“Why are you doing this?” Mara cried out. The question seemed to amuse him. He actually laughed.
“For money, what else?” That one little laugh sounded twisted. Marsden had lost his patience. “Now, move it or I kill the boy first.”
Mara didn’t hesitate this time. She never wanted to be the cause of pain for the Cullens again. She didn’t want to be the reason Leigh lost her son or Eric lost his mother.
Mara straightened her back, held up her chin and started to walk. It wasn’t until she was outside and looking at the flat, open area between the barn and the woods that her confidence faded.
Her thoughts flew to her daughter, who she prayed was safe, and then to the man who had given her Alexa.
Mara’s heart squeezed.
She should have told Billy she still loved him.
And always would.
* * *
BILLY RACED ACROSS Leigh Cullen’s property in the Bronco cussing. He led a stream of deputies while the local SWAT team was fifteen minutes behind.
He didn’t have time to wait for them. While Billy thought Beck might hold off on killing Mara after Bryan had finally given up the location of the stash, he knew that Marsden wouldn’t. He was a greedy man with a power complex. And a former cop. He knew firsthand how witnesses and loose ends could undo even the smartest man’s plans.
“Marsden won’t go down easily,” Matt said from the passenger’s seat. He had his gun in his hand, ready. “I can’t say the same for Beck. I don’t know what kind of man he is.”
“He likes to talk,” Billy said. “If you need to stall, ask him a question about humanity or the line between right or wrong or if he’s an Auburn or Alabama fan. I’m sure that’ll get him rattling on for a while.” Matt snorted. “But you’re right about Marsden. If he doesn’t have an escape plan set up, he’ll make one. And if he can’t escape...” Billy didn’t finish the thought out loud but they both knew Marsden would kill Mara and Leigh and her kid. As soon as Bryan had told them the stash was next to the barn, marked by a tree that had been planted when he’d brought the cache in, the department had tried to track the Cullens down. Turned out they were missing. Billy only hoped they were still alive, held captive with Mara.
Who also needed to still be alive.
Just the thought of the alternative made Billy cuss some more. It didn’t help that in the distance they could just make out a faint light on what must have been the barn. Billy knew Riker County and he’d been out to the Cullens once before, but he didn’t know this part of their property. He didn’t like the added disadvantage.
“Picked one hell of a night for a showdown,” Matt said, leaning forward to look up at the sky. Clouds blanketed the moon and stars. Being out in the country, with no light from above, put them at a further disadvantage. But it at least helped with the next part of Billy’s plan.
He slowed and pulled into the grass. Matt radioed the men behind them to do the same. While taking Beck and Marsden by force would be easier, Billy had a feeling it ran the best chance of ending in blood. It was time to rely on stealth.
“Ready?” Matt asked after he checked his gun again. Billy did the same. There was no room to make mistakes.
“Let’s finally put an end to this.”
There was half a football field’s length of flat grass and dirt between them and the barn. An outdoor light hung over one of the doors but it didn’t worry Billy. He could make out the outline of a vehicle tucked against the side of the barn they were sneaking toward. Billy’d bet dollars to donuts it was the car Mara had been taken in earlier that day. He knew Beck and Marsden were there. He just didn’t know if they were in the barn or on the other side of it.
And he didn’t know where Mara was, either.
Billy let his questions shut off as he made it close enough to confirm it was the car he’d seen before. He and Matt stepped quietly while looking in the front and back seats. Then, together, they remained quiet and listened.
The Southern lullaby of cicadas and frogs held steady around them, as normal as the humidity and as loyal to the South as football fans to the game. Billy wouldn’t have even noticed the song if he hadn’t been trying to hear through it. So when an odd noise went against the natural grain of sound, he tilted his head in confusion.
Matt heard it, too.
“Other side of the barn,” he whispered, so quietly Billy barely heard him. But he agreed.
Billy led them along the outer wall, away from the side with the light. He held his breath and kept his body loose as he took a look around the corner. Nothing but more grass, open space and a small amount of clutter lining the back wall of the barn. Even before Leigh had lost her husband, the barn hadn’t been used for several years. That fact was merely highlighted when Billy and Matt crept past a door that was heavily chained shut.
They weren’t going to be getting anyone in or out that way.
The weird noise Billy couldn’t place stopped as soon as they cleared the door. In tandem both men froze at the corner of the barn, guns high and ready.
“I took your cuffs off. You shouldn’t be stalling anymore,” a man said, loud and clearly frustrated. Billy knew instantly the voice belonged to Gene Marsden. Like nails on a chalkboard, his one sentence was enough to grate on Billy’s nerves.
“My ribs are bruised, no thanks to you. If I’m going slow you can thank yourself for that.”
Billy could have sung right then and there. Mara was alive.
“You’ve got a lot of mouth for someone standing in a hole that could be their grave.” Billy’s joy at hearing Mara’s voice plummeted straight down into the fiery depths of pure anger.
No one talked like that to his woman.
“Cover me,” he whispered to Matt. He didn’t need to see the detective to know he nodded.
Billy crouched, kept his gun straight and swung around the corner of the barn. When bullets didn’t fly, he took in several details at once.
