Shotgun Justice (8 page)

Chapter Ten

“I was supposed to meet Deputy Travis here. I was delayed with car trouble, but I hitched a ride. I can't get her on her cell. Have you seen her?” Jesse asked a firefighter coming away from the fire.

“Only county guy I saw was over by the car. Other side of the fire.”

The deputy by the car was Bo.
Keep it real. She would be busy.

“Where's Avery?” he asked once within shouting distance.

Bo met him halfway, raising his radio to his mouth. “Julie? Has Avery cleared that vehicle yet?”

“She's not there? I got a garbled message that everything was okay.”

Recognition hit the deputy's eyes. “How long since the first message?”

“Half an hour, Bo. After she sent you to the fire, I got the other message about six minutes later. I've been pretty busy. Everything okay?”

“Is that normal for her?” Jesse knew instantly it wasn't. “Where was the accident?”

Avery's father had been killed in a routine traffic stop and found by a stranger on the side of the highway. Her mother had worked for months to find out what happened when the papers accused him of not following procedure. Avery had always been a fanatic about following protocol. She wouldn't change that habit no matter how laid-back her county coworkers were.

Jesse could feel the blood rushing in his ears. He was a couple of minutes from panic mode. “She's in danger, man. You gotta listen to me. Tell me where she is.”

“Bo?” Julie's voice called through the deputy's radio. “There's a call for Jesse Ryder. They say it's important. Should I put it through?”

Jesse took the hand radio from the stunned young man. “It could be him. Don't let him hang up,” he shouted after pushing the talk button.

Julie was unaware of who it might be. Bo dialed his cell. He'd make certain she knew that the situation was serious. There were a couple of clicks. “You should be able to talk now.”

“What have you done with her?”

“You sound out of breath, Jesse.”

Jesse locked eyes with Bo and mouthed, “It's him.”

Bo removed the radio from his shoulder, pulled his cell from his pocket and walked away. Jesse could hardly catch his breath. Snake Eyes was right about that. “What have you done with her?”

“I know all about you, Ranger. If you want Garrison's sister alive, you give me his location and let him take his chances. He comes out of hiding, sissy gets a pass.”

“Where is she?” Jesse asked too late. The call ended before he finished. He looked to Bo. “Anything?”

“We barely got on the call. Did you recognize the voice? Man? Woman?”

“Disguised.” The young men and women in Avery's department would be unprepared to face a killer like Snake Eyes. “I need a phone with reception. You need to call Dan Myers and get him up here pronto.”

“What's going on? Is Avery in trouble?” Julie asked through the radio.

The staff would be spooked, but there was only one way to deal with this...truthfully. “Yes. This is what I need from—”

Everybody spoke over the other. Donny Ray broke in on the radio, panicked. Jesse let them have their minute. Everything was still in his bag that he'd tossed in the backseat of Bo's vehicle when he'd found him. He was about to leave the deputy stranded at the fire. But he was needed here and Jesse needed to check out the scene where Avery disappeared.

His commanding officer answered on the first ring. “Parker.”

“It's Ryder, sir. We were outsmarted. He's got her and wants the location of Travis.” He pulled away from the fire. No one took off after him.

“Hang tight. I'll get you backup from Company C.”

“He wants this to go public, sir. If it does, it's a sure way to let Garrison know his sister's in trouble. You know him. He won't trust us to take care of this without his help.”

“Witnesses don't have access to the news or social media. But I'll verify no one slips up with Travis. Don't do anything foolish, Ryder.”

“No, sir.”

Jesse took a deep breath to keep his voice calm in spite of the apprehension rising in his chest. The odds of finding Avery alive were... He was ready to find Avery, but something caught his eye.

Movement at the corner of an outbuilding. Someone was creeping in the shadows.

Stopping the car, he fought with himself. He took a couple of paces onto the gravel, hesitating. Backup in the form of a nervous Bo, who might shoot the person watching? Or approach the shadowy figure on his own. It didn't matter what was in the dark. It wouldn't help Avery if anybody got shot.

He did an about-face, heading back to the car.

There wasn't time to react to the two-by-four that hit his head. He fell onto the trunk, then to the ground. He was pulled by his feet into the dark, and his blurred vision prevented him from seeing much, but not from kicking weakly at his attacker.

