Dade

by Delores Fossen

  Her eyes widened. “You think Alan will try to run or something?” The or something hiked up her nerves. “No, Mason said Alan was ready to take his punishment. He’ll be charged with intoxicated manslaughter which is a second-degree felony, and we’ll also tack on leaving the scene of a crime. There’s no way around it. He’ll see some jail time, and he’ll lose his law license.”

  Kayla nodded. “I’m betting Charles planned to use Alan to help him get out of this trial.”

  “No doubt, but it didn’t work.” He ran his hand down her arm, hoping it would help soothe her.

  “And Misty?” she asked. “Any word from her?”

  Dade had to shake his head. This fell into the bad news category. “No other calls from Misty. The Rangers traced her call to the hotel, but she wasn’t there when they arrived just minutes after she finished talking to us.”

  Another hitch in the nerves department for Kayla. Her mouth trembled a little. “Once I’ve testified, I’ll see if I can get in touch with her.”

  Dade didn’t try to talk her out of that. He wouldn’t have succeeded anyway because, for better or worse, Misty would always be her sister.

  Kayla moved away from him and picked up the pants she’d worn the previous day. The ones that Dade had practically ripped off her. She reached into the pocket and retrieved something.

  His silver concho.

  “For luck,” she said, and she slipped it into her bra, probably because she had no pockets in the outfit she was wearing.

  Dade couldn’t imagine the concho being lucky, but he wasn’t about to argue with her. Whatever got her through this morning was fine with him. He only hoped it didn’t set off the metal detector in the courthouse. His brothers would have a field day with his trying to explain why Kayla had his concho in her lacy pink bra.

  “Ready?” he asked, checking his watch. “Mason should be waiting for us.”

  “Mason?” she questioned.

  “I wanted two of us to escort you to the courthouse.” He tried to toss that out there casually, as if going outside a single block was no big deal. But her safety was the biggest deal of all to him, and Dade wanted to take every precaution.

  “Thank you,” she whispered as they walked out.

  They went down the stairs where Mason was waiting for them. He had his shoulder propped against the wall while he read something on his phone.

  “A problem?” Dade asked.

  “Just ranch business.”

  Yeah, the ranch ate up a major part of Mason’s time, and Dade didn’t want to think of how many hours they’d all spend playing catch-up when this was done.

  The building was quiet for a change. Grayson was on his way back from the safe house with Robbie and Connie. Mel was at the jail with Brennan and his attorney. That left the other deputy, Luis Lopez, and the dispatcher, Tina Fox, to man the sheriff’s office. But hopefully nothing else would go wrong before they had their full staff back in place.

  “It’s only a block away,” Dade let her know. “But we’re driving.” With Misty unaccounted for and Alan out on bond, he wanted to be careful.

  Mason and Dade put her between them and hurried to the cruiser that Mason already had waiting. They didn’t waste any time, and as soon as the three of them were inside the vehicle, Dade drove away.

  It took him longer to get out of the parking lot and onto Main Street than it did to drive the block. Dade didn’t let down his guard, and in fact his guard skyrocketed when he pulled up next to the courthouse and spotted Brennan.

  “Charles,” Kayla mumbled, obviously spotting him as well.

  Brennan was in handcuffs, and Mel was heading to the side entrance of the courthouse. Probably to avoid the photographers and news crew out front.

  Dade and Mason got out first, positioning Kayla behind them. Out of Brennan’s line of sight. Or rather that was the plan. But Brennan saw her anyway because he came to a dead stop. No smirk or smile today.

  Brennan shot them an ice-cold glare.

  “Happy with yourself, Kayla?” he called out.

  She didn’t answer, but Dade hated that she had to be this close to the devil himself. Dade looked back to reassure her, but then he heard Mason.

  “Hell,” his brother growled, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Mason reach for his gun.

  Dade automatically did the same. He drew his gun and took aim.

  But it was already too late.

  Despite the cuffs, Brennan rammed his elbow into the deputy’s stomach. His motion was seamless. And fast. Too fast for Dade to get off a clean shot.

