by B. J Daniels
He spun around in time to see Zack bleeding and barely able to stand, but the man could still shoot. He fired the weapon in his hand in a barrage of bullets before Colt could pull the trigger.
* * *
LOLA SCREAMED. GRACE WAILED. It happened so fast. She’d thought it was all over. Finally. She’d thought they were finally safe. And so had Colt. He hadn’t expected Zack to be alive—let alone come in shooting—any more than she had.
Colt threw himself in Grace’s and her direction. As he did, he brought up the weapon he’d been holding on Jonas. The air filled with the loud reports of gunfire.
Lola laid her body over Grace’s to protect her, knowing that Colt had thrown himself toward them to do the same. It took her a few moments to realize that the firing had stopped. She peeked out, terrified that she would find Colt lying dead at her feet.
Colt lay on his side, his back to her. She put Grace down long enough to reach for him. He was holding his leg, blood oozing out from between his fingers. He looked up at her.
“Are you and Grace—”
“We’re fine. But you’re bleeding,” Lola cried.
“It’s just a flesh wound,” Colt said. “Don’t worry about me. As long as you and Grace are all right...” He grimaced as he tried to get to his feet.
In the doorway, Zack lay crumpled on the floor. Lola couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. Her gaze swung to Jonas. He had tumbled out of his chair. He wasn’t breathing, given that the top of his head was missing. She looked away quickly.
Grace’s wailing was the only sound in the room. She rushed to her. As she did, she saw Colt’s cell phone on the floor and picked it up. The sheriff was still there.
“We need an ambulance. Colt is wounded. Zack and Jonas are dead.”
“Tommy,” Colt said, trying to get to his feet. “He would have seen Zack heading for the cabin...” He limped to the door and pushed it open. Beyond it, he saw Tommy slumped over the controls of the helicopter. “There isn’t time to wait for an ambulance. Tell the sheriff we’ll be at the hospital.”
As she related to the sheriff what Colt had said, she hurried to the couch. Squatting down, she fished her ring from under it. Her gentle toss of it hadn’t hurt the ring or the diamonds. She slipped it on her finger, feeling as if now she could face anything again. Then, holding Grace in her arms, she ran after Colt to the helicopter sitting like a big dark bird in the middle of the compound.
* * *
COLT IGNORED THE pain as he ran to the helicopter. When he reached Tommy, he hurriedly felt for a pulse. For a moment, he thought his friend was dead, and yet he didn’t see any blood. He found a pulse and felt a wave of relief. He’d dragged his friend into this. The last thing he wanted to do was get him killed.
On closer inspection, he could see a bump the size of a goose egg on Tommy’s head. He figured Zack must have ambushed him before coming up to the cabin to finish things.
“Is he...?” Lola asked from behind him. She held a crying Grace in her arms and was trying to soothe her.
“He’s alive, but we need to get him to the hospital. Come around the other side and climb in the back with Grace.” Colt helped them in and then slid into the seat and took over the controls. He started up the motor. The rotors began to turn and then spin. A few minutes later, he lifted off and headed for Gilt Edge.
The helicopter swept over the tops of the pines and out of the mountains. Colt glanced over at Tommy. He seemed to be coming around. In the back, Lola had calmed Grace down and she now slept in her mother’s arms.
He told himself that all was right with the world. Lola and Grace were safe. Tommy was going to make it. But he was feeling the effects of his blood loss as he saw the hospital’s helipad in the distance. He’d never lost a bird. He told himself he wasn’t going to lose this one—especially with the precious cargo he was carrying.
Colt set the chopper down and turned off the engine. After that, everything became a blur. He knew he’d lost a lot of blood and was light-headed, but it wasn’t until he’d shut down the chopper and tried to get out that he realized how weak he was.
The last thing he remembered was seeing hospital staff rushing toward the helicopter pushing two gurneys.
Chapter Nineteen
Colt woke to find Lola and Grace beside his bed. He tried to sit up, but Lola gently pushed him back down.
“Tommy is fine,” she told him as if knowing exactly what he needed to hear. “A mild concussion. The doctor is having a terrible time keeping him in bed. We’re all fine now.”
Colt relaxed back on the pillows and smiled. “I was so worried. But everyone’s all right?”
She nodded. “I was worried about you.” She pushed a lock of hair back from his forehead and looked into his eyes. “You lost so much blood, but the doctor says you’re going to be fine.”
He glanced over at the IV attached to his arm. “I remember flying the chopper to the hospital but not much after that.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “How is Grace?”
“Sleeping.” Lola pointed to the bassinet the nurses had brought in for her. “I refused to leave until I knew you were all right.” They’d also brought in a cot for Lola, he saw. “I’ve just been going back and forth from your room to Tommy’s.”
Colt smiled, took her hand and squeezed it. “I almost lost you. Again.”
“But you saved me. Again. Aren’t you getting tired of it?”
He shook his head. “Never.” He glanced down at the ring on her finger. When he’d come into the cabin, he’d seen her rubbing the spot on her left hand where it had been. He hadn’t been surprised Jonas hadn’t liked seeing the ring on her finger. “When are you going to marry me?”
