Cain moved closer to him, not taking any chances of tipping her hand to anyone but her son. “Think, buddy. Who drives around in black sedans in the middle of farm country? Hell, we had to wait for them to find something other than a truck at the rental counter when we got here.”
“Cops.”
She put her hands on the sides of his face so only she could see his lips move when the reality of the situation obviously hit him between the eyes. “My father was right. Those Casey genes do float to the top. You’re going to be something else with those looks and the brains to go with them.” She moved one hand to the back of his neck and pulled him in for a hug. “Kyle’s here, buddy, so watch what you say in the bunkhouse. You don’t know a whole lot, but I don’t want this to blow up in my face and they take me in and have you somewhere where I can’t get to you.”
“Why would Kyle be here? Who would have…” The rest of the question never made it out as the realization of what Emma had done hit him even harder. His birth mother had set them up, or at least Cain, to take a fall, leaving her as the concerned mother to pick up the pieces--the pieces being him. “That bitch.”
“Hey now, don’t blame her just yet, kiddo. Let’s see how this plays out and what game’s in motion before we rush out with guns blazing. I realize you think your mom just up and left you, but Emma’s never done something like this unless the situation or someone drove her. Can you do something for me, Hayden?”
“Mom, you don’t ever have to ask.”
Cain still held him close and spoke into his ear. “When we get back, don’t let your anger win out. I’m going to make an example out of Kyle and whoever helped him so he won’t bother us anymore. Do you think you can do that? You don’t have to play the forgiving lost son, but try and work on your relationship with Emma and see where it leads. That’ll give me time to deal with Kyle and his goons.”
From the trees, one of the agents had climbed up with the wand to see if he could get a better line and hear what Cain was talking to her son about. “Man, Kyle’s going to shit a brick if we go back with nothing. I don’t get it. There’s nothing out here between them and us.”
“Just go up a little higher and try a more downward angle. Maybe this thing’s so used to hearing background noise it doesn’t know what to do with only the occasional bird noise. Never mind. Pack it up. They’re heading back.”
After a few stretches the pair stopped talking and started back in the direction of the bunkhouse.
The two men watching them froze, as both sets of blue eyes seemed to zero in on them when mother and son ran past, but they knew it was impossible.
Chapter Ten
Ross watched from the porch as the two dots on the horizon started to take shape and become more recognizable. Cain and Hayden had the same stride, and watching them run made him think back to his own high school track days. He had never been as comfortable when he ran as the two people he was watching. The door closing behind him didn’t make Ross turn around and take his eyes off his grandson and his mother. He brought the coffee cup to his lips again and figured if Emma wanted to talk, she would eventually say something.
“Think they’re leaving today?” Emma’s voice cracked a little at the end of her question so Ross figured she’d been crying again.
“I don’t know, baby. Maybe you should ask them when they get back. Those two must have gotten up pretty early to beat me out of bed.”
“Hayden’s a lot like Cain, I guess. She’d get up, run, and be home in bed after a shower before I woke up.” She felt the heat of her blush when she realized what she had just shared with her father. But she remembered how Cain had moved her run up an hour when she’d complained about waking up alone and hearing the shower. She had fixed it so she was there and holding Emma when she woke up every morning they’d shared together. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I don’t know why I said that.”
“Because you love her, and no matter how much time you spend here hiding from the fact that you do, you won’t stop loving her. Though now, with all this, you may’ve killed any hope of getting her to feel that way about you again.” Ross put his cup down and turned to face his only child in hope of getting through to her before the world started to crumble around her feet. He didn’t want to have to stand by helplessly and watch.
“Honey, I don’t know Cain as well as you, and you probably don’t know her as well as Hayden does, but I’m guessing the one thing she’s got going for her is smarts. She won’t go down without a fight, and when she starts shooting back, do you really want to be standing on the other side hoping some other white knight comes charging in to save you?”
He took his hat off and scratched the top of his head before he glanced toward the barn. “I’m just a farmer and may not know a whole lot about a whole lot, but I’m thinking they don’t send this many people to snare someone who goes around with their thumb up their butt.”
“I know what I’m doing, Daddy.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve said my piece. You go on and listen to your mother and that fella who’s come by to see you, and I’m sure he’ll ante up on all those promises he made. When the dust settles I’ll go back to tending my cows and working my land, and I can promise I won’t say a word about the outcome. I’ll go ahead and say it now. When it’s done, you’re going to be here with me alone because that big Irishwoman’s going to strip you and Kyle of everything you hold dear. And, Emma, I mean everything and everyone. When it happens, I’ll still love you and won’t throw you out for the world to finish beating you down, but I’ll spend my years trying to find it in my heart to feel sorry for you.”
Emma evidently wanted to lash out at him, but it wouldn’t change the way he felt. Ross Verde was a man of principle, and what his wife and daughter had conjured up didn’t smell right to him.
“You’re supposed to be on my side, Daddy.”
He laughed and put on his hat, ready to get to work. “If you can’t see I am, we don’t have another thing to talk about on the subject. You just remember what your old man said this morning and think hard on your future. What you want it to be and who you want to share it with depend on what you do starting right now.”
“Don’t you remember, you win here too, Daddy, if this all works out. I think Cain will relax enough out here to let her guard down around those baboons she surrounds herself with, and if that happens, you and I both win.”
Ross stopped his trek to the barn and turned around. “I didn’t sign those papers, Emma, and there isn’t a reason in the world you and your mother can come up with to make me do it, either. I’ve been in jams before and I’ll get myself out of them just like always, and this time it won’t be from taking favors from some idiot in a suit with a grudge.”
The idiot Ross was referring to was standing behind the barely opened front door, listening in on their conversation. Special Agent Barney Kyle had started his career in the FBI on the fast track by cracking a couple of drug rings and giving his superiors the impression he would be a star in the Bureau. His success had landed him the Casey assignment.
The Bureau was tired of trying to get an indictment on Dalton, then his daughter, only to come away empty-handed. When Kyle took over, he expected the operation to last about a year before he had her in court. His plan ran into a roadblock by the name of Cain, so eight years later he found his star status had tarnished considerably, and he was about to be relocated somewhere not found on the average map. Because of that threat and Cain’s constant smugness under the unrelenting surveillance, Kyle had come to despise her. All he had to show for his efforts so far were pictures of her impressive wardrobe and smile.