As far as he could tell, Fratiani hadn’t come out of the dirt road. His Jeep was nowhere in sight.
T-Rex pulled off the road onto another dirt road on the opposite side and drove far enough down it to hide his truck. Then he shifted into Park, leaped out and ran back to the edge of the road, hiding behind the brush, careful not to expose himself.
Nothing moved. After several minutes of close study, T-Rex crossed the road and entered the undergrowth paralleling the dirt road.
Moving in the shadows, he followed the road to a small clearing where Fratiani’s Jeep was parked. Another vehicle was backed into the brush. All he could make out of it was the front grille of what appeared to be a pickup.
Fratiani stood beside his Jeep talking to a man who wore a jacket with a hood pulled up around his face.
From where T-Rex stood twenty yards away, he couldn’t see the face of the man talking with Fratiani. Nor could he hear what they were saying.
Then Fratiani passed the man an envelope, said something in more strident tones and climbed back in his Jeep.
To avoid being spotted, T-Rex dropped low behind a tree and waited for the Jeep to pass before he dared glance around the tree. The man Fratiani had been talking with had disappeared, but the vehicle in the trees pulled out. It had a smashed right fender.
T-Rex recognized the truck as the one Clay Ellis had driven the previous day when he’d accosted Sierra at the community center.
What was Ellis doing talking to a land broker on a deserted road in the hills of Wyoming?
Ellis drove away, bumping past him on the rutted road.
As soon as Ellis was out of sight, T-Rex hurried back the way he’d come, using the road. Once he reached the highway, he paused long enough for Ellis’s vehicle to disappear out of sight. Then he hurried across the highway, climbed into his truck and followed Ellis into Grizzly Pass.
When he came within cell tower range, he placed a call to Hack. “Check out Clay Ellis’s bank accounts. I just saw him have a secret rendezvous with Leo Fratiani on a deserted road three miles outside of Grizzly Pass.”
“On it,” Hack said. “Where are you now?”
“Back in Grizzly Pass.”
“Got word from Major Bailey he’ll land in twenty minutes at the fairgrounds.”
“That’s sooner than expected,” T-Rex said. “Did you notify Garner?”
“Couldn’t get him. He’s probably out of cell phone range by now. Garner didn’t expect the pilot to get here at this time. He got away earlier than he thought he would. Will you be able to meet him at the fairgrounds when he lands?”
“I will,” T-Rex affirmed. “In the meantime, I’m following Ellis.”
“Right. I’ll notify Garner when he gets back in cell phone range of the change of plans with Bailey.”
“Until I hear differently, I’ll go up with Bailey,” T-Rex said. He caught sight of Ellis’s truck at the far end of Main Street.
Ellis turned at the road leading to the community center.
Great.
Sierra didn’t need Ellis disturbing her when she was around the children. Hell, she didn’t need the man disturbing her at all.
T-Rex couldn’t leave with the helicopter pilot when Sierra might be in danger, especially when her ex-husband could be up to his earlobes in nefarious dealings with a broker from California. Hurrying toward the community center, T-Rex formed a plan. He placed a call to the Mother’s Day Out office.
Brenda Larson answered. “Grizzly Pass Mother’s Day Out, how may I help you?”
“Miss Larson, this is Rex Trainor. We met yesterday evening.”
“I remember. You’re the big, tough-looking guy who scared off Sierra’s low-life ex.”
“Right. I need your assistance.”
* * *
ONCE AGAIN, SIERRA was outside on the playground with the toddlers when Clay pulled into the parking lot. As quickly as she could, she gathered the children and herded them toward the community center before they saw Clay with all of his bad attitude and demands. She didn’t need to traumatize the little ones two days straight. If Clay continued to harass her, she’d have to quit her job with the children. She couldn’t risk one of them getting hurt physically or emotionally by Clay’s bad temper.
Sierra had begun to wonder if she’d have to move out of Grizzly Pass to get away from Clay. She had friends here, but no family left. She had more reason to leave than stay. She didn’t know what was keeping her in the small town where job opportunities were almost nonexistent.
She almost had the children to the door when Clay stepped out of his truck and shouted, “We’re not through, you know.”
Sierra didn’t respond. Instead, she placed a hand on the child at the rear of the line and urged him forward. “Everyone inside for snack time.”
