Page 17 of Lone Star Christmas Mission

“I am,” Cash verified. “No sign of Harvin. Any further word from him?”

“Not yet, but I suspect he’s got the road under surveillance and will know when you’re there,” Ruby answered, and then she paused. “How are you holding up, Kayla?”

Kayla opened her mouth, no doubt to get an automatic answer ofI’m fine, but then she stopped and perhaps did some rethinking. “I’m scared, but that won’t stop me. This is probably the fastest way to prevent Harvin from killing anyone else.”

Ruby made a sound that might have been agreement. Or concern that this was a huge mistake. Cash had the same worry. He was essentially taking Kayla straight into the arms of a killer.

“Harvin had rules, and, Kayla, I have one for you, too,” Ruby went on a moment later. “Cash is well trained for ops like this so I want you to follow his lead.”

Kayla sighed. “He’ll just tell me to stay behind him. He’ll put himself in immediate danger to save me.”

“Yes, he will,” Ruby verified before Cash could say that was the absolute truth. “And that’s a good thing. Harvin wants both of you, and if you go in side by side, it’ll give him an easier shot to take you both out at the same time.”

Kayla stayed quiet a moment and then muttered, “All right.”

“Good,” Ruby said. “Glad we’re of a like mind on this. Now, I’m going to mute what’s going on here so you can focus on what’s happening around you. I’ll be able to hear you so if you need to ask me something, just let me know, and I’ll come back on the line.”

The background chatter ended, and the silence settled around them. Cash wasn’t sure that was better for his concentration because his thoughts assaulted him. Somehow, he had to make this work. He had to put an end to Harvin’s reign of terror and keep Kayla alive.

Somehow.

Cash slowed to take the turn onto the road where the trees and shrubs were even thicker. Weeds were growing up through the surface of the cracked asphalt and along the ditches. He didn’t see Harvin or any signs of weapons or surveillance equipment, but that didn’t mean any or all of those weren’t around.

The SUV bobbled over the surface, which was basically one deep pothole right after another. Since he was creeping along, Cash had only gone about twenty yards when Ruby came back on the line.

“Harvin’s made contact,” Ruby said, her voice sounding tight but focused. “There’s an old, abandoned store about a quarterof a mile from where you are. Stop there in the parking lot and await instructions.”

“Hell,” Cash grumbled. That wouldn’t give Jericho and Rafe much time to get in place. “Do we have drone images yet?”

“Just got them,” Ruby confirmed, “and I’m sending them to you now. Note the helicopter on the road just up from the store.”

The feed loaded on his dash monitor, and Cash did indeed see the chopper, which would be out of sight from the store since it was on the backside of a steep curve in the road. That was no doubt how Harvin had arrived.

And how he planned to escape.

“Is Harvin actually in the store?” Cash asked.

“Possibly. Someone is anyway. The drone just checked the store for heat sources,” Ruby explained, “and there are six people inside. Three more on the sides and back of the building.”

Cash cursed again. “That’s a lot of hired muscle. That chopper’s not big enough to transport nine people.”

“Agreed. There must be another vehicle parked somewhere out of sight. The drone is searching for it.” Ruby stopped when there was some more chatter in the background. “Rafe and Jericho are still ten minutes out. Try to stall until they’re in place.”

“Will do,” Cash assured her, and he hoped that would be possible.

He kept driving, kept glancing around. And he saw no one or nothing suspicious. Not until the store came into view. Like the road surface, the concrete on the parking lot had plenty of weeds, and from the looks of it, some of them had been recently trampled down.

“I don’t see anyone on the sides of the building,” Kayla relayed to Ruby. “Are they still there?”

“Yes, according to the drone feed,” Ruby verified. “They’re both belly down, and judging from the angle of their hands and body, they’re both heavily armed.”

Of course, they were. Whoever these people were, they were hired guns, and Cash only hoped they didn’t have orders to kill Kayla and him on sight. If so, they’d be gunned down the moment they stepped from the SUV unless Jericho and Rafe managed to get into place first to neutralize them.

“Get down lower in the seat,” Cash told Kayla as he pulled to a stop in front of the store.

Or rather in front of the building that had once been a store. There wasn’t much left of the original structure. Part of the roof and some of the walls had been caved in and all the windows had been broken.

“I can’t see anyone inside,” Cash told Ruby. “Where were the heat sources the drone found?”

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