The Protectors of Riker County

Chapter Four

Suzy shook her head. She might have followed the millionaire to and into his truck, but she was still having a hard time believing what he’d said.

“Gardner Todd had no family,” she said. “At least, nothing in his files ever said that at any point he had a brother. Let alone that you’re him.”

The truck hit a series of bumps that rocketed Suzy off the seat. James threw his hand out to steady her. His palm pressed against her rib cage. Through the thin material of the dress, she could feel the heat of his skin. It momentarily distracted her.

“Like you guessed, some people will do anything for the right price,” he said, unaware that his contact had put a hiccup in her thoughts. “And my father was all about knowing what somebody’s right price was. It was easy to keep Gardner out of the spotlight. Easier, too, when Gardner ran away at sixteen.”

“But why?” Suzy interjected. James pulled his hand back, setting it on the steering wheel. The dark night kept flying by the windows. “Why would he erase Gardner like that?”

A small smile pulled at the corner of James’s lips. In the dark of the cab, Suzy couldn’t tell if it was a happy one. Given the subject matter, she doubted it.

“Gardner wasn’t a crazy kid, if that’s what you’re after. But he drove our dad crazy. And it went both ways. My dad wasn’t the easiest man to get along with, and for whatever reason, Gardner got the short end of the stick with him. They never had one big fight, just a hundred little ones. It was like everything he did rubbed Dad the wrong way.” He shrugged. “And there’s only so much anger and disappointment and resentment you can shell out on a kid before they eventually either become the person you made them out to be or a completely different person, despite what you tried to make them.”

“You’re talking about Gardner Todd here,” Suzy said, still in disbelief that he was related to the man next to her. “The Alabama Boogeyman. The fixer who gets hired by the highest bidder. Notorious across the state for his role as being basically the best criminal handyman.”

James shrugged again. “I never said he was perfect.”

The truck slowed enough to hook a right. Beneath the tires was nothing but dirt and rock. They were in backcountry and only getting farther into it.

“If he really was your brother, father issues aside, why run away and give up a fortune? Especially if he could have inherited it.”

The smile—and whatever it meant—disappeared from James’s lips.

“I never got to ask. I was thirteen when he left. He sent birthday cards, but the last time I talked to him in person was a few days after Dad passed.”

“But you were going to meet him at the warehouse.”

James stiffened, then nodded.

“In the last few years he’d call me occasionally to talk. Nothing devious or anything. Just about how I was doing and checking up on our sister, Chelsea, mostly. Honestly, I think he regretted not having a relationship with her, but as you’ve pointed out, he was in with the worst kind of crowd. And he knew it. He never tried to come around while I raised her, and I never invited him to.”

“Until four months ago,” Suzy offered.

“He called and I knew something was off. He said there was something he had to talk to me about. In person. Something important.” James tightened his grip on the steering wheel. His knuckles turned white. A muscle in his jaw twitched. “By the time I got there...well, you know.”

Suzy fidgeted in her seat. “So you have no idea what he wanted to tell you?”

He shook his head. “I have no idea what he wanted or why he chose to meet there. Or who wanted him dead. I might not be in law enforcement, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard about his reputation. If someone wanted him dead, it was a bold move. One not many would make. Especially not Lester McGibbon. At least, not on his own.”

Suzy and Matt had already agreed on that point. Nothing in Lester’s history suggested he would go from white-collar crime to taking on Gardner. Someone either bold or stupid had ordered the hit and gotten the man to do it.

“You think what Gardner wanted to talk to you about was related to his death,” she guessed.

James reduced the truck’s speed and leaned forward to get a better look ahead.

“When the Alabama Boogeyman has a secret for you and then gets shot three times before he can tell?”

“It’s hard not to connect the two,” she admitted.

“Damn hard.”

He motioned out the windshield, but Suzy was already pulling out her gun. The country road was funneling them toward a house in the distance. Not a farmhouse—it was too small, and there was nothing else around the property that suggested the owners dealt with animals or crops—but something more quaint. One lone exterior light hung over the front door. There were no cars around.

“You’ve never been to this house?” she asked, already knowing the answer. In profile, she could see the way his brows pinched together. Along with her, he was seeing the house for the first time.

“I’ve never been here,” he confirmed. “I didn’t even know there were houses this far out here.”

