Fighting Chance (Misty Grove Book 1) (17 page)

“You can’t break out of them.” Riley met her eyes in the rearview mirror.
 

“Who do you work for, Riley?” Cassie asked casually.

The deputy chuckled. “Why the Buckland County Sheriff’s Department.”

“Bull-fucking-shit.”

“Sheesh,” Riley tutted. “Such language. You suck the sheriff’s dick with that mouth?”

“You’re disgusting.” Cassie tried the chain again. There was some give, but not much.

“Maybe you need to suck the cock of a real man.”

Cassie burst out laughing. “We’re not talking about you, are we?”

“Just you wait until I get you into jail.” His eyes narrowed angrily. “I’ll keep that bitch mouth of yours busy.”

She rolled her eyes. She was tired of this deputy’s game and wanted the real action to begin. “I can’t wait.”
 

Cassie knew he wasn’t taking her to lockup.
 

She was right.

There were two black SUVs and a van waiting on the periphery of this mostly deserted road.

Standing in front of the van was Piper. Without the face paint, it was undoubtedly her.
 

“Deputy Riley, I don’t like the look of this.” The deputy in the rear cruiser crackled through the radio. “Do we turn back?”

“End of the road, sweetheart,” Riley said as he pulled the cruiser over.

“Fucker,” Cassie muttered. “How are you going to explain this to your man?”

“I don’t,” Riley replied as he stared stonily straight ahead.

Dread gripped her. Not for herself, but for the officer behind them. Without wasting another second, Cassie kicked the door open and got out. She scrambled toward the rear police cruiser yelling, “Turn around it’s a trap!”

She was tackled from behind and landed on her knees before flattening on the asphalt with a painful jolt to her chest.

“Now why couldn’t you be my hero, Scout?” Piper jeered into her ear.

“I’m not fighting you, Piper,” Cassie muttered.

“That’s not what I need you for,” her sister said, pulling her to her feet. Cassie heard a slamming of doors, her head spinning around in time to see four men armed with assault rifles aiming at the second deputy’s cruiser that had already started backing away.

“Nooooo!” Cassie screamed as a rain of bullets raked across the retreating vehicle. She watched the deputy convulse as the gunfire penetrated and shattered the windows and flattened the tires.

Riley got out of the cruiser, looking gray, as if the gravity of what he had just done finally sunk in.

Cassie shook free of Piper’s grasp and got into the investigator’s face. “How much did they pay you, you fucker? How much?”

“If you’d just gone away with Deuce like a good little girl, this wouldn’t have happened,” Riley fired back.
 

“You’re the traitor.” Realization hit Cassie. “You killed the former sheriff, didn’t you? He found out somehow you were working for ...” Cassie didn’t finish her sentence because fury blinded her and she head-butted Riley. She heard his nose crunch with satisfaction.

“Fuck!” Riley staggered backward. “Get control of her before I shoot her!”

“It’s you who needs to be shot, asshole,” Piper said and Cassie watched in dazed surprise as her sister shot Riley in the leg. He fell to ground cursing.

“Our agreement,” Piper smiled sardonically. “Should I shoot you again to make it believable that you were ambushed?”

“Fuck you,” Riley spat.

Ignoring the whining officer on the ground, Piper turned to her. “Shall we, Cassie?”

“You’re asking me to go with you as if I’m not handcuffed behind my back and under duress? Why don’t you remove my restraints and ask me again?”

Piper threw back her head and laughed. Cassie decided she wasn’t liking this grown-up version of her sister.

“Why would I do that if you won’t fight me anyway?”
 

“Then I guess we have a problem,” Cassie replied. “I’m going to walk away now, and you’re going to follow me. Come with me, Piper.” She implored her sister. She was in there somewhere. The silver-gray eyes that were lifeless and well, gray, flickered with warmth for a split second, but quickly turned to ice again.

“And do what? Play rancher? Or play sheriff’s girlfriend?” Piper scoffed. “There’s a bigger world out there.”

“What do you need me for?”

“Uh, ladies, hate to interrupt this reunion,” Riley broke in, “but I’m sure the deputy you just killed was able to radio a call-out back to county.”

“Are we going to do this the hard way, Scout?” Piper asked.

Cassie debated whether to play her last hand. Riley was right. The last thing she wanted was for Trent to get further involved and get more of his men killed. “No. I’ll come with you.”

