Page 28 of Stone Cold Sinner

There was someone seated near the kitchen table where a small triage-like set-up was staged, covered in first aid supplies Nash was handing Ransom, who was tending to the bleeding individual in the chair. Coy wasn’t sure where to start or what to say, torn between the two open spaces his family filled. When Ransom turned to look over his shoulder, he revealed the bloodied victim was one of his agents who sat, shirt cut off of him, sweat beaded at his brow, and his jaw so tight you could nearly feel the pain it represented.

“Start talking,” Coy said coolly to whoever was listening… but no one spoke. They all wore looks of shock and horror as if waiting for someone else to answer. They were speechless.

“That’s a lot of fucking blood,” Kenzie said, reaching for her phone. “I’m calling this in. We need an ambulance, and…”

“Put your phone away.” Ransom said calmly. “No need. We got this.”

“Y-you got this?” she pointed to the floor beneath the man in the chair, “There’s a pool of blood on the kitchen floor, a very pregnant woman about to pass out on the sofa, Dev’s covered in blood but guessing she’s okay or surviving on adrenaline given she’s frantically pacing like she’s determined to win some twisted race, not to mention the guy in the chair who’s bleeding out and let’s not forget the car outside that’s full of blood spatter and bullet holes. This is the kind of crime scene the darkest kind of nightmares are made of.”

“We’re handling it.” Dillon deadpanned, her words lacking emotion. “It’s fine.”

“Fine?” Kenzie turned to Coy, “This is not what we agreed to, Coy. This is… bullshit. Not to mention dangerous.”

“It’s… fine.” Ransom raised his voice. “It’s handled.”

“I’m only asking one more time. What. The hell. Happened here?” Coy seethed through gritted teeth.

“We were sh-shot at.” Devyn stammered. “I went to town for a few groceries. We decided to barbecue tonight, and we needed buns and… something else.”

Devyn went quiet, stopped pacing, and stared off into the distance. It was like she was trying to remember what had happened, or perhaps she was trying to forget and didn’t want to repeat it, as saying it out loud made it that much more real.

“Dev?” Coy demanded, snapping her out of whatever state she was trapped in.

“Right. The market. We were on our way back, not too far from here, and… it happened so fast. Sounds cliché, right? That’s what they say on TV, in movies, or books… it happened so fast.” She chuckled. “But it did. I heard loud pops, one, two, three… I don’t know how many there were, but they just kept coming. I was so confused because the windshield cracked a couple of times, and my car… it was hard to keep it on the road.”

“You were being shot at,” Coy said, helping her fill in the blanks.

“Yeah. I never would’ve thought a bullet could pull a car that hard one way or another. Jackson immediately knew what it was, though,” she said, referring to the agent. “He leaned over me. He was blocking me. He told me to go faster, but I couldn’t see. He said I didn’t need to –– he had the wheel. I felt the bullet hit him. His body thrust so hard against mine I could hardly breathe. Then another one. He gasped each time. It’s like… I knew he was being shot, but none of it seemed… real. He just said, keep going.”

“Damn it.” Coy sneered.

“The shots stopped, and Jackson… he fell back over in his seat and said, get to the ranch. Fast as you can. Get to the ranch, and he… just… he was gone.” Devyn let out a sob. “I thought he… was dead. I just remembered… I left the groceries in the car.”

Devyn went for the front door, but Dillon stopped her. “I got them, honey. You just stay in here. The groceries are put away.”

Dillon made eye contact with Coy and shook her head. She didn’t have to say a word for him to understand what she was trying to tell him. Their little sister was in shock. She didn’t really care about the groceries, which were still in the car and probably full of bullet holes and blood. She was trying to remember or maybe suppress what she didn’t want to remember by grasping at any sense of normalcy, like putting away the groceries.

“When she got here, Nora was out front on the porch. She stood to help them bring things in, but when Dev got out of the car, covered in blood, she passed out, and Dev screamed. We were out back prepping the grill, heard her, and came running.” Ransom shared. “Cut tended to Nora, and Nash and I brought Jackson in. He took three hits. Now you have the full story.”

“Who was it?” Kenzie asked. “Either of you see… anyone?”

“No. They were hidden. Must’ve been in the trees and brush along the roadside somewhere.” Jackson winced as Ransom wrapped his wounds. “It was hunters. I guess, this time of year, they’d be poachers.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t an ambush?” Coy asked, “Maybe they were waiting for you.”

“I sent two agents out looking but getting them to leave was a hard task. They aren’t supposed to leave my side –– protocol. This feels more like it was a well-planned attack, which means…”

“They had a quick out.” Coy finished. “Your guys aren’t going to find anything. Since when have we had hunters or poachers out here? The road they came in on only comes here.”

Ransom nodded, “My thoughts exactly. Unless they were out-of-towners, who didn’t know where they were, but that’s a stretch. Someone said something about a pack of wild boars, which would explain multiple shots fired, but…”

“He needs medical attention,” Kenzie said. “Shot three times, remember?”

“Not life-threatening, and I’m tending to him.” Ransom argued.

Kenzie laughed, “Oh, so you’re a doctor when you’re not running the country?”

“I was a medic while serving. I treated far worse than this in the field in hostile situations, full combat. This is nothing I can’t handle. For now.” Ransom said. “Too dangerous to take him to a hospital –– they’re obligated to call the police, which is you, and you’re already here.”

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