It was darker as he moved into the middle of the store.
What was he doing? He didn’t even have a gun. He turned, ready to check the bathroom and then get the hell out of here. He would sort it all out later. He could come up with some excuse and have Heather give him a thorough description of the man.
“Hello.” The man was standing right beside a big display of bird baths. He held a Ruger in his right hand, pointing it straight at Henry’s heart. “I suspect you’re the one Jones was looking for. You Bishop?”
Fuck. Henry held up his hands. He needed to get his head back in the game. “My name is Henry. I was just looking around. I don’t want any trouble.”
But he would have to make some because this man knew his face and if he was allowed to get back to the cartel, all hell would break loose. It seemed someone was looking for Jones and they’d found Henry instead.
“Cut the crap. I’ve seen your picture,” the man said with a sneer. “Fucking Agency assholes have to ruin everything. Jones was being cagey about where he was heading, but when he didn’t come back, I checked into things. He came here. I found evidence that he was looking into Seth Stark. Stark is working with you, isn’t he? I’m intrigued as to why a billionaire is working with a ghost. Did you kill Jones?”
“I don’t know a Jones.” It wouldn’t work, but he needed time and a whole lot of luck.
The man chuckled, an amused sound, as though he enjoyed this part of the game. “Maybe you didn’t catch his name. He would have come through town a couple of weeks ago with some of our associates. Big guys. Big guns. I’m trying to figure out what happened to them because they all went real quiet. Now someone sent all their cell phones to Los Angeles. Imagine my surprise when I get to the place in LA where their signals say they are and all that’s there are the phones that some asshole has helpfully kept charged.”
That had been his idea. He was certain whoever Seth had given the job to had thought the boss was running some kind of test on the phones and how easy they were to track. It had bought them time because even if he’d destroyed the cells, there would have been a way to track their last known locations. So he’d given them another one.
Henry started to back up. If he wasn’t mistaken, he was close to the shovels. They would be one aisle over. He would have one chance. He couldn’t let this guy get away. He knew far too much.
He had to hope the other man hadn’t had enough time to get a call out. “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
The man’s hand had the slightest tremor. “We’ll see if you keep quiet when I get you back to our base. My boss is incredibly angry with you. You’re the reason he’s in the mess he’s in, and he will cover me in riches when I deliver you to him. I think I’ll bring your wife along and see if she can make you talk.”
The idea of his sweet Nell under this man’s thumb made him see red, and he knew he wasn’t going to make it to the next aisle. They were going to do this here and now.
Henry kicked out, catching the other man’s hand before he could get a shot off. The gun clattered against a riding lawnmower and Henry took a punch to the gut.
He didn’t even feel it. It registered, but not as anything close to pain. That would come later. Adrenaline pumped through his system as he focused fully on the task at hand.
He took another punch, but landed one of his own. The man flew back and his head hit hard against the floor.
That was the moment the knife made its appearance.
His opponent flipped up to standing and rushed Henry, knife at the ready.
Henry moved to one side, letting the heavier man’s weight carry him past. He wasn’t particularly skilled, but then Henry had found most of the cartel men weren’t well versed in hand to hand.
It was a mere moment before Henry had his arm wrapped around the man’s neck and heard the crunching sound that let him know his job was done. Nell was safe. For now.
The cartel man slipped to the floor without a sound.
But there was a gasp that let Henry know he wasn’t alone. He turned and his worst nightmare was standing there in her organic cotton dress. She was alone and her eyes went right to the body on the floor, the dead body he now had to find a way to make her understand.
“Henry?” Nell looked pale.
“I can explain.”
She dropped the bag she’d been carrying and then she started for the floor, her eyes rolling back.
He caught her and realized everything had gone wrong. He felt for her pulse. It was strong. Henry held her close and reached for his cell. He kept this particular number on speed dial.
“This is Wright.”
Nell was going to kill him. “Sheriff, I seem to have a problem.”
He hoped Zane Hollister’s freezer could handle another dead body.
Chapter Four
“I’m fine.” Nell said the words, but they felt dull coming out of her mouth. She was back in her cabin but it suddenly felt oddly foreign to her, as though all her familiar things had been transported to someplace new. She recognized the space, but deep inside she knew there was something wrong with it.
“Caleb said you need to rest. He, Holly, and Alexei are in Alamosa for the afternoon, but he can be here this evening. I could call Ty or Naomi.” Henry was the most familiar and yet foreign thing of all.
