Stone Cold Texas Ranger
Everything she had was gone. Her house, every belonging, every memento. Worst of all, years’ worth of research and information she’d gathered on Gabby’s case. All gone. Everything she owned and loved gone except for her car and what she’d had in it.
She tried to breathe through a sob, but she choked on it. The tears and the emotion and the enormity of it all caught in her throat, and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from crying out.
She’d been here for hours, and she couldn’t wrap her head around it. She hadn’t even been able to text her mom the full details because she just...
How had this happened? Why had this happened?
She sensed him move, and she hoped against hope he was walking away. That he wouldn’t say a word and make this whole nightmare worse. All of this was terrible, and she didn’t want Ranger Jerk rubbing it in or—worse—feeling sorry for her.
But he didn’t disappear. She didn’t hear retreating footsteps as tears clouded her vision. No, he moved closer. She hadn’t thought much about this guy having any sort of conscience or empathy in him, but he put a big hand on her back, warm and steady.
She swallowed, wiping at the tears. It wasn’t an overly familiar touch. Just his palm and fingers lightly flush with her upper back, but it was strong. It had a remarkable effect. A strange thread of calm wound through her pain.
“This is shocking and painful,” he said in a low, reassuring voice. “There’s no point in trying to be hard. No one should have to go through this.”
She sniffled, blinking the last of the tears out of her eyes. Oh, there’d be more to come, but for now she could swallow them down, blink them back. She stared at him, trying to work through the fact he’d spoken so nicely to her. He touched her. “Are you comforting me?”
He grimaced. “Is that considered comfort? That’s terrible comfort.”
She laughed through another sob. “Oh, God, and now you’re being funny.” Obviously she was a little delirious, because she was starting to wonder if Ranger Jerk wasn’t so terrible after all.
Then she looked back at her house. Gone. All of it gone. There were rangers and police and firemen and all number of official-looking people striding about, talking in low voices. Around her house. Gone. All of it gone.
Ranger Jerk could be reassuring, he could even be funny, but he couldn’t deny what was in front of them. “This was on purpose,” she said, her voice sounding flat and hopeless even in her own ears.
He didn’t respond, but when she finally glanced at him, he nodded. His gaze was on the house too, that square jaw tensed tight enough to probably crack metal between his teeth. He made an impressive profile in the flashing lights and dark night. All angles and shadows, but there was a determination in his glare at the ruins of her house—something she’d never seen in all those other officers she’d talked to today, or eight years ago.
Confidence. Certainty. A blazing determination to right this wrong—something she recognized because it matched her own.
It bolstered her somehow. “That’s why you’re here. It’s about this morning.” She watched him, and finally those cool gray-blue eyes turned to her.
“Yes, that’s why I’m here,” he replied, his voice still low, still matter-of-fact.
Natalie had spent the past eight years learning how to deal with fear. The constancy of it, the lack of rationale behind it. But this was a new kind, and she didn’t know how to suppress the shudder that went through her body.
“We’re going to protect you, Ms. Torres. This is directly related to the case we brought you in on, and as long as you agree to a few things, we can keep you safe. I promise you that.”
It was an odd thing to feel some ounce of comfort from those words. Because she didn’t know him, and she really didn’t trust him. But somehow, she did trust that. He was a jerk, yes, but he was a by-the-book jerk.
“What things do I need to agree to?” she asked. How much longer would her legs keep her up? She was exhausted. She’d come home after dropping her mom off at her apartment to find the neighbors in the streets and fire trucks blocking her driveway, and her house covered in either arcs of water or licks of flame.
Then, she’d been whisked behind one of the big police SUVs, made not to look at her house burning to ash in front of her, while officer after officer asked her question after question.
Oh, how she wanted to sleep. To curl up right on the ground and wake up and find this was all some kind of nightmare.
But she’d wanted that and never got it too often to even indulge in the fantasy anymore. “Ranger J—” Oh, right, she shouldn’t be calling him that out loud. “Ranger Cooper, what do I need to agree to?”
