The Texas Lawman's Last Stand

by Delores Fossen

  Bo pushed her hair from her face and brushed a good-night kiss off her forehead.

  “Bo,” she mumbled, using the same tone as her sleepy pleasure sounds.

  The way she said his name, it went through him like a shot of expensive whiskey. Smooth and warm. It made him want to take her all over again. And he might have done just that.

  If his phone hadn’t beeped.

  He had changed the ring tone so it wouldn’t wake everyone if he got a midnight call. And that’s apparently what he’d gotten.

  Bo reached over, retrieved his phone and checked the caller ID screen. It was Sergeant O’Malley and therefore a call he had to take.

  He got out of the bed, moving away from Mattie’s warm body. His own body protested the loss right away, and he promised himself he would go back to her when he finished.

  “Don’t give me bad news,” Bo whispered to the sergeant. He went into the adjoining bathroom so he could talk.

  “Not this time. We just got a call from a tech over in the Justice Department. Because of the nonstop attempts to kill Mattie, they’ve been working night and day to see if they can figure out who hacked into the Witness Protection database.”

  “And?” Bo asked.

  “And we have a winner. It’s Terrance Arturo.”

  Arturo. A dead guy who used to work for Kaplan and Collier. “Is there proof?”

  “Just some notes found in Arturo’s apartment. Don’t worry. We’ll keep digging. The captain’s here, and he just brought in Collier, Cicely Carr and Kaplan for questioning. Tolivar’s boss has agreed to bring him, as well.”

  Since it was midnight, he was betting all of them were especially riled with the timing and the subject of this interrogation. “I’ll get dressed and get down there.”

  “No. The captain says for you to stay put. But he thinks by morning, he’ll know who was behind the attempts to kill Mattie and you.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The voices and sounds woke her.

  Mattie’s eyes flew open, and she was stunned to see that it was daylight. The rain was still spattering against the windows, but there was no hint of lightning or thunder. The worst of the storm had passed.

  She glanced at the clock and couldn’t believe the time. It was 8:00 a.m., and even though that was still early to a lot of people, it obviously wasn’t for Jacob and Holly, because it was their voices she was hearing.

  Mercy, she hadn’t expected to sleep at all, much less for eight straight hours.

  She threw back the cover and caught Bo’s scent still on the sheets. On her, too. It made her feel all warm and golden again. But then she sighed. Yes, it was great sex, but Bo was probably having trouble coming to terms with it. Mattie was surprised to realize that she wasn’t having doubts or issues. It was crystal clear to her.

  She cared deeply for Bo and wanted him in her life.

  However, working that out was an entirely different matter. Bo might not be ready for an emotional entanglement, especially since he already had enough entanglements in his life.

  She took a quick shower and dressed in another of the loaner outfits that she grabbed from the closet—a dark red cotton dress and a pair of black flats. Mattie slapped on some makeup and tried not to think about how awkward it would be to face Bo. She only thought about facing Jacob and Holly and hoped she wasn’t too late to share breakfast with them.

  Mattie hurried into the kitchen and came to a stop. Bo was at the stove cooking, his back to her, and he had his phone anchored between his ear and shoulder. Rosalie was wrestling with Jacob, trying to get him strapped into the high chair. Holly was already in her chair, and the little girl gave Mattie a bright smile.

  These were the things she’d dreamed of seeing for the past thirteen months, and here was her baby, right in front of her.

  Jacob smiled, too, when he saw her and quit struggling with Rosalie, who quickly put him in the chair.

  “Sorry about all the noise,” Rosalie said, “I was trying to keep them quiet.”

  “I’m glad they woke me.” Mattie wouldn’t have wanted to miss this for the world. She went closer and helped Rosalie put some dry cereal bits on the trays. Mattie knew this part of the routine. The kids would eat the cereal while Bo prepared a hot breakfast. This morning, it was oatmeal. Bo was stirring a pot of it on the stove as he added some brown sugar.

