Maverick Sheriff (21 page)

At least he would be if Peggy got out of his way.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Peggy said, her words slurred. It sounded as if she’d been drugged. “Please help me—”

Another shot blasted through the air. Again, not from Peggy’s gun. Cooper could see that her trigger finger hadn’t moved.

But Peggy certainly did.

The woman made a raspy sound that came deep from within her throat, and the gun slipped from her hand and to the ground. A second later, Peggy crumpled in a heap next to it.

It was only then that Cooper saw the dark stain spreading across her shirt.
Blood.
She’d been shot in the back. If she wasn’t already dead, she soon would be. He had to get an ambulance out here, but even that was too risky.

“Told you time was up,” the kidnapper taunted. He was still inside the barn.

“You didn’t have to kill her!” Jessa shouted.

“Yeah, actually, I did.” His voice was shaky now. Maybe because killing a woman had gotten to him or maybe he was coming to realize that his plan was falling apart. “She could have maybe linked me back to Liam.”

Maybe.

And if he would kill on a
maybe,
then he’d damn sure kill Jessa and him if he got the chance. Not just Jessa and him, either, but anyone who might connect him to the crimes, including Linda and even Liam, since Liam’s own DNA proved that he’d been stolen and put up for adoption.

“I want you to run,” Cooper whispered to Linda. “Stay on this side of the barn, away from that camera. Keep Liam close to you and stay low.”

Linda gave a shaky nod, and the moment she took off running, Cooper leaned out from the corner of the barn and hoped the sound of his movements would cover any noise that Linda was making during her escape.

“So are you Hector or Donovan?” Cooper asked. He figured any distraction would help right now. Help Linda get to cover and give his brothers time to arrive.

“Come in here and you can see for yourself,” the kidnapper growled.

Cooper watched as Linda ducked behind a tree. It wasn’t ideal cover, but it got her away from the barn, and the tree might be able to stop any bullets fired in that direction.

His phone dinged again, and Cooper ducked back around the side of the barn so the kidnapper wouldn’t notice what he was doing. He saw the text that he’d been waiting for.

Second gunman caught,
Tucker wrote.
I can see your truck lights from where I’m standing, and there are no other gunmen around.

Get Linda and Liam out of here,
Cooper texted back. He would have loved to include Jessa in that rescue, but it was too risky.

Liam had to be rescued first.

Plus, Jessa was still too close to the shooter. If Tucker tried to get to her, Jessa and he would just be gunned down like Peggy.

“I want you to give me that DNA report now!” the kidnapper yelled.

Yeah, the guy was definitely losing it, probably because he knew both of his hired guns were out of commission. Were there more? Maybe. But if so, Cooper hoped this idiot called his backup to the barn so it would give Tucker a safer path to escape with Linda and Liam.

Without warning, a shot rang out and blasted into his truck.

Cooper’s heart went to the ground, and he quickly looked to make sure Jessa hadn’t been hit. He saw her scramble back into the truck and across the seat. Good. He hoped she’d stay there.

But she didn’t.

When the kidnapper fired again, Jessa stuck her hand out from the open door. Cooper saw the gun she held. One that she’d no doubt taken from the glove compartment.

Jessa pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed into the barn door, and she didn’t stop there. She fired another shot. Then another.

“Big mistake!” the kidnapper yelled, and he called her a name mixed with some raw profanity. He made a sound of outrage, the kind of sound a crazy man would make, and the shots started coming.

Nonstop.

The bullets began to pelt the truck, ripping through the glass, one of the headlights and the metal, and Cooper knew it was only a matter of time before one of the shots hit Jessa.

Hell. That couldn’t happen. It couldn’t end like this.

She didn’t give up and sure as heck didn’t get down on the seat. Jessa returned fire until she ran out of ammunition, and judging from what Cooper could see of her, she then began to rifle through the glove compartment for more.

“Stay down!” Cooper yelled to her, and he started running. Toward the back of the barn.

His best bet was to sneak up on this guy and take him out. Maybe he’d be alone, but if not, Cooper would have to deal with that, too.

