Lawman's Perfect Surrender (23 page)

“What if I could?” he asked.

Bo searched for a bluff. He wouldn’t see any signs of one.

“You can’t prove anything.”

“The murders are stacking up,” Ford said. “And they have a few things in common.”

“What’s that?”

“I think you already know the answer to that.”

Once again, Bo engaged in a stare-down with Ford.

Bo became uncertain now. “What have you got, Ford?”

“Michael, the technician. Jed. And Felix. And that poor man who had the misfortune of living too close to the location where Felix’s body was found. All of them were knocked unconscious before they were hanged. I hope you didn’t have anything to do with that.”

Bo’s uncertainty vanished. “You don’t have anything. If you did, you’d have already made the arrests. I know you better than you think I do. You’re a lawman first. Arrest Gemma. Do it and you can keep your job.” He glanced over at Alan and gave a nod. Alan reluctantly turned with the silent command and left the coffee shop.

“I’m not arresting her.” Ford stepped close to Bo. “And you don’t have to hold my job over my head. I quit.” Bumping his ex-boss’s shoulder as he passed, he left the coffee shop and strode to his SUV. He had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling. He never should have left Gemma alone.

Driving away from the coffee shop, he got about three blocks before two other Escalades appeared behind him. He cursed and floored the SUV. He had to get to Gemma before they did.

* * *

Gemma paced from her living room to the kitchen. Each time she did, she saw the newspaper. She didn’t get the paper delivered. Someone had dropped it outside her door after Ford had left. Someone who’d wanted her to see it.

Where was Ford? Would she be arrested for Jed’s murder? Imagining herself in prison, she felt chilled and bloodless.

Someone rang her doorbell, giving her a jolt. Would Ford ring it? Or would he walk right in?

She went to the peephole.

Bo Fargo and another man stood there. He looked familiar. Samuel’s second in command, Wade Herrington. She breathed faster with foreboding.

“Oh, God,” she whispered.

“Gemma Johnson?” Bo called. “Open up.”

Stepping back from the door, she turned in a circle. What should she do? Should she run to her car and try to escape? Should she call Ford?

The door was bashed in.

Gemma screamed as Wade and Bo stepped over splintered wood. She turned to run for her back door, but Wade caught her, taking hold of her arm and roughly hauling her back against him.

Bo approached with handcuffs.

“No!” she protested.

“You’re under arrest for the murder of Jed Johnson.” He clasped one side of the cuffs to her wrist and Wade forced her to turn as he secured the other behind her back.

Dizzy with fear, Gemma barely heard as he recited her rights.

Wade left her house ahead of them and Bo pushed her forward to follow.

“What are you doing?” Gemma struggled against Bo when he grasped her.

Wade opened the back of a black Audi. Why wasn’t it a real police car? This didn’t feel right.

Bo put his hand on the top of her head and forced her into the back seat. After he got in the front seat, Wade began driving toward town.

“You won’t get away with this.” She frantically searched for signs of Ford’s Escalade.
Where was he?

“No, I believe you’re the one who isn’t going to get away with something,” Bo said. “You killed your ex-husband.”

Eerily, Wade didn’t say anything. Only his creepy light gray eyes shifted to the rearview mirror every once in a while.

“That’s not true. You’re only doing this because I refused to join Samuel’s cult!”

“There’s no cult in Cold Plains, Gemma. Only peace-loving people. People like you just don’t belong here. You had us all fooled, didn’t you?”

“You’re crazy! Ford will prove I’m innocent.”

Bo chuckled and Wade looked at her again. What was he doing with Bo anyway? Making sure he did Samuel’s bidding?

Wade pulled to a stop in front of the police station.

“I’ll take it from here,” Bo said to him. “Tell Samuel everything’s under control.”

The tall, Lurch look-alike gave a nod and Bo climbed out of the Audi. Opening the back door, he grabbed Gemma’s arm and slid her to the edge of the seat. She stumbled out of the car, Bo steadying her.

The Audi drove away. A man in a suit left the building and a car backed out of a parking space. Other than that, it was quiet. The man in the suit glanced at them and went on his way.

Bo forced her into the police station, down familiar hallways and then to a not-so-familiar stairway. At the bottom, he took her to a row of cells and stopped at one of them.

