Badge and a Saddle (Heroes in the Saddle Book 2) (8 page)

Anything stupid
like run down the hill to the ranch and give herself up so the killers would
take her and leave Rex and Bennet alone? She’d seen what those men could do,
and she had no delusions they would hesitate to kill all three of them, and
make their bodies disappear forever. “I promise.”

He turned and grabbed
the reins. When she put her hand on his thigh, he looked down at her.

“Thank you, Rex.
Please be careful.”

“I intend to, Doc.”
He held her hand and looked into her eyes for a moment then kicked Merle into a
run, up and over the ridge, disappearing down the other side.

Mina hauled the
saddlebag into the trees, creeping slowly, until she had a view of the ranch
buildings. Nothing looked out of place, no vehicles, no movement. She set the
blanket down, then leaned back against a tree, just at eye-level with the top
of the ridge so if someone had binoculars down there, she wouldn’t be easy to
spot.

A shiver traveled
through her. What was happening? Was Bennet all right? Where had Rex gone? She
couldn’t spot him and Merle. He had to know this land well, and probably was coming
around on a side where he’d have better control and access.

She rubbed her
arms, fear penetrating deeply into her bones. She closed her eyes and used the
few words she knew to send spiritual guidance and protection to Bennet and Rex.

Rex slowed Merle
as he came around the back of the barn, stopping about twenty yards away. Tying
the horse to a tree, he patted his withers. Merle’s breath was labored, but he
couldn’t help that today. “Quiet, boy. I’ll be back for you, and I’ll bring an
extra carrot.” The horse closed his eyes as Rex took the rifle and bullets and
ran to the barn. Looking in the window, he waited for any movement.

Nothing.

He opened the
padlock on the back door into the tack room and checked the building for any
life.

Nothing.

Looking through a
crack in the front door, he spotted a gray sedan that had to be from the police
motor pool. Who was it?

Movement on the
porch caught his eye. Bennet stood leaning against the post rail, talking like
he always did, but this time, using his hands to punctuate his story. The
sheriff was gesturing that way to warn Rex that something wasn’t right.

“What the hell is
going on?” He watched for a few seconds.

One of the rocking
chairs moved, the man sitting in it leaning forward and…laughing? “Bennet, what
are you doing?” Rex mumbled the words as he exited the back of the barn and circled
around the far side of the house. He slid along the building until he could
hear voices.

Sontag? His
partner? Now things were feeling itchy, like a pair of new jeans. He checked
the rifle, then strolled around the side of the house.

Bennet and Sontag
spotted him.

“Hey, glad you’re
back.” Bennet gestured to Sontag. “Your partner here stopped by to say howdy.”

Rex came up behind
Bennet, noticing the pistol tucked into the back of his belt.

Sontag stood, his
military-cut brown hair giving him the air of authority, while his short,
paunchy body mass ruined the effect. “Rex. I was in the neighborhood.” The guy
gave a laugh that was well short of genuine. He wore an old brown jacket that
gaped to show his holstered pistol.

Leaning on the
porch rail at the foot of the steps, Rex set his rifle butt on the ground,
keeping the weapon in hand. “What are you doing down this way?” He succeeded in
making it sound conversational, not confrontational.

“I have to go to
Austin for a parole hearing on one of my old cases.” Sontag sounded convincing.

There were too
many unanswered questions, though. “How did you know I would be here?”

“Captain mentioned
you were taking some leave time. I took a chance and swung by.” The other man glanced
down the driveway toward the road.

Sontag was not the
kind of partner Rex confided in, and definitely not the type who’d drive an
hour off the freeway to see him. Was Sontag here purely out of curiosity to see
if Mina was on the ranch, or had somebody gotten to his partner, and sent him
on ahead to scout out the situation?

Bennet looked at
Rex. “Offered him some sweet tea, but he just wanted to use the bathroom.”

That told Rex that
Sontag had been inside, scouring the house for signs of Mina.

“You been
hunting?” Sontag gestured to his gun.

“Nope. Just
walking the property.” He picked up the rifle and made a show of checking the
bullet in the chamber. “Can’t be too careful.” Tucking it under his arm, he let
the barrel point at his partner for a few seconds before shifting it down.

The man’s brows
dropped. “Anything new on that missing persons case?”

Now it would
start. “Which case? We’ve got three going right now.”

Bennet shifted,
his hand going to his lower back, squinting as if he was feeling pain.

Sontag didn’t give
him a glance. “The astrologist from the college. The woman doctor.”

The guy didn’t
know the difference between an astrologist and an astronomer? Had he even
cracked the file on Mina’s case? Probably not, the lazy fuck. “No. Nothing
before I left Fort Worth. Why?”

