Loe raamatut: «The Lawmen of McCall Canyon»

Chapter One

Something wasn’t right.

Rachel McCall was sure of it. Her heartbeat kicked up a notch, and she glanced around Main Street to see what had put the sudden knot in her stomach.

Nothing.

Well, nothing that she could see, anyway. But that didn’t help with the knot.

She walked even faster, trying to tamp down her fears. It had been only a month since someone had tried to kill her father and had kidnapped her mother. That wasn’t nearly enough time for her to force the images out of her head. The sound of the shot. All that blood. The fear that she might lose both her parents.

There were images and memories of the other things that’d happened over the course of those two days, too.

Remembering that wouldn’t help her now, though. She had to get to her car, and then she could drive back to the inn on the edge of town and figure out why this “not right” feeling wouldn’t budge.

She continued to walk from the small pharmacy up the street to where she’d parked her car. There had still been plenty of daylight when she’d gone into the pharmacy twenty minutes earlier to wait for her meds to be ready, but now that the storm was breathing down on her, it was dark, and the sidewalks were empty. There were so many alleys and shadows. Enough to cause her nerves to tingle just beneath her skin.

Rachel silently cursed herself for not parking directly in front of the pharmacy, but instead she’d chosen a spot closer to the small grocery store where she’d first picked up some supplies before going for the meds. That grocer was closed now—as was seemingly everything else in the small town of Silver Creek.

She’d chosen this town because in many ways it’d reminded her of home. Of McCall Canyon. But bad things had happened there, and they could also happen here.

The moment her car was in sight, she pressed the button on her key fob. The red brake lights flashed, indicating the door was unlocked, just as a vein of lightning lit up the night sky. A few seconds later, the thunder came, a thick rumbling groan. And it was maybe because of the thunder that she didn’t hear the footsteps.

Not until it was too late.

Someone stepped out from one of those dark alleys. She saw only a blur of motion from the corner of her eye before that someone wearing a white cowboy hat pulled her between the two buildings.

The scream bubbled up in her throat, but she didn’t manage to make a sound before he slid his hand over her mouth.

It was a man.

Rachel had no trouble figuring that out the moment her back landed against his chest. But she didn’t stay there. The surge of adrenaline came. And the fear. She rammed her elbow into the man’s stomach, breaking free, and turned to run. She didn’t make it far, however, because he cursed and hauled her back to him.

“Shhh. Someone was watching you,” he said.

She continued to struggle to get away, until the sound of his voice finally registered in her head. It was one she definitely recognized.

Griff.

Or rather, Texas Ranger Griffin Morris.

How the heck had he found her? And better yet, how fast could she get rid of him?

Rachel pushed his hand away from her mouth and whirled around to face him. She hoped the darkness didn’t hide her anger. Even if it did, Griff didn’t seem to notice, because his attention was focused across the street.

“Shhh,” he repeated, when she started to say something.

Rachel nearly disobeyed him on principle just because she didn’t want Griff telling her what to do. But she wasn’t stupid. His own expression told her loads. Something was wrong. The knot in her stomach hadn’t been a false alarm.

She followed Griff’s gaze and tried to pick through the darkness to see if she could figure out what had caused him to grab her like that. There was a row of buildings, mom-and-pop type stores, all one and two stories high. Like the side of the street that Griff and she were on, that one had alleys, too. If someone was hiding there, she couldn’t see him.

“Who’s watching me?” she whispered. That was just the first of many questions she had for Griff.

He didn’t jump to answer, but merely lifted his shoulder. Since he still had his left arm hooked around her waist, she felt his muscles tense. Felt the handgun that he’d drawn, too. Apparently Rachel wasn’t the only one who’d thought something was wrong.

“Is this about my father?” she pressed.

That only earned her another shoulder lift. For a couple seconds, anyway. “Your dad’s alive, by the way. Just in case you want to know.”

She hadn’t needed Griff to tell her that. Rachel had kept up with the news about his shooting. Her father had survived the surgery and had been released from the hospital. She hadn’t wanted him dead. But Rachel no longer wanted him in her life.

That applied to Griff, too.

