Protectors (13 page)

smile and then ducked through the door out into the back yard.

* * * *

The screen door slamming against the frame startled Jeremy out

of his nap. He lost his balance for a moment, disoriented by the

unusual napping place, and nearly fell out of the tree. Regaining his balance, he swung his gun around and braced himself.

One of the queers, the smaller one, was crossing the backyard to

the barn. He had a clear shot. He lined up the scope, putting the

crosshairs right on the man’s ear. He’d blow the fucking hat right off of his head. Taking a deep breath, Jeremy steadied the gun right on

target as he waited for the sound of the back door.

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If he shot now, he’d lose his position in the tree. He’d have the

satisfaction of killing one of the bastards who was fucking his

woman, but he might lose the opportunity to kill the bitch herself in the process.

Why doesn’t she come out? She’s always bitching about how she

wants a horse anyhow.

Frustrated, Jeremy pulled the rifle back behind the tree branches.

He was just going to have to be a little more patient. If he got the

bitch, he’d get the others as well. Rushing was stupid. He’d have a

clear shot at all three of them soon enough.

He could hear the gay idiot talking to the stupid barn animals as

he fed them, filled the water troughs, and shoveled shit. No wonder

he’d taken to Sara. He must be fond of weak, useless animals.

Jeremy quickly grew bored with sitting in the tree. He considered

leaving the gun and taking care of the cowboy with his bare hands. He could always crack him over the head with a shovel or something. If

the guy never came back, Sara would be bound to come out into the

backyard looking for him. Then he could pick her off with the gun. It seemed like a reasonable plan. There was only one flaw. He’d have to

kill the man quickly before he could scream and alert the others to the danger. He held still for another twenty minutes or so, and when the others never game out, he decided to pick this one off.

Settling the gun into a V in the tree branch where it wouldn’t fall,

he started to climb down. When the gun was just out of reach, the

backdoor opened. Jeremy ducked behind the trunk and held his

breath, cursing his luck.

“Tyler!” Sara yelled out the back door.

“Yeah?” Tyler responded, coming into view at the barn door.

“Will you be offended if I cook dinner?”

“Of course not, but you don’t have to.”

“I’d like to. Gage is gonna run me up to the store. We’ll be right

back.”

“Okay, be safe.”

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Jeremy fought the urge to move. He couldn’t reach the gun from

here, and if he moved to get it, either one of them could spot him.

Fucking bitch has the worst timing!

The screen door shut, and Jeremy cursed. He was still getting

resituated with the gun when he heard the truck start. The house was

between him and the driveway, so he never had a clean shot, just a

brief flash of her hair in the passenger window before she was gone.

Well, at least he could kill the asshole in the barn. With the two

remaining targets safely away at the grocery store, he could shoot the man in the barn and then just sit out front and wait for them to come home. Hell, he could sit in the house and wait for them. Stupid

woman probably hadn’t even thought to lock the back door.

He climbed quietly down out of the tree and ducked around the

side of the barn. Thankful for his natural stealth, he crept in through the door. He hadn’t gotten to be a cop by tripping over his own two

feet.

Hidden behind a stacked pile of straw bales, Jeremy waited for his

eyes to adjust to the dim barn. He didn’t want to miss the first shot.

The man was standing at the mouth of the middle stall, a garden hose

in his hand, spraying a stream of horse shit off of his boots. His full focus was on his feet. He’d never see it coming.

Jeremy raised the gun and took aim. His finger squeezed half a

pound on the trigger, and in the next second, a cell phone rang.

The bastard dropped the hose and grabbed his cell, walking out of

Jeremy’s sights and into the tack room. “Hello?”

* * * *

“Tyler, I just looked at my phone,” Gage said on the other end of

the line. “Detective Filley left us a message, so I called him back.

Jeremy wasn’t down in Sheridan. He’s on the loose somewhere up

here.”

“Shit. Sara was right. I thought she might be.”

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“Yeah, I thought you should know. We just arrived at the store,

but Sara seems to be a pretty fast shopper, so we shouldn’t be too

long. Just one more thing to like about her.”

Tyler laughed. He knew how much Gage hated shopping. It would

be nice to have Sara around for trips to the mall.

“We’re stocking up on a few things,” Gage continued. “I really

don’t want to leave the house again for the next couple of days if we don’t have to.”

“Okay. Get more condoms.”

“It was the first thing on my list.” Gage laughed. “Gotta go. She

needs something off the top shelf.”

“See you in a bit.”

Tyler slipped the phone back into his pocket and walked out of the

barn. If that psychopath was on the loose up here, he didn’t want to

dally any more than necessary. He’d done what he absolutely needed

to do. The animals would be fine until morning.

He’d gotten an ominous feeling after that phone call. Scanning the

yard, he couldn’t see anything out of place. Just to be on the safe side, he made a loop around the front of the house instead of cutting across the back. When he found nothing unusual in the front either, he went

in the main door and then proceeded to check all of the locks.

Everything was safe and sound.

Tyler returned to the front door when he heard the truck pulling

up. The unmarked state police car pulled up right behind them. The

four passengers got out of the vehicles, and Tyler went to help carry the grocery bags.

“Detectives, nice to see you again. Is everything okay?” Tyler

asked.

“Yeah, we were just returning from our wild-goose chase down

south when we passed Gage and Sara in the truck. It seemed wise to

escort them home. Is everything okay here?” Detective Filley asked.

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“So far as I can tell. We’ve been sticking pretty close to the house, but the horses are all settled in for the night, and I didn’t see anything unusual.”

