Fighting Chance (Misty Grove Book 1) (11 page)

Matt took position in front of Colt and Trent as though protecting them. In his mind, as the law enforcement officer here, this situation was ridiculous.
 

“Let me go,” Trent stated coldly.

“Sheriff, unless you’re willing to shoot her, you will let us handle this,” Colt growled.

Seemingly satisfied with what she had done to Deuce, Cassie looked up. Feral eyes scanned their group until they lit on Lucas.
 

“Bear?”

“Thank God,” Colt exhaled heavily.

Without hesitation, Lucas went to his sister and enclosed her in his arms. Her head on her brother’s chest, she looked dispassionately at the men at her feet. “They tried to take me. Like they did Kate.”

“We won’t let them take you, Scout.” Lucas assured her gently.
 

Scout?

His mind reeling with questions, Trent forced himself to focus on the here and now. He jerked himself loose from Colt’s hold. People started trickling in from the ICU entrance. Were they in danger from Cassie? His judgment had never been more tested in his life.

“Lucas, do you have Cassie under control?” Trent asked tightly.

Lucas nodded while Cassie peeked sadly at him from under her brother’s arms. Gone was the wild look at least. How he wanted to yank her into his arms. He grabbed Colt’s arm instead. “I damn well better get answers,” he snarled. “But there’s a situation I need to address.”

As if on cue, Dr. Jensen pushed through the throng of gathering people.
 

“What’s going on here?” Dr. Jensen’s voice barked. “Sheriff?”

“There has been an attempted abduction,” Trent said. “Call hospital security. Keep people away until we’ve secured the location.”

Trent crouched beside the man with the gunshot wound. Point blank with a .45 caliber. Even before he put his finger to the pulse, he knew he wouldn’t find any. “This one is dead.”

“Deuce is alive,” Matt said needlessly, as Bowman’s thug started groaning in pain.

“I’m sorry,” Cassie whispered. She was staring at Trent.

His throat caught. Screw professionalism. He had to hold her.

“C’mere.” Since the twins were in close proximity to him, all he had to do was reach for her hand and tug her into his embrace. She went willingly. Careful not to crush her because of her bruised ribs, he let his fingers tangle in her hair while his other hand rested on her back. “Not your fault.” He kissed her forehead then tipped her chin up to look into her eyes. “I got your back, babe, but there’s a lot we need to talk about.”
 

She was already shaking her head. “I can’t be with you.” Her eyes were hard and resolute, but the anguish in her tone revealed her struggle within.
 

“Shh,” Trent said, ignoring the two lethal glares melting his back. “We’ll figure it out, but right now, I have to take care of this.”

“The mess I made.” Cassie smiled wanly.

He grinned wryly. “More heads up next time, okay?”

“Sheriff?” A new voice joined the mix; hospital security had arrived.

“I got her,” Matt muttered tersely, pulling Cassie from Trent, who reluctantly let her go.
 

“You all can take Cassie back to the ranch, but I want full access to her for questioning.” Without giving any of them a chance to reply, Trent turned to hospital security. “One of you locate Pia Larkin. I want her detained.” He waved the waiting medical staff over to tend to Deuce, who he was not letting out of his sight until he handed him over to his deputies.

Trent derived much satisfaction in slapping the cuffs on Deuce. He had one more thing to do. When he was out of the ICU section, he pulled out his phone. “Betty, I want you to send the crime scene unit and Riley to County Hospital. Also get Deputy Brooks to call me.”
 

He wanted to haul Bowman in for questioning. Unless Deuce admitted he was acting out on orders of his boss, it would be difficult to arrest the son of a bitch.

CHAPTER NINE

“I don’t trust him.”

“You don’t trust anyone, Matt,” Colt responded dryly.

Cassie watched Matt pace the living room like a caged tiger. He was their older brother. Related in a way Kate was, because he was Kate’s twin. At thirty-six, what he lost in strength, he had gained in experience. He accompanied Colt on covert missions, especially when it involved the remnants of the Chrysalis project. He’d been restless and would have been rudderless if Colt hadn’t pulled him back from the brink of desolation. It was what happened when their kind lost a twin. Like Piper. She’d lost Cubby when they were ten.

“We need to talk about Piper,” Cassie said, her voice still a bit hoarse.

