Sam nodded. “It’ll help if the dog is outside. If he’s inside, he could sound the alarm as soon as we go up those stairs. I hope he likes Cheez-Its.”
“There’s the front door and a sliding glass door by the table, plus the kitchen door. If Sarge is in the front room, the kitchen door will be the best option.”
“Okay. Did you see where the barn is when you came in?” At her nod, he continued. “There’s a big oak behind it. We get out and if we get separated, we meet there. From there, we’re heading to Rock Creek Ranch.”
“Can you get there from here in the dark?”
“It’s a hike, but yeah, I can get us there. And dawn isn’t far off.”
He grasped the front of her coat and tugged her toward him.
“Sam, I can’t—”
“Shh, I know. We need to talk, but later.” He dipped his head and then his lips were on hers in a kiss that warmed her all the way through. They were both breathing more heavily when he stepped back. “We stick together and we’ll get through this.”
Chapter Twenty
Ellie crept up the stairs, Sam behind her. The door to the basement now leaned against a wall. It had been surprisingly easy to remove, and since it was an internal, hollow-core door, it hadn’t been all that heavy. The door at the top of the stairs was closed. The knob turned easily in her hand and she pushed the door open a half foot. The sound of snoring, much like a sputtering engine, filled the air. Sam’s hand at her waist tightened and she turned her head as he reached the top step beside her.
“I’ll go first.” Even with his mouth close to her ear, the words were barely audible.
She shook her head. “I’m the marshal, I go first.”
After a long pause, he gave a brief nod.
Pushing the door wider, she stepped into the room, standing frozen as she took in details. Dim light emanated from the kitchen, enough that she could see that Sarge lay in a fully extended recliner. From what she could tell, he didn’t have a gun on his lap. That was something.
She didn’t see Drew. Given the animosity between the two men, she didn’t think he’d stayed the night in Sarge’s home. A movement on the rug in front of Sarge’s chair had her stomach sinking. Rex raised his head, dark eyes gleaming. He stood, head lowered, and padded toward her across the carpeted floor. Ellie took it as a win that he wasn’t growling.
She reached out a hand to Sam. “Cheez-Its.”
He filled her hand and she bent forward to hold one out. Rex’s gaze moved from the Cheez-It to her face, then back.
Sam whispered in her ear. “We go for the kitchen door.”
She nodded and tossed a couple Cheez-Its in front of the dog. He stared at them, seeming to weigh his options, then gobbled them up.
She angled herself so she was facing the dog, backed a few steps toward the kitchen, and threw down more crackers. Sam must have figured out her plan because he moved behind her, hand gripping the back of her coat as he guided her backward toward the kitchen. Every couple feet she tossed crackers. And so they went, the dog following them as they moved toward the kitchen and escape.
Grateful for the single low-wattage bulb over the stove that offered enough light to see where they were going, she stepped inside the kitchen. Though her nerves were stretched tight, she thought they might make it. Then the snoring stopped. They both froze.
Sarge gave a phlegmy cough, and his chair creaked. She controlled her breathing, willing back the panic that urged her to bolt for the door. From where she was, she couldn’t see into the living room.
An electric whirr sounded overly loud and Sam’s grip tightened on her coat. She knew that sound. The footrest of the recliner was being lowered as the back was brought up. Rex’s gaze remained fixed on the crackers in her hand. The floor creaked and she straightened, waiting for the moment when Sarge would come around the corner and find them. But then another light came on, this one in the hall, followed by a shuffling of feet, and then the unmistakable sound of pee hitting water in the toilet. A minute later there was a flush and more shuffling footsteps. The chair creaked again, followed by the whirring sound. Giving a mental ew because Sarge hadn’t washed his hands, Ellie reached back for more Cheez-Its. So quietly she could hardly make out the words, Sam whispered, “That’s the last from my pocket.”
