Page 63 of Kevin's Destiny

“It’s go time.”

“Be right there,” he said, and Yvonne went back outside.

“The owner should be here in a few minutes.”

“Why can’t we drive back ourselves?”

Yvonne gave him a look and side eye, then asked coldly. “Where would you go? There are several buildings on this property, how do you know which one to go to? It’s my understanding that you’re here to look at the horses for sale. Again, there are thirty of them here on this property, where are the ones you are supposed to look at? Where is the racetrack? Did you bring your trainer and jockey? Did you bring your own equipment?” She threw that last question in because she wanted to see his reaction. With each question, she could tell Shedrick was getting pissed. Before either of them said anything, Cole and Harmon arrived in the golf cart.

“We’ll take it from here,” Harmon said, and he and Cole walked up to the vehicle.

“Shedrick?” Cole asked with his hand outstretched. “Cole Mercury, follow us, and we’ll lead you to where you need to be.”

It took everything Yvonne had not to laugh at the words Cole had said, however, because everyone could now hear what was going on, several of the men snickered in her ear.

The FBI agent came out of the building and swore.

“What?” Yvonne asked in shock. Before he could answer, Jake and his crew arrived.

“Thank god you’re here. They left a couple of minutes ago,” he said as he pointed to the direction Cole had left. “I haven’t had a chance to tell Wilson yet, but five guys slipped out of the backof the vehicle and headed in that direction.” He walked up and pointed to the tracks.

“Son of a bitch,” Yvonne said.

“We got this,” Jake said. “Tell the others to be aware. We’ll follow these tracks.”

“Thanks,” Yvonne said and talked into the comms, and sighed when Jake spoke into the ones she had handed him. With Jake and the other two agents, that was twelve men going after five. Yvonne had to trust that these men knew what they were doing.

CHAPTER 23

“Fuck,”Kevin whispered as he listened to what the FBI agent told Jake. He knew about the men’s military career on paper, but had never seen them in action, so he would have to trust them.

He looked at Ryan, and they both drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. They looked up at a noise, and since Ryan was standing in the shadows of the barn, he eased further out of the way, and lifted his rifle, pointing it to a little before Kevin. There was an unspoken line that he would not cross, it was only so he wouldn’t block Ryan’s shot if one was needed.

Kevin watched as Cole and Harmon arrived in the golf cart, parked near the barn, and got out. Cole pointed to the driver to tell him where to park, and waited for them to exit the vehicle. Only three men came out, and Kevin knew where the other five were.

“I’m Cole Mercury, I’m the one that called to set up today’s meeting. I’m the manager here at the ranch. This is my right-hand man, Harmon.”

“And him?” Shedrick pointed to Kevin.

“Oh, that’s one of my horse trainers, Kevin Lassiter.” It had been agreed that they would use Kevin’s whole name to see how these three would react. What happened, no one anticipated. Itwas over before it began, and Kevin would have to learn about it in the retelling hours later.

As soon as Cole said Kevin’s name, one of the men with Shedrick lifted his arm and fired a gun three times, each bullet hitting Kevin square in the chest. Not only did he jerk from those bullets impacting, as he started to stumble back, two bullets hit him from behind, and he fell forward. The last thing he heard was more gunfire as his world went black.

Ryan had a bead on Shedrick, but as soon as he saw the movement from one of the other men, then the retort of the gun, he fired his own rifle, and the man who had fired three shots at Kevin was on the ground with a bullet through his shoulder. Then more gunfire rang out, and as Kevin jerked and fell to the ground, shots were fired from behind them. As soon as the screaming and shooting stopped, Ryan ran to Kevin, felt for a pulse, breathed easier, and looked around wildly. When Harmon dropped to his knees on the other side of Kevin, Ryan only gave him a look.

“In custody.”

“Call the sheriff,” Ryan barked out.

“On it,” Stone said as he pulled his phone to dial his wife and her boss. The three men who had gotten out of the vehicle all had bullet holes in them. One in the shoulder, one in the thigh, and the other had one in the upper arm. The shots fired by the military were meant to maim, not kill.

“How is he?” Clark asked as he dropped down beside Ryan, and they rolled Kevin over.

“He has a pulse, and he’s breathing.” They ripped his shirt open, and saw the bullets wedged in the bulletproof vest. Ryan closed his eyes and breathed easier, he hadn’t realized he had tears streaming down his face until he looked up at a scream and saw Yvonne running toward them.

“He’s alive,” he said, but had to clear his throat to say it again. Not two minutes later, six cop cars came screaming down the drive, and Jim Faulkner hurried over to them. Caleb was right behind him.

“Dad!”