His boot connected with something solid that let go. Released, he flipped over, ignoring the pain, struggling to get to his feet.

“You're bleeding,” a man's voice said behind his ear.

He felt the sting of a needle. Felt the thick liquid enter his body and travel to his limbs. He was helpless to respond.

The glow got closer to his face. Green horizontal slits in a sea of black. He was pretty much paralyzed.

This was it. The end. He didn't want his final thought to be of failure. Instead, he chose to remember Avery's face just at the moment he kissed her that afternoon.

Then there was the first kiss that seemed so long ago. Second in their lifetime, but the first as adults. Her sweet eyes lit up like a fragile dogwood blossom. Easy to remember because that was how she'd smelled. All sweet and sumptuous.

It was a good last thought.

Chapter Eleven

“Wake up, silly.” A sweet singsong voice penetrated Jesse's dreams.

“Avery?” Jesse pushed his face from the dirt. He wasn't dead. Neither was the girl he'd been dreaming about. He was in her arms, skin to skin. No secrets in their way. “It's still dark. Let me sleep.”

“To misquote one of your favorite movies, this is a hell of a rescue.” When his eyes focused, he could see that her hands were secured around a fence post.

“Drugs?”

“Yeah. Fast-acting, too. Son of a B must have been following me and faked an accident. He got me while reaching to take his pulse.”

“Edge of the fire...then took a board to my head.” He rubbed the wound that felt like the size of a golf ball. Wait. His hands were free.

“That's right. Snake Eyes didn't secure your hands. Can you untie me? Soon?” she asked.

“Sure.”

Strange that he was free to move and not Avery. He took in their surroundings. Nothing close. Not a fence to go with the post in the ground. Which after his eyes focused a little he could tell was the end of a picnic table.

“I imagine you've got a whopper of a hangover. I do. And you know I never get hangovers from drinking. If this is what it feels like, I'll pass. I am sort of light-headed.”

“You didn't eat anything all day.” He struggled to pull himself upright.

Blurred vision and a sicker-than-he-could-remember gut had him moving slower than a slug. He hauled himself across the dirt to get close enough to work on the knots around her wrists, slowly getting her free.

For a second, Jesse thought Avery was stretching to get life back in her arms. Then those arms dropped around his shoulders to hug him. He remained barely upright, she was on her knees and all he wanted was to stay there awhile to be thankful neither of them was dead.

“What the heck's around your neck?” They both got to their bare feet and she began tugging.

“Whatever it is, it won't come off.”

He ran his hands around the entire metal collar and couldn't find a release button or catch, just a lock. “Does it hurt?”

“It's snug, heavy and feels huge. It makes me want to swallow.”

He'd never seen anything like what was clamped tightly around her throat. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. “Any idea where we are? Or how long we've been here?”

“I think it's still Saturday night. I can see smoke on the horizon from the fires. Based on that, I think it's been four or five hours. That's just a guess, since he took my watch. But I know where we are. This is Thompson Grove Recreation Area. It's about an hour or so north of Dalhart. Not far by car. Might take us a while to walk to the nearest house with no shoes.”

“I agree on the timeline.” He shook his head, trying to free himself from the emotion of the moment. Drugs. Relief. He didn't know which, but it was doing a number on his head. And his gut was objecting to any fast change in any direction, especially up and down. “You don't know how relieved I am that you're still alive. Think I'll sit for a minute until we decide what we're doing.”

“I'll join you.”

The moon was rising high in the sky, reflecting off the picnic tables and structures across a small white gravel parking lot. As his vision cleared, he could see well, considering the circumstances. Moonlight seemed to bounce off everything.

“I have no idea why he'd dump us here.” He laced his fingers with hers. “It doesn't fit his MO at all.”

“I'm sort of relieved that something's happened. But totally confused over what he plans. Do you think someone scared him off or that he's hiding close by?”

“Honestly, Avery, anything's possible with this killer. We're not certain that the victims were killed where the bodies were found. This might be how he does things.” Jesse scratched the scalp under his short cropped hair.