Several agonizing minutes later while she was dropping crackers one at a time, the snoring restarted. Ellie was never so happy to hear someone snoring in her life. She and Sam continued their painstaking trek across the kitchen. After swallowing the last cracker, Rex turned his head, ears perked, with an expression that said Where’s the Cheez-Its? his gaze shifting to Sam when he slid back the deadbolt and turned the knob. A cold breeze came through the opening as Sam stepped outside. He kept his hand on her coat and Ellie eased out after him. Sudden furious barking erupted as Rex launched himself against the door. Ellie reeled backward to be caught by strong arms. Rex had done them a favor by slamming shut the door so he couldn’t come after them.
Sam released her and grabbed her hand, yanking her after him. “Run!”
They raced around the house. A door slammed and Rex’s barking shot up in volume, and that told her he was outside.
“Go! I’m dumping the Cheez-Its from the bag to distract the dog.” Sam must have detected her hesitation because he snapped out, “Run, I’ll be right behind you.”
She ran. It was near impossible to see more than shadows overlaying shadows, the only light coming from a fixture attached to one corner of the barn and the pale glow of a crescent moon.
The storm had cleared leaving a star-strewn sky. The grass underfoot was wet and the patches of bare ground muddy. Ellie moved as swiftly as she could. The front yard was an obstacle course that would be a challenge in daylight. In the dark it was a nightmare.
She hit mud and her feet slid from under her. She regained her footing only to trip over something half buried in the dirt. She bit back a howl of pain when what felt like a knife sliced through her jeans and into her knee. Forcing herself to block out the pain, she struggled to her feet. She couldn’t hear Sam and could only trust that he was behind her. She pressed ahead, limping, her goal the tree on the far side of the barn. Even if the crackers slowed him down, if Rex wasn’t leashed he’d be after them in seconds and the meetup spot wouldn’t be safe.
Straining to hear over the thundering of her heart, she raced through the night, the pain in her knee excruciating. The barn lay up ahead. She’d circle the structure to the left to stay out of the light, hoping that as her eyes adjusted she’d be able to see well enough not to run into a fence or tractor or whatever else could be around.
In the pitch-black darkness at the side of the barn, she moved as quickly as she could, keeping her hands in front of her. She stumbled into a fence built against the corner. With a hand on the metal railing, she loped along as it turned back toward the barn and she realized it was some sort of corral. She paused, listening. A noise, like clothing rustling, had her reaching for the screwdriver. She patted her hip where it should have been, heart sinking when she realized she must have lost it when she’d tripped.
She kept still, waiting for Sam. She didn’t dare call out to him. Then a distinctive sound had her blood turning to ice—the metal on metal clank of a round being chambered into the barrel of a gun.
“Well, well, isn’t this a surprise. No sudden moves, now. I wouldn’t want to shoot you before it’s time.”
Drew. Ellie swallowed. She thought she heard the faint thudding of someone running, maybe Sam trying to reach their rendezvous point. Rex continued barking, but nearer the house. She prayed Drew hadn’t heard the running footfalls. Using the darkness, she shifted into the shadows.
“Hold it right there.” A light flared and she blinked as Drew shined a flashlight in her eyes.
“Let me go. Don’t make what you’ve done worse than it already is.” Drew was a dark form in front of an outline of what must be a back door to the barn.
“You thin
k you can talk your way out of this, sister? Not going to work. We’ll take a little walk back up to the house so Sarge can see who takes care of things when he fucks up. The asshole thought there was no way anyone could break out of that room, but now it’s up to me to catch the escaped prisoner.”
Ellie’s knee throbbed and she could feel blood soaking into her jeans. At least if Sam had escaped he’d be safe, and she’d only have to worry about getting herself free. The thought of Sam came with a strong yearning. When she was with him, she felt like somehow they’d come out of this mess alive. Without him beside her that optimism faded, but she refused to give in to the despair.
