Читать книгу Ranger Guardian - Angi Morgan - Страница 13

Chapter Four

Kendall concentrated on driving the car. If she let herself get distracted and think about why Heath had been assigned her case, she’d screw up. Driving or talking...somehow she’d messed up one or the other, and he’d shut down.

At the moment, his hand gripped the back of her seat and the other gripped the dash. He’d lowered the window as soon as she’d pulled away from Mrs. Pelzel’s home.

“Do you see them?”

“You’re about to cross Inwood. Take a right.” He was grinning from ear to ear.

A definite improvement from when she’d first arrived. She’d thought he was about to throw up when Mrs. Pelzel went for the tea. She turned right as he suggested with the direction his finger pointed. For a by-the-book kind of guy, he had a good intuition about where criminals went.

“Slow down, Kendall.” Heath dropped his hand and pulled his sidearm.

She tapped the brakes and followed the direction of his narrowed eyes, toward the end of the block where the van sat parked in a driveway. She couldn’t tell if it actually belonged there or not. She slowed further.

“We need a better view.” He rested his weapon on his thigh but kept it pointed toward his door.

“Do you think they’ve seen us?” She pulled the car to the curb, keeping her foot on the brake and the car in gear.

“Not sure.”

“Thoughts?”

“They aren’t getting out. We should call for backup. Last thing we need is a chase through a residential part of Dallas.”

“Agreed. A high-speed chase isn’t ideal anywhere.”

“Nope.”

At least he was concise. Shoot, he always had been. Heath Murray was a cowboy of few words.

“As soon as I put the car in Park, they’ll take off.”

“Probably. Backup?”

“I hate to do that when all we have is the suspicion they were watching us or Pelzel’s house.” She needed proof. Something solid to move forward with. Not a reprimand about pursuing innocent bystanders.

“They did peel out in Reverse to get away.”

“True, but we hadn’t identified ourselves. I just see a media nightmare when they claim we were coming at them with guns.”

“Want me to ask?” His hand reached to open his door.

“Let’s just wait a minute and see what they do.”

She had no more than finished the sentence when two men exited the van, walked to the rear and removed paint buckets. One of the guys went and punched the doorbell, also knocking loud enough to send every dog on the block into a barkfest.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She hit the steering wheel with the palms of both hands. “This is the first nibble I’ve had.”

“Drive slow.”

Kendall didn’t hesitate and put the car in motion. With his gun resting on his thigh, Heath used his phone as a camera. She didn’t have to watch. She was confident that he’d capture as many images as possible. She focused her gaze on the men, switching between them, watching for a weapon or any questionable movement.

They drew even with the house and the man still at the van climbed inside and quickly shut the rear doors. The one at the house knocked again, causing the dog inside to bark once more. She could see it bouncing against the window trying to get out.

“Catch the plate?” Heath asked.

“He stacked paint cans in front of it.” Frustrated, she kept the car moving and pulled around the corner.

“We could wait here. See what they do.”

“We’ll give it a try.” She performed a three-point turn, pulled next to the curb and cut the engine.

“Video call me.” He plugged a headset into his phone and used one earpiece, dropping the phone into his jacket pocket. “Stay here.”

“Heath, no.” This went against training, but it was their best option.

“Don’t worry. I don’t do crazy.” With those words, he was out of the car and tapping the hood as he walked around the front.

She should have been more insistent and demand he return to the car. She dialed and he answered but didn’t talk. She could hear his boots on the street, his breathing and then the echo of street sounds after she heard them in real time.

He crossed the street and stood on the grass at the corner house’s garage wall. The cell screen finally showed a picture other than the inside of his pocket. He lifted the phone around the corner, and she could see past the neighboring driveways.

“They’re standing at the back of the van. One’s talking pretty rapidly and waving his hands. Can you make out what they’re saying? I can’t.”

“No,” he whispered into his microphone.

“They’re both looking in your direction, but I don’t think they can see the phone. The driver is opening the doors and putting the paint back inside.”