“Would you gentlemen like to stay for dinner?” Sara asked. “It’ll

be a little while before it’s ready, but you’re welcome to wait or to come back if you want.”

Tyler smiled at her. He loved how warm and hospitable she was.

“No thanks, ma’am. I think we’ll just take a stroll around the

house and then head back to the station. Just give us a call if you need anything.”

The two detectives walked around the back the house while the

residents carried in the groceries and locked up the truck.

“Feel so damn weird to lock the truck in my own driveway,” Gage

confessed. “This has always been such a safe place.”

“Hopefully it will be again soon,” Tyler replied. “I feel better with the detectives here though.”

The three of them had the groceries put away in no time, and

Tyler helped Sara find everything that she would need to assemble her lasagna. They were startled by a knock on the back door. Gage

pushed aside the drapes and opened the door for the state police.

“Could you come out here for a minute?” Ryder asked.

* * * *

“Sure.” Gage looked over his shoulder at the two in the kitchen

and said he’d be right back.

“We found something unusual out in the woods, and we just

wanted verification that it isn’t yours.”

“What did you find?” Gage asked.

“An ATV, hidden in the brush.”

“We don’t have an ATV.”

“I didn’t think so. It doesn’t have a plate. It’s for off-road use

only, so it’s hard to know whom it might belong to.”

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“You think it’s Jeremy’s?”

“No. I don’t think that he’s been home long enough to pick up an

ATV, even if he did have one. We have a couple of police officers

posted over at his place. I think he stole it. Do any of your neighbors have them?”

“I can’t say for sure, but I would think so. We hear them

sometimes. The neighbor over there”—Gage pointed in the general

direction—“is half deaf. It wouldn’t be too hard to cut across his

property.”

“I think it’s safe to say that the suspect has been here,” Filley said.

His gaze swept across the yard. “And may still be here. Maybe we’ll

take Ms. Effese up on her offer for dinner after all. I don’t like the look of this.”

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Chapter 12

Jeremy once again cursed his luck. How in the hell had Sara

suddenly become so well-protected? After the fuck up in the barn

with the damn phone call, he’d waited until Tyler went back inside,

and then he’d taken cover in the woods to the side of the driveway.

He couldn’t risk running across the lawn again, but he could wait until they all came home with the groceries, and then pick them off one at a time with his rifle.

But no, the stupid, fucking state boys had to come along for the

ride. He had hoped that the detour to Sheridan would keep them out

of his way for a while, but they were back. Shooting three unarmed

people was different than shooting five, two of whom would be very

good with guns. Plus, shooting a fellow cop was not on Jeremy’s

agenda.

To make matters worse, the state cops were actually dedicated to

their jobs. Instead of just leaving, they had to go poking around. He should have put the ATV farther away. It was a fine line between

quick get-away vehicle and discovered vehicle. Now they knew that

he’d been here.

The cops had gone into the house with the larger of the two men,

after locking the ATV in the equipment shed. They’d found his extra

gun, too, so he was down a weapon. They were all sure to be on high

alert as well. He needed to let things cool down a bit. Eventually they would get lazy and make a mistake. The cops would have to leave

sometime. He would just have to wait them out.

Jeremy was hungry. He could smell homemade lasagna, fresh

baked bread, and knowing Sara, there was probably salad and dessert,

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too. He had to admit she’d been a pretty good cook when she wasn’t

nagging him for grocery money. You’d think that he was starving her

the way that bitch complained.

His stomach rumbled, and he tried to decide what to do next. It

wasn’t too far back to the main road, but his truck was a good fifteen miles away. He didn’t want to walk that far. If he waited a few more

hours for dark, he might be able to go back to the tree. Unfortunately, now he had no method of escape, and those cops would be all over

him if used the gun.

There were really only two options: hike into town, get something

to eat, and come back with a new vehicle, or wait it out until the cops left and then finish what he’d come to do.

* * * *

“Would anyone like more bread?” Sara asked, holding up the

basket.

“No thank you, ma’am. This was a fantastic meal though. We

appreciate the hospitality.” Ryder complimented.

Cooking for the four men had been a really enjoyable experience

for Sara. At times it was even possible to forget that there was a

completely psycho ex-boyfriend after her. It was nice to be able to

give back a little because they were all doing so much for her.

“So what do we do next?” Gage asked. “We know that he’s been

here at least twice, and if he’s
still
here, we probably won’t find him just by looking. The place is too big with too many good hiding

spots.”

“There isn’t much we can do, I’m afraid,” Ryder answered. “We

have to wait until he shows himself. He’ll get impatient eventually

and screw up.”

Sara sighed. “He’s a very patient man, unfortunately. He’s got a

short temper, but he’s fond of sitting in the woods doing nothing.

He’s been hunting for years, and he’s good at waiting for his prey.”

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“Don’t worry, Sara,” Tyler said as he stood and kissed her

forehead. “We’ll get him, but for now I’ll help you serve that fantastic looking pan of brownies that I saw you makin’ earlier.”

* * * *

The brownies were delicious, and the ice cream on top didn’t hurt

either. Gage watched his two lovers laughing together in the kitchen as they cleaned up the dishes. He’d offered to help, but Tyler had

refused, saying that he’d probably just drop something. Tyler was

probably right. He was pretty useless in the kitchen no matter what he was trying to do.

Watching their joy, he knew that he was in real trouble. What

would he do when Jeremy was caught and Sara decided to leave

them? Ty would be devastated and so would he. He was already so

attached. She made the house seem so much warmer, just with her

laugh.

“When you’re done, would everyone come in here for a minute?”

detective Ryder asked him out of his private thoughts. “I think we