Relentless Pursuit (18 page)

Ahmed slowed as he approached the open back door to the café. He held up his hand to silently instruct Tammy to stop. Slowly he crept forward and looked around the doorframe into Miss Violet’s kitchen.

Ahmed raised his finger to his lips and gestured for Tammy to hurry. Tammy quickly shot past the open door and started up the stairs to her apartment. “You are so busted!”

“How so?” Ahmed asked, confused.

“You're worried about being hit by a frying pan!” Tammy teased.

Ahmed simply raised an eyebrow and held out his hand for her keys.

“Scaredy-cat," she taunted.

“I’d hate to embarrass them. Wait.” Ahmed’s whole body changed. Normally he was relaxed with a hint of lethal, like a gun with the safety on. But now the safety was off. His whole body radiated deadly intent.

“What is it?” Tammy choked out in fear. Nothing seemed off, but the change in Ahmed’s voice and body language was enough to have her seriously freaked out.

“Someone broke into your apartment. There’s a tiny scratch mark on the lock that wasn’t there before. Now, be quiet and stand behind me. I think we’re about to find out about those threats you were worried about.” Ahmed put his hand on the knob and slowly turned it.

Pierce turned up the music and tried to calm down. The feeling of betrayal washed over him as he pressed harder on the gas pedal. He had considered Aiden a friend, and all this time he was trying to steal Pierce's invention. Not only that, but he murdered their mentor and friend. How was Mrs. Oldham involved? It still didn’t make sense to him. The blackness clouded his memories as he tried to force them forward. If only he could remember. If only he could know for sure it was Aiden who had tied him up and tried to kill him with the house fire. If only…

He zoomed past the countryside on the narrow two-lane road and tried to breathe in the fresh air. The smell of wildflowers and fresh-cut grass drifted in his window as he drove out toward his parents’ farm. A couple of rounds on the bull would help him achieve some clarity. Then he’d call Henry and Ahmed to discuss what to do next. Hell, the detectives were probably already aware of the information. By the time Pierce relaxed, they may already be in custody.

The birds chirped and cows mooed in the distant pastures hugging the road. As much as he tried to channel his anger, it still didn't work. Realizing he was going way too fast to take the curve in the road, he pressed on the brake to slow down.

“Shit!” Pierce pumped the brake and nothing happened. He pressed it to the floor as he headed straight for the sharp curve. The brakes didn’t work and he was approaching too fast.

Cranking the wheel, he tried to take the turn. His front passenger side tire hit the gravel on the side of the road and he lost control of the truck. It shot forward across the road and headed straight for the wood fence holding a herd of cows. Dirt and grass shot into the air as the tires tore through it. Pierce felt his heart stop as the front of the truck broke through the four-board fence. The top plank shattered in two, sending the board through the windshield straight at Pierce’s head.

Tammy held her breath as she watched Ahmed pull out a gun from the small of his back. He slowly pushed the door open and silently slid into her apartment. Tammy’s legs trembled as she took a step forward. She stopped on the threshold and looked around her tiny living space. Nothing seemed to be out of place. It looked exactly as it had that morning, except now everything seemed sinister. Was her apartment always cast in shadows? Had that flower vase been moved? Her pink curtains looked as if they were ghosts haunting her living room now.

Tammy shook her head. She was being ridiculous. She closed her eyes and opened them again. Ahmed stood inside the door listening to the sounds of the apartment as she looked again with new eyes. Everything was fine. The pretty curtains were tied back with pink bows, the couch was beautiful in its new slipcover, and the flowers she put in the vase yesterday had filled the apartment with a lovely aroma. She was just about to relax and walk all the way inside when she noticed Gus was agitated.

Gus was pacing around on the top of his cage. “Aw, bad bird! Bad bird!” was all the warning she got before gunfire erupted. Tammy hit the ground hard as Ahmed ducked behind the entertainment center and returned the gunfire coming from her bedroom. Tammy felt her heart pounding. Her eyes were wild as she watched Ahmed calmly reload. He wasn’t even breathing heavily.

“My dear, it may be a good idea to head down to the café,” Ahmed said to her calmly. Tammy looked at him as if he were from another planet. What did he say? She couldn’t hear him over the thundering in her ears.  She saw his lips moving, so he must've said something. Ahmed repeated the order and finally it penetrated her thought.

