Page 34 of Deputies Under Fire (Renegade Canyon #2)

Eden wasn’t sure if Rory or the blast had propelled them into the hole. Maybe a combination of both. But they landed on top of Bennie, Diedre and Helen.

It wasn’t exactly a cushioned fall, since bodies slamming against bodies was rough, and Eden saw stars when her elbow rammed against the rock wall. And she couldn’t breathe. The air was gone, and her lungs were clamped into a vise.

She wasn’t the only one, either. All of them were gasping, and Eden thought that maybe the IED had created some kind of vacuum. Still, the fact that she could feel the pain meant she was alive.

She turned—well, as much as she could turn in the small space—and saw Rory. He was right behind her. Alive, too, thank goodness. They had survived. But were they out of danger?

Dragging in some much needed air, Eden looked at the others, and in a blink, she knew there was no threat here.

Diedre was trying to scream, and she was clinging to Bennie.

Helen was groaning, the sound of raw pain, and Eden realized the gun still taped to her hand had apparently gouged into her left arm.

The barrel had been rammed into her skin.

Eden unraveled the rest of the tape, checking to see if the gun was loaded. It wasn’t. Then she checked the wound. It was bleeding. Not a fatal injury, but she’d need medical attention. Heck, they all would.

“Ike,” Rory blurted on a gasp of breath.

That put her heart right back in her throat, and the images flashed like neon signs in her head. Ike with all those IEDs around him. And Judson had gone back to try to help him.

Rory caught on to the top of the hole, and he levered himself out, his gaze sweeping around. He’d managed to hold on to his gun. Unlike Eden. She had to pick hers up from the bottom of the hole.

“I’ll go check on Judson and Ike,” Rory insisted.

She’d had no doubts that was his plan, but Eden crawled out with him, and she glanced around at the disaster Frank had created.

There was rubble everywhere, along with his body.

Or rather, what was left of it. He was dead, and she was glad of it.

Mellie’s killer had finally gotten the justice he deserved.

Too bad he’d hurt and killed so many other people in the process.

Eden whirled back toward Rory, who had started to move toward Ike. She moved, too, ready to help.

But she didn’t get the chance.

There was another blast, even louder than the other one, and it shook the very ground beneath them. She saw the sickening dread go over Rory’s face. Felt the same emotion in every part of her body.

And they took off running.

They could have an officer down. Judson could be seriously injured. Or worse. They had to get to him and Ike.

The adrenaline gave them a boost of speed, and they sprinted toward the spot where they’d left Ike. There wasn’t much left of it. The cedars had all been ripped apart like giant toothpicks, and there was a huge hole in the ground.

But no bodies.

“Here,” someone called out.

Judson. She whirled around and saw the deputy near one of the cruisers. And he wasn’t alone. He had Ike with him. He’d saved Rory’s father.

Rory didn’t take off running. Instead, he looked down at the ground, no doubt checking for more IEDs. That slowed them down considerably, but they eventually made it to Judson and Ike. Like Rory and her, they were both gasping for breath, while Arnette looked on in horror from the cruiser.

“Frank’s dead,” Rory informed them. “He confessed to everything.”

Later, there’d be a ton of reports to do. Witness accounts needed to be taken, and the whole scene would have to be examined, but for now, they all just stood there a moment, trying to come to terms with the nightmare they’d just escaped.

“How’d you get Ike to safety?” Rory asked Judson.

“I circled behind him. No IEDs there. So I got him loose, and we got the hell out of there as fast as we could.”

“Barely escaped,” Ike muttered, using his forearm to wipe away the blood on his head.

“You and Helen need an ambulance,” Eden finally said.

“It’s on the way,” Judson assured her, and there were indeed the sounds of sirens in the distance. He opened his mouth, probably to ask about Bennie, but he stopped, motioning toward Bennie, Helen and Diedre, who were all making their way toward them.

Neither of the women was saying anything, which meant the shock had likely set in.

After the shock, well, there’d be a lot of emotional turmoil.

