Texas Ranch Sabotage
Author
Liz Shoaf
Reads
17.5K
Chapters
23
ONE
Tempe Calloway’s eyes flew open and her heart hammered in anticipation the moment the trip wire alert buzzed in her darkened bedroom. She’d been sleeping fully clothed every night for the past two weeks, waiting for this moment. Adrenaline spiked through her system as she scrambled out of bed, tugged on her boots and slipped the strap of her granddaddy’s old Winchester rifle over her head and across her shoulder on the way out.
She peeked into Riley’s room and checked that her eight-year-old daughter was safe and fast asleep, then motioned to Kylo, the solid black Australian shepherd lying on the end of Riley’s bed. The young fifty-pound dog, who had come instantly alert, quietly jumped off the bed and followed Tempe down the stairs, close on her heels, as they silently slid out the kitchen door. She was well pleased when the dog-in-training followed her orders as they stayed right by the house, then ducked behind several trees on the way to the barn.
Holding the rifle loosely at her side, she plastered herself against the rough outer wall of the barn. Fury tore through her at the thought of another “incident” at the ranch, but she took a deep breath and waited. No one had any business skulking around the area so late at night, and now she finally had a chance to catch whoever had been causing all their recent problems—expensive problems they could ill afford.
She heard a few horses snort and rustle around inside their stalls as if disturbed, and it was all the information she needed. The large front doors of the barn were kept open during the heat of the summer and she quietly made her way around the rough-hewn structure, then slipped through the opening. Staying close to the wall, she allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness and spotted a black-clad person furtively slipping out of the tack room.
Lips curling in a savage grin, Tempe lifted her rifle. Finally, she’d get some answers. “Stop, or I’ll shoot.”
The intruder’s head whipped around, but that didn’t help. Even through the darkness she spotted the ski mask covering the person’s face and identity. A split second later, the figure stood still at the sound of Kylo’s low snarl and then took off toward the side door of the barn. Before she could take up the chase, another noise from the opposite direction had her whipping around, rifle at the ready. Her pulse beat rapidly and she took a deep breath, calming herself as she’d been taught during her military training.
Did the first guy have a partner? She calmly focused and tightened her finger on the trigger as she watched a man race through the front doors of the barn.
Kylo snarled again and Tempe spoke in a low, firm voice, “Stop where you are, or I’ll shoot.”
He took her at her word and skidded to a stop. Before approaching him, Tempe gave Kylo a command, “Go round up the intruder, Kylo, I have this one.” He was a natural in herding, even though he still tended to nip people in the behind to get them moving along. The dog took off, but she kept her eyes glued to the stranger.
Her gun still up and ready, she moved forward slowly, watching for any movement that would precede the drawing of a weapon. When she got close enough to see his face, she couldn’t stifle her gasp of recognition.
The man wore a lopsided grin, and a lightning strike couldn’t have been worse than the shock she received, but after the initial jolt, anger shot through her like a riptide. Anger that he might be responsible for the problems on the ranch, and another, more uncomfortable rage at her unfortunate attraction to this man.
She had deftly avoided him at his grandfather’s castle in Scotland last December while searching for the map her granddaddy left her, but she’d been around him enough to realize her long-dormant heart had sprung to life. It wasn’t going to happen. She wouldn’t allow it with any man, not after what she’d been through, and especially not with the man standing in front of her. He was tall, around six feet four inches, with a runner’s muscle mass. His wavy reddish-brown hair, combed straight back from his forehead, brushed the collar of his shirt. And those piercing blue eyes she remembered so well held a hefty amount of suspicion, and why was that?
“You!” she hissed through clinched teeth.
She lowered her rifle a few inches as a million questions sped through her mind. How had he found her? Did he know what she’d been after at his castle? Did he know about the map? Was he to blame for the things that had been happening around the ranch? Was he here to take the map back? That wasn’t going to happen. She lifted the rifle back up and her finger tightened once again on the trigger. That map was rightfully hers, whether it proved to save the ranch or not.
“Hello, Maggie.” He lifted a perfectly groomed eyebrow. “Or shall I call you Tempe?”
Busted! But it didn’t matter. She had a solid reason for her actions in Scotland, and anyway, the man was up to no good, skulking around her barn in the middle of the night.
