BIG SKY SECRETS 03: End Game Read online

  “I…I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t toy with me—of course you do. You deserve to suffer as much as I have.” His mouth twisted. “You and your cousin Erin purposely destroyed my family—and that friend of yours, too. And now I’m going to pay back each of you. One by one by one. But…I don’t think you’ll be the first to die. I believe I’ll leave you here while I go see the other two. Then you can dwell on your sins while you bleed your life away.”

  He pulled a long, gleaming bowie knife from a leather scabbard at his side and ran a thumb along the edge. A thin red line welled up in its wake.

  Time—she needed more time. “None of us tried to destroy your family. We were just kids back then. At least tell me what we did to deserve this.”

  “You remember the day my father and I left town. It was my senior year, and I didn’t even get to finish it out. I saw you on the street and I yelled at you as we passed. Do you remember?”

  She jerked her head in a single nod. “I couldn’t make out the words.”

  “I said that I’d come back someday, and justice would be served.” He bared his teeth in a smile. “And now it will be.”

  “But I did nothing to you. Ever.”

  His eyes narrowed, gleaming with a sudden rush of hatred that made her shudder. “Nothing? You all did nothing but complain, and vilify my father. Your whole family did, until they stirred up the whole town. He didn’t mess up that murder investigation. He was a good sheriff. He did everything right. But you made sure he lost his job. And do you know what happened then?”

  She shook her head, eyeing the blade as he took another step closer. She backed up another foot along the side of the car.

  He was a good six feet of solid muscle. She was half his weight. Maybe she could take him down on a good day, but with only one good hand…

  Could she move fast enough to get the gun out of her ankle holster? He was close. Too close. He’d be on her in a heartbeat if she tried. She thought of all the moves she’d learned in self-defense classes, considering and discarding one after another. His gun was trained on her chest, center mass. One wrong move and he could fire. Lord, help me, here. I’ve got to warn Erin and Kris—I can’t die here. Not right now.

  “My father drank himself to death. He lost his job, his pride, his future because of you. You see my face? A beating destroyed my nose in high school. One of his broken beer bottles finished the job after we left town.” Rex’s voice rose, dripping venom. “Each time I look in the mirror, I think of everything you did to destroy my father. And then I think of all the ways I’d like to see you die.”

  SEVENTEEN

  Scott looked at the speedometer of his truck, then dropped down to seventy.

  He’d been thinking about going back to Chicago before yesterday’s argument with Megan. He’d known that he would have to go back sometime and deal with the trouble that was brewing in his absence.

  He just hadn’t planned on it right now.

  But her words had struck him like a switchblade, and they’d been playing through his thoughts ever since. I know you don’t want to be a cop any longer. If you can’t handle it anymore, that’s okay.

  Is that what had happened? Had he chosen to use his medical leave as an escape, rather than to continue his fight against the corruption he’d found festering in the department?

  Its roots were tangled deep into the very fabric of the place he’d once loved so much, twisting among the men he’d once admired and some of the good cops he’d worked with on the street before moving into Homicide.

  Once he’d started to delve into that sorry mess, he’d soon discovered that a bullet to the shoulder might not be the end of it, and he could end up paying with his life.

  But now the airport was just a couple hours away. He had his bags packed, his tickets bought, and a neighbor was taking care of his animals.

  So even though it was over with Megan—and she’d made that plenty clear—he could come back here with a clear conscience, after doing everything in his power to help clean up the problems in Chicago.

  The cold, heavy weight taking the place of his heart expanded even more. Megan. From the moment he’d first seen her, he’d been entranced by her sparkling shamrock-green eyes and all of those golden highlights in her auburn hair.

  And when she’d first started talking about her job—

  He smiled to himself, remembering. She had the kind of fire he’d once had, before going out on one too many calls; seeing far too many gut-wrenching situations. He’d developed distance then, that protective shell that kept a guy from feeling too much.

  But Megan—just being around her had made him feel alive again. Though the more he was with her, the more he feared for her…and that had swiftly led to the end of any hope for a future with a woman who had so totally captured his heart.

  A woman who faced danger every day of her life, with courage and intelligence. Who was facing even greater danger now.

  An uneasy feeling crept through him and wouldn’t let go.

  He looked at the speedometer again and realized he’d dropped to fifty. Then forty-five.

  What was he thinking, leaving for Chicago now?

  Maybe she’d insisted that she didn’t need his help. Maybe she still wouldn’t accept it. But if he didn’t go back, he knew it would be a mistake.

  And if the small, insistent voice of warning in his head was right, he might regret it for the rest of his life.

  A wave of dizziness washed through her as Megan clamped her blood-soaked hand beneath her other arm, trying to stop the bleeding. Keep him talking. Anything, to keep him here and find a way to stop him….

  “I…I thought you got those scars from that meth explosion in high school.” Stars danced in front of her eyes as a wave of nausea rose through her midsection.

  “Some, not that it matters anymore. And now I’m the one with all the power.” Rex studied her, his mouth curved in smug satisfaction. He studied the gun in his right hand, the knife in his left. “It’s so hard to choose. I almost hate to end this. But…I really should be going.”

