Bulletproof Christmas. Barb Han

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       Chapter Three

      Rory backed away, making sure he didn’t damage any of the fingerprints on the rifle or scope, and then he called the sheriff.

      “There’s a situation on the Butler property you need to be aware of,” he said to Sheriff Sawmill. Rory could almost see the frustration that accompanied the heavy sigh coming through the line. “I can give you my GPS coordinates.”

      “Mind sending a few photos of the site?” Sawmill asked.

      “Not if it’ll help,” Rory said. He didn’t mind taking a few risks if it meant helping Sawmill figure out who Dex really was.

      “I don’t have anyone near your location. I’ll get a deputy out before morning,” he promised.

      “Thanks, Sheriff.” There was no use pressuring him. Rory could tell by the man’s tone that he wished he could do more but didn’t have the resources. He also knew how overstretched the sheriff’s office had been since the murder. Pressure mounted to find Mr. Butler’s killer as time went on and that had to be weighing on the sheriff’s mind.

      After snapping pictures from multiple angles and then watching over the site for another half hour, Rory assumed Dex wasn’t coming back. The most likely scenario was that Rory had scared Dex away and he wouldn’t return. The man had taken off in a hurry after Rory had invaded the camp and the probability there’d be fingerprints on the weapon were slim to none.

      The fire had burned out. Since Rory couldn’t rightly leave the little dog to freeze, he took the shivering beagle into his arms and placed him inside his jacket so he would stop shaking.

      Dex would know someone had been there if he returned before the sheriff’s deputy arrived. Rory highly doubted the guy was coming back, though, based on experience.

      Game on, Rory thought as he tracked east. He’d circle around to his conversion vehicle and take the beagle, which couldn’t be more than a year old, with no tags, with him to the Butler ranch. If Dex thought he could outsmart him, he needed to think again. No one was better out on the range than Rory and he had no doubt that he could track Dex and see to it that the guy spent the rest of his life behind bars.

      Cadence was home. Rory wasn’t supposed to know that. No one was. However, he couldn’t help himself and had tracked her whereabouts. She’d left Colorado that evening and would’ve arrived an hour or two ago. He needed to warn her and her family that she could be in danger.

      A dark thought hit. Had Dex already made his way to the main house?

      That thought had Rory picking up the pace. In a full-out run, Rory made it back to his vehicle in record time. He secured the beagle in the front seat and took the driver’s seat before heading southwest toward the main house. From his current location, it would take an hour to wind around on the country roads to get to the place. He knew a shortcut that involved going off road but could possibly get a lot of attention from security.

      Rory spun the wheel left. He needed to get to the house as fast as possible. It was possible that Dex had moved closer to get a good shot. Damn. The man might’ve left his rifle behind but he was still carrying a handgun.

      It was also worth considering that he was an amateur and had abandoned his plan altogether.

      Rory managed to locate his phone while driving and used Bluetooth technology to make the call to Cadence.

      The recording said the number was no longer in service.

      When did she change her number? She’d had the same one since high school.

      Then he thought about everything that had happened to the family in the past few months after Maverick Mike Butler’s death. With all the media scrutiny, it made sense that she would make it more difficult to reach her. He hoped it had to do with the media and not their breakup. It shouldn’t bother him that she’d changed her number. It wasn’t really his business anymore no matter how much his heart argued.

       Okay. Plan B.

      He pulled over and checked his call log. Dade had been the one to reach out, so his new number must be on the log. Rory called that number. He didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until the call rolled into a generic-sounding voice mail and frustration nipped at him.

      Instead, he tapped the gas pedal harder and raced toward the house, hoping like hell that he wasn’t too late.

      Someone in the Butler household knew there’d been a security breach because Terrell Landry stood with his rifle shouldered and aimed at the conversion vehicle speeding toward the back side of the estate. Based on his disposition, his finger hovered over the trigger mechanism. A team of six formed a semicircle around Terrell twenty yards in front of where Rory stopped the conversion vehicle and put his hands where everyone could see them as he exited his vehicle. He’d be no use to Cadence or anyone else if he got himself shot on the property and he wouldn’t risk one of the men he didn’t know getting too excited with his trigger finger.

      “Rory Scott?” Terrell said, more statement than question.

      “In the flesh,” Rory answered. “Permission to approach?”

      Terrell’s next words allowed Rory to exhale.

      “Of course. Stand down,” Terrell told his men, lowering his own weapon. “But what are you doing here? I was told that you refused the job.”

      “Misunderstanding,” Rory said as he walked to the head of security, planning to meet him halfway. He’d known Terrell for half of his life.

      “Good to see you,” Terrell said, sticking out his hand between them.

      Rory shook it as the others flanked them. And then a few seconds later he found himself flipped on his backside, heaving for air after being slammed into the cold hard pavement with the wind knocked out of him.

      “What the hell, Landry?” he managed to get out through gulps of air. His lungs burned.

      “I’m СКАЧАТЬ