Outlaw Lawman (16 page)

Not exactly an easy night’s work.

“Call him,” Harlan insisted. “Tell him I’m not bringing Caitlyn unless he speaks to me.” With that line drawn in the sand, Harlan hung up.

And the waiting began.

So did Caitlyn’s renewed attempts to get Harlan to budge. “Stating the obvious here, but I don’t want you to risk Declan’s life for me. Besides, Farris won’t just kill me once I step from the truck. He’ll want...some time with me,” Caitlyn settled for saying.

There went her stomach again. Another lurch. Mercy, she didn’t want Farris within a hundred miles of her, but using herself as bait was the only way to reason with him.

“And if it’s not Farris?” Harlan’s question hung in the air, and he turned his head so their gazes met. “This person could want us dead simply because he thinks we’ve uncovered something that’ll incriminate him as Webb’s killer.”

Yes, she’d considered that, but she could almost feel Farris nearby. It didn’t make sense, and she wasn’t the sort to rely on gut feelings or intuition, but she couldn’t dismiss the feeling that Farris had some part in this.

She checked the time on the dash clock. Time was almost up. Well, it was if they were to believe the kidnapper’s ultimatum that they had to arrive within forty-five minutes.

“What happens if he doesn’t call back?” she asked.

Harlan opened his mouth to answer, but then he stopped. His gaze slashed to her side of the truck. Except his attention didn’t land on her, but outside the window.

“Get down!” he shouted, and he drew his gun.

He didn’t wait for her to move. Harlan caught the back of her neck and shoved her down onto the seat.

Chapter Sixteen

Harlan braced himself for an attack, for bullets to come bashing through the truck. He kept his gun aimed and ready while he pinned Caitlyn beneath him.

But nothing happened.

It was hard to hear over his own pulse pounding in his ears and Caitlyn’s ragged breathing, but he damn sure didn’t hear any bullets. He lifted his head so he could try to get a better look at the shadowy figure that he’d seen just seconds earlier.

“Stay down.” Caitlyn latched on to him and tried to pull him back onto the seat with her.

“I think he’s gone,” Harlan let her know.

“Who was it?”

He had to shake his head, but it wouldn’t have been Slade or Clayton. If they’d somehow managed to get out here ahead of him, they wouldn’t be in this area of the grounds. Maybe it hadn’t been the kidnapper either, because there was a huge possibility that the killer had hired more than one henchman. God knew how many hired guns Caitlyn and he would have to face, and that was the biggest reason of all for him to throw the truck into gear and haul her butt to the sheriff’s office. It had been a huge mistake bringing her here.

“Declan,” she reminded him.

He wasn’t about to let his kid brother die, but he was pretty sure Declan and he were of a like mind on this. Neither would want to sacrifice Caitlyn to save themselves. Of course, Caitlyn was insisting the same thing about them.

Harlan waited, and the seconds seemed to be flying by. He took out his phone again to call the kidnapper, but he also moved off Caitlyn so he could put the truck in gear. He spared her a glance to see how she was holding up—not well—but then he kept his attention pinned to their surroundings. Hard to do with the moon creating some eerie shadows over the trees and shrubs.

He pushed the redial button. And waited. Waited some more. Until he thought his heart might beat out of his chest. Everything inside him yelled for him to get Caitlyn out of there, so he threw the truck into Reverse. Maybe the kidnapper would see that he was leaving and answer the damn call.

Or not.

Harlan had barely touched his foot to the accelerator when the blast came. He didn’t see the shooter, but he felt the impact, all right. The bullet slammed into the front windshield, taking out the safety glass and zinging past his head.

Caitlyn screamed for him to get down, and he did. Harlan also gunned the engine and tried to put some distance between them and the shooter.

More shots came.

Not just one either, but bullets began to pelt the truck. Whoever was shooting at them was almost directly ahead, maybe behind one of the trees that was close to the road.

Since Harlan couldn’t lift his head enough to see where he was going, he tried to do the best he could to keep the truck on the road. He also fired a blind shot in the direction of the shooter in the hopes that he’d get lucky. Or at least get the guy to duck behind cover.

It didn’t work.

The shots didn’t slow down one bit, and it didn’t take long before the truck jolted. And Harlan knew why. The gunman had shot out the front tire. Maybe both of them. Harlan lost what little control he had of the steering wheel, and they slammed into the ditch.

With the impact, both Caitlyn and he flew into the dash. His shoulder hit the steering wheel, and by some miracle he managed to hang on to his gun. However, Caitlyn wasn’t so lucky. He heard the heavy jolt her body took, and even though she immediately tried to scramble to get her gun, Harlan didn’t think it would be easy to find in the darkness and with all hell breaking loose.

