Operation Ginger Avenger

by Heather Rainier

  He looked determined to get Cassie for her, and if that happened, then Veronica and Charity and Lydia, they’d all be up in her business. Hell, by now they all knew she’d been outbid and they were probably looking for her. While Ivan’s back was turned, she slipped out the back door into the cool night, wrapping her arms around herself in the darkness as a breeze sent chills up her back.

  The heavy door clicked behind her, and something about the metallic sound nearly sent her into a panic. She even turned back to the door and yanked on the handle, but it was locked. It was really dark behind the building, and she had to give herself a stern talking-to as she trudged along, half blind.

  Nobody’s back here, and if they were, you’d have no one to blame but yourself if you got mugged. Think next time before you charge forth, ding-a-ling.

  The harsh internal tirade gave her the guts to keep walking at a steady pace until she rounded the corner and walked into a pool of light.

  She took a deep shaky breath and continued her mental rambling. What’s the worst that can happen? Tank and Troy have to take some random cougar with plenty of cash on a date and show her a good time. Maybe field a few lewd advances from her. Maybe set her straight that they were off-limits. Seriously, this is not the end of the world.

  Well then, what are you doing moping around in this parking lot by yourself like a looney bird?

  And really, it was the best-case scenario because she could still write a check to Grace’s fundraiser. Those organizations would get the one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for her #gingerhotties plus the money Jessica was going to give them, as well. Best of both worlds.

  She swiped a tear and growled at herself out loud. “Get over it, ninny.”

  The parking lot was quiet as a tomb, except for the sound of the wind blowing in the oak trees, stirring dried leaves along the asphalt. She felt numb inside. It’d been a long time since the dark stillness had inspired anything besides fear in her.

  Okay, so the night didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but who in the hell knew that thirty-five thousand wasn’t going to be enough to offer the winning bid? I’ll still feel the same way about them tomorrow as I do tonight. And the next time I see them I’m telling them I love them.

  During the drive to the Divine Creek Ranch, she had to slow and move to the side of two-lane FM 709 for emergency vehicles, first an ambulance and then a sheriff’s deputy SUV. The flashing lights and sirens stressed her already ragged nerves. She sped up, keeping vigilant for more emergency vehicles in her rearview mirror.

  It gave her pause that the gated entry to the Divine Creek Ranch was left open, but maybe they’d done that because they knew parents might be coming to pick up kids. The entry had a cattle guard across the steel-posted entry, to keep cattle from escaping, but they usually kept the gate closed, expecting visitors to either key in their security code or ring for entry at the security panel.

  The fact that none of the flashing lights were emanating from anywhere on the property relieved some of her anxiety, though, and she pulled over the bumpy pipe guard and continued down the curving drive.

  That sense of relief was fleeting, however, when something blew across the road. She slowed to a stop, realizing it was a cowboy hat, carried on the wind. She spotted a figure lying on the shoulder of the gravel road. Flicking her bright lights on, Jessica recognized Brian Dornan’s dark blond hair fluttering in the wind along with the dry grass.

  * * * *

  Erin was just tucking into her dessert, scooping up a bite that was the perfect combination of warm gooey pecan pie and melty vanilla ice cream when Rose Marie came over, with Bella’s hand clasped in one hand and Isabella Martinez’s held in the other. “Auntie Erin, Bella and Izzie need the potty. I’m gonna take them inside, okay?”

  Experience had taught her that kids could get into all sorts of trouble over such mundane things as potty visits, but Rose Marie was such a good little Mama Bear with Bella and Izzie that Erin didn’t worry as much. “Okay, but if you’re not back in just a couple of minutes, I’m coming in after you.”

  Madison and Ellie hurried over and said, “We gotta go potty, too, but I promise we’ll be fast.”

  “Not so fast that you don’t wash your hands before you come back outside, okay?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Rose Marie said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” they all echoed as they followed their friend and idol up the steps.

  Teresa was inside the house, and Ace and Kemp were both outside, watching over the gathering in the backyard, along with a few of the other men who worked on the ranch. Grace was upstairs, hopefully asleep with Callie Beth. The others had yet to return from gathering errant cattle.

