Czytaj książkę: «A Threat To His Family»

Chapter One

Deputy Owen Slater knew something was wrong the moment he stopped his truck in front of his house.

There were no lights on, not even the ones on the porch or in the upstairs window of the nursery. It was just a little past eight and that meant it was his daughter Addie’s bedtime, but she always slept with the lamp on.

If the electricity had gone off, the nanny, Francine Landry, would have almost certainly texted Owen to let him know. Besides, Owen had already spotted a light in the barn. That wasn’t unusual since the light was often left on there, but it meant the power definitely wasn’t out.

Because he was both a father and a cop, the bad thoughts came and his pulse kicked up hard and fast. Something had maybe gone wrong. Over the years, he’d made plenty of arrests, and it could be that someone wanted to get back at him. A surefire way to do that was to come here to his home, to a place where he thought he and his child were safe.

The panic came, shooting through him when he thought of his daughter being in danger. Addie was only eighteen months old, just a baby. He’d already lost her mother in childbirth and he couldn’t lose Addie, too.

That got Owen drawing his gun as he started running. He fired glances all around him in case this was an ambush, but no one came at him as he barreled up the porch steps.

Hell.

The front door was slightly ajar. That was another indication that something wasn’t right. Francine always kept things locked up tight now that Addie was walking and had developed some escape skills.

Owen didn’t call out to Francine, something he desperately wanted to do with the hope he’d hear her say that everything was okay. But if he called out, it could alert someone other than the nanny. Still, he prayed that she would come rushing in to give him some account for what was happening. But no good explanation came to mind.

Owen tried to rein in his heartbeat and breathing. Hard to do, though, when the stakes were this high, but he forced himself to remember his training and experience. That meant requesting backup before he started a search of the area. He quickly texted his brother Kellan to get there ASAP so he’d have some help if needed.

The tight knot in Owen’s gut told him it would be needed.

And Kellan was the best backup Owen could ask for. Not only was he the sheriff of their hometown of Longview Ridge, he lived just two miles away. Kellan could be there in no time.

Using his elbow, Owen nudged the door open all the way and glanced around. His house had an open floor plan, so with a single sweeping glance, he could take in the living room, kitchen and dining area. Or at least he could have done that had it not been so blasted dark. There were way too many shadows. Too many places for someone to hide.

Owen flipped the light switch. Nothing. That snowballed the wildfire concerns because it meant someone could have cut off the power to the house. He doubted this was some kind of electric malfunction because if it had been, Francine would have gotten out the candles and flashlights since she was well aware of Addie’s fear of the dark.

Even though his brother would be here in minutes, Owen didn’t want to wait for him. The thought of his baby hurt and scared got him moving. With a two-handed grip on his gun, he checked behind the sofa, making sure he continued to keep watch. No one was there, so he moved to the dining room. Still no one.

But he heard something.

There were footsteps upstairs. Not Addie’s toddling feet, either. These were heavy and slow, probably the way his own steps would sound if he were up there looking around. Owen turned to head in that direction in case it was Francine, but that was when he noticed the back door was open, too. And there were sounds coming from the yard.

“Shh,” someone whispered. “We need to play the quiet game.”

Because the voice was so ragged, it took Owen a moment to realize it was Laney Martin, his ranch manager. That sent him hurrying straight to the door, and he saw Laney running toward the barn. She had Addie clutched to her chest, her hand cupping the back of the baby’s head.

Owen didn’t call out to them, but he did catch a glimpse of Laney’s face as they ducked into the barn. She was terrified. He hadn’t needed anything to up his own level of fear, but that did it. He ran across the yard and went straight into the barn. He heard another sound. Laney’s sharp gasp.

“It’s me,” Owen whispered just in case she thought it was someone else who’d followed them in there.

Laney had already moved to the far corner of the barn next to a stack of hay bales. When she shifted her position, Owen could see his baby’s face. Addie was smiling as if this were indeed a fun game. It was good that she was too young to realize the danger they were in.

“Where’s Francine?” he asked. “Is she in the house?”

Laney shook her head. “The nursing home called about her mom a half hour ago.” While her voice was level enough for him to understand her, each word had come through her panting breaths. “Francine asked me to watch Addie while she went over there to check on her.”

Francine’s mom had dementia so it wasn’t unusual for the nanny to get calls about her. However, this was the first time she’d left Addie with Laney. Maybe, though, Francine had done that because she’d known Owen would soon be home.

An intruder who’d been watching the place would have known that, too.

“Who’s in the house?” he asked.

