On Her Father's Grave (Rogue River #1)(28)

“Are you certain?” Stevie asked, an odd look on her face. “Have you looked recently? He have any chemicals?”

Confusion wrinkled Loretta’s forehead. “Chemicals? Like for killing weeds? He doesn’t have any of that. There’s fertilizer, I know. I was in there a few weeks ago looking for a shovel.”

“You didn’t see anything odd?” Zane asked. Clearly Stevie was worried there was some sort of drug lab in the shed. No surprise considering what she’d been through in LA.

Loretta shook her head.

Zane studied the space between the house and the barn. Was Ted still in there? “Any trails into the woods?”

“Tons,” offered Russ.

Damn it.

Zane weighed his options. Call and wait for county backup? The crack of a shot from outdoors made the four of them duck to the floor. An answering shot rang from outside the front of the house. Footsteps pounded on the front porch, and Carter announced himself before crashing open the door.

“Zane! He’s still in the barn. He just took a shot at the ambulance!” Carter’s gaze locked on the group. “They got Kenny loaded up and were leaving when the shot hit the ambulance. I fired back. Looked like he was shooting from behind the barn door.”

Zane made up his mind. He called and asked Sheila to contact Rogue County sheriff dispatch and request support. It could be twenty minutes to an hour before they got any help, depending on where the closest units were currently patrolling.

He wasn’t going to wait. Their prey was cornered.



Stevie listened as Zane outlined their plan, agreeing with his logic. Adrenaline coursed through her muscles, but she felt eerily calm and focused. Her training had kicked into gear, and her head was right where she needed it to be.

Zane opened the door and hollered, “Ted! We need you to lay your gun down and come out!”

A curse answered him from the shed.

Stevie grinned at Carter. Ted was in a building with only two exits, if you counted the window at the back. He had the choice to walk out or wait for them to come in.

“Kenny is going to be all right!” Zane yelled. “He’s not dead. So you haven’t killed anyone yet! Don’t make the situation any worse than it is.”

“Kenny didn’t look good,” Carter whispered to Stevie. “He wasn’t talking anymore when the ambulance guys got there.”

Stevie nodded at him. She couldn’t think about Kenny right now. All her focus had to be on getting Ted out of the barn safely.

“Go to hell!” was Ted’s reply.

“I’ll ask you again to put down the gun and come out. That way I can tell the judge you cooperated.”

No answer.

“Now what?” Carter asked. The young cop couldn’t hold still, making Stevie want to smack him in the head for distracting her.

“We show him he has a choice,” she whispered back. “Let him think it’s not the end of the world. That worse things could happen if he doesn’t come out. Make him feel like he’s making the decision.”

“We can’t just sit here,” Carter protested.

“We will for a while. We have to give negotiation a chance.”

Noise from an explosion made her lose her balance and topple into Carter. They scrambled apart and rushed to the glass door behind Zane.

“Holy shit,” Carter gasped.

A side of the barn had blown out and flames covered the back barn wall and part of its roof.

What did Ted do?

Stevie pointed at Russ. “Call 911 and get the fire department out here.” The boy nodded and grabbed for the old phone on the wall. She met Zane’s gaze. “Ready?” Their plan to arrest had just turned into a possible rescue.

He nodded and she and Carter followed him out the side door, focus and weapons trained on the dark smoke and bright flames billowing from the shed. Stevie felt the heat toast her face.

How close could they get?

Zane called Ted’s name again. They broke apart. Zane moved toward the rear of the barn, and she and Carter moved around the front. The door hung open, flapping in the breeze caused by the flames rapidly consuming the dry old wood. Destruction quickly ate its way up to the roof.

“No one could survive in that!” Carter shouted over the sounds of the fire.

Stevie agreed. Either Ted was roasting or he’d sneaked out—

Her hand exploded with pain as a shot sounded over the roar of the fire.

She dropped her gun and stared at her left hand, faintly aware of Carter shouting at her.

I’m bleeding . . . what is the white stuff in my hand?

Zane appeared and grabbed her left hand and yanked it above her head. She stared at his close face, sweat and soot dotting his skin. His mouth moved, but his words didn’t penetrate the fog in her brain. He pushed her backward toward the house, her feet tripping over the gravel and dirt.

She blinked as sounds started to organize into words and make sense.

“Stevie! Look at me!”

Instead she stared past him, at Ted Warner twenty feet away, near the woods with the rifle at his shoulder, his aim directed at Zane’s back. She opened her mouth to scream.

Zane yanked both of them to the right, hurtling toward the ground. The impact knocked Stevie’s breath away, and her hand screamed in agony as it hit the ground and another gunshot roared in the yard. In one swift move, Zane pulled to a knee and fired at the figure on the edge of the woods.