  “He’s been on that phone since the kids got up,” Rosalie remarked, dishing up some of the oatmeal into two different bowls.

  The nanny handed Mattie one of them after adding some milk to cool it down. Apparently, she was going to get to feed her daughter this morning.

  But Mattie gave some of her attention to Bo. She couldn’t tell who he was talking to, but judging from his stiff body language, it was about the investigation.

  Mattie pulled up a chair and gave Holly the first spoonful of oatmeal. Most of it made it into her mouth. However, Holly took part of that bite into her hand and squished it around her fingers.

  All right. So breakfast would be messy. But fun. Holly babbled with each bite and even offered Mattie some from her fingers. Mattie gladly sampled it and then did the same for Jacob, who obviously wanted to be included.

  She loved them both so much and wondered just how much it would break her heart if she couldn’t have all of them—Bo, Holly, Jacob and even Rosalie—in her life.

  Bo ended the call, closing the phone and shoving it into his pocket. He looked ready for work in his black pants and white dress shirt. He’d even shaved, making her wonder if he’d gotten any sleep whatsoever.

  “Sorry I didn’t get up sooner,” she said to him. She’d been right about the awkward part. “I slept like a rock.”

  He smiled a little, just enough to ease some of her anxiety and to renew the heat that always flared whenever she was around him.

  “That was my captain on the phone,” he explained, the smile fading. “When they searched Arturo’s apartment, they found notes that indicate he’s the one who hacked into the database of the Witness Protection Program.”

  She tried not to react, because Holly was only inches away, but it was impossible to keep her emotions totally in check. Arturo. He had been the one who had started the spiral of danger that had ultimately caused her to leave Holly in the hospital with Nadine.

  “Any idea why he outed my location and identity?” Mattie asked.

  Obviously sensing the seriousness of the conversation, Rosalie took over feeding duties, and Mattie stood so she could face Bo.

  “Arturo probably did it for money. There’s about twenty thousand dollars of unaccounted funds in his bank account.”

  So, for twenty grand he had compromised the lives of her and Holly. If he weren’t already dead, Mattie would have gone after him for that. Of course, that left her with the big question. “Who paid him?”

  Bo shook his head. “Still trying to figure that out. Detectives have been going through his apartment all night, and they found a key that appears to be to a safety deposit box. They’re trying to figure out now where the box is located so they can get into it.”

  Good. Because maybe there was proof of his boss’s identity, and that meant Bo could soon make an arrest.

  “The captain had Kendall, Cicely and Ian all in for questioning,” Bo added.

  “During the night?”

  “Most of the night,” he clarified. “He just released them about a half hour ago.”

  Well, Mattie would hear about it, that was for certain. They were all probably fuming, especially since none of them thought the police had a right to consider them suspects. “What about Marshal Tolivar? Did the captain manage to question him, too?”

  “Not yet. But he’s having a meeting first thing this morning with Tolivar’s boss.”

  More good news, because maybe they would finally get the truth about the marshal. “So we have to go back to headquarters?” Mattie asked.

  “Not just yet. I thought you deserved a quiet morning.”

  Holly ch
ose that moment to let out a squeal when she couldn’t get a glob of oatmeal out of her hair.

  “Time for baths,” Rosalie announced. She put the oatmeal bowls aside, and Bo helped her get the children out of the high chairs.

  “Need help?” Mattie asked the nanny.

  “No thanks. Bo and you probably have some things to discuss anyway.” Rosalie smiled in such a way that Mattie wondered if the woman knew what had happened between them last night.

  Rosalie carried the babies out, one snuggled in each arm, and just like that, the kitchen went from being very noisy to totally silent. Since Mattie wasn’t sure what to say, she settled for pouring herself a glass of orange juice and sitting on one of the bar stools at the counter. Bo poured himself some coffee.

  And the silence continued.

  “Sorry I fell asleep on you last night,” she mumbled.

