Angi Morgan - Gunslinger

Her map, compass, money and change of socks were with her. She’d had a moment of brilliance after Bryce had left. They’d be watching for her on every form of transportation. Xander might not know exactly how she looked now, but the people prosecuting his father did. They would trump up charges and arrest her. And he’d find her.

That was one thing she was certain about. There had already been one scandal this year about crooked state attorneys and politicians on the payroll of Paul Tenoreno.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but you aren’t going to shake me.” Bryce walked up with a heavy-duty limb trimmer thingy.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her tree was ready to be cut. She signaled Martin who could handle the chain saw. She dug her earplugs out of her pocket. “Do you have ear protection? No? You might want to work on the next tree, then.”

Bryce was angry. It showed in the way he chopped small limbs off and threw them into a pile. The kids then moved the brush to a larger pile that would be a bonfire later in the fall for their school. They worked. Hard.

Load after load of fireplace-size logs were added into a trailer that the ATV pulled up the hill. Richard was keeping track of how many were loaded by what team. Bryce was obviously in pain. Not from the physical labor—it was clear his muscles could handle that—it was the sunburn. His tight-fitting jeans didn’t help much either. He’d switched from little limb lopping to splitting wood with an ax.

“If you guys moved about six feet, I think you’d be in the shade.” She handed Bryce a bottle of water and lowered her voice, saying, “I think you could take off your shirt and stop rubbing your sunburn, too.”

“You were right about my holster not being empty,” he whispered back.

“I can stash it in my drawstring bag. It won’t be out of your sight.”

Did she have an ulterior motive? Not at first. She didn’t want to steal his gun. But... No. She wouldn’t steal his gun. Before she left, she’d hide it in the barn. It would be out of sight and out of reach of the two granddaughters.

“You might as well put your phone in here, too.” She blocked the view of him removing his weapon and placing it inside. “You can hear it if it rings.”

That would be hidden, too. Hopefully it would slow him down not to have his phone.

“Wait.” He shrugged out of his shirt. The light pink of that morning had turned a deep red. Small white spots—blisters—had formed from getting hot again. “The bag stays with me. You’re moving around. I’m staying put.”

Swinging the ax, he lodged it in a log and moved everything to the shade, taking her travel items and dropping them in his line of sight. Darn him. And it was almost time to go.

The last thing she wanted was to bring all these people into her problems. She couldn’t create a diversion without a lot of repercussions. How was she going to get out of this? She shook her head as it came to her. It was the perfect excuse to head back to the house.

She finished up the last tree. The kids and parent volunteers had been great. The heat wasn’t too bad since most of the area was still shaded. And in this little gully there was even a hint of a breeze.

I’m going to miss this so much.

But it was time to go.

No goodbyes. No tears. She set her tool near the watercooler and stuffed her gloves in the back pocket of her shorts. She’d need them later. She waited, aware of where everyone was located. As soon as a couple of the boys brought another piece of a large trunk for Bryce to split, she took them all cups of water from the cooler.

“Drink up, boys. You need to stay hydrated.”

“Thanks, Kylie,” they said between sips.

“I’m heading to the little girls’ room. So you fellows are on your own for a minute or two. Maybe even three.” She smiled. The smile that teen boys had fallen for so many years ago. She casually bent and retrieved her bag.

“I can watch that for you.” Bryce almost touched her arm but pulled it back to the ax handle. Probably remembering this morning’s toss to the floor.

“I need what’s inside. Understand?”

He nodded and those teenage boys sort of cringed. She giggled at her brilliance and waved to Richard for a lift.

The bathroom wasn’t a bad idea. She grabbed a couple of apples from the kitchen counter, a soda and two bottles of water. She couldn’t ask for them, so she left a five-dollar bill in the drawer.

With Bryce’s gun and phone well-hidden inside the barn, she grabbed Little Bit and walked her to the far side of the house. There would be lots of sunlight left when she reached the north fence. If Bryce tried to follow her, he’d have to drive half an hour to get to the road she was heading to that bordered the far side of the property.

She clicked to Little Bit and didn’t look back as she loped away.

Chapter Four

Bryce mentioned he needed a break. Everyone was exhausted so Fred called out quitting time. They all walked up the incline while Fred and Richard rode in the ATV.

He had a very bad feeling why Kylie had been gone so long. His gut told him she’d left, along with his service weapon and his phone.

“Dammit.”

“Something wrong?” Martin asked.

“Just slipped. These boots weren’t made for climbing.”

“Yeah, we noticed. But thanks for coming. You did a lot. You Kylie’s boyfriend now or something?”

“No. I live across the street. I’m helping Mrs. Mackey out for a while.” Might be longer if he’d lost his Sig to a runaway witness.

The kids gave each other fist bumps when they saw Mrs. Childers arrive with pizza boxes. It was a familiar scene. He’d grown up in a small community. There was just one thing notably wrong... Kylie wasn’t anywhere in sight.

For some reason, no one was overly concerned with her disappearance. That bugged him. Was he the only one not in on her planned escape? Did they already consider him the enemy?

The kids were sprawled across the porch cooling off. Proud of their work today, they were inhaling the pizza and soda. Richard and Fred were tallying the stacks of wood to determine which team won. Mrs. Childers and her granddaughters were bringing out cupcakes they’d made for the young people.

And Kylie was nowhere. Not in the house. Not waiting in the truck. Mrs. Childers shrugged and searched a little herself when he asked. Everywhere except the barn.

Still shirtless, because Kylie had taken that along with everything else, he cautiously walked through the barn’s double doors. Open, clean, neat. If he hadn’t been looking for something out of place, he’d never have caught the shirttail in the hayloft.

Wedged between a hay bale and the rafters, he pulled the shirt free and found his cell, badge and gun. Relief a hundred times over. No words could describe.

Since the gun was hidden, it meant that Kylie wasn’t missing...just trying to disappear. Everything in place and with his shirt on his back, he sought out Mrs. Childers for answers.

“Did you happen to drop Kylie off back in town?” He didn’t want to seem overanxious, but his insides started to grind like coffee beans.

“Well, if I had, I would have told you when you were looking for her earlier.” Lisa immediately turned her back to him but didn’t walk away.

“Funny thing about honest folks trying to lie. They don’t do it often enough to be good at it.” He stood next to her and took the empty pizza boxes from her grip, setting them on the porch swing. “You may not have taken her back to town, but you know what’s going on.”

“No.”

The worry in her eyes clued him in. She’d helped but had no details. “Mrs. Childers, I realize you’re friends with Kylie and you have no reason to trust me. I need to show you something.” He removed his badge and let her take a long look. “It’s important that everyone in town not know who I work for.”