  She sighed with pleasure as she finally took the bite of pie. Teresa’s pecan pie was perfect. Not completely overloaded with nuts, with plenty of room for the gooey pie filling in each bite. She checked her watch. Two minutes.

  On the screen, Buzz Lightyear proclaimed, “To infinity, and beyond!”

  She checked her watch again. Three minutes. Teresa was in the house, but the kids were her responsibility and she should check on them. She sighed and looked longingly at her pie. Sure, she could scarf it, but she wanted to savor it. She was done with the lifestyle that dictated eating fast, being everywhere at once, always accessible. That was another reason she’d come back to Divine. To take time for the important things.

  She peaked her napkin over the pie and ice cream and set it aside, getting up from the lawn chair. It would be impossible to enjoy it until she knew all of her charges were accounted for. She gestured that she was going inside and received a nod from Kemp.

  In the living room, she was met by an odd silence.

  “Helloo,” she called out, and then eased into the kitchen and looked into the living room beyond, and froze.

  “Come in here and don’t make a sound,” a hoarse male voice said. “If you signal to the men in the backyard, this one dies first.”

  A tall, bulky man with a horrible scar across his throat stood in front of the fireplace. With her hair grasped in his fist, stood Rose Marie. Her eyes were rounded with fear, but the little hellion actually looked pissed off. The other girls were clustered behind Teresa in the living room, and Bella was nowhere in sight.

  “Tell him, Erin,” Rose Marie said in a shaky voice. “Tell him I’m Bella. Tell him.”

  He shook her cruelly, and tears pooled in her eyes.

  “I’m not a fool, girl. I can see you’re too old. Now which one of you is Bella Bright? Is it you?” he demanded, grabbing Isabella Martinez from her mother’s arms. He leaned forward and squinted at her, and she whimpered. Teresa held the others behind her while reaching out to take her daughter from him. “Please, give her back to me.”

  “No. Your hair’s black. Stop that bawling.”

  Soon all the little girls were crying and carrying on.

  Taking a chance, Erin stepped farther into the room. “You’d better leave. The men just outside are going to hear the commotion, and two of them are heavily armed.”

  “If they come in here, are you volunteering to die first?” he asked as he pointed his gun right at her chest. It was fitted with a silencer.

  “That’s not necessary,” Teresa said in a shaky voice. “You should go now while you have a chance to get away. Our men will be here any second.”

  He snorted. “Your men are chasing a bull and a whole damned herd of cattle right now. I watched them leave. Now which one of you is Bella Bright? She’s leaving with me.”

  “Nuh-uh!” Rose Marie said, yanking away from him and yelping as a gob of her hair came away in his hand. “Ow!” She hauled off and kicked his shin.

  He grunted and grabbed his shin. “Little brat. I should shoot you for being a pain in the ass.” He angled his gun toward her threateningly, and Erin and Teresa put out hands to placate him.

  “If you want to point the gun at someone, point it at the grownups. You’re traumatizing the little girls. Let them leave.”
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  God, please let Ace and Kemp have figured out something is wrong by now.

  From her vantage point, Erin could see Bella crouched behind the big recliner in the corner near the fireplace. She was whimpering in terror, and Erin tried to encourage her to be still and quiet with a slight shake of her head.

  “What are you looking at?” the big man asked. “Is one hiding there? Get out here, now, or your babysitter dies. Bella. Now,” he demanded in a hateful, steely tone that terrified Erin.

  Somehow, Bella managed to stand and inch out from behind the chair, tears rolling down her little round cheeks. “Please don’t hurt me.”

  “I promise I won’t hurt you, mi hija, or the others, as long as you come with me.”

  “My mommy told me never to go with strangers.”

  “I’m not a stranger. I’m Uncle Brian’s friend, and I’ve come to get you to take you to him and your mommy. Your daddy wants me to take care of you.”

