Chasing Trouble (Texas Trouble) (23 page)

Under Chase's spell,
the short, round woman rose from behind her desk and led them down the hallway to a conference room. 

When they walked inside, Jenny saw that Papa Jack was indeed charming the masses, which included two men in Sheriff's uniforms, Sabrina Jackson the petite brunette, and the redheaded twin she assumed was Katie Tucker, she couldn't tell the sisters apart.  Then there was Joel, who was leaned back in a chair
in the corner, with his arms crossed over his chest and a patient smile on his face.

"How bout those razorbacks?" Chase asked loudly
when he walked in the room, then added.  "Think we can catch and domesticate them to start that hog farm?"  The woman still standing at the door straightened.  Evidently not seeing any fodder here, she shook her head then headed back down the hall.  Chase reached behind him and shut the door.

"Hogs?" Joel dropped his chair to four legs then asked.

"Inside joke," Chase told him with a grin, then they all took a seat, and introductions were made.  Jenny found out that the two uniformed men were Sheriff Jackson, and Gabe Kelley, his chief deputy, and the women were who she guessed earlier.

"So, I talked to the feds," Cole started in immediately.  "They said that
Peterson was spotted in Henrietta a couple of days ago, so the sighting yesterday here fits.  He was with a couple of other guys.  They also said when you fired him, Pinion Drilling hired him, one of the guys with him though they think works for you..."

"Who's that?" Chase asked and his jaw tightened.

Cole looked down at the paper in front of him, then said, "Joseph Frasier...ring any bells?"

Chase shook his head, "Doesn't sound familiar...but we have tons of employees on the rigs.  I'll call my assistant and tell her to get with HR and find out though," he said
and pulled out his cell phone.

After he got off the phone, Cole told him, "The feds don't know who the third guy is yet.  The group of strangers townsfolk say they saw eating at the Bird yesterday, included two guys who fit the description of Peterson and Frazier.  That's why I called you."

"I'll hire some private security for the rig too.  Those assholes aren't going to blow up my property, or hurt my neighbors," Katie Tucker piped in, her bright blue eyes sparkling angrily.

"I'd be careful with that Katie," Cole told her.  "You don't know what you're hiring when you bring in outsiders, sweetheart.  The good thing about this town is everybody knows everybody, and if someone is here they don't know, it gets noticed.  I'll put five of my men on guard there, nothing will happen," he assured her.

"Not, Elmer, right?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"No, Elmer is still on traffic duty...it suits him," Cole told her with a grin.

"What's wrong with him?" Jenny couldn't help but ask.

Sabrina snorted, then said flatly, "He got Cole shot when he was trying to rescue me...passed out during a gunfight."

"Yeah, he kind of redeemed himself after that, but traffic duty is where he belongs," Cole said and shot her a sexy grin.

Gabe grinned at Jenny
too and asked, "Ever see the Andy Griffith show?"

"Yeah, used to love those reruns when I was a kid," she admitted.

"He's Barney Fife's long lost twin," The dark-haired deputy, told her with a chuckle.

Suddenly,
Papa Jack broke up the laughter, when he spoke.  "You know, I have a feeling, right here in my gut," he told them and put a hand over his stomach.  "They're gonna go for Katie's well...it's too coincidental that they showed up here.  Good thing is,
they
don't know that
we
know they're here.  I think if we're smart, and don't tip 'em off, we can catch ourselves a worm or two."

Papa Jack
's words seemed to set the theme for their lives for the next two days, at least Chase thought so.  Along with his five deputies, Cole, Chase, Gabe, Beau, Papa Jack, Jenny, Sabrina and Katie formed a motley lynch mob of sorts. 

They all agreed, it might be a waste of time, but Papa Jack's insight seemed to be the only thing they had to go on.  The feds and Rangers were still looking for the arsonists, they had sightings to check out all across
Texas, so it could be a while.  With the vote on the legislation coming at the end of next week, and eight of their wells down already, they didn't have a while.  This had to stop now, and they needed answers.  Although Chase knew he was working diligently on it, Dave Logan hadn't come up with any of those for him so far either.  He had a list of about three hundred worms and roughnecks to go through.

They took shifts at Katie's property, guarding it and watching for any sign of intruders.  It had been two days now, and nothing had happened, except a few mosquito bites and one near miss with a snake.  Cole had made sure they were all armed and equipped in case something went down, but with every hour Chase spent hiding behind trees and bushes, his hope of catching the culprits dwindled.

To keep her safe, Chase insisted that Jenny be on shift with him.  It surprised him to find out she knew how to shoot both a shotgun and a handgun.  Chase hadn't even now how to do that, before Gabe and Cole had taken them out in the woods and taught them.  He felt comfortable enough now that he could avoid shooting himself in the foot, or one of his group in the ass.

Chase's cell phone rang in his pocket and he cringed,
then quickly reached in his pocket to silence it.  Although he'd been told cell service was sketchy out here at best, Chase was evidently holding his mouth right, because his phone was working, except in a few places. 

Some covert agent he was, he though.  Cutting off your cell phone while trying to be sneaky was rule number one in the agent handbook, he was sure.  He looked at the Caller ID and saw the call was from Sarah, his assistant, and cursed quietly,
then pushed the recall button.

"Sarah, this is Chase..." he whispered when she answered.

"Hey, boss...how's it going?" she said brightly, and loudly.

"Shh...what's up," he whispered.

"That guy you asked about, I found him.  Frasier is the derrickman on rig fifty-one...isn't that the rig you visited a while back?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said in a gruff whisper with the picture coming together in his mind.
  The memory of the man that Lathan had been reprimanding when he visited there became crystal clear to him.  "I need to call Lathan...gotta go."

