“Who’s here?” Sheriff Holmes asked.
“The cartel.” Nick drew his weapon. “They’re here for Lori.” Draper strikes again. Nick and Lori had to make it through this alive, so he could beat Draper to a bloody pulp.
A deputy walked in from the back door next to the sheriff’s office. He ducked his head inside the room. “Hey, Aunt Sheila—I mean Sheriff. As I was coming in, I noticed a suspicious van and SUV pull up out back.”
The sheriff hopped to her feet. “Suzie! Lock the front door. Now!”
The receptionist wrenched open a desk drawer and fished out a set of keys. She scurried out of her seat and hustled to the door. Fumbling with the keys trying to find the right one, she dropped them, and they fell to the floor in a clatter. She scooped them up and scrabbled for the right one. Shoving the key into the dead bolt, she locked it.
Suzie clutched the keys to her chest and backed away from the doors.
The deputy looked around, his eyes clouded with confusion. “What’s going on, Auntie?”
“The Los Chacales cartel is here.”
“The Jackals? Are you kidding me?” He rocked back on his heels. “What are they doing around here? Vacationing at the lake?”
“No, Denny,” the sheriff said, flatly.
“Wow.” He folded his arms. “You’re serious.”
“Nick, what do we do?” Lori asked.
Belladonna exited one of the vehicles, walked up to the front door, slipped her hands into her pockets and waited.
Nick reached out and drew Lori close, putting her behind him. “We need to prepare for heavy action.”
“Denny, go to the armory,” Holmes said. “See if you can contact the State Police on the two-way radio. Then bring everything you can carry, locked and loaded—extra ammo, too.”
“I can help you carry weapons,” Lori said.
Nick nodded for her to go with him. “But stay away from windows.”
“There are none back there,” the deputy said. “Come on, miss.”
“That woman is called Belladonna.” Nick gestured to the dark-haired, lethal-looking lady out front. There wasn’t a stitch of concern on her face. The air of confidence about her was unnerving. “She’s not here to talk. She’s here to kill Lori Carpenter. Anything she says or does is with that singular goal in mind.”
Sheriff Holmes nodded. “That may be, but this is my house. My rules. And we’ll play it my way.”
Nick followed the sheriff to the receptionist’s desk. “Suzie, if I give the signal, you hit the emergency button. Understand?”
The receptionist’s gaze flickered to a big red button on the wall next to her desk, then she looked back to the sheriff and nodded. “I understand.”
“Then what happens?” Nick asked. “A bunch of flares launch, and someone responds to the distress signal?” He wasn’t trying to be funny, but he did want to know how the red button was going to save the day.
“No flares. This place gets locked down tighter than a chastity belt with four-inch-thick reinforced steel, capable of withstanding the impact of a truck. Nobody is getting in.”
He wished he shared her confidence, but Belladonna was full of surprises, and underestimating her might be a mistake they wouldn’t live long enough to regret.
“No joy on the two-way, Aunt—” Denny stammered. “I mean Sheriff,” he said, setting down an armful of weapons on one of the desks in the rear of the station. He had everything from assault rifles, shotguns, to M84 stun grenades. But the last item he dropped on the table was unexpected.
“You have a machete?” Nick asked.
Denny grinned and nodded. “We confiscated it two months ago from a hunter going after big game in the area without a license. I shudder to think what he planned to do with it. Hack up a mountain lion or a bear?” Grimacing, he shrugged.
Lori dumped boxes of extra ammo beside the stash.
“Hang back there,” Nick said to her, not wanting to give Belladonna the chance to take a potshot at Lori or give a possible sniper a clear line of sight.
Pressing her palms to the bulletproof vest, Lori gave a quick nod.
“What’s the plan?” the deputy asked.
“That woman is standing there waiting to talk,” Holmes said. “So I’m going to hear her out and make it clear that Ms. Carpenter is under the protection of this department. Then I’ll take it from there.”
“I’d advise against talking to Belladonna at all, much less winging it.” Nick didn’t think the sheriff was being naive, assuming it would be quite that simple, but she was way out of her depth here. “Dealing with the cartel isn’t the same as handling a few meth heads or some drunks in a bar fight.”
“This may be a small town, but I’m not a dumb hick. And this is my house.” The sheriff looked at Suzie. “If it comes to it, on my mark, hit the button. Don’t hesitate.”