  More silence. And then he walked toward her and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Actually, I was the one on you.” He smiled, and that made everything instantly better.

  “I was worried about you,” she admitted. “I wasn’t sure how you’d handle the after part.”

  “I wasn’t sure, either,” Bo admitted. “But I decided—”

  His phone rang, and both of them cursed under their breath. He glanced at the caller ID screen before he answered. “O’Malley,” he greeted.

  Mattie figured this call was important, but she hated that the sergeant hadn’t waited several more seconds so she could have heard what Bo was about to say.

  “He did what?” Bo asked, his voice suddenly as intense as his expression. “Why?”

  Mattie couldn’t hear a word of what the sergeant was saying, but she wasn’t getting a good feeling about this. Mercy. What was going on now?

  “Does the search warrant cover that?” Bo asked, and a moment later he huffed. “All right.” He paused. “I’d rather not do it that way, though.”

  Bo met Mattie’s gaze, and she could tell he was trying to reassure her, but it wasn’t working.

  “Let’s go with Plan B,” Bo continued, still talking to O’Malley. “Yeah, that with heavy security. Oh, and you said she’ll need a photo ID that the bank officials will verify with their security service. No fakes. This needs to be a real ID in case it has to stand up in court. No repeats of what happened with the federal investigation into Collier’s case. Someone needs to print her another copy of her driver’s license.”

  It was impossible to tell exactly what was going on from just hearing Bo’s side of the conversation. Were they talking about her?

  “Okay. That sounds good,” Bo finally said to O’Malley. “We’ll leave just as soon as an officer arrives to stay here with the kids.”

  She set her juice aside. “What’s wrong?” Mattie asked when he ended the call.

  Bo scrubbed his hand over his face. “The key they found in Arturo’s apartment was indeed for a safety deposit box at a bank downtown.”

  “And the search warrant doesn’t allow you to search that deposit box?” She’d been able to gather that much from what she’d heard.

  “No. It’s a foreign bank, and they’re insisting the search warrant isn’t valid because there are two names on the account. Arturo’s and yours.”

  Mattie was so glad she wasn’t holding the juice glass, or she would have dropped it. “Mine? Why would Arturo put my name on his deposit box?”

  Bo shook his head. “We might not know that until we get a look at what’s in that box. This bank’s going to stonewall a search warrant for hours, but you should be able to get into the box right away.”

  She was already getting to her feet, but she was also trying to figure out why this had happened. “How soon will the officer be here?”

  “He’s already out front. We had a car patrolling all night, so he was just up the block.” Bo walked around the counter. “I’ll tell Rosalie what’s going on.”

  Mattie followed him so she could say goodbye to the children. Hopefully, this wouldn’t be a long trip, and maybe, just maybe, there was something in that safety deposit box to tell them who was trying to kill them.

  Of course, they could get more than that. Mattie remembered what had happened the last time they were downtown.

  Arturo had tried to kill them.

  She and Bo kissed the children and headed out to the garage once Bo let the other officer inside. Mattie didn’t voice her concern until they were in the car.

  “What if this is a trap?” she asked. “What if Arturo set it up so that if he were killed, then this would draw me out in the open?”

  “I thought of that. That’s why we’re going with Plan B. We’ll send in a female detective wearing a hat and dark glasses. I’ll be with her. The idea is if anyone is watching, they’ll think it’s you.”

  “And where will I be?”

  “Safe with two detectives in the building next door to the bank. If all goes well, then we’ll take you into the bank so you can get into that box.”

  “With my newly printed driver’s license?” she questioned.

  “Yeah. No repeats of what happened with Kendall. Evidence that would have convicted him was thrown out because the FBI didn’t execute a proper search of his office and files. I want to be able to use anything incriminating in that box to make an arrest and to prosecute this SOB.”

  Mattie couldn’t agree more. She nodded. “Let’s do this.”

  Bo nodded, too, but he didn’t move. He sat there, looking at her. And then he leaned over and kissed her. It was smooth and gentle. Probably for reassurance. But Bo’s kisses only reassured her that she wanted him. They did the opposite of calming her down.

