Darke Heat (26 page)

Bryce felt his insides clench in fear. This was exactly the thing he’d been trying to avoid. He didn’t like the idea of Paige in danger. His fear for her made it almost impossible for him to function. But now that it was upon him, he knew he just had to deal with the situation. Time to cowboy up and save his girl. He watched the proceedings as another vehicle drove up and parked behind the other two. This one was Colt’s rental.

Bryce motioned to Blake that he was going to move in closer. With Colt now here, the possibility of Paige being killed jumped significantly. He needed to get into a position to stop it. Blake motioned to let him know he would be taking a position behind the tractor on the other side. Bryce wasn’t going to wait. He needed to be in position now.

He moved silently through the tall grass and positioned himself under a window to the barn. He peeked in but couldn’t see anything as it looked into a stall. He moved to another window and again peeked in. There were eight of them, plus Colt. The man who was the obvious leader stood in the center of the room while two men grabbed Colt’s arms. He just stood there and let them take his arms. He wasn’t struggling. Across the barn, he saw why.

Paige was tied to a chair. She had a cut over her eyebrow and the eye was swollen. She looked afraid and angry at the same time. The fact that a man had struck her, ignited a fury in him. It took all his training not to barge in there and do something stupid. He needed to think. The man wanted Colt, so why not let Paige go?

“Hello, Victor,” Colt said, just before one of the henchmen punched him in the gut.

“Yes, hello, Colt. Thank you for being prompt. It will give me great pleasure to kill you, but first I want you to witness me killing your lovely sister. It’s only fair: an eye for an eye and a sister for a sister.”

“Except your sister wasn’t an innocent. She knew what she was doing and that it was dangerous. My sister has done nothing.”

“True, it’s not equitable, but it is the justice I want.” Van DeMere took out his knife. “See, I even intend to duplicate the killing method,” he said with an evil smile.

“Wait, you didn’t say anything about killing Paige,” Willy said.

“Well, now you know.”

Bryce released Deeogee from his leash and whispered, “Go get her.”

Deeogee didn’t hesitate. He instinctively went to get Paige. The dog tore into the barn, barking loudly and growling at the man going toward Paige. The men holding Colt were startled enough that he broke from their grip and lunged at Van DeMere, but Deeogee was quicker. The dog went into training mode and attacked the man threatening Paige.

“Shoot the dog,” Van DeMere yelled.

Deeogee bit down on the hand carrying the knife, which was one of the weapons he was trained to disarm. Bryce ran in and punched one of the men holding Colt back. Deputy Blake came in and cornered Willy and his crew. He had a sawed off shotgun aimed at them and they meekly turned to the wall with their hands behind their heads, having been through the procedure before.

Van DeMere tried to get the dog to let go by shaking and kicking at him, but Deeogee wouldn’t release. The sound of bones snapping could be heard. Van DeMere, screamed. Bryce knocked the guy he was fighting with unconscious and then went to help Deeogee. Van DeMere was still trying to get to her even with the dog manacling his wrist with his jaws.

Bryce tackled Van DeMere before he could reach Paige. The struggle was over quickly, since Deeogee hadn’t let go of the man’s hand, even after being hit and kicked by the scumbag several times. Once Bryce had Van DeMere subdued, he looked over to where Paige was sitting in the chair, bound and gagged.

The look in her eyes pierced him to the soul. Did she blame
him
? He never wanted the danger of his job to touch her. Dane went to release her, and blocked his view of Paige. He wanted to put a bullet in Van DeMere’s head right then, but the primitive satisfaction would be denied him, so proper police procedure could be followed. Everything male in him was outraged at the attack on his woman. He’d gone from abject fear to rage so fast, it pumped the adrenaline in his system to overdrive. He looked down at the man beneath him, and what he was feeling must have shown on his face.

“Deeogee, release,” Bryce commanded. The dog obeyed without hesitation.

