Texas Fall (9 page)

Jack cracked his neck and
nudged Solo Cal with his knees into a canter. He was checking the far fences,
which to be fair were more ornamental than anything. The D was vast and backed
onto common land, and there wasn’t much danger of the fencing being destroyed
or any of his horses getting this far away from the house. When he’d inherited
the work out there, or rather when Donna had inherited, Jack’s dad had shrunk
everything down, selling stock, pulling everything back in. When Jack took over,
he had to rationalize and focus on the horses. They didn’t have the money to really
keep this extended area in focus.

That all changed when the
foals had started to sell, and added to the business of teaching Jack’s own
unique version of horse whispering, there was enough to see the ranch in the
black for a long time.

Riley understood now why
Jack wouldn’t take his money, but at first the fights had been legendary. Riley
couldn’t see why Jack wouldn’t take what was his by right. Not only had Jack
married Riley, but Riley’s supposed father, Gerald, had swindled Jack’s family
out of their share of the money in the first place.

The fence looked solid,
and he encouraged Solo Cal up a rise and to the front of the acreage. There he
stopped and sat for the longest time, contemplating what to do next. Vaughn had
jumped at the chance to come and work at the D, and he was showing promise.
Robbie liked him, and Liam seemed to be comfortable as well. Now that they had
Vaughn, Jack’s idea of the school could be a go, especially with both Robbie
and Liam behind it as well.

He narrowed his eyes at
where he knew the distant road would be. Did he want strangers using the main D
road? Did he want them coming past his home?

Probably better to spur
from the approach road and build something solid here. He dismounted and turned
three-sixty, looking at what they had in this part of the D: good pasture land
that needed to be seen to, an offshoot of the water that ran through the D,
inclines, trails. They could do this. If he shut his eyes, he could imagine new
buildings, white fencing, cleared paths. He needed to get all this down on
paper. They’d need to have something to show all the suits who would want to
get involved with the building of this.

Last of all, he wanted to
talk to Riley, see if maybe his husband wanted to invest in the venture. For
Max.

His cell vibrated, and he
pulled it out, seeing three texts from Riley and smiling like an idiot. He knew
Riley was out at the field today. They’d talked last night about Bryan’s
security concerns, and Jack had made Riley promise to text him. Seemed like all
three were arriving at the same time.

A complaint about coffee,
or lack of it, was typical Riley. That was the first, the second was a reminder
to Jack that Max was on half days twice this week because of teacher training,
but that Carol was picking him up. Like he needed reminding, Riley had a huge
calendar on the wall that micromanaged everyone. Also typical Riley. The last,
which made Jack laugh so loud he had Solo Cal nudging his shoulder, was a
selfie of Riley pulling a face with the caption “Getting bored sitting here.”
He fired off a reply with his own selfie, well kind of selfie, more a close-up
of Solo Cal’s teeth and the comment that Riley was missed by all his family.

He pocketed the cell and
made his way back to the house. He was only halfway back when he saw Robbie
heading his way on horseback. Robbie reined in the horse so hard he had to
fight to keep astride.

“Jesus, Robbie,” Jack
began.

“It’s Riley. There’s
something wrong.”

Robbie turned and headed
back the way he came, Jack’s instinct to ride fast kicking in instantly.
Together they clattered into the yard, and Liam took the reins. Jack looked
around. He didn’t know what for. A cop? Someone with news? He saw a man at the
porch and another just inside the door. He crossed to them in long strides, his
heart in his throat.

“What happened?” he
demanded.

The first man held up a
hand. “Edward Carson, FBI,” he introduced himself. “Are you Jackson
Campbell-Hayes?”

“I am. What’s happened to
Riley? Is he hurt?” Then it hit Jack, was Riley dead? Were they here to tell
Jack that Riley was dead? He stood firm, refusing to crumble, and he could see
Carol behind the second Fed with one of the twins in her arms. She was crying.
Why
are you crying?

“There has been a
kidnapping. Two men have been taken by the Nuevo Cartel, we believe one to be
your husband, and there has been an immediate demand for ransom.”

“When?”

Carson stepped forward.
“Can we sit somewhere and talk?”

The sound of a helicopter
approaching had Jack checking the sky. Was that Riley? But as it got nearer, he
realized it was a news helicopter. He’d thought those days were behind him. He
heard a horse whinny from behind him, startled at the noises.
Damned ’copters
need to get out of my space
. Where was Riley? What was happening? Riley was
coming home? Right?

“We’re not sitting,” Jack
finally stated. “Get that helicopter away from my land, and tell me what the
hell is going on.”

“It’s on the TV,” Carol
interjected. Jack pushed past Carson and whoever the hell the other guy was who
looked just as official. He followed Carol into the good room, and she replayed
the TV news report.

“Reports in from the Texas-Mexico
border of another kidnapping…” The words faded to nothing more than white noise
as a picture of Riley appeared on the screen. All Jack could think was that he
had better photos of his husband. He wasn’t making any sense even to himself.
The ticker said simply, “Oil millionaire kidnapped by Nuevo Cartel, in Mexican oil
land grab.”