  From the corner of her eye Megan saw Buddy cowering at the edge of the yard, a good thirty feet behind Rex. Even from here, she could see he was shaking with fear, though he didn’t take his eyes off her face.

  He was terrified of most men. She was sure he wouldn’t dare come closer to this one. Please, Buddy. Bark. Run. Anything for a distraction.

  He crept forward, his head and body lowered, his ears flat. Come on, Buddy.

  With one fluid motion he coiled, then launched himself at Rex’s back in a furious explosion of snapping jaws.

  Rex fell forward with a scream, stumbling to his knees as he swung out with the side of his gun, smashing it against the side of Buddy’s head. The dog yelped and fell motionless at his feet.

  “Buddy!” Horror ripped through her, coupled with a surge of anger. She blinked and forced herself into the cool, methodical, professional persona born of thousands of hours of training over the years. She dropped to one knee to mask the motion of reaching for the small semi-automatic in her ankle holster. “Oh, please.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice as Rex stood up, two-handing his own gun. He raised it until she was looking down the barrel.

  With a fierce cry she lunged forward, ramming her head into his stomach. He staggered backward, doubled over his arms. She spun, threw all her weight into her elbow and caught the side of his temple.

  He sprawled on the ground, groaning…but when he rolled to one side he still had his gun held weakly in one trembling hand. A litany of curses flew from his mouth as he lifted it in her direction.

  Out of the shadows another figure flew into view. Scott. Startled, Megan saw him dive for the gun, roll and jump to his feet, with the gun trained on Rex. “You won’t be needing this, mister.”

  She immediately hurried to Buddy’s side. The dog was lying flat and still where he’d fallen, a small pool of blood seeping from a jagged laceration at the side of his muzz
le. “Oh, Buddy,” she whispered, resting a gentle hand on his head and stroking his body. Joy exploded through her when she felt the faint, shallow rise and fall of his ribs. “He’s breathing!”

  At the sound of her voice, he lifted his head a few inches, then dropped back and managed a single thump of his tail.

  She sat back on her heels and looked over at Scott. His face was pale and drawn, as if he were steeling himself against considerable pain radiating through his bad shoulder, and she knew what his swift action had cost him. But still, he was watching her with an expression so worried, so tender, that it nearly took her breath away. “You came back,” she said in wonderment. “Why?”

  “I had to,” he said simply. “I couldn’t walk away from the best thing I’ve ever found on this earth. I just hope you can forgive me.”

  She closed her eyes briefly, barely aware of the pain in her hand any longer as she tried to process the blessing standing before her—the answer to her desperate, silent prayers for help. “There’s nothing to forgive, because you were right all along. It’s me who should be sorry.”

  “I called 911 the minute I saw what was happening here, so they should arrive any minute. Why don’t you call the vet and tell her that we’ll be bringing Buddy in, and after the deputies haul away this guy, we can talk. Deal?”

  Already she could hear the distant, discordant wail of sirens. At least three of them.

  She nodded. “Believe me, there’s nothing I want more.”

  Hal handcuffed Rex immediately, then he and Jim stuffed him in the backseat of one of the cruisers, where he had no chance of escape. It took nearly an hour more for the EMTs to examine and dress Megan’s hand, and for Scott and Megan to finish answering questions.

  “You need to get down to the hospital for X-rays,” Scott said when they had left Buddy at the vet clinic for sutures and observation. “I can’t imagine how much that hand hurts.”

  “It did, but now I guess it’s sort of numb. All I can think about is how you appeared—perfect timing. Without you, I’d be dead right now, and Rex would be going after Kris and Erin. I can’t tell you how hard I was praying.”

  “It looked to me like you were holding your own, despite everything,” he said with a tender smile. He curved his arms around her in a gentle embrace, and lowered his mouth to hers for a quick kiss, and then one that was much, much longer. “I think I lost ten years of my life when I saw him going after you. The thought that he could have ended your life fills me with such…such anger, such a sense of loss, that I can’t even fathom it.”

  “But now it’s all over.” She started to pull back, knowing that the high emotions of facing danger made people say things they wouldn’t mean tomorrow. Since Scott had come into her life she’d discovered a hundred ways in which he seemed like the perfect man for her, but she knew he didn’t feel the same. Not really. And sometimes, it was just better to cut your losses and run. “I guess we’d better get going.”

  He caught her uninjured wrist and gently pulled her back into his arms. “Wait. I once told you that I didn’t think God was listening to me. I don’t believe that anymore. I was driving to the airport when I had the worst sense that something was wrong. I knew I had to come back here, or I’d regret it forever. And the closer I got, the faster I drove, because I just knew that every second counted. I was praying every mile of the way that you’d be safe.”

  “Sometimes He answers us in different ways than we expect and in His own good time. Sometimes the answers aren’t the ones we want.” She felt her eyes burn. “But He brought you back to me, right when I needed you most.”

  “Tell me before we leave for the hospital, because if I have to wait much longer, I don’t think my ole heart is going to make it. I know it’s early days for asking this, but I just have to know. Do you think there’s a chance for us? Despite everything?”

