Targeted in Silver Creek
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Delores Fossen
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HarlequinChapter One
Deputy Jesse Ryland slid his hand over the Smith & Wesson in his holster. Normally, that wasn’t something he’d do when paying a visit to Hanna Kendrick, but there was nothing normal about this evening.
Not with a killer on the loose.
A killer who might at this very second be making his way to Hanna.
Jesse couldn’t rein in the motherlode of flashbacks that the killer’s escape from prison was giving him because he knew just how serious a situation this was. As serious as it got for both the job and his personal life.
He’d been a deputy for nearly eight years now in Hanna’s and his hometown of Silver Creek, Texas. Eight years of the badge in a family of badges. Being a cop was in his blood, and in those eight years he’d honed some instincts. Ones that had saved his life. And sometimes they’d let him down.
But he couldn’t allow his instincts to fail him now.
Jesse made his way up the steps of the porch that stretched across the entire front of the pale yellow one-story house. It was a familiar trek for him since he came here at least four times a week to see his six-month-old son, Evan. Those visits with his little boy were priceless, but Hanna hadn’t exactly made him feel welcome here. She wouldn’t now either, and it didn’t take long for Jesse to get confirmation of just that.
Hanna had obviously seen or heard him pull up because she unlocked and opened the door before Jesse could even knock. Even though it was fairly early, she’d already called it a night since she was wearing comfy purple PJs and had her long blond hair loose on her shoulders instead of scooped back in her usual ponytail.
Jesse caught the scent of lemon tea. And Hanna. Nothing flowery or from a bottle. Just her.
As usual, there was wariness in her deep green eyes, and she automatically stepped back as if to make sure they didn’t accidentally touch or breathe in the same air. Not because she hated him. At least, Jesse didn’t think she did anyway. But it was more of her not trusting him. Or anybody else for that matter.
The thin scar on the left side of her forehead had plenty to do with that.
A scar that caused even more flashbacks and bad memories for Jesse than a killer’s escape had. Because that scar was a reminder of just how close she’d come to dying. When she’d been nine months pregnant with their son, no less. Evan and she had survived, thank God, but Hanna had paid a heavy price.
They all had.
“Jesse,” she murmured on a rise of breath.
He heard the wariness that was always there but, as usual, Jesse saw something else. The glimmer of the heat between them. The same heat that had brought about the one-night stand resulting in her getting pregnant with Evan.
Of course, Hanna immediately concealed that glimmer by dodging his gaze. Again, that was the norm. She didn’t want to feel heat for a man she didn’t trust. A man she didn’t even remember.
Hanna was holding her phone, and Jesse could see the app was still open for her security system. She would have had to disarm it before opening the door or it would have triggered the alarms, but he had no doubts that it had been armed when he’d arrived. There was no feeling of a safety net for her anymore, no carefree attitude. She structured her life around locks and security systems.
“Evan’s already asleep,” she added as that breath fell away. Hanna picked up the baby monitor from the foyer table where she’d likely set it when she had opened the door and showed him the image of the baby in his crib.
He nodded. Jesse knew his son’s schedules and routines, and since it was going on eight thirty, Hanna would have already bathed Evan and put him down for the night.
“We need to talk,” Jesse said.
She opened her mouth, closed it and then looked at him as if trying to suss out what this was all about. It definitely wasn’t the norm for him to come to her place when he hadn’t arranged a visit with Evan.
“If this is about my amnesia, it hasn’t gone away,” Hanna volunteered. She absently touched the scar, the evidence of the gunshot wound that had robbed her of the memories of the attack.
And of Jesse.
As far as Hanna was concerned, she didn’t recall a thing about meeting him. Or having sex with him. Didn’t remember even a second of the bond they’d built when she’d been pregnant. Of course, it wasn’t a strong enough bond for Hanna to marry him. Or to fall in love with him. But there sure as heck hadn’t been this distance and mistrust that was there now.
“Did something happen to my mom?” she asked with some fresh alarm straining the muscles in her face.
“No,” he assured her. “As far as I know, your mother is fine. It’s about Bull Freeman.”
Hanna’s eyes widened and, while dragging in a hard breath, she dropped back another step. She might not have any actual memories of Bullock “Bull” Freeman shooting her in what had been a botched attempt to evade arrest, but Hanna was well aware that the man was behind bars.
