Texas_Winter (14 page)

Sitting at the computer with a gun to his head made it nearly impossible for Riley to concentrate. From where they sat, in the small office next to their bedroom, Riley could see where he and Jack had slept only hours before. The bedclothes were still awry from their excitement that morning, and Riley focused on that, his fingers hesitating over keys.

A slip of paper was dropped on the desk, and the feel of cold hard steel at his temple pulled him back to the here and now. "Nice little offshore encrypted transfer from you, Mr Hayes."

"Six million?" Riley read from the paper. "Where do you think I'm going to find that kind of—" The barrel of the gun pressed harder.

"It's pocket change for you. A whole new life for me. Fucking find it."
Riley wracked his brains. Any ready cash he had was tied up with Hayley now, and all he could recall was one personal account and another set up for CH Consultancy. He had no idea how much was in either, and not for the first time, he cursed the ignorance that only a very rich man could ever suffer from, as well as his own idiocy. The screen confirmed the first account held two point four million, and he transferred the entire balance to the bank indicated on the note. The other only held just over one.
"It's all I can get hold of in the short amount of time." Just shy of three and a half million. Elliot barked a laugh.
"Poor little rich boy," he singsonged, and moved back away from Riley, extending his arm with the gun. "It'll have to do," he added. Riley hovered over the Enter key. When he pressed it, was Elliot going to shoot him?
"Press the freaking key," Elliot ordered. He gestured with the gun. "Or I'll do it for you when you're dead." Expecting to die the very next minute, Riley did what he was told, and confirmation of transaction appeared on the screen. No bullet tore through his head, and he looked up at Elliot, wishing his life would flash before his eyes and, instead, only experiencing fear so thick it hurt. Some of the madness had dissipated from Elliot's eyes. Riley's assailant appeared calm and icily dispassionate.
"Get up and go in your bedroom," he ordered.
Riley stood and moved to the adjoining room at the point of the gun. If he had to die, he thought to himself, he wished it wasn't going to be in the room that held so much evidence of his life with Jack in the clothes scattered around the room, the jeans over the end of the bed, the half empty bottle of water Jack had on his nightstand.
"Killing me will destroy Hayley." He tried to reach the heart of the man with the gun. Instead, Elliot tossed him some heavy-duty cuffs. Hard and unyielding, they felt cold in his hands.
"Cuff yourself to the bed."
Riley closed the cuff around one hand, and inspired, he wrapped the chain around the third carved post from the right and finished off by snapping the other side shut. He was now effectively a prisoner.
"I'm not a killer, Hayes," Elliot said simply. "I like Hayley, always have. Your money is well hidden now, perks of being a hacker. People underestimate an ex-con, but a few key strokes and Elliot Anderson becomes someone else, a ghost no one can find." He reached forward to grab at something lying there. With a barked laugh, he lifted the items to look at them closer and then pocketed them. "Two Rolexes? Who the fuck needs two Rolexes?"
And with that, he left. Riley counted to ten and then used his body weight to pull at the loose post. It hadn't fit since the hard coming together after he'd seen Jenkins shot dead on the street. Free, he went immediately to the gun cabinet. Being armed in the house was his first priority, calling for help second. He reported the incident in hushed tones and replaced the handset as soon as he was convinced they understood the importance. Armed, he moved out to the front of the house, taking each corner like he'd seen in the movies with the gun held out in front of him. The house was devoid of life apart from himself. He wondered which way Elliot had left. There had been no sign of a car or any other vehicle he may have used to get to the D ranch house. Riley assumed he had used the old stock road to the rear of the barns—out of sight of the house.
Hayley was still in the car, her knees pulled up and her arms wrapped around them. She looked scared, forlorn, and Riley smiled and nodded at her. He indicated with a hand she should stay where she was, and she nodded her understanding. His beautiful brave daughter. He crossed to the car very slowly, still very aware of what was happening around them, and she unlocked the door when he reached her side.
"Daddy?"
"I'm okay, sweetheart. Stay here for the police and keep the door locked. Okay?"
"Where's Pappa?"
"I'm going to get him, baby. Lock the door." He pushed the door closed as quietly as he could but winced at the sound of metal on metal as it shut.
She did as he asked, locking the doors and staring out at him. After he blew her kiss, he made his way cautiously around the edge of the house to the back barns. He spotted what Jack had probably seen, tire marks in the snow away from the old barn, and he could imagine Jack going over to the vehicle wondering why the hell it was on his land. There was no vehicle there now, but he wasn't ready to accept Elliot had truly left. The first blood he saw was outside their barn. Their barn. God. Riley wanted to shout but couldn't chance that Elliot was still around with a new manic expression and his loaded gun. The snow was a mess of red and mud, and it looked like someone had been dragged inside the barn.
He walked in as quietly as he could and strained to hear any noise. Nothing. Then he spotted Jack, a crumpled heap on the blankets in the corner, and with a muffled cry, unmindful of who the hell else could be there, he dropped to his knees next to the figure of his prone husband. Blood. There was so much blood, and Riley struggled to turn him over. He checked for bullet wounds, but there was nothing apart from an impressive looking gash across Jack's head. That seemed to be the reason for all the blood.
"Jack." He shook him hard enough to wake the dead, and with a groan, Jack's eyelids fluttered. "Come on, Jack, wake up." Shocked blue eyes looked up at him.
"Wha' happened?"
"Elliot happened."
"Hayley."
"She's fine. Stay here. I'll be back." Scrambling to stand, he retraced his steps to the car and opened the door, holding out a hand and pulling Hayley into a tight hug. She buried her face in his neck, and with no further thought, he began stalking his way back to Jack, the cold of the snow suddenly very obvious. He shivered, but he was sure it was half cold and half adrenaline overload. Back with Jack, he slumped down with a stall wall at his rear and slid until Jack's head was in his lap and Hayley was gripping his arm to one side. He took his cell from Hayley's hand.
"Is Pappa going to be okay?"
"I'm fine, Hayley." Jack's voice was more growl than substance, but at least he was conscious.
Riley thumbed through his recent calls, found the one he wanted, and it connected almost immediately.
"Jones," the voice said.
"My daughter's uncle threatened us with a gun, hit my husband across the head, threatened my daughter, and stole over three million dollars to an offshore account. Cops are on their way. Thing is, Agent Jones, I don't know how your alien tech works, but he took the watch."
Call finished, Riley pulled at blankets until Hayley was covered and lying with Jack. Riley sat with the gun pointing forward, and he didn't move until the cops arrived.
Not one single muscle.
* * * *

