Page 45 of Targeted in Silver Creek

Hanna studied his face and went through all of that word by word. She so wished she had a lie detector to know if Bull was telling the truth or if something else had gone on. She knew from reading the reports that the lab had matched the bullets. The one in her head to Arnie’s weapon. The one in Arnie to Bull’s gun. So that meshed with the story Bull had told, but again her gut said Bull was leaving something out.

“I know something else happened,” Hanna insisted, and it wasn’t a bluff this time. “Tell me.”

Bull certainly didn’t jump to deny that. “I’m pretty sure somebody else was there in those trees. Somebody other than you, me and Arnie.”

Both Grayson and Boone muttered some profanity. They were obviously angry and disgusted that Bull hadn’t told them this earlier.

“Who?” Jesse challenged.

“I didn’t see the person,” Bull insisted, “but I got a glimpse of a gun. Aimed at me. I dropped to the ground, trying to get into a position to defend myself, when you and your cousin arrived on scene. The person must have run off.”

“And what reason do you have for not telling us this before now?” Jesse asked, his question filled with sarcasm and anger.

“Because I thought it was Shaw,” Bull admitted. “Because if I’d told you I believed it was him, then I’d have to explain how I knew an ATF agent. I didn’t want my cover blown. I figured it was best if I kept on letting everyone believe I was in the militia so I could keep gathering info about the leader.”

“You thought it was Shaw,” Jesse muttered. “Was it him?”

“I had my lawyer ask him. I couldn’t talk to Shaw myself because I didn’t want anyone making the connection between him and me. Anyway, Shaw said no, that he wasn’t there that night.”

“You believe him?” Hanna asked.

Bull stayed quiet a long time. “Yeah. About that anyway. I still think he could be dirty and playing both sides of this, but to the best of my knowledge, Shaw didn’t know that Arnie would be going to the Silver Creek Ranch. There’s only one person who for sure knew that Arnie would be going to the ranch to confront Boone and Jesse.”

Everything inside Hanna tightened. “My mother?”

Bull shook his head. “I don’t think she knew the timing of when Arnie would be there. Could be wrong and Arnie might have told her he was heading straight for the ranch when they were drinking. But someone else knew.” He paused again. “My sister, Marlene.”

Chapter Thirteen

Marlene.

Jesse didn’t like that the woman’s name kept coming up in connection with the shooting and the militia. But Bull obviously thought the connection was there.

“How would Marlene have known that you and Arnie would be at the ranch at that specific time?” Jesse demanded.

“Because I told her,” Bull admitted. “She was at my place when Arnie called, and she would have heard me trying to calm him down. I specifically told him not to go to the ranch, and we argued about it. It wouldn’t have taken much for her to piece together where we were going when Arnie got to my house.”

No, it wouldn’t have taken much, but Jesse still wasn’t convinced. “If you’re saying your sister followed Arnie and you, and that she aimed a gun at you, then you must believe she’s part of the militia.”

Bull’s jaw went to iron. “She very well could be. I just don’t know.” He groaned, cursed. “I don’t want to believe she’d kill me, or anyone for that matter, but she might have considered it if she found out I was an agent. Or if she thought I was going to rat out the militia.”

Again, Jesse wasn’t convinced, but he had no intention of dismissing Bull’s theory. If Marlene was involved in the militia, she might indeed have wanted to silence anyone who could have spilled secrets about the illegal operations in the group. In her mind, both Bull and Arnie could have done just that if they’d been arrested and interrogated.

“Anything else you want to ask him?” Grayson offered, glancing first at Hanna, then at Jesse and finally at Boone. When the three of them shook their heads, Grayson took out his handcuffs. “All right, then I’ll go ahead and get Bull to jail.” He put the cuffs on Bull’s wrists.

“You won’t be doing that alone,” Jesse insisted.

Grayson tipped his head to the driveway. “Ava and Theo are already waiting out there, and they’ll be my backup. I’m leaving the ranch hands and a reserve deputy here in case there’s another round of trouble. If you need more ranch hands, just let me know,” he added to Jesse.

“Wait,” Bull said when Grayson hauled him to his feet. “I’ve got a plan. It’s risky, but hell, just about everything we do at this point will be.”

“What plan?” Again, Jesse didn’t bother to tone down the skepticism.

Bull glanced at Grayson. “Are you sure you can stop someone from trying to kill me when I’m behind bars?”

Grayson gave him a flat look. “You’ll be protected. Neither I nor any of my deputies has ties to the militia.”

He said that with complete confidence because Jesse knew it was true. Like Grayson, he trusted every one of his fellow lawmen with his life. They’d die if it came to protecting a prisoner. Even someone like Bull.

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