“You name the day. But right now you’re in the middle of selling your ranch and holding an auction, and the doctor isn’t going to let you out of here for a while. The bullet missed bone, but your leg is going to take some time to heal. Also, I believe you missed your appointment with your Realtor.”
Colt grimaced. “Margaret. She is going to be furious.”
“I called her. Apparently, ending up in the hospital bought you some time.”
“I need to talk to Tommy, but I want to talk to him about my plan for the future, for our future.”
The hospital-room door opened and Sheriff Flint Cahill stuck his head in. “Our patient awake? I hate to interrupt, but I need to talk to Colt if he’s up to it.”
Colt pulled Lola down for a kiss. “I’ll talk to the sheriff. You can leave Grace. If she wakes up, I’ll take care of her.”
She nodded. “I know you will.” She said hello to the sheriff. “I’ll just be down the hall.”
Flint took off his Stetson and pulled up a chair. “I’ve already spoken with Tom Garrett and Lola. I have their statements, but I need yours. I have two dead men up on the mountain, two suffering from dehydration and two more in the hospital. Elmer and Carl have been picked up. They both said they were the ones who almost got killed, not you.” He pulled out his notebook and pen. “Said you knocked them into the gravel pit.”
Colt nodded. “After they took me from my house in the middle of the night, tied me up and planned to kill me and dump me in the pit. They probably didn’t mention that.”
“Actually, Elmer confessed this morning. They’re both behind bars.” The sheriff sighed. “Just give me the basics. You’ll have to come down to the office when you’re released.”
Colt related everything from the time he was awakened by the cult members breaking into the house until he landed the helicopter at the hospital.
“It would have been nice if you’d given me a call,” Flint said.
“Jonas would have killed them. He was so close to hurting Grace...” His voice broke. “If Lola hadn’t acted when she did...”
“Jonas had one bullet in him from a gun registered to you, but all t
he others were from a gun registered to Jonas himself. We found it next to Zack’s body. Why would Zack kill his own leader?”
Colt shook his head. “He came in firing. When I jumped out of the way, he kept firing...”
“He’s the one who wounded you?”
“Yes. And the one who knocked out Tommy, but he might have already told you that.”
“Actually,” the sheriff said. “He didn’t see who or what hit him.”
“Zack was the only guard left. Everyone else vacated the property.”
“Lola said that most of them were headed to Arizona, where Jonas had promised them a place to live, but we can’t find any property owned by him or SLS,” Flint said. “We did, though, find a variety of places where he has stashed their money, a lot of it. I would imagine there’ll be lawsuits against his estate.”
“Lola thinks he murdered her parents. They’re buried on the compound.”
The sheriff raked a hand through his hair. “We saw that there is a new grave in the woods. We were able to contact a couple of SLS followers who didn’t make it any farther than town. They said they think he killed Sister Rebecca and that she is buried in the new grave.” He shook his head. “He had me fooled.”
“Me, too. For a while,” Colt admitted.
Grace began to whimper next to his bed.
The sheriff put away his notebook and pen as he rose. “I’ll let you see to your daughter.” He tipped his Stetson as he left.
* * *
THE STORY HIT the local paper the next day. SLS members were spilling their guts about what had gone on up at the compound. A half dozen had already filed lawsuits against the fortune Jonas had amassed.
The article made Colt and Tommy sound like heroes. Colt figured that was Lola’s doing since she’d told him she’d been interviewed by a reporter. She’d said she was anxious for her story—and that of her parents—to get out.
“Maybe it will keep other people from getting taken in by men like Jonas,” she’d said. “He caught my parents at a vulnerable time in their lives. But if they could be fooled, then anyone can.”
Lola picked him up after the doctor released him from the hospital.
He sat in the passenger seat of the SUV she’d had delivered to his house. The woman was damned independent, but he liked that about her. Grace grinned at him from the car seat as they drove out to the ranch. Drove home. Well, home for a while anyway. All he’d been able to think about was getting back to that old ranch house that had felt like a prison before Lola. Now it felt like home.
Not that he was going to get sentimental and hang on to the house. Or the ranch. He wanted a new start for his little family.
They’d been home for a while when Tommy stopped by the house to see how he was doing before taking his helicopter home.
“You’ve met Lola,” Colt said.
Tommy nodded.
“We got to know each other while we were waiting on you to get well. I had to thank him for all he did in helping us.” She turned to the man from where she was making cookies in the kitchen. “We owe you. If you can stick around for twelve minutes, I will have a batch of chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven. It’s not much, given what you did for us.”
“I’m just glad you’re all right,” Tommy said, looking bashful. “Anyway, I owe your husband. He saved my life. I’d do anything for him. I got to tell you, I think our boy Colt has done good this time,” his friend said, grinning at Lola, then Colt. “You got yourself a good one,” he said with a wink. “So what’s this plan you wanted to talk to me about?”
“You’re not mad at me for almost getting you killed?” Colt asked.
Tommy looked embarrassed. “I let some cult member sneak up on me.”
“Zack was ex-military.”
