Christmas Rescue At Mustang Ridge

Maggie settled for a nod. “That’s why I need to do the bone marrow test alone, and you need to go back to Mustang Ridge. You can tell your family you didn’t find me, and I’ll make sure the word gets to Tanner that I haven’t set eyes on you.”

Jake stayed quiet a moment, and the only sounds were their heavy breaths and the wind slapping at them and the bare tree branches. “What if it’s already too late?” he finally asked. “What if Wade’s told Tanner that I hacked into the files?”

“It’s not too late.” Maggie hoped. “All that Wade can tell Tanner is that you hired him. Wade doesn’t know you found me.” But then she stopped. “Unless you told your family.”

Jake shook his head. “They don’t know that I was coming here.”

“You didn’t even tell Royce?” His brother, and a deputy sheriff. Jake and Royce were close, and she couldn’t imagine Jake keeping this from him.

“Royce knows I’m looking. He doesn’t know I found you. I didn’t want him involved.”

Yes, she could see why. It was very possible that this would lead to Jake’s arrest. He’d risked so much by finding her, but Maggie couldn’t let him risk his life.

Or Sunny’s.

Her phone rang again, and Maggie looked into her purse at the screen. It was her boss, Gene. Again. And she figured he’d continue to call until she answered. Worse, he might alert the Coopersville sheriff more than he was already alerted. If that was possible. She’d have to call Gene first chance she got.

Jake stayed quiet a moment. “Something’s not adding up. Tanner has to know if he hurts Sunny that you’d spill the evidence you have about David.” He paused, stared at her. “You would spill, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.” She said it slowly, but there was no hesitation. Not about Sunny anyway. It sickened her, though, to think of Tanner harming that child.

“I obtained the evidence illegally,” she admitted. And she looked at him, daring him to challenge that since he’d just done the same darn thing to find her. “If I break the pact with Tanner, he could decide that his bottom-line threat to me is more important than the risk to his son.”

“Especially if Tanner can get the evidence thrown out because it was illegally obtained,” Jake concluded. He added a groan. “Not much of a pact if you ask me.”

“It was all I had, and I hoped if I stayed away, if I did as Tanner wanted, then it would be enough.”

Jake didn’t respond to that right away. “What about the Coopersville sheriff?” he asked. “And the people in the Tip Top Diner? One of them could say something that would get back to Tanner.”

“I’ll do some damage control.” How, exactly she didn’t know, but Maggie would find a way to convince them to stay quiet about what they’d seen. Maybe a boatload of lies would work.

Jake glanced around the woods and then at her. “Come on. You can’t stay out in this cold, and I can drive you to your car.”

“Too risky.” Her car and apartment were just a block from the diner. “There’s a town, Howard’s Creek, not too far from here. You can drop me off at the town’s edge, and I’ll catch the bus into Sweetwater. I can go to the nearest hospital, have the test done and they can fax the result to Mustang Ridge. I’ll use an alias in case Tanner manages to buy off someone at the hospital.”

Jake stood there, apparently processing everything but not moving.

“I swear I’ll do the test,” she said. “I love Sunny, and I’ll do whatever’s necessary to help her get better.”

That seemed to be the assurance he was waiting for, because Jake gave her a nod, turned and started for the truck. Maggie let out the breath she’d been holding, and she hurried to catch up with him.

“On the bus ride to Sweetwater, I’ll call my boss at the diner,” she added, more for herself than for him, “and I’ll tell him you’re someone I met in a bar last weekend. I can give him enough details to ease his suspicions.”

And maybe, just maybe, Jake’s visit wouldn’t undo the deal she’d made with Tanner and set off the powder keg Maggie had been sitting on for two and a half years. Of course, Jake was sitting on a powder keg of a different sort.

After that, she’d need to ditch the phone in case the marshals tried to use it to try to track her. The phone had special security measures on it, to prevent just anyone from finding her, but right now, the marshals were a concern. If they found her, they found Jake.

“How sick is Sunny?” she asked.

Jake didn’t stop walking, didn’t look back, but she saw his shoulders tense. “I told you it was bad, and it is. She’s very sick and won’t get better without a transplant.”

That cut through her hard. Mercy, this was so unfair. Her little niece had already been through too much. Jake, as well. And Maggie prayed she could help in all of this. Not that it would absolve her of any guilt in Anna’s death.

No.

Nothing could ever do that, but at least she had the chance to save Jake from having to lose someone else he loved.

“I’ll be arrested soon,” he said, still not looking back as they walked to the truck. “But Royce can handle the test results. He’ll see to things.”