“I won’t let you down, Sheriff,” Suzie said.
Holmes squared her shoulders and straightened her spine like she was shoring herself up. She turned and pulled open the inner door, stepping into the vestibule.
Nick kept his weapon ready and stood on the threshold between the small antechamber and the rest of the station so he could hear the conversation and cover the sheriff.
With his gun aimed at Belladonna, he wondered if chopping off the head would stop the war-beast hunting Lori. Or would two new heads spring up?
Belladonna clasped her hands in front of her as if preparing to do business. “Good day, Sheriff.”
“Los Chacales aren’t welcome in my town. What do you want?” Holmes asked through the door.
“I think you know the answer to that question already.” Belladonna’s gaze cut to Nick before falling back to the sheriff.
“It’s not going to happen,” Holmes said. “You’ll have to go through me, my deputy and that deputy marshal in there first to get to that woman. Not to mention the State Police who’ll show up if you start any trouble and cause problems. It isn’t worth it. I suggest you get back in your vehicle and leave with the rest of your Jackals.”
“I’m willing to wager you’ll open that door for me within the next two minutes.”
The sheriff hooked her thumbs on her utility belt. “I’ll take that bet and double down.”
“I like your spirit.” An amused look spilled across Belladonna’s face. She glanced at her wristwatch, then lifted her hand and snapped her fingers.
The rear passenger’s side door of the SUV on the right opened. A man got out, tugging someone along with him.
Renee. She was alive.
A jolt of relief that the young veterinarian hadn’t been killed was quickly submerged in a wave of dread. Gut-churning, get-a-head-start-running, they-were-screwed dread.
Belladonna had the ultimate leverage.
“Renee?” the deputy asked, stepping closer.
A harsh audible breath rushed from Sheriff Holmes. Her hands flew to the door, palms pressed to the glass. “Oh, God, not my baby,” she said in barely more than a whisper, her voice cracking.
As the sheriff’s composure dissolved from staunch professional into terrified parent, that sense of dread morphed into something deeper, scarier. His instincts might be misfiring, and maybe he was overreacting. It was possible that Sheriff Holmes was so principled that her response would be aboveboard.
But Nick was no idiot. It was possible, but not probable.
Renee was gagged and her hands bound, but didn’t appear to have any injuries. Her tearstained faced looked younger, more innocent, than it had an hour ago.
Belladonna took Renee by the elbow and hauled her up to the door. “Sheriff, I understand that you have an admirable sense of duty and a moral constitution that I never will, but nonetheless respect. You can keep your principles, your conscience unsullied. Or your daughter can keep her life.”
A sob came from Sheriff Holmes and she covered her mouth with her hand.
“Don’t do it, Mom,” Renee said, the words muffled but the meaning crystal clear. “Don’t.”
“If you listen to your daughter, tomorrow you’ll be planning her funeral. Deciding between a casket and cremation.” Belladonna’s grave words hung there.
The tension stretching throughout the station pulled tight as a rubber band ready to snap.
“Aunt Sheila, it’s Renee, for crying out loud,” the deputy said, trying to get closer, but Nick raised a palm, keeping him back. “We’ve got to open it, don’t we?”
Trembling, Holmes shook her head, like it was an impossible choice ripping her apart on the inside. Nick could only imagine what was going through her mind.
His gut twisted with worry.
Sheila Holmes was an upstanding sheriff, but she was a mother first. A mama bear who wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her cub. To hell with the law. To hell with having blood on her hands. To hell with aiding and abetting murderers.
Nick had from that very moment until the sheriff admitted the very same to herself for him to figure out what to do.
The wall clock ticking into the petrified silence told him he didn’t have long.
“If you open that door,” Nick said, “Lori is dead, and the Jackals win. More people will die at their hands.”
“Lori’s testimony may hurt the flow of our money for a little while, but it will not stop us. More people will die at our hands regardless.” Belladonna was all business. “If you don’t open the door, I’ll snap your daughter’s neck like a twig, and I promise you that I will still get inside your station. You’d gain nothing, and lose your daughter for what? To protect Lori Carpenter, a woman who isn’t as innocent and sweet as she might lead you to believe.”
Lori’s eyes had grown wider and wider as the assassin had spoken.
