Booker (Bluff Creek Brotherhood MC: Nomads)

16. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

L exi sat with her cup of coffee at the table. They’d returned last night because someone had tried to break into the house. Dodge and Cowboy had given chase but lost them in the dark.

They’d met this morning. Lexi, Booker, Dodge, Cowboy, and Twist were heading out with the younger ranch hand, Chance. They were splitting into three groups to check the cabins all at the same time. Compass and Maureen were staying in the house. The older ranch hand would take care of a delivery from the feed store in town that was expected. A storm was forecast, so they were hurrying to get back before the weather moved in.

Lexi had shared, after prompting from Booker, exactly what her brother had done when he’d found her on the road in her RV. She hated reliving what had happened. To know her brother had sunk low enough to try to poison her mom and hold her up at gunpoint. The only thing that had saved her when he’d accosted her had been that he was high. It had caused him to not keep his eyes on her.

Lexi had knocked the gun out of his hand by hitting him with her crock pot, which had been full of hot food. The gun had gone off, the bullet hitting the wall of the RV’s bathroom and traveling through to the garage. Her brother had run because the hot food had burned him. Lexi wondered what could have happened if she hadn’t been standing by her crock pot. Would he have killed her? Heck, she’d actually considered a marriage of convenience to Booker to at least foil her brother’s plans if he succeeded in killing her mom and her. But it would just paint a target on Booker, and she couldn’t have that.

“Let’s get a move on. Doors are locked except for this one we’re going out. Compass has the monitors to watch and an arsenal at his disposal. Lexi and Booker, you’re taking a pick-up to cabin three. Dodge and Chance are taking the side-by-side to cabin two. Twist and I are taking the other side-by-side. We want to get there as fast as possible and check them out. We don’t want to take too long if he’s there for him to get away,” Cowboy said.

Lexi dumped the rest of her coffee and put the cup in the dishwasher. She had her thigh holster on and slid on her shoulder holsters too. She wanted one plainly seen if someone was watching. Maybe it would dissuade her brother from coming after them. The two shoulder holsters would be hidden under her coat. She wanted some edge if someone caught them unaware. She slid her coat on and kissed her mom.

“Stay safe. We’ll be back in a little bit,” Lexi said.

“We’ve got this, honey. Compass and I will have some more coffee and keep an eye on what’s going on around the ranch,” Maureen said.

Booker slid his arm around her and nodded goodbye to her mom and Compass. Following him out to the truck, she had this horrible feeling sweep over her. Scoop and Sarah had called this morning. Both ranch hands had come back clean. No strange payments into their accounts and, as far as they could see, no interactions with her brother.

Booker held the door of the pickup open as she grabbed the handle and hoisted herself in. Booker’s hand grasped her butt cheek and helped give her a boost. She turned and arched her brow at him.

“Seriously, I told you I can’t resist your beautiful junk in the trunk.”

She giggled. He’d been trying out different phrases for her ass. He’d mentioned that the kids had a swear jar at Bluff Creek. If he’d planned on staying there, he was probably going to do their subscription, which cracked her up that the kids had thought of that. She was even more curious about visiting now.

Booker was irritated. They’d spent an hour and a half checking all the cabins. They’d come up with nothing. They were all headed back to the ranch. Compass had texted that the delivery was at the gate and he was letting the truck through.

The skies had been gray when they left, but the wind had picked up while they were gone. Sleet had started coming down an hour ago, but they all agreed they had to check the cabins. The dirt roads weren’t bad, but when they crossed the pasture, places were getting a little slick.

He slowed down to cross the little bridge that spanned one of the creeks on their property. His tires slid a little as he went up.

“What’s the temperature? There’s already ice on the bridge.”

Lexi pulled up her phone. “We were at thirty-six when we left. It’s dropped to below freezing in the last hour.”

He inched the truck down the other side of the bridge. He wondered if they needed to rebuild the bridge from one that arched up and then down to a flat one. He couldn’t imagine crossing it with snow and ice both on it.

His phone and Lexi’s beeped with a text. Code Ross

“Drew, we need to hurry. Mom texted help is needed. She wouldn’t do that unless something had happened,” Lexi said.

He worried about what was happening that would cause Maureen to send that code.

“Look at that app Cowboy installed and see if you have video.”

It seemed like hours but was only seconds before Lexi had it pulled up.

“The delivery truck is there with both doors to the cab open. I can’t see anything else,” Lexi said.

