Page 65 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

“Hell,” Luca cursed. “Let’s go.” He took hold of Bree’s hand and started running toward the road.

“What’s wrong?” Slater asked, hurrying after them. “Who was that text from?”

“Tara,” Luca blurted while he ran, the world of emotion in his voice. “She said she has Gabriel.”

Chapter Seventeen

Tara.

The woman’s name hammered through Bree’s head as Luca, Slater and she ran. Tara had Gabriel. And that meant Tara had likely been the person who’d fired those shots inside the house at the ranch. She was in on this with Nathan and Manny.

All three had worked together to create this nightmare.

She didn’t ask why Duncan, Joelle, her mother or Woodrow hadn’t stopped Tara from taking Gabriel. Because Bree couldn’t deal with the sickening dread that they were all now dead. If Tara had Gabriel, then she’d managed to neutralize them in some way.

No, she couldn’t ask about that.

She could only focus on getting to the ranch so she could find Tara and get her son.

They ran out onto the road just as a cruiser braked to a loud stop next to them. Sonya was behind the wheel with Carmen in the passenger’s seat.

“What the hell happened?” Sonya asked.

Luca didn’t answer. He threw open the back door, and Slater, Bree and he all piled in. “Get to the ranch now,” Luca demanded.

Sonya didn’t hesitate. She gunned the engine, the tires squealing against the asphalt, and she got them moving while Luca yanked out his phone. Bree saw that he was trying to call Duncan. If she’d had her phone, she would be trying to call Joelle or her mother.

Luca cursed when Duncan didn’t answer, and Bree nearly lost it. She wanted to scream. She wanted to tear the world apart toget to her son, but losing it wouldn’t help. They had to focus. They had to get to the ranch and find Gabriel.

Slater took out his phone, too, and he called Joelle. Since he put it on Speaker, Bree could hear the rings as she watched the scenery fly past the window. Her heart crushed with each unanswered ring.

And then Joelle answered.

“I’m a little busy here,” Joelle said, sounding out of breath but very much alive. “Are you all okay? Did you get Bree?”

Bree didn’t want to respond to those questions. Not when she only wanted to know one thing. “Gabriel,” she blurted. “Did Tara take him?”

“She tried,” Joelle confirmed. “But she didn’t succeed.”

Bree went limp with relief, and she sent up a thousand prayers. “But Tara sent a message saying she’d taken him.”

“Sorry about that. The text was already composed on her phone, just waiting there, and during the scuffle to retain her, it was accidentally sent. We didn’t know who the recipient was since it was being sent to a burner.”

Bree was beyond thankful that was how things had played out. “Is Gabriel hurt?”

“No,” Joelle was quick to assure her. “No one here is. Well, except for Tara. She’s got some cuts and bruises from Duncan and Woodrow tackling her to get that gun and phone away from her. Duncan’s cuffing her now.” Joelle paused. “Please tell me Luca, Slater and you took care of Manny and Nathan.”

So, her sister knew. “They’re both dead.” That prompted Carmen to make a call to dispatch to get someone out to the scene to secure the bodies.

“Good,” Joelle murmured, and she repeated that as if trying to steady herself. “Tara’s talking, and she said Nathan and Manny put this plan together.”

Soon, Bree would want to hear all about that plan, but for now, she just needed to see her baby. Sonya was trying to make that happen. She was driving as fast as possible while Carmen continued her call to coordinate the efforts to secure the crime scene.

“They were all three in on this,” Bree managed to say.

“Yeah.” That was all Joelle said for a long time. “How far out are you?”

“Under a minute,” Bree said after she glanced around. A minute that was already feeling like an eternity.

---