  “Hold that thought,” he mumbled against her lips.

  “And tonight, I want you to come to my bed.”

  Like the kiss, that invitation warmed her to the bone. So, it wouldn’t be just a one-night stand between them, but Mattie didn’t want to think beyond that. One step at a time.

  Without taking his eyes off her, Bo started the engine, and he pressed the remote control on the visor to open the garage door. Mattie braced herself for another kiss, another assault on her senses. She wasn’t, however, prepared for her door to fly open.

  It happened so fast, she didn’t have time to think or react.

  Something came flying at her. A canister of some kind.

  And it exploded.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Bo caught just a glimpse of the person dressed all in black, and in that glimpse he saw the silver canister that the guy hurled into the car.

  That glimpse was all Bo got.

  Something began to spew from the can, and it created an instant fog. Bo’s eyes watered to the point that he couldn’t see, and he began to cough uncontrollably. Tear gas.

  Beside him, he heard Mattie coughing, as well. And struggling. She seemed to be fighting something, though Bo couldn’t tell what. He drew his gun and reached for her, trying to pull her closer so he could try to protect her. What he couldn’t do was shoot, because he had no idea where to aim. For all practical purposes, he was blind.

  Bo blinked hard, trying to focus, and he used his left hand to open his door. The garage door was already open, and he was hoping the ventilation and the falling rain would clear out the tear gas. But it wouldn’t happen immediately. And that meant he somehow had to get Mattie out of there.

  Still coughing and unable to catch his breath, Bo latched on to Mattie’s arm and pulled hard, trying to yank her out on his side of the car. It didn’t work, and Bo knew why.

  Someone was trying to pull her out the other side.

  Bo hadn’t seen the person, probably because the guy had stayed low and slipped in the moment Bo opened the garage door. Of course, it hadn’t helped that Bo had also been kissing Mattie, and that had given this SOB the time to launch an attack.

  Later, Bo would curse himself for the lapse in judgment. But for now, he had to save Mattie. He also had to pray there was just one attacker. Because if there were others, he might not be
able to stop this.

  Whatever this was.

  If it were an assassination attempt, then why hadn’t the guy just shot them when he had the chance? Why not just shoot now? That was yet something else he’d have to figure out later.

  Bo pulled harder, trying to drag Mattie toward him. She still didn’t budge, but he heard her gasping for air and struggling. She was fighting the guy, but like Bo, she probably couldn’t see a thing, and without air in her lungs, her fight would be weak at best.

  Bo considered yelling out to the officer inside, but that was too big a risk to take. This could all be a ruse to get inside the safe house so that someone could kidnap Holly. Bo couldn’t take that risk, and he knew without a doubt that Mattie wouldn’t want him to take it, either.

  Since this tug-of-war wasn’t working, Bo stumbled from the car and tried to pull in as much fresh air as he could. The tear gas had created a thick, misty fog in the car itself, but it wasn’t confined just to the car. It was all around, making him wonder if their attacker had opened another canister on the garage floor. If so, this had been a well-planned attack. But it left him with one nasty question.

  How had this person found the location of the safe house?

  Bo had locked the door that led from the garage into the house. He was sure of that. He was also sure that the officer would have reset the security alarm. But alarms weren’t going to help them if this guy decided to get inside the house.

  Bo somehow managed to stay on his feet, though each breath and each step were a struggle. Still, he didn’t give up. He had to get to the other side of the car so he could help Mattie.

  He made it to the back of the car, using the vehicle itself to help support his weight. Without it, he would have dropped to his knees and given in to the coughing fit.

  Bo tried to shout out a warning, but that failed, too, so he lifted his gun and took aim at the dark figure that was trying to drag Mattie out of the car. When there was a break in the mist, Bo saw something else.

  The guy was wearing a military-style gas mask.

  “Stop!” Bo finally managed to say.