There was an old tractor with a flat tire sitting a few feet from the barn’s side. Two battery-powered lanterns sat on the ground on the other side of the tractor, casting wide circles of light over two figures. One was Marsden, tall and holding something—a gun, most likely—while Mara was farther away. She was holding a shovel and standing in a hole up to her knees. Next to Marsden was Beck’s truck, looking the worse for wear. Neither Marsden nor Mara was directly facing Billy, so he took a beat to look for Beck, Leigh or Eric. When he didn’t see anyone else, he started to move toward the back of the tractor.
He could have shot Marsden right then and there—and been happy about it, too—but Mara was too close to the ex-deputy. Billy needed a cleaner shot or a better angle to force the man to disarm himself. Then any chance of that went out the window. Without the lantern’s light going past the skeleton of metal, Billy didn’t see the beer bottles on the ground until it was too late. His foot connected with one and sent it flying into the other. They sounded off like church bells on a Sunday.
And Marsden didn’t waste any time second-guessing the noise. He turned and started shooting.
“Drop your gun, Marsden,” Billy yelled after lunging behind the wheel of the tractor. Bullets hit the metal and wood around him, but Marsden didn’t answer. He kept Billy pinned down for a few shots until Matt responded to the man in kind. The sounds of gunfire shifted as Marsden must have taken cover behind the truck to take aim at Matt.
“Mara,” Billy yelled out, worried she’d be hit in the process. There wasn’t any cover she could take easily.
“Billy!”
Like magic Mara appeared around the front of the tractor, seemingly unharmed. There were so many things he wanted to do to her right then and there—appropriate and not so much—but it wasn’t the time or place. So he swallowed his desires and got down to business.
“Where’s Beck?
”
Mara shook her head.
“Dead,” she said. “Marsden shot him in the basement.” Her eyes widened. “Eric and Leigh are down there still. I need to get them.”
The exchange of bullets ceased. Billy bet everyone was reloading.
“You get down there and stay with them,” Billy said hurriedly. “Backup is down the road. We’ll call them in if you’ll stay there.”
Mara nodded and turned her body, ready to run, but hesitated. She found his gaze again.
“I never stopped loving you, Billy Reed,” she said, voice completely calm. “I promise I’ll never leave you again.”
Billy, caught more off guard than when the gunfire started up again, didn’t have time to respond. Mara didn’t wait but kept low, using the tractor as a shield, and soon disappeared around the front of the barn. He heard what must have been the door they’d been using to get in and out of the structure.
The sound shook him from the moment. Billy took a beat to call in their backup and then yelled out to Marsden.
“You’re outnumbered,” he yelled out. “Put the gun down, Marsden! It’s over!”
The shooting stopped again. Billy waited a moment before sticking his head out around the tractor’s tire, gun ready. Had Marsden listened to him? Would it be that easy?
“Grenade!”
The two syllables Matt yelled were enough to spike Billy’s adrenaline and get him moving, but it wasn’t enough time to clear it. He saw the flash-bang arc through the air in the space between him and Matt. Billy dove as far away from it as he could before a deafening blast went off behind him.
The flash blinded him; the sound stunned him.
For several seconds Billy tried to regain some control of his body, his balance, his senses. But before he could, Marsden went for the only option he had left to possibly get out of this mess alive.
Mara.
* * *
IT TOOK MARA longer than she would have liked to push the metal canister off the trap door, but she eventually managed.
“It’s me,” Mara yelled, hands going up to cover her face seconds before Leigh could pummel her with the bat she’d beaten Beck with. His body was still at the bottom of the stairs, in a puddle of blood. Mara jumped over it as Leigh backed away to the side again. Eric popped up from his hiding spot against the wall.
“What’s going on up there?” Leigh asked, not dropping the bat to her side.
“Billy showed up.” Mara couldn’t help but smile. “He told us to stay here. Backup is down the road.”
Mara saw the relief in Leigh’s shoulders. She leaned the bat against the wall.
“I guess our friend isn’t surrendering,” she said as more thunks could be heard from above.
Mara wrung her hands and shook her head.
“He’s definitely not su—”
“Grenade!”
Mara flinched backward and put her hand to her mouth. She gasped as a loud bang shook the barn above them. Leigh shared a look with her, eyes wide, as silence filled the world above the basement stairs.
“No,” Mara said, shaking her head and still backpedaling. Surely it was Billy who had thrown it, right? He’d had enough of Marsden and thrown a grenade to end it?
Even as Mara thought it, she knew that wasn’t the case.
“Is it over?” Eric asked, bringing her attention to the fact she was at the back wall. Her hand still over her mouth, she didn’t have the will to pretend to look like everything was okay.
She wouldn’t do that until Billy came down those stairs.
“Should we—” Leigh started. She was cut off by the sound of footsteps coming down into the basement. Mara dropped her hand, a smile coming to her lips thinking of Billy. It was because of that smile that Leigh dropped her guard.
And that’s why she didn’t beat Marsden to a pulp as soon as his feet hit the floor.
Instead, when she belatedly tried to do some damage, Marsden hauled off and pistol-whipped her. Eric yelled as the force of the hit made Leigh sink to the floor. All she had time to do was look up as Marsden brought up his gun and pointed it at her son.