“Are you sure it’s her?” Colt asked.

“It has to be her,” Matt said. “I’ve reviewed the tapes of her fights that Stratford gave Cassie. Her hair is a different color, but so what? Nose and cheekbones appeared to have been broken and reconstructed several times, but with all that face paint, it’s hard to tell for sure. Her eyes are distinctly Piper.”

“She was twelve when you guys last saw her,” Colt murmured reflectively. “Our lead into her whereabouts said nothing about underground fighting.”

“But it did say something about being used for lab experiments,” Lucas stated roughly. It devastated them when they came across this information. “What have you guys found out from this last op?”

“We’ve recovered a disk and it’s being processed by the CIA’s biotech contractor.”

“Any idea what was given to Cassie? Based on her bloodwork, her HGH levels are through the roof.”

“Regenesis.”

“Rege—what?” Cassie’s eyes bugged out.

“The subject goes into a coma because the body is synthesizing the recombinant DNA serum and reading from your own DNA.”

“I may have some of my strength back, but I still don’t understand this whole shit that’s going on,” Cassie muttered irately.
 

“You’re being reborn,” Matt answered matter-of-factly.

“Okay, you guys are very calm about this.” She definitely wasn’t. Sure, she’d lamented the loss of her unusual kickass strength a couple of years ago. But now that she’d experienced being normal and on the way to maybe having a boyfriend, this had to happen.

“I thought you wanted your superpowers back.” Lucas eyed her in bafflement.

“We really shouldn’t call them superpowers,” Cassie said crossly. She didn’t want to be a freak, dammit. “It’s not like I’m suddenly Wonder Woman or Super Girl. I’m probably just three times stronger than the regular me.”

“I’d say five. That was a mean backhand you gave me.” Lucas touched the shiner on his face.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s not going to be permanent,” Colt said.

“Really?” Cassie breathed. Then a thought struck her. “Wait. Am I going to go into a rampage again when my strength diminishes?”

“No. It appears the serum works differently and you simply lose your strength in an instant. That’s why we’re not too worried. We scanned the documents quickly before handing it off to the CIA. We were rushing to come home,” Matt scowled. “And we’re glad we did, because what the fuck? The sheriff, Cassie?”

“We’re getting sidetracked,” Cassie retorted. “We were talking about Piper.”
 

“We’re already looking into Bowman’s connections.”

“Trent’s doing the same,” Cassie replied and probably should have kept her mouth shut because Matt’s scowl deepened.

“Exactly,” Matt stated testily. “I question his interest in you. Just pray he’s lousy at digging up shit or we’ll have to take care of him.”

“You leave him alone!” Matt was the deadliest and most confrontational among them all. “Besides. Another dead sheriff won’t look good in this town.”

A blanket of sadness covered the room. The former sheriff had been a beloved father figure to all of them. Colt suspected it was Bowman who’d ordered the hit.

“You know, I’m surprised Stone took everything in stride earlier,” Colt said. “He never really faltered, even after the initial shock of witnessing Cassie go all
Xena Warrior Princess
on her abductors.” He paused, looking at Matt. “What do we know about him?”

“Paratrooper with 82
nd
airborne. Nothing special,” Matt shrugged. “Several tours in Iraq. Mom and sister back in Texas. He actually does tactical and security consultancy work. I guess typical ex-military.”

“Hmm ... something about him doesn’t add up,” Colt said slowly.

Matt sighed. “I’m getting that vibe too. Like our own backgrounds, everything looks too ... tidy.”

“Exactly,” Colt agreed.

“What are you guys implying? That he’s in some roundabout way connected to the people who have Piper?” Cassie asked.

“Like I said, I don’t trust him,” Matt repeated his earlier statement. “He’s trying to get to us through you.”

Was she really that gullible? Naive? Or just plain stupid.

Her distress must have shown on her face for Colt walked over to where she was lounging across the sofa. He sat beside her and ruffled her hair like he always did when she was younger.

“Let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Colt said gently. “He might prove to be just a regular guy.”

But she wasn’t a regular girl, Cassie thought sadly. She was now back to being a freak.

*****

Trent wondered what the prison sentence for assaulting a person brought in for questioning was. Arnold Bowman sat before him with his high-priced skinny lawyer in attendance. The man denied involvement in the attempted abduction of Cassie.

