Christmas Rescue At Mustang Ridge
“My fight’s not with them,” Jake mumbled back.
Maggie would have had to be deaf or unconscious not to react to that. Or to Jake himself. Her former brother-in-law was a formidable man and had a way of taking over a room just by stepping into it. Tall, dark and intimidating.
Once, she’d been crazy in love with him.
Well, maybe not in love exactly.
In lust with him for sure, as every Mustang Ridge female over the age of thirteen had been. Her sister had once said that Jake could stop a man’s heart in midbeat. Or send a woman’s heart racing.
Maggie had experienced both at one time or another.
She remembered their one and only kiss. She could still taste him, could still feel his rough cowboy hands and mouth on her.
Something Jake had warned her to forget.
Right.
She hadn’t had much luck with that.
And he’d dismissed the kiss and the body contact against the barn wall as part of the grief of recently losing his wife. Maggie had dismissed it, too. Then, they’d learned Anna’s death was Maggie’s fault, in part anyway, and the dismissing turned to rage for Jake.
The rage was still there.
She could feel it as strongly as she could feel the kiss that she was supposed to forget.
“How’d you find me?” she asked.
His arm tensed, and he slung off her grip as if she’d scalded him. Or maybe he just remembered how much it disgusted him to touch her.
Or answer her.
Because Jake ignored her question.
He reached in his pocket and used his keypad to unlock the doors of a dark blue F-150 truck. He put her in first, practically shoving her into the passenger’s seat. Jake didn’t even glance at her as he walked in front of the truck so he could climb behind the wheel. He probably figured she wasn’t going to run, especially since she’d coaxed him out of the diner.
“You’re going to shoot me in your truck?” she asked, glancing at the pristine exterior. “It’d be a heck of a mess to clean up.”
She was pleased and surprised that it sounded smart-mouthed. Better than letting him know she was so scared that she was about to lose her breakfast.
Something else that’d need cleaning.
The image of that hit Maggie the wrong way, and a short burst of air left her mouth. Definitely not a laugh. All nerves. And then the stupid tears came, burning her eyes and forcing her to choke them back.
“You couldn’t hate me any more than I hate myself,” Maggie said, and she swiped away a tear.
Now, she got him looking at her. Jake turned those lethal cop’s eyes on her. “Don’t bet on that.”
The answer was actually a relief. Old lingo kicked in. Old training, too. If she could get him talking, maybe she could...what?
Talk him out of this?
Calm him down?
Make him see it was a mistake to come here?
Maggie wasn’t sure that was the fair thing to do. Or if she could do it at all. Once upon a time she’d thought she could do anything.
She’d been stupid.
And now that stupidity was catching up with her. She could only shrug at that and concede that she was due. For two years, eight months and six days, she’d been living on borrowed time and mercy.
Maggie looked at him. Looked outside. Waited. And felt the goose bumps riffle over her entire body. Sweet heaven. Her coat wasn’t thick enough, but she pulled the sides together, hunched her shoulders.
“How’s Sunny?” she risked asking.
And she braced herself for him to reach for his gun. Right before his father, Chet, had run her out of Mustang Ridge, Jake warned her never to say his daughter’s name. That was a McCall thing. If you crossed them—Jake’s siblings or Chet—your name was mud.
Hers was something lower than mud.
Of course, Jake didn’t answer her. He wouldn’t give her that much, and if their situations had been reversed, Maggie probably wouldn’t have, either.
“So, what? We just sit here mute as monkeys and freeze to death?” she asked. Her voice was quivering now, and she didn’t know how much longer she could keep up this act of someone who wasn’t about to go nuts. “At least it wouldn’t require much cleanup.”
That deepened his scowl. “I figured you’d be working as a cop.”
“No.” And that’s all Maggie could manage for several seconds. “I gave up my badge and went with another career choice.”
He looked at the peeling painted sign on the side of the building. “Waitress at the Tip Top Diner.”
Ah, two could go in the smart-mouthed direction.
“Fewer things to screw up at a diner,” she settled for saying.
Jake’s forehead bunched up, and he nodded. Just nodded.
It hit her then. Maybe he wasn’t there to kill her after all. Maybe he’d come to warn her, though she couldn’t think of a good reason why he’d be the one to do that.
