Delores Fossen - Taking Aim At The Sheriff

Laurel got back down but gasped when another sound shot through the truck, and for one terrifying moment she thought the gunmen had returned fire, after all. But it was just Jericho’s phone that she still had gripped in her hand.

“It’s Jax,” she said, glancing at the screen. Laurel answered the call and put it on speaker.

“I’m not far behind you—” Jax started.

“Look out for the black four-door car that’s maybe still in the middle of the road near the creek,” Jericho interrupted. “The guys inside are the ones who attacked Laurel and me.”

“Did you kill them?” Jax asked.

“Maybe. But even if I didn’t, I doubt they’re in any shape to drive.”

Good. It seemed wrong to celebrate anyone being shot or killed, but the men were another obstacle they didn’t need.

“If they’re alive,” Jericho continued, “arrest them. Get answers from them and get them fast. But be careful. I don’t know what kind of orders they have.”

Neither did Laurel, but she did know that wounded men could still kill, and she didn’t want that happening to Jax and Dexter.

“I’ll keep an eye out for the men and the car,” Jax assured him. “I just got off the phone with Sheriff Cooper McKinnon over in Sweetwater Springs. He and two deputies are at the residence. Two men fled on foot, and the deputies are in pursuit.”

“Did they take Maddox?” Laurel couldn’t ask fast enough.

“They didn’t have a baby with them, but Cooper said he’d call me back once he was sure the residence was secure. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.” And Jax hung up.

Her stomach tightened. It wasn’t over. Just because those would-be kidnappers were running, it didn’t mean there weren’t other hired guns inside the house. Maybe holding Sandy and Maddox hostage.

Or worse.

“Don’t go there,” Jericho warned her. The glance he gave her this time let her know that he didn’t want to deal with a hysterical woman. “You said your friend was a former cop, and I’m guessing she can handle herself or you wouldn’t have left Maddox with her.”

Laurel managed to nod. Sandy could indeed handle herself. But that didn’t mean something couldn’t have gone wrong. She should have hired a team of bodyguards to help, but there hadn’t been time.

Maybe still wasn’t.

“Any chance we’ll be able to link any of these hired guns to your father?” Jericho asked.

“No chance whatsoever. My father is thorough.” Among other things. She’d always known he was capable of breaking the law, but Laurel hadn’t realized until recently just how far he would go to make sure he got what he wanted.

And what he wanted was Maddox.

“Now that I’ve defied him,” she said, “my father will stop at nothing. Nothing ,” Laurel repeated.

Jericho stayed quiet a moment. Kept driving, the tires squealing when he took the curves too fast. “And you really think marriage will stop him?”

“No,” Laurel readily admitted. “He’ll put me in jail or a mental hospital. But what the marriage can do is prevent him from taking Maddox.”

She hoped.

Still, it was a long shot. And judging from the way Jericho’s forehead bunched up, she hadn’t convinced him this was the way to go.

“Hang on,” he said just as he took another sharp curve. The truck went into a skid, but Jericho quickly regained control.

Laurel was far enough down on the seat that she couldn’t see out the windshield, but she did see the lights filtering in. No doubt from the town of Sweetwater Springs. That meant they were only minutes from Sandy’s parents’ house. However, it seemed to take an eternity for those minutes to pass.

She finally saw the swirl of blue lights from a police cruiser. Red lights, too. Probably from an ambulance.

That put her heart right back in her throat.

Laurel sat up, her gaze firing all around while she tried to spot Maddox and Sandy. No sign of them, but she’d been right about the cruiser and the ambulance. Both were in front of Sandy’s parents’ house, and there were several lawmen milling around in the yard.

Before Jericho even pulled the truck to a full stop, Laurel tried to bolt out, but as he’d done at the house, he caught onto her arm and stopped her.

“I have to get to Maddox,” she insisted.

“No. You have to wait here,” he ordered. “And I mean it.”

With his gun already drawn, Jericho threw open the door and made a beeline toward the tall, lanky man on the porch. Laurel recognized him—Sheriff Cooper McKinnon. Like Jericho, Cooper had had some run-ins with her father, but she hoped that wouldn’t prevent him from doing his job and saving Maddox.

Laurel did wait in the truck. Several painful seconds. As long as she could manage. And then she got out, running toward the two sheriffs. Another lawman in the yard, a deputy, tried to stop her from getting closer, but she batted his hands away.

“My son is in there!”

“It’s okay,” Cooper assured the deputy. “Let her through.”

Laurel didn’t take the time to thank him or to respond to the glare Jericho was giving her for disobeying his order. She rushed past the men and hurried into the house. The room was dark, only a corner lamp for illumination, so she needed a moment for her eyes to adjust and take everything in.

Some of the furniture and a Christmas tree had been toppled over. Things were strewn around. Evidence of the struggle that’d taken place here.

Then her heart bashed against her ribs.

Because she saw the blood. On the floor. And on the front of Sandy’s white T-shirt.

“Oh, God.” Laurel’s gaze flew past her friend and to the medic.

Who was holding Maddox.

“He’s all right,” Sandy quickly told her. The medic repeated a variation of the same thing.

Laurel didn’t believe either of them. She hurried to her son, praying there’d be no blood on him. There wasn’t. She took him from the medic’s arms, trying to check every inch of him. Maddox didn’t cry, didn’t seem upset, but he did look a little confused about what was going on.

“He wasn’t hurt,” Sandy insisted.

Laurel shook her head. “But the blood.”

“It’s mine.” Sandy lifted the sleeve of her T-shirt, and Laurel saw the angry gash on her friend’s arm.

That gave Laurel a new burst of emotions. Concern and the sickening dread that she’d put her friend in danger. “I’m so sorry.”

Sandy shrugged. “I just got grazed by a bullet, that’s all. Nothing serious. The medic will stitch me up, but I wanted him to check out Maddox first.”

“The kid’s fine,” the medic assured her. He goosed Maddox in the belly and went toward Sandy to start examining her.

“I can’t ever thank you enough,” Laurel told the woman.

“No thanks needed.” Sandy’s attention went to Jericho. “But I’d appreciate it if you caught the scum who did this.”

Jericho nodded. “I will.” And it sounded like a promise. One that Laurel hoped he could keep.

“Boo-boo,” Maddox said, pointing to Sandy’s arm.

Since Laurel didn’t want him to see that, she sheltered his face against her shoulder and moved to the other part of the room.

And practically ran right into Jericho.

The moment seemed to freeze. Or maybe she felt that way because Laurel’s feet suddenly seemed anchored in place. But then, Jericho didn’t move, either. He just stood there, his attention fixed on Maddox.

Maddox gave him a wary look, his gaze sliding from Jericho’s cowboy hat, face and finally to the shiny badge on his shirt. Maddox smiled.

Jericho sure didn’t.

Laurel saw all the emotions go through his eyes. The love, instant and strong. The fear that he’d come so close to losing him. And finally the hatred. Not aimed at Maddox but at her.