Or rather that’s where he should be.
A place he should have stayed until his upcoming trial since Bull hadn’t been let out on bail.
“They let him out of jail?” she murmured.
Jesse shook his head and glanced behind him and around the yard. “He escaped.”
He gave her a couple of seconds to let that sink in. Of course, it would take a lot longer than that for her to deal with it, but this was a start. There were lots of steps that needed to happen now.
Because the sweltering summer sun had finally set, making it next to impossible for Jesse to see if Bull was anywhere near the house, he took hold of Hanna’s arm. Keeping his touch light and brief, he eased her backward so he could step inside and shut the door. He locked it and then motioned toward her phone that she was now holding in a death grip.
“Use your app to turn the security system back on,” Jesse instructed, knowing it was going to give her another mental jolt.
It did. Her fingers were trembling when she did as he’d said. But she didn’t stop there.
“Evan,” she breathed, and she turned and started running down the hall in the direction of the nursery. Her bare feet sounded out in quick, soft thuds on the hardwood floors.
Jesse followed her while he glanced around the living room, taking particular notice of the windows. As usual, they were all shut, and Hanna had all the blinds fully lowered. That was routine for her now, but before she’d been shot and had her life turned upside down, those blinds had usually been open. No doubt so she could see the amazing views on the five acres of her property.
The house and the land had been in Hanna’s family for several generations. An old money kind of place that managed to look both important and welcoming at the same time. A hard thing to accomplish, which was probably why Hanna had chosen to live here after her late father had left her the property when she’d barely been twenty. This was her home in every sense of the word, which meant it was Evan’s home as well.
The main area had an open floor plan, so it was easy for him to take in the living room, dining room and kitchen with only a couple of sweeping glances. After Jesse had finished checking to make sure all the windows in this part of the house were locked—they were—he went down the hall, tracing her steps, and he found Hanna standing over Evan’s crib.
The room was dark except for a smattering of milky-colored stars on the ceiling from the machine pumping out the soothing sounds of a gentle rain. All very serene. The perfect place for a baby to sleep.
Jesse went closer, moving shoulder to shoulder with her while looking down at their son, and got the same slam of emotion he always did when he saw that precious little face. The love. The fierce need to make him happy and keep him safe.
Evan’s hair was nearly identical in color to Jesse’s own dark brown. So were his son’s eyes, though Jesse couldn’t see them now because Evan was sacked out. He certainly made a precious picture lying there.
When Jesse had been younger, he’d vowed he would never have children, but that had all changed with Evan. The love had been instant and solid. Of course, that love only reminded him of just how much was at stake right now. If Bull wanted to get back at him in the worst possible way, then going after Evan would be the way to do it.
And Jesse wasn’t going to let that happen.
“When? How?” Hanna asked in a whisper.
There was no need for her to clarify her questions, and Jesse was ready with the answers. “Bull escaped this afternoon. I didn’t get the call, though, until about twenty minutes ago.”
That’d felt like a gut punch, and Jesse’s first instincts had been to call Hanna to tell her to lock up. But since he’d known she would have already done that, he had decided this was news best delivered in person. Especially since he was going to do much more than just play messenger tonight.
“According to the prison official who called the sheriff’s office,” Jesse went on, keeping his voice at a whisper so he wouldn’t wake up Evan, “Bull said he was having chest pains and was taken to the infirmary. He somehow knocked out the EMT on duty and escaped.”
The details of that escape were definitely sketchy, but it wouldn’t stay that way. Jesse would want to hear exactly what’d happened because he needed to know if Bull had had any help getting out. The man had plenty of friends and even a sibling who might do his bidding to give him a second shot at getting revenge.
“Your family knows?” Hanna asked.
Jesse nodded again, and he tipped his head, motioning for her to follow him out of the nursery. Evan was asleep, but he didn’t want the possibility of the baby picking up on anything he was saying. Of course, Evan was too young to understand the words or the danger. However, he might pick up on the vibes. Or Hanna’s fear. Because Jesse knew that her fear was there and already skyrocketing.
“My family knows,” Jesse assured her once they were out in the hall.