“For that, I’ll kill him before I kill you,” he sneered. He looked at Mara. “And then we’re leaving.”
Mara didn’t have time to tell the man that she had no intention of leaving with him.
So, instead, she showed him.
With nothing but the image of Alexa firmly planted in her mind, Mara jumped in front of Eric just as Marsden fired.
* * *
BILLY RAN DOWN into the basement and shot Gene Marsden in the head.
His ears rang something awful, his movements were still sluggish and he was having trouble seeing, but none of that could hide one horrifying fact.
Marsden had created Billy’s worst nightmare.
He’d shot Mara and he’d done it seconds before Billy could stop him.
“Mara’s been shot,” he yelled back to Matt.
She was on the ground with Eric standing behind her, crying.
“Are you okay?” Billy yelled at him even though he knew the boy was. Where Mara was lying on her side, it was obvious she’d taken the bullet for the boy. Eric nodded just as Leigh swooped in and grabbed him. They gave Billy space while he dropped down to his knees.
“Mara,” he said, still yelling. As gently as he could, he rolled her onto her back. Immediately he cursed. The shot had been to the chest. “It’s okay,” he said, surprised when her eyes opened. “You’re going to be okay. Matt’s called in some help.”
Mara smiled up at him, but it was as soft as a whisper. Her eyelids fluttered closed.
Billy couldn’t help the fear that tore from his mouth.
“No, stay with me!” Billy pulled her into his lap. Matt appeared at his side and, without words, put pressure on the wound. “Come on, Mara,” he said, trying to keep her conscious. Despite Matt’s attempt, blood poured out around the detective’s hand.
The sight alone tore at Billy worse than any pain he’d ever known.
“You promised you’d never leave me again,” he said to her. “You can’t leave me again. You promised!”
But Mara kept quiet.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alexa’s hair was a mess. Billy was man enough to admit that that was his fault. He’d finally gotten her used to him brushing out her hair after bath time and right after she woke up, so he’d gotten cocky and tried to do something a bit more adventurous that morning. He’d searched hairstyles for little girls and found a video that showed him how to do a fishtail braid.
Now, looking down at her sleeping against his chest, Billy accepted that the braid looked more like a rat’s tail than a fishtail anything. He sighed. Maybe one day he’d get it right. But, for now, no one who’d visited had given him grief about his fathering. That included his mother, surprisingly enough.
He turned to look at the chair next to his. It was empty. She must have stepped out to get coffee or another book while he and Alexa dozed off in his own chair. There was just something about hospital machines and their beeping that created a noise that carried him off to sleep.
Then again, he hadn’t gotten much sleep in the last few days.
Billy’s eyes traveled to the hospital bed in front of him.
He’d positioned his chair next to Mara’s feet so he was facing her. He wanted to know the second she woke up. He wanted to be there for her. If it hadn’t been for Alexa, he wouldn’t have left her side during the last few days.
Billy closed his eyes again and rested his chin on top of his daughter’s head. It was nice to feel her against him after everything that had happened.
Beck’s and Marsden’s bodies had been collected and buried outside Riker County with their families. Beck turned out to be Kevin Ri
ckman, a college dropout who had tried to desperately follow his father’s long criminal career. But, like his father, he’d been killed over power, money and drugs. Beck had only focused on Bryan Copeland’s legacy because his father had helped Bryan at the beginning of his drug running, right before he’d been killed. Bryan hadn’t ever met Beck, but was able to pick the man’s father out of an old picture. Kevin had used an old friend of his father’s to get a message to Bryan in prison. Then Bryan had used his connections to relay the stash’s location and then call Billy and warn him.
Billy felt the letter folded in his wallet like it was on fire. It was from Bryan to Mara and had been sent to Billy’s office. As guilty as he’d felt about reading it, Billy was glad he had. Bryan hadn’t given Mara any grief and he hadn’t apologized for his past. He’d only said he was glad she was okay and asked if she would send him pictures of both herself and Alexa.
Billy would never like Bryan, but he was glad he’d finally put his daughter’s life above his own. So much so that Billy called in a lot of favors, including some of Sheriff Rockwell’s, and gotten the news that Bryan Copeland’s stash had been found, or even ever existed, kept secret. Just until Bryan could be moved to a prison out of state. Then Billy would personally let everyone know, including anyone with bad intentions, that there was no reason to ever dig on Leigh Cullen’s property again. Otherwise there would always be someone who would look for it. The stash had been right where Bryan had told him. A handful of deputies had spent the night digging out a metal container that held more money than Billy would probably make in a lifetime. Plus enough Moxy and other assorted drugs to help any budding drug runner start out strong.
Billy had just started to think about all the paperwork he’d have to fill out when a sound made his eyes flash open.
“Mara,” he said, surprised.
Mara, propped up on a pillow, was looking right at him. There was a smile across her lips.
“Don’t—” she started but coughed. Billy was already getting up, trying not to jostle Alexa too much. She squirmed once before he laid her down on the love seat on the other side of the room.
Small-Town Face-Off Page 18