Texas Outlaw (Rory Yates #2)(44)

“As of this moment, you’re on paid leave,” he says. “I need your badge and your gun. And I’m going to put a patrol officer outside your house to make sure you don’t try to run.”

“You’re putting me on house arrest?”

“Not officially,” Harris says. “I’d need a court order for that. But effectively speaking, yes. I don’t want you leaving this house. If you so much as set one foot out your door, I’ll have you arrested, and you’ll stay in our little jail until we get all this sorted out. Understand me?”

She unfastens her holster from her belt. Then she pulls out her badge. She stares at the gun and the badge—her hands trembling, her eyes brimming with tears—and hands them over to the chief.

“As of this moment,” Harris says to Ariana, “you’re no longer a cop.”

Which means, as of this moment, I’m on my own to find out who killed Susan Snyder and Skip Barnes.





Part Two





Chapter 57



GARETH McCORMACK STARES through the M24’s riflescope at his target. He slows his breathing, gets his heart rate under control. His body is completely still. The only movement is his right finger, slowly squeezing the trigger.

The rifle kicks against his shoulder. Fire spits from the barrel. A second later, the bullet zips through a milk jug one thousand yards away and plunges into the mound of dirt acting as the backstop for the range. Milk glugs out of the punctured jug like white blood.

“Good shot, Son,” Carson says, sitting next to Gareth with binoculars.

Gareth sits up and says, “It’s just not as much fun when you’re not shooting at a living thing.”

The sun is setting to the west, spectacular and red.

Before Gareth loads another round into his M24, he notices his phone buzzing. When he answers, he listens more than he speaks. It’s his source from town—one of them—filling him in on the latest.

When he hangs up, he packs a can of Skoal against his palm and puts a plug of snuff into his lip before talking.

“Everything’s working out,” he says to his father, then spits tobacco juice into an empty Dr Pepper can.

Carson sits back and props his python-skin boots up on an empty chair. He notices a clump of mud on the bottom of the boots and takes out a pocket knife to pry it off.

“Let’s not underestimate the Rangers,” Carson says.

Gareth laughs. “That Rory Yates. He ain’t nothing.”

“I’m not talking about Yates,” Carson says. “I’m talking about the whole Texas Ranger Division. We need to get rid of Yates and make sure no one else comes snooping around.” He folds his pocket knife and slides it into the breast pocket of his shirt. “Or if they do send another Ranger, we need it to be someone who will wrap things up quick.”

“No shit,” Gareth says.

If it was as simple as getting rid of Yates, Gareth would just kill him. But killing a Texas Ranger would only bring more Texas Rangers, so their plan requires nuance.

There is some tension between father and son. They haven’t quite been on the same page about how to handle their latest problems. They disagreed about how precarious their situation was, how much of a threat Rory Yates actually was. Gareth was the confident one, sure that everything would work out in their favor. Carson was more cautious, giving the Rangers more credit than Gareth thought they deserved.

He wanted his father to trust him in this situation. His father knew about the business side of things—the laws of supply and demand, how to cut costs and make a profit, when to abandon one business model and start another. That’s where Gareth thought the old man should keep his attention focused. As for these new developments, Gareth knows how to handle them. He’s been in war zones before.

The brilliant crimson clouds above the horizon, like cotton balls soaked in blood, begin to fade and become a subdued purple.

The clouds look a little like brains, Gareth thinks.

Skip Barnes’s brains.

He can’t help but smile. His father doesn’t notice—his eyes are fixed on the horizon as well.

They hear the whine of an ATV approaching, then parking on the other side of the nearby copse of woods. A few seconds later, Dale Peters comes walking up the path.

“Howdy,” he says, adjusting his ball cap on his head. “Y’all wanted to see me?”

Gareth can tell Dale is nervous. He’s acting like his normal, good-humored self, but it’s a show. He has a tremble in his voice. He can’t quite keep his hands still.

“We wanted to call you here to thank you,” Carson McCormack says to Dale.

Dale can’t hide his relief. “What for?”

“Wearing the recording device the last time you hung out with that Texas Ranger.”

“Oh,” Dale says. “No problem. I never would have gone and played with him in the first place if I thought he was going to poke around in your business. Walt and I was just looking for someone new to play with since Charlie left town.”

Carson says he is glad that Dale has become friends with Rory. That way he can do a little spying for them.

“I didn’t expect him to ask me about y’all,” Dale says. “That’s why I told him all that about Alex Hartley. Throw him a bone, you know, send him off sniffing somewhere else.”