Belladonna’s gaze flashed past the sheriff and collided with Nick’s. In his peripheral vision, he saw Lori backpedaling away.
“A year is a long time to spend watching over someone. Isn’t it, McKenna? Easy to understand if you’ve developed a soft spot for her. Did she tell you how she became the accountant for WCM’s largest client?”
“Her in-laws own the firm,” Nick said. “She was given the promotion as part of the settlement of her divorce.” They’d both been briefly married before. He’d gleaned tidbits from their conversations about their ex-spouses, but that was as much as Lori had shared. Deflecting with how she couldn’t discuss the case.
“Is that what she told you? And, of course, you believed her. It’s a good story. Not as sordid as the truth. Did she happen to mention that she was my boss’s lover for almost a year?”
It was a blow, hitting Nick in the chest like a sucker punch.
“Oh, yes.” Belladonna nodded. “They were hot and heavy, lived together, your Lori and a jefe of Los Chacales. When the accountant handling our portfolio retired, my boss is the one who saw to Lori’s advancement. He gave her quite a lot. A promotion. Jewelry. Luxurious trips. Payoffs. She took all of it. Including our hush money. To say the least, he’s not happy with her. You’re protecting a liar. A thief. A traitor. The mistress of a drug lord.”
His heart stopped for a beat. Nick stood there, reeling, his head hung low. A part of him had suspected that Lori was hiding something. But this...
This was too ugly. Too repugnant. Too much.
He had to detach, be all focus and purpose. Not take the bombshell personally.
Nick looked up and caught the smirk on Belladonna’s face.
This was what she wanted. To drive a wedge between them. Divide and conquer.
“You’re very good,” Nick said to Belladonna. “Quite silver-tongued.”
“Thank you. I had an excellent teacher.”
“But it won’t work.” Nick shook his head, clinging to cautious hope that none of this would influence the sheriff.
“Really?” Belladonna’s face softened and her voice lowered as her gaze returned to Holmes. “This is a small town, Sheriff. No one will know that you opened the door. No one will care because Renee will still be alive.”
Nick’s pulse quickened, his body registering the fight-or-flight need. “Lori may be all of the things you said. Hell, most of the people in WITSEC are, but she is still a material witness.”
Justice had to prevail.
“Sheriff,” Belladonna said, “what’s it going to be? Lori Carpenter? Or your daughter? You have ten seconds.”
“I can’t do this.” Holmes looked back at Nick and Lori over her shoulder, her expression stricken, her voice anguished. “Forgive me.” She reached for her keys that were hooked on her belt.
Damn. Nick had expected it, but shock still slammed into him. He spun, vaulting toward the wall, and lunged for the red button.
He slapped it as hard as he could.
Steel shutters dropped in front of the door and windows, zipping down with a deafening thud.
“No! Renee!” Sheriff Holmes cried. “That’s my daughter out there!”
Nick’s gut burned. Renee Holmes was an innocent, only guilty of helping them. The last thing he wanted was to throw her to the wolves twice. “I’m sorry.”
The shutter rattled as though someone on the other side had kicked it. “Pull it up!” Belladonna said.
“I can’t,” the sheriff sobbed. “It’s on a thirty-minute time lock and sends an automatic distress signal to the State Police. Please, don’t hurt my daughter! Please! Renee!” The sheriff sobbed, screamed, pounding on the door.
Her nephew rushed into the vestibule and threw his arms around her. From her trembling mouth came more wild, primal cries as she kicked and flailed.
Nick stood there, stunned to silence. The outpouring of her pain was worse than if he’d taken physical blows on his head and shoulders.
Lori turned away from the sight, hugging herself, and leaned against the desk.
Five minutes ago he would’ve gone to Lori and put a reassuring hand on her back. Now, renewed shock and anger flooded his mind, churning and growing into something so raw he wasn’t sure he could ever stand to touch her again.
This is just a job. She is just a witness.
And he’d keep telling himself that until it was true.
Denny dragged his aunt away from the door. Suzie went to her, as well. The two of them tried to console Holmes with words; they tried to comfort her by holding her, but nothing worked to stop her tears.
Once the sheriff’s movements slowed and she caught her breath, she stared at Nick, glaring daggers at him. “What did you do?”