“I got here about five minutes ago,” Griff went on. He tipped his head toward the end of the street. “I parked up there and came to your car to wait for you. That’s when I saw the guy across the street. He’s about six feet tall, medium build and dressed all in black. I didn’t get a look at his face because he stepped back when he saw me.”

Even though Griff and she were at odds—big odds—she believed everything he’d just said. Griff wasn’t the sort to make up something like that just to get her in his arms again. Though it had worked. Here she was, right against him. Rachel was about to do something about that, but Griff spoke before she could put a couple inches of space between them.

“Keep watch of the alley behind us,” he said. “I don’t want him backtracking and sneaking up on us.”

That tightened the knot even more, and Rachel wished she’d brought her gun with her. Too bad she’d left it at the inn.

“There might be nothing to this,” she whispered. However, she did turn so she could keep an eye on the back alley. “Unless...” She almost hated to finish that. “Has there been another attack? Did someone try to kill my father again?”

Griff didn’t answer right away, but he did spare her a glance. He looked down at her just as she looked up at him. Their gazes connected. It was too dark to see the color of his eyes, but she knew they were gunmetal gray.

Rachel also knew the heat was still there.

Good grief. After everything that had happened, it should be gone. Should be as cold as ice. But here it was, just as it always had been. Well, it could take a hike. Her body might still be attracted to Griff, but she’d learned her lesson, and she wouldn’t give him another chance to crush her.

“There have been new threats,” he finally said. A muscle flickered in his jaw. “Both emails and phone calls. Have you gotten any?”

She shook her head. “No, but then I closed my email account and have been using a burner cell.”

Of course Griff knew that, because he was the reason she’d gone to such lengths. Rachel had been trying to get away from him.

“How’d you find me?” she snapped. “Why did you find me? Because I made it clear that I didn’t want to see you.”

There was too much emotion in her voice. Not good. Because it meant she was no longer whispering. Rachel tried to rein in her feelings so she could keep watch and put an end to this visit.

“Your meds,” Griff said.

Because she was still doing some emotion-reining, she didn’t immediately make the connection. Then Rachel remembered she’d needed the pharmacist to call her former doctor in McCall Canyon to verify the prescription for her epilepsy medicine. Without them, she would have had a seizure, something that hadn’t happened in two years.

Rachel cursed herself for that lapse. She should have figured out a way to get the meds without anyone having to contact Dr. Baldwin. Of course, Dr. Baldwin shouldn’t have ratted her out to Griff, either, and as soon as she could, she’d have a chat with the man about that.

“I’d been so careful,” she mumbled. She hadn’t meant to say that aloud, and it got Griff’s attention because he glanced at her again.

“No. You haven’t been. You shouldn’t have parked here. If I could find you, then so could the person who made those new threats.”

She couldn’t argue with that, but what Rachel could dispute was that the person who’d made those new threats might not even be after her. Yes, a month ago someone had put a bullet in her father’s chest while he’d been in the parking lot of the sheriff’s office where both her brothers worked. But that person, Whitney Goble, who’d been responsible for the shooting, had tried to kill Rachel’s father so Whitney could set up someone else that she wanted to punish. Now, Whitney was dead.

Not that it helped lessen the memories just because Whitney was no longer alive.

No. Because of everything else that’d happened in the twenty-four hours following the shooting. That’s when they’d learned that her father also had secrets.

Well, one secret, anyway.

That, too, twisted away at her. Just as much as reading the threat he’d gotten and seeing him gunned down in the parking lot. But the truth was her father had been living two lives and had a mistress and a son living several counties over. Her brothers, Egan and Court, hadn’t known. Neither had her mother, Helen.

But Griff had.

Of course, Griff hadn’t breathed a word about it. Not after the shooting. Not even when later that night she’d gone to his bed to help ease the worry she was feeling for her father. That’s why the cut had felt so deep. Griff had known, and he hadn’t told her.

All of those emotions came flooding back. “I don’t want you here,” she said.

If her words stung, he showed no signs of it. “Yeah, I got that, but I made a promise to your mother that I’d keep you safe.”

It didn’t surprise her that her mother had made that request. Or that Griff had carried it out. But there was possibly another side to this. “Are you using this as a way to mend fences with me? Because if so, it won’t work.”

