Page 36 of Lone Star Target

From the corner of her eye, Kit saw the blur of motion. Heard the revving of an engine. She whipped her head around and saw the van. Not going in reverse this time. The driver was coming straight at them, ready to collide right into them.

He didn’t make it.

Angel fired directly into the van’s windshield, the bullets crashing through the glass.

And straight into the kidnapper.

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Chapter Twelve

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Jace was well aware that Kit, Brandon, and he had gotten damn lucky. And he hated that luck had played such a big part in them all being alive.

No such luck for Arnold Cassaine, AKA Rattler.

The man had died from the two gunshot wounds to his head. Kill shots that Angel had fired to save them. Later, he’d thank his foster brother. Thank him big time. But for now, Angel was helping to mop up the crime scene.

Ruby had stepped in to make sure Jace was excluded from the mopping up. Instead, after Kit and he had given their statements to the cops, Ruby had told Jace to take Kit back to his house where she’d be safe. He’d readily agreed to that because while Brandon had been rescued and Rattler was dead, the threat to Kit was as strong as ever.

And the stress of that was clearly showing in her body language.

Her shoulders were tight, her expression strained while she paced and talked on the phone to Brandon. Along with that, she’d had to use her inhaler again.

Jace didn’t think Brandon was telling her any bad news. Just the opposite. The young man hadn’t been injured. However, he’d had to go to the hospital for yet another checkup.

His second one in twenty-four hours.

Jace was betting Brandon was feeling a whole lot of stress, too.

Heck, her entire family was. After all, Marvin’s trial was tomorrow, and Trevor or Ramsey could end up being arrested. Maybe Deanna, too, depending on what she knew was going on.

All three had already been interviewed by the cops about the kidnapping, and Ramsey had insisted those two shots that’d hit the SUV hadn’t been aimed at Kit. That he’d simply missed.

Jace wasn’t buying that.

Neither was Kit or the cops, but so far, Ramsey remained a free man. There could be charges stemming from what Trevor and he had done, but those charges wouldn’t include attempted murder of his daughter since there was no proof of his having that intent.

At best, Jace figured that Ramsey might face a reckless endangerment charge from this latest incident. Might. But with good lawyers, which he had, he would probably just get a slap on the wrist.

Neither Trevor nor Deanna had confessed to any wrongdoing either. However, at least one thing had been cleared up with their statements.

Why Trevor, Ramsey, and Deanna had arrived on the scene.

According to Ramsey, he’d gotten a ransom demand as well, and he, too, had already transferred a half million by the time they’d shown up. On the frantic drive to Jace’s, apparently Trevor and Ramsey had decided to kill the kidnapper so they could free Brandon.

A stupid plan, considering Brandon was caught in the middle.

Trevor and Ramsey had been cocksure they could save the day. And Brandon. But Jace had to wonder if Ramsey had considered that his own son was the one who’d set up the kidnapping? That it was his own son who might be milking him for a million-dollar ransom while doing the same to Kit?

It was hard for Jace to think of Trevor putting Brandon in danger like that, but if Trevor was desperate enough for money, that might have spurred him to do desperate things. And if he managed to collect the two million and kill the kidnapper, then dead men could tell no tales. With Rattler out of the picture, there’d be no one to point the finger at Trevor.

Kit finished her call with her nephew, her gaze immediately going across the room to where Jace was sitting at his desk. Their eyes locked for a couple of long moments before she glanced at the monitor. Reports and drone feed were scrolling across the screen.

“Brandon’s not being admitted to the hospital,” she relayed to him. “And he’s going home to stay with his parents. They have a good security system.”

Jace raised an eyebrow. “Brandon does know that Trevor and/or your father could have been the one to hire Rattler?”

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