More bullets came, and even though he tried to steer the truck, things went from bad to worse when he realized they couldn’t move. They’d landed in a ditch filled with several inches of water. Just enough to bog down the tires on the driver’s side of the truck.

A bullet crashed through the passenger’s window, and even though Caitlyn was still searching for her gun, the sheet of safety glass crashed against her head.

Hell. The shooter had moved, maybe closing in on them from the right. He couldn’t just sit there while they were gunned down. The metal exterior of the truck wouldn’t keep them safe much longer. Maybe his brothers would arrive soon, hear the shots and give him some backup.

Harlan fired a shot in the direction of the shooter, and in the same motion he threw open his door. Not easy, because he had to push the bottom of the door through the boggy ditch. However, he finally got it open wide enough that he could get Caitlyn out of there.

“This way.” He reached across the seat and hauled her closer.

Caitlyn continued to fumble for the gun and grabbed it just before Harlan dragged her out with him. Both of them stepped into the ditch. Definitely not dry. It was filled with stagnant water and clotted mud, and he sank all the way to his knees.

He used the door for cover and kept track of the angle of the bullets. They were still coming from the other side of the truck. Good. Maybe they’d stay that way at least for a few more seconds.

“Move fast,” Harlan warned her, and he stepped out of the ditch, pulling her along with him.

He didn’t even try to stay on his feet, because it would make them too easy a target. With Caitlyn in tow, Harlan dove behind the nearest tree. They hit the ground hard, and he landed right on the same shoulder that had slammed into the dash. The pain shot through him, but he ignored it and came up ready to fire.

Harlan pulled the trigger, the bullet landing somewhere in the direction of the shooter. He waited to see if the guy would move and come after them.

But nothing.

No more shots.

Harlan drew Caitlyn even closer until he had her pressed against the tree. She, too, had her gun aimed across the road where the shooter had fired his last shot, but all that either of them could do was keep their aim ready and listen for any sound of movement.

Nothing.

Where the devil was this guy?

Harlan glanced up the road at the building. Still no sign of anyone there, not even any vehicles. Not that he’d expected the kidnapper to have Declan in plain sight, but he hoped that his brother wasn’t anywhere in the line of fire.

Caitlyn was trembling now, and her breath was gusting to the point that he was worried she might hyperventilate. He didn’t want to say anything out loud for fear it would help the shooter pinpoint them, but Harlan did brush his lips on her temple. It wasn’t much, but it was the best he could offer for now. Once he got her out of this, though, he’d owe her a huge apology for nearly getting her killed.

That thought had no sooner crossed his mind when he finally heard something. Definitely not a shot.

But footsteps.

Not coming from the front of the truck either, but from the back.

Harlan moved again, pushing Caitlyn behind him so he could face the person making those footsteps. The person wasn’t exactly skulking and was coming at them fast. Maybe it was one of his brothers trying to make enough noise so that Harlan wouldn’t shoot first.

Even though Harlan couldn’t actually see Caitlyn, he felt her adjust, and she moved her gun into position, too. They waited, breaths held.

They didn’t have to wait long.

The person came out from the back of the truck. Running. Harlan couldn’t make out who the guy was before he launched himself at Caitlyn and him.

* * *

B
EFORE
C
AITLYN
COULD
get out of the way, the man plowed into them, knocking Harlan, her and himself to the ground. Once again she lost the grip on the gun and it went flying. Too bad she couldn’t have flown with it, because both men crashed right down onto her.

Suddenly she was fighting for her breath. She couldn’t move, but mercy, she could feel. She felt as if she’d been hit by a couple of Mack trucks.

Harlan latched on to the guy and shoved both himself and the man off her. Thank God. Still fighting for breath, Caitlyn rolled to the side and tried to pick through the darkness to see who’d done this. She seriously doubted it was Clayton or Slade, because they probably would have said something before launching an attack.

And there was no doubt about it—this was an attack.

The man threw a punch at Harlan, and it connected, but it glanced right off his jaw as if he hadn’t even felt it. Maybe because the blow hadn’t been that hard, but also because Harlan had to be operating on pure adrenaline.

Caitlyn certainly was.

Despite the crushing pain in her chest, she groped around on the ground, searching for the gun she’d dropped. Harlan might need her as backup if something went wrong with this fight.

A shot blasted through the air.

Sending her heart to her knees.

Despite the other shots, the sound was still unexpected, and deafening. And it robbed her of her breath again.

