Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Canyon) by Martin Kat

Author:Martin, Kat [Martin, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-05-01T03:00:00+00:00

Twenty

Claire watched as Ben loaded their overnight bags into the back of the Denali.

“What’s all that other stuff you’re bringing?” she asked, pointing to a long canvas bag and a big, heavy-duty aluminum truck box that fit behind the seat. She’d noticed the box before and wondered at its contents.

Ben gave her a long, assessing glance, leaned into the back, dragged the canvas bag over and unzipped it. Claire’s eyes widened at a stash of weapons that looked as if it could arm the National Guard.

He reached into the bag and took out what looked like a machine gun. “AR 15 semi-auto. Convertible to automatic with a kit.” He slid it back into the bag, opened a box and pointed to a big black handgun. “M-9 Beretta. Nine mil with a fifteen-round magazine.”

He lifted out a short-barreled shotgun. “Mossberg Thunder Ranch six-shot, twelve gauge.” He shoved the shotgun back into the bag, lifted out a smaller, holstered weapon. “My ankle gun—thirty-eight revolver.”

He lifted out a long, sheathed knife with a serrated edge. “My KA-BAR. It’s come in handy more than once.” He drew it out of its sheath, slid it in with a steely ring. “My Nighthawk’s stashed in the center console. Oh, and there’s a sat phone in the bag. You never know when you might be going off the grid.”

“You have got to be kidding.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, sweetheart, I’m already walking around with the hole Duke Hutchins’s bullet carved into my side. I’m not giving him a chance to finish the job.”

“What...what if the police stop us?”

“These weapons are all legal, all registered. All unloaded—except for my .45.” He pointed to another bag. “Ammo’s in there.”

Claire swallowed. “I’m afraid to ask what’s in the box.”

“My dive gear. I leave it in the car most of the time. I’m a frogman, remember? Oh, and a tactical vest. You never know when it might come in handy.” Ben slammed the lid on the Denali. They climbed inside and buckled up. Firing up the engine, he backed out of the garage.

Following Route 59, then heading east on 190, they pulled into Jasper a little over two hours later. A town of only eighty-five hundred, or so Claire’s iPad said, its only distinctive feature was the courthouse—a big old-fashioned brick building with a watchtower that dated way back to the 1850s.

The county sheriff’s office was on Birch Street, a ways out of town, a beige, flat-roofed structure with white sheriff’s department vehicles parked in the lot out front. She spotted a battered white Chevy pickup in a fenced-in area off to one side, and Ben parked the Denali near the entrance to the lot.

“That Bridger’s truck?” he asked.

Just seeing it made her stomach knot. “That’s it. I remember the dent in the front fender.”

But where was Bridger now? Where was Sam? Claire ignored the heaviness in her heart as she climbed out of the pickup and let Ben guide her toward the front of the building.

* * *

Ben felt the same sense of dread he saw in Claire’s face.

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