Rules of Protection(98)

“About time you two got here,” Jake said as Hank lowered his weapon. “I told you to hurry. What’d y’all do…stop for a sandwich?”

“Jesus,” Ox said, looking at the two dead bodies on the ground. “Are those the mob guys?”

Jake confirmed with a nod. “Used to be.”

“We saw Hank’s truck parked on the road next to a black sedan we didn’t recognize. Must’ve been their car, huh?” Judd said. “Guess you all walked in on foot.”

“Yeah,” Jake said. “But I don’t know if there’s anyone else with them. You two go check the property. Shoot anyone who doesn’t belong here.”

“Where’s Cowboy?” Ox asked.

Everyone looked back, realizing I still hadn’t answered yet. My lips trembled. “H-he’s out by the pond, but—”

“You boys go get him,” Hank said, rising to leave. “I’ll check the property and find Floss.”

“Hank, she’s armed. Let her know it’s you or she’ll shoot you at a hundred yards.”

Hank got up and set out for the door. Judd and Ox turned to go out as well. “Hold on…I need to tell you…guys, wait.” They ignored me and kept walking. “Cowboy’s been shot in the head!” I yelled to get their attention.

All three stopped in their tracks simultaneously, and Jake’s head snapped toward me.

“I don’t know if he’s…alive,” I said, my voice strained.

…

The driveway overflowed with vehicles and flashing red and blue lights beamed into the nearby pasture. It only spooked the horses more and had the birds on the property squawking. All of Hank’s neighbors and friends came out to offer assistance as soon as word got out about the intruders.

The sheriff and his three deputies had been on the scene, but because the coroner had already arrived and the immediate danger was over, they’d left on another call. It didn’t matter since they’d already taken our statements.

Two ambulances from the tri-county area remained. Floss was in one of them, given a drooling and sleep-inducing dose of painkiller. We sat in the other with Jake’s arm in a sling while listening to Ox and Judd tease Cowboy mercilessly.

“Is it Halloween?” Judd asked, looking at Cowboy’s mummified condition. “Or did someone toilet paper your noggin?”

“Well, let’s not split any hairs,” Ox said, grinning from ear to ear.

Cowboy shook his head, then winced because of it. “You guys suck, you know that?”

Looking at his bandaged head, I cringed. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”

“Aw, shit, darlin’, you’ve got to quit apologizing,” Cowboy said. “It wasn’t your fault. Besides, now we get to compare the size of our bullet holes.”

Hank walked up. “You don’t have a bullet hole, you numbskull. All you have is a scuffmark on the side of your head. Floss has a worse injury than you.”

It was the first smirk I’d seen on Jake’s face all night. “If you’re that bad off, Cowboy, we could take you out back and throw you over the fence.”

“For what?” Cowboy asked.

Jake shrugged. “Buzzards got to eat, too.”

I winced as a memory flashed through my mind of me sitting beside Dog, stroking his bloody fur as we waited for help to arrive. Jake must’ve felt my body tense and read my mind.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered into my ear. “Junior’s taking care of Dog like he promised. The paramedics checked him out and said the bullet missed his vital organs. It was a clean exit wound and Junior’s loading him into his truck right now to take him to the animal hospital. Dog’s going to be fine. ”

Before I could respond, Hank stepped away from the ambulance, his interest drawn to the driveway. “Who’s this?” he asked.

We all piled from the back of the vehicle, watching as a convoy of three government vehicles parked nearby. Jake and I exchanged worried looks. Six men stepped out, all dressed in dark blue suits, but I only recognized one of them.

Director Harvey Brockway observed Jake’s friends suspiciously, as did the other five agents. I figured it was probably because they all still held an arsenal of weapons. He scoped out the situation and approached, obviously uncomfortable with the grossly over-armed civilians.

“Agent Ward,” Brockway said, nodding to Jake.

Jake didn’t look happy to see him. “Director.”

Brockway looked directly at me. “Miss Foster, I’ve come to take you into protective custody.”

Jake didn’t give me a chance to say anything. “No,” he said to the director. “She’s already being protected.”

“Yes, apparently by a cavalry of armed citizens,” Brockway said with disgust. “Ward, don’t make this any harder than it has to be. You’re already under investigation as it is. Last thing you need is to cause more problems for yourself.”

“But she’s—”

“Jake, it’s okay,” I said, not wanting him to get in any more trouble than he was already. “We’ll get this straightened out after we all get checked out at the hospital. Right, Director Brockway?”

I hoped it would buy us more time together and give me a chance to figure out how to get Jake out of trouble.