On the five-minute drive from the Silver Creek Sheriff’s Office to Hanna’s place on the edge of town, he’d called Boone Ryland, the man who’d adopted and raised him and his siblings after their widowed mother, Melissa, had married him when Jesse was ten. That adoption had given Jesse six more brothers and numerous cousins, many of whom carried a badge or were retired law enforcement. By now, Boone had no doubt informed the entire family, and they all had already started taking security measures.
Just as Jesse was about to do.
“Bull’s never made a threat to come after you,” Jesse reminded Hanna. “You were what he’d consider accidental collateral damage.”
Bad collateral damage and a case of wrong place, wrong time.
Hanna had had the misfortune of coming to Jesse’s house on the grounds of the Ryland family’s Silver Creek Ranch to drop off photos of the latest ultrasound and some medical consent forms she had wanted him to sign. She’d been at the massive wrought-iron security gates that fronted the property at the exact moment Bull and his cohort, Arnie Ross, had arrived to confront Boone before they could be arrested.
To confront Jesse, too.
Boone had been the one to get the tip about Arnie and Bull being part of a dangerous gun-running militia. A tip that’d come from an old friend who was now a retired San Antonio cop. Boone had passed the info along to Jesse and the other lawmen in the Silver Creek Sheriff’s Office, and that, in turn, had spurred a full-scale investigation.
Since there’d been a security camera mounted on the gate, Jesse had caught glimpses of how everything had gone to hell in a handbasket the night Bull and Arnie had come for that confrontation. The men had both exited Arnie’s truck and had words with Hanna, who had arrived just seconds earlier. Exactly what words, Jesse didn’t know since there’d been no audio on the camera and Hanna couldn’t remember because of the brain trauma.
Whatever had been said had obviously caused Arnie to snap. Maybe because he’d been high. Maybe because he just had a very short fuse. Along with being a serious drug user and a member of that notorious militia group, Arnie had also been on the verge of being arrested, and he’d been the one to drag Hanna out of her car.
Something that Bull damn sure hadn’t stopped.
Nor had Bull stopped Arnie from shooting out the camera. But that hadn’t happened before Jesse had seen Hanna, and it was an image that was forever branded in his mind.
Jesse had witnessed the stark fear on Hanna’s face while she’d tried to keep her hand protectively over her pregnant belly. Arnie had then started running with her. So had Bull. They’d disappeared into a cluster of thick oaks about fifteen yards from the gate.
That’s where Jesse had found them.
After the frantic race to get to Hanna. After he’d heard the two shots. After everything inside had pinnacled in a red haze of fury and sickening dread.
Jesse had found Hanna on the ground, shot and bleeding.
Arnie had been shot and bleeding, too, and he was no longer the one holding the gun. Bull was. Arnie had used his dying breath to say that Bull had shot both of them when Hanna had struggled to get away. The .38 jacketed bullet had hit her in the frontal lobe of her brain.
Immediate surgery had saved Evan’s and Hanna’s lives. But not her memories. There were times when Jesse thought that was more of a blessing than a curse.
Jesse expected her to blow off his reminder that Bull hadn’t intentionally targeted her, to give in to the fear that had to be crawling its way through her right now. But she didn’t. Standing across from him, Hanna released a long, slow sigh and leaned back against the wall, but she also seemed to be steadying herself. Her hands certainly weren’t shaking any longer.
“But Bull has threatened you,” she pointed out, putting some of that steel in her voice. “And your father.”
Yeah, he had indeed. Bad blood sometimes turned ugly, and that’s what had happened with Bull and Boone. Even before Boone had gotten the tip about Bull being in the militia, there had been a land dispute that had escalated into a lawsuit and more than a year of ill will.
Of course, Bull had denied being in the militia. The man had also claimed that shooting Hanna and Arnie had been purely an accident, that the gun had gone off when he’d tried to wrestle it from his buddy, Arnie, and that he’d never intended Hanna and the baby any real harm. The last part might have been true.
Back then anyway.
But with six months of prison under his belt, Bull might be willing to act on that bad blood by going after anyone and everyone in the Ryland clan. If so, that gave the man a hell of a lot of targets. Dozens, what with Boone’s kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews. Friends, too, who might be on Bull’s hit list. That meant anyone in Silver Creek could become another victim of Bull’s so-called collateral damage.