Drew’s tone changed. “It’d be even better if I bring you back with Sam. Where’s that brother of mine?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit. Tell me where he is, sister. Do that and I’ll try to get them to go easy on you.” His attention caught on her leg and he lit it with the flashlight. “Fuck, you’re bleeding pretty bad. Come on up to the house and we’ll take care of it, but first tell me where Sam is.”
“I really don’t know. I tripped and we got separated.”
He prodded her with the muzzle of his gun into walking in front of him. “Ha. He wouldn’t leave you behind. Maybe Sarge caught him.” The beam of his light shone on the ground in front of her.
“Who’s the ‘them’ you mentioned? I only know Sarge.”
“Asshole Sarge and Big Dog. Not going to lie, they’re planning on killing you both. I don’t much like that, but I get why they want it done. It’ll send a message to the courts not to try to take our guns, plus show that we’ll fight for our rights. We’ll be heroes like Jesse and Frank James. Bet we’ll have people falling over themselves to join our cause.”
Ellie never got what made the robber and murderer Jesse James heroic but wasn’t going to argue the point. “Murder is a lot more serious than simple kidnapping, Drew. You know all hell will break loose if you kill a federal judge or his girlfriend. Anything happens to us, this entire state will be crawling with law enforcement looking for you. And you will get caught. Things will be better for you if you let me go.”
He shook his head. “You should never have gotten with my brother. He never heeded the warnings and pulled you into his mess, so this is on him. If he’d reversed his ruling and let Bannister out of jail, none of this would have happened. But fucking Judge Creed has no problem trampling all over folks’ Constitutional rights.”
They paused under the light at the barn. Drew’s truck was in the shadows. Rex was still barking, but near the house. Sarge shouted something. Walking slower to stall, anything to give herself more time, she said, “He loves you, you know. Sam told me about you and your mom. He loved her, too.”
“Don’t you talk about my mother.”
“I’m not talking about her, I’m talking about Sam. He believes in you, believes you can be the man your mother hoped you would be.”
“Don’t you fucking talk about my mother.” His voice cracked and he shoved her forward.
“Sam said she made the ranch a home. That she loved you, and she even loved him. Would she be proud of you now, Drew?”
An explosion of barking and wild shouts erupted from behind the house, followed by the sharp crack of a gunshot splitting the air. Ellie slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream.
Sam!
Blood drained from her head and her vision grayed. Had he been caught? She’d thought he’d run past the barn, but then what had Sarge shot at? Drew grabbed her arm and pulled her up the driveway to where light from the house illuminated the front yard. Rex bulleted from the back, racing past them at the same moment a repulsive, sulfurous odor assailed her nostrils.
“Goddamned dog!”
Drew clicked off the flashlight and pulled his coat over his nose. “He can’t ever leave a skunk alone. You’d think he’d learn after he’s been sprayed a couple times. Hope Sarge killed the damn thing.”
Sarge charged around the side of the house, bringing the smell with him. Rex rolled on the ground, rubbing his face in the grass.
Drew took a hasty step back when Sarge stopped beside him, pistol in hand. “God, you reek as bad as the dog.”
Sarge scowled. “Damned dog can’t leave the fucking skunk alone. Thought he’d found our prisoners, but no, he had a skunk cornered by the woodpile. Sprayed him right between his eyes, then he tried to rub it off on me.”
Seeing the men and dog occupied, Ellie again moved back a step to the edge of the light.
“You shoot the skunk?”
“Missed it. Damn thing got away, but now I’ve got a dog that stinks to high heaven and I’ll have to burn these jeans. Damn dog can stay outside until he stops stinking. I can’t be giving him a tomato juice bath every time he gets stupid.”
The sound of a car engine coming up the road rumbled in the distance. She eased back one more step. Drew spotted her and she could have growled in frustration when he motioned her forward with a wave of the gun.
“I caught one of the prisoners you let escape. Good thing I stayed in the barn or she’d be gone. Guess your basement wasn’t as secure as you made out it was.”
“How was I to know they’d pry the door off its hinges? Now where’s Creed, or did you let him get away, too?”