The words had barely left his mouth when Jake came to an abrupt stop, and Maggie nearly plowed right into him. He lifted his head and appeared to listen for something. Maggie did the same, but she heard nothing.

“Move, now!” Jake insisted, and he caught her arm.

Maggie hadn’t exactly been at ease, but that gave her another jab of fear and concern. Jake started to run with her in tow, but they were still a good twenty feet from the truck when she finally heard something.

Something Maggie didn’t want to hear.

A gunshot.

* * *

JAKE HOOKED HIS ARM around Maggie and dragged her to the ground.

It wasn’t a second too soon because the second shot came almost immediately after the first, and both slammed into the ground right where they’d been standing. There weren’t many places he could use for cover so he pulled her behind a fallen tree. It wouldn’t give them much protection, but it might be enough if he could pinpoint the shooter.

Jake drew his gun.

He followed the direction of the third shot. It hadn’t come from the road or even near his truck but instead had come from the right, and his attention zoomed in on a group of cottonwood trees. It wasn’t deep cover, but it was just enough for a gunman to hide.

Tanner’s hired gunman, no doubt.

If Coopersville’s sheriff had found Maggie and him, the lawman wouldn’t have shot first, especially since Maggie could have been hurt. Unless Tanner had already managed to get the sheriff on his payroll.

The next shot smacked into the fallen tree and sent some splinters and bark flying through the air. Jake pulled Maggie lower, until she was flat on the ground, and he covered her body with his. He couldn’t risk her being shot and killed, because she was the only one who could save Sunny.

He’d die for her, if necessary.

Ironic, since more often than not, he’d been the one to want her dead. Or at least he’d wanted her grieving at much as he was.

“If it’s Tanner’s man, I can negotiate with him,” she insisted.

“This isn’t a negotiating situation.” And the next round of bullets hopefully proved that to her. Jake took aim at the cottonwoods and fired a shot of his own. Not that he had the shooter in line of sight, but he didn’t want this guy moving in closer for an easier kill.

“I still have that proof to send David to jail,” she reminded Jake.

Yeah. But that apparently wasn’t stopping Tanner. Of course, maybe the man just had plans to kill Jake. That would take care of his threat to make Maggie “sorry again,” but Tanner could still use threat of violence against the rest of the McCalls to keep Maggie from turning over that evidence to the authorities.

“Tanner wants me,” Jake relayed to her. “If that happens, get the hell out of here and go to the hospital in Sweetwater. Don’t waste any time reporting any of this.”

Even over the sound of the next shot, Jake heard Maggie curse. “You’re not going to sacrifice yourself.”

“Might not have a choice. Time’s running out.”

Her cursing got significantly worse. “Do you have a backup weapon?”

But she didn’t wait for him to answer. Maggie must have remembered that he wore a boot holster because she scrambled lower so she could jerk up his jeans’ leg and retrieve the small Beretta.

“It’s me, Maggie Gallagher,” she shouted. “And you can tell your worthless spit wad of a boss that if I die, the evidence against his son will automatically go to a dozen different law enforcement agencies. David Tanner will rot in jail.”

She fired a shot into the trees to punctuate that, but it didn’t stop the bullets from coming at them.

Hell.

Maybe he’d been wrong about this being Tanner’s man. Or maybe Tanner wasn’t going to give in to Maggie’s threat. Of course, the gunman could just be stupid, and if so, he might end up killing them both.

Enough of this.

“Stay down,” Jake warned Maggie, and he lifted himself up a little so he could actually see into the trees. It took him a few seconds to locate the silhouette of the shooter who was dressed in camouflage.

It took Jake another second to aim.

Jake double tapped the trigger and sent the two bullets into the man. There was no groan of pain, just the sickening thuds of the shots slamming into the body.

He saw the man drop to the ground, but Jake didn’t waste any time. He took Maggie’s arm again, dragging her from the ground, and he started running toward the truck. She kept the Beretta aimed in the direction of the fallen man, but Jake figured the guy was incapable of returning fire.

Of course, he could have a partner.

Or two.

And that’s why Jake ran as fast as he could. Sunny didn’t have time for Maggie and him to fight off any other hired guns.

Since the passenger’s side door was still wide-open, Jake dove in, scrambling across the seat, and he pulled Maggie in with him. The engine was running, just as he’d left it, and he didn’t wait for her to close the door. He threw the truck into gear, and he hit the accelerator.

Maggie slammed the door and turned in the seat so she could watch behind them. She was the cop now, and even though that brought back bad memories of her investigation that had gotten Anna killed, he wouldn’t refuse having her as backup.

Temporary backup, that is.

The plan was still to get her to Sweetwater, but first he had to call Royce and warn him. Nothing would stop Jake from getting into the prison and tearing Tanner limb from limb if the man had already sent his hired guns to the ranch.

