Hell Bent (16 page)

“Goddamn, Ceese—overreact much?” Caleb asked gruffly.  “Just breathe, and handle your job, let us handle ours.  It’s no damned wonder Logan didn’t want you on this job.”

That stopped her breathing completely and she tried to push the end call button but the phone tumbled from her hand onto the floorboard.  Cee Cee’s mouth opened and closed, but she couldn’t find a breath.  Panic set in and her fingers clutched her throat, she clawed at it and looked to the driver’s seat to ask Cade for help but he wasn’t there.  Allison took her shoulders, black spots danced in her vision and Cee Cee knew she was about to die.

The truck door flew open and fresh air rushed in, but she couldn’t drag any of it into her lungs.  She was pulled across the seat and out the door, then set on a fifty-gallon drum of something.  A paper bag that smelled of greasy fries appeared to cover her nose and mouth and a hand pushed into her back to make her sit up straighter. 

“Breathe, Brat—slow and easy from your diaphragm, baby.”  Cade brushed a finger across her forehead to swipe her hair from her eyes.  He moved his hand down to massage her shoulder then rubbed her back. “That’s it, sweetheart, slower, deeper…” The rich timber of his voice soothed her, the rubbing calmed. “You did really good, baby.  I don’t know if I could’ve gotten off that shot on the sniper the way the truck was jerking around.  You saved us and I’m so damned proud of you.” 

A weird melting sensation happened inside of her, her chest loosened a little and relief poured through her as her lungs expanded.  Cade moved his hand up to her neck to caress her there and goosebumps raised on her scalp.  Cee Cee met his eyes, and they seconded the seriousness in his tone.  He meant what he was saying and that surprised her so much she lowered the bag from her mouth and nose.

“But you said—” she wheezed, putting a hand to her chest as he rubbed her back again.

“Slow and easy,” he coached calmly, pushing her hands up so the bag covered her face again, and she slowed her breathing. “I know what I said, but I’m so glad you were with us or it could’ve been really ugly.”

“What can I do for you folks?” a gruff voice asked as a man in grease-stained coveralls walked around the side of the truck.  He whistled and slowed his step as his eyes inspected the damage on the truck.  “Looks like you had a little bit of trouble.”

“Little bit,” Cade repeated, stepping over to him.  “I need a tow truck to haul it to a secure lot and the number for a rental car company, please.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Carlos is sending a couple of agents up to take our statements and do a little investigation.  He’s also having my truck hauled back to Dallas for forensics,” Cade said, as he walked back into the coffee shop inside the truck stop. 

That’s about all it was good for now since it looked like a crushed beer can that had been used for target practice, he thought, as he stood by the booth. 

“The local cops drove by the spot where I told them they could find those trucks and they saw the glass, skid marks, bullet casings and metal pieces but the trucks were gone by the time they got there.  The tow truck drivers they know must be a lot quicker than the one old Ronald in the garage knows.”

“Did you call Logan?” Cecelia asked, her hands tightening on her coffee cup as Cade slid onto the hard bench seat beside her.

“Yeah, I called him,” he replied with a huffed breath.  “And had a helluva time convincing him not to hit the road to come and get you after I told him what happened.”  Cade laughed, but he still seethed at the reaming out he had to endure from Logan about bringing Cecelia with them at all. 
That was not the plan, not what I agreed to, Winters—you could’ve gotten her killed!
 

Cade reminded him that Cecelia was an adult, a military vet just like he was, and after this incident he knew she was capable.  What he failed to mention to her brother was the panic attack she had after the dust settled.  That bothered Cade
greatly
, because if she had that kind of freak out
during
a firefight, they would all be dead.  He was damned surprised the Army had taken her, or kept her, if this had happened before.  But he couldn’t bring it up with his sister and Allison with them, because he had a feeling it would embarrass her.  He’d done enough of that today.

“So, which direction are we heading when we leave here?” he asked, and the two women across from him answered together, but with differing opinions, then glared at each other. 

Cade dropped his arm over the back of the seat behind Cecelia and relaxed. 

“Here’s my opinion.  If we don’t catch these assholes, make an example of them, they
will
do this again.  If we go back to Dallas, they’ve gotten what they wanted, and Ronnie is right, they will use that tactic again which could mean you’ll never be rid of them.”

And I’ll never have the chance to confront my father about that baby.

“I agree,” Cecelia said, lifting her cup to take a sip.

