She yelped and struggled as Kain dragged her toward him. “No! Stop!”
Panic surged in Nolan’s gut, and he grabbed for her legs. His hold on her slowed Kain until he shifted his grip to Summer’s arm. Though she flailed and fought, with her hands bound, her attempts to loosen his grasp did little. In seconds, Kain had dragged Summer from the Mercedes, and she bumped to the ground with an uncushioned flop. Her cry of pain twisted inside Nolan and sank sharp spikes into his soul. “Summer!”
When Kain jabbed the gun against Summer’s skull, Nolan’s blood froze.
“Get out of the car, or I’ll waste your pretty little girlfriend here and now,” Kain said through gritted teeth.
A sense of helplessness, even greater than the day he’d first learned of Charlotte’s false charges and his suspension, filled Nolan and left a rock of despair in his gut. His heart raced as he scrambled to find a way to rescue Summer. He couldn’t let anything happen to her. No matter what it cost him.
* * *
Summer tasted blood, and the metallic tang made her already churning stomach heave. She must have bitten her tongue as she tumbled from the car to the hard ground. With her hands bound in front of her, she hadn’t even been able to catch herself and break the fall. But now that she was out of Melody’s cramped back seat...
She squirmed and got her legs under her, but as she positioned herself to rise on her knees, Kain grabbed her hair, and the cold kiss of steel greeted her temple.
Her ears buzzed as their kidnapper threatened to kill her if Nolan didn’t comply with his demands. Her pulse seemed to slow, stall. If Nolan got out of the car, she knew they would both be dead within minutes. But she also knew, in her heart, Nolan wouldn’t do anything to put her in harm’s way. Her gaze cut to the open car, where Nolan moved slowly to the end of the seat. A murderous expression darkened his eyes, his glare fixed on Kain. The dim glow spilling from Melody’s roof light cast dramatic shadows on their macabre scene.
“You know that if you kill us, you’re signing your own death warrant. My cousins will not let our deaths pass without hunting you down and seeing you put on death row.”
“Your cousins?” Kain scoffed. “You mean those cowboys out at the Colton Ranch?” He shook his head. “They don’t scare me. Old Hays might think he has clout in this town, but the real power is mine. It’s money. Secrets. Controlling someone else’s nasty addiction. That’s the real power.”
When Nolan stopped at the edge of the seat and eased his legs out of the car, Kain waved the weapon, motioning to the ground. “All the way. Facedown, hands out.”
She had no more time. She couldn’t wait for a better opportunity that might never come. Swallowing hard to gather her courage, Summer rose on her knees, screamed like a banshee and pulled both arms straight back toward her stomach. She kept her wrists stiff, and the tension on the zip tie caused the thin plastic strip to pop off.
Her scream startled Kain, and, for an instant, he acted disoriented, confused. With her hands freed and her feet under her, she lunged up. Her kidnapper still had a grip on her hair, so the surge jerked at her head and shot pain along her scalp. But she managed to land an elbow in his solar plexus. Knock his gun hand up with her shoulder. And create the distraction Nolan needed.
He rocketed toward Kain, shoulder first, plowing into him like a linebacker. No, more than an athlete. A trained killer.
Just as Nolan had been taught to use a weapon when he joined the FBI, he’d almost certainly learned lethal hand-to-hand combat techniques.
Kain released Summer’s hair in order to defend himself from Nolan’s blow, but the force of Nolan’s tackle knocked Kain onto his back. Given the chance, would Nolan kill Kain?
Summer gathered her balance and spun to face the men. Kain kicked out at Nolan then scrambled to his feet while Nolan swayed. She cringed seeing Kain deliver a blow to Nolan’s jaw with the butt of the gun. Nolan swung, too. A glancing blow to Kain’s cheek.
Summer’s attention narrowed to the lethal weapon Kain clung to. If she could get her hands on the weapon...
Even as that thought entered her mind, Kain angled the gun...and fired.
Chapter 21
The blast of the gun so near his ear sent waves of pain through Nolan’s skull, and the anguished timbre of Summer’s scream caused terror to flood his soul. Had she been hit?
