Page 21 of Valor (Long Hot Summer: Christian Romantic Suspense #2)

CHAPTER EIGHT

Heather screamed as she heard first a shot, then Rod yelling for Allen to take cover. She ducked down, knowing the sides of the car wouldn’t protect her if the shooter decide to aim at her.

“Heather, stay put!” Allen called from the back of the car.

She didn’t want to. She wanted to climb out of the car and run as far away as possible. They were sitting in the middle of the only sketchy neighborhood in town. This was one place she didn’t want to be at night and darkness was coming fast.

Heather reached for her phone. She lowered herself to the floor so her head was completely hidden. Who could she call besides 911? Her fingers shook as she considered her options. There was no one. She had no friends. No one to call in trouble except Allen, and he was just as in trouble as she was.

Another shot broke the window just above her and she screamed, ducking and covering the back of her head. Allen spoke to someone from outside the car. “We can’t return fire. There are people in these houses.”

“Get into my car!”

In the next instant, her door opened, and Allen caught her before she could fall out. “We need to get to Rod’s car. Stay low.” He motioned for her to follow him.

After a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed her bag and stayed crouched while she hurried to the other car. Rod opened the door and held it for her while he took aim over the hood. As soon as she was in, Allen climbed in behind her and closed the door. Rod sprinted around to the driver’s side and got in. Within seconds, they were speeding down the street.

Allen called Jackie on his cellphone and used numerical codes to tell her what happened. Heather couldn’t understand what he said and couldn’t afford the headspace to focus. This was too much. She couldn’t go anywhere and wasn’t safe anywhere.

She hated feeling like a moving target. “Where will we go now?” The cafe wasn’t an option if people were following them.

Rod answered her before Allen could. “The station is the safest. I didn’t want to, but that’s just how it will have to be. If I have to get involved, so be it. Since I had to use my service weapon, I’ll need to be involved anyway. Sorry, Allen.”

Allen gave a quick nod. “Agreed. I’m glad you’re willing.”

“I am. Are you?” Rod’s brows shot up to his hairline. “You seem really thick in this case. Are you ready to give up the reins? That’s what will happen.”

Heather wasn’t ready to see anyone else leading the case. “I know I don’t have any say in the matter, but I would like Allen to stay in the lead. I trust him.”

Allen squeezed her hand. It was so close to holding it that she gasped. “I appreciate your confidence, but it may be out of my hands. There’s no guarantee Rod’s superiors will want him on the case, but it’s a possibility. Their office is pretty hard to crack. Some cases get passed over because there aren’t enough agents to handle them.”

Rod slowly nodded as he pulled into the parking lot of the police department. “You may find that my supervisor determines this doesn’t warrant my help, though he’ll wonder why I stuck my nose in at all. Let me go first to make sure no one followed us.” He slowly got out of the car and looked all over the lot as he made his way to the front door.

When he made it, he turned back toward the car and gave a slight nod.

“That’s our signal. It’s safe to go. Are you all right?” Allen brushed some glass off her shoulder, the gentle action making her feel safer than she had any right to feel.

“I will be when this is all over.”

He got out of the car, then took her heavy backpack and shrugged it over his shoulder. “Let’s get you inside. Nothing can get you in there.”

All that was great, but she couldn’t live in the sheriff’s office. She had to leave and find her father. She had to know who was after her and stop them. The problem was, she was running out of places to go that were safe. So far, her attackers hadn’t found them at the cabin, but how long until that haven was taken too?

“I can show the drawing once we get inside. I’m almost done.” The rendering only needed some final shading, and she hadn’t been able to get the nose quite right, but it was close.

“I can’t wait to see it.”

“You won’t know him. I feel like I know this whole town and I didn’t recognize him.”

Allen opened the door and held it while she followed Rod inside. “Maybe. Then again, I know there are more people in town that you might not know than you realize. I see the side of town you don’t. The side that never goes to parks and doesn’t get photos taken.”

Heather bit back a retort, realizing he was right. There were probably quite a few people she didn’t know. “I guess we’ll see when I show you.”

They made their way to Allen’s office. He offered his chair to Rod and one chair on the other side to Heather. She took a seat and pulled her drawing from her bag to work on it.

