Which was why Stuart was driving up into the mountains alone tonight in a borrowed pickup. He’d brought plenty of firepower but hoped he wouldn’t have to use it. If he could depend on Holden to just make the trade and not try to stop the kidnapper...
He knew that wasn’t in the cards. Holden McKenna was determined to make the kidnapper pay with his life—even if it meant risking his own, not to mention Holly Jo’s. Stuart hated the thought that Holden was meeting Darius Reed. He told himself the rancher could be wrong about who was waiting for him. Hopefully it would be someone not as criminally cutthroat as Reed.
The sheriff took a breath and let it out slowly. He needed to be the calm, levelheaded one with the single purpose of getting Holly Jo back safely with as little bloodshed as possible.
He took a road to the west a few miles from the turnoff to Suicide Pass. The last thing he wanted was for Holden to know what he was up to. He hadn’t gone far when he saw the old mine road. It looked like a Jeep trail. He turned onto it and started back into the mountains. Suicide Pass was above him like a dark, ominous shadow hanging over him. He knew how dangerous this was. If his presence tonight fouled the ransom drop or, worse, got Holly Jo killed, Holden would shoot him. That was if the kidnapper didn’t.
But it was another reason he hadn’t brought a deputy or two. If this didn’t work, he had only himself to blame. He didn’t want to get his men killed as well.
There was no moon tonight, the stars feeling distant because of the low cloud cover. He looked up toward the rough outline of the mountain against the slightly less dark sky. He saw no lights. Holden should be making his way up the mountain, though his headlights were not visible from below.
He knew he couldn’t go much farther up the mine road without his headlights being seen. After parking, he grabbed his shotgun. He already had his sidearm loaded in his holster. He shoved a couple more shotgun shells into his jacket pocket and set off on foot—just as he’d known he would have to.
The climb was long and rugged. Normally he kept in good shape, but his near-death experience and time in the hospital months ago had left him feeling weak and out of shape. As he scaled the rough terrain of the mountainside, he thought about all the things that could go wrong. What if he miscalculated the spot where the kidnapper would be waiting for Holden? Or got there too late?
He pushed himself and was breathing hard when he heard the labored sound of a vehicle engine. Holden’s SUV. He couldn’t see any headlights since he was still below the road, but he could hear the SUV’s approach. He angled up the mountainside, trying to get ahead of the rancher.
Even over his labored breathing, Stuart heard the SUV halt, the motor idling. He’d been right. Holden had stopped just short of the top. The kidnapper must be waiting a dozen yards ahead of him. Stuart scrambled toward the road above him, telling himself that the kidnapper would have parked near the wide spot.
The sheriff planned to climb up on the road on the backside of the kidnapper’s vehicle. Holden’s SUV would be a little farther down the road. With luck, neither man would see him.
HOLDEN’S HEADLIGHTS ILLUMINATED the man standing in the middle of the road. Darius Reed was smaller than he remembered. He’d aged, just as the rest of them had, but he looked older than his years. He also looked more dangerous with a gun dangling at his side.
Behind him was an older-model white pickup parked against the side of the mountain away from the drop-off. It was the spot he and Constance had parked that night. He hadn’t been up here since.
He fought the urge to hit the gas, run Darius down and take the chance that the man couldn’t get a lethal shot off before his body met the SUV’s bumper. But from this distance, he feared the man might be able to dive out of the way before he could hit him. Same with firing his weapon. Worse, it might risk Holly Jo’s life further.
Holden whirred down his window and yelled out, “Where’s Holly Jo?”
“Where’s the money?” Darius called back.
He reached over and picked up one of the briefcases from the passenger-side floorboard. He held it out the open window and dropped it on the ground next to the SUV. The metal briefcase nearly went over the edge of the road to careen down the mountainside.
“Bring it to me.”
Holden had to bite his tongue to keep from saying what he was thinking. “Not until I see the girl,” he yelled back. “The next briefcase full of money I will throw over the side of this mountain if I don’t see Holly Jo. Now!”
