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

“Hell, yes, I’ll pull that trigger,” he said, “and there’s not a damn person in the world who can stop me.”

Without even thinking, she quickly raised her right leg hard and kicked his gun arm, the gun firing into the ceiling, then she followed it up with a hard right, a move her father had taught her a long time ago. While his head snapped back, her leg shot out to hook his legs and to pull them out from under him. He slammed down hard, flat on his back on the hardwood floor, and lay still. She pulled out her phone, called Bonaparte, and said, “Better get back here.”

She checked the man over, but he was unconscious. She could already hear the truck racing up the driveway to the front door. Even though it had been just a few minutes, he probably hadn’t even made it out of the gate yet. Bonaparte ran into the house, stopped when he saw the guy on the ground and the handgun on the floor beside him. “Shit,” he said.

“Yeah,” she replied. “We didn’t check the building first. That’s my fault.”

“This is the guy who shot into the house?”

“Looks like it to me. He’s the one carrying the rifle, that you picked up.”

“Well, damn,” he said. “Who the hell is he?”

“Don’t know yet,” she said, then reached down and pulled a wallet from the prone man’s pocket. “Looks like it’s either a brother or a cousin,” she said. “Same last name.” She held it out for him.

“Might be an uncle or older brother or something, based on his age,” he said.

“That’s quite possible,” she said, looking down at him, and sighed. “We’ll have to get his head checked out.”

“Maybe I’ll bring our prisoner in and see if he can ID him.”

“Or maybe just mention that you’ve got to call for an ambulance for an old man who attacked the sheriff, and maybe Ronnie’ll start talking all over himself.”

Bonaparte looked at her and nodded. “You know what? I think that’s a damn good idea. Time to go poke the rattler.” With that, he turned to head back outside.

She wanted to join him, but, at the same time, no way would she leave this guy injured and on the floor. Just too many chances of another rattler coming back to life.

Bonaparte pulled up short and turned around, while she stood here. He took one look, shook his head, and said, “You keep him here, and I’ll go check out the rest of the house, before I head outside.” She nodded and waited while he did a full search, then came back and asked, “Did you call somebody for him?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got an ambulance coming.”

“But you have nobody to stand watch at the hospital,” he said.

She shook her head. “No, I don’t. Man, it sucks being shorthanded.”

“That it does.”

The ambulance came in not very long afterward. And once they had the prisoner collected, she warned them that he was her prisoner and needed to be kept at the hospital under guard. She handcuffed him to the gurney railing. She said, “I’ll get a guard and have him there as soon as you’re at the hospital.”

Once they left, Bonaparte turned to her and said, “Who have you got to use for a guard?”

She said, “I’ll have to hire somebody private.” She pulled out her phone and called someone she’d used in the past.

When Jerry answered, his tone was genial and bright. “Hey, Sheriff. Have you got work for me?”

“I do, if you’re looking for some and if I can trust you.”

Immediately there was silence on the other end. “Wow, I’ve never had that asked of me before,” he said.

“Things are a little different these days,” she said grimly. “We’re under a bit of a siege right now.”

“Oh, I know,” he said. “I was hoping you might bring me in to help out, but you didn’t.”

“Partly because I already have somebody else, but we’re really short-staffed, so I need you too.”

“Right. So,” he said, “what do you want me to do?” She quickly explained the situation, and he said, “I’ll be at the hospital in a few minutes. I’m already getting changed.”

“He doesn’t leave at all. Got it?”

“Got it,” he said.

“And nobody takes him away. Not lawyers or anybody else,” she said.

“Got it, Sheriff,” he said. “He won’t get away.”

“Good,” she said, “because somebody turned my prisoners out of the jail cell once already today, so I’m not taking any chances.”

After a moment of silence on the other end, he exploded. “What?”

“You heard me,” she said, “so I’m counting on you to make sure this guy doesn’t leave.”

“I got this,” he said. “And I’m looking for full-time work, by the way. Anytime you need me, I can drop my part-time gigs and be there. And, Sheriff, you can trust me.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, Jerry. Thank you.” After she was off the phone, Bonaparte looked at her, and she nodded. “He’s decent. I was thinking about bringing him on as a deputy before. And then this all blew up and …”

“And you didn’t know who you could trust anymore.”

“Exactly, and I didn’t want to put anybody in a position they weren’t comfortable with,” she added.

“Well, that’s fine and dandy,” he said, “but not good when we’ve got this situation.”

“I know, and I almost asked Levi for more help.”

“Not a bad idea,” he said. “We can always call him and get more help coming.”

“We’ll see what it’s like after this,” she said. “I really hate to impact him any more than I have to. He’s already been very generous with supplying you.”

“Well, I’m hardly a parts department, and neither is Levi,” he said. “We come because people need us.”

“And it’s appreciated very much,” she said, then looked at him. “Can you take the prisoner to the jail now?”

“Yep, I got it,” he said. “now that I’ve searched the place, you