He raised an eyebrow at her misstep, but he couldn’t possibly guess what she’d meant to call him just from a misplaced j-sound.
He pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants, looking so pressed and polished she wondered if he might be part robot.
It wasn’t a particularly angry movement, sliding his hands easily into the folds of the fabric, and yet she thought the fact he would move or fidget in any way spoke to something. Something unpleasant.
“You’re going to have to come with me,” he finally said, his tone flat and his face expressionless.
“Go with you where?”
He let out a sigh, and she got the sinking suspicion he didn’t like what was coming next any more than she was going to.
“You need to get out of Austin. There isn’t time to mess around. Herman is dead. You’re in imminent danger. You agree to come with me, the fewer questions asked the better, and trust that I will keep you safe.”
“Herman is... How? When? Wh—”
“It isn’t important,” he said tonelessly, all that compassion she thought she’d caught a glimpse of clearly dead. “What’s important is your safety.”
“But I...I didn’t do anything.”
“You were there when Herman talked. That’s enough.”
She tried to process all this. “Doesn’t that put you in danger too? And Ranger Stevens?”
He shrugged. “That’s part and parcel with the job. We’re trained to deal with danger. You, ma’am, are not.”
She wanted to bristle at that. Oh, she knew plenty about danger, but no, she wasn’t a ranger, or even a police officer. She didn’t carry a weapon, and as much as she’d lived with all the possibilities of the horrors of human nature haunting her for eight years, she didn’t know how to fight it.
She only knew how to dissect it. How to want to find the truth in it. She needed...help. She needed to take it if only because losing her would likely kill her grandmother and mother like losing Gabby had likely killed Dad.
Natalie swallowed at the panic in her throat. “My family? Are they safe? It’s only my mother and my grandmother, but...”
“We’ll talk with different agencies to keep them protected, as well. For the time being, it doesn’t look like they’d be in any danger, but we’ll keep our eye on the situation.”
She nodded, trying to breathe. Mom would hate that, just as she hated all police. She’d hate it as much as she hated Natalie working for the Texas Rangers, but Natalie couldn’t quite agree with Mom’s hate.
Oh, she’d hated any and all law enforcement for a while, but she’d tirelessly tried to find her own answers, and she knew how frustrating it could be. She also knew men like Ranger Cooper, as off-putting and as much of a jerk as he was, took their jobs seriously. They tried, and when they failed, it affected them.
She’d seen sorrow and guilt in too many officers’ eyes to count.
“I’ll go with you,” she said, her voice a ragged, abused thing.
His eyes widened, and he turned fully to her. “You will?” He didn’t bother to hide his surprise.
She was a little surprised herself, but it would get her the thing she wanted more than anything else in the world. Information. “I will come with you and follow whatever your office suggests in order to keep me safe. On one condition.”
The surprise easily morphed into his normal scowl of disdain. “You’re being protected, Ms. Torres. You don’t get to have conditions.”
“I want to know about the case. I want to know what I’m running from.”
“That’s confidential.”
“You’re taking me ‘away from Austin’ to protect me. I don’t even know you.”
He gave her a once-over, and she at once knew he didn’t trust her. While she was sure he was the kind of man who would protect her anyway, his distrust grated. So, she held her ground, emotionally wrung out and exhausted. She stood there and accepted his distrustful perusal.
“I’ll see what information I’m allowed to divulge to you, but you’re going to have to come down to the office right now to get everything squared away. We’ll be leaving the minute we have it all figured out with legal.”
“Will we?”
“You don’t have to do it my way, Ms. Torres, but I can guarantee you no one’s way is better than mine.”
She wouldn’t take that guarantee for a million dollars, but she’d take a chance. A chance for information. If she was going to lose everything, she was darn well going to get closer to finding Gabby out of it.
“All right, Ranger Cooper. We’ll do it your way.” For now.
Chapter Three
Vaughn was exhausted, but he swallowed the yawn and focused on the long, winding road ahead of him.
Natalie dozed in the passenger seat, making only the random soft sleeping noise. Vaughn didn’t look—not once—he focused.