“I can have a conversation,” he whispered.

“No. Heath, no. Just wait.” She had a bad feeling. A very bad feeling.

Trusting premonitions had never been a strategy for her. She never looked for good luck or blamed a bad streak on chance. More than anything else, she investigated and found the answers through old-fashioned hard work.

But something screamed at her to get Heath back in the car.

“Time to pack it up, Heath.”

The screen went black as she heard the driver slam the van doors shut in real time and then on the echo in the video delay. She started the car to be at the ready.

But Heath didn’t return to the vehicle. She inched the car forward until she could see her husband disappearing into the front door alcove, getting closer to the van instead of coming back to her.

“Heath!” She called to him without any response. She sank lower in her seat, hoping neither man in the van noticed the car.

The van’s engine roared to life.

Kendall braced herself, fairly certain that the next thing she heard would be gunfire. The van peeled out of the driveway and down the street...toward her, passing Heath and turning left. Perfect for them to follow.

“Let’s go!” Heath’s voice roared at her through the phone.

She put the car into Drive, stopping just as he rushed away from the house and leapt over a small hedge. Even in boots, Heath was across the concrete street and in the car within seconds.

His speed always amazed her. Riding horses, running or taking down a suspect...the action didn’t matter. His hat was in his lap, and his hands were waving to follow the van.

“We don’t really have a reason to follow these guys,” she mentioned as she took the next left, back to the main road they’d turned from earlier. “Why do you want to pursue?”

“Gut feeling?”

Just as she was about to open her mouth to explain how their joint task force operated—that she was in charge and he shouldn’t take off like he had—the van sped up and fishtailed around a corner.

“If they really think that’s going to work, I guess they don’t know much about you, Kendall.”

Even increasing their speed and darting around a car, she caught the smile and wink. The natural response was to smile back. So she did. It was the reason she’d fallen in love with him. His gallantry. His bravery. His...okay, everything.

Kendall stopped herself, concentrating on switching lanes and accelerating. She’d confront him later. After whatever they were doing was over.

“Watch out.” Heath raised his voice, pointing in front of them.

The van went through a yellow light. They weren’t running sirens. And a powder-pink sedan, heading in the opposite direction, turned left in front of them. They were going to hit each other. Kendall slammed on her brakes, as did the sedan. They barely avoided each other as they fishtailed sideways to a stop.

“Gun it. Car to your left.”

She heard the words and trusted the Texas Ranger next to her. She floored the gas, trying to look for crossing traffic, getting their car across the intersection. It was a good time of day to be on Northwest Highway. No one was in their path when she heard brakes from one direction and tires squealing from the other.

The SUV they’d passed a few seconds earlier had crashed into the rear of the pink car, stopping where her sedan would have been if Heath hadn’t yelled. There was a loud bang and horns.

“Great job, babe.” Heath patted her shoulder from where he rested his arm along the back of her seat. “I’ll check on the drivers.”

She pulled around to protect the drivers from oncoming traffic and hit the hazard lights. Heath got out, leaving his hat in his seat. She dropped her head to the wheel, reaching for her phone to call the accident in to authorities and request a tow truck. She sat back as she gave all the appropriate information, letting out a long sigh.

The van was out of sight. Heath was busy with the drivers, and all Kendall could do was force herself to breathe. That had been close. Too close.

No suspect was worth what had almost happened. She had to be more careful, less reckless. Skylar Dawn needed her parents to come home. Period.

“You okay?” Heath asked, back at the passenger door.

She nodded, still a little stunned by it all.

“I can’t say I’m bummed about them getting away.” The corner of his mouth barely rose as he leaned on the car.

“What? Why’s that?”

“Where’s the fun in catching them the first day I get to work with you again?”

He said it with such a straight face that if she hadn’t known him, she never would’ve seen that playful gleam in his eye. Yet she couldn’t argue with the logic either. She would’ve been bummed, too.