“Harlan?” she shouted. But she couldn’t tell if he’d been hit or if he’d even been the one to fire that shot.

The scuffle continued with fists flying and with the men tangled around each other in the fight. They stumbled backward and would have crashed into her again if Caitlyn hadn’t scrambled out of the way just in the nick of time.

Harlan’s back bashed into the tree. She heard the sound of pain he made. His profanity, too. And despite that pain he came up fighting. He drew back his gun and knocked the guy upside the head.

Still the man didn’t stop.

Caitlyn saw the weapon he had clutched in his hand. He made a feral sound. More animal than human. And though she didn’t recognize his voice, there was something about that sound, some raw emotion in it that she did recognize.

“Farris?” she called out.

The man stopped. For just a fraction of a second. And he turned toward her as if he were trying to launch himself at her.

Harlan didn’t let that happen.

He grabbed Farris by the throat and slung him to the ground. Unlike her, however, Farris held on to his gun, and even though he was on the ground, he pointed the weapon directly at her.

Caitlyn froze.

“Marshal, if you pull the trigger, I’ll pull mine,” Farris warned. “And Caitlyn will die.”

God. This was exactly what she’d spent months trying to avoid. Yes, Harlan was armed, and he had his gun pointed at Farris, but Farris could get off a shot, kill her and then turn that gun on Harlan.

She had to do something to stop this.

“You have no reason to kill Harlan.” She tried to keep her voice level. Hard to do, since she was shaking from head to toe.

“Yeah, I do.” Farris was shaking, too, and she prayed he didn’t pull that trigger before she could talk him out of it. “I know you’re pregnant, and I know it’s his kid.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m not pregnant.”

“You’re lying. I heard Harlan when he said it, and he was practically gloating.”

So Farris had been listening in on that call. No surprise there, since it was his hired gun they’d been talking to. The person had likely kidnapped Declan and Billy, too, because Farris wouldn’t have wanted to get his hands dirty like that.

But he’d saved his fight to come after her.

“How could you have gone to his bed?” Farris spat out the words, and without taking his eyes or gun off her, he got to his feet. Less than a yard away from Harlan.

“I didn’t,” she lied. She shook her head when Harlan inched closer to Farris. Probably because he was planning to knock that gun from his hand.

Or try.

But Caitlyn was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

“Harlan hates me,” Caitlyn said, “because I’m writing an article about his foster father. I’m spilling all the details of how the marshals are covering up his involvement in Jonah Webb’s murder.”

Farris glanced at Harlan. Maybe to see if he could tell if that was true. Harlan didn’t jump to defend her, thank God, but there must have been something about Harlan’s expression that made Farris’s mouth twist into a snarl.

“Don’t you know that I see you’ve been with him?” Farris fired back.

Yeah, she could see that, and she could argue it until she was blue in the face, but Farris wasn’t going to believe her. It was time to go with plan two.

“I’ll go with you,” she told Farris.

Now Harlan protested. First with some vicious profanity. And while he didn’t exactly look at her, she could feel every muscle in his body reacting to that. “You’re not going anywhere with this nutcase.”

“That’s not your decision to make,” Farris fired back. Though he still didn’t sound convinced that she was telling the truth.

And she wasn’t.

No way would she leave with him. Heaven knew what kind of sick ways he could come up with to torture her before he killed her. And he would kill her. His obsession and rage wouldn’t allow him to keep her alive. But Caitlyn was counting heavily on Harlan being able to stop a getaway. All she needed to do was give Farris enough distraction for Harlan to get the jump on him.

She took a step closer to Farris, hoping that it was distraction enough.

It snagged Farris’s attention, all right. His split-second glances turned just slightly longer each time his gaze swung in her direction. He was obviously trying to figure out if he could trust her. Or at least trying to figure out how to get her out of there while neutralizing Harlan.

“I’ll go with him,” she said to Harlan.

Like Farris, Harlan gave her only a quick glance, but in that simple glance something passed between them. She saw his silent assurance that he was not going to let her die.

Too bad that Farris must have seen it, too.

A strangled groan tore from Farris’s throat. “You’re in love with him. You bitch!”

And that was the only warning she got before Farris launched himself at her. He didn’t reach her.

Thanks to Harlan.

Before Farris could get to her, Harlan tackled him, and again both men crashed to the ground. This time, though, she saw Farris’s gun go flying, and Caitlyn knew this fight was pretty much over. Harlan not only outsized him, he’d been trained how to fight.

Still, Farris fought like a wildcat, all the while yelling and flailing his arms around. One punch from Harlan, however, and Farris’s head flopped back.