His partner looked
down and shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “Some cops are looking for her.
They’re from Austin and San Antonio. Say she’s into something illegal, and
that’s why she’s in the wind.” He glanced up at Rex, then looked down the
driveway again.

Someone was
waiting down there, and Rex pretty much knew who it was.

“Captain know
about this?” Rex reached for his back pocket where he’d tucked his phone. “I
should call him.”

“No.” Sontag
gritted his teeth and hissed out a breath. “Fuck, Rex.” He met his gaze. “Don’t
make this go the wrong way.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder toward the
house. “I know she’s here. We have people watching for her to show up in
Austin, but when the captain said you’d gone on leave right after he closed the
doctor’s case file, I got a gut feeling about the whole thing. I went to your
house and…went in and found evidence that you’d had company.”

The fucker had
broken into his home? Rex had been an idiot, leaving without scouring the
place, but he’d never have guessed how desperate these men would be. His
mistake, and it was going to cost him.

Sontag tipped his
head. “Just give her to me, I’ll take her, and go.”

Rex could play
stupid, but they might as well get this over with. He inched his gun up to
point it at Sontag. “You’ll go, but without the doctor.” He nodded toward the
road. “Those cops you’re working for are dirty. They killed a man and must have
disposed of his body. They’re looking for Mi…Doctor Cooper to kill her because
she’s a witness.” He slowly stepped up onto the porch, his rifle still pointed
at Sontag’s big belly. “You want that on your conscience?”

His partner held
up his hands. “I’m just doing my job, Tarrow. You don’t want to give her to me,
they’re ready to come and take her.” He looked at Bennet. “There’s four of
them, two of you. I know how this’ll turn out.”

Rex had to choose
quickly whether to reveal all the facts or not. Yeah, he had to go for it. “She
recorded the whole thing through a camera she had hooked up on the telescope.
It shows the men’s faces, up close and personal. And she’s not stupid. She sent
the memory card of the video to the governor’s office.”

Sontag’s mouth
opened and his face fell like melting gelatin. He went silent for a few minutes,
then smirked. It wasn’t a happy look. “Well, fuck. That’s the biggest lie I’ve
ever heard you tell, Tarrow.” He shook his head. “Listen, these guys are paying
me big to bring the doctor to them. I’ll cut you in on that. I mean
big
money
.
”

“What are they
into? Drugs? Human trafficking? Gambling?”

“I don’t know.” He
nearly shouted the words. “You think I’m gonna ask these guys what they do to
make extra money on the side? Just…” He fisted his hands. “Where is she, Rex?
Give her up or this is gonna get bloody.”

“Then it’s gonna
get bloody, because I’m not a fucking dirty cop like my asswipe partner.” He
let his anger flow, let it bring on the adrenaline he would need for the shit
that was coming his way. Involving Bennet in this was not optimal, but it would
have to be that way. There was no chance of getting the man to hide in the root
cellar.

Sontag’s face
turned red, his eyes popping out. He grabbed the front of his own shirt and tipped
his head down. “You get all that?”

A car horn sounded
from the direction of the road.

Sontag was wired?

“You’re a
disgrace.” Bennet pulled his pistol and pointed it at Sontag.

The guy made a
move like he was going to pull his gun.

Rex took his rifle
in two hands and slammed the butt against his partner’s temple.

The man’s eyes
rolled back and he hit the boards like a bag of potatoes.

“Zip ties?” Rex grabbed
his partner’s ankles.

“Same place.” Bennet
got rolling and held open the screen door while Rex dragged his partner into
the kitchen.

Bennet set his gun
on the table and went to the ammo drawer. “I sent out a 911 to Trev and Clint,
and called the sheriff’s office, told them we had trespassers, and nothing
more, in case I was wrong and we had to wave them off. My gut instinct told me
your partner wasn’t here for a tea party.”

Rex nodded at Bennet.
The man was a salt, had smarts and intuition that Rex could only hope to
acquire someday. “We don’t know how close they are, so gotta figure we’re on
our own. Only four of them, if Sontag wasn’t lying.”

They secured the
house, opening the old double-hung windows a few inches at the bottom. Rex zip
tied his partner’s hands and feet, then taped his piehole shut for good
measure. Rex pictured Mina, alone, frightened, exposed out in the woods, and he
wished he had time to bring her back and hide her. “Hold on, Doc.” He whispered
the words, sending her strength.

The sound of
engines racing toward them had Rex and Bennet grabbing every gun and box of
shells they could find.

