Page 65 of Lone Star Wanted
She leaned out just long enough to scan the area, checking to see where they were. Marlene, wounded and sprawled against the ground. Travis, clutching his arm. Jericho crouched behind a headstone. Kincade was God knew where.
“There’ll be no links to those men I hired,” Becker added, the sickening dread and venom drenching every word that he spewed. Even now, there was no remorse. “No links to the clean-up, to the bodies, to the fire. You all die here.”
This was it. He was going to come out firing. Well, so was she. She wasn’t going to let this bastard claim another life.
“Becker,” she warned him, sounding exactly like the cop that she was. “You pull that trigger, and I swear you won’t get off another shot.”
He didn’t respond for several long moments. “I’m already buried in this mess. Might as well finish it.”
Cassidy adjusted her aim and pinned her attention to the spot, waiting for Becker to make another appearance. A moment later, Becker leaned out from behind the tree. But he wasn’t holding his gun any longer. In his hand was something else. Small, black, and unmistakably dangerous.
A detonator.
Her blood turned to ice.
Cassidy’s breath caught in her throat. Hell, it was a detonator. Becker must have planted explosives somewhere nearby, and he was planning to end it all in one violent blast.
Her stomach churned as she scanned the trees, looking for any sign of where he might have hidden them, but there was no time to figure it out.
Then, she saw Kincade.
He moved fast, breaking through the brush, his body low and charging straight at Becker.
“No,” Cassidy whispered, fear slicing through her.
Becker turned just in time to see Kincade coming. His thumb twitched toward the detonator, but Kincade slammed into him hard, knocking him back against the tree. They hit the ground in a tangle of limbs, Kincade’s hands locked around Becker’s wrist, wrestling for control.
Cassidy bolted forward, weapon still raised, but she didn’t have a clear shot. Neither did Jericho, who raced toward the fight as well. The two men were locked together, struggling, Becker fighting to get his hand free, Kincade straining to keep the detonator out of reach.
Cassidy’s heart thundered as she closed the distance, praying Kincade would hold him back just long enough.
She sprinted forward, her lungs burning, her eyes locked on the struggle between Kincade and Becker. She barely registered Travis moving at her side until he shouted, pointing toward a headstone a few feet away.
“There,” he yelled. “There’s an IED at the base.”
Cassidy’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t seen it earlier, but she could certainly see it now. It was close. Too close. And while she didn’t know a lot about explosives, it appeared to have enough firepower to wipe out half the cemetery.
Including them.
“Get back,” Jericho barked. “You and Travis, take cover.”
But Cassidy didn’t move. “No,” she barked right back. She wasn’t leaving Kincade.
Kincade was locked in a brutal fight with Becker, both men grunting as they struggled. Becker’s hand kept jerking toward the detonator. He was going to do it. He was going to blow them all to hell and take everyone with him.
“You don’t get it,” Becker snarled. “This is the only way it ends.”
“It doesn’t have to,” she shouted back. “Enough people have died to cover your ass.” She stopped, gathered her breath. “Alisha, Daniel… and Benji. Did you kill him, too?”
“No,” Becker was quick to say. “He ran away before I could… work things out with him.”
Work things out. Right. Becker would have likely murdered him, too, if he’d gotten the chance.
She gritted her teeth, weapon raised, heart pounding. She wasn’t going to let Becker win. Not now. Not ever.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Jericho take position. He crouched low beside a headstone, calm and focused, his slingshot in one hand and a steel ball bearing in the other. She and Travis kept their weapons trained on Becker, ready to fire if he so much as twitched toward that detonator again.
Jericho pulled back, aiming with careful precision. “Now,” he muttered to himself.
