Cord could barely think the next morning. In just a few hours, they either had to release the money to Eve or face the consequences. He’d been beside himself, but then the bank video files arrived, and he was now holding out hope for one last chance to find her.
He moved behind Kendall in her father’s office while she cued up the video recorded outside the first bank. The camera captured several cars, but Eve stepped out of a newer model silver Ford Taurus and Cord’s heart tumbled. There she was, his aunt. His sweet, precious aunt.
“Eve doesn’t appear to be under any duress, does she?” Kendall asked.
“No,” Cord replied.
Kendall leaned closer to the screen. “I can’t make out much about the person driving, though. Not even enough to know if it’s a man.”
Cord concurred. He watched Eve go into the bank and then kept his focus pinned on the car. Time passed and the driver moved very little.
“C’mon, c’mon. Show yourself,” Kendall said to the video.
“The driver likely knows about the cameras and isn’t going to do anything to let us see his face.”
Eve came out of the bank, calmly strolling toward the car and climbing in. She secured her seat belt, and the car backed out.
“Play the next one,” Cord instructed.
This video was taken inside the bank, where Eve walked coolly up to the teller, smiled and held a discussion, then left with a stack of cash.
“Either Eve’s an excellent actress or she wants to be doing this,” Kendall said.
“I can’t be sure,” Cord said, not taking his focus from the monitor. “She was a drama teacher.”
Kendall cued up the next video recorded at another branch. Cord felt like he was watching a television rerun, as Eve followed the same actions. The same thing held true for all the footage, except the last section.
“There.” Cord stabbed his finger at the screen. “That plate number’s readable.”
Kendall jotted the number down and opened the DMV database. “Car’s owned by a rental company.”
“He’d have to provide a driver’s license to get it.”
“Which means he likely rented it under his real name. I’ll request a warrant.”
“That’ll take too long. I’m going to call and beg the rental agent to give me the information.” He dialed the number and explained his situation. He didn’t need to act to convey his panic, as he was near to losing it and the emotion came through in his tone.
“I don’t know,” the woman said.
“I only need a name. Nothing else. Even a first initial and last name would work. Please, he could kill my aunt any minute now.”
“Fine, but you didn’t get it from me.”
“Of course not.” He resisted pumping his fist in the air.
“It’s a Y. Wessel.” Cord knew that name and excitement burned in his stomach as he thanked the woman and hung up.
“She said Y. Wessel. Yancey Wessel is the last name engraved on the trophy, and he must have taken it to hide any connection.”
“Let’s take a look at his driver’s license photo.” Kendall input his name into the database. The screen filled with his picture. “It’s him! Our Phillip Reese from Facebook.”
“I’ll call Matt to put out an alert on Wessel, and you get a warrant to search his house. Then we’ll find this jerk and free my aunt. And maybe Wessel will give us the identity of the guy who attacked you, too.”
Kendall knelt behind the berm and made one last check of the cabin, sitting deep on Wessel’s wooded property. She was dressed in a Kevlar vest, as were Cord, Matt, Seth and Dylan, all hunkered down beside her. The perfect team to take Wessel down, and she was in charge.
A mosquito the size of Texas flew in front of her binoculars, and she swatted it away. “Everyone ready to move?”
Affirmatives came from each member of the team.
“Then we’re a go.” She got to her feet and made her way toward the cabin. She didn’t need to check to see if the others were taking their positions, as she could count on them to do their job.
Even Cord, who was heading for the front door with her. He’d tried to stop her from participating in the raid, but in the end, he couldn’t come up with a good reason, other than his worry. She crept up on the cabin’s porch, moving slowly to keep from making even the barest of sounds.
“Team one in position,” she said, keeping her voice low as she notified the others over their communication devices.
She stood by the door and waited for them to confirm their readiness. Cord took his place on the other side of the door and met her gaze. He held it for a long moment, his eyes filled with apprehension.
She gave him a thumbs-up sign, trying to communicate that they would rescue Eve without her being harmed in the process. If she was here and if she was still alive. They’d seen Wessel through the window, but no sign of Eve so far.
“In position,” Seth said over her earbud.