Rex crouched under
the kitchen window. He could see Bennet struggling to get to the floor by a
window at the far end of the house. He prayed nothing would happen to the old
guy. He loved him. Like a father. Had he ever said that to him in so many
words? That’d be number one on his to-do list…if they lived through this.

Two big, black
SUVs came over the rise, racing toward the house. The first one slid to a stop
next to Sontag’s car, the other made a wide arc and stopped a few yards farther
away, both of them parallel to the house. Whoever was driving knew what they
were doing.

A man in a dark
shirt and pants got out of the passenger door of the second car and held up his
hands. “We don’t want to hurt you. Give us the girl and we’ll leave. You’ll
never hear from us again.”

Rex took out his
phone and pressed the video record button, then set it on the windowsill,
facing out. “You want me to give you Doctor Mina Cooper so you can kill her? Do
you seriously believe there are no good cops left in Texas?”

The man paused for
a few seconds. “We’re peace officers. We’re not gonna kill her. She’s wanted
for questioning in connection with illegal activity at the university.”

“You and your
friends killed a man. She has it on her camera. She showed it to me, and sent a
copy of it to the governor. You won’t get away with this. Your best bet? Leave
town, leave the country. Do it now before the sheriff gets here.”

The guy dropped
his hands. “Even if I did believe that bullshit story, what makes you think I’d
leave behind a witness?”

“You’re smart.
Smart enough to know when to cut and run. I’m not kidding about the video. I’ll
show you her camera and you can see it for yourself.”

The window of the
SUV rolled down halfway. Rex could make out a man’s voice, and the man standing
outside the vehicle leaned back to hear. He nodded and stepped forward. “Okay,
show me.”

Rex wasn’t born
yesterday. “Put your piece on the ground and come up on the porch.”

The guy complied,
and stepped onto the porch.

A glance at Bennet
showed that he had a bead on the dirty cop.

Rex stood, the cop
looked his way, then hit the floor.

Rex ducked as a
bullet shattered the window and whizzed by his ear. “Incoming.” The whole thing
brought back flashes of his tour of duty in the Middle East. Rex grabbed his
pistol and crawled to the door. He opened it a few inches and looked out the
screen door.

The cop was
pulling a gun from his boot.

“Drop it.” Rex
chambered a bullet as a shot went off.

The guy slumped
down, blood flowing from his shoulder. Bennet had taken him out.

The sound of car
doors slamming got Rex moving, back to his window where his shotgun still sat
on the ledge.

“Last chance,
Tarrow.” A man’s voice came from behind the closest vehicle. “We’ve got some hardware
that’ll tear your house to splinters, and send it up in smoke.”

“Sheriff’s on his
way. You’d best run.” Bennet yelled it.

A sour, female
laugh came from behind the other SUV. “We’re cops, stupid. We’re monitoring the
frequency.”

“Monitor this,
shithead.” Bennet sent rounds of bullets flying at every window of their side
of the SUVs. Bulletproof. Not a scratch.

Rex looked at
Bennet, who just shrugged. “Old man, are you finished working out your
frustration, now?”

His mouth curved
in a half-smile. “Guess so.”

“Tarrow. We’re
gonna count to three. If you don’t send her out, we’re opening fire.” A male
voice.

“She’s not here.”
Rex hoped to buy them some time.

“Wrong.” The
woman’s voice called. “Sontag spotted some of her crap in there.”

“She was here. She
ran last night.”

Silence for a few
minutes. “Then there’s no reason why we shouldn’t kill you two.”

Bennet snorted.
“Rookie mistake, son.”

“Fucking stupid…”
The rest of his words were drowned out as bullets sprayed the side of the
house, breaking every window, ripping into the kitchen walls and furniture and
appliances behind him.

Rex and Bennet lay
flat, looking at each other every few seconds. His mind worked, coming up with
a plan. He’d slither across the floor to the door on the opposite side of the
house, go out and—

A siren blasted
from extremely close by.

The shooting
stopped and one of the gunmen moved around the front of the SUV.

A second later, a
shot blasted from inside the house, from Bennet’s gun, and the guy who’d
exposed himself was down, not moving.

“Good one,
sheriff.” Rex found his phone on the floor, still recording, and set it back on
what was left of the windowsill.

The two remaining
cops, a man and a woman, shouted at each other, and Rex watched as red and blue
lights and a strobe came into view on the rise of the driveway, then the top of
a white vehicle, then…an ambulance? That had to be Clint.

“Cavalry’s ridin’
in.” Bennet kept his eye on his gunsight, shifting the barrel back and forth
between the SUVs, waiting for his chance.