Another head shake from Laney. “A man.”

Not that he needed it, but Owen had more confirmation of the danger. He saw that Laney had a gun, a small snub-nosed .38. It didn’t belong to him, nor was it one that he’d ever seen in the guesthouse where Laney was staying. Later, he’d ask her about it, about why she hadn’t mentioned that she had a weapon, but for now they obviously had a much bigger problem.

Owen texted this brother again, to warn him about the intruder so that Kellan didn’t walk into a situation that could turn deadly. He also asked Kellan to call in more backup. If the person upstairs started shooting, Owen wanted all the help he could get.

“What happened?” Owen whispered to Laney.

She opened her mouth, paused and then closed it as if she’d changed her mind about what to say. “About ten minutes ago, I was in the kitchen with Addie when the power went off. A few seconds later, a man came in through the front door and I hid in the pantry with her until he went upstairs.”

Smart thinking on Laney’s part to hide instead of panicking or confronting the guy. But it gave Owen an uneasy feeling that Laney could think that fast under such pressure. And then there was the gun again. Where had she gotten it? The guesthouse was on the other side of the backyard, much farther away than the barn. If she’d gone to the guesthouse to get the gun, why hadn’t she just stayed there with Addie? It would have been safer than running across the yard with the baby.

“Did you get a good look at the man?” Owen prompted.

Laney again shook her head. “But I heard him. When he stepped into the house, I knew it wasn’t you, so I guessed it must be trouble.”

Again, quick thinking on her part. He wasn’t sure why, though, that gave him a very uneasy feeling.

“I didn’t hear or see a vehicle,” Laney added.

Owen hadn’t seen one, either, which meant the guy must have come on foot. Not impossible, but Owen’s ranch was a good half mile from the main road. If this was a thief, he wasn’t going to get away with much. Plus, it would be damn brazen of some idiot to break into a cop’s home just to commit a robbery.

So what was really going on?

Owen glanced around the barn, also keeping watch on the yard in case the intruder followed them out here. Part of him wanted that to happen so he could make the piece of dirt pay for putting Addie and Laney through this.

There were no ranch hands around that he could see. Not a surprise. He ran a small operation and only had three full-time hands and Laney, who managed the place. Other than Laney, none of the others lived on the grounds. Not even Francine, since she had her own house only a couple of miles away.

He glanced at the light switch and considered turning it off, but that might only make things worse. If the intruder saw it, he would know they were in the barn, and he might come out there with guns blazing.

Owen’s phone dinged with a text message from Kellan.

I’m here, parked just up the road from your truck. Where is he?

Owen texted back.

Still in the house, I think.

But the moment he fired off the message, Owen saw something in the back doorway of the house. The moonlight glinted off metal and he caught a glimpse of the gun. That confirmed his worst fears, though he couldn’t actually see the person holding the weapon. That was because he was likely dressed in all black and staying in the shadows.

Owen ducked back to avoid the barn light. That light probably helped Addie since she wasn’t fretting as she usually did in the dark, but it might seem like a beacon to some thug looking to start trouble.

“Stay down,” Owen instructed Laney. “I’ll see if I can draw this guy out into the open—”

“You could be shot,” she said before he even finished, her voice shaking.

Yeah, he could be, but if anyone was going to become a target, Owen wanted it to be him. He didn’t want any shots fired into the barn or anywhere near Addie.

He texted Kellan to let him know that he was about to head out the back of the barn. He could then use the corral fence and nearby shrubs for cover to circle around the house.

Keep watch of the front, Owen added to the text.

He didn’t intend to let this joker get away. He wanted to know who he was and why he’d broken in.

Owen eased the barn door shut and moved a saddle in front of it to block it. It wouldn’t stop anyone for long, which was why he had to hurry. He ran to the back of the barn and climbed out through the opening sometimes used to push hay into the corral. When his feet hit the ground, he took a quick look around him.

No one.

No sounds, either. If the intruder was coming their way, he was being quiet about it. Owen tried to do the same as he made his way to the front side of the barn to take a look at the back porch.

Owen cursed.

The guy with the gun was no longer in sight, but the door was still open. Maybe he’d stepped back into the shadows to look for them. But that didn’t make sense, either. By now, the intruder must have spotted Owen’s truck, which was rigged with a police siren, and would have known that he had called for backup. That meant he possibly could have already fled the scene.

His phone dinged again with a text message. Owen was about to look down at the screen when he heard a sound he didn’t want to hear.

A gunshot cracked through the air.

