Free Stolen Kisses (Leap of Love Book 2) by Paige Powers Page B

but he did not want to let on that he was clueless. Instead he waited quietly because his hot headed nature was not helpful at this time.
    "Very good. We will be in touch." del Sol and the banditos stood to leave.
    "Good doing business with you, Sheriff Dyer. Ranger Abbott, good evening."
    All of the banditos tipped their hats and filed out of the door one by one.
    "What was that? A reward? I was not even aware that there was a reward for Lily." Brent was exasperated.
    "Simmer down. Either you pay the banditos a reward fee or you pay them what they ask for basically selling Lily back to you. Only one of those options is respectful and decent in this case. And either way, we have to get the banditos on our side enough to get them removed from the equation. As long as they are paid, they are happy and they stay out of the way."
    Brent nodded, biting his lip. "I understand. It was just a bit much being here doing business with such opportunists. I wanted to put my hands around del Sol's neck and drag the truth out of him. Force him to tell us her location so we can go storm the ranch and rescue her."
    "I think maybe you have heard one too many stories Son about how we govern ourselves out west here. We don't do things with guns ablazin' and live like outlaws. There's an order to how we live here and we will follow it to a tee. Understood?"
    Brent knew that what the sheriff was basically saying was that he needed to calm down and listen to reason before he got himself and anyone else hurt.
    "I get it, Sheriff. We will follow your lead."
    "Good. I knew that it would not take long for you to come to your senses. Now, we will meet in the morning with the rest of the Rangers and set up a plan of action. We will be going to rescue Lily very soon."
     
    *
     
    The banditos held up to their end of the deal and released the information on the whereabouts of Lily. She was at one of Jones' ranches about ten miles away. She was close by and after finding that out, Brent was happy that they had not gone storming Jones' Owen's Bluff ranch. It would have certainly tipped him off and he may have had time to move Lily to another location.
    They had the bandito s’ word that they would not be sharing information and playing both sides. They would step out of the way and let the Rangers handle the situation. They would receive half of the reward money up front and the remainder of it after Lily was recovered.
    Brent was the first one to the sheriff's office. As the Rangers filed in, Sheriff Dyer served coffee and gave out maps.
    By the time everyone gathered, there were at least fifteen to twenty Rangers in the office. Most were from Owen's Bluff and the others were from surrounding counties.
    "As you see, this is the map of the surrounding areas in relation to the ranch in question," Sheriff Dyer began.
    "We want to make this recovery mission as easy and as quick as possible. In and out. Clean and quick. The least amount of people hurt as possible. Remember, casualties are not what we are going for. We want Lily alive and we need Jones arrested and brought in to the authorities."
    Sheriff went over the game plan for capture. They would sneak in before daylight, when it was least expected and when hopefully the resistance would be down. Then they would surround all means of exit, seal off the ranch, and attempt to let Jones surrender peacefully. They would be prepared for a peaceful ending as well as a violent ending.
    Everyone was dismissed and asked to meet at the office three hours before daybreak. It would take at least thirty minutes to ride out to the ranch from Owen's Bluff and once in the vicinity, they would stash their horses and approach on foot.
    Even though it seemed like Brent's personal mission, he realized that everyone was in it not to help him, but to do their duty as Texas Rangers. They had signed up for a job in which they would protect others and uphold the law and no matter whether the mission personally affected one of them,