And Dade didn’t make it sound like a question. It was not only possible, it was likely that Flynn had followed either Carrie and Misty or Winston and Alan.

  Carrie shook her head but not before sending a venomous glance at Kayla. Probably because Dade still had his arm around her.

  “No one followed me,” Carrie insisted. She looked around as if to see who was listening. “But her sister made some calls when we were driving out there. Why don’t you ask her about it?” And with that toss under the bus, Carrie strolled away.

  Dade cursed. He would ask Misty all right, but he hated the concern that created in Kayla’s eyes. She had enough on her plate without suspecting her sister’s involvement in these attacks.

  “I’ll find out where Kayla’s sister is,” Mason volunteered. “And I’ll see if I can come up with something you can use for leverage to get this dirtbag to spill his guts.”

  The dirtbag was still smirking. If Flynn had any pain whatsoever from his injury, he certainly didn’t show it. No fear, either. Probably because he thought his lawyers would be able to wrangle a deal, but there was only one thing that would make Dade deal with Flynn: for Flynn to hand them Brennan on a silver platter.

  Kayla caught onto Dade’s arm when he started to move around her and go into the interrogation room. “Can you call Grayson before you question Flynn?” she asked.

  Dade didn’t have to debate this, even though he knew Grayson was no doubt busy. Still, Kayla had to have some reassurance. It’d been nearly two hours since Grayson had driven off with Connie and Robbie.

  Dade shut the door between Flynn and them and pressed in Grayson’s number on his cell. His brother answered on the first ring, and Kayla moved closer so she could hear.

  “Everything’s okay,” Grayson assured him before Dade could even speak. “I have Connie and the baby at a safe location.”

  “Where?” Kayla immediately asked.

  But Grayson didn’t give her an immediate answer. He hesitated big-time. “I’d rather not say. We obviously have some kind of breach in security. Maybe a leak in communication, and until I’m sure it’s safe, I don’t want to tell anyone where we are.”

  Tears sprang to Kayla’s eyes. “But I need to see my baby.”

  “And you will,” Grayson answered. “Just give me a few more hours to make sure I’ve made things as safe for Robbie as I can.”

  “How can you do that?” Kayla asked. Her voice was trembling now, and she was on the verge of a full-fledged cry.

  “Nate is on his way there to the sheriff’s building so he can run a bug sweep. I want to make sure Brennan or one of his henchman didn’t plant some kind of listening or tracking device. Then, Nate will interview all four people who went to that safe house because one of them could have leaked your location.”

  So that meant Winston, Alan, Carrie and Misty would all be brought back in. Good. Dade was to the point where he didn’t trust any of them.

  “When I’m sure it’s safe to do so, I’ll arrange to have Dade bring you here. Okay?” Grayson asked.

  It took her several seconds to agree. “Okay.” It certainly wasn’t the arrangement she wanted, but it would have to do. Robbie’s safety came first.

  “I’ll have Nate call you when he’s done,” Dade told his brother, and he ended the call. He turned to Kayla. “Why don’t you wait in my office while I talk to Flynn?”

  Her breath rushed out with her words. “I don’t want to. I want to hear what he has to say.”

  Dade couldn’t have her in the interrogation room with Flynn. He had to follow the rules. Well, the basic ones anyway. Plus, Kayla was on the verge of losing it, and if she went after Flynn and tried to slap that smile off his face, she might get hurt.

  “You can watch and listen in the room next door,” Dade let her know. “There’s a two-way mirror.”

  Kayla looked as if she might argue, but Dade brushed a kiss on her lips. “I won’t be long.” And he ushered her into the observation room.

  Because the camera was already positioned near the two-way mirror to record Flynn’s interview in the other room, Dade went ahead and turned it on to start the recording. He was about to go back to Flynn when he saw Mason making his way back toward him.