  Brennan grabbed the Glock from Mel’s holster and put it to the deputy’s head.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kayla was too stunned to move and could only stand there and watch in horror at the nightmare happening right in front of her. Charles had finally lost it, and he looked ready to kill the deputy on the spot.

  “If anyone moves, she dies!” Charles shouted.

  Mel froze, and Dade and Mason stood there with their guns trained on him.

  “Stay behind me,” Dade whispered to Kayla.

  She did, but she hated that once again Dade and his brother and now Mel were taking the ultimate risk to keep her alive.

  Charles kept the gun pressed to Mel’s head, and he inched back until he was right against the brick exterior wall. He probably did that so no one could sneak up on him and grab the gun, but he had to realize that he couldn’t escape.

  Or maybe not.

  Kayla got a sickening feeling. Was this some kind of calculated escape plan? Maybe he had someone nearby ready to assist.

  Kayla’s gaze darted around the crowd of people who, like her, had come to a dead stop. No one looked ready to spring to Charles’s aid, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t managed to pay off one or more of them to help him escape.

  Or even kill her.

  The crowd and the buildings on each side of them essentially meant they were trapped, literally in the parking lot between the two-story courthouse and the town’s mortuary. They weren’t close enough to either building just to duck inside. Of course, there was the cruiser and a few other vehicles they could take cover behind if it became necessary.

  “Drop the gun, Brennan!” Dade ordered.

  Now Charles smiled. “Not on your life. Or I should say, not on Kayla’s life, because we both know she’s the one I want.” He dug his gun into the deputy’s head. “The cop here is just a poor substitute.”

  Oh, God. Was he going to try to trade Mel for her? Kayla didn’t want the woman hurt, but if she traded positions with the deputy, Kayla figured it would be like signing her own death warrant.

  “Mr. Brennan?” his attorney, Darcy Burkhart, called out. She was in the crowd but was making her way toward them. “Stop this, please. And put down the gun.”

  “Stay back,” Mason warned the lawyer, and thankfully she froze. Kayla didn’t want Charles to have any excuse to go on a shooting spree.

  “What now?” Mason tossed out to Charles. “We just all wait outside until we freeze to death or your hand gets tired?”

  The corner of Charles’s mouth lifted again. “I like your bedside manner, Deputy. No, we don’t wait. Kayla will walk toward me, and I’ll let the good cop here go.”

  Kayla felt everything inside her turn to ice. She couldn’t stand there and let Mel die.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Dade warned Kayla when she took a step forward.

  Mason and Dade closed ranks, stepping closer to each other so that it created a barrier between Charles and her.

  “But Mel…” Kayla protested.

  “He’s not going to kill her,” Dade whispered to her from over his shoulder. “Right now, Mel is the only thing stopping him from dying.”

  Even though the blood was rushing through her, causing her pulse to pound in her head, Kayla forced herself to think that through. Dade was right. Charles was too narcissistic to commit suicide, and that’s exactly what he would be doing if he killed Mel.
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  “Well?” Charles challenged.

  “There is no well,” Dade challenged right back. “You can’t escape. The only thing you can do is give Deputy Garza back her gun and then go into the courthouse so we can get on with this trial.”

  “It’s not a trial,” Charles argued. “It’s a lynch mob. I know what you did—talking that idiot Flynn into telling his lies so he could get a lighter sentence. You should have offered the deal to me, Deputy Ryland, because Flynn has blood on his hands.”

  Kayla shuddered. Even though she knew Flynn was a criminal, she couldn’t imagine anyone dirtier than Charles.

  “Thirty seconds,” Charles added. “That’s all the time you boys have. If Kayla isn’t over here by then, I’ll start shooting.”

  That caused a ripple of chatter through the crowd, and even though Kayla didn’t want to risk looking back, she heard some of them running. Good, because she was afraid this could turn ugly very fast.

  “No deal,” Dade answered. “Kayla stays put.”

  Charles lifted his shoulder. “Then in twenty seconds, I’ll kill someone, and I’ll keep killing until I have Kayla.”