Jack turned on his heel
and stared at Carson. “When?”

“Four hours ago,” he said
carefully.

“So we have guys on the
ground, SEALs, Marines? Right? Who the hell is getting my husband back?”

“We have people
considering the situation. It’s delicate—”

“Fuck delicate. If you
don’t get someone down there, I’ll hire privately and you can clear up the mess
they leave.” Jack was on a roll. He could handle this. He could hire someone, mercenaries;
after all, there had to be a reason he and Riley had money.

“Sir, you need to sit down
so we can talk.”

“How much money do they
want?” Robbie asked. Jack cast him a grateful look. He hadn’t even thought
about the money. Fuck, they had money.

“Twenty-five million.”

“We can do that,” Jack
said instantly. They had some put in places that could be easily gotten to,
surely Riley’s trust or something could do that much money. The rest? Jim could
help them. Didn’t Sandra have money? Eden? Hell, Steve?

“The US doesn’t negotiate—”

“Look.” Jack poked Carson
in the chest, and to the Fed’s credit, he didn’t flinch. “I don’t give a shit
how the US does it, but I will get my husband back and anyone else they took.”

“We have a team in the
area working with—”

“You said two men? What
about the others? Tom?”

Carson nodded. “That would
be Thomas Hendry. We’re fairly certain he’s the other man being held.”

“Fairly certain? What the
hell? Surely we have satellites? Intelligence? And Bryan? The government put a security
team on Riley and Tom. The other security guys in the detail? Is Bryan there?
Are he and his team alive?”

“No one else was left
alive other than the two being held,” Carson said. He said it like it was
nothing. Riley had told Jack he had a team around him, Bryan and the others.
They were all dead?

His legs buckled, and he
slumped to the sofa. He sat up again abruptly. “We need to get Hayley out of
school.”

Robbie was there. “I
called Eli, he’s going now.”

“What about Eden and the
family?”

“Everyone is being
informed,” Carson advised.

Jack stood on unsteady
legs, casting a look at the freeze-frame picture on the TV. “I need to go…” he
said. He made it as far as Robbie, who along with Carson blocked his way. “Let
me through.”

It was Robbie who blocked
him in. “Jack, you need to stay here. We need to stay here. Hayley will be
coming home, she’ll want her dad. We have reporters already at the gate. I sent
Vaughn up there. Jack? Listen to me? Can you hear me? Jack?”

Everything was white
noise, a mixture of words that made little sense. The only thing in all of this
that made any sense was that Hayley would need him there, and he needed to
clear his head. Max would need picking up; wasn’t it his job to do that? It
wasn’t Riley’s, because Riley wasn’t here…

“Max.”

“He’s upstairs,” Carol
said quickly.

“Why?” Why was their son
home? Shouldn’t he be at school? He’d only just moved from half-day sessions to
full.

“Half day, Jack, you
remember it’s the training day? I went at lunchtime to pick him up.”

“Don’t… don’t…” Every
molecule of energy left his body. “Don’t let him see this, he won’t
understand.” He crossed to the TV and turned it off. They couldn’t see that,
what if Hayley…? What if Max…?
They’re safe, they’re all safe.
That was
the last thing he had to worry about. The kids were all accounted for. Robbie
was here, Liam looking past him with concern on his face, Vaughn at the gate,
the cops, the Feds. He was done.

Then it hit him.

Riley wasn’t here.

Riley opened his eyes to
blackness and the sense of falling. His head hurt, and he lifted a hand to
press against the pain, but his hand was stuck, it wouldn’t move. He tugged, disoriented,
and only stopped when Tom’s voice came from very close by.

“Stay there a minute.” He
felt hands on him, moving him, until his head settled on something soft.
Was
that Tom’s lap?

“Wh’appened?” he asked
with a croak in his voice.

“Fuck knows. They brought
us here.”

Riley attempted to move
his hand again. This time it was freer although weighted down by handcuffs,
which appeared to be attached to Tom’s wrist at the other end.

“Where’s here?” he
mumbled.

Tom sighed. “I don’t know.
Didn’t see much outside the car.” Tom’s fingers pressed at Riley’s head, and he
winced when they made contact with the point of pain. “I can’t feel if it’s
wet. I’ve been pressing my shirt against it.”

Riley swallowed and tried
to move, but the pain was too bad. He rested his head back down. “Remind me to
give you a raise when we get home.”

“If you can afford it,”
Tom said. “We’ve been kidnapped, and my schoolboy Spanish has them demanding a
ransom. Twenty-five, I think.”

Riley closed his eyes
again. Ten they could do out of bonds and savings, more than that was tied up
in trusts for the kids. Jack could sell off some of the Hayes Oil holdings. He
stopped his thoughts there. There was no selling stock if Riley wasn’t there to
sign off on it. That seemed pretty steep; did they know who they had?

“My wallet,” he said.

“Back at the hotel,
remember?”

“How’d they…?”

“I don’t know how they
knew who you were, or if they even know. Hell, I don’t know anything.”

“Sorry.” Riley felt like
he should be apologizing for dragging Tom down there to a place where there was
danger, even if the danger was normally managed.

