Her Cowboy Savior (The Winchester Cowboys Series Book 2), page 13
Her brow furrowed. “If you think that’s best, I have cash.”
After a pause to think, he went on, “We’ll be safer where Dad, Landon, and I are all armed and looking out for them to come. We might be able to hold them off without a shot.”
He watched her think about that for a moment, and then she said, “If you think that’s best, then that’s what we’ll do.”
His mind raced as he drove toward the sunset.
When he pulled up in front of the ranch’s porch, he turned to her. “We’re going to handle this, Haley. I don’t want you to be afraid.”
She squeezed his hand. “I know you will.” Then she grimaced. “I just can’t help but worry about the danger I’m putting you all in, though. This is a damn mess.”
He clasped her hand. “You’re family now. I don’t want you to worry about that.”
He grabbed the diaper bag as she got Aria out of her car seat. But as they got to the door, he put his arms around her. “I mean what I said. We all care about you, and we’re protecting you because we want to, honey.”
She nodded, and he opened the door. As she walked inside, Aria began to fuss.
He desperately hoped that he could live up to his word to keep them safe.
Chapter Twelve
Two days later, Haley’s nerves were so on edge that her stomach burned with acid.
At breakfast, Carson glanced at her. “You okay? You’re not eating much.”
She grimaced. “It’s my stomach. This waiting for something awful to happen is driving me crazy.”
“Waiting is hard on all of us, but I’m sure it’s especially hard on you,” he said.
“You’re probably right.”
Carson had insisted that she and Debra stay in the house with the doors locked. The only exception had been when Debra had insisted that she be allowed to tend to her garden. He’d made her promise that she’d only pick what was necessary and return to the house immediately.
After breakfast, Haley washed the dishes, now her normal routine. She glanced at Aria, who lay quietly in her bouncer. Thank goodness the baby wasn’t fussy. Her nerves couldn’t handle that at this point.
When she’d finished her chore, she went into the living room, where Carson stood looking out the window. She put Aria on her shoulder and walked across the room, then turned and walked back the way she’d come. Would this waiting never end?
By late morning, Carson’s knees were stiff from standing at the window. Aria had been fed and put down for a nap, so the house was quiet. He glanced over his shoulder at Haley, who was pacing the room like a caged wildcat. “Honey, why don’t you sit down?”
She looked at him and grimaced. “I tried that, and it made my skin crawl. I keep hearing little noises like someone’s creeping up on us.
He smiled. “It’s just this old house. It’s noisy.”
As he turned back to the window, shock jolted his chest. A tiny dust cloud had risen up in the distance and began barreling towards the house.
“Get Mom and go grab Aria. Head to the bathroom like we planned. Someone’s coming—fast!”
He watched Haley run from the room as he dialed his dad. “I think they’re here! Something’s hauling ass towards the house. I can see the dust. Call Landon and the sheriff.”
Haley and Debra ran down the hall to the bedroom where Aria slept. A moment later, he heard the bathroom door slam shut.
Emerging from the dust cloud were two black SUVs. A shiver ran through him. How many men were inside? He texted his dad and brought him up to speed. A moment later, the two vehicles slid to a stop in front of the house.
His dad sent back:
We’re on our way. Hang on, son!
The doors on the first SUV opened, and four men in jeans got out. Carson gritted his teeth. Obviously they weren’t going with the FBI pretext this time. Were the same number of men in the other car? His stomach clenched. If so, he and his family would be grossly outnumbered.
He stepped back from the window just as four more men exited the second SUV. One was carrying a breacher. As he watched, four of the eight men peeled off and headed for the back of the house as the other four approached the front porch.
Heart pounding and near panic, Carson made his stand about five feet away from the front door.
Seconds later, a loud knock sounded. He yelled, “What do you want?”
One of the men called, “You know what we want. We’re here for Haley Wilson.” The man had what sounded like a Russian accent.
“She’s not here,” he yelled.