Elliot was tracked heading north on the US-75, and when Agent Jones told Riley, he had to bite back the need to find out where they were holding Elliot just so he could go and beat the shit out of him. The entire family had descended on them, snow or no snow, but it was after everyone had left, the adrenaline faded from Riley's body and left him in something akin to shock.

Jack was up and walking, and the doc had given him a fairly clean bill of health but with the usual warnings. The blow to the head, and the blood were more scary than life threatening, despite the short lack of consciousness, and he refused to go to the hospital. Selfishly, Riley was more than happy with his husband's decision, promising he would watch over Jack at home for any signs of concussion. Once Hayley was asleep, all Riley wanted to do was hold Jack. He shuffled to one side of the bed and pulled Jack close in a hug and then cradled him against his chest.

"Hayley seems okay," Jack said so quietly Riley had to strain to hear.
"She said she never liked Elliot." Riley sighed. It never failed to amaze him how perceptive kids could be. "In her eyes, he was already the bad guy. All he did was cement that fact, and she wasn't surprised."
"Poor kid."
"Jesus, Jack." His grip tightened in Jack's hair, and Jack made a muffled sound of protest. "We didn't know what had happened to you," Riley repeated for about the hundredth time. "Elliot was covered in your blood."
"He hit me near his truck. Guess the blood came from him dragging me into the barn."
"Don't do that again." Riley pressed a kiss to Jack's shower-damp hair.
"What?" Jack chuckled. "Get myself hit in the head with a two-by-four?"
"Yeah, that."
"I'll try not to."
"Daddy?"
Riley looked up. Hayley stood in the doorway, her stuffed dog in her hand and her other hand curled into her PJ top. Wordlessly the two men separated from their hug, making a Hayley-sized space between them. She climbed in, leaned into Jack, and clung to him briefly and then did the same to Riley. No one said anything, and in a few minutes, she was curled into a tight ball and her breathing was low and even. Riley felt tears choke his throat, and he looked at Jack, who appeared just as affected. This scrap of humanity, his daughter, was possibly the best thing to happen to them next to meeting each other.
"I love you," he whispered to his husband over Hayley's sleeping form.
"Love you," Jack replied.
On the pillow above her head, in front of the broken carved post, they held hands.