“Has my identity been compromised?” She couldn’t get the question out fast enough, and Maggie fired glances all around. The next question, however, didn’t come easily. “Does Tanner know where I am?”
Bruce Tanner. The man who’d hired someone to gun down her sister to get back at Maggie for conducting an investigation into his multiple wrongdoings. He was in jail on death row now, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t find a way to kill her.
Get in line.
A lot of people wanted her dead.
“Tanner doesn’t know,” Jake said. “At least I don’t think he does.” With his hands bracketed on the steering wheel, Jake turned his head and nailed his gaze to hers. “I’m here to take you back to Mustang Ridge.”
Maggie had anticipated Jake saying a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them. “Wh-what?”
“Mustang Ridge,” Jake said as if that clarified everything. He started the engine and probably would have driven away if Maggie hadn’t latched on to his wrist.
“You can’t take me back there, Jake. It’s too dangerous.”
He looked at her as if she’d spouted a third eye. “You thought I’d come here to kill you, remember?”
“Yeah, but in hot blood. As in the emotion had taken over so that you weren’t thinking straight. Taking me back to the one place where someone will see me and tell Tanner is premeditation—”
“I don’t want to harm you.” Jake cursed. “I don’t want to harm you today,” he quickly amended.
She wasn’t sure she believed that, and Jake had good reason to want to do her harm. If Maggie could go back to three years ago, she would have never started that investigation into Bruce Tanner, the rancher who was as corrupt as he was rich and powerful. But Maggie had been eager for justice. Equally eager to make a name for herself in the Amarillo P.D. She’d wanted to bring Tanner down.
And she had succeeded in part.
Maggie had found the evidence necessary to arrest him for money laundering through real estate deals, and in retaliation, Tanner had hired someone to shoot and kill Anna in what was supposed to look like a foiled robbery attempt at a store where she’d been shopping.
Yes, eventually Maggie and her fellow officers had managed to pin the murder on Tanner and had put him on death row, but it hadn’t brought back her sister. It hadn’t eased Jake’s hatred of her.
And it hadn’t eased her hatred of herself.
“If you’re not taking me to Tanner,” she asked, “then where are you taking me?”
“To the hospital for some tests. After that, I’ll let you go.”
The hospital? “But I’m not sick.”
Maggie stopped. What the heck would make Jake McCall come all this way to take her to Mustang Ridge for some tests?
There was only one thing.
Sunny.
She reached across the seat and gripped on to his jacket, wadding up the fabric in her fists. “What’s wrong? What happened to my niece?”
Maggie would have added more questions, but the sound of the sirens stopped her cold. It wasn’t a sound she heard often in Coopersville.
The sirens didn’t stop Jake, however. He threw the truck into gear.
“Put your seat belt on,” Jake growled.
And that was the only warning Maggie got before Jake gunned the engine, and the truck barreled out of the parking lot.
Chapter Three
Jake tried not to react to the sirens wailing behind him. And he reminded himself that the local cops probably wouldn’t be after him yet.
Probably.
But even if they were, he still had to get Maggie out of there.
“You’ve lost your mind,” Maggie concluded.
She put on her seat belt as he’d ordered, though Jake wasn’t sure how she managed it with her hands shaking that hard. She was chewing on her bottom lip, too, and there wasn’t much color in her face.
He hadn’t wanted to scare her.
Okay, maybe he had.
Fear was better than other things she could have chosen to do.
Like fight back.
Maggie had once been an Amarillo city cop with a good aim and a kick-butt attitude, and Jake had been surprised when she hadn’t pulled a gun on him and tried to defend herself. But no. She’d confused things even more by going with him and poking fun at the fact that this could have been her last few moments on earth.
She pushed her dark blond hair from her face, looked over her shoulder and no doubt saw the Coopersville police cruiser behind them. Not close.
And it wasn’t exactly following them.
The cruiser pulled into the parking lot of the diner, and Jake kept going. He had to get out of there before the local sheriff realized that Maggie was gone.
“Are you planning to let me in on what’s going on?” Maggie asked.