“Oh! Downstairs, right!” Without thinking Tammy stood up, but before she could get out the door a second figure in black jumped up from behind her kitchen counter and fired right at her chest.

Ahmed turned at the sound of a second shooter. He saw the shot connect with Tammy’s chest as the force of the bullet knocked her to the ground where she lay motionless. An unfamiliar rage took over. He’d been through many things and seen such horrors that nightmares couldn’t even touch. However, he had always been able to stay disconnected, calm, and in control. That’s what made him so good at his job.

But not now. Now rage consumed him. He narrowed his eyes and charged the man that dared hurt the closest thing to a little sister he had. He ran straight at him, emptying his clip. The shots hit the man in the gut and the leg as he gave up trying to fire back and leapt through the kitchen window. Glass shattered and rained down on the street. The man howled in pain as a leg snapped when he hit the sidewalk.

“Tammy!” He heard Miss Violet’s elderly voice scream in panic. He thought about leaping out the window after the man, but when he saw the first man in black slide their car to a stop and toss his partner inside, he knew now he needed to do everything he could to save Tammy.

He turned around to see that half the town had managed to fill the tiny apartment. They carried guns, forks, and an apple cobbler. Emotions flooded him as he saw Miss Daisy press her fingers to Tammy’s neck to check for a pulse. He blindly pushed people out of the way as he hurried to Tammy’s side. She just had to be alive, he told himself as dread filled him.

Annie Davies hung up the phone at the sheriff’s station and pushed back her chair. She had serious police business to discuss with Marshall. Annie walked back into his office and plopped down in the chair across from where Marshall sat at his desk.

“We have a serious crime spree going on,” Annie said dryly.

“What is it this time? Does Edna think someone is going through her garbage again?”

“Nope, a rash of out-of-control teenagers are tipping cows. Got two calls about it this morning.” Annie smiled. Life was a lot different as a sheriff’s deputy in a small town compared to her days as an undercover DEA agent. But, she wouldn’t change it for the world.

“I hate having to go after kids for stuff I did when I was that age. It seems so…” Marshall paused and Annie sat up in her seat. “Was that gunfire?”

“Yes, it was,” Annie replied as she leapt up from the chair and unlocked the sheriff department’s arsenal. She grabbled a Remington 700P light tactical rifle and tossed it to Marshall as he strode past her. Annie grabbed herself one and they ran out the door in time to see a man come crashing through the window above the café.

“Freeze or I will shoot you!” Annie yelled as she raised the gun to take aim. A car came sliding to a stop and the driver got out and shoved the man inside. “It’s been a while since I shot someone, I’m kinda itchy to do so again!” The driver paused and looked at her from across the hood of the car.

“Put your hands up, asshole!” Marshall’s voice boomed as he and Annie crept forward with the rifles raised. The man looked between them and then leapt into the car.  The tires smoked as he gunned it. Marshall and Annie opened fire. Bullets bit into the trunk of the car as it sped away.

“Dammit! I got a plate, though. What the hell was that all about?” Marshall asked as he looked up to the broken window.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good. The café’s empty.” They looked at each other and Annie felt her face drain of blood. “Oh God, Tammy!”

Annie and Marshall started running across the street when Dinky’s cruiser slid to a stop in front of them with the sirens wailing. “Sheriff! A 9-1-1 call just came in.”

“I know, we shot at them, but didn’t get them. We’re going to see how Tammy is now,” Marshall said as he hurried around the cruiser on his way to the back of the café.

“No, sir, it’s your brother. Something’s happened to Pierce.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Betsy Ashton had the top down on her convertible as the wind whipped at the silk horseshoe scarf she had tied over her head. She was heading back to the farm after spending the morning at Keeneland Race Track watching her horses train. They had a nice boy who had finished fourth at the Derby and third in the Preakness. He was now preparing for the Belmont. While they didn’t think he’d do as well as Naked Boot Leg did a couple of years back, she did think he’d be in the front half of the field.

She slowed her car as she rounded a particularly sharp curve on the small country road and slammed on her brakes. A truck lay smoking in the middle of the fence line. A board from the fence was protruding from the driver’s side windshield and she couldn’t see if the driver was still inside.

