Page 51 of Lone Star Protector

And he was right.

It wasn’t Slade.

The black Jaguar sped toward them, skidding to a stop. Seconds later, the driver barreled out. He didn’t have a lawyer with him today. No bodyguard driver either. He was alone and clearly spoiling for a fight.

Leland.

Chapter Seventeen

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“Where the hell is he?” Leland shouted the moment he was out of his car. “Where is that worthless scumbag who married my daughter?”

Judging from those questions, Leland had expected to find Bodie here. Why? Caroline was about to demand that info, but Bodie stepped out from behind the sign. He still had her mother in a chokehold.

She tried not to look directly into her mother’s eyes. This ordeal was already impossible, but seeing the fear would only add another level to it. Not for fear for herself, either.

But for Caroline.

Her mother would do anything to keep her from dying, even if it meant letting Bodie kill her where she stood.

Caroline also saw Bodie lean his head slightly to the left, probably not enough to give Nash a clean shot, though. Bodie murmured something into a small communicator clipped to his collar.

So, he wasn’t working alone.

Then again, she hadn’t thought he would do this solo. He’d want to have someone to take care of Nash while he murdered her. But Caroline was going to do everything possible to make sure that didn’t happen.

While Bodie’s attention was on Leland, she glanced around, looking for Bodie’s accomplice. She didn’t spot anything or anyone suspicious, but there were several large boats in docks, and it was possible that someone was on one of them. Someone with a long-range rifle.

Jordana maybe?

“You stupid sonofabitch,” Leland barked, aiming the insult at Bodie. “Do you know what’ll happen if you kill Ruby Maverick?” He didn’t wait for Bodie to respond. “You’ll bring down the entire Maverick Ops’ team on your stupid head, that’s what. The entire team,” he shouted.

“If you want to live, get the hell out of here,” Bodie snapped. “This isn’t about you.”

“Not yet, it isn’t, but unlike you, I’m not an idiot. I know you’ll come after me so you can kill me and get my money. Well, it’s not going to happen.” Leland jabbed his index finger at Bodie. “Even if you manage to take me out, I changed my will. Jordana gets nothing.”

All of this seemed like such a mundane conversation, considering there was a knife being held to her mother’s throat, but Caroline welcomed it. As long as Leland kept Bodie’s attention, then that meant Nash and she could look for a way to get Ruby and themselves out of here alive.

“You’ve known where Bodie was this whole time, haven’t you?” Ruby asked Leland. “You knew and you didn’t tell the cops.”

Leland barely spared her a glance. “I’m trying to save my daughter, something I’m sure you understand.”

“And you did that by helping Bodie escape,” Ruby supplied. “Oh, he didn’t know it was you, of course. You covered that up by hiring one of his former inmates. Barney Coltrain. Probably bribed the nurse, too, to take that throat punch. Then, I’m guessing you had a tracker either on the escape vehicle or something Barney gave Bodie. Like a phone.”

Bingo.

Ruby had nailed it. Caroline could tell from Leland’s expression. The man didn’t deny any of it.

But Bodie had a reaction.

His face went hard with rage, and he moved fast. He hurled the knife at Leland, and it sliced right into his chest. In the same motion, Bodie whipped out another knife, this one identical to the other. Ruby moved, trying to get away, but Bodie put the knife to her throat again.

And this time, he cut her.

Caroline gasped as the blood started to ooze down her mother’s throat.

“Bodie didn’t hit the carotid artery,” Nash told her when she started to run to her mother. “He knows if he kills Ruby that he loses his human shield. Then, I kill the chickenshit coward where he stands.”

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