South Dakota Showdown

by Nicole Helm

  “Not if I can help it.” Jamison knew enough about getting people out of a dark situation that flat out lying didn’t often produce the desired results. But neither did he want to give the unvarnished truth to a bunch of scared girls. The oldest couldn’t be more than twelve, at best. Disgust and horror clogged his throat, but he had to speak.

  Put it away. Focus on getting them out.

  “They have to catch us first. Would you rather stay here or would you rather try to survive?”

  There was nothing but silence. Still, Jamison wouldn’t give up. Not until they were all out. “One at a time. Who wants to be first?”

  He waited. Too long. Too damn long. But finally one of the girls struggled onto her feet. A few of the other girls told her to stop, but she shook her head. She was one of the older ones.

  “I’d rather die than stay here,” she said firmly.

  Jamison nodded. He wanted to offer a hand, but he figured that would be more threatening. “You just follow me out, okay?”

  She nodded, and as he walked back the way he’d come, she followed. He turned off his light as he reached the outdoor part of the stable, then moved forward.

  When the girl saw Liza and Gigi, she ran toward the gate and fell to her knees with a sob. “It’s true,” she whispered. “You’re going to save us.”

  “We’re going to try,” Liza said, patting the girl’s hand that was clutching the bars of the gate. “Let Jamison lift you over. Then I’ll catch you.”

  She nodded, looking back at Jamison. He and Liza worked together to get her over the gate, and she immediately started to cry in earnest.

  “It has to be quicker than this,” Liza whispered to Jamison as Gigi wrapped her arms around the crying girl.

  “I know” was all he said, before he went back in, hoping the next girls would follow.

  * * *

  LIZA WATCHED THE house between each girl Jamison brought out. This was taking too long. The upstairs lights couldn’t stay on forever. Eventually someone would be coming with the girls’ supper, according to Gigi.

  And Gigi wouldn’t leave her side.

  Liza had instructed the eight girls Jamison had gotten out so far to go hide in the woods. One girl knew a spot where she thought they could all be undetected if the main house flipped on the floodlights. But Liza hadn’t been able to get Gigi to go with them, and she’d started to throw a fit when one of the girls had tried to carry her away.

  She was in too much danger here, but Liza didn’t know what else to do. The girls coming out of the stables had been hurt. So much worse was waiting for them if she and Jamison left them here.

  There was only now to save them. Save them they would. Things were going better than Liza could have expected and the lights upstairs were still on. Every second that clicked by, Liza’s heart beat harder against her ribs.

  Maybe they’d make it. Maybe they’d get every girl out before those lights clicked off. Maybe—

  The upstairs went suddenly black. Liza almost couldn’t believe her eyes as the entire top story of the cabin in the distance went dark. She froze for a second or two, but Gigi’s voice brought her back from that icy precipice of panic.

  “The lights went out, sissy,” Gigi whispered, fear emanating from every word. “They’re coming.”

  “I know, baby. I know,” Liza said. She had to do something. She had to act.

  But Jamison said there were two more girls. The lights had gone out, which meant someone was coming. If they were found...

  Finally, Jamison appeared with another girl.

  “The lights went out, Jamison. They’re coming.”

  “But Jenni is still in there,” the little girl he was leading whimpered. She didn’t look much older than Gigi. Jamison had to lift her up and practically set her on top of the gate. Liza pulled her down.

  “Come over yourself,” Liza said to Jamison, trying not to sound as panicked as she felt, for the girls’ sake. “Take the girls somewhere safe. I’ll get the last one.”

  “No. Not enough time. Besides, they’ll all be more comfortable running with a woman. You start moving. The last one’s a little afraid, but her sister here was very brave. She’ll follow me now, so we’ll meet you. Head for the cabin. Hopefully Cody is there.”

  Liza didn’t want to leave this spot—for that last girl too afraid to leave, for Jamison too brave and good to leave a scared little girl. But the more people were here, the less chance they had of escape. All of them.

  “Come on, girls,” she said, taking the two little hands in hers. It just about killed her, but she started walking toward where the other girls had gone. She’d get them and start heading for the cabin.

  She wouldn’t look back, didn’t have time to.

  If Jamison didn’t follow, she’d drop the girls with Cody and go get him. She wouldn’t let him sacrifice himself for...

  Wouldn’t she do the same?

  Shouldn’t you do the same?

  She looked down at Gigi, who hadn’t left her side. No. Like Jamison had said back at the original cabin, if she died, the likelihood Gigi did, too, increased. Gigi was the priority. Until she was safe, nothing else mattered.

  She couldn’t think about saving Jamison just yet. So, she just had to believe he’d save the last girl and himself. Of course he would. Jamison always did.

  She urged the girls with her to run, though they both hesitated with the dark around them. Liza heard a door creak open, then slam closed somewhere far off.

  Someone was coming.

  “Come on. We have to hurry.” She wished she could pick them both up, but that wouldn’t help any.

  She walked, trying to hurry, holding them up when the girls stumbled and keeping their movement forward no matter what. They were doing all right, making fair progress by Liza’s estimation when her foot got caught on something and she pitched forward, the girls tumbling with her.