Not really. But he needed her cooperation and that meant he had to tell her at least some of the truth. It was a gamble, but Jake was feeling a little better about his chances since Maggie had already asked about Sunny. Maybe that meant she hadn’t written off her niece.
Maybe that also meant she’d help with Jake’s plan.
“Should I be screaming and trying to flag down Sheriff Myers?” she pushed.
Oh, yeah. She probably should, but Jake kept that to himself. “I hacked into the Justice Department database to find you.”
“What?” She made a sound of pure outrage. “Why would you do something stupid like that? You know what could happen to me.”
She stopped.
“Oh, I get it.” Maggie huffed. “This is some kind of death by proxy thing. You lead one of Tanner’s goons to me so he can kill me. Yeah, you’ll lose your badge for hacking into the database. Maybe even spend some time in jail or on probation. But you’ll have your McCall justice, and I’ll be dead.”
None of that was true. But he was glad Chet hadn’t thought of it. Jake didn’t think even his father would stoop that low, but with Chet, you never knew.
Jake turned onto a back road before he continued. “Sunny’s sick.”
Maggie froze and studied him a moment. “What’s wrong with her?” Her voice was tentative. As if she didn’t want to hear the answer.
Jake had practiced this part so it would sound sterile. “Aplastic anemia. Her bone marrow isn’t producing enough new cells to keep her alive.”
“Oh, God.” And Maggie repeated it until it strung together like one syllable.
Jake gave her some time to try to absorb that. He wished her luck with it. He’d had several months now and was still trying to absorb it. It didn’t make sense that his baby girl would have to fight for her life this way.
“How bad is it?” Maggie asked.
“Bad.” He had to pause, take a deep breath. He’d rehearsed this part, too, but it still sickened him to say it. “She needs a bone marrow transplant fast. We’ve all had blood tests, and none of us match.”
She repeated that, too. “And I’m a match?”
He glanced at her and met her gaze. “I hope.”
“You don’t know?” Her grip melted off him. “That’s what the test is for, Jake, you didn’t have to kidnap me. I would have done the test.”
Her eagerness to help Sunny didn’t ease the knot in his gut. That’s because he was bargaining with the devil here.
A devil he’d kissed.
And dreamed about.
Hell, the dreams were the worst part, because in them he’d done a lot more than just kiss her. That made him one sick puppy.
“You had a no-contact clause in your relocation records,” he reminded her. “The only way I could find you was to go into the database.”
“Okay.” She nodded, stayed quiet a moment. “Then turn around and I’ll tell the sheriff that I want to go with you. I want to do this.”
Now it was his turn to stay quiet a moment. “I don’t have the hacking skills to do what needed to be done, and I didn’t have the time to learn them. So, I had to hire someone.” It burned Jake’s throat to say this. “Someone I’m not sure I can trust.”
Her dark brown eyes widened, and she apparently could guess where this was going. “Someone who might tell Tanner?”
“Yeah.” And he wished he had rehearsed this part. “Ernest Garfield’s son, Wade.”
She cursed. “Well, heck, yes. He’ll sell the information to Tanner. He’d sell his mother’s eyeballs for a quarter. Why in blue blazes would you go to him, to anyone who could be paid off?”
“Because I ran out of options, that’s why. And Sunny’s running out of time. If she doesn’t get the marrow soon, it could be too late. Right now, she’s so weak that even a cold could turn out to be fatal. Every moment is a risk for her.”
Mercy, it hurt to say that aloud or to even think it.
“Wade said it wouldn’t be long before the marshals or FBI could trace the hack job to a computer. My computer,” he clarified. “I didn’t want to implicate anyone else in this.”
Her breath was gusting now, and the lip chewing got worse. “So, the marshals know what you’ve done, and they’ve probably called Coopersville’s sheriff.”
“Probably.” And once the sheriff realized Maggie wasn’t at the diner, they’d do a search. One that would include putting out an APB.
She didn’t say anything. Maggie just sat there, and even though Jake hadn’t thought it possible, she had even less color in her face now than when she’d dropped that coffeepot.
Maggie started to shake her head.