After a short pause, the man said, “Let us in, and we’ll make sure of that.”
Carson racked a shell into his shotgun. It was an ominous sound. “Nobody’s coming through that door.”
“You had your chance,” the man yelled.
Carson heard a vehicle racing toward the house. It had to be his dad or Landon. Over the sound of gravel flying as the truck skidded to a halt, he heard his dad yell, “You all hold on there!”
One of the men on the porch yelled, “What the hell?”
Carson went to the window and saw his dad standing behind the open door of his truck, his big elk rifle aimed at the men on the porch. “Make one move, and one of you is going down.”
The man who had spoken first yelled, “We don’t want any trouble. We just want Haley Wilson. Then we’ll leave.”
His dad said, “There’s nobody here by that name. This is the Winchester ranch, and we don’t take kindly to strangers. Get back in your cars and head on out of here.”
Just then, there was the boom of a shotgun blast, and the back door flew open and banged against the wall.
Carson ran through the living room to the kitchen and spotted a man coming through the laundry room toward him. Carson fired his shotgun, and the man jerked backwards and went down.
Carson fired again at the man coming in behind him. The second man went down, and Carson ducked back behind the kitchen wall as a third fired his handgun at him.
Gunfire exploded from the front porch, and he heard his dad fire his rifle in response. A man cried out in pain, and then the front door crashed back against the wall.
He glanced toward the front door as two men ran inside, each heading in a different direction. He raised his arm to take a shot, but gunfire came from behind him. He turned and popped off two shots from his SIG at the man in the laundry room who’d tried to take advantage of his inattention.
Gunfire continued from the porch, and he heard a second rifle go off with the first. A man cried out. Landon must have arrived.
Panic overwhelmed him, and he wiped sweat from his eyes. It was only a matter of time before the two men who’d slipped in the front found the women. He’d be overrun in seconds with a man still on the porch and two men behind him if he didn’t get help.
As gunfire continued from the front porch, a rifle-shot sounded, and a man outside screamed in pain. Either his dad or Landon had gotten the guy on the porch. That still left the two who had come inside the front door, and they were keeping quiet. He expected the men in the laundry room to make a move any second.
Ken rushed in, Landon right behind him. “Carson? You okay?”
He didn’t take his eyes off the laundry room. “One of them went back towards Haley’s room. The other went towards your room. Find them!”
He heard the racking of a shotgun, and then another. His dad and Landon had switched guns. Sweat ran down his face as he fought to keep the gun in his hand from shaking. Why were the men by the bedrooms so quiet?
He heard a handgun and a shotgun go off just as the men in the laundry room rushed him, firing as they ran. He ducked behind the kitchen wall and snaked his arm around, firing several times.
A man yelled, and Carson heard him go down. He looked around the wall and fired at the second man, taking a shot in the arm as his bullet found its mark. But the guy kept coming.
Carson stepped back behind the wall and switched his gun to his uninjured arm as he waited for the man to come into view. The second he appeared, he opened fire, hitting the man’s arm and then his chest. The man went down but continued shooting, hitting Carson in the calf. Carson crumpled to the floor and aimed a last shot at the man’s body.
Shots went off in both directions, and he staggered to his feet. He limped in the direction of Haley’s bedroom, then took cover as one of the men lurched out into the hallway. Carson took a quick shot, and the man cried out. He wasn’t sure where he’d hit him, but he went down. He could hear Aria screaming in the bathroom. The noise of the gunshots must have terrified her.
Ken came out of the bedroom and shot the man again.
Carson saw blood on his dad’s side. “Dad! How bad is it?”
“I think it went through and through, but it hurts like hell.”
“Where’s Landon?”
“In here!”
His brother’s voice came from his parents’ room. Carson limped slowly down the hall. Landon lay propped against the bed, his thigh bleeding from a gunshot wound.
“How bad is it?” Carson asked as he struggled toward him. The other shooter lay dead on the floor by the closet.