“Check the inside cameras.”

Lexi flipped and held it up to him. The kitchen showed the back door open but no one in the room. Lexi flipped through showing him different rooms until…

“Stop, flip back to the one of the back porch. I thought I saw something toward the bottom right edge.”

Lexi flipped back and then maximized the video.

“Oh no! That’s Compass’s boot just barely in the feed. And look, there’s a drag mark that looks like blood here.”

Lexi’s phone rang. Cowboy was calling. She answered.

“Yes.”

“We’re still ten minutes out. How close are you guys?” he asked.

“About five minutes or less,” Booker said.

“I’ve checked all the feeds. Can’t find Maureen, Buckles, or whoever was the delivery person. Compass looks like he’s out on the porch. What’s the plan?” Cowboy asked.

“I don’t think we can wait for you guys. We have guns, and I think we need to get there and assess the situation,” Booker said, looking toward Lexi. He hoped she agreed with him or, if not, he prayed she had a better idea.

Lexi nodded and reached behind her to grab one of the ranch’s semi-automatic rifles out of the gun rack. She checked the clip and then nodded at him.

At least it was full. He could see the ranch buildings in the distance.

“Just through the road, you think?” he asked.

“I think you should take a left around the barns and go off the road. Come in by the house where the garden is. If they’re watching, maybe they won’t expect us to do that. I’m scared, Drew, but I’ll do what it takes to save my mom.”

He took one hand off the wheel to give a squeeze to her hand.

“You can do this.”

He slowed down a little. He didn’t want to screw this up so close. As they rounded the large Morton building, he drove between the entrance to the range and up through the garden.

Lexi rolled down her window and leaned out a little. A man who he assumed was her brother was trying to grab Maureen’s arms, and Buckles was trying to pick up her feet.

“Not happening on my watch,” Lexi said, then fired.

Buckles spun a little as Lexi’s bullet hit him in the shoulder.

“Stopping the truck,” he warned her. He didn’t want to screw up a shot because she was calculating the momentum and he changed it.

The man holding her mom underneath her arms dragged her closer to the truck. Lexi opened the truck door and sighted in. While she was doing that, Booker pulled his gun and sighted in on her brother’s head. He wasn’t going to risk injuring him to where he could still hurt Maureen. He shot at the same time he heard the report of Lexi’s gun. Lexi’s bullet hit his arm and he dropped Maureen to grab it. Booker could tell his shot had missed. Lexi fired again, and so did he. Her brother had moved, and both missed.

The other two vehicles pulled in and slid to a stop twenty feet from the truck. Her brother jumped in the vehicle and backed up to leave.

“Go. We’ve got Compass and Maureen,” Cowboy yelled.

Booker and Lexi jumped in the truck to follow her brother, with Dodge and Chance jumping in to follow. Booker sped up but then slowed down as they started over the bridge over the property. Her brother in front of them drove through the open gate. He’d worry later about how it had stayed open and not locked correctly.

Lexi was holding onto the door as they bounced over the road. He could see her brother speeding up as he got to the highway. As he pulled out onto the road, his pickup slid on the ice-covered road from his side of the road into oncoming traffic. A semi came over the small hill by the ranch entrance and tried to slow down. But with the ice and his speed, he hit the truck head-on. The pickup flipped over and over, then rolled into the ditch. Booker had slowed down when they saw the accident.

Now he sped up enough to stop in the driveway. He and Lexi got out to run toward the upside-down pickup in the ditch. He grabbed Lexi’s hand when they hit the highway because the ice was slick. He and Lexi made their way across the road, with the truck driver joining them to check the pickup. Booker didn’t even walk down into the ditch once he saw the wreck. Her brother must not have had time to put on a seatbelt because, at some point, he’d been thrown through the windshield. His neck looked broken from the accident. There was no way he’d survived.

Booker slid his arm around Lexi, “I’m sorry.”

“He came from nowhere. Suddenly he was there. I swear I didn’t see him,” the truck driver said.

Lexi turned toward him. “He was running because he shot someone and tried to abduct my mom. You couldn’t have done anything. It’s not your fault, and we’ll make sure the highway patrol knows that.”

Booker heard sirens in the distance. It wasn’t how he’d wanted this to end. But as long as Maureen and Compass were okay, he was good with this. He only hoped Lexi didn’t have nightmares from seeing her brother like this. If so, he’d help her get through them.