Piper’s eyes squinted at her about-face response.
Oh, shit.
“Wait a minute,” Piper said as she looked around her suspiciously and addressed her crew. “Keep your eyes alert.” Returning her gaze to Cassie she asked, “You have a tracker on you, don’t you?”

Cassie said nothing.

“Matt! Bear!” Piper called out to the forest surrounding the deserted road. “I know you guys are out there! Tell them to show themselves, Scout.”

Cassie shrugged. “You’re letting your imagination run wild. You’ve been living in our world too long.” She echoed Matt’s words to her more than a week ago.

Piper was getting agitated as she backed away from Cassie. “Tell them to show themselves,” she screamed.

“Or what? You’ll shoot me? Looks like you need me.” Cassie prayed she was right. She might be strong and all, but she wasn’t invincible to a bullet. Shit, Piper was going through her “gloaming,” and it probably wasn’t a good idea to goad her.

Piper nodded to one of her men who proceeded to open the second row door of the SUV. A woman was helped out from the vehicle and it was the face of someone Cassie had missed for twelve long years.

Emotion welled up her throat. “Kate,” Cassie choked. She noticed the blank look on her eldest sister’s face. “What’s wrong with her?”

“We were trying to find a cure for our expiration date, Scout,” Piper explained. “Her body couldn’t take it.”

“You mean your expiration date,” Cassie said bitterly. “Kate and the rest of us already expired, Piper.”

“But you can get your strength back.”

“Don’t feed me your bullshit.”

“Uh, ladies ...,” Riley started again nervously.

“Shut up!” Piper shouted and raised her gun and shot at the deputy. Luckily, she meant to just scare him. The bullet kicked up some asphalt, missing Riley’s knee by centimeters.

“Jesus Christ!” Riley yelled. “You fucking bitch!”

Piper raised her gun again and Cassie could tell she was going to kill the stupid investigator this time.

“Piper!” Cassie raised her voice to draw her attention. “This is not you.” She looked worriedly at Kate and the gun pointed at her head. “Why don’t you tell your man to lower his weapon and I’ll come with you.”

“Remove your tracker.”

“She can’t,” a voice called out from the thick line of trees as Colt stepped out from its shadows; Matt following closely behind him. “It’s the type that’s biologically attached to her bloodstream.”

“Wait, you didn’t tell me that,” Cassie said in irritation. She’d swallowed a damned device. She didn’t know it would be embedded in her in that way.
What the fuck?

Matt shot her a “not now” look.

With her wrists still secured behind her back, she communicated the “middle finger” with her eyes.

“Don’t tell me it’s only the two of you,” Piper said. “Where’s Bear?”

“All you need to know is you’re surrounded.”

“We need to abort, Piper,” the man holding Kate said, eyes alert and looking for an opportunity to make a quick exit.

“We’re not letting you get away,” Matt said. The fierceness and determination on his face was fueled by the shock of finding his twin alive. Cassie could only imagine what he was feeling.
 

The man used Kate as a shield. “What if I just kill her?”

Matt froze with fury. “Piper, tell your man to stand down.”

The whole situation was devolving into a powder keg with a short fuse already lit. Guns were aimed at each other. God knew how many guns were hidden in the forest pointing at them. And were they all on their side?

A gunshot rang out and Cassie watched in horror as Matt went down. Gunfire exploded around her and she instinctively hit the asphalt. She watched Colt pull Matt behind the disabled cruiser. Piper was already running toward a motorcycle that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Was the leather-clad biker the one who’d shot Matt?

“Kate!” Cassie cried, feeling helpless as the man bundled Kate back into the SUV. His cohorts were providing him cover fire, and it was all she could do not to get shot. He was going to escape with Kate. But before he could get into the driver’s seat, a round took out a chunk of his head, and he fell to the ground, dead.

One by one, the three other thugs went down, as if picked out by a sniper. The shooting stopped, the immediate area thick with gun smoke.

Lucas and Millie jogged out from the line of trees. Rifles still trained toward the group, this time specifically at Riley, who had cowered during the shootout.

Millie walked over to the investigator and removed his weapon. Lucas rushed straight toward Cassie and helped her up. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” Cassie whispered.
 

