Double the Trouble (Texas Trouble 3) (31 page)

A calf bolted toward the woods on the left side of the herd, and Karlie kneed her horse, grabbed her rope and took off after him.
  In just seconds she was beside him and dropped a loop over the calf's neck then jerked him to a halt.  The calf stumbled, then got back on his feet and she let him get his bearings, then turned her horse toward the herd and pulled the
rope in some, so s
he could guide
the calf
.  When she got back over by
Gabe
, she loosened the rope and she used her horse to nudge him back into the herd.

"That was impressive, darlin'.  I don't feel so bad for letting you knot me up on the side of the road anymore," he said with a wink, then chuckled.

Karlie snorted then asked him, "You're never going to let me live that down are you?"

"Not in this lifetime, baby...
and
I might have to show you
my
skills with a rope sometimes," he told her in a low seductive voice.

Karlie's face reddened and she told him with a grin,
"I'm sure there are
a lot of
things you could teach me, sugar
,"
then stretched her arms above her head and yawned.

"We're almost done
, so
we can
go back to my cabin and get some sleep
," he told her seeing they almost had the first of the cattle at the gate.  "
I'm telling Cole I'm taking off today.
  It's Friday, so
when we get up,
I thought maybe we could go out to the lake and do some fishing, if you like to fish, that is.
..
"

Excitement lit up her bright blue eyes and
Karlie
gave him that thousand watt smile that melted his knees.  "I loved to fish as a kid, but haven't had the chance to do it in years...that would be fun!"

"Cole
has a
house on the lake,
and
said I could use
it. 
I think it's free
this weekend
...
and
he has a boat out there," Gabe told her getting excited himself about spending some quality time
alone
with
her
.

Karlie let out a whoop and her horse shimmied, and the cattle ahead of them started moving faster through the gate, which was perfectly fine with him. 
When
the last one went through, the tired cowhand guarding the gate latched it.  Gabe looked down the fence row and saw that shiny new barbed war was strung between the poles, and the repairs were complete. 

Luke and Cole rode up to them and Luke told them, "Thanks for the help, ya'll...I thought they were going to scatter again when someone fired those damned shots earlier," he said then huffed out a frustrated breath.

Gabe piped in and said,
"Yeah, about that guys...." then
he hesitated and
looked at Cole
, before he finished,
"Right after the shots
were fired
, a truck pulled out of the woods on the other side of the road and headed straight at me, that's why my horse took off like she did."

"You get a description of it?  License plate?"
  Cole asked him with concern.

"No, but before I went on my wild ride, I did see the chrome grill of the truck..."

Karlie
groaned then
said rawly
, "Oh, god, no--tell me it wasn't Jake."

"I'm sorry honey, I saw the bul
l
and his name on the grill, it was him all right.
  I don't know if he was shooting at me, or just shooting to scare the cows, but it was definitely him.
"

Gabe glanced over at Cole and saw that he wasn't convinced, but he was listening, so he added, "It's him, Cole...and I don't think he'd have been out there in the wee hours of the morning if he wasn't the one to cut the fence too."

Cole nodded then asked him, "You got anything on him from the database yet?"

"No, there are over six thousand Jake Johnsons in
Central Texas
, so Karlie is going to try and help me narrow it down.  She's going to call the lawyers she's dealing with on Sarge, and see if they'll give her vitals on him...if that' doesn't work, she'd going to try the bank."

"Good idea...let me know if you find anything,"
Cole
told them, then added, "I'll see about putting
out
a
n alert
on the truck, even without the plate number, that grill should help."

Karlie yawned again, and Gabe said, "Let's go get some rest...we'll deal with this later."

"Wait a second..." Karlie said seriously, then told Luke, "I'm sorry about the fence, and the cattle, Luke...if it is Jake, this is my fault, I'll pay for the repairs."

"
Bullshit
, Karlie...that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.  How do you figure it's your fault that asshole cut my fence?"

"He wouldn't be out here bothering ya'll, if not for me," she told him in a tired and resigned voice.  "I think it would be better if I take some time off, until they catch him, get away from here so he'll leave you alone, but I know that'll
would
put
you
in a bind."

"Hell, no you're staying, and I'm too tired to talk about this garbage
now
.  Let's go get some rest and we'll talk later," Luke said then kicked his horse into a trot, then a
gallop
, without looking back.  Good, now Karlie had two people telling her how far off she was blaming herself for what Jake Johnson was doing.  Maybe she'd believe it now.

Luke had already untacked and stalled his horse, and gone in the house, when the rest of them finally reached the barn.  They did the same, then
everyone scattered
to go get some sleep
. 
Gabe k
ept Karlie with him
and Cole
,
helping
her to the new SUV Cole had driven them to the ranch in.  "My car's at the station, can you drop us off?" he asked Cole.

"Yeah, I need to stop there anyway and call Sabrina to make sure she's okay, and let her know I'm on my way."

