Page 64 of Cold Case Murder Mystery

“Home,” he said, shaking his head. “Home is family, Brooke. And that’s what we are. With or without North Star, we’re all family. No matter how anybody feels about it. Forever.” He gave a glance over her shoulder then pointed through the trees. “Reece is over there. He’s watching something. We’re going to approach silently, okay? Don’t make a sound.”

She nodded. She could do that. She might not be good at the whole operative-and-handling-danger thing, but she knew how to follow orders. And shedidknow how to shoot the gun she carried now that she could see it.

She would help. Whatever this was, she was finally going to help Royal. No matter what he’d gotten himself into.

She followed Granger cautiously until Reece’s careful hiding spot came into view. He’d created a natural kind of trench with some fallen logs and a rock outcropping. Brooke and Granger joined him behind the barrier.

They all crouched low and spoke in barely-there whispers.

“Five men, four armed. Surrounding Royal, Zeke and an unknown woman.” Reece flicked Brooke a look and then one at Granger, who gave a little go-ahead nod.

“Royal’s been shot, but he’s awake,” Reece continued, handing Granger a pair of binoculars. “He’s alert. Betty’s on standby, not far off. Minute we can, we’ll get him to her.”

All that fear Brooke had let go once Granger had appeared crept back in. Her brother had beenshot. He and Zeke and Carlyle were surrounded byfivepeople. She didn’t dare peek over the barrier. She just had to... deal.

But not alone. Not hiding. Together.

Family.

Zeke was prepared to get shot. Hell, he’d survived it a few times, he could do it again. He didn’t let himself dwell on the errant thought that here he was in a standoff, finallynothaving a death wish, and he just might get himself killed.

Nah. Not today. He had to make Brooke believe they could make this work. Couldn’t check out now. He wasn’t going to let this end in any way she might blame herself.

Just then, as if on some cosmic cue, far off but distinct, Zeke heard a whistle. A North Star whistle. Then he saw the glint of something—a gun. And he recognized the hand making a gesture from behind a tree. Walker.

“Cops,” Carlyle whispered. “Behind us.”

Backup. All different kinds. Zeke grinned.

He aimed his weapon right at Jeremiah Campbell. “Took down too many men like you in my life. Won’t faze me to do it again.”

Jeremiah must have sensed something because he looked behind him. Walker and Cash stepped out from their hiding places. Both held guns. But before Jeremiah could even react to that, the sounds of heavy footfalls reached them.

“Drop your weapons,” Hart shouted, cresting a hill. Gun drawn, with Chloe Brink not far behind. Both in their Bent County uniforms.

“Now,” she added.

The man who hadn’t had a gun took off running, while two of the gunmen dropped their weapons. Another held on to his and ran. Jeremiah just stood there. Fuming while the North Star contingent quickly stopped the attempted runners.

Reece Montgomery and Gabriel Saunders each took out a gunman, while Cash’s brother, Palmer, took out the other.

A convergence of the different facets of his life. All coming together to help. Protect. Save.

Then there was Brooke. She had some crusted blood on her temple but didn’t look to be actively bleeding. And she rushed to Royal’s side. He wanted to run to her too, but he let her have the moment with her brother while Granger texted Betty to come on down and Hart radioed for an ambulance.

Zeke gave one more glance at Jeremiah. Walker and Cash had guns trained on him while Chloe moved over with a pair of handcuffs. She kept telling him to drop his weapon, but he hadn’t yet.

So Zeke walked over.

Jeremiah didn’t lift his gun, but he lifted his chin. “You’re on my list.”

Zeke reached forward and grabbed the gun out of Jeremiah’s hand before the man even had a chance to react. North Star training at its finest. He handed it to Chloe. “I’m on everyone you know’s list,” Zeke returned. “And I still sleep soundly at night because you all are nothing. Always have been.”

Chloe cuffed the man and then jerked him away. More cops were appearing, dragging the now-handcuffed perpetrators back toward the road where, hopefully, cruisers were waiting to take them to the sheriff’s office.

Because all of these people had come together to help, to do the right thing, to protect each other. Against a small contingent of people who’d worked together to hurt and harm.

Zeke’s childhood had been marked by the inability to save his mother against men like that and, like so many realizations lately, this one hit him out of the blue.

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