  Oh, this is so not gonna happen, Erin thought. There was no way Bella was going anywhere with that man or anywhere near her biological father. In her mind, she catalogued all the places a gun was located in the ranch house. All were well out of reach, holstered, or locked away. Her best bet was to stall until Ace and Kemp got suspicious.

  The man turned to Bella and beckoned to her and didn’t see Rose Marie sneak behind him with her rope in hand. She was letting out some slack into the stiff loop. He made the mistake of thinking because she was smaller than him that she was harmless. But Rose Marie did know a thing or two about handling big, dangerous beasts.

  Oh, you little shit. If we live through this, I’m going to blister your bottom for you so good you won’t sit for a week!

  Rose Marie had her tongue stuck between her teeth as she spread the stiff loop in her calf rope wider and slid it along the floor behind him.

  “Sir, please would you just consider going?” Teresa said, obviously trying to help distract him. “We don’t want any trouble, nor do we want the kids to see anything…that might stay with them for life. Please, you must understand.” She caught Bella to her and stuck her behind her with the other girls.

  “Life’s harsh sometimes, mi hija,” he growled. “The sooner Bella complies, the sooner I leave and the rest of you live.”

  “You won’t get far,” Erin challenged. “They won’t let you,” she added, gesturing outside.

  He just chuckled. “You’d be surprised how easy it was to get on this ranch, as well as that other one. The Carlisle place.”

  Holy shit. The Rockin’ C had the best security in the county. Even more so than the Divine Creek Ranch, with its valuable Andalusian stallions and brood mares.

  He continued. “I’ll disappear the moment I’m out that door.” He stepped forward, obviously intending to intimidate Teresa. She stood to her full height and firmed her jaw, but she was no match for him when his snaked a hand out and grasped Bella’s upper arm, jerking her toward him.

  “Beauty,” he said in mild admonishment to Teresa as he gathered both of Bella’s wrists in one large hand. “It would pain me to strike such a lovely face.”

  “On the other hand,” Grace said as she finally made her presence known at the bottom of the stairs, “I’ll use this weapon on you without hesitation. If you think I’m letting you leave this ranch with any child in my charge, you are one nut shy of a fruit cake.” The telltale sound of a round being chambered gave him pause as she moved into the open where she had a good chance of hitting him.

  Erin admired Grace’s easy nature but loved it when she let her inner badass out.

  With clear eyes and steady hands, Grace said, “Teresa, get down. You. Four Bits is your name, right? Release Bella and back away slowly from them with your hands up. Don’t do anything stupid. I’d hate to have to clean your brain matter off of my mantle,” Grace said, not taking her attention off of him, still pointing the weapon at him.

  Four Bits actually chuckled. Instead of complying with Grace’s command, he lifted Bella with one arm, using her as a human shield. “When I finish with you three and pick off the two in the backyard, I’m going to go upstairs looking for a little white girl to sell on the internet. Is she sleeping right now? You know, Trevor told me about you and your sister. Charity is her name, right? She’s not so cocky right about now, I bet.”

  “What? You’re lying,” Grace growled, undeterred. “She’s not even here.”

  “I know. And if I was accurate in my planning, she’s identifying what’s left of three bodies at the hospital right now.”

  “You’re every bit the blowhard Jessica said you were. Talk, talk, talk,” Grace muttered.

  Oh, Grace. Those men of yours are going to blister your bottom for you until you can’t sit for a week.

  Surrealistically, it occurred to Erin that good hard spankings seemed to be a thing her panicky brain latched onto for distraction.

  Grace said, “Erin, will you back up and discreetly motion for Ace and Kemp to come inside?”

  Awed by the guts Grace displayed, Erin only managed a step backward before Four Bits pointed his gun squarely at Erin’s chest. “Don’t move…Erin, is it? Are you feisty like your sister-in-law? You want to die first?”

  “No one needs to die today,” Teresa said, trying to reason with him. “You’re going to have to kill us all to take any of the girls, and you don’t have that much ammunition. You’re surrounded. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “I’m willing to take my chances. Erin, would you please join me at the front door? It’s time to go, and you’re coming with me for insurance.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Pulling to the opposite side of the long driveway, Jessica angled the car so the lights were still on him and put it in park.