  She smiled up at him, searching the depths of his eyes for what she’d hoped to find all her life. Acceptance. Understanding. And the tender beginnings of love. Her heart swelled until it seemed to fill her chest when she saw all of that and more—an echo of everything she was feeling, too.

  “Absolutely.” She wobbled on her tiptoes to give him a kiss, wishing the moment could last and last.

  EPILOGUE

  The warm Montana sunshine could be fickle up in the mountains, even in late July.

  But now the late-afternoon sun sent a glittering array of diamonds dancing across the sapphire waves of Big Bear Lake, and a soft breeze through the towering trees filled the air with the sweet, sweet scent of pine. Fluffy white clouds rested in a robin’s-egg-blue sky, at the tops of the mountain peaks to the west.

  “No cathedral could be as beautiful as this,” Megan murmured to Scott as they stood on a hill watching the people gathering at the lakeshore, where Erin and Jack would soon say their vows. Max, Jack’s young nephew, stood near them, playing with his puppy Molly and Buddy, who had recovered from Rex’s blow with only a scar.

  Nearby, Trace stood with Kris, his arm around her shoulder as they talked to his sister Carrie, who had told everyone at the bridal dinner last night that she’d be moving away from her brother’s ranch on Monday.

  “Poor Kris,” Megan murmured. “I know she and Carrie have become close as sisters. And now she’s suddenly moving away.”

  “Did she say why? I thought she had a good job at the high school.”

  “That was the odd part—she wouldn’t talk about it. She just insisted that the dinner was meant to be a night for happiness, and to let it go at that.” Megan bit her lower lip. “It won’t be easy for Kris to see her go…she’s never given up on finding her sister Emma, and now this.”

  Scott gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze. “But things can work out, in God’s good time. You taught me to have faith in that. So for today, let’s just be happy for all the things that are good, okay?”

  Megan stood on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss against his cheek. “You’re absolutely right.”

  She still couldn’t believe how well things had turned out after the Full Moon Killer has been brought to justice.

  Hal had suffered a light heart attack the next day. He was doing just fine after surgery, but had decided it was the wake-up call he’d needed about finally taking the retirement he’d longed for. He’d be able to be with his wife all the time now, and both were happy sharing every day they had left.

  Despite her long-standing reservations, Megan had agreed to step in as interim sheriff until the next election, and she was finding the job more rewarding than she’d expected. With the deputies all at work once again, the department was fully staffed, and Scott had finally made his trip back to Chicago.

  It hadn’t taken him long to uncover the truth—that the late drug dealer, Rico Mendez, had been involved with the crooked cops Scott had identified. To destroy Scott’s credibility, he’d paid off a rookie cop to plant the ten grand in Scott’s bank account and steal key evidence from the evidence room. Worse, he’d bribed the rookie to romance Scott’s fiancée, trying to ferret out enough information about Scott to destroy him. The shallow woman had fallen for the guy in the process, though they’d both been fired and were facing charges.

  Now that he was back in Montana after clearing his name, Scott seemed happier and more settled. He’d even agreed to a 50-percent position as a deputy, which would still give him time to write.

  Better yet, he and Megan had been seeing each other every day, and each passing week had brought them closer.

  Brimming with happiness, she clasped Scott’s hand. “God’s glory,” she whispered, looking out at all of the friends and family assembled. “I see it in this beautiful place…and in all the love that’s here today for Erin and Jack. It’s all just so breathtaking—absolutely perfect.”

  “Not quite.” He gently turned her around and rested his hands on her shoulders, locking his gaze on hers. “This day could be even more perfect.”

  She looked up at the depth of love in his eyes and
felt her heart warm and expand in her chest until she could barely breathe, too afraid to speak and risk shattering the moment.

  He lowered his mouth to hers for a long, exquisite kiss that sent shivers through her and turned her knees weak.

  “I hope you’ll be my wife, Megan. If I could be with you until my last breath, I’d be the happiest man on earth. But think about it…don’t answer until you’re ready.”

  “Oh, Scott,” she managed to say when she could at last catch her breath. “The answer is yes.”

  He kissed her again, and this time she kissed him back with all of the love in her heart, until she felt swept away toward a future she’d never imagined possible.

  Only the gentle notes of a harp and violin duet at the water’s edge broke their embrace. “Guess it’s time to go,” she whispered.

  Thank You, Lord, for everything that happened today—for everything that turned out so right. A sense of peace drifted through her…as if He had just blessed the two of them with a promise of forever afters.

  And with her heart overflowing with joy, she let Scott lead her down the hill to the waiting crowd.

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit to the Montana Rockies in End Game, the third book of my BIG SKY SECRETS series. I have loved exploring the ways the three young heroines of these stories have dealt with the tragedy that occurred while they were growing up—how it changed them, how they overcame their emotional wounds, and along the way, how they found deeper faith. I hope you’ll join me again later for two more Love Inspired Suspense novels in this series—Emma’s story and Carrie’s story. But before that, Winter Reunion will be out in November 2010, for the Love Inspired line.

  All of us have encountered difficult times in life, and sometimes it’s so hard to go on—to find peace, to find a way to forgive ourselves and others. I have found such comfort and support in the following verses, which are among my favorites…and perhaps you will, too!