Maverick
I was exhausted. Smoke clung to every inch of my clothing, but I couldn’t leave. Not until I knew how Cheyenne and Archer were doing.
I knew I couldn’t do a damn thing for them here, but this town was my responsibility, and tonight, we’d taken a huge hit. Half the Parker family was in the waiting room, and the other half was in the back, getting checked out. This was an all-out war that would only end in one way.
With someone dead.
“Boss,” Wayne said, keeping his voice low as he strode over to me. “We’ve been watching the ranch. His car is gone. No sightings around town. He’s gone.”
“Shit.” I speared my fingers through my hair, muttering curse after curse as I tried to figure out our next move.
I’d already put out an APB on the vehicle, and I’d called in a few favors at neighboring towns, but the likelihood was that he’d ditch the vehicle as soon as possible and slip away undetected.
It was the middle of the night. There wasn’t a damn place in Montana that boy couldn’t hide.
“Get ahold of state police. Let them know the situation. Make sure they understand he is dangerous and most likely armed.”
“Will do.” Wayne nodded and walked away just as JR strode through the ER doors with his wife by his side.
“Everything okay?”
He nodded. “We’re just here to check on Lizzy and Willa.”
“They’re in back right now.” My eyes slid to Josie, who was worrying her lip as she looked around the room at all the familiar faces.
“Baby, why don’t you go check in with Jeff. See if there’s anything we can do to help.”
“Sure,” Josie smiled shakily, pressing a kiss to JR’s lips before leaving us alone.
“Tell me everything,” I hissed.
“They were hired guns. Nothing like you described at the ranch. These were professionals.”
“Got any IDs?”
“Knight’s over there right now. Remi’s keeping everyone out while he goes over the place.”
“They didn’t go after you,” I pointed out.
“No, but I guess they could have been coming for me at the bar.”
I shook my head, trying to piece it all together. “Austin goes after friends and family. If he wanted to hurt you, he would go after Josie.”
“I considered that. It’s possible he just ran out of time.”
“He would have sent someone in his stead. His focus tonight was Cassidy.”
“Why her?” JR asked, keeping his voice low. “Jeff’s old girlfriend. Why is she his target?”
“He went to her house for dinner on Thanksgiving. My guess is that’s where it started. Some sick fascination with her.”
“What about Wyatt? I heard he went over to Cassidy’s to replace a door. Apparently, it’s one he and his brother broke.”
I didn’t want to consider that Wyatt had any part in this. He’d always been a bit of a loner, but generally stayed out of the way. I’d never had a problem with him, but if he was in any way involved with this shit, I had to get him now.
“We’ll bring him in and see what he knows. My gut tells me he’s not involved, but in that family, who knows.”
“What about the old man?”
I shook my head. “John is harmless. His bark is worse than his bite. No, if he knew Austin was responsible for what happened tonight, he’d hand him in.”
JR looked around the ER, then back to me. “Lizzy’s bar is a fucking massacre.”
I nodded. “Kasey’s dead. Raleigh is in the OR. They don’t know if she’s going to make it.”
“I never liked Kasey, but fuck…this is a disaster.”
It occurred to me that he hadn’t heard yet about his sister. “Alyssa’s here.”
“What?” he snapped.
“She’s fine. She was attacked by her ex.”
His nostrils flared in anger. “How the fuck did he find her?”
“You know how,” I hissed. “How did all of this happen? He put all this in motion. And then Archer and Cheyenne—”
He stiffened beside me, his gaze sharpening. “What about them?”
“Her building was set on fire. He ran in there, got her out, but it was bad. They’re both in the ICU.”
The news hit him about as hard as anything else, though you couldn’t tell aside from the anger seeping from every pore of his body.
“Give me the green light, Mav.”
“You know I can’t do that,” I hissed.
“After all this shit, do really think anyone would question who pulled the trigger?”
“If anything, the whole town is going to be under higher scrutiny. People are dead. If you really think there’s any fucking way the whole country won’t be watching after what happened, you’re sorely mistaken.
If you go out there and pull the trigger, and they somehow trace it to you, there’s not a damn thing I’ll be able to do to protect you. ”
I wasn’t sure if my words were sinking in or not, but I prayed he didn’t go out and do anything stupid.
“You have a kid on the way,” I reminded him. “Josie needs you. Don’t be a fucking cowboy.”
With that, I walked away. As much as I wanted to stay at the hospital, I had to see what else I could do to track this fucker down.
If anyone else in my town died because of Austin Callahan, there’d be no stopping the Parker family from retaliating.
I had to stop the bleeding before one of them ended up in prison.