  “I just got off the phone with Nate’s contact at SAPD,” Mason explained. “Flynn has a teenaged son that he calls Little Dan. Apparently, he’s the apple of Flynn’s wormy little eyes. The kid just turned sixteen and has a juvenile record. When he was in lockup last year, Little Dan lost it. Had some kind of panic attack because he’s claustrophobic. My advice is play dirty with that bit of info and see where it gets you.”

  Dade would. Flynn certainly hadn’t minded the dirty play when he fired those shots around Robbie and Kayla, so Dade would give him a little of his own medicine.

  Flynn sat, waiting. Oh, yeah. He was a pro at this. Dade knew the man was thirty-six and had been arrested four times for assault and breaking-and-entering. However, there had been no arrests in the past two years since he’d been on Charles Brennan’s payroll.

  “You’re wasting your time,” Flynn volunteered the moment Dade stepped inside. His smile widened, revealing tobacco-stained, chipped teeth. With the yellowy gray in his dark hair, Flynn looked much older than his years. “I’m not saying anything to you.”

  Dade read him his rights. Then, he swiveled the empty metal chair around and sat in it so that he could casually drape his arms over the back. He wanted to look as laid-back as Flynn, even though inside him there was a bad storm brewing. Dade really wanted to beat this guy senseless for trying to kill Kayla.

  “You don’t need to say anything,” Dade said. “I’ll just keep you company until your lawyer arrives. Then we’ll process you and put you in a holding cell.” Dade forced a smile. “Look at you. So relaxed. Not bothered at all by any of this. Nothing like your son. He’s really making a fuss over at SAPD.”

  Flynn’s smirk evaporated. “What the hell does that mean?”

  Dade shrugged. Paused long enough to get Flynn to squirm. “SAPD picked up Little Dan about a half hour ago.”

  Flynn would have come across the table if it hadn’t been for the shackles tethering him to the chair. “You got no right to touch my boy.”

  “Oh, yeah? Well, SAPD disagrees. An eyewitness tied Little Dan to the shootings.” Dade shook his head, feigning concern. “Accessory to attempted murder. And from what I hear from my brother over at SAPD, they’re going to charge your boy as an adult.”

  Flynn made a feral sound and violently shook the chains. “I need to call him now.”

  A
nother headshake. “You got one phone call, and you made it to your lawyer.”

  “You can’t do this.” Flynn’s jaw was iron stiff. “Little Dan can’t stand to be penned up. He gets these fits, and he’ll need his meds. He’ll go crazy without ’em.”

  Dade made a sound of understanding. “Yeah, that probably explains why he tried to call you when he was picked up. But, of course, we have your phone in evidence, so his call went to voice mail. Too bad. I heard the officers had to get rough with him to put him in that cell.”

  Flynn opened his mouth again as if to make that animal sound, but then he squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. “He had nothing to do with this. Let him go.”

  “Can’t do that. Attempted murder of a baby, a witness in protective custody and a deputy sheriff. Those charges aren’t just going away.”

  Flynn’s breath came out in short angry spurts, and the veins popped out on his forehead. The seconds crawled by, and Dade hoped Flynn would say something, anything, before the lawyer waltzed in and uncovered Dade’s lie. The lie would hold up in court because cops were allowed to give false information during interrogation. However, the lawyer would no doubt advise Flynn to stay quiet.

  “What do you want to hear?” Flynn growled.

  “The truth, of course.” And Dade waited and did some praying.

  “My son had nothing to do with this,” Flynn repeated. “So as soon as I’ve had my say, you’ll make a call to get him released. Deal?”

  Despite the time eating away at him, Dade pretended to think about that. “If you convince me that Little Dan is innocent, then I’ll make that call.”

  Flynn’s dirt-brown eyes narrowed. His mouth shook because his teeth were clenched so tight, but he finally nodded. “Charles Brennan hired me and Raymond Salvetti to scare his daughter-in-law. To do that, we had to find her, so we had someone watching her sister. I followed her out to the house where you and Kayla were hiding out.”