But they were alive, and Eden figured that reminder would be setting in soon as well.

They’d all gotten lucky and were here despite Frank’s sick plan of revenge.

The irony of that plan was Ike was alive, too, and he wouldn’t be rotting in jail as Frank had wanted.

Arnette finally got out of the cruiser, went straight to Ike and taking him by the arm, he looked at Rory. “I’d like to get my client out of here and take him to the ER. Any objections?”

Rory looked at his dad. “You could go in an ambulance.” He tipped his head as it came into sight.

“I’d rather go with Arnette.” But he didn’t budge. Ike just stood there a couple of moment. “Thanks for saving my life,” he muttered, glancing at Judson, Rory and, yes, even at Eden.

The three of them muttered some variations of “you’re welcome.” And they meant it. Despite Ike being a despicable human being, he hadn’t deserved to die, though Eden hoped he’d learned a lesson about taunting a man over his wife’s grave.

“You’re going to owe my client an apology,” Arnette snapped, clearly stepping back into his lawyer role.

“Shut the hell up, Arnette,” Ike told him, and he headed toward the Jag with the lawyer trailing right along behind him.

Eden was finally ready to take a breath to try to tamp down some of this adrenaline, but then Rory spoke.

“Put Helen in the ambulance,” Rory instructed Judson. “There might be other IEDs.”

Sweet heaven. Eden hoped that wasn’t true, but as enraged as Frank had been, there could be more.

“Go in the ambulance with her to the hospital,” Rory added to Judson. “And take a statement from her if you can.”

After Judson gave him a nod, Rory shifted to Diedre, who looked on the verge of starting that shrieking again. “Where are you parked?”

She motioned toward a trail up the road.

“Don’t go there,” Rory ordered her. “Get in the cruiser with Bennie. He’ll take you to the station, and after the bomb squad has cleared the area, someone will bring you your car.

Oh, and FYI, it’s against the law to put a tracker on someone’s phone.

You’re lucky it didn’t lead you to getting killed. ”

Diedre didn’t shriek, but she started to sob as Bennie led her to the cruiser.

Eden doubted they’d actually file charges against Diedre, especially since they had so many other loose ends to wrap up.

For starters, checking for IEDs and recovering the explosive-making equipment that Frank said he’d put in Ike’s truck.

The bomb squad would see to that, and then the CSIs and ME would have to come in.

It could take days to clean up this crime scene.

“I want to see Tyler,” Eden said simply.

He nodded, and he motioned for her to move into the cruiser with him. “So do I. We can leave as soon as the bomb squad gets here.”

Good. Because holding their son might start untangling this mass of nerve.

She slid into the passenger’s seat and did something else to start that untangling. Eden reached over and pulled Rory to her.

Yes, instant relief.

Along with so many other feelings. Not the nerves. No, this was something much stronger.

“I’m not taking it back,” she told him while they clung to each other.

“Taking what back?” he asked.

“That I love you . I meant it, and I’m not going to claim it was part of the fear or adrenaline surge.”

Rory eased back from her, a slow smile forming on his mouth. A mouth he promptly used to kiss her. An incredible kiss that worked wonders. The nightmare of the attack didn’t exactly vanish, but the kiss put a serious dent in it.

When he eased back, Rory was still smiling. “I’m not taking it back, either. I’m in love with you, Eden, and no, that wasn’t the adrenaline talking. That was all me.”

“Ike is never going to approve of us being together,” she reminded him. And she returned the favor by giving him one of those scalding kisses.

Rory didn’t even attempt to end the kiss so he could respond. He just kissed and kissed and kissed, until he stirred up a ton of heat inside her.

“Ike has no say in…us,” he said. “This love is between you and me. And Tyler,” he added.

Now, she smiled. Because, yes, Tyler was in on this, too.

The weight just lifted off her heart. Weight that felt as if it’d been there for a very long time. Eden suddenly felt as if everything was going to be fine.

Better than fine, she amended.

Everything was finally going to be right .