Page 47 of Her Guarded Hero

The noise of the fire blocked out any kind of sounds that the men might have made, so it was up to him to just check out the woods for signs of disturbance. It didn’t take long to see the broken branches at shoulder height.

Sloppy, it was just plain sloppy to leave such an obvious trail. But then again, they probably didn’t expect anyone to come after them. The dipshits probably thought everyone would be fighting the fire. Dalton heard the faint sound of a siren. He felt a sense of relief, they would be able to focus on the blaze and Tate would be able to ensure that Aurora stayed out of the forest.

He leapt over a dead tree and silently landed on the other side. Despite some of the rain that they’d had lately, the undergrowth was still dry. As Dalton got closer to Ricky and Ned’s trail it was easy to spot where they’d gone because of all the snapped branches, twigs and sticks. Ideally, he’d like to get in front of them before they reached the road.

Dalton took off to the right of their trail and then started to run parallel. He was now far enough away from the fire that it was just the sounds of the forest, soon he would hear the two men, and he knew for sure that there was no way they would hear or see him.

“Ned, you need to move faster.”

The man wasn’t even trying to be quiet.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” the second man panted.

“Well go faster, otherwise I’m leaving you behind. You’re not worth a lethal injection.”

“Ricky, California doesn’t have the death penalty.” Ned sounded pompous and oily.

“We’re in Nevada, you idiot! We’re dead men walking.” Ricky shouted.

“Oh shit, I never thought of that. I’ll keep up, I promise,” Ned said.

Dalton heard the racket they were making, but he easily passed them. They had flashlights and he saw where their trail was leading. Hell, he had time to pass them, do his nails, get a facial, then climb a tree and get into position.

When he was two hundred yards before the highway, he got into position behind a Ponderosa pine and pulled his night scope off his rifle and watched for their arrival. As they came into sight he could make out Ned from the picture that his teammate Dex had sent to his phone. Dumbshit and Dumbshitter were making it easy for him. Ned was walking ten feet behind his cousin and he was sweating profusely.

Fish in a barrel.

Ricky was within four yards of Dalton when he walked by, he didn’t notice a thing. Thirty seconds went by and Ned walked by, Dalton hit him in the temple with the butt of his pistol. It was just a love tap. He grabbed him and lowered him behind a bush. He picked up Ned’s gun and put it into his pocket. It was three minutes before Ricky spoke.

“Ned, you need to pick up the pace. Ned are you listening to me?”

Ricky whipped around, but it was too late for him, Dalton was there.

“What?” Was the only word he got out before Dalton had him down to the ground his knee digging in his chest, his razor-sharp blade to his throat. Ricky’s eyes narrowed.

“Go ahead and kill me, it beats waiting around for a lethal injection,” the man spat out.

“I’ll slice your stomach open and leave you with your guts hanging open for the bears to get you, then you’ll be begging for the state’s mercy.”

Ricky trembled. “What do you want?”

“Did you try to kill Aurora?”

Dalton moved the knife down and shoved up Ricky’s coat and flannel shirt. He nicked him with his blade.

“No, I swear to God, I didn’t. I blew the shot on purpose the other day,” Ricky stammered. “Ned was pissed as hell.”

“Why now? Why is he coming back at her after all this time?” It was a question that had been gnawing at Dalton.

“He just got fired again. He said all his real troubles began when she fired him two years ago. He hadn’t been able to pick up a decent job since he left this ranch. He promised to pay me good if I helped scare her.”

“You mean kill her,” Dalton said harshly. He threw down the knife, not wanting that kind of evidence. He knew the perfect thing. He dragged Ricky three feet to a sharp rock that was protruding from the forest floor. He pushed his cheek against it.

“Owww.”

“Too bad about your fall,” Dalton said fiercely. “The slower you are answering my questions, or the more you don’t tell me the truth, the closer you are to having your face split open on this rock. We clear?”

“Okay, okay.”