Smythe appeared in the broken front doorway, his free hand wrapped in Ruth’s hair. His other held a shotgun, the stalk pressed against his chest. His eyes were wild as he stared at me from across the room.

“You made a mistake attacking my headquarters, Stone.”

“Let her go, Smythe.”

“Who? This Jezebel?” Smythe looked at Ruth, shaking her with that hand in her hair. “I don’t think I will.”

“You hurt her—”

“And what, Stone? Looks to me like I have the upper hand here.”

I laughed. “I’ve got your men. You have one girl.”

“Yes, well, those men are expendable. But I doubt you consider this little beauty expendable.”

He was right about that. But I didn’t need to admit it to him or to anyone.

“Girls are a dime a dozen.”

Ruth’s eyes widened. There were already tears on her cheeks, making me wonder what Smythe had done before they arrived. But now fresh tears began to fall.

“True,” Smythe agreed. “And I have heard rumors that you are quite the ladies’ man. Like to pollinate every flower you come across.”

“Don’t we all?”

Smythe jerked Ruth’s hair. “Then why don’t I just take this one upstairs and see if she still has that flower or not. What do you say, Stone?”

I could feel the tension in my jaw, feel the muscles popping. But I just shrugged even as Brent’s eyes moved over me.

“Do what you want. I still have your men. You have nothing I care about.”

Ruth gasped. Smythe seemed a little uncertain for a moment.

“What do you want?”

“I want you and your Guardians to stop torturing my friends. And I want Sanders.”

Smythe laughed. “You’re not getting him. And you aren’t going to save that little woman with her sex shop. It’s a disgrace, and it’s corrupting the souls of good, churchgoing men.”

“Then tell them not to shop there. But it’s a free country built on commerce. The law is on Alli’s side.”

“The law? Your laws don’t matter here, Stone. This is my town, my rules.”

I walked over to one of the men tied up in front of me. I jerked his head back so that he was forced to look at Smythe. “Is this part of your rules, Smythe? That your men can fornicate with prostitutes while their wives wait for them at home?”

“Our people have always understood that men have certain needs that good, pious women cannot always satisfy. Their wives are grateful for these evenings their husbands spend away from home. It’s one more night in which they are not forced to lower themselves to our desires.”

“You have a justification for every damn thing, don’t you?”

“You should understand. You’ve been sniffing around this one for weeks, but I bet she still hasn’t helped you get your rocks off. Are they turning a little blue, Stone?” Smythe laughed, finding his own jokes funny as all hell. “I bet you haven’t even seen a little tit!”

I wanted to hit him. I wanted to pummel him into the ground, but I stood still, refusing to give in to my own anger.

“Let her go. Let’s do this man to man, fist to fist.”

“We’ve done that. I won, remember?”

“While two of your men held me back. Try it with my arms free.”

Smythe shook his head, that insufferable smugness still on his face. “Why should I? You’re going to walk out of here, take your men, and go back to the hole you crawled out of because you know whatever you do, I’m always one step ahead of you.” He jerked Ruth’s hair again, another tally mark against him in my book, another reason why I was going to kill the bastard the moment I got my hands on him. “You know you can’t win this one. Not only do I have your pretty little girl here, but thirty of my men also have this place surrounded. If you put up a fight, this girl will be the first casualty.”

“Are you threatening to kill her?”

“Why the hell not? We killed your friend—why not kill your girl, too?”

“What are you talking about? Do you mean Harry?”

Smythe chuckled. “You really are losing it, aren’t you? Scared of what I might do next?” He shook his head, gesturing to his men with the barrel of his shotgun. “Fuck yeah, we killed Harry. Ran him right off the road.”

“You gave the order?”

“Sanders did it. But no one does anything around here without my say so. I told him whatever it took. That’s what he felt was necessary.”

I glanced behind me at Brent and Gentry. They both nodded.

“Thank you, Mr. Smythe,” I said politely.