Betsy pulled her car to a stop and hurried over to the truck. She looked in the passenger window and gasped. The fence board was lodged into the driver’s headrest. The airbag had deployed, but now it hung limp with blood splattered across it. Recognition hit her as she tried to pry open the door.

“Pierce! Honey, answer me!”

Pierce heard the sweetest voice anxiously calling his name. His eyes fluttered open and his head felt as if it had been split in two. He groaned as his eyes adjusted to the light. His sunglasses were smashed and soft hands were patting his face.

“Oh thank goodness! Pierce, honey, you’ve been in a car accident. You’re bleeding heavily and you might have hurt your head when the airbag deployed. I’ve called 9-1-1, but I need to try to stop the bleeding. Can you hold still for a moment while I wrap this around your neck?” Betsy pulled off her scarf and Pierce finally felt the blood that Betsy had mentioned running down his neck.

“My brakes. They didn’t work.” His mind raced. Someone had cut them. It had to be intentional. He kept his trucks in excellent condition. There was no way they just failed on their own. “Ow!” he cried out as Betsy tightened the scarf around his neck.

“I’m sorry, honey,” she cooed softly. Her voice was so calm he figured it couldn’t be that bad. He turned his head and saw the board from the fence impaled on the bottom on the headrest. It appeared to have come through the window, nicking the side of the airbag and deflating it as it sliced through the side of his neck before being stopped by the headrest. If the board had been just a little more to the left, it could've decapitated him. He was lucky it hadn’t hit his artery or he’d have bled out in seconds.

“Thank you, Betsy. I wonder if I can get out?” Pierce tried his door, but it was pinned shut by a heavy fence post.

“I think you’d have to get out this way, but it’s best that you wait until the EMTs get here and help you out.” Betsy turned her head and waved. “Reinforcements have arrived. Just stay calm and we’ll get you out in a jiffy.”

Marshall slammed on the brakes and left his car, lights flashing, in the middle of the jam-packed road. Ambulances, fire trucks, his parents’ truck, Betsy’s convertible, and John Wolfe’s car all sat blocking the road.

“Pierce!” Marshall ran toward his little brother who was sitting on the back of the ambulance flanked by Marcy and Betsy. Betsy’s white pants were covered with blood along with her peach blouse. His father, Cade, and John stood off just a little bit, looking at Pierce’s truck with serious expressions.

“I’m okay. But, it was them. I know it was. I went to press on the brakes and nothing. They were gone. I lost control and went through the fence.”

“There’s a hole in the brake line allowing the fluid to leak out so that he’d probably be out of town before the brakes failed,” Jake said as the guys came to stand with them.

“How are you? Are you hurt badly?” Marshall asked, eyeing the bandage around his neck and his blackening eyes.

“The airbag caused the black eyes. Seatbelt bruised along my chest. And the fence board tried to take my head off, but only managed a little cut.” Pierce tried to pawn it off as nothing, but it had scared the hell out of him.

Marshall looked at Betsy. “That doesn’t look like a little cut.”

“Okay, so it isn’t so little. But it also wasn’t as bad as it could've been.” Pierce knew he could've easily died and he was done talking about it. He was alive and he’d never felt so thankful. All he wanted to do was curl up in the impossibly tiny bed of Tammy’s and have her play nurse. “Where’s Tammy? Did you tell her I was all right? I don’t want her to worry.”

Pierce saw the change come over Marshall immediately. “What is it, Marshall?” Pierce said in a tone that brokered no debate.

“Pierce, Tammy’s been shot.” Pierce didn’t know how to process what Marshall just told him. Shot? Marcy and Betsy gasped and John looked down at his feet and kicked the dirt. That old goat knew and didn’t tell him!

“Is she…” Pierce couldn’t say the word. She couldn’t be dead, just couldn’t be.

“I don’t know,” Marshall said quietly. “I was in such a hurry to get to you I haven’t checked in with Annie. I don’t even know exactly what happened.”

Pierce felt his blood pressure spike. Adrenaline poured into his system as he leapt up and punched Marshall in the face, sending him sprawling onto the ground. “The woman I'm madly in love with is shot and you don’t think to check to see if she’s even alive!” Pierce yelled down at his brother.