There was no snow on Christmas Day. There never really was in Texas, and neither Riley nor Jack had expected it. The whole family descended on the D, and despite Donna cooking the dinner, it felt to Riley like they were hosting Christmas in their own house. Donna announced her and Neil's wedding was set for Valentine's Day. Eden and Sean looked way past friendly, and Sean's proposal over the main course wasn't entirely unexpected. Beth and Steve passed on the news that Beth's last rounds of tests were good and that the doctors had deemed her heart stronger now; Sandra and Jim watched, smiling and holding hands.

The conversation turned to the FBI and to the forged documents that had caused Riley to feel like he needed to do what he could to make things right.

"And you still don't know what the Feds wanted in all of this?"
"Apart from names further up the food chain? No. They set me up, they set that accountant up."
"They never said one word about… y'know?" Eden asked curiously with a wave of her hand. They weren't talking about things in front of the kids. No sense in blurting the whole mess out in explicit detail.
"Nothing." Riley answered. He shrugged and went back to concentrating on his meal, the reassuring warmth of Jack's arm pressed to his.
"Are you going to get your money back from that transfer you did?" Jim asked at a break in the conversation. Riley looked at his dad. The money had never been an issue, not after nearly losing Jack and with Hayley in danger. Sometimes he wondered if having money was something that always brought unhappiness, or whether he had just been unlucky. When the FBI had contacted him to say that the account had been found and the money transfer reversed he realized he didn't care. Familiar anxiety built in him and as if sensing Riley's confusion Jack leaned in to him and hand fed him a carrot with the butter sliding on his lip. A subtle lick of Jack's skin and the reassurance in his husband's blue eyes was enough to center him.
"The FBI released the funds to the bank; it's all there apparently," he finally said.
"Drinks on you next time we're out," Steve smirked. He leaned down from his chair to swing Emily up onto his lap. It seemed like yesterday that Emily was a babe in Beth's arms and now here she was walking and falling over a lot. Riley and Jack had bought her a small toy keyboard and Steve had threatened to kill them or buy Hayley a drum kit—whichever one was worse revenge for the discordant noise Emily could create.
It was perfect, chaotic and noisy, but brimming with love. Each person at the table received a small gift deliberately left under the tree away from the huge piles of gifts the kids had opened. Nothing expensive, the gifts ranged from books to DVDs to a pair of Sponge Bob socks for Jim. Hayley had a joint present for her two dads, and she handed it to them with a smile of unlimited joy.
"I made it," she said, "though Aunty Eden helped."
Jack inclined his head to indicate Riley should open the box, so he did. Inside was the most intricate tree ornament dripping with silver and red sparkles. He held it up, and it spun on the short string, the light from overhead twinkling in the mirrored, sprinkled glitter. He stopped the spin and focused in on the tiny photos he recognized from the interview, little thumbnails of him and Jack and Hayley. She had glued them in a group along with a hand-written label.
Daddy, Pappa and me My family, 2011

RJ Scott lives just outside London. She has been writing since age six, when she was made to stay in at lunchtime for an infraction involving cookies and was told to write a story. Two sides of A4 about a trapped princess later, a lover of writing was born. She loves reading anything from thrillers to sci-fi to horror; however, her first real love will always be the world of romance. Her goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and more than a hint of happily ever after.

Oracle
Moments
The Christmas Throwaway The Heart of Texas
"Valentine 2525" in
Never Say Never All the King's Men
Back Home
Deefur Dog
The Heart of Texas 2: Texas Winter Jesse's Christmas
(December 25)
The Gallows Tree
(coming soon)