The man hesitated. “She’s in the truck. Once I see the money and you admit what you did and apologize to my face, we can make the trade.”
Sure, that was going to happen. Was Holly Jo waiting in the man’s truck? Holden wouldn’t bet his life on it. “We both know what I did. What’s the point of me apologizing to you?”
“Are you serious? After what you did to my sister? Constance deserved better. You ruined her life that night on this mountain, and you know it. She was never the same after she lost your son—the one you refused to claim. Worse, you insulted her, throwing your daddy’s money at her.”
Weeks after his night together with Constance on this mountain, when she and her brother had contacted the ranch to tell him she was pregnant, she’d made the mistake of going to his father for help. Of course his old man’s answer was always to either throw money at the problem or use force if necessary to make it go away.
“You’re not marrying that Reed girl, so don’t even think about it,” his father had told him after sending Darius running for his life from a few ranch hands and paying off Constance. “I won’t let one mistake ruin your life. It’s taken care of. They won’t be back. Just make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
It hadn’t been the first time he hadn’t stood up to his domineering father, nor would it be the last. That he might be anything like his father made him sick to his stomach.
Holden now recalled seeing Constance’s obit in the Billings Gazette only weeks ago. Her brother had always been a hothead. In the obit, it had said that Constance was only survived by her brother Darius of Rawlins, Wyoming. What it didn’t say was that Darius was doing twenty to life for second-degree homicide at the state penitentiary in Rawlins.
“You want this money or not?” Holden called back. “Harming Holly Jo won’t bring back your sister or her son.”
“Her son?” Darius let out a bark of a laugh. “See, that’s the problem. You never took responsibility. Danny was your son. Things could have been different if you had done the honorable thing and married her—or at least claimed your child. Now you’re not the only one who’s going to have to pay for your sins. Bring me the money or you won’t see Holly Jo again.”
Holden swore as he opened the SUV’s door, tucked his weapon into his jacket pocket and picked up the briefcase from the dirt. He itched to pull his gun and finish this, but common sense overrode his fury, telling him to not risk it. He needed to get closer. He needed to look Darius in the eye when he pulled the trigger.
Clearly anxious, Darius shifted on his feet. Maybe he was worried that Holden planned to kill him. He should be. Within six yards of him, Holden stopped.
“Open it on the ground so I can see the money,” Darius said, lifting his weapon and aiming it at him. “I’ll get her as soon as I see the money. But unless it is all there, she won’t be leaving this mountain.”
STUART CLIMBED UP onto the road in the dark shadow of the mountain, yards from the kidnapper’s pickup. He’d been listening and had hoped the two would keep talking. The noise would cover his footfalls as he hugged the mountain, and the added darkness it provided would enable him to work his way toward the white pickup.
He desperately wanted to end this before blood was shed, but he had to know if Holly Jo was in the truck. If the man Holden called Darius Reed hadn’t brought her, then Stuart needed to make sure the man lived long enough to tell them where he’d left the girl.
Once he knew she was safe—
“If I don’t see Holly Jo in the next few seconds, you’re not getting a dime,” Holden yelled. Stuart could hear him getting angrier. He doubted the rancher planned to let Darius walk away with any of the money. Not tonight. Not ever.
“I told you to open it so I can see the money,” Darius said, sounding like he was losing patience. Holden was already on edge, a loose cannon. Stuart couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t lose his temper and kill the kidnapper before they had Holly Jo.
The sheriff reached the pickup and edged along the side. If Holly Jo was in the truck and he could make sure she was safe before—
The pickup was empty. No Holly Jo. He felt his heart drop as he pulled his weapon and started to work his way to the rear of the pickup. He would have a clear view of Darius Reed’s back once he—
“You didn’t bring the girl, did you, you lying son of a—”
The sound of gunfire filled the air, echoing off the side of the mountain.
