“Sierra, grab the long gun and take it to the truck. I’ll bring our patient in a minute.”
“I should stay, keep an eye on him and—”
“He’s holding his own right now.” When she didn’t move, he added, “Please.”
She sighed heavily and picked up the incredibly heavy, odd-looking rifle that had done so much damage to the SUV. She hesitated, staring at the man in the helmet, wondering why he seemed so familiar.
“Sierra,” Beau prodded.
“Okay, okay.” She hurried to the truck and got inside.
“She’s gone now,” Beau said, as both of them stood. “You can stop with the fake raspy quality of your voice. Either take off the helmet or raise the visor so we can talk, man-to-man…Esteban.”
Chapter Ten
A harsh laugh echoed from beneath the helmet. Turning his back to the truck, he lifted the visor. “How did you know? Even my own sister didn’t recognize me.” His voice was slightly accented now, similar to Sierra’s accent, as he stopped trying to disguise it.
“That’s because she’s still grieving. She thinks you’re dead and has no reason to suspect otherwise.”
Esteban winced.
“Why aren’t you?” Beau asked. “Dead? Or more to the point, why are you pretending to be dead, allowing her and the rest of your family to think that? And who’s in the grave with your name on it?”
A loud, harsh sigh sounded through the opening in the helmet. “It’s a long story. One neither of us has time for. You don’t need to take Randy anywhere. I’ll take care of him.”
Not daring to turn his attention away from Sierra’s brother, Beau watched Esteban as he listened to the wounded man’s breathing. It seemed steady, unlabored, for now. But it wouldn’t stay that way much longer, not without urgent medical care.
“I’m guessing you don’t plan on transporting him on your motorcycle, if there even is a motorcycle.”
“Oh, there is. I wasn’t lying about that. I’ll get some guys to take him soon.”
“Soon? You have more thugs on their way here already?”
“I wouldn’t call themthugs, exactly.” He shrugged. “I called them as soon as you arrived.”
“Called? Ah. You’ve been using a signal jammer. That’s why we couldn’t call for backup.”
“I cover my bases.” He motioned over his shoulder. “Sierra will be leaving with me. You might as well send her over here and get going. While you still can.”
“Brave talk for a man with a gun pointed at his gut.”
His mouth curved in a reluctant smile. “True enough. But my men would avenge me. Unless you want to be the cause of your own death, you won’t pull the trigger. Time’s running out, both for you and Randy. What’s it going to be?”
“Why did you fake your death. Why did your men break into my cabin? And why did they try to kill me just now, even with Sierra here who also could have been killed?”
Esteban’s smile faded. “There were going to be consequences for them putting her in danger. But your shootout solved that problem for me. They got jumpy while I was in the woods, started firing when they should have waited. Regardless, we didn’t expect her to be with you. One of my men in town said he’d seen a cop take her into the jail. Another one saw the police chief’s truck heading out of town. The plan was to surround you from both ends of this ridiculously long road. I wanted to take you hostage, to use you as a bargaining chip to get my sister out of jail.” His hands fisted at his sides. “Like I said, things didn’t turn out as expected. The group of guys I’m working with these days is unpredictable.” He looked around. “What a mess. I don’t know how I’m going to fix this. But first things first. I’m taking my sister with me.”
Esteban suddenly ducked down and swept his leg out. But Beau anticipated his action. He dodged out of the way and slammed his fist into Esteban’s jaw, spinning him around. Esteban managed to keep from falling, but he froze when Beau jammed the muzzle of his pistol against Esteban’s forehead.
“One more move, one little twitch and it’s lights-out, Covington.”
Esteban stared at him, his dark eyes hot with rage. “You don’t have a clue what you’re getting into the middle of, here.”
“Then, explain it to me. What’s going on? Why did your father’s men break into my cabin? Why are you in my town causing trouble?”
Esteban rolled his eyes, much like Sierra often did. “They’re not my father’s men. They’re mine.”
“Is there a difference?”