Allen sat next to her, watching her work. She’d thought her ability to do anything would freeze if anyone watched her, but maybe because of his confidence boosting statements earlier, she wasn’t stalled. Within a few minutes, she was able to put the finishing touches on her drawing, even correcting the nose that had given her such trouble.

“Here.” She laid it on his desk in the bright overhead light. The face stared back at her, just like he had the day before. She couldn’t help a slight shiver. He wasn’t a nice man. Whatever he wanted with the data on the drive couldn’t be good.

“It’s a land description,” Rod said. “Looks to be just outside of Wall, between here and Badlands National Park. That’s as much as I could find in the first file. There are three others inside that file. I just found them.”

“That’s the land in question. The parcel some big farmers wanted to buy,” Allen said.

“Are you sure they’re farmers?” Heather asked. “If there was some other reason to get their hands on the land, that would explain why they’re after me.”

Allen paused a moment. “That’s a good question. They presented themselves as farmers. I didn’t look into them because there didn’t seem any reason to investigate. They were following legal means to do what they wanted.”

Heather waited to hear what Rod had to say. She trusted Allen, and he was right. There wouldn’t have been a reason to question the men. Rod kept typing away, leaving them waiting for an answer.

“Oh, no...” Rod’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “No, no, no!” He sighed and slightly pushed the laptop away. “There was a trigger within the drive to auto-delete the information if someone tried to open those two files. I was using a copy of the drive, but without plugging this into a computerized system, I don’t want to keep trying.”

“So, we know this has to do with land that’s up for a vote to be taken from the owners.”

Allen laid a hand on her shoulder and her body tensed under the brief, gentle pressure. “I looked the owners up a minute ago to prepare for the meeting. They bought the land fifteen years ago when the county offered it for sale for non-payment of taxes. Looks like the former owners were conscientious objectors to all forms of government, including taxes. They stayed on the property after it was sold for about three months, but they were removed after that.”

Heather cringed. So, the request to buy it was legal. “Are these new buyers related to the original owners?”

Allen sat back down at his computer. He did a few seconds of searching before he frowned. “Not sure. On the complaint, I see now it’s a corporation. I know some farms are incorporated, but this one is out of Rapid City. That seems strange.”

“What could they want with land in the middle of nowhere, and why are they trying to kill me to get it?”

Rod leaned back in his seat. “Not sure, but it might be a good idea to keep a close eye on everyone at that meeting tonight.” He glanced at his watch. “If you plan to get there before it starts, you should go.” He handed Allen the original thumb drive and pulled the copy from his computer. She hadn’t even noticed he’d copied it, but was glad he’d had a parachute before jumping.

“I’ll lock this back up, then head over to the civic center. You want to come along?”

Rod grinned and shook his head. “Nope. This was on my own time, but I need to get back home. Keep me posted if you need anything else.”

As Rod left, Heather couldn’t help feeling she was slowly losing everyone. What if Allen decided he had other work to do? Other than Oliver, she didn’t have anyone who would understand her fears about her father and herself.

“I don’t have anyone you can stay with. The civic center will be full of people because there are plenty of folks who don’t think this is right.”

She had yet to hear what he thought about the planning measure that did so much more than offer land up for sale. “You think we’ll be safe there?”

Allen gave a single, firm nod and stood from his chair. He locked the thumb drive in his desk, then shrugged on his coat. “We should go. I let Tommy know that when he’s finished across town, he needs to come and be my backup at the civic center. I don’t like being the only officer there when things could get heated.”

Not to mention this suddenly seemed tied to her in multiple ways. Before, she’d only been concerned with the business zoning. “I appreciate that. Will we go back to the campsite tonight?” If they were, she wanted to stop at a store to grab clean blankets and a flashlight of her own.

“I think it’s the best plan. No one knows we’re there and they would have to risk following us down a road that’s never used to find out where we are.”

As much as she wasn’t a fan of cobwebs in the corners and paint that would give her lead poisoning if a chip of it fell into her coffee, she had to agree about the safety. No one came back there. “Great. Let’s stop and get a few things after the meeting.” There was a risk in going, but the men after her would also have to risk being caught if they appeared there. The room would be jam-packed with people, all of whom had an opinion on the zoning measure.

“Good plan.” He held up her coat to help her into it. Her arm now throbbed, and she remembered she hadn’t taken medication like the ranger had suggested. “I might need a little something to take the edge off this too.” She held up her arm.