Bates Hill might have been a small town, but its country land ran for a good chunk of miles. As far as Suzy could recall, she hadn’t been out here, either. Which meant she needed to be on her A game.

As easy as it had been to not trust James during the last four months, she couldn’t help but believe that he believed the tip he’d gotten was genuine.

Suzy took the safety off her weapon.

James didn’t stop in front of the house. Instead, he drove a circle around it and parked facing the road they’d come from. No one stirred inside.

“Ready, Chief Deputy Simmons?” There was a hint of excitement in his voice. It matched the small dose of adrenaline building in her. The danger of the unknown. The promise of getting justice. All in a day’s work.

“Yes, but at the first sign of trouble I’m calling in the cavalry. Got it?”

James snickered. “I wouldn’t have thought otherwise.”

They got out of the truck and fell into a surprisingly comfortable rhythm. James led the way to the door and knocked, and when no one answered, he stepped to the side. He tried the doorknob. It turned, but he didn’t open the door. Instead, he gave Suzy a look that made pride for her job swell in her chest. She pushed her shoulders back, brought her gun up, and looked ahead and nodded. James opened the door wide and waited as Suzy pushed in first, gun ready.

“Riker County Sheriff’s Department!” she yelled, quick on her feet.

No one yelled or jumped out, but Suzy didn’t slow. She went through the living area as soon as James turned on the light. No sign of anyone. She moved to the one bedroom and the attached bathroom, flipping on the rest of the lights as she went.

“It’s clear,” she called after checking the closets. She holstered her gun and went back to the living room. “Anything you recognize?”

The room was small and open to the kitchen. A modest furniture set centered the room while a bookshelf took up half the wall near the front door. James stood in front of it, scanning the books and odds and ends it housed.

“I don’t know,” he answered after moving to the next shelf. “Nothing so far. No pictures or anything that I think would constitute a secret worth killing to protect.” He reached over and pulled out a book. “Unless someone really didn’t like Romeo and Juliet.”

Suzy walked to a chest against the wall and opened it. It contained a few handwoven blankets and a shoe box. Carefully she lifted the small box out.

“Do you think this is where he lived?” she had to ask, taking the lid off. “Gardner, I mean. Did he ever tell you where he stayed?” The box was filled with blank envelopes and a pen.

“That’s just another question I never asked. Though I assumed he had a place north of Birmingham. Definitely not here.”

“Maybe this place is the secret.”

Suzy placed the box to the side and pulled the blankets out. She tossed them onto the couch.

“A secret about what?” James asked, his focus still on the bookcase. “That whoever stayed here liked isolation and Shakespeare?” Suzy could hear the frustration in his voice.

“Your source could have been pulling your leg,” she pointed out.

He turned and their eyes met. Blue glass. Sharp and clear. “You saw Queso. Do you think he was lying?”

“I think he was scared and confused,” she admitted. “He might have misinterpreted what he saw or was simply given the wrong information on purpose.”

James didn’t agree. He didn’t even have to shake his head to get that point across. He squared his shoulders defensively. “My source wouldn’t do that.”

He didn’t elaborate past that, and Suzy didn’t push. He stalked past her into the bedroom.

James might have told her one of his secrets, but he certainly had more up his tailored sleeves. Maybe jumping into his truck without a second thought hadn’t been her best move. Answers be damned.

They spent the next several minutes in silence, both working their rooms. Suzy checked the side tables, went back over the bookcase and started pulling out kitchen cabinets and drawers. Whoever lived in the house had either left in a hurry or hadn’t been there in a while. Almost everything was cleaned out of the kitchen.

Almost being the operative word.

“James!”

“Suzy!”

Suzy jumped and turned as they spoke at the same time. James walked into the living room, holding a cloth in his hand.

“I would say ‘jinx,’ but I don’t think it works like that,” he said. The joke didn’t hold any humor. James’s expression was blank. “I found this in the dresser. It was hung up between the drawers.”

He held the cloth up. Only it wasn’t just a cloth.

It was a small onesie. One with a rubber ducky sewn in the middle.

Suzy’s heart began to race. She stepped to the side to show what she’d found.

“It was at the back of the cabinet. I almost didn’t see it.”

James’s eyes widened. He picked up the can. His expression gave nothing away. “‘Formula,’” he read.