“Deuce Walker is what you guys would call a mercenary,” Skinny Lawyer said. “My client admits to hiring his services these past few weeks, but there is no exclusive contract.”

“What would abducting Ms. Reed do for my interest in Montgomery Ranch? That would only cause me trouble as it is now. I can hardly hold her for ransom,” Bowman flicked some imaginary lint from his shirt. “It’s not like I’m hurting for money. Look, he was probably pissed that I couldn’t do anything about Ms. Reed shooting him. His pride got in the way, decided to teach her a lesson.”

“Well, that lesson caused a man’s life and Deuce almost breathing through a tube,” Trent said. He’d seen the video and it wasn’t pretty.
 

He pushed several pictures of Pia Larkin toward Bowman. The nurse had disappeared and her apartment was cleared out.
 

“Have you ever seen this woman?”

“Can’t say I have. She’s beautiful.”

“Think, Bowman,” Trent snapped. “Have you ever seen her around Deuce?”

“Don’t answer that, Mr. Bowman.”

Damned lawyers.

“I think we’re done here,” Skinny Lawyer said. “Any contact you want with my client will be through me.”

“Fair enough,” Trent said. “The proposal for real estate development targeted for Stratford lands, I want a list of companies and people involved.”

“That’s not possible,” Skinny Lawyer protested. “Some of the deals are under negotiation.”

Trent arched a brow. “I can always get a warrant.”

“I’ll get you what you need,” Bowman said.
 

“Sir, I strongly advise—”

“I have nothing to hide.” Bowman raised his arms, palms up in supplication.

Trent wasn’t buying his shit. There was a connection somewhere, not immediately apparent, but he’d find it.

When Bowman and his lawyer left, Brooks, who had been observing through the two-way mirror, stepped into the interrogation room.

“Looks like Arnold Bowman came prepared, lawyer and all.”

“Who’s with Walker at the hospital?”

Brooks named two of their sheriff deputies.

“He still can’t talk. They wired his jaws shut. Christ, I saw the footage,” Brooks said.
 

“It’s between you and me right now, Brooks. I don’t want that video getting out.” He’d probably have to give it up to his investigator, Riley, at some point.
 

“I hate to ask this, Sheriff, I know you’re sweet on Cassie, but do you think she’s on drugs? Because that’s all I can think of.”

“Shut up, Brooks.”

“No, Sheriff. Why are we not going over to the ranch now and questioning Cassie?”

“Because she’s the victim!” His chair scraped across the floor as he stood up, glaring down at Brooks, who was a couple of inches shorter. “Did you miss the part where that man drew the gun on her?”

“She overpowered him,” Brooks whispered disbelievingly. “She woke up from her coma and just slammed the man against the wall and turned his gun on him. Point blank.”

And Deuce didn’t know what hit him. A flying body tackling him to the ground and turning his face to hamburger meat. That wasn’t justifiable force, it was rage.
 

Lucas’s warning came back to haunt him.
You do not want to follow us down our rabbit hole.

Did he?

Hell yes he did.
 

It had been almost forty-eight hours since the incident and he had not contacted her. He felt like crap for not seeing her sooner, but he may have to come clean about who he really was if there was any chance she’d believe he was good for her. He just didn’t know where to start.

“Sheriff?”

“I’m going to the ranch this evening. I’ll have questions for Montgomery as well.”

“You need backup?”

“I think they know well enough this town doesn’t need another dead sheriff.”

“Christ. You got more balls than I do. That Matt Foster gives me the creeps.”
 

Everyone gave his deputy the creeps. Trent sighed inwardly.

It was much later in the day when Trent finally finished writing his reports. He talked to Colt and arranged a meeting with all of them. He’d made it clear he wasn’t leaving that ranch without answers. Colt said he’d consider Trent’s request.

His phone rang. He hoped Montgomery wasn’t canceling.

He frowned when he saw it was the governor.

“Governor, good afternoon.”

“How are you doing, Stone?”

“Why do I feel like that’s a trick question?”

The governor chuckled, but Trent could imagine his grimace. The governor had heard of the hospital incident. Trent was right.

“I heard you met Colt Montgomery.”