Showdown in West Texas Read Online Free PDF

but a little higher up on the food chain.
    One of the gunmen stepped forward and pointed to the bar, then gestured toward the alley from which he’d emerged a few moments earlier, undoubtedly trying to explain how he’d let a witness to the shooting get away from him.
    The men in dark suits listened without comment, then the taller of the two reached up and removed his sunglasses. Turning, his eyes traveled slowly over the buildings across the street, as if some instinct drew his gaze straight to Cage.
    Cage jerked back, but not before he’d gotten a good look at the man’s face. He’d never seen a crueler expression or a colder pair of eyes, and that was saying something considering the lowlifes he’d encountered.
    It was only a matter of time before they found out who he was. Only a matter of minutes if they already had his cell phone. Or found his car.
    As the five men fanned out, Cage decided it was time to get the hell out of Dodge.
    Slipping behind the buildings along Main Street to the garage, he grabbed a couple of water bottles from Lester’s cooler and headed out of town the same way he’d come in.
    Â 
    â€œG RACE ! S HERIFF S TEELE , I mean. Are you okay?”
    â€œI think so.” Grace was sitting on the bottom stair massaging her right ankle when the front door burst open, and Ethan Brennan rushed in. Ethan worked in the county clerk’s office and was a friend of Lily’s. Platonic friend, she insisted, but it had taken Grace about two seconds in Ethan’s company to figure out he had it bad for her sister.
    He was just shy of thirty and cute in that intense, techno-geek kind of way. Shoving his dark glasses up his nose, he hurried over to Grace. “What happened?”
    â€œGood question,” Grace muttered as she turned and glanced up the stairs. Had someone really pushed her from behind, or had it all happened so fast that she’d only imagined the hand on her back, the face at the top of the stairs?
    Luckily, the suitcases that had tumbled down with her had somewhat cushioned her fall. Grace gingerly rotated her ankle. It wasn’t broken, thank goodness, but she was already starting to feel the bumps and bruises where she’d been banged around on the stairs.
    She looked up into Ethan’s anxious face and mustered up a shaky smile. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
    He held up a large envelope. “Lily asked me to comeby and drop off some papers. When I didn’t see her car, I thought she might be down at the barn, so I checked there first. Then I came back up here and I found the front door ajar. I got a little nervous—” His cheeks reddened. “I probably shouldn’t have just barged in like that.”
    â€œIt’s okay.”
    â€œI didn’t know what to think when no one answered my knock—”
    â€œEthan, it’s fine. I’m sure you were worried about Lily.”
    His blush deepened as his gaze slid away from Grace. He glanced around at all the suitcases strewn about the foyer. “What did happen here?”
    â€œI fell down the stairs.”
    â€œYou—” His gaze lifted to the staircase behind her and widened. “All the way down? You’re lucky you didn’t break your neck!”
    â€œNo kidding.”
    â€œHow did you manage to do that?”
    â€œNot break my neck?”
    â€œFall,” he said seriously.
    Grace paused. Did she really want to get into her suspicions with Ethan? With anyone, for that matter. Best just to keep her mouth shut until she had a chance to look around. “I’m not sure how it happened. Maybe I hooked my heel on the rug or something. I had my arms full and couldn’t see where I was going.”
    His gaze went back to the suitcases. “So…you’re leaving?”
    â€œI’m just moving into town. Maybe you could give me a hand with all this stuff.”
    â€œBe glad to. Just let me put this