“Have you had your security system on for the past couple of hours?” Jesse asked her just to verify.
“Yes, and I haven’t gone outside.” She paused. “It was a tough day because I couldn’t stop thinking about tomorrow, when Bull’s trial starts. Or rather, when he was due back in court.”
Jesse certainly hadn’t forgotten that, and he’d figured it would be hard on Hanna.
Bull had been put in jail, yes, but there was always the possibility that a jury would buy his insistence that it was an accidental shooting. Added to that, the trial meant going over all the details of what’d happened to her. Details she couldn’t remember. Couldn’t confirm. And that might sway a jury, too, in the wrong direction.
So, why had Bull escaped when there’d been the looming possibility that he could walk out of that courtroom as a free man? Well, free of the charges against Hanna and Arnie anyway. Eventually, he would have to stand trial for his participation in the militia.
“I looked out the window a couple of times but didn’t see anyone or anything,” Hanna added a moment later. “You think he’ll come here?”
No way could he try to lie to her or give her false hope. “I think that’s a strong possibility,” Jesse answered.
Hanna nodded, and she clamped her teeth over her trembling bottom lip. He would have added a whole lot more if his phone hadn’t buzzed with an incoming call. When Jesse saw the name on the screen, he knew he had to answer it right away.
“It’s Grayson,” he relayed to Hanna.
Sheriff Grayson Ryland, who was Jesse’s adopted brother and the oldest of the Ryland siblings. He was also the law in Silver Creek, for the next couple of months anyway until his well-earned retirement.
“Just making sure you’re with Hanna and that everything’s secured,” Grayson said the moment Jesse answered.
“I am and it is,” Jesse verified and, after giving it a couple seconds of thought, he put the call on speaker. It was possible Hanna would hear something in this conversation that would upset her even more than she already was, but Jesse didn’t want to keep anything from her. “I’m with Hanna now, and she’s listening. Has anyone reported seeing Bull?” He’d tacked the question on.
“Not yet, but they found the EMT’s truck that Bull used to escape. It was abandoned on a side road about ten miles from the prison. An isolated side road,” Grayson emphasized.
“Has anyone reported a stolen vehicle in the area?” Jesse immediately asked. Because a remote area meant Bull had needed some way to get out of there, and Jesse doubted the man planned to walk to whatever destination he had in mind, especially since he would have likely still been wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.
“No reported stolen vehicles,” Grayson attested. “And Bull didn’t have the EMT’s phone.”
Jesse cursed under his breath because it meant this escape had likely been set up so that Bull could flee the prison and meet up with someone at that specific location. Someone who’d aided and abetted the escape. Someone who at this very moment could be helping Bull get to Silver Creek to carry out whatever plan he had in mind.
“You need me to start the process to access Bull’s visitors’ log at the prison and question all of his cronies from the militia?” Jesse asked.
“All of that is already in the works. Most of the militia members went under and disappeared after his arrest, but I’m sure we can find a couple of them. I’ll also pay a visit to his sister.”
Good. Because even though Bull’s sister, Marlene, didn’t have a criminal record and hadn’t showed any support for him after his arrest, it didn’t mean Bull hadn’t talked her into helping him. And even if she’d turn down any request for help, she might still know where he was.
“There are no indications that the EMT was involved in the escape,” Grayson went on. “He has a clean record, and there are no suspicious funds in his bank account. Bull punched him, and when he hit the floor, it knocked him out. He’s got a concussion.”
Jesse heard the slight groan that Hanna tried to silence by pressing her fingers to her mouth. She’d seen Bull at the hearing where he’d pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder, and she knew the guy was plenty big and strong. His nickname definitely suited him.
“Dad and your mom are at my house,” Grayson continued a moment later. “Everyone here is on alert.”
Good. His folks could likely protect themselves, but it was better for them to be with family right now. Jesse intended to be on alert, as well, and it’d stay that way until Bull was back where he belonged.
“What’s your status there?” Grayson asked.
“No sign of Bull, and Hanna’s had her security system on all day. I’m about to work things out with her,” Jesse assured him and added a “Keep me posted” before Grayson and he ended the call.
Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Jesse met Hanna’s gaze head-on. “I either need to stay the night here with you or move Evan and you to my place on the ranch.”
