Bonaparte's Belle: A SEALs of Honor World Novel (Heroes for Hire Book 24), Dale Mayer [read an ebook week .TXT] 📗

“This is the spare room,” she said. “Mine is twice this size.”

There was a dry note to her tone, and he looked at her and laughed. “Your grandpa or dad or somebody really liked to have some space.”

“Mom and Dad both liked their space,” she said. She nodded at a door on the far side of the room and said, “There’s a small en suite for you over there too.”

“Perfect,” he said. “I’ll go to my truck and grab my bag.”

“Awesome,” she said, then pointed down the hallway to the other end and said, “That’s the master.”

He could see double doors that were open. “I presume you have a big en suite in there.”

“I do,” she said, with a smile. “It’s kind of ridiculous really.” She hesitated and then said, “Listen. You do need to know that we’ve had a few random shootings into the house itself.” He stopped and stared. She nodded. “And I’ve got nobody to report it to.”

“Except another sheriff, the district attorney, or somebody.”

“True, but I haven’t been able to find a damn bullet.”

“That would be frustrating,” he said. “Any chance they came back later and got it?”

“If they knew where they shot it, maybe,” she said. “The siding isn’t exactly conducive to finding a small hole, so I haven’t found it, which doesn’t give me any evidence to use against whoever it is when I finally catch them.”

“No,” he said, “but I’ll keep an open mind on that.”

She nodded. “Just a friendly warning.”

“Hey, this place is just full of joy,” he said, with a laugh.

“That it is,” she said.

They walked back downstairs, and he headed out the front door, where he opened up his truck, grabbed his bag, and hauled it inside. The dogs followed him out and back in again.

She smiled and said, “Looks like they’ve made another friend.”

“Most dogs feel that way,” he said, “as long as you’re no threat to them and those they love.”

“You’re no threat to me,” she said easily.

“Did you even check with Levi to make sure I really work there?”

“As soon as you walked in the Sheriff’s Department,” she said.

He burst out laughing. “I’m sure he appreciated that.”

“You both would have had my hide if I hadn’t.” She grinned. “I might be under the gun on a few things, but I’m not stupid.”

“Never that,” he said. “No need to worry. We’ll get behind this.”

“Nothing to get behind,” she said. “But we’ll have to get ahead, stop some of their attacks, and find a way to put them behind bars. Or at least pick them up so that they’re not threatening people.”

“But nobody has even caught on to the fact that they’ve been threatened, have they?”

“Not directly, no,” she said. “My girlfriend today was the first one.”

“And that’s not even so much of a threat, since it would be easy to put that off to her being paranoid or just high-strung.”

“Exactly,” she said, “and that doesn’t help anybody.”

He wondered about her words a long time later, as he lay in his bed, listening to the sounds of nature cackling and howling around him. He loved it. He loved everything about it. But, then again, he was all about open spaces and freedom, and that’s what this place offered. It was stunning, and he could see why someone would want to take it from her. But the fact that those same people might want to level, raze the whole thing, and put up something like multilevel condos just made him sick to his stomach. He pulled out his phone and updated Levi, with the little bit Bonaparte knew so far.

Rather than text back, Levi phoned him. “She’s a good person,” he said. “Do all you can for her.”

“I hear you,” he said. “She’s pretty special. I’ll give you that. But the scenario is damn strange.”

“I know,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons she needs help. There’s a lot of pressure from a lot of areas because these guys have significant influence. They have money, and they’re getting people who wouldn’t normally cause her trouble to cause her trouble.”

“Nobody’s on her side from the looks of it either.”

“No, it’s more a case of she survives, or she doesn’t. Nobody’ll really care either way.”

“And that’s unbelievable, considering she’s been here her whole life. Where are her neighbors?”

“Most of them moved on,” Levi said. “That area was hit pretty rough economically a few years ago, and they lost a lot of the younger people.”

“Surely some of the old-timers will be there for her.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Levi said.

“It’s a damn sad state of affairs if that’s the truth,” he said. “Somebody out here should be helping her at all times.”

“There is somebody,” he said, “there’s you.” Then he hung up.

Bonaparte fell asleep not long afterward. With a smile on his face. But the smile wasn’t there when he woke to an odd sound. True, he was in an area he wasn’t familiar with, and the completely natural noises all around him were some that he didn’t recognize. But that noise, he did. It was the sharp ping of a bullet. He slipped out of bed and pulled on his jeans, checking out the window from its side and saw nothing, before he slipped down the stairs, heading for the front door. He bypassed the door and went to one of the big windows on the side and checked outside from a corner. Absolutely nothing was in the driveway, not that he could see as he walked around the house checking out the other windows. He reached the back door to find Angela, leaning against the doorjamb, rifle in hand.

“Was that you?” he asked quietly.

“No,” she said. “It was him, up there.” She pointed.

Even as he watched, he caught a wink of shiny metal. “Jesus,” he said, “that’s a dead giveaway.”

“Yeah, and that shot went into the house.”

“And yet you’re standing here in a clear line of sight?”

“As is the rifle,” she said.

“You don’t think he’ll get you there?” he asked,