The midday sun reflected against the road, creating the illusion of a sparkling ribbon of moving water. They still had another three hours to go to get to the mountains and his little cabin. Which meant he’d spent the past four hours talking himself out of all his second thoughts.
It was the only way to keep her safe and him certain she was innocent. She’d agreed to everything without so much as a peep. He didn’t know if he distrusted that or if she was just too devastated and exhausted to mount any kind of argument.
She stirred, and he checked his rearview mirror again. The white sedan was still following them. There was enough space between their cars; he’d thought he was simply being paranoid for noticing.
That had been two hours ago. Two hours of that car following him at the same exact distance.
He cursed.
“What?” Natalie mumbled, straightening in the seat. “You’re not going to run out of gas, are you?” She rubbed her eyes, back arching as she stretched and moved her neck from side to side.
With more force than he cared to admit, he looked away from her and directly at the road. “No. Listen to me. Do not look back. Do not move. We’re being tailed.”
“What?”
She started to whip her head toward the back—obnoxious woman—but he reached over with one hand and squeezed her thigh.
She screeched and slapped his hand. “Don’t touch me.”
He removed his hand, gripped the wheel with both now. Tried to erase any...reaction from touching her like that. It had only been a diversionary tactic. “Then do as you’re told and don’t look back.”
Her shoulders went rigid and she stared straight ahead, eyes wide, breathing uneven. “You really think...”
“I could be wrong. I’d rather be safe and wrong than wrong and sorry.” He looked at the mile marker, tried to focus on what was around them, where they could lose the tail. What it would mean if they couldn’t.
Natalie grasped her knees, obviously panicking. As much as he knew he could figure this out, he understood that she was lost. Fire burning all of her possessions and sleepless nights on the road with a near stranger weren’t exactly calming events.
“It’ll be fine,” he said, mustering all of his compassion—what little of that was left. “I’ve dodged better tails than this.”
“Have you?”
“Do you know a Texas Ranger has to have eight years of police work with a major crimes division before they’re even qualified to apply?”
Natalie huffed out an obviously unimpressed breath. “So you had to write speeding tickets for eight years? Didn’t mean you had to dodge people following you.”
Vaughn didn’t bother responding. Speeding tickets? Not for a long, long time. But he wasn’t going to tell her about the undercover operations he’d worked, the homicides he’d solved. He wasn’t going to waste precious brain space proving to her that he was the best man to keep her safe.
Maybe when they got to the cabin he could just give her Jenny’s number and his ex-wife could fill Ms. Torres in on all the ways he’d put himself in danger during his years as a police officer.
Frustrated with that line of thought, he jerked the wheel to get off the highway and onto an out-of-the-way exit at the last second.
Unfortunately, the white sedan did the same.
“We’re going to stop at the first gas station we find. We’re both going to get out, go inside and pretend to look for snacks. I’m going to talk to the attendant. You will stand in the candy aisle and wait for my sign.”
“What’s your sign?” she said after a gulp.
“You’ll know it when you see it.”
“But...”
“No buts. We have to play some things by ear.” Like what the purpose of an hours-long tail was. If it was to take them out, Vaughn had to believe they would have already attempted something. The hanging back and just following pointed more to an information-grabbing tail.
It took a few miles, but a little town with a gas station finally appeared on the horizon. Vaughn kept his speed steady as he drove toward it, worked to keep himself calm as he pulled into a parking spot.
“We get out. We act normal. You watch me, and you follow absolutely any and all orders I give you. Got it?”
Natalie blinked at the gas station in front of them, and he could tell she wanted to argue, but the woman apparently had some sense because she finally nodded.
Vaughn got out of the car first, and Natalie followed. She didn’t exactly look calm, but she didn’t bolt or run. She met him at the front of the car.
Vaughn didn’t like it, but they had to look at least a little casual. Maybe these guys knew exactly who they were, but playing a part gave him a better shot of putting doubts in their heads.
So, he linked fingers with Ms. Torres and walked like any two involved people might into the building. Her hand was clammy, and he gave it a little reassuring squeeze. He leaned close to her ear, hoping the two men outside were paying attention to the intimate move.