Even the hint that she’d been hurt infuriated Nolan. He channeled that ire to fuel his drug-weakened muscles. The first gunshot had been fired randomly. Or so Nolan thought. Kain only had one hand on the weapon, and that arm was partially trapped under Nolan’s knee.
Nolan’s only advantage against Kain was his position, hovering over him, and he could lose that high ground at any moment. He had to strike hard, strike fast, before the drug dealer gained the needed aim to put a bullet in his heart.
Nolan balled his fist and smashed it into Kain’s throat, right in the windpipe. The blow caused Kain to choke, gasp. Nolan closed one hand around Kain’s neck, holding him down with his thumb pressing hard into Kain’s Adam’s apple. Predictably, Kain flailed and grabbed at the hand choking him. While Kain struggled to breathe, Nolan used his other hand to gouge at Kain’s eyes. This was a street fight. A no-holds-barred battle for the upper hand.
And Nolan could feel his energy, his strength draining. Whatever adrenaline had fired his limbs to action was now waning.
Still gripping the gun, Kain swung at Nolan’s head. Hit Nolan in the temple with a strike that made his ears ring and his vision dim. As Nolan blinked, stunned, Kain bucked, pushing up with his legs and twisting his torso. He wrested Nolan’s hand from his throat and scrambled to his hands and knees, gasping air.
A blurry movement flashed past Nolan, too quickly for him to react. Head throbbing, he jerked his gaze toward Kain. The blur had been Summer. Nolan’s heart rose to his throat, and he rasped, “No!” as Summer tackled the drug dealer from behind. She wrapped her legs around his waist, one arm around his neck, and her free hand grabbed a fistful of the man’s hair. Yanked.
Kain cried out, and Summer grunted. “Doesn’t feel so good, does it, you bastard!”
“Summer!” Nolan called, fumbling to his knees.
When he couldn’t shake Summer loose by twisting his body and shoving at her legs, Kain gave a small jump and flopped backward in a wrestling move. Summer’s head struck the ground with a terrifying thump.
“Summer!” Nolan crawled toward them, alarm streaking through him.
Summer wasn’t moving.
* * *
She couldn’t breathe. Her lungs were paralyzed, unresponsive.
Pain lanced her skull. Buzzing filled her ears, as if she were trapped in a beehive. Muted sounds wafted around her. Unfocused images moved before her. Fuzzy, as if seen underwater. A small pool of light from the Mercedes’ interior gave the only illumination in the darkness that surrounded her. Melody.
Acid swamped her gut as her mind cleared and the horror of her situation returned. Though her brain shook off the brief fugue, her lungs still struggled to recover. Her fall had winded her, and she gasped, trying to restore the lost oxygen.
“Summer?” Nolan appeared beside her, stroking her face, his expression stricken. “Can you hear me?”
She blinked and managed a small nod, a wheeze. Then a chilling voice pierced the night and sent fresh waves of revulsion to her core.
“I have to say, that lady’s got spunk. Jane and Patrice both just cowered and sniveled, pleading for their lives.”
Sucking in a thread of breath, Summer said, “I hate...being called spunky.”
Kain laughed as he raised the gun. “You see? Feisty ’til the end.”
Nolan moved in front of her, his arms spread. “You son of a bit—”
Three loud pops rang through the dark and echoed off the trees. Summer jerked. Scrunched her eyes shut waiting for the pain.
>
“Drop the weapon!” came a shout from behind them.
More gunfire. Ear-shattering blasts that reverberated through her. Terrified her.
Nolan shifted. Grabbed her. Rolled with her across the rocky ground.
“Police! Throw the weapon away and lie down!”
Dizzied by their rolling, she felt as if the earth was moving, seesawing beneath her as more shots went off. The rustling sound of feet rushing forward through weeds.
Above her, shielding her, Nolan groaned. Summer trembled from head to toe. Nausea gripped her. Hands shook her.
“Are you all right? Answer me!”
Nolan.
She lifted her eyes to his shadowed face. Gave a weak, twitchy nod.
