She nodded. “I’m—”
“No!” The word was a guttural cry. I turned to see David charging through the woods, rifle raised. “You!”
“David, get yourself in check. I had no choice. He was going to kill Jensen.” Time slowed as pieces fell into place. None of my team members were behind David. He was completely alone. He hadn’t wanted Walker and me to search for Jensen. Not because he was worried about our safety, but because he wanted time to cover for his brother.
David shook his rifle at me. “All this for some fucking horses? You bleeding-heart animal rights sissies.”
“You were in on this?” I couldn’t quite get the pieces to compute. David had always been an asshole. But this?
“I don’t give a flying fuck about the horses one way or the other. I was just trying to protect Bill.” His gaze dropped to his brother, tears filling his eyes. His gaze snapped up to me, and so did the barrel of his rifle.
I needed time. Time to figure out how to get us out of this. “Why? What was the point of all this?”
The rifle began to shake in David’s hand. “Did you know we grew up in Hettiesburg?”
“No, I didn’t.” Hettiesburg was one of the poorest communities around Pine Meadow.
David swiped a hand over his brow while keeping his rifle steady with the other. “My dad struggled to keep a small flock of sheep on some leased land. One year, those damn horses took down the fence, and we lost half the flock. Never been hungrier than I was that year. Bill just didn’t want any other families going through what we did. What’s so wrong with that?”
I eased forward a step, my mind racing, trying to find a way out of this. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make sure families have food on the table.”
David aimed his rifle at my head and took a step closer. “Then why did you fucking kill him?”
I went with the honest truth, hoping against hope that it might get through the crazy to the small, sane part of David I hoped was somewhere inside. “Because he was trying to take my family from me.”
“Lower the gun.” Jensen, God bless her, had worked Bill’s gun out of his grasp and now had it trained on David. He froze. “I’ve got better reaction time than you. You don’t want to test me.”
I saw a slight tremor in Jensen’s hold and wondered if she really could pull the trigger if she had to. Jensen was such a protector of life in all forms, I knew it would destroy her to have to end one. She pushed to her feet. “Lower the gun. Now.”
David hesitated for a moment, his gaze flicking from me to his fallen brother and then finally Jensen. I saw the moment the fight left him. His shoulders slumped, and the end of the rifle dipped.
I charged forward, grabbing the gun from his hold. “Get on the ground, hands behind your head.”
David slowly lowered himself to the ground, assuming the position he’d ordered so many to take over his career.
I turned to Jensen, her hands were violently shaking now. “Hand me the gun, Wilder.” She obeyed, but the movements were robotic. Shock was setting in. I holstered the gun she gave me and kept my own trained on David. “I need you to get my cuffs from my pack.” I slid the bag off one shoulder and then the other.
My gaze didn’t stray from her as she searched through it. She was okay. Just watching her move, watching her chest rise and fall, eased me a bit. She was okay.
Now, I just needed to figure out how I could get her to forgive me.
47
Jensen
Walker pulledme into a hard hug. The force of it caused me to let out some sort of strangledoomphsound. His hold on me only tightened. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.”
“Sorry?” I mumbled into his shoulder, but it came out as more of a question. It wasn’t exactly my idea to get kidnapped.
He released me from his hug but kept hold of my shoulders. “Not as sorry as you’re going to be when you get home. Mom and Dad are fit to be tied. You were supposed to have someone with you when you were with the horses.”
“Shit.” It didn’t matter how old you were, something about upset parents waiting for you always sent a flood of dread through your gut. “Did you have to tell them?”
Walker raised a single brow. “Do you really think they didn’t already know? Wouldn’t find out?”
He had a point. My eyes traveled around the vast array of law enforcement personnel. Forest Service, county sheriff, Walker, and a couple of his deputies, the medical examiner, and EMTs. My gaze caught on Tuck, who was talking to the sheriff and someone from the Forest Service.
I wanted desperately to run over there and affix myself to him like some sort of spider monkey or land-capable octopus. I needed to touch him. To make sure he was okay. To see ifwewere okay. Walker had shown up moments after Tuck had cuffed David and ushered us back to the Forest Service cabin where the emergency vehicles could make it in. Tuck and I hadn’t exactly had time to talk.