“Let him get away? You let him get away, asshole, not me. I got her, didn’t I? You’re the dumbass who let them escape.”
“You think you’re all that? Then go ahead and put a bullet through her head, dickwad. Those are our orders. Once she’s dead, we’ll go after Creed.”
“You think I won’t do it? You think you’re the only one who can do the real business? After this, you’ll give me some goddamn respect and call me Lobo.”
“You’ll always be dickwad.”
Drew raised his arm, the barrel of the gun leveled at Ellie’s head.
Ellie couldn’t take her eyes off the dark hole in the muzzle of the pistol. She heard a vehicle roar around the bend and Drew lowered the gun. “We’ll see what Big Dog says.”
Ellie wheezed out a pent-up breath as a white truck with dual wheels in the back came to a hard stop under the circle of light by the barn. It struck her that the night wasn’t quite as dark. A faint pink glow was lightening the eastern sky.
She breathed deep to slow her racing heart. Both men holstered their weapons, making her wonder who had arrived that elicited that kind of response.
There was a scuffle by the newcomer’s truck.
“What the hell’s going on over there?” Drew craned his head to see.
“It’s got to be Creed,” Sarge groused. “Big Dog will get him. We’ll get our asses chewed that we let them escape.”
“You let them get away, not me.”
“All Big Dog will care about is that they escaped.”
“Shit.” Drew started shifting back and forth like he was nervous. “You think he needs help?”
Sarge gestured. “Does it look like he needs help?” Sam was walking toward them, a tall man behind him looming large.
As they neared the light, Ellie could see that the man following Sam wore an old-fashioned holster slung low on his thigh, the pearl grip of a revolver gleaming in the light from the house, a black cowboy hat tipped forward over his brow. He shoved Sam ahead of him.
Sam approached where she was standing, his gaze traveling over her, eyes blazing. He stopped in front of her. “You okay?”
At her nod, he mouthed the word “fight.”
Fight? Against three men with guns? The odds weren’t good, but they were worse if they did nothing. And taking the offensive would be unexpected and could catch their captors off guard. She gave an imperceptible nod.
Their adversaries clearly didn’t expect the attack. Sam rotated on the balls of his feet, swinging up and landing a punch that caught Drew square in the face. He went down like a puppet with its strings cut.
The big man reached for his weapon, but Sam went in low, tackling him to the ground in a
tangle of limbs that sent the cowboy hat flying. Ellie turned on Sarge, leading with a roundhouse kick as he went for his gun. The force of her kick spun him around, but when he came up, he had his gun in his hand. For the second time in only minutes, she found herself staring into the muzzle of a gun pointed at her head.
“Good choice,” he said as she froze. “Creed,” he barked, “give it up.”
Sam gave no indication of having heard. Straddling the other man, he used an elbow to crack him across his cheekbone, ducked to avoid a swinging fist, and gave a short jab to the nose.
Sarge raised the gun and shot a bullet into the air, then brought it back down again to level on Ellie. Sam leapt to his feet, fists clenched.
“Time to decide if your girlfriend lives another ten seconds, Creed.”
Sam’s gaze whipped from Ellie to Sarge.
“Easy. No need to be any more stupid than you’ve already been.” Sarge’s voice was utterly cool as the other men breathed heavily. Drew rolled onto to all fours and slowly pushed himself to standing.
“You fucking assholes.” The big man had gained his feet, wiping blood from his nose with his sleeve. He spoke with a deep voice rife with disdain. “Lower the gun, Sarge.”
Sarge hesitated, then did as he was told. The man picked up his hat, swatting it against his leg. When he locked his gaze on hers, Ellie felt like a trapdoor had dropped from beneath her.
Chapter Twenty-One
“You fucking assholes,” Richard Jameson repeated. “You kidnapped a Deputy US Marshal.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Sarge snapped. “This is Creed’s fiancée.”
“I doubt that. This woman is a Deputy US Marshal.”
Hidden Judgment Page 20