When more shouts filled the night, she glanced toward the dark figures that appeared from each side. One ran like a crouched tiger, fast and agile, leading with a gun. The second had a more loping cadence to his step, a slower pace, but no less menacing as he barked directions and aimed his weapon. The two men descended on Kain, who lay spread-eagle on the dirt and grass.
Nolan released a shuddering breath. “It’s over, sweetheart. The cavalry’s here.”
Her gaze moved to Nolan, relief filling her eyes with tears. “Thank God. Oh, Nolan, I—I’m sorry. You...you were right. I should never—”
“Shh,” he said, pulling her into his arms for a hug.
When she squeezed him back, he grunted, and she levered back to study him. “What?”
She followed the direction of his eyes and spotted a dark stain spreading on his shirt.
“Nolan! You were shot?” She yanked at his clothing, trying to rip the shirt away from his wound. “Lie back. Don’t move!”
He winced as she tried to push him back onto the ground. “I’m okay. It’s just a graze.”
But she had his shirt up, examining the neat hole in his side. “That’s no graze. Omigod, omigod!” She pressed the heels of her hands to the bleeding gunshot wound. “Nolan was shot! He needs help!”
The two men who were securing Kain’s hands behind his back looked over. One of the men muttered something to his companion then peeled away to limp over to Nolan. When he moved inside the circle of light from Melody’s open door, Summer recognized Nolan’s cousin.
“Show me,” Forrest said as he knelt awkwardly beside her, holding his previously injured leg.
Nolan shrugged. “It’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine.”
Forrest pulled out a small flashlight and shined it on Nolan’s bleeding side. He ducked his head to examine the wound and scoffed. “You definitely need to go to the ER. That’s a good bit more than a scratch, Nolan.”
Summer sat back on her heels. “We don’t have our phones to call an ambulance. Kain destroyed them when he grabbed us.”
Forrest’s mouth twisted. “Probably faster for us to drive you to the ER than wait for an ambulance to find this place in the dark.” He clicked off the light and divided a scowling look between them. “How exactly was Kain able to kidnap two of you? And one a trained professional?”
Nolan’s head rolled forward, his chin to his chest, his expression full of shame. “Can we talk about it later?”
Summer cringed, not willing to let Nolan bear any of the blame. “It’s my fault. I insisted on examining Melody.”
Forrest cocked his head to the side. “Melody?”
She waved a hand toward the Mercedes. “His car. He calls the Benz Melody. We had reason to believe there was proof of his illegal drug connection and, therefore, motive for him to kill Patrice Eccleston hidden somewhere in the wheel well or tires.” She took a breath before adding, “And there was. We found a hidden compartment and a stash of what is likely meth.”
Forrest arched an eyebrow and glanced at the Mercedes. “You don’t say?”
“Forrest,” Summer continued, feeling the need to defend Nolan, “Nolan was drugged. Kain had a syringe out and ready when he snuck up on us and—”
“It’s no excuse.” Nolan talked over her, shaking his head.
“He injected Nolan before we could—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa...” Forrest stopped them both, raising his hands to quiet them. “We’ll sort this out at the police station.” Then, narrowing a concerned frown on Nolan, he said, “And after you’ve been checked out at the hospital.” With a grunt of pain, he shoved to his feet and rubbed his bum leg. “Right now I’m going to help Dallas with Kain.”
As Forrest started moving back across the clearing, Summer called, “Forrest.”
He stopped and glanced back at her.
“Thank you.” Emotion welled in her throat. “You saved our lives.”
His expression darkened with something akin to fear or grief. “I believe you’re right.” He exhaled sharply and flashed a relieved grin. “And you’re welcome.”
* * *
Although they were initially taken to separate exam rooms at the ER, once Summer had a CT scan of her head and a minor concussion was confirmed, she went to wait with Nolan for his test results.
The majority of the Colton clan had descended on the ER waiting room soon after Forrest dropped Summer and Nolan off, then taken Kain to the police station for processing.