Jake ignored it. He wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“First, you’ll need a simple blood test to determine if you’re a bone marrow match. If you are,” he went on, “there’s a procedure where the doctor extracts the marrow with a needle. It’ll require some sedation, but it should all be a done deal in a day or two. I’ll keep you hidden. I’ll protect you as best I can. And then I can call the marshals, turn myself in and you can go back into the program under a new identity,” he added. “I’m sorry about that.”
Another new life. And she was no doubt thinking of the problems that would cause for her. Leaving everything behind again. Starting from scratch again.
Clearly, she had a life there in Coopersville. Not what some would consider a good life, but maybe she’d been happy. The cook at the diner had certainly looked protective of her.
Or something.
It was the same for the geezer eating the eggs. For a second, Jake had thought he might have to shoot his way out of there.
But then Maggie had stepped up and settled the situation.
Jake wanted to hang on to his hatred for her, but she’d put a dent in his hard feelings by not only offering herself to a man she considered dangerous—him—but also going along with this plan that could ultimately get her killed.
“I’m sorry about putting you in danger, too,” he added. “I know this could get you killed. If there’d been another way, I wouldn’t have done this to you.”
“Yes.” Maggie said it almost idly, as if she weren’t really listening to him.
“Is there someone you need to call to let him know you’re alive and well?” Jake asked.
“No.” And she shook her head again. “No one there knows who I am. Was,” she corrected.
Good move. It was probably why she was still alive.
“But they’ll know now,” she added.
Maggie stared out the window, watching the rural landscape zip past the window. Soon he’d need to get off this road and onto another one. Then, another. It’d be all back roads to get her to Mustang Ridge.
He wondered if the marshals or the FBI would set up roadblocks. Or use helicopters to locate them. And while he was wondering, Jake thought about how his family would be taking all of this.
Royce was no doubt trying to cover his butt. Nell would be trying to keep everybody calm and make sure Sunny was okay. Chet would be pitching a fit that Jake hadn’t told him what was going on. It’d be minor compared to the fit Chet had pitched two and a half years ago when he’d walked in on Jake kissing Maggie by the barn.
A kiss to soothe his pain, Jake had tried to justify, since he was grieving his wife’s death.
Jake had pitched his own fit just a few hours later when he’d learned that Anna’s killer was none other than Bruce Tanner and not some armed robber as everyone had thought.
And the real kicker?
Tanner had done that because he’d warned Maggie to back off an investigation she was honchoing. Of course, Maggie hadn’t bothered to share that threat with the family or her sister. If she had, Jake maybe could have figured out that Tanner would go after someone Maggie loved.
He heard her phone ring, and she rifled through her purse to find it. “My boss,” she relayed to Jake, but she didn’t answer it.
“He’s worried about you,” Jake commented. “Will he try to follow us?” In other words, how much did this guy care for Maggie? Would he go to the ends of the earth to find her?
And why did that bother Jake?
He mentally cursed. He didn’t care a flying fig about Maggie’s love life.
“I’ll call him later,” she answered. “Could you stop the truck a minute? I have to throw up.”
Jake knew how she felt. That’s the reaction he’d had when he first learned Sunny was sick. Plus, she was no doubt reliving all the mess with Anna and Tanner just as he was.
He glanced behind them first. No sign of the cruiser. No sign of anyone, so he eased the truck to a stop on the gravel shoulder.
Maggie stepped out, with her back to him, and looped her purse over her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said.
Jake groaned. This better not turn into a conversation about Anna. A conversation meant to relieve Maggie of the guilt that he wanted her to have for the rest of her life.
She damn sure deserved the guilt.
So did he.
And Jake was about to remind her of just that when she slammed the truck door and jumped over the ditch.
Maggie started running toward the woods.
Chapter Four
Maggie ran as if Jake’s life depended on it. Because it did. He no doubt knew that he’d opened a Texas-size can of worms by coming to her, but he had no idea just how dangerous this could be for him. For Sunny.
For his entire family.
She wouldn’t be responsible for another McCall murder. No. This ended now.
The ground was frozen, slicked with a mixture of ice, fallen trees and dead leaves, and her sensible work shoes were ideal for standing on linoleum but not so good for navigating the slippery terrain. Still, Maggie ran and prayed that she’d gotten enough of a head start on Jake that she could disappear into the thick woods before he could catch up.