“Bad. It’s broken. Bullet hit the bone. And damn, it hurts.”
He heard his father at the bathroom door, telling Debra and Haley that they could come out.
Carson limped back down the hall as his mother emerged.
She cried out when she saw the blood on Ken’s shirt. “You’ve been hit! Oh God, honey. Is it bad?”
Haley looked toward Carson and gasped. “You’ve been shot!”
He glanced down at his shirt and jeans and felt himself blanch. He’d lost a lot of blood.
A siren drew near, and, seconds later, the sheriff strode in. He looked at Carson and shook his head. “Hell, man, you weren’t kidding. How many of them were there?”
“Eight,” Carson said quietly.
“All dead?”
“Probably.”
The sheriff shook his head. “Damn.” He got on his radio and checked to see how far out his backup was.
Lightheaded, Carson went to sit at the kitchen table. Haley had managed to calm Aria down with her pacifier and joined him.
Debra took out the first-aid supplies and wrapped a pressure bandage around Carson’s heavily bleeding upper arm. As she worked, she said, “I called for ambulances as soon as the shooting started, honey. And I’ve put your dad on the couch. Haley? Can you go hold pressure on his wound?”
“Of course.”
His mom was efficient at her task and soon turned her attention to his freely bleeding leg wound. As she put a similar bandage on it, he gasped in pain.
“This looks deep. I’m sorry, son.” She glanced through the kitchen door. “I’ve got Landon putting pressure on his thigh. That wound’s serious. I hope the ambulance gets here fast.”
The sheriff came into the kitchen. “Carson, I need to get statements from the three of you. We spoke before, and obviously this was self-defense. You all need to get treatment first, though. I’ll drop by the hospital and take care of it.”
Carson nodded. “No problem.”
“And I’ll need your weapons.”
He shoved his SIG across the table. “I used this and my shotgun. It’s on the floor outside the kitchen.” He called out, “The sheriff needs our guns, Dad. Did you leave the rifles in your trucks?”
“Yeah.”
Then he said, “Landon’s shotgun is sitting beside him in the bedroom. Mom, is Dad’s shotgun by the couch?”
“I think it is, honey.” Finished with his calf, she slowly rose to her feet and heaved a long sigh.
“Sheriff, you can take the guns with you when you go,” Carson said.
The sound of sirens came from outside, and the sheriff left the room.
Carson pulled his phone from his pocket and gave Jim a quick call, bringing him up to speed.
“I’ll come right away,” the ranger said. “I want to get a good look at the men that came for Haley and try to match them with some suspects we’ve come up with.”
“Fine, but I’ll probably be gone. The three of us are heading to the hospital.”
“How bad are your wounds?”
Carson sighed. “Not life-threatening, but bad enough.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Carson. I’ll check back with you later.”
The sirens had been deputies arriving, Carson realized. Where were the ambulances?
His mom came back into the room, looking worried. “Son, I’m scared about your father. He’s losing a lot of blood, and so is Landon. When are the ambulances going to be here?”
“I hope they’ll be here soon, Mom. I’m worried too.”
A few minutes later, more sirens sounded. Haley rushed into the kitchen. “Thank God, the ambulances are here. I’ll go pack Aria a bag and make her several bottles.”
“Are you sure you should go to the hospital? It’s going to be a long night, and Mom won’t want to leave.”
She frowned. “Of course I’m going.”
He nodded. “Okay.” The corner of his mouth lifted. It was a comfort that she was going. Now that the danger had passed, he was shaken to his core.
Landon was loaded into the first ambulance, and Ken followed in the next. Then it was his turn. By that time, Haley was all packed and ready.
As his gurney paused at the ambulance doors, she leaned down and whispered, “Thank you, Carson, for protecting me. I’m devastated that you’ve been hurt.” She kissed him softly and smiled. “I love you.”
He grinned, his heart pounding at her words. “Aw, honey, I love you too.”
