Close Range Christmas by Nicole Helm (ebook reader for laptop TXT) 📗

it and knew none of his brothers did either. “I should do it.”

“You don’t know anything about cameras. No offense, but none of you do. I installed it. I can uninstall it quicker than any one of you.”

“He could be hoping to draw you out of the house with that letter, Cody,” Jamison replied.

“If he’s sending letters to you then me, he’s going to eventually send them to all of us. We’re all targets. We’re all in danger. I want to end that as soon as possible. I’m going to go out there and pull the camera off. It’ll take me two, three minutes tops.”

“Plenty of time to get shot,” Gage muttered.

“I’ll shield him,” Dev said.

“Damn it, Dev.”

“You can’t be watching your back while you’re uninstalling. You need at least one other person out there to be the eyes while you get it off the porch.”

Cody couldn’t argue with that, though Dev could tell he wanted to. “I could take the dogs.”

Dev looked at Cash and Brownie. They were good ranch dogs, but... “They can’t fight. They could easily be picked off. In fact, I think it’d be best if we get them off the ranch for the time being. Them going in and out for bathroom breaks is a liability.”

“I agree,” Tucker said. “But one thing at a time. Dev will watch north and east, I’ll watch south and west. You guys will watch from in here. If we’ve got five sets of eyes on the situation, we’ll be able to abort or defend ourselves.”

All the brothers paused and looked at Jamison. It didn’t seem to matter how old they all got, or how many times they’d saved people or themselves on their own, Jamison was their leader. He’d gotten them out of the Sons, and even now they’d seek his approval.

He gave a slight nod. So Dev immediately got to work. They switched weapons, giving Dev and Gage shotguns and Jamison and Brady the rifles.

“You move quick and quiet. The second you’ve got that camera off, you’re back inside with Dev and Gage right behind. Jamison, hold the dogs.”

They all nodded in affirmation. Dev went out first, watching the north and east side of the property they could see, immediately followed by Gage. Cody brought up the rear, keeping his eyes and focus on the camera.

Dev hadn’t been a police officer for over a decade now, and it wasn’t often that he missed it. He’d only gone into law enforcement to be like Jamison, and maybe to prove there was some goodness in him. Rancher was a better fit, though. He could understand and admit that now.

Today there was something bittersweet about being the protector, working side by side with his brothers to defend.

Dev didn’t see anything, and based on the silence around him, Gage didn’t either.

“Got it,” Cody said after a while, and they all moved back inside as one unit.

Jamison pulled the door closed behind them and they huddled around Cody and the black box that housed the camera. He examined the wires, popped the back wall off and looked inside. He shook his head.

“It hasn’t been tampered with,” Cody said in disgust. “There weren’t even any lines cut. Whatever blocking he did... I can’t figure it out.”

“Maybe it’s not this camera,” Dev said. “You have how many? And where are they?”

“There was the one on the front. I’ve got one on the stable that scans the entranceway. Then I’ve got three on the fence line. One at the gate, one on the west side of the house, and one on the south side of the property.”

“West side of the house. Which way is that one facing?” Tucker asked.

“Toward the Knight property.” Cody swiped his hand over his mouth. “But if it were moved, it could look into the west windows of the house.”

“The only window on the west side is...” Jamison trailed off and they all rushed for the stairs. The only window was a long, narrow one at the end of the hall. Daylight was growing brighter, though everything was still dim. Still, Dev could see the small black box that would denote it was one of Cody’s cameras.

“That where it’s supposed to be?” Dev asked.

Cody’s expression was barely banked fury. “Yes, but it isn’t facing the Knight Ranch. It’s facing us.”

Dev caught a glimpse of something glinting in the rising sun. Even before he fully realized what it was, he was dropping to the floor and pulling as many brothers as he could with him. “Down!” Dev shouted.

They all hit the floor as the glass shattered above them.

Chapter Eleven

Sarah woke once again to the sound of a bang and shattering glass. At first she thought it had been a nightmare, just a replay of what had happened hours earlier. After all, they’d covered the bedroom windows where people were sleeping. She was in Dev’s room, so there was no window here.

Surely it had been a nightmare.

But the dogs were barking like crazy and there were footsteps rushing above. Then her door opened and Dev moved inside. Before he even spoke she knew it wasn’t a nightmare.

“Stay where you are.”

“What? What’s happened?”

“Another shot fired at the house. The six of us were together when it happened. Then we split up to tell everyone to stay put.”

“More shooting at the house?” Her brain was sluggish and she tried to remember everything that had happened in the middle of the night. Too much, and this wasn’t good. “Is everyone okay?”

“We’re all fine. Jamison called the guy who was on patrol and he’s on his way, but I don’t think he’s going to find anything.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I just need you to stay put for the time being. Once Jamison gets the all clear, we’re going to go out ourselves and see if we can find a clue.”

“You shouldn’t go out.” She flung the covers off her with the thought to jump out of bed and grab him, but he stalked over to the