“Nothing to be sorry for.
We’ll get out.”

“Ransom… you…” Riley
slurred. His head hurt like a fucker.

“I don’t know if it’s
joint or if I’m the expendable one.”

Riley was too tired to
judge the tone of Tom’s voice. He felt sleep pulling at the edges of his
thoughts.

“Don’t go to sleep,” Tom
said urgently.

“’M not,” Riley lied.
Sleep would release the pressure in his head and stop the pain.

“You need to talk to me.
Come on, Riley, no sleeping. You’ve probably got a concussion. I need you
awake.”

“Jus’for’ten,” Riley
slurred. His tongue felt too big for his mouth, and he really wanted to sleep.
Tom should let him snooze. Jack would rescue him, and when he woke up,
everything would be okay.

“Wake up, Riley, tell me
something. Tell me about Jack. I remember when I was younger, we met up. He’s a
good guy.”

Riley groaned; he didn’t
want to think, even though memories of Jack admitting he had carnal knowledge
of Tom were right there at the very edges of his thoughts.

“Come on, Riley, tell me
about what Jack is like now.”

“Love him,” Riley managed
to say.

“He’s good-looking, a real
cowboy.”

Riley pulled Jack to the
front of his mind, tall, lithe from working with the horses, with the most
gorgeous blue eyes. “’S mine,” he pushed out.

Tom chuckled. “I have my
own man. I met him at a wreck, would you believe? He’s a paramedic. Tall blond,
sexy, eyes you can lose yourself in. We were going out for dinner when I got
back just to talk about moving in together.”

“Sounds…” Riley knew what
he wanted to say, but the words just weren’t coming together in any kind of
cohesive way.

“His name is Michael, a
good name, like Jack, right?”

“Mmph.”

“Riley? Stay with me.
Riley. Like Jack, right?”

“Jackson,” Riley said. That
was a fully formed word, and somehow the cotton wool in his brain moved enough
for him to focus on his husband.

“How did you meet him?”
Tom asked. “Tell me how you met your husband, Riley.”

Riley dealt with
irritation and pain that fought for dominance in his small capacity left to
think.
Didn’t everyone know this story by now? Not the blackmail maybe, but
the murder and the secrets? Didn’t most of it already come out in
People
or on TMZ?

“Made ’im marry me,” Riley
admitted. Then he tried moving his head. The pain had lessened, and when he
opened his eyes, his vision was more focused. The room wasn’t as dark as he’d
thought; a thin sliver of light came through a window covered in bars and
beyond that black paint on the glass. He could see that. He could feel his head
in Tom’s lap, and the pain was receding.

“You made him marry you?
How the hell did you do that? From what I recall, Jack is the strong, silent,
not easily moved type.”

“Loved his sister,” Riley
said.

Tom chuckled. “You loved
his sister?”

“No, he did. My family… fucked
’is over, I made… it worse. Saw through my shit.”

Tom huffed a laugh, and
Riley found himself smiling in the half dark in agreement. “When they do that,
everything gets easier,” Tom offered. “And now you have children, a nanny, but
you don’t have any dogs.”

“What?”

“The usual scenario, the
nuclear family always has a dog, usually something dopey and hairy called Ben
or Smoke or something.”

“I like dogs,” Riley said.
The words were flowing a little easier now. “Dogs and horses… I never asked
Jack. I should… we used to have a dog, when I was a kid. My mom’s, this tiny
furry cairn terrier named Alfie. It loved my mom… I used to tease it when I was
small… but I know it loved me, found it in bed with me when I was ill once…”

“So when we get back, you
probably need to get a dog.”

“Max would love a dog. A
big one, maybe.” And Jack, he would probably love a dog as well once he got
used to it.

“I’ll back you up. I want
a dog, but I can’t see Michael going for it. He’s one of those men who likes
cats. Just weird if you ask me.”

Now it was Riley’s turn to
chuckle. Jack had a couple cats that roamed the ranch looking out for vermin.
They weren’t house cats, they didn’t come in for petting and love, but Riley
had caught Jack once holding one of the cats, a tabby, and talking to it about rat-to-feed
ratios.

“I… ask Jack… ’bout get… a
dog.” His words didn’t sound so good now.

“Can’t you just go out and
buy a dog?” Tom sounded curious.

“We decide things
together,” Riley said. “All of us.” And it worked. Him and Jack, Hayley and
Max, the twins. Even though the twins weren’t all that involved yet and Max had
his own unique perspective on life.

“So tell me more about
making Jack marry you.”

The story slipped out in
among moments when sleep threatened to pull him under. But Tom wouldn’t let him
sleep, and in the growing darkness in this room that smelled of dust and mold,
they stayed alive. Together.

When the earth moved and
an explosion rocked the ground they were lying on, Tom grasped him close and
swore succinctly. Was this the bad guys destroying where they were, or others
who would get them out of here? The movement hurt like a bitch as he dug his
feet into the ground. Nausea forced him to breathe.

Despite the pain, though,
all Riley could think was that somehow, one way or another, this was going to
be over soon.

He just hoped he lived to
see his family again.