Lights suddenly came on all around the building, flooding it like it was the middle of the afternoon instead of the dead of night. Voices called out, some calling for Smythe, calling for men to run, but most of them were the voices of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Sullivan had been telling the truth when he said he had friends with the DPS office in Tucson. And when I sent them the evidence we’d already gathered, they agreed there was more than enough to investigate. But to get Smythe, we needed more.

Smythe just handed it to them himself. When my men and I came into the farmhouse, we set up wireless cameras and microphones all around the house. A surveillance team stationed less than a mile from here was receiving every word that was spoken, watching every action that took place. They had him on camera admitting that the murder of Harry Cravits was committed by one of his men carried out on his orders.

We had him dead to rights.

It was over.

The moment one of the DPS officers came into the house and disarmed Smythe, I pulled Ruth away from him and gathered her hard in my arms.

“You okay?” I asked, running my hands over her skull, her face, searching her for injury.

“When you said you might say some cruel things, you weren’t kidding.”

“I had to throw him off his game.”

I touched her face again, drawing her close to me, kissing her like it was the first time. She responded immediately, no hesitation in her touch. Thank God! I could see the pain and hurt on her face as I spoke to Smythe. I didn’t want her to ever think I would ever mean those words.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry we had to use you as bait. I’m sorry if he hurt you, if he did anything—”

“He didn’t. I’m okay.”

I nodded, but I couldn’t stop touching her, couldn’t stop running my hands over her. I couldn’t stop staring into her beautiful eyes and praying she understood, and thanking my lucky stars that she’d gotten through this untouched.

This had been the most unpredictable part of the plan. I was intensely grateful it had gone perfectly.

“Stone,” a voice behind me said.

I turned, pulling Ruth with me. The captain of the DPS was watching me, his eyes skittering over Ruth’s face briefly.

“I apologize, ma’am,” he said, “but I need to steal him away for a few minutes.”

Gentry came over and held out his hand to Ruth. “If you allow me, I’d like to escort you outside.”

“I’d love that. I need some fresh air.”

But she hesitated, moving against me one more time, her lips brushing gently against mine. And then she was gone, walking away in the capable and trusted hands of my brother.

“We’ll need each of your men to make a statement. Tonight.”

“Why the rush?”

“My bosses are concerned about there being backlash from the local sheriff’s office over this. And, if what you’ve told us is true, the sheriff could make trouble for us. We want to have something to show them. We want to get ahead of anything he has to say.”

“All right.”

“My guess is, the sheriff will face charges as well. But that’s something the attorney general will have to determine. That’s another reason to get everything down on paper, so she’ll have it on her desk as soon as possible.”

I nodded. “No problem.”

The man patted me on the arm. “You guys did a good thing here tonight. Hopefully things will turn around for this town now.”

“I hope so.”

 

 

The whole crew spent most of the night at the local DPS barracks, giving statements between attempts to steal a nap. All of Smythe’s men were brought in, most taken to the county jail where they were better prepared for such a large group of men. In the end, more than eighty people were arrested. The DPS captain told me that more than half would probably plead out and be back on the street within the week, but some of the others would face longer sentences thanks to the security camera footage from Alli’s shop and the video I’d taken at the warehouse.

A victory any way you looked at it.

I was exhausted as I walked out of the barracks a little after dawn. The sun was bright, burning my eyes. I wasn’t sure I could drive, let alone put one foot in front of the other. But Ruth had my hand, and she guided me down the steps with her sweet, slow movements.

“What now?” she asked as we sat in the car.

“I don’t know. We hang around, make sure they don’t need us to testify.”

“And then?”

I glanced at her. “I promised you a trip out of town.”

She smiled. “To Memphis.”

“Are you sure that’s where you want to go? You’ve met my brothers now.”

“But I haven’t met your sister.”

“True.”

She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I want to see where you grew up. But first…” She ran her hand slowly over the side of my face. “We should get you into a bed.”

“That sounds really nice.”

“To sleep.”

I groaned. “Well, can’t have it all, can I?”