He didn’t even acknowledge that, but Griff did push her behind him. He brought up his gun as if getting ready to fire. That put her heart right in her throat, and Rachel came up on her toes so she could see over Griff’s shoulder. She shook her head and was about to tell him she didn’t see anything.

But she did.

Rachel saw someone move in the alley to the right of the small hardware store. Since it was only 8:00 p.m., she reminded herself that it could be someone putting out the trash. However, that knot in her stomach returned. It was a feeling that her brothers had always told her never to ignore.

Was this the person who’d made those new threats against her family?

Maybe. Whoever it was definitely seemed to be lurking. And looking in their direction. Rachel doubted the person could see them because Griff and she were deep enough in the shadows on this side of the street. Or at least they would be unless there was more lightning. Which was a strong possibility. She could hear more thunder rumbling in the distance.

“Why would someone want to hurt me?” she whispered.

“To get back at your father. At Warren,” Griff answered without hesitation. “Everyone in the McCall family could be at risk. Don’t worry,” he quickly added. “We have a guard on your mother’s room at the hospital.”

Good. Because her mother was mentally fragile right now. Suffering from a breakdown. Helen didn’t need to be fighting off idiots obsessed with getting back at Warren.

Rachel felt the first drops of rain hit her face. They no doubt hit Griff, too, but they didn’t cause him to lose focus. He kept watching the man across the street. But the guy wasn’t moving. She did see something, however. The flash of light, maybe from a match or lighter. A moment later, a small red circle of fire winked in and out.

That caused her to breathe a little easier. “He’s just smoking.”

But Griff didn’t budge. “He’s carrying a gun.”

Rachel certainly hadn’t seen anything to indicate that, but she took a closer look. She had to wait several snail-crawling moments, but she finally saw the glint of metal. Maybe a gun in his right hand.

More raindrops came. So did the vein of lightning that lit up the sky, and Griff automatically moved her deeper into the alley. He also took out his phone.

“I’m calling the locals for backup,” he said, without taking his attention off the man. “Yeah, it’s me again,” he added, speaking to whoever answered.

That probably meant Griff had already been in touch with local law enforcement. In fact, he’d probably called them as soon as he’d figured out she was in Silver Creek.

“Do a quiet approach,” Griff instructed. “If you can, try to get someone behind this guy so we can take him into custody.” He ended the call and put his phone away.

She doubted it would take long for someone to arrive, but it would feel like an eternity. And might be completely unnecessary.

“If he means to do me harm, why hasn’t he fired at me?” Rachel asked.

Again, Griff took his time answering, but judging from the sound of agreement he made, it was probably something he’d already considered. “Maybe he’s waiting for a clean shot.”

That gave her another jolt of memories. Of her father’s shooting. They hadn’t seen the gunman that day because she had fired from a heavily treed area behind the police station. But it had indeed been a “clean shot” that went straight into her father’s chest. It was a miracle he’d survived.

“We can cut through the back of the alley and then get to my truck that’s parked up the street,” Griff whispered. “That way you’re not out in the open.”

“My car is right there,” she pointed out. “Only about ten feet away. And the doors are already unlocked.”

“If this man wants you dead, he could shoot you before you get inside.”

That caused her breath to stop for a moment. Griff normally sugarcoated things for her, but apparently those days were over. Maybe he truly understood that their friendship—and anything else they felt for each other—was over, too.

“There’s a deputy,” Griff said.

Rachel immediately looked out and spotted a man on foot coming up Main Street. He had his gun drawn and was ducking in and out of doorways of the various shops. He was still three buildings away when the guy who’d been watching them turned and started running out the back of the alley. He quickly disappeared from sight.

“He’s getting away,” she blurted out.

“The sheriff might have had time to get someone back there.” Griff didn’t sound very hopeful about that, though. “Come on.”

He took hold of her arm to start them moving, and she saw his truck. It was indeed at the back of the alley. But they had barely made it a step before a deafening noise blasted through the air. Not lightning or thunder from the storm. The impact slammed Griff and her into the side of the building.

And that’s when Rachel saw that her car had exploded into a giant ball of fire.