Of course, disappearing was just for starters. She’d have to hide, and she figured Jake would look for her as long as he could—maybe until the Coopersville sheriff or someone else drove by.
Maybe that wouldn’t take too long.
The cold had already started to clog her lungs, but she kept fighting for each step. A thick cluster of trees was just ahead. Beyond that, the actual woods. She had no idea where those woods led; that was something else she’d have to work out.
Maggie heard the footsteps behind her. Heard Jake’s profanity, too.
“Damn it, Maggie. Stop!” he called out.
She didn’t. Maggie kept running and was within a few feet of that tree cluster when Jake grasped on to her shoulder. The fierce jerk he gave her had her flying right into him. Her back collided with his chest, and he hooked his left arm around her waist to anchor her in place.
Maggie fought him. He might be bigger and stronger than she was, but she had a huge reason to get away from him. She rammed her elbow into his stomach and tried to bolt. She might as well have elbowed a brick wall, and the pain shot through her funny bone.
“Why the hell are you doing this?” he snarled. “I need you to help Sunny.”
“I am helping her,” she managed to say.
Jake clearly didn’t believe that because he cursed again and didn’t let go of her. Despite the pain, she tried to elbow him again. Jake dodged that blow, put her in a bear hug and shoved her against one of the trees. In the same motion, he whirled her around to face him.
Really face him.
As in they were plastered against each other, and his eyes, nose and mouth were only an inch or two from hers. They were both breathing hard, and she took in his breath. It was almost like tasting him.
Kissing him.
And he must have realized that because he moved back a little. Just enough so she could see the fire and confusion in his eyes.
“Why?” he demanded though teeth clenched so tight that she was surprised they didn’t chip.
Maggie considered how much she should say. The truth might work if it didn’t cause him to wring her neck. Or somehow try to get to Tanner. Since Jake was already in a blind rage, Maggie went with a partial explanation.
“I’ll go to a hospital alone and do the test. If I’m a match, I’ll donate the bone marrow immediately, but you can’t be involved in it. You can’t be involved with me,” she corrected.
Jake glared at her. “I don’t want to get involved with you,” he informed her. And he stepped back a little more. Probably because he realized their body parts were aligned in a nearly intimate way.
“But you will help Sunny,” he added.
“Of course.” Maggie had to pause, clear her throat, because it was obvious that Jake wasn’t just going to accept her offer to do this alone.
But he would after she told him everything she’d done. He’d hate her more, too, but that couldn’t be helped. It would save him.
She hoped.
“After Tanner was arrested for Anna’s murder,” she started, but had to stop and take another breath. “I went to him and cut a deal. I had evidence against his son, David, and I told Tanner I would hide it if he’d leave you and your family alone.”
Without taking his glare off her, Jake stepped back even farther. “What kind of evidence?”
“The kind that would send David to jail for at least twenty years.” Without Jake’s body heat, she started to shiver. “Yes, I know what I did was illegal, but I had to do something to stop Tanner from killing anyone else.”
“And you believed this would stop Tanner?” Jake fired back at her.
“It did stop him. Since I’ve been gone, he hasn’t paid someone to threaten you or your family, has he?” She prayed the answer to that was no.
Jake confirmed that a few seconds later by shaking his head. “Where’s the evidence?”
“Someplace safe.” In fact, several places, since she’d made duplicate copies and put them in deposit boxes at three different banks.
He glanced away, only to have his gaze slash back to her. “What does this have to do with you running from me?”
Maggie tried to get control of her shivering but failed. “Tanner had his own concessions with the deal. He said if I had any association with Sunny or the rest of you, that I’d ‘be sorry again.’ His exact words.”
And that could only mean one thing—murdering another McCall.
Jake cursed, turned as if about to storm back to the truck, but Maggie stopped him. “You can’t go after him or tell anyone I have the evidence against David,” she insisted. “That would give Tanner an excuse to have his henchmen gun you down.”
That didn’t soothe the dangerous look in his eyes.
“Think of Sunny,” she reminded him.
“I am!” he practically yelled. “That’s why I’m here. That’s why I broke the law and put your life in danger.” He cursed again and groaned. “But now you’re telling me that just my association with you could get us all killed.”