“You have two minutes to tell me why you’re here before I call the sheriff. And I’ll shoot you in the foot if I don’t like what you have to say.”
His gaze tracked her from her mussed-up bed hair to the soles of her worn-out boots. She tried not to let it affect her. She knew she looked a mess, but she stiffened her spine. She had only allowed a man to make her feel less than adequate one time in her life, and she was never repeating that nauseating experience.
He had the audacity to grin. “Could you at least lower your weapon? I don’t know what’s going on here at your home, but I’m totally innocent.”
Tempe hesitated but lowered the rifle to her side. “Said the spider to the fly,” she mumbled.
“I heard that,” he said, and laughed insolently.
Before she had a chance to take issue with him, Kylo bounded back into the barn and growled at Ewen. Ewen took a few steps back and Tempe was glad of it. Kylo quieted, raised his head and gave two short barks, causing Tempe to scan the furthest corners of the darkened barn. Kylo’s ears lifted, and, combined with her own gut feeling that something was off, that was good enough for her.
She moved forward, grabbed Ewen Duncan by the arm and started running toward the front door of the barn. “Something’s wrong. We have to get out of here. Now!” she said loudly.
He resisted for a second, but then allowed her to pull him along. Her heart thundering in her chest, Tempe skidded to a stop twenty feet away from freedom when Kylo gave another two-bark warning. The dog lightly clamped his teeth on her arm and tugged her back toward the interior of the barn.
She glanced at the animal. “You sure?”
He tugged harder, and that was her answer. She jerked Ewen as best as she could—he was a large man—and headed back toward the stalls. She’d pray for safety if she still believed in God, but that ship had sailed a long time ago, after she was left on her own to raise a child. Since praying wasn’t an option, she did her level best to get them to safety, because Kylo’s two-bark warning meant—
The explosion at the front of the barn shook the old structure as if a hurricane had hit, lifted her off her feet and threw her forward through the air. Heat seared her back before she tucked herself into a ball and rolled as she hit the floor. Ignoring the light burning sensation on her back, she pulled herself up. The sight that met her eyes devastated her, but only for a moment. Large flames were devouring the entire front of the barn, and the hundred-year-old timber wouldn’t last long. Her military training kicked in and she scrambled to her feet.
Spotting Ewen several yards away, she ran over to him and knelt by him. He was lying face down and shouldn’t be moved, but there was no help for it. She had to get him out of there before they all burned up, and then there were the horses.
Kylo raced to her side, and she took a second to check him out. One small burn spot on his head, but otherwise he looked okay.
“Kylo, release the horses. You remember how, boy. We’ve been working on that trick.”
The dog took off and Tempe rolled Ewen over, wincing at the redness on his face. He must have turned when the explosion ignited. He appeared to be close to two hundred pounds, but she was five feet ten inches herself and no lightweight. She didn’t know the extent of his injuries, but thankfully, he seemed to be unconscious, because this might hurt, otherwise.
She lifted the gun strap over her head, and it settled across her shoulder. Squatting in front of him, she grabbed him by the waist and heaved him over her shoulder into a fireman’s hold. She only wobbled a moment, then ran as fast as she could toward the open door.
Behind her the horses were screaming as Kylo lifted the horse stall door latches with his nose. She had to move fast because the large animals would be bolting out of the barn right behind her.
When she staggered outside, one of the ranch hands came running up and helped her lay Ewen on the ground. He was beginning to come to, and she was glad he would be okay, but she turned and watched the last horse break free of the building just before the entire structure caved in on itself.
It was the last straw. Someone was going to pay for all the things happening at the ranch. She glanced at the man lying on the ground, coughing. Ewen Duncan better not be involved in this mess.
As awareness slowly crept in, Ewen became acutely conscious of a burning sensation on his face. He struggled to roll onto his side so he could stand, coughing several times as memories assailed him. He recalled the explosion and everything before, and then...nothing. This situation reminded him of a suspense scene in one of his novels and he quickly decided it was much more entertaining to write the scenes rather than live through them.
