Taking Aim At The Sheriff

“He’s all right,” Sandy quickly told her. The medic repeated a variation of the same thing.

Laurel didn’t believe either of them. She hurried to her son, praying there’d be no blood on him. There wasn’t. She took him from the medic’s arms, trying to check every inch of him. Maddox didn’t cry, didn’t seem upset, but he did look a little confused about what was going on.

“He wasn’t hurt,” Sandy insisted.

Laurel shook her head. “But the blood.”

“It’s mine.” Sandy lifted the sleeve of her T-shirt, and Laurel saw the angry gash on her friend’s arm.

That gave Laurel a new burst of emotions. Concern and the sickening dread that she’d put her friend in danger. “I’m so sorry.”

Sandy shrugged. “I just got grazed by a bullet, that’s all. Nothing serious. The medic will stitch me up, but I wanted him to check out Maddox first.”

“The kid’s fine,” the medic assured her. He goosed Maddox in the belly and went toward Sandy to start examining her.

“I can’t ever thank you enough,” Laurel told the woman.

“No thanks needed.” Sandy’s attention went to Jericho. “But I’d appreciate it if you caught the scum who did this.”

Jericho nodded. “I will.” And it sounded like a promise. One that Laurel hoped he could keep.

“Boo-boo,” Maddox said, pointing to Sandy’s arm.

Since Laurel didn’t want him to see that, she sheltered his face against her shoulder and moved to the other part of the room.

And practically ran right into Jericho.

The moment seemed to freeze. Or maybe she felt that way because Laurel’s feet suddenly seemed anchored in place. But then, Jericho didn’t move, either. He just stood there, his attention fixed on Maddox.

Maddox gave him a wary look, his gaze sliding from Jericho’s cowboy hat, face and finally to the shiny badge on his shirt. Maddox smiled.

Jericho sure didn’t.

Laurel saw all the emotions go through his eyes. The love, instant and strong. The fear that he’d come so close to losing him. And finally the hatred. Not aimed at Maddox but at her.

For keeping Maddox from him.

“We need to leave,” Jericho said to her. Not easily. His jaw muscles were as hard as granite.

Well, they were until Maddox smiled again.

Jericho’s expression softened a bit. Then it softened a lot when he reached out and touched his son’s cheek. That seemed to be the only invitation Maddox needed, because he reached for Jericho and that badge.

But Jericho didn’t get a chance to take him.

Because Cooper stuck his head through the partially opened door. The lawman’s attention went straight to Jericho. Then her. “My deputy caught one of them,” Cooper said. “It’s not good.”

No. Laurel wasn’t sure she could handle any more bad news tonight.

“What’s wrong?” Jericho asked, walking closer to his fellow sheriff.

“I have to get all of you out of here now,” Cooper insisted, glancing at both Jericho and Laurel. “The kidnapper we caught told my deputy that more men were on the way here, and they have orders to shoot to kill.”

Chapter Five (#ulink_535848c9-9242-5136-a785-4f297e21263d)

Shoot to kill.

Not exactly orders that Jericho had wanted to hear, but it’d gotten Laurel, Maddox and him hurrying away from the scene and to the sheriff’s office in Appaloosa Pass. That wasn’t exactly ideal for a toddler, but it would have to do until Jericho could make other arrangements.

And put an end to the danger.

The first would be a whole lot easier than the last.

Sandy didn’t have any info about the kidnappers, and the one captured kidnapper was no longer talking, other than to tell them that those shoot-to-kill orders were meant only for Laurel and him. Jericho felt no relief about the fact that Maddox had been excluded in that hit plan because the baby could have easily been hurt in the attack.

Someone would pay for that.

Herschel, no doubt. But it was going to be a bear to prove his involvement.

Too bad Jax hadn’t found the two gunmen in the black car who’d followed Jericho after the attack at his house. Jericho had indeed wounded at least one of them, because his brother had found blood on the road. But neither the car nor the men had been there by the time Jax arrived.

Not good.

He needed all these thugs in jail to up their chances of finding information to stop Herschel. Or anyone else who might be involved in this.

Jericho finished up his latest round of calls and made his way to the break room at the back of the building. Hardly living quarters, but there was a small bed that he and the deputies sometimes used when pulling double shifts. Tonight, however, Laurel and his son were sleeping in it.

It might take a while before those words—his son—didn’t sound foreign to him. Not because of his feelings for the baby. No, he already loved the little boy. But his son was still a raw reminder that Laurel had kept Maddox from him.

Jericho didn’t knock on the door because he didn’t want to wake Laurel and the baby, but when he stepped inside the room, he saw that only Maddox was on the cot. The little boy was on his stomach, snuggled in some blankets. No snuggling for Laurel. She was pacing.

And crying.

Jericho saw that right off, though she did quickly wipe away the tears and turn from him. He shut the door so the noise from the squad room wouldn’t disturb Maddox.

“Sandy just called,” Laurel relayed before Jericho could say anything. “The doctor at the hospital checked her out and released her. She’s on her way to Houston to stay with friends, and she told her parents not to come home until she’s sure it’s safe.”

That was a smart move. The hired guns probably wouldn’t go back to her place, but there was no sense taking that kind of risk, especially since they might see Sandy as a possible witness who needed to be eliminated. Jericho made a mental note to call Houston PD and arrange for some extra security for her.

“Please tell me the kidnapper you arrested is talking,” she added. “And that he’s got evidence to lead to my father’s arrest.”

“Afraid not.” But she already knew that would be the answer. If he’d gotten big news like that, he would have come straight to her with it, and he darn sure wouldn’t have been sporting a scowl.

A scowl that faded considerably when he went closer to his son.

Hard to scowl when looking at Maddox’s face. Jericho could see so much of himself in the boy. Some of Laurel, too.

“What about the other man?” she asked, walking to Jericho’s side. “The one who tried to run you off the road. Is he talking?”