“Please don’t lock me in there.” She couldn’t control her fear. If Ford couldn’t save her, what would happen to her?

Removing her cuffs, he said, “It didn’t have to be this way, you know. Samuel was very fond of you. He had such hopes for you. It isn’t often a woman like you comes along, someone who seems so together. So willing to improve. You’ve disappointed him beyond recovery.”

“You’re arresting me for something I didn’t do!”

“Alert the media.” Chuckling, he shoved her into the cell and slammed the door closed.

She fell against the cot and pushed back to her feet, gripping the bars. “You can’t keep me in here!” She searched the other cells. They were all empty. “I’m supposed to get a call!”

Bo kept walking away.

“Hey!”

“You won’t have long to wait, dear Gemma.”

Wait for what? Would she be brought to the community center, taken to that secret place she’d only heard about until now? Is that where she’d disappear? Would Samuel arrange to have her killed? Or would Bo have her prosecuted for murder and send her off to prison?

Backing away from the bars, she put her hand on her stomach. She hated the thought of having a baby in prison. Would Samuel kill her if he knew she was pregnant? He didn’t like Ford. Maybe that wouldn’t matter.

Trembling, sick to her stomach, Gemma sat on the cot and hugged her knees. All she could do now was wait. And hope Ford would come and get her.

Ford.

Would he come for her?

* * *

When Ford reached the outskirts of town, he began to worry. He’d been unable to lose the two Escalades behind him. Alan and the other henchmen were good.

Suddenly the first Escalade closed ground on him. Kept coming. Ford sped up. So did the other Escalade, the second one close behind. The first one ran into his bumper. The other drove up beside him. Ford yanked his wheel, ramming the other SUV and sending it veering off to the left. Ford pulled his cell phone out to call Hawk. The SUV behind him ran into his bumper again. Dropping his phone, he fought to stay in control. He swerved and straightened, but not in time to deflect the second SUV as it rammed into him. He swerved again and went off the road.

The other two SUVs cornered him. He had nowhere to go. Climbing out of the driver’s seat, he pulled his gun just as one of the other men appeared and hit him in the head.

Ford blocked the next strike and got in a few punches of his own. The man fell to the ground. But there were three others who now surrounded him.

He tried to aim his gun but one of them kicked his wrist while another slugged his sternum. He dropped his gun and swung his feet and fists, blocking as many attacks as he could. He was outnumbered. He knew he was in trouble when he began to black out.

Chapter 13

W
hen Ford regained consciousness, he grew aware of movement. He was in a vehicle. The back of an Escalade. His Escalade. Rising up, he peered over the top of the back seat and saw a single driver. Alan.

Blood dripping from an open cut on his forehead caused him some worry. His ribs hurt. His head hurt. He was in bad shape. Those lackeys must have really gone the rounds with him after he’d lost consciousness. He wasn’t even sure he had the strength to get out of his current situation.

The SUV stopped but Alan left it running. Ford waited until he came around to the back and opened it. Then he used both his legs to kick the man, ramming both feet to his middle. With a grunt of surprise and pain, Alan stumbled back.

Ford groaned as he climbed out of the SUV. Alan advanced for an attack. Blocking his punch with a forearm, Ford swung in low with his other arm to slam his fist against his sternum. As Alan staggered, Ford used his legs again, kicking high to knock the man’s chin backward. Alan collapsed to the ground. Ford bent over him and pulled out the gun sticking out of his pants.

Blood ran down his head and he couldn’t take very deep breaths. Alan must have noticed. He grabbed hold of his hand and tried to wrestle the gun from him. Ford fired and the man slumped.

Hunched over from pain, Ford saw that he was in the mountains at a pull-off on a sharp curve in the road where a cliff dropped down to a canyon. Had Bo tried to make Alan drive him over a cliff or would Alan have just thrown him over? If he hadn’t regained consciousness in time…

Gemma.

More than physical pain gripped him as he stumbled toward the Escalade. He was such a fool. He should never have left her alone. No doubt Bo had arrested her. She’d have to wait for him in jail. He just hoped he could reach her in time before Grayson decided to do something else with her, other than accuse her of a murder she didn’t commit.

