Angi Morgan - Gunslinger

“Then why tell me? Are you here to arrest Kylie? Because I won’t help you.”

“No, ma’am. It’s worse. I’m here to protect her.” Bryce put his badge away and leaned against the wall. He tried to be as casual as possible, attempting to gain any trust he could.

“If that’s true, then why would she leave?” She shook her head, one hand knotting in her apron still dusted with flour.

“She seems to be a very independent woman. Did you give her a ride?”

“No. And that’s the truth. She’s spending the night with Jan Turner and said she wanted to get to the northeast gate. The only way is on horseback. She said she’d leave the gear there and set Little Bit free. She wouldn’t tell me anything else except that it was important for her to leave without anyone knowing. Is she in danger?”

“Thanks. You’ve helped tremendously.” He took the porch steps two at a time.

“How are you going to find her?” Lisa asked behind him.

“With a lot of luck and crossed fingers.”

No local PD involvement. At least not yet. He had to try to locate her on his own. Oh, yeah. He could follow tracks. He was a Texas Ranger who had a knack for computers. But at his roots, he was a simple country boy who’d grown up hunting with his dad.

“Richard?” Lisa shouted from the porch. “Will the four-wheeler get back to the northeast quarter of the property?”

“There’s still too many downed trees,” Richard replied.

“Well, then help Bryce saddle up Tinkerbell. He needs to save Kylie.” Lisa’s voice held a slight tremor of worry.

“Save Kylie?” Richard asked, but got an elbow in his ribs from Fred. “Whatever you say, dear.”

Both men stopped what they were doing and moved to the barn. The one horse in the stall Bryce had seen earlier must be Tinkerbell.

He could approximate how long ago Kylie had left, but not how fast she could push the horse. There was also no way to know exactly how long it would take to catch up with her. The trees were thick in some parts and would make it hard to follow a trail.

“I can saddle her if you show me the tack,” he told the men as they entered the barn. He wanted both of these guys to know he wasn’t a novice.

“Doesn’t make me no never mind.” Richard mumbled and unlocked the storage room. “I’ve stayed married all these years by listening to Lisa. Doesn’t make any sense riding a horse where you can drive. I just do what I’m told.”

Fred snickered, clearly knowing something Bryce didn’t. Then again...

“I appreciate the help, but aren’t you guys curious as to why I need the horse?”

And there it was as plain as day turning to night. These honest men compressed their lips and dug the toes of their boots in the dirt.

“Did Mrs. Mackey tell you something about me?”

“Tell us what, son?” Fred asked as innocent as a five-year-old with his hand in a cookie jar.

“You know. And you want me on this horse pretty badly. In fact, I’d say you’re practically throwing me on it.” Bryce looked at the mare and had a bad feeling. “Give me your keys, Fred.”

“What’s that you’re saying?” Fred held his hand, cupping his ear.

“Go ahead, Fred. He won’t find her in the dark on his own and we’re certainly not going to help him.”

“I will not.” The older man took a step back.

Richard looped the lead rope over the stall’s gate and crossed his arms in defiance. “If we’re lucky, he might be stuck out there all night and she’ll get clean away.”

Bryce opened his palm, taking a step closer.

Fred dug deep in his jeans pocket for the set of keys. He held them in a tight fist, not forking them over. “Maybe I should drive? That old motor gets kind of cranky.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ll get there faster on my own.” Wherever there happened to be. “Pick it up at my place tomorrow.”

Fred tossed. Bryce caught and hit the dirt running. Already tired, he should have been drinking a gallon of water to rehydrate. A slight headache had begun. Not to mention the idiot burn he had thanks to Jesse’s suggestion of taking his shirt off.

He shifted the truck into High and skidded to a halt at the end of the long private driveway.

“Which way?”

His cell had no reception. No GPS. They might have counted on that. But he had the map he’d downloaded of the area. With details. Lots of details.

Kylie was headed to the northeast portion of Richard’s property. Why would she go there? He enlarged the map and knew...there was no road that passed from US 281 on the west side of the Richard’s place to County Road 238 on the east.

It would delay him to double back toward Hico and try to cut her off.

“Where will I find her?”

Had she made arrangements to be picked up on the country road? Was she just going to hoof it to the next town? It wasn’t an impossible idea. But a faster way to disappear would be to hitch a ride. And if she walked the county roads northwest, she’d hit Highway 67 with plenty of traffic.

Everything rested with him making a logical guess.

He turned right instead of left back to town and pushed the truck harder than it had been pushed in a while. It sputtered a bit, but got the job done. The cooler air of twilight passed through the open windows. When he turned again, he could smell hay and cattle.

Working around Mrs. Mackey’s house for the past couple of weeks had brought back a lot of memories. The third time he’d called his mom, she’d asked him what was wrong and had kidded him about being homesick.

Homesick? He couldn’t wait to leave his family’s acreage and pass on his riding lawn mower duties to his younger brothers. They’d all left the house and were spread out across the country now, settled with families or kids on the way. He rested his elbow on the door and tapped a drum solo on the old-fashioned vent window.

Darkness was slowly growing. The moon wouldn’t rise for quite a while so it might be harder to see someone walking in the fields. He’d taken the most direct route to the next county road Kylie might be on. He turned right again and kept the truck in second gear.

Reminiscing was fine, but his job was to find Kylie Scott. After he got her back to headquarters in Waco, he’d find out how Fred and Richard had known about his cover. The only person who supposedly knew was Mrs. Mackey. Why would she tell anyone?

It was dark enough that unless Kylie had a flashlight, he wouldn’t be able to see her. He continued along the road at a normal pace for the truck. How would he explain this wild situation to Major Parker?

If she disappeared again on his watch, he might not have to explain anything to anyone.

* * *

THE DAY HAD already been long and exhausting before Kylie had started traipsing through uneven fields in her tennis shoes. She couldn’t rush. There was no flashlight or even a penlight in her bag. And it was just her luck that tonight there wasn’t even a moon.

Hours after leaving the horse, her legs were cramping and she was thirstier than she’d ever been. And hot. There was no breeze to cool the sweat that dripped in buckets down her back. She’d pulled her color contacts and stowed them in her bag.

She’d avoided the roads, but kept them just to her left. No one had driven past her. Or at least she hadn’t heard any vehicles. The birds she’d come across had practically scared her senseless.

Each time she’d carefully squeezed between the strands of wire fence from one field to the other, her fingers were crossed that there wouldn’t be a bull or something more dangerous in her path. She pulled herself through the last pieces of barbed wire fencing and picked up her bag, straightening and stretching her back.