Cardwell Ranch Trespasser - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,62

to reach Dana, either. I was hoping you had heard something.”

“I’m five minutes out,” Colt said. “I’m going straight to the ranch.”

“I’m twenty minutes out. Call me as soon as you know something.”

He hung up and called the office, asked if there was any backup, but Deputy Liza Turner Cardwell was in Bozeman testifying in a court case and Deputy Jake Thorton was up in the mountains fishing on his day off.

“Liza should be back soon,” Annie had told him.

Not soon enough, he feared. He tried Dana’s brother Jordan. No answer. No surprise. Jordan was busy building his house and probably out peeling logs.

He disconnected as he came up behind a semi, laid on his horn and swore. The driver slowed, but couldn’t find a place to pull over and the road had too many blind curves to pass.

Colt felt a growing sense of urgency. He needed to get to Cardwell Ranch. Now. All his instincts told him that Hilde was there and in trouble. Which meant so were Dana and the kids.

Mentally, he kicked himself as the vehicles in both lanes finally pulled over enough to let him through. He shouldn’t have told Hilde what he found out in Oklahoma. She must have gone out to the ranch to warn Dana. He wouldn’t let himself imagine what the woman calling herself Dee Anna Justice would do if cornered.

* * *

ALONG WITH THE smell of smoke, Hilde caught the sharp scent of fuel oil. She could hear the crackling of flames. The barn was old, the wood dry. Past the sound of fire they heard an engine start up.

For just an instant Hilde thought Dee might be planning to save them—the way she had her at the falls and possibly the way she had tried on the river.

But they heard the pickup leave, the sound dying off as the flames grew louder.

They rushed back to the children. Hilde dug in her pocket for her cell phone, belatedly realizing she’d left it in the SUV when she’d jumped out. She looked up at Dana. “You said you haven’t been able to find your cell phone?”

Dana shook her head. The smoke was getting thicker inside the barn. Hilde could see flames blackening the kindling dry wood on all sides. It wouldn’t be long before the whole barn was ablaze.

“Let’s try to break through the side of the barn,” Hilde said, grabbing up a shovel. She began to pound at the old wood. It splintered but the boards held.

Dana joined her with another shovel.

Hilde couldn’t believe Dee thought she could get away with this. But at the back of her mind, she feared Dee would. Somehow, she would slip out of this, the same way she had as a kid. The same way she had killed her brother and gone free. And it would be too late for Hilde and Dana and the kids.

“I can’t believe she would hurt innocent children,” Dana said, tears in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Mary asked.

“Is the barn on fire?” Hank asked.

Hilde and Dana kept pounding at the wood at the back of the stall. If she could just make a hole large enough for the kids to climb out.

The wood finally gave way. She and Dana grabbed hold of the board and were able to break it off to form a small hole. Not large enough for them, but definitely large enough to get the children out.

What would happen to them if Dee saw them, though? They’d heard the sound of the pickup engine, but what if she hadn’t really left? The question passed silently between the two friends.

“We’re going to play another game,” Dana said, crouching down next to Mary and Hank. “You and your sister are going to crawl out. I am going to hand you Angus and Brick. Then you’re going to go hide in that outbuilding where we keep the old tractor. You can’t let Dee see you, okay?”

Hank nodded. “We’ll sneak along the haystack. No one will see us.”

“Good boy,” Dana said, her voice breaking with emotion. “Take care of the babies until either me or Daddy calls you. Don’t make a sound if Dee calls you, okay? Now hurry.”

Hilde looked out through the hole. No sign of Dee. She helped Hank out and Dana handed him Angus. Mary crawled out next and took Brick. They quickly disappeared from sight.

The smoke was thick now, the flames licking closer and closer as the whole barn went up in flames.

“Oh, Hilde, I’m so sorry