“Quiet,” he gently shushed her.
Coming into the front room, he crouched near the fire and added a piece of wood to the low flame.
“What’s that?” Ted nodded to the velvet box.
“A collar I bought for Triton.” He eased the velvet box open and handed it to Ted. His phone buzzed.
“I’m glad.” Ted smiled and handed him back the box. “Something smells really good.”
“It’s the casserole.” He tucked the box into his pocket and hurried into the kitchen to check on the casserole. It was bubbling, but still not brown on the top. He turned and almost tripped over Molly.
“Molly, go lay down.” She stood looking at him and whining.
His phone buzzed. He tugged it out and saw he’d missed three calls from Memphis.
“What’s going on?” He frowned answering the phone.
“Clay Martin escaped!” He heard Memphis running. “He got away at the hospital, and his lieutenants killed two of my deputies.”
“Fuck.” He hung up and ran.
Down the hall, he tossed open Triton’s bedroom door, empty.
That’s right, he was going for wood.
Molly was on his heels.
Shit!
He checked the clip in his Glock. Two strides took him to the backdoor. He yanked it open and Molly flew out, running down the steps.
Across the distance, Triton was running toward him.
Diesel froze in surprise.
“They’ve taken Miles,” Triton sobbed. “And they have Fraser too!”
“I got you, come here.” Diesel grabbed Triton and clutched him close. Shit. They had Triton’s friend from Texas?
“Miles. Fraser,” the boy sobbed, throwing his arms around his neck and holding him tight. “He’s going to kill them.”
Diesel pulled Triton into the house and sat him at the table.
“Talk to me.”
Through a mess of stumbling words, he learned that Clay’s thugs had kidnapped Miles from the woodshed. They had also brought Fraser from Texas.
Triton saw them pull him through the woods.
“Did they see you?”
“No. I went after them, but then I thought I better not give them another hostage.” Triton dashed at his eyes.
“Good thinking, boy. They could have really outnumbered you out there.”
“I thought Clay had been arrested!”
“He was. He escaped from the hospital. Killed two deputies.”
“Oh god.”
“How do you know Clay has Fraser?”
“When I was running back here, I got this.” Triton gulped. “It’s Clay texting from Fraser’s phone.”
Meet me at the paved road down from the house or Fraser and your new friend are dead.
Diesel thought fast.
“Text him back. Tell him to meet you a quarter of a mile up on the gravel road. Tell him you have to walk, but you’re almost there.”
Triton sent the text.
All right, but you better hurry the fuck up, came the reply.
Triton ran back down the hallway to his room and returned a moment later.
“Ted.” Diesel turned to find his friend in the doorway.
“I heard.” Ted’s eyes were deadly. An ex-marine, he had the skills to help.
“How’s your shoulder?”
“I’m not staying behind.”
“Fair enough.”
Diesel shot off a text to Zane and Isaac, and then called Memphis back and put him on speaker.
Explaining the situation, they waited for Memphis to make the call. The sheriff had the manpower.
“Good call having Clay meet on the gravel road, Diesel. We can come up behind him and his gang on that access road.”
The back door slammed open, and Zane and Isaac barreled into the room.
“We came through the back way,” Zane said.
“Memphis, Zane and Isaac are here. What do you need us to do?”
“Come up behind my men at your access road and help them keep the situation contained,” Memphis ordered.
“He could head into town,” Zane pointed out. “It’s Saturday, they have the farmer’s market going on, fruit and vegetable stands.”
“We can barricade him from ever reaching town,” Memphis said.
They synchronized their watches and Diesel ended the call.
“You’re staying here,” he told Triton.
“I’m going,” Triton hissed. “If you leave without me, I’ll walk.”
“Damn it.” He gnashed his teeth.
“I’m coming,” his brave love said.
Diesel drew Triton close. “Let’s go.”
Diesel
They took Zane’s SUV. It was a silent crew. Ted was quiet and pale looking.
Just as they reached the edge of the dirt road, they heard gunfire.
Diesel pulled Triton down in the back seat. “Stay down.”
Zane couldn’t get close because of the patrol cars blocking the dirt road exit. Police cars lined and blocked the road.
“Be careful,” Triton whispered, clutching at him.
Diesel pulled his weapon and leaned down to give Triton a brief smile and then a longer kiss. “I will.”
His phone rang.
“Where are you?” Memphis barked.
“We’re behind the barricade of patrol cars.”
“We’ve got maybe three hostiles pinning us down at this end,” Memphis replied.
“Need us down there?”
“No, help my officers at that end. I can’t spot Clay, but we recovered Miles.”
“Is Miles hurt?” Ted snarled.
“No, Ted, he’s fine.”
“Where’s Fraser?” Triton yelled.
“I don’t know,” Memphis said.
“And Clay?” Diesel snapped.
“Did he take off into the woods?” Zane barked when Memphis didn’t answer.
“No he’s got… Hang on!” Memphis yelled.
The sound of a motorcycle suddenly filled the air.
“Shit!” Memphis shouted over the phone. “Catch him, Diesel, Clay’s coming toward you on a motorcycle!”
“That motorcycle is Clay.” Diesel pointed at the speck in the distance.
The police lined up in front of them and opened fire.
Zane and Isaac both lowered their windows.
Diesel did the same.
With the angle Clay was coming at them, nobody could get a shot off with the officers in the way.
“He’ll slide out in the mud.”
“We can hope.”
“Or a cop will take him out.”
What they weren’t prepared for was Clay coming to a hard stop and spraying mud, water, and gravel at the patrol cars before gunning it into the Oregon trees and underbrush.
The bastard wouldn’t get far if he stayed in the dense and tangled under growth of the Oregon wilds—it was a bitch to get through.
Only Clay didn’t stay in there. The guy cut across a dirt covered bank and came out just behind their SUV and gunned it down the muddy road.
Zane shoved the SUV in reverse, Tires spun on the wet gravel as he made a U-turn, and he floored it after the bike.
Clay disappeared around the bend where Diesel knew the gravel road ended and the paved road began.