“I think you’re right,” Troy agreed.
Jack turned his head to call to Karen over his shoulder. “Maybe because I saved her life that night, she’ll go a little easier on me when we have that talk.”
“Maybe,” Karen called back. “Maybe not.”
“You know Dad let him go,” Troy said somberly.
“Really?”
“You know why?”
Jack shook his head.
“There’s a tape of Dad and Rita Hayes,” Troy said quietly so only Jack could hear him.
“As in the Rita Hayes who was Dad’s EA all those years?”
“As in that one.”
“The Rita Hayes who’s missing?”
“Yes.”
“Is it the kind of tape I think it is?” Jack asked hesitantly.
“Yeah, and Maddux has it.”
Jack grimaced. “Terrible.”
“It gets worse.” Troy took a deep breath. “I think Dad had Rita killed,” he said softly. “He thought she had the tape, but it was Maddux.”
They were quiet for a long time.
“I can’t believe it,” Jack finally murmured.
“You were lucky to be dead.”
“I guess.” Jack shook his head. “Well, it let me be the one to correspond with Jennie. She didn’t know who I was, so it wasn’t like she could tell anyone I’d faked my murder.” Jack raised an eyebrow. “She’s a nice young woman.”
“Yeah, well—”
“We’re just lucky Lisa never showed her a picture of me.”
“True.”
“She likes you a lot, Troy.”
“I like her, too.”
“Good.” Jack patted Troy’s shoulder, then gestured at Travers. “I feel bad leaving him here. I mean, I understand why he sided with Baxter. But I don’t see any other way.”
“There is no other way,” Troy agreed, making it to his feet with Jack’s help. “He’s a good man, but we can’t take the chance that he’d try to grab the Order on the trail.”
“You sure you’re okay?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
“Maybe we should stay here in the cave tonight. It’s already dark out.”
“I don’t want to wait. I want to go through the night.” Troy tapped his coat on top of the pocket that held the bag with the Order inside. “We’ve got to get this thing out of here and safe as soon as possible.”
“Okay.”
Jack turned, but Troy caught him by the arm. “Thanks, brother,” he murmured as they hugged again. “It seems like you’re always saving my ass.”
“Hey, what’s an older brother for?”
Troy, Jack, and Karen had gone only twenty feet from the cave opening when six forms appeared out of the snow that was whipping wildly through the high rock walls of Bonny Pass. The assailants were on them before they could even draw their guns.
“Get off her!” Jack shouted when Karen cried out in pain from beside him. One of the men had clasped her roughly by the upper arms and squeezed them together behind her back, stretching her shoulders terribly. “I swear I will—”
“You will what?” a seventh man demanded as he appeared in front of them out of the gloom. He was short and wiry, even with the cold-weather gear.
“Shane Maddux,” Jack whispered in amazement.
“Wasn’t I supposed to have killed you?” Maddux asked sarcastically. “With a rifle from three hundred yards, right, Jack?” He took a few more steps forward so now he was directly in front of Jack and very close. “You’re looking pretty good for being dead.”
“I guess your aim wasn’t that great.”
Maddux grinned smugly. “Let me tell you something. If I wanted to kill you, I would.”
“How did you know we were here?” Troy demanded.
“Your father told me. I had something he wanted very badly. Two days ago we traded that for the information I wanted. It was a good trade. Here I am.”
“You wanted to know where the original of the Executive Order was hidden.”
“The one Roger Carlson wasn’t keeping on hand,” Maddux confirmed. “I told Bill that if he tried to get in touch with you after the trade, I’d kill all of you when I got here. Judging by your reaction to our arrival, Bill kept his word. He’s a wise man.” Maddux took several steps to the side in the snow so that now he was standing in front of Troy. “Give me what I want.”
“You’re not getting anything, Shane.”
Maddux nodded to the men standing behind Troy. As they tightened their grip on Troy, Maddux reached inside Troy’s coat and pulled out the clear plastic bag containing the Executive Order. “Well, that was easy enough. I guess now I can—”
Suddenly Karen broke free. As she stumbled forward, she reached for the .44 inside her coat, turned as she fell into the snow, and fired back at the man who’d been holding her and was now coming at her. She fired once, killing him instantly with a bullet through the chest.
Troy and Jack struggled violently to free themselves as Karen turned her gun on the men holding the brothers. She hit one of Jack’s captors in the shoulder and one of Troy’s in the side, and the brothers broke free.
As she swung the .44 Magnum toward Shane Maddux, he shot her in the head with his favorite pistol — a Winchester .22.
CHAPTER 35
Troy and Jack sat in a waiting room of New York — Presbyterian Hospital in Midtown Manhattan. It had been a week since all hell had broken loose on Bonny Pass and five days since Karen had been transported from a Casper, Wyoming, hospital to this facility in New York City on the Jensen G450. But she was still in intensive care. She hadn’t yet regained consciousness from the head wound, and her prognosis wasn’t good.
“The doctors here are the best in the world at what Karen needs, Jackson,” Troy spoke up, using the nickname he’d missed using so much. A nickname he thought he’d never use again. “Mom made sure of that while we were bringing Karen home.”
“I know.”
“She’ll make it.”
“I…I hope so,” Jack said haltingly. “But they’re not sure, brother.” He was leaning forward with his face in his hands as he sat on a couch opposite Troy’s chair. “I…I never should have let her come with me to Wyoming. I should have known better, Troy.”
“Remember, brother, I’ve known Karen longer than you have, a lot longer. She’s an awesome young woman, but she’s one of the most stubborn people in the world. Once she knew you were alive again, she wasn’t going to let you out of her sight. She loves you that much.”
Jack took a deep breath, rubbed water from his eyes, and then cleared his throat, embarrassed at his emotions, even in front of his brother. “That’s exactly what she said,” he agreed in a gritty voice after a few moments. “I love her that much, too.”
“I know.” Troy understood what Jack was thinking. “And if you hadn’t followed Travers and me out there with her, I’d be dead right now. Maddux wouldn’t have kept his promise to Dad. We both know that. It wouldn’t have been in his best interest to let me live, and he always acts in his own best interest.” Troy paused. “You saved my life, Jack…again.”
“Karen saved your life.”
“You both did.”
“And Maddux got away…again.”
“There’s nothing we could have done. He’s slick. We both know that.”
“And he has the Executive Order.”
Karen being shot was the worst part of what had happened. But Maddux escaping with the bag and its precious contents was a close second.
In the end, Troy, Karen, and Jack had shot three of Maddux’s accomplices before the other three had taken off into the gloom. Then they’d gone back into the cave and freed Travers, and each man had taken turns carrying Karen’s limp body down the mountain to Troy’s vehicle at the trailhead. They hadn’t stopped once for food or even rest until Karen was in the Casper hospital emergency room — after which they’d all gotten treatment themselves for exposure and dehydration.