With only one headlight left on his truck, it was hard to see, but Cooper made it to the back of the barn. The doors were shut, of course. Fate wasn’t going to make this easy. But he peeked through the cracks in the wood.

Just as the shots stopped.

Cooper heard the movement then.

Footsteps.

Not near the back of the barn. But the front. He saw the doors there fly open. And Cooper knew he’d just made a huge mistake coming back here.

Cooper started running toward his truck. Toward Jessa. But the fear slammed right into him when he spotted her. Not inside the bullet-riddled truck where he’d last spotted her. But outside, several yards away from it.

The kidnapper was behind her and had her at gunpoint.

* * *

“
I
’M SORRY,”
J
ESSA SAID
, the fear obvious in her voice and in every part of her body. Not fear for herself, but for Cooper, her mother and her son. She hadn’t wanted it to come down to this, because the kidnapper could use her to draw out Cooper.

Cooper gave her a glance and took cover beside the barn. He leaned out, his gaze connecting with hers. It was hard to see his expression, but she knew he was feeling the same thing that she was.

“Please tell me that Liam is safe,” she managed to say.

“He’s safe,” Cooper assured her, without taking his attention or aim off the man behind her.

She still hadn’t seen her captor’s face because he’d been wearing a ski mask when he’d first come at her and dragged her from the truck. However, the mask had come off in the struggle when Jessa had managed to get out of the truck and run.

She hadn’t gotten far before he’d caught up with her.

“Liam’s safe
for now,
” the man snarled. He had something over his mouth, a bandanna, and it was muffling his voice. “It won’t stay that way if I have anything to do with it.”

She wasn’t immune to that threat. Every word hit her like a fist, and she hated that this monster had any say in what would happen to her son.

“You don’t need to disguise your voice any longer,” Cooper challenged him. “And you don’t need to hide behind Jessa. Let her go, and we’ll deal with this—just you and me.”

The man didn’t say anything else, but he was moving. Not in the direction of the barn but rather back to the truck. God, was he planning on trying to use it to escape with her? A hostage could get him off the ranch. Of course, he’d try to kill Cooper and his brothers first.

“Donovan,” Cooper spat out like profanity. He was staring right at the man and could no doubt see Donovan’s face.

Jessa’s stomach clenched even more. If the kidnapper had been Hector, she thought she could have reasoned with him. Maybe by offering him money. But Donovan hated Cooper, and that made this attack personal. Donovan wouldn’t stop because of anything she might say.

“Let her go,” Cooper repeated.

“Not likely.” Donovan shoved the bandanna from his mouth. “She’s my ticket out of here. My ticket to freedom.”

Jessa tried to elbow him in the stomach, but he curved his arm around her neck and yanked her back. He put so much pressure on her windpipe that she thought she might lose consciousness. Not good. Because she had to be able to fight if she got the chance.

“Why the hell did you take my son?” Cooper asked. The pain was in his voice. His face. Every part of his body. He was no doubt reliving the horrible memories of losing his wife and believing his son had been lost, too.

“This isn’t a good time for conversation.” Donovan eased up the pressure on her neck. Probably because he didn’t want to have to carry an unconscious woman. Besides, she was only of use to him if her body shielded his.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Donovan glance all around them. Yes, she was his human shield, but that wouldn’t prevent one of Cooper’s brothers from attacking him from behind. Jessa prayed that would happen before Donovan got a chance to kill Cooper.

And Donovan would do that.

She needed to do something to give Cooper and herself a fighting chance, so she dug in her heels when Donovan continued to drag her back toward the truck.

“I want to know,” Cooper tossed out there, “what was going through your head two years ago when you found out Liam was alive.”

“
You
were going through my head!” Donovan practically shouted. “You and Molly, and the way you treated me. You deserved to lose them both. The flood took Molly, and I got your son.”

Cooper’s expression didn’t change, but she figured the words had to hit him like fists, too. “How did Sonya Eakins know to bring Liam to you?”

“Why does it matter?”

“It matters.” Cooper paused and took a deep breath. “It hurts to hear it, but I want to know.”