“Ditto,” Dylan said.
“At the back door,” Matt announced. “Disturbance in five.”
Kendall started the countdown. “Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”
Matt discharged a flashbang.
Kendall held her breath, waiting for Wessel to go check it out.
“Subject in view,” Matt said. “Move.”
Cord rammed the door, and it sprung open. Guns lifted, they barged into the cabin, and she quickly scanned the small living area. No one in sight. She moved deeper into the cabin, Cord right on her tail. She heard movement ahead. Took cover flat against a wall. Waited. Held her breath.
Footsteps creaked across the floor, headed in her direction.
She wanted to spring forward. Her training held her back.
Wait for it. Wait. Wait.
Wessel moved into range. He held a large butcher knife.
“Freeze.” She planted her gun at his temple. “Drop the knife.”
He released it, and the metal clanged to the floor.
She kept her gun pressed against his head, and Cord moved around her to jerk Wessel’s hands behind his back, take him down to the wooden floor and cuff him.
Wessel moaned. “Watch it. I’m injured.”
“Suspect in custody,” she said into her microphone.
“Where’s my aunt?” Cord asked.
“Who?”
“Eve Smalley. Where is she?”
“I don’t know an Eve Smalley.”
“Stay with him,” Kendall said. “I’ll let the others in, and we’ll clear the cabin.”
Cord looked like he didn’t want to agree but didn’t move.
She made her way through a small kitchen with trash overflowing and a sink piled high with dirty dishes to the back door to let the team in.
“No sign of Eve yet,” she told them. “And Wessel denies knowing her, but I’m hoping she’s here. Let’s fan out and—” The sound of a gunshot in the other room erased her words.
“Cord!” She spun and ran toward the room.
Cord lay on the ground, blood oozing from his thigh. Wessel, still cuffed, lay beside him and the man who’d hit her with the rolling pin, his weapon raised, stood over Cord.
“Drop it!” Kendall screamed and sighted her rifle scope on the man who’d left her with the large lump on her forehead. He was lifting his gun again. Pointing at her. She didn’t hesitate but fired.
One shot.
Two.
Just like she’d been taught. Two bullets, center mass. That took down the unidentified man. He lay unmoving. She held her position.
“I’m going to approach and cuff him if he’s alive,” Matt said.
She kept her gun trained on her attacker. If he so much as twitched, she would fire again before he shot her brother, too. But he didn’t move and Matt clapped the cuffs on his wrists.
“Officer down,” Matt said into his mic and requested a second ambulance for her attacker who was still alive.
Room secure, she rushed to Cord’s side. “Cord, please. Please. Don’t you dare die on me.”
He looked up at her. “He barely nicked me. I’m fine.”
She studied the blood continuing to darken his pant leg. “A nick doesn’t create that much blood.”
She quickly shed her vest, then her shirt worn over a T-shirt and pressed it against the wound. Cord groaned, ripping her heart out.
“We have to secure the rest of the house,” Matt said.
“And find Eve. Go. I can apply pressure myself.” Cord slid his hands under hers. “Find Eve. Please. Search the house.”
Kendall got to her feet. “Matt, you stay here with Cord and the suspects. I’ll take the east side of the house. Seth, west side, and Dylan, you look for a cellar.” They took off, and Kendall went toward a hallway, where she thought the bedrooms were located.
She flung open the first bedroom door. Small with a bed and dresser. No closet. No Eve. Back in the hallway she crept toward the next room. The door was locked with a heavy hasp. Not your typical bedroom lock and a sign that she’d find Eve behind that door.
She took her flashlight from her duty belt and rammed the hasp until it broke, then shoved the door open.
Eve lay on the bed, her mouth gagged, her hands tied behind her back and secured to the metal bed frame. Her eyes were wide with fear.
Kendall’s heart soared but she couldn’t release Eve, as they hadn’t cleared the entire cabin yet, and Wessel might have additional help. “Hang tight, Eve. I’ll be right back.”
She worked her way through the rest of the rooms. When she stepped out of the bathroom, Dylan was in the hallway.
“Our areas are clear,” he said.
“Mine, too. I found Eve. She’s fine. Go tell Cord while I untie her.”