“Go along with anything I do or say,” he said, low enough so that the cashier couldn’t hear.
She didn’t say anything or nod, but she didn’t argue with him, either. In fact, she held tightly on to his hand.
When he took a deep breath, all he could smell was the smoke that must still be in her hair from early this morning, but underneath there was some hint of something sweet.
Lack of sleep was making him delirious. “Go find a snack, honey,” he said, doing his best to infect some ease into his exaggerated drawl. With only a little wobble, she let go of his hand and walked toward the candy aisle.
Casually Vaughn sauntered to the counter. He glanced at the scratch-off tickets displayed, then glanced out the doors where the white sedan was parked, one of the men filling it up.
Vaughn flicked his glance to the bored-looking cashier. “Ma’am,” he said with a nod. He slid his badge across the counter to where the cashier could see it. She didn’t flinch or even act impressed or moved. She popped her gum at him.
He wouldn’t be deterred. “I need you to call the local police department. I need you to give them the following license plate number, description and my DSN.”
She didn’t make a move to get a pen or paper. Vaughn glanced out of the corner of his eye to where the white sedan and two men in big coats and big hats stood. One eyeing his truck, the other eyeing the store and Natalie.
Vaughn flicked his jacket out of the way so the cashier could also see his gun. “This is official police business. Call the local police department and give them the following information.” He inclined his head to the pen that was settled on top of the cash register keyboard. “Now.”
The woman swallowed this time, and she grabbed the pen.
Vaughn looked back at Natalie who was shaking in the candy aisle. He rattled off the information to the cashier.
He kept tabs on the men outside who were obviously keeping tabs on him. “Make the call now. Whatever you do, don’t tell those men out there. Got it?”
The now-nervous cashier gave a little nod and picked up the phone on the counter next to the cash register.
As he moved away from the counter, one of the men started walking toward the door. Still, Vaughn didn’t panic. He’d been in a lot stickier situations than this, no matter what Ms. Hypnotist thought of his past experience.
He approached Natalie, watching to make sure the cashier got the information to the local police before the man entered the door.
It was a close call, but the cashier had some survival instincts herself and she hung up just as the man walked inside.
Vaughn took Natalie’s arm. “Let’s go to the bathroom.”
She arched a brow, all holier-than-thou, even though terror was clearly lurking in the depths of those big dark eyes. “Together?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded toward the back of the store where the bathroom sign was. “Move. And whatever you do, don’t look behind us.”
She started to walk toward the bathroom, still shaking, still braving it out. He’d give her credit for that.
Later.
“You know, every time you tell me not to do something, I only want to do it more?”
“Okay, don’t look straight ahead. Don’t step into the women’s bathroom, and certainly don’t let me follow you inside.”
Surprisingly, she did exactly what he wanted her to do.
* * *
NATALIE COULDN’T STOP SHAKING. She knew it showed weakness, and she tried to be stronger than that. For Gabby. For the hope that Gabby was still alive to be found.
But, she was so scared she wanted to cry. Someone was following them. Ranger Cooper seemed more than capable, but that didn’t make it any less scary. It didn’t erase her house being gone, and it most certainly didn’t erase the fact someone was apparently following them.
Ranger Cooper immediately locked the door behind them as they stepped into the women’s restroom. He was a blur, moving about the small room and the even smaller stalls, and she had no idea what he was looking for.
So, she simply stood in the center trying to find her own center. Trying to focus on what she was doing this for. On who she was doing this for. She’d pursued details of Gabby’s case with a dogged tenacity that had alienated every friend, significant other and her own grandmother. Even Mom was close to losing any and all patience with her.
But how could they give up? How could she give up? Maybe she’d never anticipated this kind of danger, but that didn’t mean she was going to shake apart and hide away. Gabby was somewhere out there.
She had to be. He keeps the girls. Maybe it wasn’t Gabby’s case, but maybe it was. She needed information, which meant she needed Ranger Cooper.
