At the Crossroads (Buckhorn, Montana #3)(23)

She noticed that he was staring at Culhane as if seeing a ghost. She watched Bobby start to raise his gun. Her gaze flew to Culhane, afraid he hadn’t noticed. But his gaze was also locked on Bobby. When she looked at Bobby again, she saw that his eyes were wide. A single word left his mouth—“Cop!”—but the sound was lost in the racket.

Shifting from feeling like everyone was moving in slow motion, suddenly everything was happening too fast. She could see Gene struggling as he stumbled backward into Bobby. He had his arm still locked around Tina’s throat and his gun in his hand, but his gaze was on the knife protruding from his stomach. She could tell he wanted to pull it out, but that would mean letting go of Tina or his gun.

Had he done either, Alexis would have gone for her weapon—and she knew Culhane would have, too.

“Eric!” Gene yelled, but the man didn’t move. He was staring at Alexis as he had been. She’d done her best to ignore him, not wanting to make eye contact. But all the time, she’d had her hand on the grip of her gun.

If he took even one step toward her, she would pull the gun and shoot him.

“Eric!” Gene yelled again, sounding angrier and in even more pain.

Either Eric didn’t hear him or he ignored him, because he didn’t move nor did he take his eyes off her.

CULHANE WAS TRYING to watch everything that was going on. But he hadn’t forgotten Eric. Far from it. Like Alexis, he was waiting for the man to make his move. He’d already decided that he’d take out Eric and then Gene as quickly as he could.

The problem would be the fact that Gene was using Tina like a shield. Then there was Bobby. Culhane needed him alive. When the shooting started, Bobby would drop the food under his arm and fire his weapon. Culhane had no doubt where Bobby would point it. The same place he had it pointed right now—right at Culhane’s heart.

It was the kind of crapshoot that Culhane hated. If any of the men got a chance to fire before they died...

Gene pushed through the front door, dragging Tina with him and forcing Bobby out on the sidewalk. Culhane saw that the man’s eyes were wild with pain and fury. Dried leaves whirled around them as the wind blew down the main drag. “I’ll kill her,” Gene was yelling. “Eric! Come on, damn it. Now!”

Culhane saw Bobby rush to put the food onto the floorboard of the passenger side. “The knife!” Gene was screaming. “Get the knife.”

Bobby seemed to grimace as he stepped to Gene and pulled the knife out of his gut, quickly dropping the blade on the ground, before running around to climb behind the wheel. It didn’t appear he planned to wait for Eric.

Even from where he stood, Culhane could see that Gene was bleeding profusely from his wound as he wrestled a kicking-and-screaming Tina. He opened the van’s side door and shoved her into the back, only to have her lunge at him. He caught her with a right hook, and she disappeared from view. The van door closed. Staggering, Gene opened the passenger-side door as Bobby started the engine. Culhane could see him wincing in pain, his shirt soaked in blood as he tried to stop the flow with one hand.

Eric still hadn’t moved, even though Gene was screaming obscenities for him to come out. Culhane had known it was only a matter of time before Eric moved—just not to leave. The man lunged for Alexis, wanting her more than he was afraid of Gene.

“Over my dead body,” Culhane said under his breath. Next to him, he knew Alexis wasn’t having it, either. Her hand was under her jacket, making it appear that she was hugging herself. But he knew her grip was on the gun she was about to use.

Culhane pulled his weapon and fired it into the side of Eric’s head as he reached for her. The man dropped like a gunnysack of rocks at Alexis’s feet. She had her weapon out as well.

The two shared a look and, without a word, rushed to the front door. But the van was already roaring away, Gene in the passenger seat, Bobby behind the wheel. There was no sign of Tina in the back. On the ground next to where the van had been lay the bloody knife.

Culhane turned back to the carnage in the café. Earl Ray was on the floor holding Bessie. “You’re going to be all right,” he was saying as he held his wadded up jacket to her wound. “Lars, get a cell phone!” Lars was sitting up looking dazed, but he struggled to his feet. “Call 9-1-1 for an ambulance.”

“What about Tina?” Lars cried. “We have to go after her.”

Vi had gathered her wits and rushed across the room to slap Shirley and take her granddaughter. She now wept in the corner of the booth as she rocked the baby.

“I’m going after her,” Culhane said from the doorway as he took his phone from the basket Lars held out to him. He saw Alexis’s phone and handed it to her.

Earl Ray turned to look at him and nodded. “Thank you, Culhane.”

He was only a little surprised that Earl Ray knew who he was. Which meant that the man also knew that the law was already after him. He moved to where Earl Ray was holding Bessie. He saw the worry in the older man’s gaze. “How is she?” he asked.

“The bullet appears to have gone all the way through,” Earl Ray said. “I don’t think it hit any internal organs. An ambulance is on the way. So is the sheriff.” With his last words, he met Culhane’s gaze. “You need to get out of here. I assume you’re going with him?” he said, turning to Alexis.

“I’m Alexis Brand, a former detective, now a bounty hunter.”