"Hang on a sec and let me go get Sarge..." Gabe told him then ran inside the house and got the dog and his gear, then put him in the backseat with Karlie
, and the rest of her things in the trunk
.  On the drive to the station,
Karlie fe
l
l asleep on the back seat of the truck
, with Sarge on her lap.  When Cole pulled into his parking spot, Gabe got out and carried Karlie to his cruiser
then
put her in the front seat and belted her in,
before going
back
to get
Sarge and put him in the back.

The drive to his cabin
didn't take
long, and he pulled up in front when he got there,
then
shut off the engine. 
He got out and walked around the car
to Karlie's door, his hand was on the hadle
when he
noticed
his front door was open a crack
.  A
drenaline poured through
his body
and woke him up
. 
Opening the door, he reached under the seat for his backup weapon and checked it, the
n
nudged Karlie's shoulder
, and told her,
"Wake up, baby...we might have company."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Karlie
opened her eyes then when she got oriented, and evidently noticed the open door too, she gasped, and said in a whisper, "Oh, no Gabe--let's get the hell out of here."

"No fucking way--you get in the driver's seat and crank the car.  If anything goes down or you hear me yell, you haul ass to the police station, got it?"

Karlie's eyes got wide
and she nodded
, then she slid over on the seat and got behind the wheel
and
cranked the cruiser.  "Be careful," she
told him
with fear in her
eyes and
tone
, as she gripped the wheel so tight her knuckles turned white.

"I will, sugar, you just be alert,"
Gabe told her then noticed the big knobby truck tire tracks on his driveway.  There were two sets, one in and one out, so that made him feel a little better, but still he crept up on the porch
,
then put his back against the wall and yelled, "Police, come out with your hands up!" then waited a minute before he kicked the door the rest of the way open and crouched in the doorway with his gun sweeping the room.
 

He
stood back up then
walked through the living room and dining room to the kitchen flipp
ing
on lights as he went
,
then
he went
down the hall to the spare bedroom, and it was empty
, and he breathed a sigh of relief
.
When he went back into the hall, his relief fled when he saw h
is bedroom door was open a
crack.  Putting
his back against the wall
, Gabe edged h
is way there, then
pushed open the door and
pounced in the door
way
.
 

Glancing in
the closet, then looking under the bed
and seeing nothing,
he stood up again then heard a
deadly
sound like leaves rustling, right before
a
huge coiled snake struck out at him from the pillow on the bed.  Gabe dove then rolled and it missed him, but
the rattlesnake
was on the floor with him now and he scooted back
against the wall,
then
fired at it.  Thank god, he hit it and the shot tossed
the snake
back from him
.  He took aim and s
hot it again in the head and the thick snake went limp.

Gabe felt like he wanted to throw up
,
so many emotions
were pounding
through hi
m
, a
long with
enough adrenaline to keep an elephant up a month.
  He pushed up against the wall and stood, then Karlie came barreling into the room with a lamp base in her hands, ready to swing it. 

"
What the hell
?
" Gabe yelled, then scolded her, "
I told you to take off if you heard something!"
then
huffed out a breath, trying to calm himself down.

"Well, as you know I don't always do what I'm told," she spat, then looked down at the dead snake and let out a blood-curdling scream, he was sure they heard back in
Bowie
.

"It's dead, that's what the shots were...he was on the bed."

"Holy, shit, Gabe!  He could have bitten you!  Oh, god, I can't stay here if you have snakes," she told him with a shiver, then added, "Especially in the bed!"

"Someone put that snake there, darlin'," he told her grimly.

"You think it's Jake don't you?" she asked
him
in a choked voice.

"Yeah, there are big tire tracks out on the driveway, I don't drive a truck, and nobody has been here in one.
  This asshole is out of control,
"
Gabe said then ran a hand through his hair.

"I told you he's crazy...that's why I need to leave, so ya'll aren't in danger."

"That's not happening, sugar...you are staying with me, so I can protect you.  We're going to the
lake house
now,
but we're gonna
make damned sure he isn't following us.
  I don't have my land line hooked up yet, and my cell doesn't have service out here, so we'll have to ride to the station first to leave a message for Cole.
"

"I don't have any clothes with me...they're all at the Double B," Karlie said then walked closer to the snake to get a better look.  "Wow, he's a big one."

"Damned big...I bet Jake was scared shitless handling him to get him here.  I wish he'd have bit the sonofabitch, that would have served him right."

"
I hate to say it, because I don't wish anybody ill, but it s
ure would make me feel better, if he was out of commission for a while...or dead
,
"
Karlie told him then flinched.

"He's going to wind up that way if he ke
eps trying to hurt us...or in jail.  That's what I'd like to see happen.  Some of the bullies in there could teach
him
a lesson," Gabe said then walked to the bed and pulled off a pillow case, before he walked over and picked the snake up by t
he tail and dropped it inside. 

