Chapter Nine

Presley sat in the corner of the waiting room in the Outlaw Ridge Hospital and watched the flurry of activity that went along with a situation like this. Organized chaos.

Familiar ground from his days as a cop.

The local sheriff, Marty Bonetti, and his deputies were scattered around the waiting room, taking statements from Owen, Angel, Hayes, Billie, and even Ruby, who'd arrived shortly after the ambulance had brought Victoria here. Presley had already given his statement and had been happy to follow the sheriff's order to take a seat and wait. With the spent adrenaline claiming a good portion of his energy, he didn't mind just chilling for a while.

Too bad he couldn't get his mind to chill right along with his exhausted body. But nope. The thoughts and images were coming nonstop. Of the gunfire. Of Victoria damn near dying before he could get to her. Of Billie as he'd seen her collapse after being shot in the vest.

Thankfully, Billie was okay even though she was going to have a hell of a bruise on her side for a while. Still, it was better a bruise than a bullet wound, and there'd been plenty of opportunities for the shooters to hit various parts of them that hadn't been protected. A shot to the hands or feet would have prevented them from fighting back and rescuing the hostage.

Victoria was physically going to be okay as well. Probably. The EMTs hadn't offered that somewhat iffy prognosis while they'd been loading her into the ambulance, but Victoria had been semi-conscious—and in shock. She had cuts, bruises, and was missing the tip of her right pinkie finger. She was still being examined to find out if she had internal injuries.

According to the brief report he'd gotten from the EMTs after they'd handed Victoria off to the hospital medical staff, Victoria hadn't said a whole lot in the ambulance, but she had made a couple of things clear. She was grateful for being rescued and she hadn't seen her kidnappers' faces. They'd kept her blindfolded the entire time they'd had her.

Ruby finished up with Sheriff Bonetti and started making her way across the room toward him. Owen and she exchanged a long glance. Not exactly a friendly one, which made Presley wonder again what had gone on between them. Maybe it was nothing more than business differences, what with Ruby walking the thin blue line and Owen often crossing it.

At least those were the rumors, anyway.

But Presley thought of what Billie had said, about Owen's daughter being murdered by a domestic abuser. That sort of trauma could cause a severe thirst for justice. Presley knew because he had it for his adopted mom. However, with her killer dead by his own hand, justice just wasn't in the cards.

Was that why he'd been so desperate to save Victoria?

Maybe.

She wasn't his mother, not in the ways that mattered, but Presley hadn't wanted to fail at bringing her home and getting justice for her. He'd succeeded at the first part, but the second, well, he had a lot of work to do to make that happen.

Ruby sank down in the seat next to him. "Good job," she said. "Once the sheriff clears you to leave, you need to take some time off. At least the rest of the day," she added after she must have seen the argument in his eyes. "It's just common sense. You're almost certainly bone tired, and you need to eat and get some rest. You can start back on the investigation first thing in the morning."

Rather than directly disobey an order, Presley decided it was a good time not to respond with other than a grunt. The sound could have meant anything. Or nothing.

Ruby gave him that flat-eyed boss look. "Any injuries you didn't tell the EMTs about?"

Presley shook his head.

He wouldn't mention that his shoulder was throbbing. Or that he had the headache from hell from the bullets hitting his safety helmet. He'd had far worse in less dangerous situations.

"You got a text when you were talking to the sheriff," he pointed out. "An update on the kidnappers?"

Her sigh told him that she'd guessed about his unspoken injuries. "It was. The county CSIs IDed them right away with fingerprint matches. Ellis and Craig Dumfries. Brothers, age twenty-nine and thirty-one from Bulverde." A town not far from San Antonio or Outlaw Ridge. "Long rap sheets, starting back when they were juveniles. And before you ask, there are no obvious ties to any of our suspects."

Hell. He'd been hoping the connection would be loud and clear so the cops could make an arrest.

"There's no sign of the kidnappers' vehicle," Ruby went on, "but the CSIs are expanding their search."