“It hurts?”
Donovan snarled, his tone taunting again. “Well, then, I wish I had a million details to give you. And to crush you. Sonya worked for me, briefly and off the books. She knew how much I hated you, so after she found the kid, she came to me.”

“How did she know Liam was mine?”

“She saw Molly’s car, recognized it.” Jessa couldn’t be sure, but she thought Donovan might be smiling. It nearly made her gag. “Go ahead and ask if Sonya could have saved Molly.”

“Could she have saved her?” Cooper’s voice sounded as strangled as Jessa felt.

Donovan laughed, obviously enjoying this little torture session. “No. She got there too late for that. She only found the kid. She thought I’d want to use the baby to get you to cough up lots and lots of money. But I figured that’d be too easy, and I didn’t want you to have any part of Molly.”

Yes, definitely like fists. It crushed her, too, because she’d been part of this monster’s plan and hadn’t even known it. Jessa didn’t regret adopting Liam, but she hated the pain this had caused Cooper.

“Now come on out,” Donovan demanded, “and take your punishment like a man.”

“Cooper didn’t do anything to be punished,” Jessa reminded him. It only caused Donovan to jam the gun harder against her head.

For a second, anyway.

Then he turned the gun. Took aim at Cooper.

And fired.

The sound blasted through her and would have brought her to her knees if Donovan hadn’t kept a firm grip on her. It took her a few moments to realize the bullet had torn through a chunk of the barn, but it hadn’t hit Cooper. Thank God he was all right.

For now.

Donovan kept looking around them, kept maneuvering her to the truck. She figured he couldn’t just kill her because he’d lose his protection, so Jessa kept struggling despite the choke hold he put on her.

“You planted evidence to make Peggy and Hector look guilty,” Cooper said, glancing around the corner again.

Donovan fired another shot.

Mercy, this had to stop, but the more she fought, the more Donovan fought, too. If he got her into that truck and off the ranch, he would no doubt use her to bargain with Cooper. Maybe to keep Cooper silent or to get him to obstruct justice or something.

Either way, Donovan would kill her when he was finished with her.

“Taking me won’t get you Liam,” Jessa reminded him. “Cooper won’t trade him for me. Nor would I want him to.”

“I don’t need Cooper to choose between his son and you,” Donovan insisted. “Though since he’s your lover, that would be a nice way to give the knife another twist.”

The man was sick, along with being a sadistic killer. Cooper probably hadn’t known just how much Donovan hated him, but he certainly knew it now.

“What about the DNA report?” Cooper shouted. When he glanced around the corner again, Donovan fired another shot at him. Each bullet ate away more of the barn and more of Cooper’s cover. “You wanted it badly enough to demand that I bring it to you.”

“That was then and this is now. I don’t care if you have proof that Liam’s yours. Don’t care what happens to him or you. Time for me to regroup, but trust me, this isn’t over. I’ll be back to finish this.”

She’d doubted some of the other things that Donovan had said, but Jessa didn’t doubt that last part. If he managed to escape, he would indeed kill her and then come back. For Cooper and Liam. For anyone who’d gotten in his way. And next time, Cooper might not be able to keep Liam out of this monster’s path.

Donovan gave her a fierce jerk and climbed onto the truck seat, dragging Jessa right along with him. Despite all the glass littering the seat, he got behind the wheel and kept her positioned between Cooper and himself.

He fired another shot at Cooper, enough to get him to duck back behind cover. Then Donovan started the engine.

Oh, God. He was getting away.

Jessa looked around for anything she might be able to use as a weapon. Her fingers closed around a large piece of glass from the windshield, and she brought it up to jab it in his eye.

She didn’t get far.

As if he’d known all along what she planned, Donovan knocked the glass away, and in the same motion he drove his elbow into her chin. He hit her so hard that Jessa not only lost her breath, she saw stars. She had to fight hard to stop herself from losing consciousness.

Donovan loosened the grip he had on her slightly, and he didn’t waste even a second before he slammed his foot on the accelerator.

And he drove the truck right at Cooper.

Chapter Nineteen

Cooper didn’t have time to think. He could only react. He dived to his right, barely in time. The truck’s fender bumped into him, but he managed to stay on his feet.