Authors: Nese Ellyson
Darke Heat (28 page)
In the dark, he couldn’t see Paige lift the dog whistle from the confines of her shirt. She blew into it while stumbling to cover the sound. Her dogs would hear it. The signal was one she’d practiced with them. The man had his back to the stairs while he tried to tie her and Jamie up. The click of canine paws on wooden floors was heard just before a growl. Deeogee leaped from the basement stairs and landed on the man tying them up. He sunk his teeth into his arm, and the man howled in pain. Dane switched on a high-powered flashlight while Bryce and Colt flew down the stairs and took in the scene. Bryce rushed to help Jamie and Paige. Colt tackled the man. They struggled and the man pulled out a knife. All the while Deeogee held onto his other hand.
“Not a knife again,” Colt said.
He easily disarmed the guy and then put him in a headlock. The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.
“Give me whatever he was using on Paige and Jaime so I can tie him up.”
Dane grabbed the twist ties from the floor.
“Good boy, Deeogee,” Colt said while patting the dog’s head.
Within minutes, the scene was secure. Sheriff Markham took in the situation from the top of the stairs.
“Anyone need my help?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear.
“Nope,” replied Dane from the bottom of the stairs.
“There’s a man named Bobby McIntyre. He does the explosives and he may still be here. I couldn’t stop him. He might have gone back to hurt my mother,” Jamie said.
“Don’t worry, little bro. He knows what to do,” Ramon said with a sneer.
Jamie started crying as they took his brother away. He got up to go to his mom. The Sheriff detained him. Markham pulled out his radio.
“Blake, go to the Torres’ place. The bomber may have gone there to get Mrs. Torres.”
“No need, Sheriff. She just came up the driveway.”
“There’s still a bomber out there,” Said Markham.
“Spike and I can find him,” Paige said.
“Blake, Paige is going to take Spike out to hunt him down. Can you assist?”
“Tell her to bring the dog and let’s get this guy.”
“Wait, it’s dangerous. This guy could be armed,” Bryce said.
“Exactly why I’m taking my dogs. Deeogee can be back up. Spike is a really strong tracker, so it’s the best idea.”
“I don’t like it. Paige could be in trouble,” Bryce said.
“Bryce, can it. This is what I do. Enough talk. I’m on it, Sheriff.” She started to run back up the stairs. Bryce grabbed her, and gave her a hard, claiming kiss. She pulled away and looked at him, wondering what he thought he was doing.
“Bryce, I need to be going.” She turned while calling Deeogee to her. The dog ran up the stairs. Paige followed.
Once out in the night, she went into the burnt out Kennel and grabbed two leashes. She harnessed Spike and Deeogee, and took them over to where the burned section of the building was.
“Seek,” she commanded. Spike put his nose down to the ground and sniffed around. Deeogee followed him, and then they barked and took off. She was sprinting to keep up with them. They had the scent. Behind her, she could hear the officers yelling to keep up. She needed more light. “Someone run me over a flashlight.”
Bryce was there beside her in a heartbeat, holding the flashlight to the ground to light their way. The man called Bobby had headed back into the wooded area, but if he wasn’t familiar with the terrain, he could find himself in a rabbit hole or fox or beaver. The trail crossed over a small creek, but the dogs picked up the scent on the other side. Up ahead they could hear thrashing and knew the bomber was just ahead. Paige leaned down and undid the leashes.
“Seek,” she commanded again. And they took off. They moved so fast, they weren’t able to follow them with the meager light from the flashlight, but they heard the moment the bomber was cornered by the dogs. He was cursing and yelling as the dogs tried to detain him. If he tried to move, they would attack. From the sounds coming from the area, he was trying to evade them, and they were attacking him.
As they came upon the man and her dogs, he was pulling his gun from the back of his pants. Deeogee made a leap at the hand, knocking the man down. The gun, however, was still in his hand and he lifted it intending to shoot one or both dogs. Bryce already had his gun out and lifted it.
“Freeze!” he shouted.
“Spike, Deeogee, heel,” Paige called. Both dogs returned to her side while Bryce kept the gun and the flashlight on the man. Behind him, Deputy Blake came through the brush and had his gun pointed at the perp as well.
“Bryce, I got this if you want to get Paige and the dogs back to the house.”
“Thanks, Blake. Yes, I want her and the dogs secure.”
Other officers were coming through the woods to where they were, and Bryce pointed them in the direction of Blake.
Once they were back at her yard, she sent the dogs up to the house, and went in to check on Jamie and his mom, while Bryce went to help clean up the investigation.
Sheriff Markham spoke to her when she went in. “I waited until he calmed down, and then took his statement.” He proceeded to fill her in on Jamie’s involvement.
They knew who the explosives expert was now, because Jamie told him how his brother met him in prison, how Ramon had threatened to kill their mom if he didn’t cooperate. He’d been living in terror for months. His brother had been running drugs with his gang for the last four months. They were getting pressure from another rival gang that had the backing of a wealthy European. All the players now fit—from the crooked cop, George, and his work with Libby, and the Blades, and Ramon and the Dragon’s gang working from Jamie’s house.
Paige went out to sit on the front porch step, looking once again at the chaos in her yard. “Maybe I should move,” she thought out loud.
“I’ve got a great place for you to move to. It’s not far from here. Needs a new house, but it has plenty of room for dogs,” Bryce said as he sat down beside her.
She glanced sideways at him. “Is it over now? Really over?”
“This case? Yes. Us? Never.”
“There
is
no us. Remember, it was a mistake. I’m not the girl you want except in bed,” she reminded him.
“Paige, how could you think I’m not serious about you? I took on your whole family.”
“My whole family, Bryce? Are you that intimidated by my brothers?”
“Your brothers? Hell, I took on the dog mafia, and the Dog Father himself, Deeogee. When they were done with me, I felt violated. They stuck their noses where no self-respecting heterosexual male allows males to stick their faces. They got dog hair all over my house. They cleaned out my fridge. They slept in my bed and they drank out of my toilets. I took on your whole family. And your brothers were nothing compared to your dogs. The timing was wrong, but not the night.”
“Bryce, what do you want from me?”
“Everything. I want all your mornings, all your evenings, and everything in between. I want you to be my wife and the mother of my children. I want a home where we can raise hell and raise kids and raise dogs. I want you, Paige, for now and forever.”
She started crying. All the things of the past didn’t seem important when he said that. There were still unresolved issues, but he wanted her.
“I love you,” he said and gathered her into his arms.
She sobbed in earnest. All her dreams were coming true. “Really?” she asked, taking a swipe at her tears.
“Yes, really! Now tell me,” he demanded.
“I love you too, Bryce.” It came out as a watery sob, but it was finally out in the open and they were talking about it. That’s all she’d wanted to hear that night. It was four months, three bombs, two kidnappings, and a batch of mixed breed puppies later, but he’d finally said what she wanted to hear.
Dear Readers,
I am grateful to all my readers and truly hope you enjoyed reading Darke Heat. There is nothing that means more than hearing from you, so please consider leaving a short review on Amazon. Thanks again for spending time with Paige and Bryce. I appreciate your feedback.
Kind Regards,
Nese Ellyson
Author Bio:
Nese Ellyson lives in a small town in rural Ohio with her own Prince Charming, two sons, and a cat they rescued. She's an avid fan of romance, particularly when it has a suspense element. She's always brimming with ideas and loves getting her thoughts down on paper. The day Nese released her first novel, Escape to Sanctuary, (an inspirational romantic suspense) was one of the most exciting days of her life.
She loves conneting with her readers and you can find her at the following links:
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