“Baby formula,” she said, wanting to be crystal clear in what they were seeing.

“Baby formula,” he repeated. She watched as he looked between the canister and the rubber-ducky onesie. They clearly didn’t have answers, but she did have a few guesses.

“If this house isn’t a secret, then maybe whoever was here is.” She took the onesie from his hand. His gaze followed it. “And I’m assuming Gardner never mentioned a baby to you.”

James shook his head. “No, he didn’t.”

“So, maybe he was hiding someone here? Someone with a baby? Or—”

“Or the baby is his,” James interrupted. And his blank expression gained some emotion. Anger. Concern. Something else.

Something Suzy found she wanted to combat or soothe. She wasn’t sure which. He was James Callahan, after all. A man she’d spent the last four months distrusting with a vengeance.

“I was going to say or this has nothing to do with Gardner, and whoever your source was wanted you here. Where there just so happened to be a baby at one point in time.” She motioned to the rest of the drawers and cabinets, all open and mostly empty. “We still have no evidence that Gardner is even linked to this place. Other than, like you said, the owner seems to love isolation and Shakespeare. But I can’t imagine he’s the only person in the world to like both. That could be nothing more than a coincidence.”

James opened his mouth, but whatever he was originally going to say died on his tongue. In a move that was so quick Suzy reached for her gun, James spun on his heel and hurried to the bookcase. He grabbed a book and opened it, determined. He shook his head.

“This may or may not have been his place, but Gardner definitely was here at one point.” He held the book up, cover open. From her spot, Suzy could see handwriting against the first page. “He didn’t like Shakespeare, but our mother did.” He tapped the signature. “She always signed the inside of her books.” He smiled. “I thought Dad gave them all away when she passed.”

Suzy looked down at the onesie in her hand. The rubber ducky was wearing a blue ribbon around its neck.

A not-so-great feeling started to mix with the adrenaline in her stomach. Confusion was never fun, especially when it came with urgency.

“So, if Gardner stayed here with a baby—”

The window next to the front door exploded in a spray of glass. Suzy flung herself to the floor as another window burst out of its frame. She didn’t have to be on her feet to know what was happening.

Whatever Gardner Todd’s secret was, it looked like whoever was outside was also looking for it.

And they’d brought guns.

* * *

THE FIRST SHOT pushed him to the floor. The second had him wishing he’d brought his gun in from the truck. The third, fourth, fifth and—hell, he’d lost count—the rest of the bullets that were plugging into the house had James low and crawling to the kitchen, hoping he and the chief deputy weren’t about to have a repeat of what happened at the warehouse.

Suzy was on the floor but, thankfully, not on her back this time. He gave her a once-over the best he could, given bullets were still flying. No blood or wounds that he could see. She lifted her head up enough to meet his eye as the cabinets above them splintered.

James didn’t waste any more time. He closed the distance between them and covered her with his body. She didn’t fight him. Which was good, because whoever was outside wasn’t done.

Once again James lost count in the barrage of bullets that continued to come. There was definitely more than one gunman. In fact, he guessed they were being shot at from both sides of the house, the way it was crumpling around them.

If they managed to not get shot, the house falling apart just might do them in.

James moved his head so his lips were right next to Suzy’s ear. “How much ammo do you have on you?”

“Not enough!” she yelled back. “Only the clip in my gun.”

James said a few choice words born of frustration. He just hoped their enemy’s show of force would empty their own reserves. Maybe they could get away with only one clip. It wasn’t like they had much choice. From what he’d already seen of the house, it was empty of anything worth fighting with. If the house was Gardner’s, and James realized he was already convinced it was, then at one point it had to have been well stocked with weapons. But now?

Now it was picked clean.

James was still trying to come up with a better plan than trying to take on what sounded like an army with only one clip when the gunfire finally stopped. The house continued to groan in the aftermath. Half of a cabinet door broke free and bounced off his back. There was no time to survey the damage.

“You okay?” James asked, voice low.

“I will be when we get out of here,” she replied hurriedly. James liked the fire in her voice.

He moved into a half crouch, careful to keep out of the view of the windows. Suzy followed until they were at the back door. Whatever slugs their mystery gunners had been slinging had trashed it and the windows. The walls were mostly intact.

And probably the only reason they were still alive.