“Senator Rooks, I think we should go to Austin but arrange for more protection.  Logan said he’d come, but he refused to bring Susan, which didn’t surprise me.  That means he’d be helpful for backup on Friday at the statehouse, but stag at that party so he’d stick out.  Slade and Taylor are the other option and I think they would be our better bet for help at the party.  Logan can watch from outside.” 
And see what it felt like to be left out, like he’d been leaving Cecelia out since she’d worked for the company. 

Cade hadn’t thought much about the frustration she must feel at being kept behind a desk at the office because he agreed that was the safest place for her.  But it was obvious she wanted more, was capable of more, and unless Logan gave that to her, Cecelia would leave again.

I’m thinking of re-enlisting soon because I know he never will, so there’s nothing here for me.

He hated to see that for more reasons than one, but the biggest was that even if she was exposed to danger as an agent with her brother’s company, it was a lot less danger than she’d face going back to some forward base worse than Salerno, which is probably where she’d be sent if she was willing to go.  Like Deep Six Security, the army was equally short-staffed especially in communications with the ever evolving technology and Cecelia was obviously good at her job if they sent her there.

“Trace will be there too,” Ronnie reassured.  “You’ll have plenty of people watching out for you, Allison.”

“It looks like I’m outnumbered here,” Allison said with a worried frown.

Cade reached across the table and laid his hand over hers.  “I promise you we won’t let anything happen to you.  I can’t guarantee they won’t try again, they probably will, but really?  I want them to so we can catch them and send them where they belong.  Maybe the others behind them will think twice, or maybe they’ll roll and we can take them all down.” 

That is what Cade really wanted to happen.

“So, I’m going to be used as bait?” she asked, her eyebrows crashing together.

“Yes, ma’am, and there are risks,” Cade replied because he couldn’t lie to her.  Anything could go wrong , but he was going to do his best to make sure it didn’t.

“Tow truck is here,” Ronald said gruffly, as he propped open the door and leaned into the coffee shop.  “Rental car just got here too.”

“Thanks, Ronald,” Cade said, standing. “We need to get our bags and weapons transferred over, before they take the truck.”  Ronnie and Allison walked around him to the door, but he stopped when Cecelia grabbed his arm.

“I wanted to thank you for helping me through that, um,
spell
.  And thank you for, ah—saying I did well.”

The softness in her blue eyes—the genuine thankfulness in her voice—loosened something inside of him.  This was a woman who hadn’t been praised often.  Especially by her hardass brother.  Cade made a note to do it more often.

“You’re welcome, Brat, I
am
very proud of you.  Thanks for having my six.”  Her lips wobbled and she tried to brush past him, but Cade grabbed her arm and reeled her back into him for a quick hug.  “About that spell—how many have you had before this one?” he asked when he pushed her away.

“Just a couple,” she replied with a nonchalant shrug.

“Before you joined the army?” he asked, wondering if she’d told the medical examiner about it, if so.  If she hadn’t and they found out, she could be in hot water.

“No—just two at Salerno after rocket attacks, but everyone was shaken up.  The medic checked us out, passed out happy pills to those of us who needed them and it was all good.”

She smiled as she patted his chest then turned, but Cade just stared behind her as she walked out the door. “And never reported it to a soul, I’ll bet.”

Blowing out a breath, he walked to the door and when he entered the bay a man’s voice echoed from under the truck.  

“What are the odds? This is the second truck today I picked up today that looks like a spaghetti strainer.  Must be some idiot hunter on the loose who can’t hit the broad side of a barn sober, much less a hog, which is probably what he was hunting.”

“Yeah, they use those automatic rifles to hunt them these days,” Ronald replied from the other side of the truck.

“You picked up another truck that had bullet holes in it?” Cade asked squatting down beside the truck to look under.  The man grunted and shifted the hook he was attaching to the undercarriage before looking at him. 

“Yeah, the guy inside had a hole in him too and so did the one riding in the bed. He looked pretty bad, so I offered to call 9-1-1, but the fellas in the second truck they crashed into said they’d just take them to the hospital.  Their truck was beat to hell too, but only needed a tire change.” 

The tow truck driver shrugged, jangled the chain to make sure it was secure then scooted out.  Cade walked behind the truck and waited until he stood. 

“Where did you tow the truck?” he asked.

“Down to my brother-in-law’s pasture because they didn’t say when they’d pick it up and my lot stays too full to have vehicles stored there long-term.”

“Did you get contact information for them?” Cade asked, hoping like hell this would be
that
easy.  A break like that would go a long way to stopping these guys before they had the chance to try again.

“No, they left too quick, and I haven’t had time to run the plate yet because I got the call to come and get your truck,” he replied.  “You involved in that situation?”