  “Get ready to jump behind the cruiser,” Dade warned her in a whisper.

  But Kayla didn’t get ready. She stared at Charles from over Dade’s and Mason’s shoulders. She had only one thing that she could use to reason with Charles, and it turned her stomach to have to do it.

  “Charles, think this through,” Kayla called out to him. “Preston is dead, and if you kill me, then Robbie will be an orphan. You’ll never get to know him because you’ll be on death row. Is that what you want for your only grandchild?”

  “Robbie,” Charles repeated, and there seemed to be some regret in his voice. “It’s unfortunate but necessary. Besides, I have good lawyers, and that death penalty might not even happen. You’d be surprised how many legal loopholes gobs of money can find. In fact, I think I feel an insanity plea coming on.”

  Kayla’s heart dropped. She’d held out a shred of hope that she could reason with him if she used Robbie, but Charles was too far gone to listen to any reason.

  “Jump behind the cruiser,” Dade ordered her.

  “You and Mason, too,” she insisted.

  But the words had hardly left her mouth when the sounds cracked through the air.

  Oh, God.

  Charles fired the gun.

  DADE TURNED, HOOKED his arm around Kayla’s waist and dragged her behind the cruiser. Mason went the other direction and ducked behind an SUV.

  “Get down!” Dade shouted to the crowd who all thankfully seemed to be scrambling for cover.

  He couldn’t tell if the bullet had actually hit anyone. There were shouts, screams and the sounds of all hell breaking loose.

  Brennan’s lawyer was still begging for him to surrender, but Dade was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen. Her client had just attempted murder in front of dozens of witnesses, and Brennan seemed to be in the mode of last resort. Unfortunately, last resort could get someone killed.

  Dade peered around the cruiser. Brennan now had his handcuffed wrists looped around Mel’s neck, and the gun was aimed outward, toward the dispersing crowd.

  And toward Kayla.

  Mel looked pale and shaky. Rightfully so. She’d been a deputy for twenty years now and had never faced anything like this.

  Behind him, Kayla wasn’t looking steady, either. Her mouth was trembling, teeth chattering, breath gusting, and she was praying.

  “Grayson can’t come driving into this with Robbie and Connie,” she mumbled.

  “He won’t. By now he’s already gotten a half-dozen calls and is arranging for backup.”

  Dade was sure of that, but what they needed was a hostage negotiator. Nate, preferably. This was one of his areas of expertise, and Dade hoped like the devil Nate was nearby or on his way.

  “Kayla?” Brennan yelled. And he shouted her name several times in that same mocking tone.

  Each shout made her tremble harder, and Dade wished he could slam his fist right into the man’s face to shut him up. He was sick of the games Brennan was playing and even sicker of the effect it was having on Kayla.

  “You planning to die today, Brennan?” Dade yelled back. He didn’t figure for one minute that would put any fear in the man, but he needed to do something, anything, to rattle this SOB.

  “Not me. No plans to die,” Brennan assured him. “The deputy here probably didn’t have plans, either, but that’s exactly what will happen if Kayla doesn’t get over here. Now!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

  “Oh, God,” Kayla mumbled. She inched closer to Dade. “I have to go out there. I can’t let him kill Mel.”

  Dade had to get his jaw unclenched before he could speak. “This isn’t up for discussion. You aren’t going out there because Brennan will gun you down before you make it to him. Then, he’ll use Mel as a human shield to escape. If he manages that, he’ll kill her, too, and anyone else he can take out in the process.”

  Dade glanced at her to make sure that had sunk in. It had. She nodded. And Kayla got a new look in her eyes. “I have to do something.”

  “Brennan will make a mistake,” he assured her. “And when he does, Mason will have him.”

  Dade tipped his head to his brother who was about ten yards away. Mason wasn’t looking back at the crowd. He had his attention nailed to Brennan, and his gun was ready. Thank God Mason had a steady hand and a deadly aim.

  “Kayla!” Brennan shouted again. But this time, it wasn’t just a shout. Brennan fired another shot, and this one slammed into the cruiser.