James moved to the other side of the door as Suzy took up a spot next to it. He had a moment of déjà vu. He held up his finger to keep her quiet and peered out of one of the bullet holes.

Less than a second later, he was certain that one clip was not enough.

He reached out and took Suzy’s wrist.

“We need to hide,” he said urgently. “Now.”

Chapter Five

The world around them was moving so fast, but James couldn’t help feeling as if they were moving as slow as dirt. It didn’t help that not one or two but at least six men were closing in on the house from the backyard alone. It also didn’t help that the only hiding place he could think of was hard as the dickens to get to. At least, when that hiding place was the attic and you were hopped up on adrenaline and trying to get a beautiful woman in a slinky dress up into that attic.

With no ladder.

As soon as he pulled the string down and the door opened, James had Suzy by the waist and was shimmying her upward. Under different circumstances, he might have taken a beat to appreciate the way her body felt beneath his hands. Just like Suzy might have, under different circumstances, had some words to say when his hands cupped her backside with vigor, pushing her up until she could pull herself the rest of the way. As it was, they both kept their mouths clamped shut.

The moment Suzy cleared the opening, she spun around and held out her hand. James was already one step ahead of her. He jumped, thanked his lucky stars that he was a tall man and managed to grab the lip of the opening. Before he could start pulling himself up, a sound he’d been hoping not to hear until he was hidden exploded through the house.

Someone had kicked the front door off its hinges.

James pulled all the way up, once again was thankful that one thing he’d kept from his Air Force days was his workout routine. Suzy grabbed his back and then his belt. Then it was his backside she was cupping.

Another bang sounded as what was left of the back door was opened with force.

James grabbed on to the closest beam and pulled with all of his might. The moment his feet cleared the opening, Suzy reached through the space and grabbed for the string attached to the door. James twisted around and put his arms around her waist in time to keep her from falling out. After two swipes she got it, and together they closed it as quickly and quietly as they could.

With absolutely no time to spare.

No sooner was the door in place than a series of voices could be heard in the room beneath them. James and Suzy didn’t dare move. He didn’t even release his hold around her middle, and she didn’t complain.

“Check the closet and bathroom,” one man barked.

“If they’re in here, we got them already,” said another. His drawl was pure syrup. “Nobody can take that much lead.”

“They can if you’re crap with your aim,” said another man. The voice was a higher pitch than the other two. Younger. “You should have let me do the shooting, and not Ryan and skunk for brains here.”

“I was fifty-fifty on killing him or keeping him alive,” the first man said. “Either outcome I can work with.”

“No one’s in here,” the person with the Southern drawl called from the bathroom. “The house is empty.”

“So, whose truck is that, and where are they?” It was the third man who asked, and something in the back of James’s mind rattled around at his voice. It sounded familiar. If only he could see the three people beneath them.

“It could have been Sully’s boy who got free earlier,” the first said. “Came out here to warn Hank that we were coming and left on his bike. Might explain how they got away before we got here.”

James couldn’t help but tense up. He felt Suzy turn her head enough to look at him. A lot of good that did in the dark. While there might have been more than a few Hanks in Alabama, James knew of only one who would be tangled up with his brother. If Hank had been at the house, then there was no doubt Gardner had once been there, too.

“Well, what do we do now?” the drawler asked. “We got all the boys here and no one to question.”

The sigh was so loud, James heard it as though the man was in the attic with them.

“Looks like we’ll just have to hunt down Hank and make him tell us where he hid the boy before anyone else finds out Gardner Todd’s son is out there missing.”

If James tensed at the mention of Hank’s name, he turned into a statue at this new information.

Gardner had a son?

He had a nephew?

Suddenly everything fell into place. The urgency to meet in person. The secret he’d been trying to tell James.

Gardner had a son.

A son who was in trouble now.

Rage, pure as pollen in the spring, filled James so quickly that he had half a mind to open the attic door and bring down a heap of pain on the men in the bedroom. Had they been the ones who had ordered Lester to kill his brother? Why were they after the boy? What were they planning on doing with him after they found him?

Every question pushed adrenaline into James’s muscles.

In the darkness of the attic, all he saw was red.

And then that red cooled.

Suzy moved her hand onto the arm he had around her stomach. Her fingers delicately wrapped his forearm. Then, in the smallest of movements, she brushed her thumb across his skin.