Christmas Rescue at Mustang Ridge

Jake gave her some time to try to absorb that. He wished her luck with it. He’d had several months now and was still trying to absorb it. It didn’t make sense that his baby girl would have to fight for her life this way.

“How bad is it?” Maggie asked.

“Bad.” He had to pause, take a deep breath. He’d rehearsed this part, too, but it still sickened him to say it. “She needs a bone marrow transplant fast. We’ve all had blood tests, and none of us match.”

She repeated that, too. “And I’m a match?”

He glanced at her and met her gaze. “I hope.”

“You don’t know?” Her grip melted off him. “That’s what the test is for, Jake, you didn’t have to kidnap me. I would have done the test.”

Her eagerness to help Sunny didn’t ease the knot in his gut. That’s because he was bargaining with the devil here.

A devil he’d kissed.

And dreamed about.

Hell, the dreams were the worst part, because in them he’d done a lot more than just kiss her. That made him one sick puppy.

“You had a no-contact clause in your relocation records,” he reminded her. “The only way I could find you was to go into the database.”

“Okay.” She nodded, stayed quiet a moment. “Then turn around and I’ll tell the sheriff that I want to go with you. I want to do this.”

Now it was his turn to stay quiet a moment. “I don’t have the hacking skills to do what needed to be done, and I didn’t have the time to learn them. So, I had to hire someone.” It burned Jake’s throat to say this. “Someone I’m not sure I can trust.”

Her dark brown eyes widened, and she apparently could guess where this was going. “Someone who might tell Tanner?”

“Yeah.” And he wished he had rehearsed this part. “Ernest Garfield’s son, Wade.”

She cursed. “Well, heck, yes. He’ll sell the information to Tanner. He’d sell his mother’s eyeballs for a quarter. Why in blue blazes would you go to him, to anyone who could be paid off?”

“Because I ran out of options, that’s why. And Sunny’s running out of time. If she doesn’t get the marrow soon, it could be too late. Right now, she’s so weak that even a cold could turn out to be fatal. Every moment is a risk for her.”

Mercy, it hurt to say that aloud or to even think it.

“Wade said it wouldn’t be long before the marshals or FBI could trace the hack job to a computer. My computer,” he clarified. “I didn’t want to implicate anyone else in this.”

Her breath was gusting now, and the lip chewing got worse. “So, the marshals know what you’ve done, and they’ve probably called Coopersville’s sheriff.”

“Probably.” And once the sheriff realized Maggie wasn’t at the diner, they’d do a search. One that would include putting out an APB.

She didn’t say anything. Maggie just sat there, and even though Jake hadn’t thought it possible, she had even less color in her face now than when she’d dropped that coffeepot.

Maggie started to shake her head.

Jake ignored it. He wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“First, you’ll need a simple blood test to determine if you’re a bone marrow match. If you are,” he went on, “there’s a procedure where the doctor extracts the marrow with a needle. It’ll require some sedation, but it should all be a done deal in a day or two. I’ll keep you hidden. I’ll protect you as best I can. And then I can call the marshals, turn myself in and you can go back into the program under a new identity,” he added. “I’m sorry about that.”

Another new life. And she was no doubt thinking of the problems that would cause for her. Leaving everything behind again. Starting from scratch again.

Clearly, she had a life there in Coopersville. Not what some would consider a good life, but maybe she’d been happy. The cook at the diner had certainly looked protective of her.

Or something.

It was the same for the geezer eating the eggs. For a second, Jake had thought he might have to shoot his way out of there.

But then Maggie had stepped up and settled the situation.

Jake wanted to hang on to his hatred for her, but she’d put a dent in his hard feelings by not only offering herself to a man she considered dangerous—him—but also going along with this plan that could ultimately get her killed.

“I’m sorry about putting you in danger, too,” he added. “I know this could get you killed. If there’d been another way, I wouldn’t have done this to you.”

“Yes.” Maggie said it almost idly, as if she weren’t really listening to him.

“Is there someone you need to call to let him know you’re alive and well?” Jake asked.

“No.” And she shook her head again. “No one there knows who I am. Was,” she corrected.

Good move. It was probably why she was still alive.

“But they’ll know now,” she added.

Maggie stared out the window, watching the rural landscape zip past the window. Soon he’d need to get off this road and onto another one. Then, another. It’d be all back roads to get her to Mustang Ridge.

He wondered if the marshals or the FBI would set up roadblocks. Or use helicopters to locate them. And while he was wondering, Jake thought about how his family would be taking all of this.

Royce was no doubt trying to cover his butt. Nell would be trying to keep everybody calm and make sure Sunny was okay. Chet would be pitching a fit that Jake hadn’t told him what was going on. It’d be minor compared to the fit Chet had pitched two and a half years ago when he’d walked in on Jake kissing Maggie by the barn.

A kiss to soothe his pain, Jake had tried to justify, since he was grieving his wife’s death.

Jake had pitched his own fit just a few hours later when he’d learned that Anna’s killer was none other than Bruce Tanner and not some armed robber as everyone had thought.

And the real kicker?

Tanner had done that because he’d warned Maggie to back off an investigation she was honchoing. Of course, Maggie hadn’t bothered to share that threat with the family or her sister. If she had, Jake maybe could have figured out that Tanner would go after someone Maggie loved.

He heard her phone ring, and she rifled through her purse to find it. “My boss,” she relayed to Jake, but she didn’t answer it.

“He’s worried about you,” Jake commented. “Will he try to follow us?” In other words, how much did this guy care for Maggie? Would he go to the ends of the earth to find her?

And why did that bother Jake?

He mentally cursed. He didn’t care a flying fig about Maggie’s love life.

“I’ll call him later,” she answered. “Could you stop the truck a minute? I have to throw up.”

Jake knew how she felt. That’s the reaction he’d had when he first learned Sunny was sick. Plus, she was no doubt reliving all the mess with Anna and Tanner just as he was.