Chapter Thirteen
Haley and Debra waited anxiously in the waiting room. All three men were still in surgery.
Ken’s wound was deep, but the bullet had missed his internal organs.
In Carson’s case, the ER doctor had said that the bullets had missed the bones and that his arm surgery would be a fairly simple one. However, his calf surgery would be more complex, with the surgeon needing to suture torn muscles and tendons as well as the bullet’s entrance and exit wounds.
Landon was in the worst shape. The bullet he’d taken had given his thigh bone a splintering fracture. Muscles and ligaments were shredded. Debra was worried sick about him after seeing his X-rays.
Haley paced the floor, while Debra sat quietly in a chair in the corner. The TV on the wall droned quietly as an elderly woman, the room’s only other occupant, stared at it in silence. Haley had fed Aria a half hour ago, and she was sleeping soundly in her car seat next to Debra.
Debra glanced at Haley, and she gave her a hesitant smile. Surely, she blamed her for the devastation that had happened to her family.
Tears filled Haley’s eyes, and she turned away, fisting her hands to keep them from shaking. This was all her fault. She should have gone to a hotel. She’d made a terrible choice in staying at the ranch. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she envisioned the three bloody Winchester men. How had they escaped being killed? It had to be God’s intervention. The odds had been stacked against them.
She closed her eyes and said a fervent prayer of thanks.
Debra walked over and put her arm around her. “How are you holding up, honey?” She guided Haley to a chair and sat down beside her.
Haley wiped her eyes and met Debra’s gaze. “I should be asking you that. It’s your family who’s all shot up.” Her voice broke, and she started to sob.
Debra took her into her arms. “Now, come on. Our boys are tough. They’re going to come out of this just fine.”
But her voice was shaky, and it broke Haley’s heart. At that moment, she made her decision. She had to put distance between herself and this vulnerable family. The men sent that day may have failed, but her problem was far from over. Until law enforcement took the entire operation down, men like them would keep coming for her.
The first out of surgery was Ken, and Debra was called back to join him. An hour later, Carson headed to recovery.
When Haley was finally called back to his side, he looked at her groggily. She smiled and kissed his cheek. “Everything’s okay. Your surgery went great.” She stood beside him, holding his hand, Aria nestled in the crook of her arm.
Carson drowsed, drifting in and out of consciousness until an orderly wheeled him up to his room.
They’d only been there a few minutes when Jim knocked on the door. He glanced at Carson, whose eyes were closed, and walked over to Haley. “How is he?”
“His surgery went well, but he’s still pretty out of it.”
“Can we talk in the hall?” he asked.
She followed him out of the room and leaned against the wall, exhausted and worried about the plan that was forming in her mind.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“I was locked in the bathroom, but I can tell you what I heard.”
When he was satisfied that she’d told him everything she knew, she said, “I have a big favor to ask of you.”
His brows rose. “Go ahead. Anything.”
Relief flooded her chest, and she took a deep breath before saying, “First, can you take me to Kingsland right now? There’s a Wells Fargo there, and it’s open for another hour. I need to get cash out. My accident reimbursement was direct deposited into my account, and I need to withdraw it.”
She paused. “These guys already know where I am. It won’t matter if I use my bank account now.”
He looked at her for a moment and then said, “Sure. No problem.”
She went back inside the room and cupped Carson’s face in her hand. “I have to go, Carson. Remember that I love you.”
The corner of his mouth lifted as he strained to focus his eyes. “Love you too.” His eyelids drooped closed again.
She looked longingly at him, committing every detail of his face to memory, then glanced at the ranger. “Let’s go. We don’t have any time to waste.”
Jim picked up Aria’s diaper bag while she took the car seat. Before she could leave, though, she had to get the base of the car seat from Debra’s car. She stopped in Ken’s room and found her there.
Smiling, Haley said, “Debra, I’m going back to the ranch so Aria can get a good night’s sleep. Do you mind if I get the base to her car seat from you? Jim’s going to give me a ride.”