  Liza didn’t cry out, though falling hurt like hell. Though she was pretty sure she’d twisted her ankle or broken all of her stitches or both. But it didn’t matter. Liza struggled to her feet, pulling Gigi and the other girl to theirs, as well.

  They were both crying, quietly at first, but the pitch and volume began to increase. Growing louder and louder in the silent woods.

  “Hush, now. We don’t want anyone to hear us.” She knelt and squeezed both girls to her sides, pressing kisses to their temples. “I know it’s hard, but we have to do this hard thing to be safe. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  The little girl sniffled. “Bette.”

  “Okay, Bette. I’m going to carry you for a bit. Then it’ll be Gigi’s turn. Okay? Okay.”

  Liza hefted the little girl onto her. Her ankle and leg screamed in protest, but she ignored the pain and retook Gigi’s hand. It didn’t take them too much longer to reach the grove of thick trees where the oldest girl had said she was going to go.

  “Where’s Jenni?” one of the girls asked. Liza couldn’t make them all out in the dark.

  “She’s coming. But we need to keep moving. Now—”

  “Wait.”

  The desperate whisper came from behind. Snapping twigs and an approaching form too small to be a Son.

  “Jenni!” Bette cried out. Liza immediately clapped her hand over the girl’s mouth, but the damage was done. The name echoed out through the trees and if anyone was looking for them, they would have heard that.

  “We have to run, girls,” Liza ordered, hoping they all understood how important it was to follow directions and ask questions later. “As quietly as possible. You’re going to follow me. No sounds. Walk as quietly as possible. We’ll walk two by two. Make sure you’re holding someone’s hand so no one falls back. Jamison will...” Liza’s heart sank when she realized the girl had come alone. “Where’s Jamison?” she asked of Jenni, as calmly as possible for the kids’
sake.

  Jenni let out a ragged sob. “He told me to run. I don’t know... I don’t know what happened after that.”

  “That’s okay. That’s all right,” Liza said, though her throat got tight at the thought of him stuck back there in the stables. “You did just what you should have. Now, everyone, find a partner.”

  They had to get to safety, and to Cody. Because someone had to save Jamison.

  She made sure the girls all had a buddy, and settled Jenni at the back with Bette. She began their walk, Gigi’s hand in hers, keeping the pace quick and efficient. She tried not to think about Jamison, but it was impossible. With every look back to make sure all the girls were keeping up, she looked beyond, desperate to see Jamison running behind them.

  He’d be okay. She assured herself over and over again. Even if he was caught, he was Ace Wyatt’s son. No one would hurt him.

  At least until Ace got there.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jamison hadn’t followed into the woods like he’d promised the girl he would. Like he’d promised Liza he would. Still, he’d known Jenni would follow Liza. No matter how unsure she was of him and his promises of safety, she would follow her sister—the little girl Liza had taken away with Gigi.

  So, he didn’t feel so bad about staying behind. The girls needed more time to escape. This would have all been for nothing if the Sons men discovered they were missing and immediately found them in the woods.

  Then there was the fact it would take him time to scale that gate—too much time. He’d only be found.

  So, Jamison stayed, and he waited. With luck, there wouldn’t be too many coming to bring the girls supper and he could take them out. It would buy everyone time—including himself.

  With time he could potentially fashion something out of his backpack to haul himself over the gate or pick the padlock. But only if he had time.

  He heard noises. Footsteps, talking. The clank of a chain, the echoing click of a padlock falling open.

  He surveyed the room the girls had been in. Somehow he had to take an undetermined amount of men out before they alerted everyone in that house there was a problem.

  More chains clinking, then footsteps coming closer.

  Jamison positioned himself in a crouch in the corner of darkness the girls had been huddled in. He held his gun in one hand, considering acoustics and wondering if it would send men from the cabin running out here.

  It wasn’t his best option, but if it was the last resort, so be it.

  If there were too many for Jamison to fight, well, he had a plan for that, too.

  They hadn’t discussed it, but Jamison was counting on Cody still having and monitoring the device connected to the one he’d given Jamison. He was counting on Cody understanding that if he hit the button again, it was an okay to blow it all up.

  If it blew up with Jamison in the cross fire, so be it. He’d have done what he came to do.

  Saving people meant being willing to lay your life down for them if the situation called for it. He’d saved himself a lot of times, and always been willing to pay a bigger price if necessary. This situation couldn’t be any different.

  Even if a future with Liza was waiting on the other end, it was just as she’d said. How would he live with himself if he didn’t give those girls a fighting chance at survival?

  He couldn’t.

  Jamison listened, focusing on the now. Two sets of footsteps. Two voices.

  He could definitely take out two men. Maybe even without firing a shot. Still, he held the gun in one hand, a knife in the other, and kept himself ready to attack.

  “Learned to be real quiet, haven’t they?” a deep voice laughed, coming closer and closer.

  “I guess they’re smarter than we thought.”

  That two men could be so callous about keeping little girls locked in a dank, dirty stable had fury spiking through him. Jamison banked the rage and disgust. Had to, in order to focus.

  Two big men entered, chuckling to each other as they hung a camping lantern from a hook on the wall. One carried containers of food, and the other held a lamp, with a gun at the ready in his other hand.