  Dade cursed and pulled Kayla lower to the ground, but he wasn’t sure that was any safer because a bullet could go underneath the car and hit her.

  “How many bullets does he have?” Kayla asked.

  Too many. Mel’s gun was a full-sized 9 mm Glock, and it held seventeen rounds. That meant Brennan had fifteen more chances to try to kill as many of them as possible. But Dade kept that to himself.

  “Mason, if you get a shot, take it,” Dade shouted, although that order was just for Brennan’s benefit. To remind him that any second now he could have bullets flying at him. Mason certainly didn’t need permission to take out a would-be killer.

  “How many bullets does he have left?” Kayla pressed.

  Dade huffed. “Fifteen.”

  She huffed, too. “We have to do something to make him use up those rounds.”

  Yeah. Dade’s mind was already trying to work that out. He could maybe move Kayla to another vehicle for cover and put the cruiser in gear and send it Brennan’s way. Of course, that was a long shot because Brennan might realize the cruiser was driverless and not fire. Then, there was the danger of moving Kayla. He needed her out of this parking lot.

  And then Dade saw a possible game changer.

  Nate.

  His brother was at the end of the morgue and was peering around the corner of the building. Nate wasn’t exactly concealed, and Brennan would no doubt be able to see him if he looked in that direction. Hell.

  He hoped Nate didn’t do anything stupid, especially considering his state of mind. After all, it had been only hours since Nate had learned that Brennan was almost certainly the man behind Ellie’s murder.

  Dade glanced at Mason who was motioning for Nate to get back. Brennan couldn’t have seen Mason, either, but something must have alerted him because he turned his head in Nate’s direction.

  “No!” Kayla shouted, obviously aware of what was happening.

  Dade couldn’t risk firing a warning shot because it could ricochet and hit someone. But he had to do something before Nate stepped out and offered himself in exchange for Mel. Brennan would only kill him.

  “Give me the concho,” Dade said to Kayla.

  Kayla’s eyes widened, but she took it from her bra. The moment that Dade had it in his hand, he tossed it straight toward Brennan.

  It worked.

  Brennan’s attention snapped in the d
irection of the silver concho when it plinked onto the concrete parking lot. He fired at it.

  And then everything went crazy.

  Mel must have realized this was her chance to get away because she dropped to the ground, and since Brennan’s handcuffed wrists were looped around her neck, she pulled him down with her.

  “Stay here. I mean it,” Dade warned Kayla, and he rushed out to help Mel.

  Nate and Mason did the same, all three of them converging on what was now a fight to save Mel. The deputy had her hands fisted around Brennan’s wrist so that he couldn’t aim the gun at her.

  But that meant the gun was aimed pretty much everywhere else.

  Dade ran toward the scuffle and kept his own weapon ready. Mason and Dade did the same. They could only watch as Brennan kicked Mel, trying to wrench her hands off his wrist.

  A kick to her stomach did the trick.

  Mel fell back, gasping for air, and her hands dropped from Brennan’s. However, she wasn’t completely out of Dade’s and Mason’s line of fire.

  Brennan grabbed at Mel, no doubt to use her again as a human shield, but he blindly fired the gun in Dade and Mason’s direction. The bullet went into the air, missing them, but Dade knew once Brennan had control of Mel that the next bullet would almost certainly find a target.

  Hopefully not Kayla.

  Dade prayed she was still behind the car where he’d told her to stay.

  Brennan latched onto Mel’s hair, and Dade cursed when he realized he still didn’t have a clean shot. He was so focused on finding a solid shot that it stunned him when he heard the sound.

  The familiar thick blast.

  A bullet.

  The shot slammed into the side of Brennan’s chest, but it didn’t bring him down. Brennan stopped, and his attention zoomed to his left.

  To Nate, the man who’d just shot him.

  But it was too late for Brennan to duck and take cover. Nate fired a second shot directly into Brennan.

  Brennan mumbled something.

  Then he dropped to the ground.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kayla held her breath and prayed those shots hadn’t hit Dade.