Читать книгу The Texas Lawman's Last Stand - Delores Fossen, Delores Fossen - Страница 9

Bo pushed Mattie aside so he could see what had just caused her to gasp.

Hell.

A man was walking full speed ahead toward the house. Bo didn’t have to guess who he was or what he wanted.

He wanted Mattie.

Bo had been able to figure that out from what Sergeant O’Malley had just told him. Now the question was, would Bo just hand her over?

As a cop, he was duty bound to do just that, but he was positive Mattie wouldn’t go without a fight, and he didn’t want a fight in his house with his kids just a couple of rooms away.

This was turning into being one hell of a night.

Bo positioned Mattie behind him, and he opened the door. However, he had no intention of just letting the man barge in. “The car is registered to the federal marshals,” Bo let her know. “Witness Protection.”

No gasp this time. Mattie groaned and no doubt understood why he’d responded with “You’re kidding” when Sergeant O’Malley had told Bo about the license plates.

“I know,” she mumbled.

“Larry Tolivar. U.S. Marshal,” the man said, pulling back his coat so that Bo could see the badge attached to his belt.

Bo still didn’t fully open the door.

“You know him?” Bo asked Mattie.

“Yes. He was the man in charge of my case. And I don’t trust him.”

That went without saying. Bo wasn’t sure he trusted the guy either, but he didn’t know exactly why.

Looking all around as if he expected an ambush, Tolivar came to a stop on the porch and reached for the door. Bo held it in place so the marshal couldn’t open it any farther.

“Lieutenant Bo Duggan,” he said, identifying himself. “How can I help you?”

“You can let me talk to Mattie Collier.”

The guy had the attitude of a fed, all right. Some arrogance mixed with an air of authority. Well, Bo had his own damn air of authority, and he didn’t exactly want to examine why he felt this stupid need to protect Mattie.

He wanted her out of his house. Away from the kids, especially Holly. And here he had the opportunity to do just that, but he couldn’t forget that Mattie had nearly been kidnapped and killed while in protective custody.

“Why would you think Mattie Collier was here?” Bo demanded. It was a reasonable question, especially since he’d bet his paycheck that Mattie had taken some serious security precautions before coming to his house.

Well, he hoped she had anyway.

“She’s here,” Tolivar insisted. He fired another glance over his shoulder. “And you’re to release her to my custody immediately.”

“I’m not going with you,” Mattie insisted right back.

Bo couldn’t fault her for speaking up, but he would have preferred to take care of this himself. He could have sent Tolivar on his merry way and then five minutes later done the same for Mattie. Now he was in some kind of jurisdictional contest with a federal agent.