The ride back to town had sure been interesting, Summer ruminated—Kain handcuffed and sitting between Dallas and Nolan in the back seat of Forrest’s cruiser while Forrest drove and Summer rode shotgun up front. Previously chatty, Kain had clammed up and sat with a dark scowl on his face the entire ride back into downtown Whisperwood. Melody had been left out in the woods, undisturbed, so that the forensics team could search the Mercedes and gather evidence in the morning.
“How did you find us out here?” Nolan had asked, dividing a look between his cousins.
Forrest had shifted his gaze to study Nolan in the rearview mirror. “A lot of luck and calling in some favors. After you called me this evening, I hopped on the phone to Dallas, since he lives closer to the city administrative building.”
“I saw your Jeep in the parking lot but not a Mercedes, so I was instantly alert to something having gone awry,” Dallas said, picking up the story. “An older lady that lives diagonally across the street from the city building was in her yard, and she flagged me down and said she’d heard a scream moments earlier and looked out in time to see a struggle then a Mercedes pull away headed south.”
“Since the WPD has been trying to catch Kain red-handed for years, we already knew his cell phone provider and had them ping his cell phone. Once we had a general location and which direction he was headed, Dallas and I threw on the cruiser lights and sped out here with updates from the cell provider.”
Summer tipped her head, her nose wrinkling. “But this far from town, the cell towers are farther apart and wouldn’t give you a specific location. How did you know to come here?”
“A good point, Ms. Private Investigator,” Forrest said. “We figured he might be driving to a specific place, so I had Dallas phone my contact in the county records department to run a search of Kain’s land holdings out here, along with any other recent transactions for properties Kain might know about. The clerk remembered filing records last month on the sale of a tract out here for a hunting club. Kain wasn’t listed as a member or investor per se, but there was a TKI Inc.”
“TK... Tom Kain...” Summer said.
“Tom Kain Investments Inc.,” Dallas confirmed.
“When we reached the turn to come in here, we heard the gunfire,” Forrest said.
“I jumped out and ran like hell in the direction the shots came from.” Dallas dabbed at a dribble of blood on his cheek. “Ran through some thorny vines, but it was worth it to take down the guy responsible for the drugs that killed Avery’s brother.”
Now, sitting in the ER with Nolan, Summer lifted a prayer of thanks that the Colton brothers had reached them in time.
&
nbsp; Dallas had left his cell phone for Summer and Nolan to use until they could replace theirs. When the doctor officially discharged them from the ER, she stepped outside where cell phone use was allowed and called Atticus Eccleston. “We found him, sir. Nolan Colton and I found the man responsible for killing your daughter.”
She heard a long shuddering sigh, then a broken, “Who?”
“Tom Kain.”
“You...you mean the auto shop owner?”
“The same. He was involved in a lot more than fixing cars at his shop, and we believe that Patrice found evidence of that when she went to interview for a job at the garage. He saw her come across that evidence via his security tapes and murdered her to keep her quiet.”
Another long silence followed. When he spoke again, Atticus’s voice was taut with emotion. “I’ll kill the son of a bitch.”
“I understand the sentiment, sir, but it is likely the state of Texas will do that for you. He killed a number of other people, directly or via a second perpetrator, and the DA could seek the death penalty.”
She didn’t bother to tell Atticus that Kain was spilling his guts as part of a plea deal to avoid death row. Let the grieving father rest in the comfort of knowing his child’s killer had been caught. The trial and sentencing were worries for another day. “I’ll fill you in on the details later. It’s been a long night, but I wanted you to know Patrice’s killer has been arrested.”
She heard a quiet sob, then a broken, “Thank you, Ms. Davies.”
* * *
By the time Nolan and Summer were discharged from the hospital, Jonah had retrieved Nolan’s Jeep from the municipal building parking lot. Maggie and Josephine had purchased a hot takeout meal from the Bluebell Diner for each member of the family, and Forrest had phoned to say Chief Thompson wouldn’t be officially questioning Tom Kain until the man’s lawyer could get in from Austin the next morning. Kain would spend the night in the town jail and be arraigned in the morning.
Colton 911--Deadly Texas Reunion Page 21