The man swore and bent to rub his shin with his left hand while his right reached behind him.
He pulled out a handgun, and everything in Libby froze. I don’t remember the asshole having a gun before.
“You’re both going to come with me. Get into the car, Elizabeth, or I’ll shoot your bratty friend here. And then maybe I’ll send a few rounds into those other kids, over there on the playground. I’m a good shot. Could probably manage to hit even the smallest ones.” He nodded toward the playground.
Libby risked a quick look. She realized two things. There were a lot of kids in the yard, and no one was looking their way. Libby opened her mouth to tell him to fuck off, but Bonnie came over and put her arm around her.
“We can’t let anyone else get hurt because of this jerk,” Bonnie said. “I’ll come with you. Sisters, remember?”
Libby realized no one would see what was happening out in plain sight, because the asshole kept his gun close to his body, where only they could see it.
She met Bonnie’s gaze. “Sisters.”
* * * *
Rachel couldn’t stop shaking. Everyone gathered in the sheriff’s office was being so kind to her. Jillian and Jolene were both there, staying close to her, and she was grateful, but she needed Brandon and Trace. She needed her men.
Trace had ridden into San Angelo with Brandon that morning, because he had a meeting of firemen to attend. Since Brandon was scheduled for a short day today, he’d be coming back, with Trace, but not until the afternoon.
Jake told her, when Adam brought her here, that word had been sent to her guys. That had been about a half-hour before.
Oh, dear God! My baby! Tasha came over and hugged her. Clay and Gord were talking to Adam, Jake, and Peter Alverez-Kendall. Joe Grant was expected in moments. In the meantime, she’d been told that Adam had activated the network, whatever that was. She understood the bottom line was that there were a lot of people looking for Libby and Bonnie. She wasn’t alone in this crisis, not by a long shot.
“I’m so sorry.” She eased back and looked at Tasha. “I am so sorry. I had no idea that Buck was dangerous or that he’d go after Libby.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Rachel. We’re in this together.”
“Tasha is right,” Clay said. He came over and slipped an arm around his wife. Then he set his hand on her shoulder “You have absolutely nothing to apologize for.”
Rachel looked up as the door to the sheriff’s office burst open.
She couldn’t control the sob that emerged or the way her feet shot her forward before her mind even gave the command.
Brandon and Trace wrapped her in their arms and held her tight. The moment she felt them, the moment they had her, she broke.
“Brandon. Trace. He has our baby! Oh, God, he has our baby!” She sobbed the words, unable to stay strong. I don’t have to stay strong. My men will do what needs to be done.
“We know, love,” Brandon said. “You hang onto us, Rachel. Just hang on tight and grab what you need from us. Then we’ll go see what’s being done to get our daughter back.”
Rachel melted into her men, her words, their words, following close behind. Not an act, not a lie, and sure as hell not empty words.
They hadn’t been together all that long in the grand scheme of things, really, but she knew these two men loved Libby as if she was their very own child.
Maybe Libby wasn’t the daughter of their bodies. But she was unquestionably the daughter of their hearts.
Rachel shuddered once then drew in a deep breath.
“I don’t know how you got here so fast,” Rachel said. “But I am so glad you did.”
Brandon placed a kiss on her lips. “Grandma Kate sent Henry in the Lear to fetch us home to you.” He took a moment to nod to his mother and Trace’s. He asked how she was doing, and he asked after Danielle.
He’s giving me a minute to regroup. Rachel drew in a deep, cleansing breath.
Brandon looked down at her. His expression showed only approval. “Now, let’s go see what Adam knows.”
Adam nodded as the three of them approached, met the gazes of the two older women standing behind them, then shook hands with each of her men. “We were alerted about the situation pretty fast,” he said, “because Bonnie Dorchester activated her emergency beacon before she left school property.”
Rachel knew that every one of the kids in Lusty had been issued cell phones that were tied into the security network maintained at Benedict Oil and Minerals in Houston. The kids’ phones were different from the adults specifically because of the emergency beacon—a single button on the side of the phone that wasn’t marked. If the phone was off and the button was pushed, the phone would power up in vibrate mode, and the S.O.S. message would go through.
“Mitch got us the coordinates, and Matt, who was in his cruiser making his rounds at the time, set out after them.
“He came upon a car different than the one Buck had been driving the other day a few minutes later, abandoned on the side of the road. It was a car reported stolen earlier in the day, in Waco. One of the tires had obviously blown. I guess Cosgrove wasn’t smart enough to boost a car in good condition. Matt slowed down to take a look but kept driving, in case Cosgrove was holed up close by.
“A few minutes later, the GPS on the girls’ phones indicated that they’d come to a stop. Looks like he found refuge about a quarter-mile down the road from where he left the car. That’s what we knew when I went to bring Rachel here and called y’all.” Adam looked from Rachel and her men and the guys’ mothers to Clay, Gord, and Tasha, who’d come