“So keeping victims out in the open like this might be his thing,” she agreed with a long sigh and another tug on her metal collar.

“You don't think he's going to hunt us or something? There are a lot of farms and houses close by. Plenty of possibilities for an escape.”

“It might not be that easy.” He had a feeling they were being watched. The moon might be keeping their surroundings from being pitch-black, but it didn't permeate every corner of Thompson Grove.

“Ready to get moving? We have a long way back to town and can talk about this dude's crazy motives all you want.” She jumped up and he caught her upper arm, gently pulling her to a stop.

“We have to work together on this, Avery.”

“All we're doing is walking. Unless you know something I don't.” Her eyes narrowed and she visibly clenched her jaw. She twisted her arm free and fisted her fingers. “I suppose you're wishing you'd thrown me in jail this time, too.”

“You know, I didn't think he'd lock you up, Avery.”

“It was humiliating.”

“I hope it wasn't too insulting. And your people don't think anything about it. They respect and care about you.” He wanted to regret the suggestion of putting her behind bars. He didn't, though. She'd been kept safely out of the picture while the state searched for her brother.

He'd keep that opinion to himself. He could see the similarities to her twin brother when she was in deep concentration. But nothing could make him picture Garrison.

Not right now. This situation had everything to do with Avery. He was haunted with the last drugged memory he'd kept in his head. The sexy dreams had left him wanting to pull her into his arms as soon as he'd seen her face. Holding her hand reassured him she was really alive and unharmed.

“You shouldn't butt into my business. I know it's difficult for you to understand. I'm all grown up.” She patted his hand politely and started toward the parking lot. “I won't hide just because Garrison's in trouble.”

“We're probably in more trouble than he ever was.”

It wasn't his fault she was so damn stubborn. Or that she hadn't listened to him when she pulled him over for speeding. But he kept his mouth shut. They needed to work together like partners even if they weren't.

The only words coming to his mind would make their situation worse. He had to ignore the urge to respond. If they were ever going to move past arguing and work together, that was what he had to do.

He shook his head, determined to bite his tongue in half before he argued with her. “I thought Dalhart was south of here?”

“If we walk due east we'll hit 385 if no one comes along before that.” She was about twenty feet from him, still tugging on the silver collar around her neck.

“Wait—” He heard an electronic beep. A red light glowed from the back of the collar by the lock. “Do you hear that? Avery? Stop.”

“We really need...” Her body convulsed and she fell to the ground.

Jesse ran to her. Whatever had just happened, she was still breathing. “Do me a favor and wake up, Avery. You've got to be okay.”

Jesse smoothed back her hair, wiped away a few beads of sweat and worried about her clammy cheeks. There was nothing outwardly wrong with her. He'd seen the light, heard a beep—not a gunshot.

“And I thought...I had a headache before,” she whispered as she came around. “What happened?”

“This thing around your neck is a...a shock collar. I don't know how—”

Avery's eyes fluttered closed again as she fainted. Jesse picked her up and placed her on the picnic table. Why put a collar and shock Avery? How would that get what Snake Eyes wanted?

Because Jesse knew the location of Garrison's safe house. The Snake Eyes Killer had found where he was vulnerable. He couldn't watch Avery suffer like this and didn't know how many times she could be shocked without it disrupting her heart.

He wanted to be strong.

Wanted to keep his oath as a Texas Ranger.

But Avery was more than a colleague or family. He wouldn't let her die.

* * *

A
VERY
SLOWLY
OPENED
her eyes. Every muscle ached like it never had before. She turned her head cautiously, uncertain what the heavy weight was at her waist. Pretty sure a man had hold of her hand.

She recognized the back of his head. “Jesse?”

He popped upright, quickly taking in their surroundings, which were completely strange. Her back was stiff from whatever she was lying on. Trees swayed overhead. The beginning streaks of a sunrise peeked through the trees in front of her. The grasslands to her right. A cow mooed somewhere close by.

“How do you feel?” he whispered.

“I don't understand. What's going on?” She should probably remove her hand from his, since they weren't on really good terms at the moment. But her body felt chilled and his fingers were warm. He didn't seem in a hurry to let go, either.

“What do you remember?”