Chase disconnected the phone the stood.  This was probably going to be a loud conversation, so he needed to go somewhere else.
  Joel's truck was parked a quarter mile away, and that was probably the only place he could get loud, and not attract attention.  He quietly made his way through the woods, until he found where Jenny was hiding, and knelt beside her. 

"I've gotta go make a call.  I got some news and need to check it out," he whispered and she nodded.  Because he couldn't help himself, he leaned down and kissed her gently, then told her, "I love you, Jenny..."
then punctuated that with another longer kiss. "Don't get into trouble while I'm gone."

Her eyebrows lifted and s
he smiled as bright as the Texas sun, her aqua eyes filled with both surprise and pleasure.  The sight hit him in the solar plexus.  He really did love this beautiful woman, with all his heart.  It had taken him a long to finally tell her, he wanted to make sure he wasn't thinking with his dick.  He didn't want to make the same mistake his brother had.  The feelings he had for Jenny Anderson were all heart, the dick part was just a huge bonus.

"You have lousy timing, anyone ever told you that?" she whispered back, her breath fanning his lips, and heating other body parts.

"Guess we're a good pair then, aren't we?" he said with a quiet laugh.

"The best, baby
," she told him then kissed him again.  "Hurry back."

"I won't be gone long, just need to make a few calls," he said then stood and headed through the brush and brambles toward the road.

He was almost to the truck when his phone vibrated in his pocket.  With a glance at the screen, he answered, "Yeah, mama...what's up?"

"Thank the Lord!" she immediately yelled, and he held the phone away from his ear, because his mama could get loud.

"Calm down, mama...what's wrong?"

"I
was out riding, then went to feed the baby, and somebody was in your house!" she screeched.

Chase's whole body tensed and he growled, "Who was it?"

"Some asshole named Fraiser...I filled his ass with squirrel shot," she told him.

"You
shot
him?!?" Chase yelled into the phone and gripping it tightly.  "Mama, are you okay?"

She snorted then said indignantly, "Of course, I'm okay...he's not okay though.  What
skin Chloe didn't claw off of him, the scatter shot took off.  The man is full of lead and bleeding all over my marble floor!"

"Chloe attacked him?" Chase asked incredulously.

"Hell yeah, she nearly clawed his eyes out, before I shot his ass," she laughed.  "He was rolling around on the floor with her when I got there, yelling like a banshee.  Made aiming for him tough, let me tell you.  I didn't want to hit my baby!"

"How'd you find out who he was?" Chase asked.

"Oh, he was talking.  Trust me, I have my ways to get information out of men," she said with bravado.

Chase groaned, because he could just imagine what she'd done.  "Mama, what else did he say?"

"That's why I'm calling.  Those bastards are going to blow up that well over in Bowie today.  I knew ya'll were out there, so you need to be careful," she said.  Just then Chase heard a loud boom and the ground vibrated beneath his feet.

"Gotta go, mama..." he said then staggered back down the road
stunned, before his feet started working together and he ran, ran like he'd never run before.  Jenny was out there by herself, on that side of the field, he'd left her out there alone.  Joel and Beau were on the other side of the field and Cole and Gabe were at the end, but none of them would know he was gone...and they wouldn't know to protect Jenny.

When he reached the edge of the woods, he heard a gunshot and ran blindly into the thicket, crashing like a bull elephant, his only goal to get to Jenny.  Briars cut into his skin, but he didn't care, he brushed them aside and kept going.  He dragged burning breaths into his lungs and prayed as he ran that she was okay.  Another gunshot sounded and his heart stopped, but he didn't.  Chase pushed through until he neared where he thought they'd been.  He wasn't sure, because he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going.

When he heard voices, he stopped, breathing hard, but trying to do it quietly and listen.  What he heard had ice flowing through his veins.

"Stop fighting, or I'll put a bullet in your head right now," a man said angrily then he heard limbs and leaves rustling.

"Get your fucking hands off of me!" Jenny shouted and then he heard an oomph sound and someone running.  He hoped it was Jenny, and peeled the bushes apart to see if he could see anyone.  A man was getting up holding his balls, and he had a mean ass pistol in his hand.  Chase pulled the pistol Cole had given him from his waist and took off the safety like he'd been shown.  He chambered a round and the sound was loud in the now quiet woods.  Chase flinched then leaned forward and aimed at the guy.  He didn't want to kill him, just maim him, but Chase knew his aim sucked.  Their target practice had driven home that point.  Killing the bastard was the least of his concern though, he was not going to let him go after Jenny again, and it looked like that was just what he planned to do, once his balls dropped back in place.

Chase aimed at what he thought was the man's leg and squeezed the trigger.  Fire belched from the end of the weapon and
Chase was set back a few steps.  There was a scream, then a moan and Chase scrambled back to make sure he'd at least disabled the guy.  Right then Beau Bowman crashed through the trees, his gun pointed at the man's head.

"Don't move..." he said in a voice that would turn just about anyone to stone.  Chase had to admire that, even though he still thought the guy was an asshole.

"Don't shoot me...it's Chase," he shouted then stood up.

Beau glanced over at him, but then turned
his attention back to the man on the ground.  "Nice shot," Beau told him sarcastically then laughed loudly.

"Where'd I hit him?" Chase asked and made his way over there.
  The man was moaning and whining, and clutching his ass, but he wasn't moving.  Smart guy.

"You hit him in the ass,
but you stopped him, so it's all good, " Beau informed with a broad grin.

The brush rustled between the trees to the left and both Chase and Beau swung their guns in that direction. 

"Don't shoot," Papa Jack yelled, before he and Cole stepped out of the trees.

Chase groaned
, when the adrenaline pumping through his system took a break.  Jenny was out there in the woods...alone.  He had to find her, before someone accidentally shot her, or someone else got to her.  Tensions were high, and people were probably not thinking straight.