Holding it away from him, he said, "Let's go...I want to show this to Cole, but he'll probably just say it opened the door and crawled in here then up into the bed.  I don't know what his deal is, but he seems to doubt that Jake is behind all this."

"Well he better believe it, because this is the kind of crazy shit he does...that's why I'm so scared of him, you never know what to expect."

"Do me a favor and lock the door behind us, I'm going to put this sucker in the trunk," he told Karlie and she nodded, then he got the keys and dropped the pillow case in the trun
k, then go
t
in the driver's seat, and shoved his gun
back
under the seat.
  "Oh crap, I need to pack some clothes too," he said
as
Karlie sat in the passenger seat.  "I'll be right back
,
"
he told her then ran for the porch, through the door and to the bedroom. 

Gabe
grabbed a duffle bag from the top of the closet, then went to the dresser and threw in some t-shirts, shorts and jeans.  He needed his running shoes too, so he went to the closet
and reached down to get them, then something hit him in the arm and it felt like it was a hot iron poker
. 

He yelled and jerked back then saw
another big rattler, this one with his fangs embedded in his forearm. 
Grabbing him by the
tail
,
Gabe y
anked hard
and pulled him away
, which caused
excruciating pain to radiate up his arm
.
The snake hit the wall with a thwack
after
he threw it across the room,
then
ran for the door,
and
slammed it behind him.

Shock and fear shot through him, and h
is heart was racing
, and Gabe knew
knew he needed to calm down, so the poison didn't move into his system faster. 
Finding the lamp that
Karlie had
dropped in the hall
earlier,
he
yanked the cord off then tied it around his arm above the bite
, but not tourniquet tight
. 
He took
several deep breaths
,
then released them slowly, before he walked t
o the front door
and
outside.

The terror
coursing through him
must've been plain
on his face, because
Karlie flew out of the car and ran over to him.  Gabe tried to regulate his breathing, and use a calm voice,  when he told her,
"We need to get to a hospital now,"
but he fell short of the mark as pain  sliced through his rapidly swelling arm and he groaned. 

Karlie
followed him down the steps and over to the passenger door of the cruiser, and opened the door for him
.  He
reached into his pocket and
pulled out the keys and handed them to her, then sat down quickly as he got lightheaded.

"What happened
?
Y
ou killed it!" She said in a high-pitched wail.

"There was another one in the closet that I didn't see...let's go, sugar before I throw up."
  His face was starting to tingle, and he was feeling
nauseated
, whether from the bite or anxiety he didn't know,
and his arm hurt like hell. 

Karlie nodded then
ran around the car and
got behind the wheel
then
asked, "How the hell do I turn on the sirens and flashers?"

Gabe pointed them out
then
flipped a switch
making
the sirens
wa
il and red and blue lights reflect off of the hood of the cruiser.  Karlie twisted
the keys in the ignition, then
told him, "Put your seatbelt on, Gabe, and hold on
,
"
then threw the car in gear and hit the accelerator and spun the car toward the road.

It was thirty minutes or so to the hospital, and he thought she might make it in ten minutes,
as fast as Karlie was driving.  T
he trees at the side of the road were a blur
, as she leaned
over the wheel
giving her total focus to the road.
  Gabe's breathing felt funny, it felt like his chest was tight, and he put his right hand up there and rubbed.

She glanced ov
er at him, and asked in a
high-pithced,
fear choked voice,
"You okay, baby?"

"I think so, just
get us there, you're doing great,
" he told her then closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the seat.
  They hit the main road, and she got in the fast lane and hauled butt toward Henrietta. 
Gabe swallowed a couple of times trying to settle his stomach. 

"Hurry, sugar," he told her
after a minute
, although he knew she had the cruiser maxed out as it was.
His arm was starting to tingle
now a
bove the cord, and his head felt strange.

Karlie whimpered
then glanced at him, and the
car swerved
,
before she looked back at the road and stabilized
it
.  Okay, no matter what, he was not going to groan, even though the pain in his arm was getting pretty near cut me open with a hot knife territory
, and his mouth tasted weird, like he was sucking on copper or something
.  She needed to focus, and he needed to suck it up.  They'd be at he hospital soon.  Gabe shut his eyes again and
gritted his teeth.

"Open your eyes, Gabe...don't go to sleep on me," she told him and changed lanes to move around a slow car that didn't yield to the sirens.
  He opened them and looked over at her pale face.

"You're doing great, baby...we're almost there," he reassure
d her
and himself
again
,
then
gagged and swallowed,
before he
sucked in a deep breath.

Karlie took the pot-holed road leading to the hospital entrance almost on two wheels
.  She
didn't slow down going over the bumps either, which caused his arm to jostle around and made him want to wail.  Determined not to upset her, he held his arm to his chest and stifled it.  She
laid on the brakes hard
under the canopy by the Emergency
R
oom
and skidded to a stop
,
slamming him against the seatbelt, then
flew out of the car and inside.  A minute later, two nurses ran out pushing a gurney and helped him out of the car and onto the stretcher.