Page 98 of Hard Knock Hero

I lifted the rifle and flicked off the safety. Braced it. Fired. The crack echoed against the mountainside, the sound traveling for miles.

Scarlett waved a hand through her open window. “They stopped! They’re scrambling around like they’re freaking out, but they stopped.”

“Jessi, another flare.”

She fired off her second, and that time, Owen’s group definitely saw it. And they sawus. Scarlett got out, and she and Jessi both jumped up and down. A few minutes later, an ATV made its way down to us. Trace was riding it, with Deputy Marsh behind him on the seat.

Jessi ran toward her brother. Hugged him and told the deputy in rapid-fire sentences about the Rigsbys’ trap. Marsh radioed to Owen. While their connection to the station had been cut off, their short-range comms were intact.

Then Jessi raised her head, looking around until her eyes locked on mine. I went over to her as I opened my arms. Jessi sank into my embrace, and I held her tight against me. I felt her heart racing.

“Thank you,” she murmured. “I’m so thankful you were there. Foreverything. Aiden, I…I’m so thankful for you.”

“Me too, baby,” I said against her hair. “But we did it together. You and me.”

She lifted her gaze and nodded. I knew we were thinking the same thing.

You and me.

It was the two of us now. Fused by fire into a single unit. We were never letting each other go.

* * *

I had to call my family and the wedding planner in Steamboat Springs with the unfortunate news: I would be late. I wasn’t even sure I’d make it. And I felt like shit about it. Missing an important work gig was a jackass move, and while I had my moments, that wasn’t the kind of guy I liked to be. My sous chef and our assistants would be scrambling as they tried to make up for my absence. But it couldn’t be helped.

For the moment, Jessi and I both had some witness stuff to deal with. But even if I could’ve found a way to sort out the paperwork stuff on the road, I knew that Jessi wasn’t ready to leave Trace and her friends just yet. And if Jessi was sticking around in Hartley, that meantIwas staying.

Nonnegotiable.

After we told Owen that Dale Rigsby was trying to take over the sheriff’s station, he and the state police rolled in heavy. But Dale, Chester, and the remaining officer who’d helped them had already disappeared. Owen issued a warrant for their arrest, and hopefully highway patrol would pick them up soon. Meanwhile, a bomb-defusing team would arrive in Hartley any minute to handle the explosives on Refuge Mountain. State forensics teams would examine everything left behind and piece it together.

Highway patrol had also been called to arrest Jeremy Rigsby for his assault on Jessi. The other two guys I’d left unconscious might’ve proved a slight headache for me. But I wasn’t worried. It was self defense. Or at least, close enough.

We still didn’t know exactly what those Hart-Made trucks were carrying, or even how far they’d gotten across state lines. We would have to wait until the state police searched the truck where Jeremy was currently tied up and awaiting rescue. And if that search didn’t prove enlightening, the state investigators would find evidence on Refuge Mountain to prove what the Rigsbys had been making.

Answers hadn’t arrived yet. But we’d get them soon. That was guaranteed.

One of the biggest remaining mysteries was Sawyer Rigsby himself. I’d expected him to run with the rest of his family. But instead, he’d called for a town hall meeting.

And that was where I headed now.

What explanation could Sawyer possibly have after everything that had happened? Better yet—how did he intend to weasel his way out of responsibility?

Owen and I pulled up in front of the Hartley High gymnasium, where the meeting was being held. Jessi was already inside with Scarlett and Trace. I didn’t like separating from her even for a few minutes, but Trace was watching over her. And Owen and I had an important task to manage.

We were in Owen’s official sheriff’s department truck. The sun shone brightly from a clear blue sky. Dirty snow was still piled up here and there on the street, but the sidewalks were dry. I had my windows open, and we could hear voices booming from the gym.

Owen radioed the police cruiser that had just pulled up behind us. “Deputy Marsh, are you ready?”

“All set, sir.”

“Stand by for my signal.” Owen lowered the radio and heaved a sigh. “This has been a real shit show. I’ll be cleaning up this mess for a long time to come. I don’t even know half the things you and Jessi and her brother really did, and I don’t want to.”

I chuckled quietly. “I’m more than happy to keep those details to myself unless absolutely necessary. We should head inside before the show is over.”

“Hold on.” Owen bumped my shoulder with the back of his hand. “Thank you, Aiden. You and Jessi saved my life and that of a lot of other people. I know I was skeptical of you at first—”

I snorted.

---