Justice is Coming. Delores Fossen

Declan asked the man. He kept his gun trained on him and walked closer.

      “I’m on orders.” The man caught onto the truck with both hands, and that answer seemed to take a lot of effort. But at least now they knew he was a hired gun.

      Well, unless he was lying.

      Declan inched closer to the man. Wyatt, too, after he put his phone back in his pocket.

      “The ambulance is on the way,” Wyatt relayed. “But my advice is for you to start talking.”

      The man glanced around as if trying to figure out what to do. She prayed he didn’t try to pick up his gun and attempt an escape. It’d be suicide with two armed marshals closing in on him.

      “Talking wouldn’t be good for my health,” he answered. “Call that ambulance and tell them to hurry up.”

      Wyatt didn’t make an attempt to do that. Both Declan and he moved forward, both still using the trees as cover until they reached the clearing between the truck and them. The gunman didn’t appear to have any other weapons, but maybe Declan and Wyatt would stay put until the ambulance arrived. The thought had no sooner crossed her mind than she heard the sound.

      Another blast.

      Definitely a gunshot, but this one seemed to come out of nowhere. Eden shouted for Declan and his brother to get down, but her warning wasn’t necessary. They were already headed to the ground anyway, but they hadn’t managed to do that before there was another shot.

      Then another.

      Eden sucked in her breath hard, and with her gun gripped in her hand, she pivoted from one side to the other, bracing herself to see the shots slam into either Declan or Wyatt. Or both.

      But that didn’t happen.

      The gunman by the truck lurched forward, the impact of the bullets jolting through his body. It all happened in a split second, but he crumpled into a heap on the ground.

      “Someone shot him,” she mumbled. And that someone wasn’t Declan or his brother.

      “Who the hell fired those shots?” Declan asked.

      But Wyatt only shook his head. “Not the guy in the back, because he’s dead. I had to shoot him.”

      Eden got ready to return fire. Wyatt and Declan did the same, but there were no more shots. In fact, there was no sign of the person who’d just shot the gunman.

      But there was another sound.

      The roar of a car engine. It was on the west side of the property. Probably on the old ranch trail. Eden knew it was there because that was where she’d left her own vehicle.

      “He’s getting away!” Declan shouted, and he raced in the direction of the sound.

      That brought Eden back onto the porch, and she eased out into the yard, following Wyatt.

      Toward the downed gunman.

      Wyatt made it to the man first, and he stooped down, put his fingers to the man’s neck. Because of the angle of his face, Eden couldn’t see his expression, but she got a clear view of Declan’s when he started running back toward them.

      Declan kept watch behind him, but he took out his phone and requested assistance. The ranch trail led to the main road, and he asked for someone to respond to that area immediately. He didn’t stop there. He hauled her behind the truck. Probably because he didn’t want her out in the open in case that gunman returned.

      Wyatt met his brother’s gaze before he moved away from the man on the ground. “He’s dead.”

      Declan mumbled something she didn’t catch, but she didn’t need to hear it to see the frustration in his eyes and face. “You’re sure the other gunman is dead, too?”

      Wyatt nodded. “There was no ID on him. Nothing except extra ammo...and a note.”

      That snagged both Declan’s and her attention. “What kind of note?” Declan asked.

      Eden figured that whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. Hired killers didn’t usually bring happy news.

      “It’s a single sheet of paper, folded. It was sticking out of the guy’s pocket, but I looked at it when I saw Kirby’s name scrawled on the outside.”

      “Why would a hired gun have a note addressed to your father?” she asked at the same time Declan asked, “What did the note say?”

      Wyatt pulled in a long breath. “It didn’t make sense. It said something like, ‘This is just the beginning. You can’t save him.’”

      Declan shook his head. “Who’s him?”

      Wyatt met his gaze. “You, Declan.”

      Chapter Five

      Declan slipped on the latex gloves that he’d taken from his equipment bag at his house, stooped down and pulled the note from the dead man’s pocket. Yeah, it was addressed to Kirby all right.

      “Is it really a death threat?” Eden asked. She was right behind him, peering over his shoulder. And she was shaking. Not just her voice, her whole body was trembling.

      He figured Wyatt hadn’t gotten the contents of the message wrong, but Declan had to see it for himself. There wasn’t much to read.

      This is just the beginning, Kirby Granger. You can’t save him. O’Malley’s a dead man.

      It’d been handwritten almost in a childish scrawl with green crayon. Maybe as an attempt to disguise any handwriting characteristics. But Declan would have it analyzed anyway. He slipped it into a plastic evidence bag.

      “Why does someone want you dead?” Eden asked.

      She’d only been around him for the past couple of hours, and she’d already asked him that several times. Too bad it was a question he didn’t have an answer for.

      He stood and started back toward his house, where the chaos was in full swing. A different kind of chaos from the attack. The crime-scene folks had arrived. Two of his brothers, Dallas and Slade. Sheriff Rico Geary and his deputies, too. It wasn’t exactly a local case what with the attempted murder of two federal marshals, but Geary had people in place to preserve the crime scene. Plus, the sheriff wouldn’t do anything to keep Declan and his brothers out of any part of this investigation.

      Not that he could have anyway.

      Declan wasn’t sure what’d happened here, but he would find out, one way or another. Apparently, Eden had the same idea, because she’d been on and off her phone since the attack. All of this was just for starters. Declan wanted to question Eden a lot more so he could try to pinpoint the person who’d set all of this in motion.

      Maybe she knew.

      Maybe she didn’t.

      He was leaning toward didn’t since she’d nearly been killed. Most people didn’t protect a person who wanted them dead. And besides, she was genuinely worried about her two sisters, since most of her calls had centered on arranging extra protection for them. Declan would add his own layer of protection soon by calling the marshals in that area.

      “This is connected to your foster father,” Eden said, falling into step beside him. “The note proves that.”

      “No. The note proves nothing. Someone could have written it to muddy the waters.”

      She made a slight sound of surprise, then frustration. Maybe because she hadn’t thought of that angle first. Still, Declan couldn’t take his muddy-water theory as gospel, and that meant talking to Kirby. Maybe there was something that connected all three of them—Eden, Kirby and him. Something linked to the photo of him and his family back in Germany. And Declan had a sickening feeling that it was a connection he wasn’t going to like.

      “Thank you,” she said in a hoarse