  “I guess they are smarter than you thought,” Jamison said calmly. “Way smarter.”

  The man with the food immediately dropped it, presumably to reach for a weapon. Jamison lunged—not at either man, but at the light. He smashed the butt of his gun into the plastic and heard a satisfying crunch and shatter before it went out—plunging them into darkness.

  They wouldn’t shoot blindly into the dark. He had to hope.

  Unfortunately, he hoped wrong. The deafening pop of a gunshot went off, though as far as Jamison could tell, the bullet only hit wood.

  “You idiot. You could have killed me,” one man said to the other.

  “What else am I supposed to do?”

  Their arguing gave Jamison time to slip out, his eyes adjusting to the dark as he strode as silently as possible down the stables. He stopped at the stall with the horse. It would make noise, but he could outrun the goons still bickering in the room behind him.

  He pulled the horse into the corridor and then gave its rump a hard pat, which had the horse galloping for the front door, where the men had presumably come in.

  Jamison didn’t give himself time to hope. He just acted, moving through the corridor and then sliding out the door after the horse. He heard the men coming, so he quickly shut the door, pulled the chain through the handles of the door as tightly as possible, then slammed the padlock into place. All by the bright, silver moonlight.

  The men no doubt had walkies, and Jamison wished he could have disabled those. But he’d gotten out. Two men were detained, and they wouldn’t be able to tell much about which direction he’d gone.

  So, Jamison had to move, and quick.

  But when Jamison turned away from the door, there was someone standing there. The figure’s teeth flashed in the moonlight, and not a second later two men grabbed either arm, liberating both the gun and the knife from his grasp.

  Jamison struggled against them, but they had tight grasps, and used their bulk to keep him mostly immobile.

  “You honestly think I let idiots like that do anything without listening to their every move?” the voice asked.

  A bright light flashed against Jamison’s face. Jamison didn’t wince at the light, and he forced himself not to tense under the hands of the men who held him down. He had to keep his body loose. It would be his only chance of fighting off the men who gripped him by each arm.

  The man in front of him didn’t drop the light, so Jamison calmly closed his eyes against it. He didn’t have to see to recognize the voice of the man standing before him. “Tony. Good to see you. So to speak, since you’re blinding me.”

  Tony laughed, and Jamison tried not to sneer in response. He’d always hated Liza’s father, as much as if not even more than his own. Ace was the leader because he was cold and calculated. He knew how to manipulate, and how to stir up a certain kind of loyalty. He was dangerous because he understood people, and he used that knowledge against them.

  Tony Dean was dangerous in the completely opposite way. He didn’t care about people. His brain didn’t work like other people’s—it was incomprehensible as far as Jamison was concerned. Jamison would have called him a sadist, but that would be ascribing his chaos to some kind of order.

  No one ever knew quite what Tony was going to do—which was why he was Ace’s right-hand man. The machine and the maniac who’d built quite the kingdom for themselves.

  “They won’t get far,” Tony offered, tilting the flashlight’s beam down at the ground so it no longer shone in Jamison’s eyes. “But I’m impressed. You certainly got them farther than I expected. Then again, Ace taught you everything you know.”

  Jamison smiled at Liza’s father, though he wanted to retch at the comparis
on. He wasn’t Ace, but Ace had taught him something. You couldn’t escape the Sons.

  And since he wouldn’t give in to them, there was only one other choice. Destroying them. Maybe the odds were stacked against him, but he wasn’t dead yet.

  “Didn’t he just?” Jamison returned.

  The men held his arms—but with the right shifting on his feet and pressure of his elbow against his pocket, he could put pressure on the button Cody had given him.

  He managed to click it once before the men tightened their hold and ordered him to stop moving. He let himself relax, counted to five, then gave a jerk and managed to click the button the second time.

  It earned him an elbow to the gut, but if Cody got the message, it was worth the pain and loss of breath.

  “Tie him up,” Tony said in a heavy sigh. “Don’t rough him up too much. We’ve got Ace Wyatt’s precious eldest.”

  Jamison didn’t fight the men at his sides as one produced a rope from the dark. There was no point in fighting when it would only take Cody a few moments to follow the cue. Jamison hoped.

  It took another minute or two. But before Tony’s goons had finished tying him up, the first bright light exploded from the cabin, followed by a thunderous, deafening boom and debris flying.

  Tony’s goons scattered, dropping Jamison’s arms and running away from the light.

  But Tony didn’t. He held the gun on Jamison’s half-tied-up form. “I guess you should have set that off a while ago.”

  “You think so?” Jamison replied cheerfully. “Good to know.”

  “You think who your father is matters to me? I’m his partner. I’m not afraid of Ace. Ace wouldn’t mind if I killed you. He’d probably thank me.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure, Tony.” Tony was clearly all talk because he still hadn’t pulled the trigger. “I’d think very long and hard before you spoke for my father. You know how he gets.”

  Another building exploded—this time the shack. Jamison had to believe the stables would be next.

  It’d probably kill him. He had to let out a breath and accept that. As long as it took out Tony Dean, too, it would be worth it.