Allen opened the door and led her back out of the building. Night covered everything in a filmy haze of fog. The unusually humid day caused low-hanging fog to cling to light poles and diffused every other light near the ground.

“I wasn’t expecting this.” Allen frowned. “Tracking us will be easier. We’ll have to be extra careful after the meeting.”

Her plan was to be careful no matter the weather or where they were.

* * *

Allen braced himself to walk with Heather into the meeting. The parking area was full, meaning this was a touchy subject for the people of Wall. Generally, the town did politics like every other city, they only got involved when something was really important to them.

Heather tensed as they neared the door, and she pulled something from her pocket. She held out her hand, and he stopped to hear her.

“I think you should look at this one more time before we go in. The place will be packed, so there’s going to be people in there you or I don’t recognize. If we both know who to look for, we’ll be more prepared.”

He agreed and he grabbed his flashlight from his belt, then held the beam above her drawing. The detail was so complete. It was like looking at a photo. If this didn’t help them find the attacker, nothing would.

“I think I’ve committed it to memory. It’s a good drawing.” He clicked off the light, but not before he caught a brief smile caressing her lips. He wanted to see that more often, but that wouldn’t happen until he caught the man responsible for kidnapping her father and tracking her.

He held open the door and inspected the room before letting her inside. Like he’d thought, it was standing room only. He gently directed her to the front corner, where he could watch everyone. Unfortunately, it would also make her visible to everyone.

She sat in a chair next to him and threaded her hands together in her lap. Tension rolled off of her like waves crashing on an ocean shore. He reached out and took her hand in his, realizing when her warm palm was flush with his that he hadn’t intended to actually do that. He heard her short gasp and felt her turn toward him.

Should he release her? He didn’t really want to, and she didn’t tug away. While he was touching her, he could focus his attention on everyone in the room because he knew exactly where she was. She was safe next to him.

People gathered in small groups, talking in loud voices. Mayor Amber Stiner approached the front of the room and held one hand high. “I’m glad all of you came. We’re here to discuss zoning measure 205b. Oliver Thornquist, you may have the floor.”

Oliver? As in Heather’s neighbor? He hadn’t read anything about him in the zoning submission, though he’d been busy with Heather. He watched the older man thump his cane loudly down the center aisle as he approached the mayor.

“Thank you, ma’am.” His gruff voice carried even without a microphone. He went behind the podium and the room quieted. “Good evening. Most of you know I owned the land in question just fifteen years ago.” That hadn’t been what Allen had seen in the filing. Had Oliver changed his name?

Heather squeezed his hand tighter, and he broke eye contact with Oliver to find out why. She stared at the back of the room and her cheeks had gone ashen. He tried to find the person, but in the sea of people, he couldn’t figure out who it could be.

Oliver went on, “Being that the land was mine and it was taken from me without proper notice, I’m asking you good folks to consider the offer made. If the zoning is changed and that land must be used for agricultural purposes, then it would force the sale of that land.”

Someone in the back piped up, “If you didn’t like that the land was taken from you, why should we get behind having it taken from someone else? I’m not in support of governmental takeovers in the name of progress. They bought that land and should be able to use it as they want to.”

A chorus of agreement sounded throughout the room.

Oliver thumped his cane against the floor three times. “You all talk about wanting a secure economy for Wall that doesn’t have to do with tourism, so do something. Farming brings in money. There’s no other use for that land to bring in more money for the city of Wall.”

Allen watched the crowd, waiting to see who agreed and who remained hidden in the shadows. One man in a suit came forward a few steps and Oliver’s face broke into a big smile. “Wasn’t sure you’d make it tonight, son. I’d like to introduce the man who’d like to buy that land and put it to good use. This is my son, Aaron Greyson.” He stepped aside and the younger man took his place.

As he looked over the crowd, his gaze fell on Heather and Allen couldn’t help feeling the utter hatred coming her way. Grayson had been the name on the land before. Why was it different from Oliver’s?

“Good evening, folks. I know I don’t look like a farmer, but trust me, I’ll put that land to the use it was meant for. My improvements will mean the local government can charge more in taxes on that land. Since I hope to also have a small retail store on-site, it will bring in money as well. Commerce and progress are not bad.”

Allen tried to see this man’s face in the drawing Heather had made, but this wasn’t the man unless she’d gotten it wrong. He looked over to her again, and she wasn’t staring at Aaron or even paying him any attention at all. Her stare was focused completely on the back corner.