Good. But if they didn't find a vehicle, it could mean someone, maybe the kidnappers' boss, had already driven it away.

"Those two had some serious firepower," Presley muttered. "And the set-up was solid except for one thing. They didn't seem to anticipate that we'd have backup with us."

"Yes. They might not have been aware of it because Owen's man, Hayes, disabled some cameras along the road in both directions. He did that with drone strikes before he even arrived. So, it's possible the kidnappers didn't see Owen, Angel, and him coming."

Well, good for Hayes. Presley made a mental note to thank the man though he didn't exactly look the friendly, willing to accept thanks sort.

"There were two more cameras by the creek," Ruby went on. "But one was directed at Victoria and the other was panning the general area where Billie and you first arrived."

At the mention of Victoria's name, Presley got another flurry of those blasted thoughts. He knew this was all part of the post-mission process. It wasn't easy to put to bed all the little pieces of the ordeal.

Especially the part about him carrying Victoria's limp body to the bank.

"A friend of a friend is a nurse here," Ruby went on, "and I got an unofficial update on Victoria's medical condition. She's stable and gave a brief statement to the sheriff before she was taken away for some x-rays."

Presley figured Ruby would be able to find out whatever Victoria ended up telling the sheriff. Just because the woman hadn't seen her kidnappers, it didn't mean she didn't know something about them that could lead to who'd hired them.

Because they had been hired.

Presley could feel that in his gut. These two losers hadn't acted alone in this.

"I saw the guns they used for the attack," Presley said. "They used AR-15s with lightning link modifications. About two grand each with the modifications. Anything in their bank accounts to verify they could have bought something that expensive?"

"Nothing," Ruby verified. "Of course, they could have had cash squirreled away that they used." She didn't sound as if she believed that any more than he did.

"What did Jesep, Olivia, and Ari say when you let them know Victoria had been rescued?" Presley asked.

"I spoke to Jesep, and he thanked me. He's on his way here."

That gave him a jolt of fresh alarm. "If he hired the kidnappers, he might try to finish her off in the hospital."

"He won't get the chance. I'm having Angel guard her for a while." Her gaze went to his. "You're too close to this. Best if you step back and…deal. It had to have shaken you when you found out she was your bio-mom."

"It did, but I can still do the job," he argued.

But he wasn't sure he actually wanted bodyguard duty. Not until Victoria at least knew who he was. Because then, she might have to do her own dealing, and he'd rather not be around for that.

Something must have caused her to drop him off at the fire station, and it sure as hell wasn't lack of funds. She came from money, lots and lots of it. Of course, her rich folks likely wouldn't have approved of her having a kid. And then there'd been the bio-father angle. It was possible the guy had been the one who'd ditched Presley.

That left another possibility.

The worst of the bunch. Because maybe Victoria had had all the money and support in the world, but she simply hadn't wanted him. Hadn't cared enough about him to even put him up for adoption. Even as an adult, that stung.

"How about you handling what you learned about Victoria?" Ruby asked, "And feel free to tell me to mind my own business."

"It's your business because I work for you. You have to know you can trust me in any situation where you assign me." He paused. "But I'll have to get back to you on how I'm handling it."

Ruby nodded as if that'd been the exact answer she'd expected. Presley didn't get a chance to say more because he saw Billie step away from the deputy and head their way. He watched her movements, looking for any signs of pain. And it was there all right. She winced a little when she sat down on the other side of him.

"Good job on the mission," Ruby told her, and she stood. "I'll try to get some updates from the sheriff."

Ruby went in that direction, and what she'd said likely wasn't BS. She probably did want to get some intel, but Presley suspected her quick departure was to give Billie and him a moment alone.

Presley studied Billie's face, cursing the new bruise that she now had in addition to the black eye. And it wasn't the only bruise. He knew there was another one where the bullet had hit her vest. He hadn't gotten a look at that one, but figured it was just below her right breast.

Mercy, he wanted to pull her into his arms. Gently though. He wanted to have just that body to body contact with her. But this definitely wasn't the time or the place, not with both of their bosses and half of the local police force in the room.

