Chapter 24 Devlin
TWENTY-FOUR
DEVLIN
The call comes as I’m heading to pick up Atlee from work. Jesse’s voice on the phone is tight, controlled, and trying not to let panic take over.
“Noah’s got Carson and Atlee at the pharmacy. He’s armed.”
Everything inside me goes cold, a familiar stillness settling over me like a second skin. It’s the same feeling I had in combat, with time slowing down, senses sharpening, all emotion receding behind a wall that I had to keep closed off to everything.
“How do you know?” I ask, pressing the gas pedal down harder.
“Some kid was livestreaming it. Noah’s calling you out. He wants you and the rest of us to show up. He looks unhinged, Devlin. He’s got a gun on both of them.”
I press harder, the engine roaring in protest. “Where are you now?”
“About ten minutes out. Truett’s with me.”
“Don’t come in guns blazing,” I instruct, falling back into the role of commander without thinking. “Noah is unstable. He sees all of us charging in, he might do something stupid.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I go in alone,” I say, the decision already made. “Talk him down if I can.”
“And if you can’t?” he questions, voice terrified.
I don’t answer that. We both know what happens if I can’t talk him down.
“I’ll be there in five,” I tell Jesse instead. “Call the sheriff. Make sure he knows it’s one of his deputies in there.”
I end the call before he can argue, focusing on the road ahead. My mind is already running through scenarios, tactics, and contingency plans. The skills I honed in special ops come back like muscle memory.
By the time I reach town, the main street has been cordoned off.
Sheriff’s deputies, the ones not loyal to Noah, have established a perimeter around Murphy’s General Store.
An ambulance idles nearby, paramedics standing ready.
A small crowd has gathered behind the barricades, faces tense with concern.
I spot Sheriff Taylor himself coordinating the response, his weathered face grim as he speaks into a radio. When he sees me, he waves me over.
“Nelson,” he greets me tersely. “Figured you’d show up.”
“What’s the situation?” I ask, scanning the storefront. From this angle, I can’t see inside the pharmacy section, but I know the layout by heart.
“Sanchez has your girl and Carson hostage in the pharmacy. He’s made it clear he wants you and the rest of your brothers to come in. Says he’ll shoot them both if you don’t show.”
“I’m going in,” I state, not a question.
Taylor studies me, weighing his options. “You have military training, right? Special ops?”
I nod.
“Thought so.” He gestures to one of his deputies. “Get Mr. Nelson a vest.”
The deputy hurries to comply, returning with a bulletproof vest. I shrug off my jacket and strap it on, knowing it won’t stop everything but grateful for the protection nonetheless.
“Plan?” Taylor asks, all business now.
“I go in alone,” I tell him. “Noah wants me? He gets me. But just me. My brothers stay out here. Less chance of someone getting trigger-happy that way.”
“And once you’re in?”
“I talk him down if I can. If not…” I let the implication hang. “Priority is getting Atlee and Carson out safely.”
Taylor nods grimly. “We’ll have snipers in position, but with the way that building is laid out, they don’t have a clear shot inside the pharmacy area.”
“I’ll handle it,” I assure him. “Just keep my brothers from charging in after me, no matter what they hear.”
“Will do.” He hands me a small earpiece. “Take this. It lets us communicate if needed.”
I fit the device into my ear, testing it with a quick, “Check.”
“We hear you,” comes the reply from one of the deputies monitoring the comm system.
Jesse and Truett arrive as I’m doing a final check of my equipment. Their faces are masks of barely contained rage when they see me suited up.
“No,” Jesse says immediately, reading my intention. “We go in together.”
“Not this time,” I counter, my tone leaving no room for argument. “He wants all of us in there to maximize his chances. I’m not giving him what he wants.”
“Devlin—”
“He has Atlee,” I cut him off, my voice dropping low. “I’m not risking her life by sending in a cavalry. This is how it has to be.”
Something in my face must convince him, because he backs down, though reluctantly. “What’s your play?”
“Get in, get them out,” I say simply. “Noah’s not thinking clearly. I can use that.”
“And if he shoots you on sight?” Truett challenges.
“He won’t,” I say with more confidence than I feel. “He wants to gloat first. Wants me to know he won.”
The sheriff approaches again, his radio crackling. “We’ve got a visual on Sanchez and the hostages. They’re near the front window. Sanchez is agitated and keeps checking his watch.”
“Time to move,” I say, rolling my shoulders to loosen the tension. “Keep the perimeter secure, and no matter what happens in there, don’t let anyone else in until I give the all clear. Understood?”