Tripping over his own feet, Ford sank to his knees beside the Escalade. He needed to find Hawk Bledsoe. Since he’d missed their meeting, he didn’t even know what the agent had for him. He hoped it was what he’d been waiting for, his secret ace. But he was no good to anyone like this.

Using the side of the SUV, he rose to his feet and made his way to the driver’s door. He sat in the driver’s seat, dropping the gun in his lap, and struggling to catch his breath. He needed help.

Pregnant. Gemma was pregnant. It slammed him now in the same way it had when she’d told him.

Leaning his head back, he felt the day he’d lost his wife push past the wall he’d kept sturdy and impenetrable until now. The day the doctors couldn’t save his unborn baby. They’d gone to the hospital after she’d begun to have contractions. Everything fell apart from there. She’d developed an aneurysm and the doctors hadn’t been able to save the baby in time. The unthinkable had happened: he’d gone from having a wife and a baby on the way to nothing.

The doctor had emerged from the operating room, blood on his gown.

I’m sorry to have to tell you this…

Incomprehensible agony gripped him. He felt it now as clearly as though it were happening all over again. Happiness ripped from his chest. A future he had yearned to experience, taken from him.

For weeks he’d gone through life just existing, drowning in grief so great he sometimes wondered if he’d be better off dead. He would never have gotten her pregnant if he’d known it would kill her. And the baby. It was bad enough to have lost her. Why did he have to lose them both?

Anger had spared him. Anger had cleansed the grief. He’d lost his family to murder and a wife to childbirth. Why?

He realized then that Gemma had been the first woman he hadn’t been vigilant with when it came to birth control. The chemistry was so explosive with her, he could see now that it had been easy for him to turn a blind eye. He’d reassured himself that she surely was on the Pill, or something. He was sure she’d have mentioned something to him. But after that first time he’d known, deep down, that it was different with her.

Amazingly, there was still a part of him that yearned to have a family again. He hadn’t given up. As painful as it was to risk losing another person he loved, Gemma was going to be worth it. He loved her. Like the first time they’d had sex, that love had emerged unexpectedly. Instantly.

She’d been right when she’d said he was afraid. But not anymore. He hoped it wasn’t too late.

Hearing a car approach, he didn’t put the Escalade into gear. He couldn’t see very well and he felt as though he’d black out. He needed more time to regain his strength and equilibrium. If more of Grayson’s men were coming for him, he was in trouble.

A car pulled up next to him. He blinked but couldn’t see clearly. A man got out and started to walk toward him.

Ford picked up the gun from his lap just as the man appeared beside the window. It was Hawk, tall and muscular, dark blond hair waving in a breeze and brown eyes hidden by sunglasses.

“I’m glad you left your cell phone on.” Hawk opened the door and helped Ford to the other side, belting him in and then hurrying to the driver’s side. Then he raced the Escalade back toward Cold Plains.

“When you didn’t show up at our meeting place, I knew something had gone wrong.”

“They arrested Gemma. I tried to stop them.”

“I know. But they won’t be able to keep her.” With one hand on the wheel, Hawk dug into his suit-jacket pocket and handed over a CD inside a clear plastic case. The CD wasn’t marked but Ford didn’t need it to be. He knew what it was.

He took the CD from Hawk. “Take me to the station.”

“You need a doctor first. Gemma is fine. I checked on her. She’s in a jail cell and nobody’s going to move her.”

Ford didn’t ask how he’d checked on her. Hawk no doubt had other contacts inside the police department. “Take me to Rafe Black. I don’t trust anyone else.” Ford shut his eyes as Hawk made a call and told Darcy Craven he was bringing a banged up Ford McCall for an emergency visit. Darcy was the receptionist there, and Rafe’s fiancée.

When he disconnected, Hawk asked, “Have you talked to the hotel desk clerk?”

“No. I haven’t had a chance. How’d you know about that?”

“I saw the paper. It’s a lie.”

The man didn’t miss much and Ford couldn’t be more grateful.

Hawk screeched to a halt in front of Rafe Black’s office, an old bungalow-style building set in a tree-lined parking lot with a few stairs leading to the entrance. Ford opened his door and Hawk came around to help him. He began to guide him toward the stairs, but Ford stopped and stepped away from his support.