Chapter Fifteen #2
moved to the door, opening it. “Someone call Caleb and let him know we’re
coming in. Lucy, monitor her contractions, please.”
“On it.” Lucy pulled a notepad out of her pocket and wrote
down the time.
“What can I do?” Despite the craziness of the situation,
Brooke felt so much relief.
It was going to be okay. Bay would be back soon and she
would apologize and they would take her to bed and they would talk all of this
out.
And she would get to meet another Bliss baby. She bet this
kid would be as calm and peaceful as her sister.
Nell let out a long groan. “Oh, that was a rough one.”
Henry frowned. “How many have been rough ones?”
She shrugged. “A couple. Maybe the last hour or so. But I
didn’t want to stop the lesson. We only have babysitting for another few
hours.”
Brooke pulled her phone and started to dial the number for
the clinic. “Who has Poppy? I’ll call them, too.”
“Laura has her. She’s playing with Sierra this afternoon.”
Nell hissed as she tried to straighten up. “They’re having a tea party.”
“I’ll call her after I talk to Caleb,” Brooke said.
“Let’s get outside and wait for Noah.” Lucy ran back and
grabbed Nell’s purse.
“I can drive her,” Henry offered.
Lucy’s head shook. “Nope. You are going to sit in the back
and hold her hand and help me keep track of her vitals. You shouldn’t be
driving while she’s in labor. Let Noah handle it.”
Henry nodded.
“This is the Bliss Clinic. Are you shot?”
The town was going to miss Naomi so much. “No one is shot,
Doc. Nell’s in labor. We’re on our way in.”
Nothing. The line went dead. She wasn’t sure if he’d heard
her or not.
She glanced down at her phone, ready to try to reconnect the
call. No bars. But they’d put a tower fairly close so the major parts of the
ranch had cellular coverage. Shane had told her if he was out in the far
reaches of the ranch, coverage could come in and out, but it should always be
available here.
What was going on?
She looked back at Henry, who was gently herding his wife to
the doors, helping her around the goats. “Henry, do you have bars?”
Henry stopped and slipped his cell out of his pocket. “No. I
don’t. The call connected?”
She nodded. “Yes. I got him on the line but…”
There was the sound of something going off in the distance.
Gunfire.
“Ladies, I need you to move to the far corner of the barn.”
Henry’s tone had gone icy cold. Like something had washed over him and all the hugginess was gone.
“Did Noah’s car backfire?” Lucy moved to the door.
Henry blocked her. “No. That’s not how modern cars sound.
That was gunfire, and it’s coming from one of the houses. Lucy, please take my
wife to one of the back stalls and make her as comfortable as you can while I
figure out what’s going on.”
“Henry,” Nell began.
He seemed to take control of himself. A long, deep breath
and his expression cleared and he was Henry again. “I know, baby. I’ll be
careful. I’ll be gentle.”
Nell’s hands shook as she reached up and cupped her
husband’s face. “I’m sorry. I called the wrong name. I need you, John Bishop.
This baby needs you. Our baby.”
Whoa. Okay, now if she didn’t sort of know the story, she
would think Henry had a double personality disorder. John Bishop was the name
he’d gone by when he’d worked for the CIA in black ops. When he’d been a deadly
operative.
“Nell,” he began.
She shook her head. “Do what you need to do, John. Whatever
you need to do. You are off the leash, my love.”
His eyes hardened at the words, but he kissed her tenderly.
“Stay safe. I’ll be back.”
Brooke’s heart rate tripled because she heard the sound of
large vehicles pulling up to the driveway. “I think that might be Bay.”
She started for the door but Henry moved in front of her. He
eased the door open slightly, and his frown told her most of what she needed to
know. The low growl of his words told her the rest. “Not Bay. It’s two trucks.
Maybe ten men, and they all have weapons, which will be helpful to me.”
A chill snaked along her spine. Shane had been worried about
something happening. Bay hadn’t believed him, but it looked like Bay was going
to eat those words. Shane was still out there. “Shane and Bay had some trouble
with a rancher a few months back.”
“I know. I actually started looking into the man months ago
when Trev was worried about him joining the ranching collective the G belongs
to. I will say the man is good at covering his tracks. I can show you where his
books don’t align, but I can’t prove where the money is coming from,” Henry
admitted. “I suspect he runs his ranch like a mafia head, including getting rid
of disloyal employees.”
“How is them having guns helpful?” Lucy stood by Nell. “I
think they’re going to try to kill us all.”
