He pulled out a gun from inside his jacket. He pointed the barrel at her chest. “Do you take me for a fool, Kathy?” His tone burned her like acid.
“I don’t know what to think about you anymore,” she confessed. “I thought I knew you, but I was wrong.”
“Know this, Kathy, my men are making sure the sheriff and those two cowboys are out of commission. I didn’t come to this fucking town alone. I’m not an idiot.”
“Why, Sergei? I can’t understand how you got caught up in the drug business and pulled the boys in with you.”
“Money. Simple as that, babe. Where is Juan?”
Clearly, Sergei hadn’t found the boy, thank God. “Safe.”
He slapped her in the face hard. She brought her fingers up to her nose, which was bleeding.
“You thought you would get enough shit on me to put me behind bars, right? That’s why you took my product from my office. My guys will do whatever it takes to get those bags back in my hands. A couple of them are on it right now.”
“What do you want me to say, Sergei?” Had all she’d done been for nothing? At least Juan was safe, but for how long?
“You and I will be leaving this hellhole in about ten minutes. Once I get you back to my place, I’ll figure out a way to get you to tell me where the boy is. I’ve got several ideas rolling through my head already about how to accomplish that.”
“You don’t want to do that, Sergei. Those cowboys you met in the sheriff’s office won’t stop looking for me. Trust me.”
She heard what sounded like either a car backfiring several times—or gunshots.
“Your bumpkins are all dead by now.”
Overwhelmed by dread, she wanted to scream, to claw Sergei’s eyes out, to crawl into a hole and sob until her own life expired. Had she unknowingly led this monster to Destiny, to her cowboys? This bastard didn’t know them the way she did. The Stone brothers were survivors. They couldn’t be dead. They just couldn’t.
“Kathy, the mess you created wasn’t something I planned for, but I do know how to clean up such things. Without evidence and without witnesses, there is no case, babe. Last chance, Kathy, to make things easier for you.” He pushed the tip of his gun between her eyes. “Where is Juan?”
Sergei’s cell buzzed. He stepped back, removing the steel off of her. “Fuck. Dimitri, too. Vzdohr.” His face darkened. “Gdye the sheriff? Da. How far is that? We’ll be long gone by the time he gets back after we take care of the rest of our business. Any word from the two we sent to get our product back?”
The drugs. If Sergei ever looked away, she would run for the exit.
“Niet. You sure those cowboys didn’t see the rest of you? Good. These cowboys want to play Wild West, let’s give them our kind of showdown. Six to two are odds I’m always ready to take them. Counting me, seven to two.” His frown returned. “There’s another cowboy who showed up?”
Amber’s heart leapt up in her chest. Bryant and Emmett were okay. Cody likely was still up the road from Destiny. Her cowboys were safe.
“Da. Seven to three. Still good odds. Position you and your men on the roofs around the park. Da. Hurry but don’t worry. You’ll have time enough. I have their kryptonite.” Sergei put his cell back in his inner pocket. His evil grin sent a horrible shiver down her spine, chilling her bones. “Get up, Kathy. We’re going to take a walk.”
Chapter Fifteen
Bryant’s leg was bleeding and possibly fractured.
The cause? The four bastards who’d jumped him and Emmett by the statue.
Emmett had perceived the fuckers before he had, since the thugs had come up on their right, same side as his brother’s good ear. In a flash, Emmett had taken out one of the creeps straight away.
That had left three.
The goons had been armed, but so had he and his brother. Before any of their assailants could get off even a single shot, he and Emmett had shot several rounds into each of them.
He and his brother pointed their thirty-eights at the only man still conscious of the group. The punk had lost his gun when Emmett, the best shot in the family by far, had nailed him in the shoulder.
The asshole glared at them, keeping his hand on the wound his brother had given him. “Go fuck yourselves, faggots.”
“Don’t be a dumb-ass, dude.” Emmett’s barrel was pointed right between the man’s eyes.
“I’d listen to him if I were you,” he told the dick on the ground. “My brother holds the highest marksmanship badges in the Marine Corps for both rifle and pistol. The only reason you’re still alive is my brother wanted you to be.”