It was a rhetorical question, but in a low voice, he said, “Stopped you from making a terrible mistake.”
“You son of a bitch.” She lunged for him as though she meant to claw his eyes out.
Nick swung his gun in her direction.
Her nephew wrangled her back. “Aunt Sheila, don’t. Please, calm down.”
“Trying to save my daughter wasn’t a mistake! Are you a parent, McKenna?”
The combination of the sheriff’s tormented tone and the reality that he’d never had anything in his life as precious as a child gutted Nick. “No. No, I’m not.”
Shaking her head, she squeezed her eyes shut and sobbed. Suzie hugged her back, crying along with her.
Everything the marshals had taught him kicked in. “Sheriff, they have nothing to gain by hurting Renee now.” It was the only thing Nick could think to say. His point was valid, but he didn’t have a clue whether Renee would be unharmed. “She’ll be okay,” he said, using that well-practiced, comforting tone.
It wasn’t his intention to make false promises. Witnesses fretted all the time about loved ones that had been left behind and needed reassurance. Sometimes hope had to be enough when there was nothing else to cling to.
“What if you’re wrong,” the sheriff snapped, “and they kill her out of spite? Those merciless monsters don’t even need a reason to shed blood, but you gave them one. Didn’t you? You ticked that woman off and she’s going to take it out on my baby.” She cut her eyes from him in disgust.
If he was wrong, and he prayed that he wasn’t, then Renee’s death would be on his conscience and he’d have to find a way to live with that.
“Lori, remove the sheriff’s and deputy’s sidearms,” he said while keeping his gaze on the distraught mother.
“You can’t do that,” the nephew said.
Nick gestured for Lori to get on with it. She removed both guns from their hip holsters.
“It’s just until you calm down.” Incensed people in great distress did the stupidest things. Sometimes when they came to their senses, they had no recollection of what they’d done. “I think you should go back into your office and try to see reason.” Nick motioned for them to start walking, keeping the gun pointed at them.
The trio shuffled to the office and Nick followed, to be certain no one made an irrational grab for one of the loaded guns on the table along the way.
“All we have to do is stay calm and wait it out,” Nick said. “The cavalry will be here in less than thirty minutes.”
DAMN!
Belladonna roared on the inside, thirsting to rip Nick McKenna’s head from his body with her bare teeth. She’d been so close, so damn close, to sealing the deal and getting the sheriff to cooperate that her damn pulse throbbed in her temples.
Her first inclination was to exorcise the rage and frustration by shooting Renee in the face.
Then Belladonna thought of losing her own daughter to senseless violence, no open casket... Did she still have the nerve to do this job?
But it was more than just a trade. It was a culture of brutality.
Robin Leach never would’ve hosted a show called Lifestyles of the Fierce and Dangerous.
She needed to find a way out, for the sake of her family.
Love had planted seeds, taken root deep, and over the past three years, she’d sprouted a deplorable heart. It made her weak. Soft.
But in this moment, her determination was on fire.
She shoved Renee to the side. The young woman tripped and fell. Belladonna kicked at her to get going, but Renee cowered like a miserable, beaten dog.
Pulling on a tight, stoic expression, as if this fiasco didn’t faze her in the least, Belladonna spun on her heel and crossed the street.
While her men backed up their vehicles, repositioning near her, she touched her earpiece. “Converge on my location. Now,” she said to her people who were stationed at the rear of the building.
She was done playing games. The pressure was about to get cranked to the max.
Once her men poured out of their vehicles, armed to the nth degree, and huddled around her, she looked at Smokey. “Go get Big Ben.”
He turned and marched to the van, like a loyal soldier.
“The State Police will be here in less than nine minutes,” Belladonna said to the rest. “We need to get in there and eliminate the target in eight. On my mark, set your timers. In five. Four. Three. Two. One.”
A series of digital beeps resounded.
Smokey returned carrying an anti-tank rocket launcher loaded with a high-explosive warhead. He propped it on his shoulder, aimed at the sheriff’s department and prepped the RPG.
Across the street, Renee’s eyes flared wide. She scrambled up from the ground and took off like a bat out of hell.
Finally. Stupid bitch.
With the snap of her fingers, Belladonna issued the wordless order, Smokey, make a hole.
He smirked. “My pleasure.”