The outline of his features were worried expressions or frowns—but not because of something she'd done. No, this was different and frightened her. Her stomach tightened.

She couldn't let him see her scared, so she reacted the only way allowed in this new phase of their relationship. “Throwing you in jail. How did you get out and where the heck have you brought me?”

“Thompson Grove Recreation Area. You said it's not far from Dalhart.”

“What? Why?”

Glowing reptile eyes.

The image was so vivid it jump-started the memories that flooded back in one fast whack. “Shoot. Wow. For a minute there I lost a full day. Snake Eyes drugged you, too?”

“Yeah. You...um...you don't remember waking up before?”

“Why are you acting this way?” She shooed his hand from her side and swung her legs over the edge of the picnic table, sitting up, feet next to him on the bench. Sort of woozy, but determined not to let Jesse see. “You look worried about...me. And I know that's not what you should be thinking about. We need to get out of here before Snake Eyes returns.”

“I guess we need to go over the details again.” He shoved away from her and the table, cursing the hodgepodge of dirt, twigs and stones that he walked across without his shoes.

“Again?” She wiggled her toes...also free of shoes.

He cursed and pulled up his foot, brushing aside something that caused him pain. Facing the sun, she stared as he bent in half and grabbed the back of his head. When he straightened, he faced her with so much worry and concern in his eyes it scared her. “Dammit, Avery. It doesn't matter. Nothing does. I thought you were dead.”

Dead?

Confused, she took a deep breath, noticing for the first time that her chest hurt. Swallowing hard, she felt the tightness inside her throat and out. Her fingers touched cool metal like a tight choker. “What is this thing? And what do you mean by ‘dead'?”

“A shock collar.”

“Like for a dog?” She tugged at it, barely able to get her fingers between it and her skin. “Get it off.”

“I can't. He'll zap you again if I touch it. You've been unconscious most of the night. I can't believe you're standing up.”

“He who?”

“Snake Eyes wants me to divulge information about your brother. Info I don't have, by the way. If I don't...”

“He plans to shock me to death? Is that even possible?”

“You damn well came close already.” Jesse shoved his hands into his pockets, spun to face the sun, cursed at something under his foot and bent at the waist, rapidly drawing air into his lungs. “And you don't seem to remember any of it.”

She had nothing. Couldn't think of a word to say. No response and couldn't even say that. Her former best friend was clearly upset...with good reason. She was speechless because he'd said “dead.” Meaning, she might have been close to it.

Jesse was a smart man. He'd know if she was breathing or if her heart was beating. She'd never seen him like this. Ever. Through all the scrapes and bruises growing up. Or the awkwardness in junior high. Or even going to the spring dance with her to shut up Garrison's bragging about taking the homecoming queen. This quiet man had never broken down.

If she didn't know him so well, she'd swear he was halfway crying with relief. He pressed the corner of his palms into his eyes—her habit—before standing straight and throwing back his wide shoulders.

Absolutely not. That was impossible. Jesse didn't cry. Nothing affected him that deeply.

“You're obviously tired,” she concluded. “But are you ready to get back to Dalhart?”

“No!” He marched to her side and pressed on her shoulders to hold her in place. “We aren't going anywhere. He said to stay put.”

“He's talking to you? How? Is he watching? Is that how he knows when you mess with the collar?”

“He knows when
you
mess with it or when
you
try to leave. He's either triggering it or there's a sensor embedded. It starts beeping before you're shocked.”

“I can handle a couple of shocks until we can get to a hospital.”

“Avery, honey.” He rubbed his palms up and down her arms. “You've already tried that. This time you can't remember trying it. We aren't doing it again. We're waiting.”

“You can't really expect me to just sit here. Until what? He kills both of us?” She could rest a little longer while she figured this out. She headed back to the picnic table. “What about Garrison? Who's going to warn him?”

“It's already been taken care of.”

“Right. And that's the reason you personally came to rescue his little sister.” She crossed her arms, not meaning to huff, but sort of huffing all the same. She didn't mean it and regretted the words as soon as they were out, causing a continued tension between them.

Jesse was talking about things they'd experienced a couple of hours ago that she couldn't remember. She wasn't angry at him or his help. She was frightened and didn't know how to admit it.