After a full sweep of the bathroom, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and typed something into it. Natalie simply watched him because she didn’t know what else to do. She counted each time his blunt, long finger touched the screen to keep herself from panicking.
When he glanced up from his phone, those steely blue eyes meeting hers with a blank kind of certainty, she thought she might panic anyway.
“We can’t waste much more time,” he said, his voice as low and gravelly as she’d ever heard it. Surely he was exhausted. Even Texas Rangers got tired. Even Texas Rangers were human and mortal.
She’d really prefer to think of him as superhuman, and he made it almost seem possible when he flipped back his coat and pulled the weapon at his hip from its holster.
“If it gets back to whoever sent them they’re being detained, we’ll just get another tail.”
Natalie subdued the shaking, jittering fear in her limbs and focused on what had gotten her here. Questions. Information. “But how can we get past them? Won’t they just report back to... Do you know who it is? Is this about The Stallion? I couldn’t find any information on what exactly that is. A man? A gang?”
Ranger Cooper took a menacing step toward her, reminding her of that moment in the interrogation room when he’d stepped between her and Mr. Herman.
Dead Mr. Herman.
She closed her eyes and tried to focus on how much she’d hated him then. Hated him for getting in her way.
“Do not ask questions, Ms. Torres. The less you know, the better. For your own good. Now...” He curled those long fingers around the grips of his gun. “Listen to me carefully. Do everything I say to the letter. For your own good. Let me repeat that,” he said, as if talking to a small child.
“For your own good, you will do as I say. Stay behind me. Listen to me and only me. Whatever you do, don’t make a sound. If we can get a little bit of a head start, we’re golden. Got it?”
She couldn’t speak. Every muscle in her body was seized too tightly to allow her to speak, or nod.
“Torres.” It was whispered, but it was a harsh bark. “Got it?”
She managed a squeaky yes, and as he unlocked the door, she stayed behind him. As much as she didn’t like him, in this moment, she would have pressed herself to his back if he’d asked her to.
He might be a jerk, but he seemed to know what he was doing. Right now, with two bulky men speaking to two decidedly not bulky local police officers in front of the cash register, she pretty much had to trust Ranger Cooper would get them out of this.
She met gazes with one of the bulky men, and though he had his hat low on his head, she could feel the cold, black gaze.
“Behind me, Torres,” Ranger Cooper whispered with enough authority to have her feet moving faster.
One of the bulky men tried to sidestep one of the local officers, but the local officer didn’t back off.
“Move again, sir, and I will pull my weapon on you.”
“We ain’t done anything wrong, boy.”
Ranger Cooper grabbed her arm. “Move,” he instructed, and she realized belatedly she’d all but stopped. But she was being propelled out the door, a skirmish breaking out behind them. “Get in the car. Now. Fast.”
On shaky legs, she did as she was told, but managed to glance back in time to see Ranger Cooper shoving a broom through the handles of the door. Which caused the men inside to push against the police officers even harder, even getting past one to get to the door.
Natalie got into the truck’s passenger seat, her breath coming in little puffs. That broom handle wouldn’t hold them in for very long. If only because there had to be another exit, and it already looked as though the officers inside were losing the battle.
But Ranger Cooper wasn’t getting in the truck. She tried to breathe deeply, but a little whimpering sound came out instead.
“Get it together. Get it together,” she whispered to herself, craning her neck to see where Ranger Cooper had gone.
She watched as he casually walked over to a white sedan, weapon held to his side where only someone really paying attention could see. Then he held the muzzle of the gun to the front tire and pulled the trigger.
Even knowing it was coming, Natalie jumped when the shot rang out. Ranger Cooper was back in the truck in the blink of an eye, and Natalie glanced at the store where the two men had disappeared from the windowed doors. No doubt looking for another exit.
“That’ll buy us some time,” Ranger Cooper muttered, zooming out of the parking lot without so much as buckling his seat belt.
“What about those police officers? The cashier?”
He merely nodded into the distance. “Hear that?”
She didn’t at first, but after a few seconds she could make out sirens.