Jake took out his phone while he volleyed his attention between the side mirror and the road ahead. There was no sign of the sheriff’s cruiser. No sign of a gunman, either, so maybe that meant they could actually make it out of there without having to dodge any more bullets.

He pressed in Royce’s number, and his brother answered on the first ring. “Where the hell are you?” Royce demanded.

Jake ignored that question. “You need to secure the ranch. Tanner could have men on the way out there.”

His brother said something that Jake didn’t catch. “I’ll call you right back.” And Royce hung up.

Jake prayed his brother could put enough security measures in place to keep Sunny safe, and he cursed Maggie and himself for the deal that she’d made with Tanner. The deal might have kept them safe for the past two and a half years, but now it could get them killed. He should have anticipated something like this. Nothing was ever easy when it came to dealing with Tanner.

Or Maggie.

“Wade must have spilled his guts to Tanner or David right away,” Maggie mumbled. She was still keeping watch behind them.

Yeah, that was possible, because Tanner and his son still had a boatload of money, and even with Tanner behind bars, that didn’t mean the father and son criminal duo couldn’t hire all the guns and muscle they needed.

Guns and muscle that could be aimed at Sunny.

“Tanner doesn’t want to hurt Sunny,” Maggie said, as if reading his mind. But it sure sounded as if she was trying to convince herself. “You’re the one he’ll go after.”

“Sunny is your niece,” he reminded her. Hell, he wished he could transport himself back to the ranch so he could protect his baby.

“There’s something else that might be playing into this,” she said. “Tanner knows about that kiss in the barn.”

Jake’s left hand tightened on the steering wheel. “How the hell would he have known about that?”

“I’m not sure. I think your father said something, and it got around town. All I know is that Tanner brought it up when I went to talk to him about that deal.” Maggie paused. “He thinks you have feelings for me and vice versa.”

Well, Tanner was wrong about that. “Surely, he knows the truth by now?”

“Maybe not. Maybe he thinks your talk of hating me is to cover up the feelings that went behind that kiss.”

“It’s not a cover,” Jake snapped. And the kiss hadn’t been about feelings. It’d been about his stupid clouded judgment because he’d lost his wife just a couple of months earlier.

Months that Maggie hadn’t volunteered that she had been the reason Anna was killed. There was a chance she hadn’t known that exact information at the time, but she sure as heck could have told Jake about the investigation she’d started against Tanner. Two months was a long time to conceal that information.

The moment his phone buzzed, he glanced at the screen, saw his brother’s number, and he pressed the answer button.

“I alerted all the ranch hands. Nell and Dad, too,” Royce said. “Everyone is armed, but how soon can you get back?”

Jake glanced at Maggie and at the Colt that he still had gripped in his hand. He needed to get her to a doctor or a hospital for that test, but he couldn’t do that with his little girl at risk.

“I’ll hurry,” Jake answered, “but I’m still about three hours out.”

“Get back as fast as you can. Nell said Sunny was upset when she saw her granddaddy running to get his gun.”

Hell. The image of that was too vivid in his head, and Jake automatically sped up.

“Take the back road to get to the ranch,” Royce added. “And keep a low profile once you’re—”

“Maggie’s with me,” Jake interrupted. He glanced at her again, and she was clearly waiting to hear what was going on back in Mustang Ridge.

Royce didn’t answer right away. “I’ll let Dad know she’s coming, too.”

Jake could hear the dread in Royce’s tone. That same dread went through Jake. This would not be a pleasant homecoming for any of them, especially Maggie.

“I’ll remind Dad that Maggie came to help,” Royce said. “She did come to help, right?”

Jake settled for a “Yeah.”

“One more thing,” Jake added. “A gunman fired shots at Maggie and me in the woods east of Coopersville. I had to leave a dead body behind, but you need to figure out a way to get someone out there to investigate.”

Royce cursed again. “I’ll turn it in as an anonymous tip, but if it was Tanner’s doing, he’ll probably have already arranged for his own cleanup.”

That was fine with Jake. One less thing on his plate, but he wouldn’t mind someone other than Tanner’s henchmen checking the body for any evidence to prove who’d hired him.

“I’ll see you when I get back,” Jake told Royce.

“Wait. There’s something else. Like I said, use the back roads, and whatever you do, don’t come into town.”

“Why?” Jake asked cautiously.

“The U.S. marshals showed up about fifteen minutes ago. I’ve talked them out of going to the ranch because of Sunny’s illness. I swore to them I’d get you to come here to the sheriff’s office instead.”

Royce paused, a long time. “Jake, they’re here to arrest you.”

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