Page 25 of Lone Star Hostage

At least those were the rumors, anyway.

But Presley thought of what Billie had said, about Owen’s daughter being murdered by a domestic abuser. That sort of trauma could cause a severe thirst for justice. Presley knew because he had it for his adopted mom. However, with her killer dead by his own hand, justice just wasn’t in the cards.

Was that why he’d been so desperate to save Victoria?

Maybe.

She wasn’t his mother, not in the ways that mattered, but Presley hadn’t wanted to fail at bringing her home and getting justice for her. He’d succeeded at the first part, but the second, well, he had a lot of work to do to make that happen.

Ruby sank down in the seat next to him. “Good job,” she said. “Once the sheriff clears you to leave, you need to take some time off. At least the rest of the day,” she added after she musthave seen the argument in his eyes. “It’s just common sense. You’re almost certainly bone tired, and you need to eat and get some rest. You can start back on the investigation first thing in the morning.”

Rather than directly disobey an order, Presley decided it was a good time not to respond with other than a grunt. The sound could have meant anything. Or nothing.

Ruby gave him that flat-eyed boss look. “Any injuries you didn’t tell the EMTs about?”

Presley shook his head.

He wouldn’t mention that his shoulder was throbbing. Or that he had the headache from hell from the bullets hitting his safety helmet. He’d had far worse in less dangerous situations.

“You got a text when you were talking to the sheriff,” he pointed out. “An update on the kidnappers?”

Her sigh told him that she’d guessed about his unspoken injuries. “It was. The county CSIs IDed them right away with fingerprint matches. Ellis and Craig Dumfries. Brothers, age twenty-nine and thirty-one from Bulverde.” A town not far from San Antonio or Outlaw Ridge. “Long rap sheets, starting back when they were juveniles. And before you ask, there are no obvious ties to any of our suspects.”

Hell. He’d been hoping the connection would be loud and clear so the cops could make an arrest.

“There’s no sign of the kidnappers’ vehicle,” Ruby went on, “but the CSIs are expanding their search.”

Good. But if they didn’t find a vehicle, it could mean someone, maybe the kidnappers’ boss, had already driven it away.

“Those two had some serious firepower,” Presley muttered. “And the set-up was solid except for one thing. They didn’t seem to anticipate that we’d have backup with us.”

“Yes. They might not have been aware of it because Owen’s man, Hayes, disabled some cameras along the road in both directions. He did that with drone strikes before he even arrived. So, it’s possible the kidnappers didn’t see Owen, Angel, and him coming.”

Well, good for Hayes.Presley made a mental note to thank the man though he didn’t exactly look the friendly, willing to accept thanks sort.

“There were two more cameras by the creek,” Ruby went on. “But one was directed at Victoria and the other was panning the general area where Billie and you first arrived.”

At the mention of Victoria’s name, Presley got another flurry of those blasted thoughts. He knew this was all part of the post-mission process. It wasn’t easy to put to bed all the little pieces of the ordeal.

Especially the part about him carrying Victoria’s limp body to the bank.

“A friend of a friend is a nurse here,” Ruby went on, “and I got an unofficial update on Victoria’s medical condition. She’s stable and gave a brief statement to the sheriff before she was taken away for some x-rays.”

Presley figured Ruby would be able to find out whatever Victoria ended up telling the sheriff. Just because the woman hadn’t seen her kidnappers, it didn’t mean she didn’t know something about them that could lead to who’d hired them.

Because they had been hired.

Presley could feel that in his gut. These two losers hadn’t acted alone in this.

“I saw the guns they used for the attack,” Presley said. “They used AR-15s with lightning link modifications. About two grand each with the modifications. Anything in their bank accounts to verify they could have bought something that expensive?”

“Nothing,” Ruby verified. “Of course, they could have had cash squirreled away that they used.” She didn’t sound as if she believed that any more than he did.

“What did Jesep, Olivia, and Ari say when you let them know Victoria had been rescued?” Presley asked.

“I spoke to Jesep, and he thanked me. He’s on his way here.”

That gave him a jolt of fresh alarm. “If he hired the kidnappers, he might try to finish her off in the hospital.”

---