Dylan turned away, then looked back. “By the way, I thought you might want to know Mom got her latest scans, and they’re better.”
“This’s wonderful news.” She grabbed Dylan and hugged him hard.
He squirmed free. “Not on the job, cuz. I have a rep to maintain.”
Smiling, Kendall entered the bedroom and approached Eve to start working on her gag. She had a roadmap of wrinkles crossing her face, and her blondish-gray hair was stick-straight and cut just below her ears. But it was her gaze that held Kendall’s attention. It was like looking into a smaller, older version of Cord’s eyes.
Kendall released the gag. “I’m Deputy Kendall McKade. Let me get you untied.”
“Oh, oh.” Eve’s deep-set eyes went even wider. “You’re the Kendall?”
Kendall gave Eve a questioning look.
“Cord told me all about you back in the day.” She had the sweetest, gentlest smile, and Kendall liked her instantly.
She released the last rope. “Let’s get you into the living area and into a chair so the medics can look you over.”
“I don’t need medics.”
“You’re not hurt?” Kendall asked. “But there was blood on the floor in your kitchen.”
She grinned. “I got in one nice swipe to Wessel’s shoulder before he grabbed me.”
Kendall smiled at Eve. “But I’m sure you’ll want to see Cord.”
“He’s here?”
“Yes.”
Kendall helped Eve to her feet and led her out of the room. She took one look at Cord and dropped to the floor beside him.
“I’m so sorry,” Eve said, patting his knee. “I was so stupid to fall for this poor excuse for a man’s ploy.”
“Shh.” Cord smiled. “No need to apologize. He’s a master at this con but it’s over, and if he makes it, he’s going to go away for a long, long time.”
“My money,” she said sadly. “He took almost all of my savings.”
“Hopefully we can recover that.” Cord hugged his aunt. “I’m so glad to see you. I thought I’d lost you, too.”
He shuddered, and Kendall knew how deeply he was feeling the pain of the near loss, but also the joy of stopping it. She wanted to join in their celebration. To hug them both. But more important than anything right now was to get Cord to the hospital.
He might be downplaying his injury, but Kendall had heard of people sustaining a minor gunshot wound and the bullet traveling through the body to do serious damage. She couldn’t be sure Cord wasn’t in that situation until he was seen by a doctor, and she wasn’t going to relax until she was certain he was safe.
Kendall wanted to question Eve. To get answers on how her attacker, who they’d learned was named Greg Hurley, was involved with Wessel, but Cord was in surgery and neither she nor Eve needed to be having that discussion right now. As it turned out, when the doctor evaluated Cord, he discovered that the bullet entered Cord’s thigh and had indeed traveled inside, causing enough damage to require surgery.
Kendall paced in the waiting area. Back. Forth. Every direction she could find space to move. Her family had arrived in full force and sat vigil with her. They’d brought Eve and Lucas, too.
Cord’s wound wasn’t life-threatening, but any surgery was a risk. Unlike Hurley. He was touch and go. Her bullets stopped him cold and might stop him for life. This was the first time Kendall had ever needed to shoot a person. She didn’t much like that thought, and as much as she hated what he’d done to her, she’d been praying for both Hurley and Cord.
Her mother stepped into her path. “You’re scaring Lucas.”
She glanced at the boy, who was circled under the protective arm of his great-aunt, but he was twisting his hands together. How could he survive all of this? First his parents and grandparents. Then Eve went missing only to be found, and now Cord got shot. Lucas had to be nearly scared out of his mind.
She started across the room to talk to him, when the doctor stepped into the waiting area. He pulled off his scrub cap and ran his hand through thinning gray hair. Kendall didn’t know if his action was from tiredness or from bad news. She didn’t want to know the answer. If she didn’t talk to him, then in her mind Cord could still be alive, but if...
“We’ll do this together.” Her mother took her arm and led her to the doctor. The others flocked around her, Lucas coming to slide under her arm. She hugged him close and waited for the news.
“Cord came through fine,” the doctor said. “And should make a complete recovery.”
Kendall’s legs threatened to collapse in relief, but she had to stay strong for Lucas.