“Was it a Texas plate?  Do you have the number?” Cade fired back instead of answering.

“You a cop?” the driver asked, his eyes narrowing as he studied Cade.

“No, I’m not a cop, but some of that sideswiping on my truck is their fault and I’m sure my insurance company will want to find them,” he lied, because explaining this situation would only create more questions he didn’t have time to answer.

“Yeah, it was Texas, but it was beat to hell too.  I wrote down the numbers I could read and it’s in the truck on my clipboard.”

The man sidestepped Cade and worked his way around the flatbed on his truck to walk to the cab.  He opened the door and leaned inside to grab his clipboard then shut the door.  Licking his thumb, he flipped through the pages before folding them back and handing the board to Cade.

“We have the car loaded and it’s getting late.  You ready?” Cecelia asked, stopping beside him to lean over his arm to study the clipboard. 

Cade pulled out his phone, texted the partial plate number, contact information for the tow truck company and details about the truck to Dexter with a request for information.  If the geek could figure out who owned it, he could give that information to Carlos, who could get a search warrant and impound the truck.  He was sure a forensic examination of that vehicle would give them a wealth of information about these perps and more than enough to get an arrest warrant for attempted murder.

“I need you to sign that one on the top and give me a hundred dollars,” the man said, flipping the pages back in place and handing him a pen.  “
Cash
—no credit and no plastic.”

Reaching behind him, Cade pulled out his wallet, shelled out two hundreds and handed them to the man, then grabbed the clipboard and signed it.  The driver handed him the receipt and he hustled Cecelia to the small rental car—the only one he could find available. 

It looked like a roller skate on steroids and probably drove the same way.  But at least they had wheels now.  Wheels that nobody would recognize, or
ever
expect him to drive.  Cade
wouldn’t
be driving it if they’d have had
anything
else available when he called the rental car company. 

When the agent at the company named the brand and model on hand, Cade asked if they had a golf cart available because it would have more room.  But the agent just laughed and told him they’d rented the last one five minutes prior.  That man
could
laugh because he just had to drive it from the lot to the truck stop, they had to jam five suitcases, two duffles, various weapons, three women and himself into the clown car.

Cecelia opened the back door and put a shoulder into the bags in the back seat to squeeze herself in and shut the door, while Cade fumbled with the front seat to push it back some so he could get behind the wheel. With a loud ripping noise, it finally slid back on the track but not enough, so he kept working the lever.

“I feel like I’m in one of those rooms with the walls that close in on you inch by inch,” Allison said, showing the first hint of humor since the shooting.

“If the spikes start coming out let me know,” he replied with a laugh.  “There are some very sharp pointy things in those bags between you and Cee Cee.”

When he figured out the seat was back as far as it would go, Cade put one leg inside, then the other and finally wedged himself behind the wheel. 

“If a car chase or shootout happens in this clown car, I’m just going to stop and hold up my hands,” he said and all the women laughed.  “I’ll take my chances outside, because I could probably run faster.” 

Cade pulled his pistol from the holster in the back of his jeans and shoved it down into space between his seat and the center console.  He reached for the keys, but his phone rang in his pocket and it was a struggle in the small confines to pull it out.  By the time the phone came free it stopped ringing.  He saw it was the contractor he had hired to repair the shelter.  Cursing, he dialed back and cradled the phone between his jaw and shoulder as he cranked the car. 

“Ray, this is Cade—everything okay?”

“Yeah, we’re done.  I just emailed you an invoice and want to find out when we’ll be paid,” the man replied shortly.

“Thanks for getting it done so quickly.  I’ll wire you the money tomorrow morning,” Cade replied, putting the car into drive. 

He couldn’t really blame Ray for skipping the niceties, Cade had really put the pressure on him to finish quickly.  And he hadn’t exactly been nice himself.  When the man said most of his crew was tied up on another jobsite, Cade gave him incentive to pull them off the other job and make the shelter a priority.  An obscene bonus, but it decreased daily, until it disappeared completely after a week.

“Thank me with that bonus money you promised so I can pay the extra men I had to hire and the ones I paid overtime.  I left the alarm code and instruction manuals in the front desk.  Call me if you need anything else.” 

Yeah, you bet buddy, since your customer service skills are so top notch
,
you’ll be the first I call
. 

Cade threw his phone on the dash because there wasn’t a chance in hell he could get it back in his pocket.  It appeared things were finally looking up and it was about damned time.  He felt Ronnie’s eyes burning holes in him and tossed her a grin.