“You shouldn’t have hit me with the stun gun,” Clay called out. He pulled a metal bar out of the back of his truck and slapped it into his palm.
Sierra’s pulse raced. She could visualize it now. Having protected herself using the stun gun had done like she’d said it would. It had only made him madder and more determined to have his way. To top that off, he’d want retribution for the pain and humiliation. He’d take it out on her. If he got close enough to hit her with that bar.
Sierra had no intention of letting him ever lay another finger or anything else on her. But her stun gun was in her purse, hanging on a hook out of reach of little hands, inside the office. And she’d have to get up close to him in order to use it on him. “Get inside, now,” she said to the children, her voice brooking no argument.
The toddlers all looked toward the man advancing on them. Some of them cried out, others dashed for the door and tried without any luck to pull on the handle.
Sierra pushed her way through them and grabbed the door handle.
Clay was halfway across the yard before another truck pulled into the parking lot, hopped over the curb and came to a skidding halt in front of Clay, almost hitting the man.
Her heart pounding, Sierra could have cheered when T-Rex dropped down out of the truck.
“Ellis, you’re breaking the law,” T-Rex said in a cool, even tone.
“The only thing I’ll be breaking is you.” Clay spun and went after T-Rex.
“Watch out!” Sierra yelled. “He has a steel pipe.”
“Get the kids inside.” T-Rex waved her toward the building. “I’ve got this.”
Torn between helping T-Rex, who was no match against Clay armed with the pipe, Sierra had no choice but to get the children inside. She jerked open the door and ordered, “Go!”
Most of the toddlers ran inside, but a few clustered around her legs and kept her from moving forward. Eloisa sobbed, her arms wrapped tightly around Sierra’s right leg. Marcus, a two-year-old boy, had a hold of the other leg, and a third child stood in front of her, blocking her path, bawling at the top of his lungs.
“Sweet heaven!” Sierra lifted Eloisa into her arms and grabbed Marcus’s hand.
Brenda appeared just in time and snatched up the little one blocking the door. “Bring them into the gym.”
Sierra followed Brenda inside. Once she had the toddlers in the gymnasium, she let go of Marcus’s hand and peeled Eloisa’s arms from around her neck.
“I’ll take her.” Brenda snatched the redheaded child from Sierra.
“I have to go back out and see what I can do to help.”
“I called the sheriff. They are sending a unit.”
Sierra didn’t wait to respond to her coworker. She ran back out into the yard.
Clay and T-Rex were circling each other.
As soon as Sierra stepped through the door, Clay lunged for T-Rex.
Sierra smothered a scream and stood transfixed as T-Rex caught Clay’s wrist and directed it downward, away from his body. The pipe hit the ground hard without harming T-Rex.
T-Rex gave the man a shove from behind, sending him stumbling forward. He righted himself, spun and swung again.
Ducking, T-Rex barely missed being hit in the head.
Clay had swung with so much force, when he whiffed air, he turned all the way around.
T-Rex planted a boot in the man’s backside and shoved hard.
Clay went down, thrust the steel pipe out of his way as he fell and landed on his hands and knees. He scrambled to his feet and would have grabbed the pipe, but T-Rex beat him to it, kicking it well out of Clay’s reach.
“You need to leave,” T-Rex said.
Clay snarled and brushed the dirt from his hands. “I’ll leave when Sierra comes with me.”
“She’s not going anywhere with you,” T-Rex said. “She’s with me now.”
Sierra shook her head. “I don’t want anyone hurt. Maybe I should go with him.” She crossed the yard to where the two men stood.
“Now you’re thinking,” Clay said. “Come with me and no one else will get hurt.”
“You mean, you won’t get hurt.” T-Rex slipped an arm around Sierra’s waist. “She’s not with you anymore. Leave her alone.”
“She’s mine until I tell her she’s not anymore.”
“Get over yourself, Ellis,” T-Rex said, his voice low and threatening. “She doesn’t love you.”
“Sierra?” Clay stared at her through narrowed eyes.
“I don’t think I ever loved you.” Sierra swallowed hard and squared her shoulders, remembering every bit of the abuse she’d taken from the man who’d promised to love, honor and cherish her. The man had killed all of her illusions about what a marriage should be. “The first time you hit me, I knew I could never love you, Clay. Leave me alone.”