Taylor nods, then offers his hand. “Good luck, Nelson.”
I shake it briefly, then turn to Jesse and Truett. “If this goes south, take care of Atlee for me.”
Before they can respond, I’m moving toward the store entrance, hands raised to show I’m not holding a weapon, though I’ve got a Glock tucked in the back of my jeans, hidden beneath my shirt. Some habits die hard.
“I’m going in,” I say into the earpiece. “Maintain radio silence unless absolutely necessary.”
“Copy that,” comes the terse reply.
The store is eerily quiet as I push through the front doors, the usual background music silenced. A few customers are huddled behind shelves, too frightened to make a run for the exit. I signal them to stay down, moving carefully toward the pharmacy section at the back.
Then I see them. Atlee and Carson are standing near the pharmacy window, Noah behind them with his service weapon drawn. His uniform is disheveled, eyes wild with a mixture of rage and something like fear or mania—the desperation of a man who’s lost everything and has nothing left to lose.
But all I really see is Atlee. Her eyes find mine immediately, a complex mixture of relief and terror in her gaze. She looks unharmed, though her posture is rigid with tension.
“Devlin,” Noah calls out, his voice echoing unnaturally loud in the silent store. “Finally decided to show up. Where are your brothers?”
“Just me,” I reply, keeping my hands visible as I move closer. “Let them go, Noah. This is between us.”
He laughs, the sound harsh and brittle. “Always the hero, aren’t you? But I’ve got the upper hand this time.”
“You do,” I agree, stopping about ten feet away, close enough to talk but not close enough to rush him before he could get a shot off. “So let’s talk.”
“Talk?” he spits. “Like you talked to Jessalyn when you stole her away? Or like telling everybody about Project Watershed to get talk about the evidence ready to convict you out of the forefront of everyone’s minds?”
I have to keep him talking. “What evidence?”
“Don’t play dumb,” Noah hisses, pressing the gun harder against Atlee’s side.
She flinches, and it takes every ounce of self-control I have not to lunge forward.
“I had proof of your cattle rustling. Tire tracks that matched your trucks, witness statements from one of Morrison’s hands who saw the whole thing, camera footage.
But now it’s all circumstantial, and the grand jury refuses to indict? Coincidence? I don’t think so.”
I keep my expression neutral, though internally I’m happy since this is the first I’m hearing about the grand jury refusing to indict. That’s really good news.
“I had nothing to do with that,” I tell him. “But it doesn’t matter now, does it? The whole town knows about Project Watershed. They’re on our side.”
“Your side?” Noah’s voice rises, edged with hysteria. “You’re criminals! Thieves! And they’re treating you like heroes while I’m suspended pending investigation?”
“Noah,” I say, keeping my voice calm, reasonable. “Think about what you’re doing. Even if everything you believe about us is true, this isn’t the way to handle it. You’re holding innocent people at gunpoint.”
“Innocent?” he scoffs. “Carson here is as guilty as the rest of you. And her?” He jerks Atlee closer. “She chose her side when she got involved with you.”
I take a careful step forward, calculating distances, angles, and timing. “Let them go,” I say again, my voice hardening. “Take me instead. I’m the one you really want.”
For a moment, I think he’s going to agree. His eyes flicker between his hostages and me, weighing options.
“Fine,” he says finally. “Carson first. Then we’ll talk about the girl.”
He shoves Carson forward roughly. Carson stumbles but catches himself, moving quickly toward me.
“Go,” I tell him quietly as he reaches me. “Get out of here. Tell the sheriff what’s happening.”
He hesitates, clearly torn. “Devlin…”
“Go,” I repeat, more firmly this time.
Carson nods once, then hurries toward the exit, leaving me alone with Noah and Atlee.
“Now let her go too,” I say, turning my attention back to Noah.
He shakes his head, a cruel smile twisting his features. “Not a chance. She’s my insurance policy.”
I take another careful step forward. “This isn’t going to end the way you want it to, Noah. The store is surrounded. You can’t get out of here.”
“Maybe I don’t want to get out,” he says, and there’s something in his tone that chills me to the bone. “Maybe I just want to make sure you pay for what you did.”
“And what exactly did I do?” I ask, playing for time, inching closer with each exchange. “Steal your high school girlfriend? That was fifteen years ago, Noah.”
“It wasn’t just Jessalyn,” he snarls. “It was everything. The football scholarship I lost after you broke my ribs. The respect I worked for years to build in this town. And now my career.”
“That wasn’t me,” I point out. “You did that to yourself when you got in bed with the Morrisons.”