  “Brian? Brian? Are you okay?” she called out as she ran to him, painfully aware she was out in the open, with hardly anybody nearby for several hundred yards. She could scream, and one of the hands from the ranch might hear her, if any of them were still outside, but it would take them time to get to her…and the gate was wide open.

  “Brian?” she murmured as she felt his neck for a pulse. She was afraid to turn him because she didn’t know how he’d come to be lying injured by the road. Her fingers were evidently cold, and it startled him slightly when she stuck them in his collar to feel his carotid. The pulse was rapid and weak.

  “Miss Jessica, I…”

  “What happened, Brian?”

  “Cattle got out. They sent me to close the gate since it was getting dark…I offered to go on foot so they didn’t have to send the vehicle…”

  “Brian, what happened to you?”

  “Jessica, you gotta get to the house…Bella…Four Bits…Bella…” His eyelids fluttered closed. His hand was clutched to his middle, and when she touched it, her hand came away wet. Lifting it, she froze when she saw the blood glowing red in her headlights. She jerked her cardigan sweater off and eased him onto his back so she could see better. Ripping open his shirt, she applied the balled-up sweater to the dark slash welling on the right side of his abdomen.

  “Brian, stay with me. Wake up! You hear me? Wake up!”

  “What? Jessica, I…you need to go help Bella. Four Bits…he’s here. He’s got plans for her…stop messin’ with me and get to the house. Once he’s gone with her, you’ll never find them.”

  She’d never felt so torn. His wound needed pressure. Otherwise, he might bleed out. At the house, Bella was surrounded by adults, some of them armed.

  “I can’t just leave you alone to…” Bleed to death. She didn’t say those last words out loud.

  “I’m not alone, Jessica, I promise. Go save that sweet child. She needs you. Me? I’m a waste of good air. Go…” He pushed her hand away, and she redoubled her efforts. “Four Bits will hurt her.”

  Terror seized her as she imagined Bella encountering that fiend. “I’m going to call 911, Brian. I have to get my phone. I’ll be right—”

  Bright lights zoomed up, and a ve
hicle stopped with a rough skid and a cloud of dust.

  Her heart swooped in her chest. Either this was help—or this was it for her.

  Two forms ran to her through the cloud of gravel dust, and strong hands gripped her shoulders and moved her out of the way. “He’s bleeding! Don’t—”

  “It’s us, baby,” Tank said, tilted her face to look at him. “Let us help.”

  Brian smiled and said, “Hey, see, Jessica? You got help…go help Bella and the others. I’m good…” He lost consciousness again, and Jessica looked up at Tank and Troy.

  “Brian said Four Bits is here, on the ranch. He must’ve ambushed him. Stabbed him. He’s got a large wound in his abdomen.”

  Troy took the blood-soaked sweater from her hand and pulled out his phone. “Siri, call 911.”

  “Calling.”

  Tank took out his phone. “I’m calling Ace. He should be down there with them at the house.”

  Troy was applying pressure to the wound with the sweater, and when she tried to stand, her legs went weak and she rocked back onto her butt on the cold ground.

  Brian stirred and reached for her hand, and Jessica said, “Help is coming, Brian. We’re going to get you help. We’ll protect Bella.”

  “Good.” His face tightened up with pain. “I don’t want anything to happen. You’re the only family I have left…worth knowin’…even if I only knew you for a bit…I liked being a part…” His hand went limp in her tight grip.

  “Brian?” She patted his warm cheek, and he opened his eyelids and grinned dazedly.

  “Good Lord, woman, you have cold hands.”

  Troy chuckled. He divided his time between the call to 911 and monitoring Brian’s pulse and gave her a small smile.

  “Will he be okay?”

  Troy whispered, “Don’t know, but there’s an ambulance already on the way. They were close by at an accident and got clearance to come to us.”

  Brian pointed in the direction of the house. Like she’d been unbound from shackles, Jessica crawled to her feet and ran down the road, both men calling after her.