“When can we see him?” she asked.
“He’s in recovery but you can wait for him in his room. He’ll be in 232.” The doctor ran his gaze over the big group. “No more than two visitors at a time, though.”
Kendall thanked him and faced her family. “Lucas and Eve should go in first.”
“Oh, no, honey.” Eve waved a hand. “Now that I know Cord is okay, I’ll go ahead and get checked out by a doctor so you all can stop fussing at me. So you and Lucas go. Cord will want to see you two the moment he wakes up.”
Kendall knew she should argue, but she had to see for herself that Cord was indeed going to be okay. She looked at Lucas. “You ready to do this?”
He nodded, his expression so serious, a tight heaviness invaded her chest, but she smiled to cover it up. “Maybe we should stop at the gift shop and get him a teddy bear.”
“For Cord? Are you kidding?”
“That’s why we should do it.”
“Oh, I get it. A joke. Yeah, let’s get one.” He grinned, and Kendall knew her mission to cheer the boy up had succeeded.
They got the biggest bear they could find. She was surprised to find Cord in the room already. His face was pale, but with more color than it had at the scene. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be resting comfortably. She longed to rush over, hold him and never let him go, but with Lucas at her side, she held back.
“He’s so gonna lose it when he sees the bear,” Lucas said, his voice choked with laughter.
Cord’s eyelashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes. He caught her gaze.
“Hey,” he said in a low, sultry voice.
“We got you something.” Lucas approached with the bear.
Cord blinked as if he hadn’t realized Lucas was with her.
“Oh, man.” Cord grinned. “Just what I always wanted.” He started to chuckle but stopped on a gasp of pain.
“Hey, sorry,” Lucas said. “I wanted to cheer you up but didn’t think it would hurt to laugh.”
“No worries.”
Kendall stepped forward. “The doctor said you’re going to make a complete recovery.”
“And the shooter?”
“His name’s Greg Hurley. Still touch and go.”
“I’d like to see Eve and get all the details of what happened.”
“The doctor said only two visitors at a time, and she insisted Lucas and I come in first.”
Cord nodded. “Looks like I’m here for the night, but Doc said he’ll likely discharge me in the morning.”
“You’ll stay at the ranch until you’re well enough to go back to Houston,” she insisted.
He frowned.
“I can drive you back to Houston if that’s what you want.”
“No.”
She started to ask about the lingering frown, but then a painful thought entered her brain. Now that Eve was safe, maybe he didn’t want to stay in Lost Creek any longer. Maybe her feelings were one-sided. She didn’t think so, but it was possible that he cared for her yet still didn’t want to pursue a relationship.
“I’ll keep an eye out for Lucas tonight.” She faked a punch to his arm. “We should probably let you get some rest.”
“Wait,” Lucas said, sounding desperate. “I wanted to tell Cord something before we go.”
“What is it?” Worry returned to Cord’s expression.
“I’m sorry for being such a jerk. It wasn’t your fault. The accident, I mean. And I was real ugly toward you.”
“No worries,” Cord said, but he followed it with a wide smile. “Can I ask how you reached that conclusion?”
“Pastor Mark. He told me that God doesn’t make mistakes. If He keeps someone from being killed or allows a person to die, it’s not some fluke. He’s, like, in total control all the time.”
“So true.” Kendall couldn’t help but think about her own life and how she liked things her way. She took control when she should really be allowing things to go God’s way, whatever that might turn out to be.
“Yeah, he also said if I think one person is more worthy of life than another, then I’m making judgments God hasn’t authorized me to make. God’s the only one who can evaluate human life. And He isn’t going to share reasons for His decisions with people.”
“Wow,” Cord said. “This Pastor Mark sounds like a smart guy.”
Lucas nodded. “So I can’t blame you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Cord grabbed Lucas’s arm and pulled him in for a hug. “Love you, bud.”
“Yeah, love you, too.” Lucas’s shoulders started shaking.
Kendall knew he was crying, so she left the pair alone, her heart full with the joy of seeing them repair their rift but aching with the knowledge that if something didn’t change, she wouldn’t be around them to see it play out.