He leaned forward, and a man in a hat slowly looked up. Even with half of his head covered, Allen could tell that was the guy in Heather’s drawing. Allen covered her hand with his other to let her know he saw.

Aaron continued his speech, trying to get the community behind his proposal. Even with all the promises, the majority seemed hesitant to agree to his terms. This would be voted on in next month’s election, but he wondered if there would be a need. If the mayor didn’t think spending the money to put it on the ballot was worthwhile, the city wouldn’t vote.

Alice Holms stood up and said Heather’s name, drawing Allen’s attention back to the meeting. “What about Heather Sundin and her father? Their business would have to end, or they’d have to move if all parts of this measure are accepted. I’ve had them do my family photos for years and if we’re talking about protecting businesses, then this doesn’t do it.” She crossed her arms and glared at Aaron, challenging him to correct her.

“I doubt a photographer brings as much business as this venture will. Even so, we’re not asking them to give up their business, just to have a storefront outside their home. I wouldn’t think that was too much to ask.” His smile looked more like a glare.

“My son just wants what’s best for this town. He always has,” Oliver yelled to the room at large.

Allen thought back to high school, which was the last time he had any actual relationship with Aaron. Back then, he’d gone by his father’s last name and been quiet and unassuming. He certainly hadn’t seemed destined for business or standing in front of people, giving power speeches. Like everything else about this case, none of the clues fit together.

“I want to leave,” Heather’s voice was so quiet Allen almost didn’t hear.

Officer Tommy pushed his way through the throng to Allen’s side. He sat down in the one remaining chair in the front. Allen squeezed Heather’s hand tightly as he leaned over to Tommy. “I need to get Heather out of here. The man who attacked her is in the back right corner. This is not the place to make an arrest. He’s the one in the black coat, next to Fred Haskins.”

Tommy stretched forward, tilting his head down subtly, all while glancing at the back of the room. “I see him. I’ll make sure he’s busy while you get away. Check in with me later?”

“Count on it.” Allen stood and helped Heather to her feet.

As he led her to the door, he watched the man in the black coat shift closer to the exit. “Change of plans,” he whispered close to the back of her head. Allen took her elbow, careful to avoid the scrape where she’d been nicked by the bullet, and headed for the offices. He’d have to go directly behind Aaron to do that, but he was less concerned with Aaron than the man following them.

As soon as the door closed, protecting them, Heather bent at the waist, her breath coming far too fast.

“I can’t breathe,” she gasped. “He was so close.”

“I’ve got you. You’re okay.” He wanted to get her out of the building, but making sure she was alright was his first priority. “Tommy is going to keep him busy for us so we can get away. I’m sorry you didn’t get the chance to defend yourself and your business.”

She looked up at him and closed her eyes. “I don’t know what to do. I wanted to say something, but my words wouldn’t come. I’m too worried about my father. What if I don’t get him back? Will I continue taking pictures? I don’t know. I can’t even think right now.”

She had been so strong through everything. He couldn’t blame her for needing a minute to process all that had happened. Seeing the man who’d taken her father had to bring all those emotions back.

“I’m sorry. I knew there was danger in coming here, but I didn’t think he would actually come. Not when this is such a hot button issue and so many people would be here.”

She shook her head and swiped the stray tears from under her eyes like they’d somehow made her weak. “I was most shocked about Oliver. He’s always been a friend to us. I know Aaron is his son, so his support makes sense. It just hurts. His son never comes to Wall. Never visits. I wonder what Aaron had to do to get Oliver, a man the town respects, to speak up?”

He drew her close and took her into his arms. She felt so right, so perfect, in this place. Here, he could protect her and listen to her. Here, he could feel her heart quaking as he held her close. “Don’t worry about him right now. Let’s get you out of here. We’ll stop at the store and get what we need, then go to the cabin. We can talk there.” He wanted to cup her cheeks and kiss her, but she wouldn’t want that. Not when her father was so against him.

She pulled away from his embrace, proving him right. “That’s a good idea. We should go while they’re still fighting. If we’re the only people on the road, it’ll be easier to see if anyone follows us.”

She was absolutely right, and he hated she had to think that way. Her life had never been touched by danger like this. If he had anything to say about it, it never would again.