“Give me a reason, scumbag, and I’ll have the satisfaction of blowing your brains out.”

“I’ll wait for my attorney to deal with you,” Van DeMere said, with a smug tone that spoke volumes about his confidence in his lawyer’s ability to get him off with a slap on the wrist. “And then I’ll be taking the lovely lady on a thrill ride to die for.”

Bryce decided he’d had enough of the creep’s attitude, so he hauled him up none too gently, and handed Van DeMere off to Sheriff Markham, who was overseeing the reading of everyone’s rights.

“I’m going to take Paige to see a doctor,” Dane said.

“I’ll take her,” Bryce offered.

“No, I don’t want you to take me,” Paige said in flat voice.

Her simple statement was like a cold, serrated edge carving his guts out. Her look and tone told him he’d gone beyond redemption in her eyes.

“Deeogee, come,” she called the dog. Bryce watched her hug the dog with all the love and affection he wanted her to feel for him.

She left with Dane and Bryce stood and watched them go, feeling a helpless dread smother him with the hopelessness of the situation.

“Damn, Hoss, you sure know how to show a girl a good time,” Colt said with sarcasm.

“Shut up, Colt,” Bryce responded.

He helped to get statements and reported in to his superiors, but his mind was on the swollen side of Paige’s face and what must have been a terrifying experience for her. It seemed everyone he cared about he put in danger. He wanted to hold her, but she seemed to not want anything to do with him. He couldn’t lose her now. Her face looked so swollen, it left him wanting to do physical violence.

Dane drove Paige to the hospital, glancing her way the entire trip as if she might collapse or something. She was way beyond collapsing, but her brother didn’t need her to have a meltdown. He needed her to be strong, like him and Colt. She held Deeogee’s head in her lap, while the rest of the big dog sat between the seats. She was holding it together, but barely. The threat to herself was bad. The threat to her brother had been terrifying.

“Are you okay?” Dane asked.

“Physically, I’m not beat up too badly.” She saw that her choice of words had him clenching his jaw. “I’m fine really, Dane. They were actually after Colt, or at least the foreign guy was. Willy just showed up after we got to the barn, but he seemed to be in tight with the guy. When they said they were going to kill me and let Colt watch, Willy started backing out of the arrangement.”

Dane’s reaction to hearing about them wanting to kill her while Colt watched was a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel and more clenching of the jaw. She observed all the signs of Dane trying to gain control of his anger. She wondered if she’d just signed the foreign guy’s death warrant.

They pulled up to the hospital’s emergency entrance and Dane walked her into receiving where she was given a thorough check up. Since she only had a few bumps and the shiner, she was given a sedative and painkillers. When the doctor released her, she knew she didn’t want to go back to her house. She still didn’t want to be around Bryce, and she didn’t feel right kicking him out since she’d been the one dumb enough to invite him to stay while he recovered.

“Dane, take me to the Rose.”

“Paige, it’s safe for you to go home now.”

“Is it?” She thought of having to deal with Bryce, and she just didn’t think she could take any more emotional blows. Why couldn’t she just get him out of her heart? Time to just deal with it, and him, on his terms.

“Sure, take me home, Dane.” She’d at least have Sheba and the puppies, as well as her other dogs. It would be good to spend some time with her brothers without all the life threatening situations coming up.

They drove back to the farm in silence. Paige went in and went straight to her en-suite bathroom to wash the day away, if it was possible. Even lying in bed later, she found herself listening for Bryce’s return. He and Colt pulled up some time after ten. She refused to look at the clock and confirm that she’d been waiting up to hear him come back.

Bryce and Colt entered the house. Bryce knew Paige was home, because Dane had texted Colt to let him know what the doctor had said about Paige’s condition. He so wanted to go to her and hold her. The need was so fierce, he caught himself moving toward the stairs, but what would he say? How could he explain this situation any more than any of the others? He needed time to think and figure out a way to take the remote look out of her eyes.