It wasn’t an ordinary ranch either. The Rylands’ sprawling Silver Creek Ranch had hundreds of acres, more than a dozen houses, and enough lawmen to staff an entire small-town police force.
But it was also the place where Hanna had been shot.
Even though Hanna didn’t have memories of that, she’d unfortunately seen the photos of the aftermath. Partially as a result of the psychologist trying to help her regain her memories. Other times as a result of glimpses of them when she’d visited the sheriff’s office to give statements or for pretrial briefings.
“I don’t think I can be at the ranch,” she muttered. “I haven’t had a panic attack in weeks, but I think just being there might trigger one.”
Yeah, he’d figured that. “Being here could trigger one, too.”
She nodded so fast that he understood she’d already come to that particular conclusion. “I have to make sure Evan stays safe, and that means me being as mentally sharp as I can manage. It won’t help him if I lose it and give in to the panic.”
His own nod was equally fast. “If I stay here, I can have some of the ranch hands come over and patrol the grounds.” Something he was certain was already going on at the ranch.
This was obviously a rock and a hard place for Hanna. She didn’t want him to be this big of a part of her life. Maybe because he was a blank spot when it came to her memories, but he suspected it went deeper than that. After all, she knew from the police reports of her attack that he’d been there that fateful night.
And that he hadn’t been able to stop Bull from shooting her.
There was a bottom line to this, and it was a bad one. She wouldn’t have been in Bull’s path that night at all if it hadn’t been for him. Because he hadn’t been able to stop Bull when he’d had the chance. Even though for Hanna it was something she couldn’t remember, her mother no doubt reminded her of it often.
“All right,” Hanna finally said, pushing herself away from the wall. “Call for the ranch hands to come over. You can stay in the guest room. If Bull isn’t back in custody by morning, I’ll come up with a long-range plan.”
That tightened his jaw because she was no doubt talking about private security. Bodyguards, maybe extra monitoring equipment. And while he was on the same page with her about keeping Evan safe, Jesse intended to stay with his son until the danger had passed.
However, that was an argument he’d save for when it came up.
For now, he fired off the text to the head ranch hand, asking for two armed men to keep watch. When he’d finished and gotten the “will do” response, he went looking for Hanna.
He walked past her bedroom, where Jesse got a jolt of memories. Ones not associated with being pissed off about her long range plan. Nope, these particular memories were sizzling hot and reminders that the one and only time he’d ever had sex with Hanna, it’d been in that bedroom.
There were only two other rooms off this particular hall. A bathroom and her guest room, which she was obviously doubling as an art studio. Hanna was in there, and she sighed when she looked at the bed that she apparently used for preparing her paintings for shipping. There were five of them and another on the easel. A watercolor of the Texas Hill Country, her specialty. And she was darn good at it, too. Enough for her to earn a comfortable living even though she no longer taught art classes.
“I’ve been using this room instead of the studio,” Hanna explained. “So I can be close to Evan when I’m painting. The studio’s small, and I didn’t want to expose him to the smells from the paint and the brush cleaners. Plus, there’s no security system out there.”
That made sense. “Don’t worry about moving the paintings,” Jesse told her. “I won’t be getting much sleep tonight. If I get too tired, I’ll just crash on the couch.”
She made a sound of agreement, maybe because she figured she wouldn’t be getting much sleep, either, and she took a quilt and pillow from the closet. She handed them to him and pulled out a second quilt.
“For me,” she said. “I’ll stay in the nursery with Evan.”
No way would Jesse try to talk her out of that. It was probably overkill but, at the moment, no precaution seemed too much for them to take. In fact, he just might end up in the hall outside the nursery door. That way, they could both make sure Bull didn’t get close to the baby.
Hanna opened her mouth again, maybe to voice the worries that he knew had to be eating away at her, but she must have changed her mind about that because she just shook her head.
“Let me know if you need anything,” Hanna added, already turning toward the nursery.
Jesse watched her go in and was about to head to the living room when his phone buzzed again. It was a soft sound, but Hanna must have heard it because she hurried back to him.
“It’s Grayson,” he told her and, as he’d done before, Jesse put the call on speaker.
“Make sure everything’s secure,” Grayson immediately said. “Bull’s just been sighted in Silver Creek.”