Two hands pushed him back down, returning him to his prone position on the hard-packed ground, and he glanced up, gazing into a pair of fierce green eyes. He couldn’t believe the sweet, subdued librarian he’d met briefly at his grandfather’s castle in Scotland was the same woman hovering over him. At the castle she’d dressed in dull shirts and skirts accompanied by an ugly tweed jacket. Her hair had always been scraped back into a tight bun, but now... Earlier, when entering the barn, he’d been stunned by the ferocious woman threatening his life with the rifle in her hand. Her hair was mussed and she was attired in old, raggedy jeans and a plaid shirt. She barely resembled the woman he’d met at the castle.
And she’d thrown accusations at him—something about causing damage on her ranch.
He closed his eyes for a brief second, questioning his sanity in tracking her down, but he didn’t have an option. She had lied her way into his grandfather’s castle under an assumed name and had been caught on camera stealing something from the library. He needed to know what she’d taken.
Due to his dual citizenship and technology skills, the United States Defense Intelligence Agency had recruited him as an agent straight out of college, and the majority of his work was classified. Which presented a major problem. Tempe’s actions reeked of deceit. Was she aware of his job with the DIA? Was she trying to steal data he’d analyzed? Had the castle been used as a drop-off and pickup location for the enemy, right beneath his nose?
He hadn’t notified his superiors yet, didn’t want to get her name placed on a watch list until he had answers. So he was here on his own time. Bottom line, he didn’t trust her and was here to get answers, not answer them.
“Don’t move. Bart went to the house to call Doc.”
He opened his eyes and caught a flicker of sympathy in hers, but it dissipated quickly, replaced with the mistrust he’d been greeted with.
He raised a hand to touch his burning face and she gently knocked it away.
“Don’t touch it until Doc gets here.”
A sinking sensation filled his gut. “How did I get out of the barn?”
For the first time since he’d arrived at this desolate, parched piece of earth in Brewster County, Texas, near Big Bend National Park, Tempe Calloway grinned at him, and his stomach knotted.
“I carried you out.”
His eyes still stinging from the smoke, he looked at her, scrutinizing her longer than he had during that brief moment in the barn. Her attire consisted of a faded Western-style shirt tucked into a pair of worn jeans. Scuffed cowboy boots adorned her feet and her long dirty-blond hair was pulled into a ponytail at the back of her neck. Instead of worrying about how he got to safety—an embarrassing thought—he addressed their current situation.
“Have you called the fire department?”
He followed her gaze toward the barn, and it was obvious the building couldn’t be saved. There were several men valiantly trying to control the fire with water hoses, but it was a lost cause. At least the structure wasn’t near any other buildings.
Ignoring her huff of disapproval, he rolled to his side and pushed himself off the ground. Doing a quick self-check, he determined the burn on his face was his only injury.
Straightening, he dusted himself off, glad he’d instructed Dudley, his valet, to purchase Western attire on his way to Texas. It was always a good idea to blend in, although the majority of his work took him to more sophisticated locales and people. He’d get a bath and change out of his regular clothes as soon as possible. He’d arrived at the ranch in the middle of the night to get the lay of the land, planning to present himself the following morning. He’d never expected to get caught, much less to become involved in a barn being burned to the ground.
Standing close to him with her arms crossed over her chest, Tempe snorted.
“What?” he snapped. He wasn’t in the best of moods himself. After discovering her real name and locating her, he’d flown straight from Scotland, and then had to leave Dudley behind at the large airport to gather them a rental car while he took a rattletrap plane to a nasty little airport in Terlingua. He hadn’t been aware that airports still had dirt runways. He’d hitched a ride from the airport so he could scout out Tempe’s ranch without her knowledge. Well, the best-laid plans and all that.
She shook her head and her ponytail swung back and forth. “It’s amazing. You just lived through an explosion and you still look like a GQ cover model. Don’t you ever get dirty?”
Before he had a chance for a rebuttal, a middle-aged woman came rushing toward them from the direction of the house.
“Tempe, are you okay? What happened?” Her words held a combination of fear and anger. Ewen tended to pick up on nuances—it helped him develop characters in his books and also served him in his more clandestine work.
Tempe’s face softened and his breath caught in his throat at the beauty she evidently took pains to hide, but then her face hardened.
“I’m fine, Aunt Effie, but whoever did this isn’t gonna be fine when I catch up with them.”
Effie looked as if she was about to say something, but firmed her lips and nodded toward Ewen. “Who is this?”