He saw Sheba in the living room, curled in her bed with eight pups snuggled up around her, and he thought of Paige with babies and children, and he knew more than ever that he wanted them to be his. Maybe now all the threats to her were gone, he could get back to pursuing her the way his heart wanted. Still, something was bothering him and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He’d give it a rest tonight and pursue it in the morning. His body was dragging and he was blurry eyed from lack of sleep.

Paige woke to the morning sunlight streaming into her room. Today was one day she knew she needed to keep busy. Today she’d put all the dogs through their training.

She was in the yard working with Spike when Bryce walked up to the fence to watch her. She took the tennis balls and threw them in different directions. The dog went and gathered all of them, brought them back to deposit them at her feet, and waited for her to throw again.

“So what are you training him to do?” he finally asked.

“I’m training him to find Methamphetamine.”

“It looks like you’re teaching him to fetch.”

“Inside each ball is a different kind of drug. I use poppy seeds for heroine, and Sinus capsules for Meth, and then for pot I asked Sheriff Markham to allow me to use some that he recovered from a drug bust. After I train the dogs with it, I give it back to him,” she explained.

“So what do the tennis balls do?”

“They make the dog want to find the smell. They all like playing fetch,” she answered.

“Do you use the same technique for explosives?”

“Yes and no. I was taught to give treats when they found the explosives, but knowing most of my dogs were going to work for military personnel, I wanted them to operate on a reward their partners would always have at the ready. So they get hugs and their fur scratched. It takes longer to train them, and they really have to work well with their partner for it to be the most effective, but if they are trained for treats, the possibility of a food bribe could throw them off.”

“You’re amazing, Paige.”

“Thanks,” she responded while still throwing tennis balls.

“You need to give Spike to Jenkins.”

“What?”

“He needs a trained bomb dog and Spike would be a good fit,” he explained.

“What is it with you and my dogs? I’m still hacked that you stole Sheba.”

“Paige, you were just being stubborn. You were supposed to sell me a bomb sniffer. I would have taken Deeogee, but I knew you were taking all the dogs to the military training except for Sheba and Samson. So I took Sheba, since she was the most trained.”

“You took my dog,” she stated flatly.

“So I took the dog and saved lives. My men were up against an explosives expert. So it was take the dog or have men killed in the line of duty. What would you have me do?” he accused.

“Nothing, Bryce. You’re right. I should have made sure you had the right dog for the job.”

“I know you hate anyone taking any of your dogs, Paige. Each one of them is like one of your children, but you trained them to save people, and now you have to let them do their job, honey.”

“In my head I know you’re right. I don’t have any problem training people with their own dogs, like the military, but one of mine is harder.” She tried to smile but it was a feeble attempt.

“Spike will be treated like the member of the team he will be working with. I could tell Jenkins was really taken with him.”

“All right, Bryce. You don’t need to hard sell it. I’ll call him and let him know I’ll train him to work Spike, but he still has to pass my vetting process.”

“Thanks. I’ll feel better leaving the team knowing Spike will be with them. He’s almost a better replacement than most officers they could find.”

“You’re leaving the DEA?” This was news to her.

“Yeah, I’ve got a gig in Dayton. They’re looking to put together a task force to fight the drug trafficking.”

She knew he was staying, but she’d somehow thought he’d keep his property and make frequent visits. His changing jobs was more like moving back to stay. Only he didn’t have a house anymore. She needed to think about what this would mean for her. She threw the ball while deep in thought. Spike didn’t seem to notice anything wrong. He just continued to retrieve the balls. “Bryce, I guess that’s great for you.” She wasn’t sure what to make of the information. It was going to be real hard to get over someone who was always around. She didn’t want to have to see him and watch him go out with other women, and maybe settle down and start a family. She wasn’t over him, and maybe she wouldn’t ever be, but she was over being second. She was over being used, and she was way over dealing with this feeling of limbo where her heart and head couldn’t get in agreement.