It didn’t go into the part of the barn where Laney and Addie were, thank God, but it did slam into the wood right next to where Owen was standing. That forced him to move back. And to wait. He didn’t have to wait long. However, this time it wasn’t another shot. It was a man’s voice.

“Elaine?” a man yelled. “I know you’re out there.”

Owen had no idea who this Elaine was, so maybe this was a case of the thug showing up at the wrong place.

Except, wasn’t Laney a nickname for Elaine?

Was this man someone from Laney’s past? Maybe an old boyfriend who’d come to settle a score?

If so, she’d never mentioned it and nothing had shown up about relationship issues in the background check he’d run on her, and he’d been pretty darn thorough since Laney would be living so close to Addie and him. While he continued to volley glances all around him, Owen checked his phone screen and saw the text from Kellan.

I’m moving to the right side of your house.

Good. There was a door there, just off the playroom. Maybe Kellan would be able to slip into the house and get a look at this guy. Or, better yet, arrest him.

“I’m Deputy Owen Slater,” Owen called out. “Put down your weapon and come out with your hands up.”

It was something that, as a cop, Owen needed to say. He had to identify himself in the hope it would cause the idiot to surrender. Of course, it was just as likely to cause him to fire more shots. If he did, Owen would be justified in using deadly force.

But no other shots. Just another shout.

“Elaine?” the man yelled again.

Owen used the sound of the man’s voice to try to pinpoint his location. He was definitely no longer by the back door. Nowhere near it. This guy was in the guesthouse, where Laney lived. How he’d gotten there, Owen didn’t know, but it was possible that he’d climbed through a window.

Since the intruder was now on the same side of the yard as Owen, it made him an easy target, and that was why he hurried back into the barn. He glanced at Laney. Or rather, where he’d last seen Addie and her, but Laney had moved a few feet. She had positioned herself behind the hay bales and was using one as support for her shooting hand.

“Where’s the baby?” Owen immediately asked.

“On the floor behind me. She’s playing with my necklace. I wanted to be between the door and her in case... Well, just in case,” Laney added.

Just in case wasn’t looking very good right now. But at least they were all still safe. He heard Addie then, and she wasn’t fussing. It was more of a cooing babble, so the necklace must have been holding her attention.

“Elaine?” the man called out. He had moved since his last shout, but Owen wasn’t sure to where. He also wasn’t sure of Laney’s reaction.

The color had blanched from her face and he didn’t think it was because of the danger. Owen didn’t have to be a cop to figure out what that meant.

“You know this guy,” he said.

She didn’t deny it, causing Owen to curse under his breath.

“What does he want with you?” Owen demanded.

She didn’t get a chance to answer him because the man shouted again. “Elaine, let’s do this the easy way. Come out now and leave with me, and no one will get hurt.”

Hell. There was a good bit of anger now mixed with fear for his daughter. Anger that this thug would try to bargain like this. No way was Owen going to let Laney leave with a man who’d just fired a shot at him.

“Watch out!” someone yelled. Not the thug this time. It was Kellan. “He’s coming right at you.”

That wasn’t the only thing that came, either. There was a gunshot, quickly followed by another one. From the sound of it, the second shot had come from a different weapon.

Maybe Kellan’s.

Owen hoped it had anyway. Because he didn’t like the odds if this intruder had brought his own version of backup with him.

He debated opening the barn door so he could help his brother, but since this guy was likely coming for them, Owen’s top priority was to make sure that Addie was protected. He hurried to Laney and Addie, standing guard in front of them and waiting for whatever was about to happen.

Owen didn’t have to wait long. Someone kicked the barn door hard, and bits of wood went flying. The saddle shifted, too, and Owen steeled himself to fire. He was about to do that when he got a glimpse of the person who’d just broken down the door. The man, dressed in black, took aim at them. However, before Owen could pull the trigger, shots blasted through the barn.

Laney had fired.

And she hadn’t missed.

The bullets, first one and then the other, slammed into the man’s chest and he dropped to the ground like a stone. If he wasn’t dead, he soon would be, because he was already bleeding out.

Addie started to cry so Owen hurried to her. The relief came flooding through him because his baby was okay. She hadn’t been hurt.

He didn’t scoop her up into his arms, something he desperately wanted to do. First, he had to wait for the all clear from Kellan, and that might take a couple of minutes. In the meantime, Owen would need to hold his position. However, that didn’t stop him from asking one critical question.

Owen’s eyes narrowed when he looked at Laney. “Start talking. Who the heck are you?”