She would give it to her friend. Lucy was calm under
pressure. She took Nell’s wrist in hand and took her pulse, watching the timer
on her cell.
“They won’t have the guns when John is through.” Nell also
sounded almost preternaturally calm. “He’ll have them, and normally I would ask
him to be as earth friendly as he can when dealing with persons of this nature,
but I’m about to push a baby through my vagina and I want him to be fast.”
Henry’s brows rose as if he was thoroughly surprised. “I can
use the guns?”
Nell’s expression turned fierce as Lucy let her wrist go and
she faced her husband. Even Brooke could see the way her belly tightened. The
woman was not merely in active labor. She was close. “Guns, knives, I don’t
care, John. Deal with this and get back to me because our daughter is on her
way. I swear she heard that gunshot and took it as a sign she should come into
this world right now.”
Henry nodded.
Brooke could hear the men outside whooping it up. Like this
was a party.
Who had they shot? Shane didn’t carry around a gun. He was
beyond competent when it came to rifles and shotguns, but he didn’t walk around
with one on his person at all times.
Was Shane dead? Had she spent all of their time together
making him feel like he couldn’t give her what she needed?
Why did it take a gunshot to get such perfect clarity?
All she needed was them. They would figure it out. Happiness
wasn’t ever based around one single choice, but a never-ending string of them
that could be confused by circumstance and guilt and fear.
They would never ask her to choose them over her career.
They would adapt to her because those men loved her in a way she’d hoped to be
loved. Unconditionally. Wholly. Without fear on their part.
“I need to help Shane.” Resolve began to flow through her.
She wasn’t some whiny baby who hid when her man was in trouble.
Henry put his hands on her shoulders. “I need you to protect
Nell and our baby. I’ll get Shane out. One way or another.”
“I’ve heard the rumors, Henry, but I also know Bliss likes
to make mountains out of molehills. I should come with you,” she replied.
“Go check the barn,” a deep voice commanded. “According to
Billy there’s a couple of people out there. Take ’em
out. Don’t you leave any witnesses. You know what’s at stake. Find the other
Kent kid. Ned says they have Shane. We can use him to get Bay to talk.”
Shane was alive. She could breathe.
This was about Bay?
The boss wasn’t finished. “I want to get out of here before
McNamara and his boys get back, though you should know killing that asshole
would have been fun.”
“Should I leave the bodies, boss?” another voice asked.
Brooke could barely hear them, but every word made her
nauseous.
Henry kept his voice low. “He told him to prep the bodies. I
think they’re planning on dumping all the bodies somewhere. This man has no
idea where he is. He probably thinks Nate Wright is some small-town sheriff
who’ll investigate a little and then let it go.”
Nate wouldn’t. Nate would go to the ends of the earth to
figure out who hurt his people, and he would have a lot of help.
Lucy was getting Nell to the corner of the barn. As far from
the door as they could get. She dragged a couple of horse blankets down and set
Nell up in one of the empty stalls.
How was this happening?
“What do we do?” Brooke asked. “We don’t have any weapons.”
“We will,” Nell replied, her words calm even as she grunted
through a contraction.
“Brooke, I need you to stand in the middle where he can see
you when he walks in. I need to be able to come up behind him,” Henry
commanded. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
How could he say that? He was a nice guy who sold homemade
cider at Woo Woo Fest and protested with hand-done
signs. The man was wearing Birkenstocks and socks. He was not…
She didn’t have time for this. Nell and Lucy needed her.
Shane needed her. She moved into position. “All right. But I’m going with you.
You need backup.”
Henry’s brows rose but he didn’t say anything because the
barn door was opening. Henry moved into the shadows.
“Hello to the house. Or the barn, as it is.” The cowboy
standing there wore dark jeans and a black T-shirt. She could see the brand on
his forearm.
She would bet that was the same brand Kingman used on his
cattle.
The cowboy had a shotgun in his hand, but his eyes were on
her. On her breasts, checking her out, likely to see if it would be worth it to
risk having some fun with her. “Now see, they didn’t tell me there would be a
pretty lady in here. Where are your friends, sweetheart?”
Nell let out a low moan, and the guy took his eyes off her.
Brooke was about to make a run at him. She could fight and
hopefully get the gun. She would sacrifice if she had to. The whole scene
played out in her head, but then Henry stepped out of the shadows and one
minute the guy was trying to figure out what was happening and then next there
was a cracking sound and his ass fell to the floor.
Henry picked the gun up and stepped over the dead body.
Well, that had been way easier than it should have been.
“I can stay in the barn,” Brooke said. No lies there. Henry
was everything they said he was.