A Lawman's Justice. Delores Fossen

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СКАЧАТЬ that to Seth.

      Shelby was so caught up in her little mental temper tantrum and scowling that she made a sound of surprise when the knife finally cut through the rope. She barely had time to move back before Seth snatched the knife from her and started toward the door. She got to her feet and hurried after him.

      He stopped at the door and looked outside, but with the way he was standing, Shelby couldn’t see anything except the sky. The sun was bleached white, almost blinding, and she had to blink hard several times to stop her eyes from stinging.

      “Let’s go,” Seth whispered.

      That was it, all the warning she got before he stepped out still gripping the knife. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

      She’d been right about the vehicles. None was in sight. But there were a rusted-out tractor, an old watering trough and what was left of a single-story, weathered gray house. It was obvious that it’d been a while since anyone had lived there.

      “You recognize this place?” he asked.

      “Afraid not.” But she had no idea how long Seth and she had lost consciousness. Their captors would have had plenty of time to drive them pretty much anywhere, including out of the county.

      Seth pulled her behind the tractor, stopped and lifted his head to listen. Shelby did the same, but the only things she heard were some birds chirping and her own heartbeat drumming in her ears. Definitely no sounds of cars, which meant there probably wasn’t a main road nearby.

      But there was a gravel road leading away from the place.

      “There are some fresh tracks,” Seth said, going closer to have a look at them.

      “Should we just follow this road and see where it goes?” she asked.

      “We’ll follow it, but we’ll have to stay out of sight. These guys will be back for us any minute now.”

      Shelby already had come to the same conclusion, but it made her heart beat faster to hear it confirmed.

      They went off the road and onto the side away from the barn, where there were a few trees and some bushes. Nothing that would give them much cover, but maybe they wouldn’t need it for long. If they could make it to a farm road or highway, someone would possibly see them. Someone who didn’t want to hit them with another stun gun and tie them up.

      “Any idea who did this to us?” Seth asked. There it was again. The interrogating tone that made it sound as if she’d done something wrong.

      “No.” But Shelby immediately had to rethink her answer. “Wait. Maybe. There is this guy, Marvin Hance, who’s mean enough and motivated enough to want to hurt me.”

      “The former FBI agent who was charged with killing his wife?” Seth didn’t even hesitate.

      “The very one. You know him?”

      “Not personally, but I’m familiar with his case, and he still has friends in the FBI.”

      Hance did indeed, and Shelby had run up against a few of his friends who thought she was Satan himself to pursue their friend with her brand of journalism.

      “Well, Hance isn’t a friend of mine,” she clarified. “I did some articles about him, and he didn’t care much for them. Then the murder charges were dismissed on a technicality—”

      “A botched search warrant,” Seth supplied. “Hance has threatened you?”

      “Oh, yes. Threats, phone calls, showing up at my office. It got to the point where I had to get a restraining order.”

      The ordeal had been a nightmare. Well, not compared to this, but it’d been unpleasant. It also hadn’t helped when some of Hance’s FBI friends had made it next to impossible for her to get information about his murder investigation that would normally be provided to reporters.

      Shelby shook her head. “I’m pretty sure Hance murdered his wife, and I believe he’s capable of murdering again. But why would he possibly involve you in his mission to get back at me for those articles?”

      Seth made a sound to indicate he was giving that some thought, and he walked around a rusted-out car. “The only thing that connects us is my mother’s trial.”

      True. His stepbrother, Tucker, was married to her sister, Laine, but since Seth and his stepbrother were barely on speaking terms, that connection was thin.

      But, for that matter, so was the trial.

      “I believe Jewell’s guilty,” Shelby said, speaking out loud and hoping it made more sense than when it was still in her head. “You believe she’s innocent. So if our captors or Hance did this because of the murder trial, what could they possibly hope to achieve?”

      “I don’t know why Hance would have involved me in this. But someone else could have wanted to use us for some kind of ransom.” He answered her question so quickly it was clear his head wasn’t as foggy as hers. “But not ransom for money. Maybe someone wanted to use us to try to sway the trial in some way.”

      It didn’t make sense, but neither did anything else about this situation. Shelby didn’t have access to anything that could affect the trial.

      Unlike Seth.

      He probably could get at some evidence if necessary, but so far he didn’t seem to be the law-breaking type. Maybe because he thought he had justice on his side and that Jewell would be cleared of all charges.

      And that brought Shelby back to a revenge theory.

      Maybe Hance wanted revenge against her and Seth had accidentally gotten caught up in the plan? It’d be a weird coincidence since both Seth and she had gotten phone calls that’d brought them here, but nothing else made sense right now.

      Seth came to a stop so quickly that Shelby plowed into him. He was solid, all right, and didn’t seem to notice she’d bumped into him. Instead, he just lifted his head.

      “Get down,” he said, but he didn’t wait for her to do that. Seth jerked her to the ground amid the weeds and grass.

      Shelby heard it then. The car engine. Or rather the engine of a big truck.

      Oh, God.

      This had to be the men who’d kidnapped them.

      She sucked in her breath. Held it, waiting and praying.

      Once the men were inside the barn, maybe Seth and she could make a run for it to put some space between them and these killers. There weren’t many places to hide, but she’d spotted some good-size boulders just ahead. That would give them far more protection and cover than the grass.

      Shelby couldn’t fully turn her head because of the way Seth was holding her, but from the corner of her eye she saw the driver park the truck. Two men got out. She didn’t recognize either of them, but they were both armed with weapons not only in holsters but also in their hands. As she’d hoped, they went into the barn.

      “Let’s go,” Seth mouthed.

      He took her by the wrist and СКАЧАТЬ