“Kate!” Matt roared. Cassie watched him fast-limp to the SUV, roughly dismissing Colt’s help. When he got to the black vehicle, he yanked the door open. “Oh, my God, Kate.”
 

Cassie had never heard such anguish in Matt’s tone. Ever. He gently pulled Kate into his arms and hugged her like he would never ever let her go. It was all Cassie could do to hold back, but it was Matt and Kate’s moment. She couldn’t even think of losing Lucas in the way Matt had lost Kate.

“We got her back, Lucas,” Cassie whispered. “I’m glad you got every single one of those bastards.”

“I didn’t get the man holding Kate,” Lucas said. “Did you, Millie?”

“No, I got one of them. I thought you did,” the diner owner/assassin replied. “We were at the wrong vantage point. Maybe Colt did?”

Colt simply shook his head. His eyes were trained on Matt and Kate. It was almost painful to watch the longing on his face.

“Well, who took down the other three then? Is John with you guys?”
 

“No, we made him stay back,” Millie said. “He wanted to come though.”

“You know this is starting to freak me out. Do we have another player?” Cassie asked worriedly, her eyes searching the ominous cover of the trees.

“You guys forget to tell me something?” a familiar voice rumbled coldly behind her.

“Oooh, you’re in trouble now, Cassie,” Millie said, and for the life of her, Cassie didn’t understand why the older woman said that, because they were all in deep shit together.

Especially from the sheriff of Buckland County.

She turned slowly and flinched at the glower Trent leveled at her. Pissed was putting it mildly. Downright furious looked more like his mood right now.

Like he wanted to throttle her.

Cassie swallowed hard.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Trent, I—”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, but—”

Trent was already shaking his head. Disappointment mixing with his anger. “I don’t want to hear your excuses right now.” Cassie clamped her mouth shut. What excuse could she give? One of his deputies was dead. Trent’s eyes scorched over her a few seconds longer before he looked at his investigator with disgust.
 

“You’re a disgrace to your badge, Riley,” Trent said as he yanked his treacherous man up, ignoring his yelp of pain. Trent slammed him on the hood of his own cruiser. He slapped handcuffs on him and read him his rights.

“You have no proof,” Riley had the audacity to sneer.

“I’ve witnessed enough, and I can pretty much figure out your role in all this.”

Crap, how long had Trent been watching this unfold?

“Um, he has the keys to my handcuffs,” Cassie said in a small voice.

Trent glared at her before searching Riley for the keys. Finding them, he pocketed them.

Cassie, of course, was outraged. “What? Uncuff me!”

Trent stalked toward her, and she had to raise her head to glare up at him.

“No,” Trent growled. “I find that I like you in restraints. I’ll deal with you later.”

He turned away from her and walked toward the battered cruiser. He raised both hands to the roof of the vehicle, leaning against it, and stared down at his dead deputy. He inhaled raggedly before turning his attention back toward them. His eyes were directed at Colt.
 

“You should have trusted me with this,” Trent said gruffly. “Now my man is dead, and I have this mess to explain.”

“If you’d stayed out of it, we would have cleaned it up for you,” Matt said, still holding on tight to Kate.

“Clean it up?” Trent said incredulously. “Deputy Anderson has a family who deserves to know that he died in the line of duty. Not make him disappear and leave his family wondering. And don’t give me bullshit about collateral damage. Besides, if I’d stayed out of it, those men would have killed you, seeing that her appearance”—he nodded at Kate—“threw you all for a loop.” His furious gaze swung to Cassie again. Why was she getting the brunt of his anger? It was Matt’s bright idea to use her as bait.

“What can we do?” Colt asked.

“You’ve done enough,” Trent snapped. “I heard the call-out from Anderson on my way here.”

“You were on your way here?” Cassie asked.
 

“I was alerted to what was going down.” Trent’s eyes flickered to Lucas.

Lucas told Trent?

“I never got fully behind using you as bait, Scout,” Lucas said quietly beside her, ignoring the death glare Matt sent his way.

“I’ve already called for backup, so you all best leave now.” Trent nodded to the forest. “Stay away from the main road. I’ll stall as much I can with the Georgia Bureau and the District Attorney’s office, but my objective right now is to clear Cassie of the murder charges. With what’s gone down here, whatever evidence Riley has gathered is tainted.”