A myriad of emotions crossed Tempe’s face before she answered. “This is Ewen Duncan. I caught him sneaking into the barn right before the explosion.”
Her aunt’s head snapped up. “You mean he’s—”
“Yes, he’s from Scotland,” Tempe answered, cutting off whatever her aunt was about to say, arousing his curiosity.
Unspoken words passed from niece to aunt and Ewen’s suspicions were ignited. These two women were up to something and he was determined to find out what. Tempe had stolen something and he wanted to know what it was. He couldn’t fathom what a woman from Texas could want from a private castle library in Scotland, unless she was working for an enemy of the US.
“Is Riley still asleep?”
Riley? Ewen wondered. An accomplice? Before the older woman could answer, Ewen interrupted the conversation. The heat emanating from the burning building made his face hurt and he was exhausted.
“If I’m correct in understanding that someone set fire to your barn on purpose, then it stands to reason the perpetrator may still be on the premises. I suggest we go inside where it’s relatively safe and sit down with a cup of tea.”
While the two women were casting incredulous glances at his perfectly acceptable suggestion of tea, he slipped his hand into his pocket, wrapped his fingers around his cell and pressed a button he’d added to the side of his really, really smart phone, one he’d designed to his unique specifications. Based on Ewen’s calculations, Dudley would see the alert on his own phone and should arrive within the next forty-five minutes.
Just then, a scream tore through the air from the direction of the house. A young girl came careening toward them, long dirty-blond hair flying behind her. It surprised Ewen how fast she reached them.
“Mama, there’s a man in the house trying to break into the safe in Great-Grampie’s office.”
Tempe placed both her hands on the young lady’s shoulders. Ewen noticed her fingers were trembling, but her voice stayed strong and steady as she looked her daughter in the eye. “Are you okay?” The girl nodded in the affirmative and Tempe took an awkward step back. It was obvious to Ewen just how shaken up Tempe was, but she put on a solid front and took command. “I’ll handle this. Riley, you and Aunt Effie know what to do.”
The understanding and old wisdom in Riley’s eyes were way beyond what a child of that age should have, and Ewen stiffened in outrage. Just what was going on in this household?
“Yes’m,” Riley said solemnly before taking Aunt Effie’s hand. “Come get us when it’s over.”
Ewen watched Riley and Aunt Effie disappear behind the burning barn. “Where are they going?” he asked, unable to stop the accusatory tone in his voice.
Tempe’s face hardened and her eyes narrowed. Ewen took a step back when she got in his face. “This is none of your business, Scottie Boy.” Then her eyes narrowed. “Or it better not be.”
After that ominous remark, Tempe lifted the rifle strap over her head and held the gun very comfortably in her hands, which wasn’t completely surprising. While tracking her down, he discovered she’d been in the military, but he hadn’t had time to do a deep search, which was rather unlike him. After learning she’d been working at the castle under an alias, he’d had a burning desire to confront her face-to-face, so he’d been on the move.
She turned toward the house and Ewen gently grabbed her arm to stop her, but she whipped around and knocked his hand off like it was a fly.
“Why don’t you let your ranch hand take care of the intruder? Or better yet, wait until the police arrive?”
She gifted him with a grin that didn’t denote happiness at all. The word that came to Ewen’s mind was feral.
“Why don’t you ask Bart?”
Ewen glanced at Bart, who appeared to be in his midfifties and had the physique of a lean, wiry cowboy. The man spit out a wad of tobacco, then said, “She’s better trained than anyone on the ranch. Best let Tempe here handle whatever’s going on.”
When he turned back around, she had already slipped away. He caught a glimpse of a dirty-blond ponytail disappearing around the back of the house. He couldn’t believe the men on this ranch were allowing her to risk her life, even if she did have some training. He didn’t trust her, but he didn’t want her killed. He held out a hand to Bart. “Give me the gun tucked inside your shirt.”
Bart’s eyebrows lifted in surprise and something akin to admiration shone out of his eyes. He slipped the gun out and handed it to Ewen butt first.
“Here ya go, but I think you’d be better off waitin’ till she comes out. Tempe knows what she’s doin’.”
Bart drawled Tempe’s name out and it sounded like Tempeee, heavy on the e. Ewen stored the information away and started running in the direction she had taken. He had just gotten to the back of the house when two gunshots pierced the still night air.
