Page 84 of Mountain Rescue
He put his booted foot on Hargrove’s chest and pressed hard as he leaned over the man’s face. “You fucking come near her, you send anyone else to do your dirty work, it will be the last thing on this earth that you do.” He dug the heel of his boot into Hargrove’s chest. “If you’re wondering if that’s a threat or a promise, it’s both.”
“He’s assaulting me.” Hargrove looked over at Jack and Deke. “You saw that. I want him arrested.”
Jack and Deke eyed each other. “What’s he talking about? I didn’t see anything,” Jack said.
Deke shrugged. “Beats me.” He glanced at the uniformed officer who’d come to stand next to them. “You see an assault happen here, Mike?”
With a puzzled expression on his face, the officer said, “Huh?” Then he looked at Rachel and winked.
Her giggle was a mighty fine thing to hear. He walked away from Hargrove. “He’s all yours.”
Rachel decided she was a bad, bad person for taking pleasure in watching Dallas punch Robert. But whatever. It was peanuts compared to what Robert planned to do to her.
The police officer and Deke got Robert up, handcuffed him, put him in the back of the cruiser, and then the officer got in the car and drove away. Bella circled her, sniffing her, and Rachel kneeled. She laughed as she wrapped her arms around the dog and buried her face in Bella’s fur.
“You okay, Rachel?” Jack said, stepping in front of her.
“No, she is not,” Dallas answered for her. “Her jaw is purple, and her feet are ripped to shreds.”
“I’ll live.” She stood and fluttered her fingers at Deke as he joined them. “Hi, Deke. Fancy meeting you here.”
He smiled. “Let’s try not to make it a habit.”
She was all for that.
Dallas glanced at her. “I’d really like to get her feet taken care of, and her jaw has to be hurting.”
“Take pictures of her face and feet,” Deke said. “We’re going to need a statement. Can you come down to the station later today?”
“You bet. Whatever it takes to make sure Robert stays in jail.” For his entire life, she prayed.
“Great. Jack’s got my number. Just give me a call when you’re headed my way. I’m really glad Dallas got to you before Hargrove had a chance to hurt you worse than he did.”
Dallas grinned at her. “I had nothing to do with it, man. By the time I found her, she had Hargrove knocked out on the ground, his gun in her hand.”
A warm feeling traveled through her at the pride for her she heard in his voice.
Both Jack and Deke raised their eyebrows. “I gotta hear this story,” Jack said.
“Well, it started...oomph,” she muttered when Dallas scooped her up.
“If you’re going to tell us what happened, you’re going to do it sitting down.” He carried her to the porch and lowered her to a rocking chair. “Now you can talk.” He leaned back against the porch rail, Jack and Deke doing the same.
“Okay, it started with Robert kicking the front door of your cabin in.” All three men eyed the splintered door with identical scowls on their faces, and that made her grin. Now that it was over, she was feeling pretty pleased with herself. By the time she finished her story, all three of them were wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
“Badass,” Deke said.
Jack shook his head. “Remind me never to mess with you.”
Dallas laughed. “Yeah, don’t piss off a wildcat. Right now, though, she needs a little doctoring. We’ll call when she’s ready to come make her statement.”
“Now that Hargrove and his men are in custody, I’m going to get my wife and bring her home,” Jack said. “Why don’t y’all plan on coming over after you finish with the police? We’ll throw some burgers on the grill.” He glanced at Deke. “You and Heather should come over, too.”
“We will if she’s up to it. I’ll let you know.”
“His wife is due any day now,” Jack told Dallas.
“Overdue, actually, and she’s past ready for that little boy to show his self,” Deke said as the two of them headed for their vehicles. “I’ll send someone to get Hargrove’s car.”