"Please tell me you got some pain meds," he murmured, moving a strand of her hair off her cheek.

"I got it. Not sure I'll take it. How about you? How bad is your headache?" she asked.

Despite everything, including the damn headache, he smiled. "It's a good day. We won. Sort of," he tacked onto that. "We didn't get the big asshole who hired the little assholes who tried to kill us."

She sighed, nodded. "I heard that Jesep, Olivia, and Ari are on the way here to the hospital."

"Yeah. Angel's guarding Victoria."

That put some relief on Billie's face, and she continued to study him. "I have to take at least a mandatory twelve hours off since I was involved in a shooting. Owen's rules," she added.

"Ruby has a similar one," he let her know. "Why don't we do our downtime together? My house is only about twenty minutes from here."

There. He'd thrown out an invitation that he figured she'd turned down. She didn't.

"Okay," she said after pausing only a heartbeat. "And just know that I could really use a hug from you right now."

Presley smiled, and he did a big assed no-no by leaning in and brushing his mouth over hers. Billie certainly didn't push him away. In fact, she appeared to be on the verge of kissing him right back, but the sound of approaching footsteps put a halt to that.

He looked up and saw Owen Striker looming over them.

Emphasis on looming . The guy definitely looked Delta Force, and not ex or retired either. He seemed more than capable of being on active duty.

And kicking some serious ass.

Billie started to stand, almost as if she were about to come to attention, but Owen motioned her back down. "I just wanted to check on you before I head out." He volleyed glances at both of them.

Presley braced himself for Owen to mention that kiss. No way in hell had he missed it. But he didn't.

"Downtime," Owen spelled out. "Get it while you can. This investigation will heat up again when we find out who's behind the kidnapping."

Owen had barely finished that when there were more footsteps, and this time both Presley and Billie got to their feet when they saw it was a doctor heading straight for them.

Hell. Presley hoped Victoria hadn't taken a turn for the worst because the doc didn't look as if he was the bearer of good news.

"Presley Nolan and Billie Cooper?" the doctor asked. According to his nametag, he was Isaac Jenkins.

Billie and he nodded.

"Mrs. Wessington would like to see both of you," the doctor said, and Presley felt some of the tension ease up in his chest. "Personally, I think she should hold off on seeing non-family members because she should be resting. But she insisted."

Dr. Jenkins turned, instructing them to follow him. They did, threading their way down a hall that fed off the waiting area. Presley refused to even guess why the woman wanted to see him. He just kept walking, and he felt Billie take hold of his hand and give it a gentle squeeze. Presley squeezed right back.

There was a sign for ICU, but thankfully the doctor didn't lead them in that direction. Instead, he took them to a room directly across from a small nurses' station. Angel wasn't here yet, but he no doubt would be once he'd finished his statement.

The doctor opened the door, and Presley immediately caught a glimpse of Victoria. Her face was a riot of bruises and scrapes, and those injuries were the only color in her skin. The rest of her was ashy pale.

Along with the bandage on her hand, there were more on her forehead and both arms. Stitches, too. Some along her hairline and on her chin. The corners of her mouth were cracked and raw, probably from the gag the kidnappers had forced her to wear.

No wonder the doctor hadn't wanted her to have visitors.

"Presley, Billie," Victoria greeted. Her voice was a rasp, barely audible, but she sat up and motioned for them to come in.

"Please lie back down," the doctor insisted, and he hurried to help her do just that. He also covered her with the thin white blanket that she had shoved to the side. "We were able to reattach Mrs. Wessington's finger, but she needs rest. Five minutes," he warned Billie and Presley. "I'll be right outside the door."

Presley figured the doctor was actually timing this so he went closer, waiting for Victoria to dole out a thank you. Or question them about whether or not she was safe now.

She didn't do either of those.

Victoria looked him straight in the eyes. Eyes that he realized were a genetic copy of his own. "I know who you are, Presley," she muttered, choking back a sob. "You're my son."