“That makes me feel a little better, but let’s keep it to ourselves, okay? So what’s up?” he asked as he took the chair he was offered at the kitchen table. Lola checked the cookies. Grace was watching her from her carrier on the counter. Colt liked watching Lola cook. He just liked watching her and marveling at how lucky he’d gotten.
“Colt?” Tommy said, grinning as he drew his attention again.
He laughed, then got serious. “Remember all the times we talked about starting our own helicopter service?” Colt and Tommy had spent hours at night in Afghanistan planning what they would do when they got out of the Army. Only Colt had stayed in, so their dream of owning their own flight company had been put off indefinitely.
“You still thinking about it?” Tommy asked.
“I know you’re doing great with your repair business. I know you might not be interested in starting a company with me, but I’ve sold the ranch. I have money to invest. You don’t have to answer right now. Take a few days to—”
“I don’t need a few days. Absolutely,” his friend said. “Where were you thinking of headquartering it?”
“There’s a piece of land close by I’d like to build a house on. Right down the road from it would be the ideal place for the office, with lots of room for the shops and landing any number of birds.”
Tommy laughed. “You really have been thinking about this.” He glanced past Colt to Lola, who was busy taking the cookies out of the oven. “What about the military?” he asked, his gaze shifting back to Colt.
“I’ve decided not to take the upcoming assignment and resign my commission. I’m getting married. I have a family now. I don’t want to be away from them.”
“I get it,” Tommy said as he took the warm cookie Lola offered him. “How soon?”
“I can make an offer on the land and we can get construction going on the shops and hangers—”
“How long before you get married?” Tommy asked with a laugh and took a bite of the cookie, before complimenting Lola.
“In three weeks. That was something else I needed to talk to you about,” Colt said. “I need a best man.”
* * *
LOLA WANTED TO pinch herself. She couldn’t believe she was getting married. She’d never been so happy. She was glad they’d put off the wedding for a few weeks. There’d been a lot of questions about everything that had happened up on the mountain. The investigation, though, had finally ended.
It had taken a while for the bodies of her parents and Sister Rebecca to be exhumed. Just as she’d suspected, autopsies revealed that both of her parents had been poisoned. So had Rebecca. Lola made arrangements to have their remains flown to California and reinterred in the plots next to her sister’s.
“You have nothing to feel guilty about,” Colt had assured her.
“But if I’d come straight home after university and tried to get them out of that place—”
“You know it wouldn’t have done any good. They were determined that you join them, right?”
She’d nodded. “But if I’d come right home when I got my father’s letter, maybe I could have—”
“You know how Jonas operated. It wouldn’t have made a difference. You said yourself that your mother adored Jonas. You couldn’t have gotten her to leave and your father wouldn’t have left without her, right?”
She’d known he was right. Still, she hated that she hadn’t been able to save them. She was just grateful to Colt. If it hadn’t been for him...
Lola looked down at her sleeping daughter. Yes, if it hadn’t been for him there would have been no Grace.
* * *
COLT WANDERED THROUGH the days afterward, more content than he had ever been. He and Lola went horseback riding. She took to it so well that she made him promise he would teach Grace when she was old enough.
“I’ll teach all of the kids.”
“All of the kids?” she’d asked with one raised eyebrow.
He’d smiled as he’d pulled her to him. “Tell me you wouldn’t mind having a couple more.”
“You wan
t a son.”
“I want whatever you give me,” he’d said, nuzzling her neck and making her laugh. “I’ll be taking all girls if that’s what you’ve got for me.”
Lola had kissed him, promising to give him as many children as he wanted.
“And I’ll teach them all to fly. Which reminds me, anytime you want to go for a ride... The helicopters will be coming in right after the wedding.”
The new owners of the ranch had allowed Colt to stay on with his family until he was able to get a mobile home put on the land he’d bought back from them. “We’ll live in it until the house is finished, then maybe use it for the office until the office building is done.”
Lola seemed as excited as he was about the business they were starting with Tommy. She kept busy with her new friends Lillie and Mariah. They were actually talking playdates for the kids.
He ran into Wyatt a couple more times in town. He hadn’t wanted to slug him. Actually, he’d wanted to thank him. The thought had made him laugh.
Also, Colt hadn’t been that surprised when Julia called. He almost hadn’t answered. “Hello?”
“Colt, it’s Julia. I saw your engagement announcement in the newspaper not long after that story came out. What a story.”
He didn’t know what to say.
“Wyatt and I are over. I know you don’t care, but I wanted you to hear it from me first.”
“I’m sorry.” He really was. He no longer had any ill will toward either of them and said as much.
“I won’t bother you again. I’m actually leaving town. But I had to ask you something...” She seemed to hesitate. “It’s amazing what you did for this Lola woman. You really put up a fight to save her and the baby.”
He waited, wondering where she was going with this.
“Why...” Her voice broke. “Why didn’t you put up a fight for me?”
It had never crossed his mind to try to keep Julia from marrying Wyatt. She was right. He hadn’t put up a fight. He’d been hurt, he’d been angry, but he hadn’t made some grandiose effort like riding a horse into the church to stop the wedding—if it had ever gone that far.