“Them. They fired a clip out the window when the cops introduced themselves. That was ten minutes ago. It’s been quiet since.”

  “They’re evaluating their position, trying to find the quickest and safest exit.”

  “How do you know?”

  “They’re Marines. That’s how a Marine thinks.”

  “If they did anything to hurt her…”

  “I’m sure she’s fine. She’s a strong girl.”

  “Yeah, well, if anything happens to her, those Marines better find a way to escape, or I’m going to remove their balls and shove them down their throats personally.”

  I glanced at him. I believed he was capable of it.

  I was even a little scared of him.

  Chapter 20

  Rylee

  The moment I realized the police had found us, I dropped down into the tub terrified. There would be shooting. There would be fighting. I wasn’t about to allow myself to become a damn human shield!

  “Get your ass out here!” Tony called from somewhere close to the door.

  “You want me to throw up out there? I’m sick! Give me a minute!”

  “Just hurry!”

  I waited several heartbeats, holding my breath, for him to move away. I heard his footsteps—or I thought that’s what it was. I wasn’t really sure—then I reached over and carefully turned the thumb lock on the door. It wasn’t much of a lock, but it would slow them down for a few minutes.

  I lay back down in the bathtub, pulling some towels down on top of me. Any sort of protection would probably be beneficial. Not that I thought towels would protect me, but I didn’t know what else to do. Maybe a part of me just wanted to disappear.

  I closed my eyes and waited. It seemed like forever before I heard the megaphone and the cop calling out to them, telling them to surrender. And, just as I’d thought, there was gunfire. One sided, it seemed. The shattering of glass. Was that from inside the room, or outside? Please let it be from outside.

  Cursing. Jake was cursing.

  “How’d they find us?” Jake wanted to know.

  “I don’t know. Maybe that cop…” Tony seemed to be under control again. “Get Colin off the bed. Put him on the floor, cover him with a blanket. Keep him out of the line of fire.”

  I heard a little movement. Maybe they’d forgotten about me. Maybe they would just leave me in here until the cops managed to get them. Maybe I was going to be safe.

  And then I heard it.

  “Oh, God! Tony! I think…hell, Colin’s dead, man!”

  “No way!”

  “Touch him, man. He’s cold as ice.”

  That wasn’t possible. He’d been burning with fever when he died. It would take so much longer for his body to cool. He couldn’t be cold; it wouldn’t be that obvious just by touch.

  I started to do something I hadn’t done since my dad died. I started to pray.

  Please, God, make them leave me alone!

  I wondered if this was what it had been like for Jimmy Grant’s sister all those years ago. I wondered if she had lain in her bed every night hoping that her father would leave her alone. Why had I done that? Why had I discredited him? Why had I gone after him with such relish? Did I really enjoy that stuff?

  I’d wanted to win so badly that I even gave away a little advantage we had to encourage the prosecution to ask the cop about his personal history. If he hadn’t given me that opening, I couldn’t have asked him about his sister. I orchestrated the whole thing and now…God, was I paying for my sins now? Perhaps this my punishment? But I still couldn’t figure why my life had brought me here.

  Please, I only want to survive this night so that I could make things right! I’ll do whatever it takes, just please let me live.

  “He’s not cold!” Tony cried. “Don’t do that, you idiot!”

  “But look at him. Doesn’t he look dead?”

  “He looks sick. But we’re going to fix him up.”

  “His eyes aren’t even closed all the way. He’s fucking dead, Tony!”

  “He’s not. He’s Johnson! He can’t die.”

  Tony was in denial. But I didn’t want to die either. .

  Jake yelled, “Get out here, bitch! What did you do to Colin?” The fury in his voice surprised me, but not as much as the violence with which he hit the door. A crack appeared in the top of the center panel, proving the weakness of the lock. It wouldn’t slow things down if he hit the door again.

  “Send your hostage out, and we can negotiate,” a voice exaggerated by a megaphone called toward the room. “If Mrs. Gruffydd comes out unharmed, you will be allowed a chance to negotiate your release with the local prosecutor’s office. If we have to come in, there will be no negotiation.”

  My heart jumped into my throat. Mrs. They’d said Mrs. The only person I’d used that line on recently was Kai Gabriel. Did that mean he was out there? Did that mean that Maclean was here, too?

  Was Maclean okay?

  “Get the hell out here, Mrs. Gruffydd!” Tony called. “Your public wants to see you.”

  I got up, my body aching in places that I hadn’t even realized had been hurt. I moved toward the door, ready to give myself up. They’d let me go. Surely, they weren’t stupid enough to take their chances, were they? They’d want to negotiate. Unfortunately, working with criminals had not made me an expert on them.

  Before I could open it, the door burst open and Jake flew inside, having used his body as a battering ram to break the lock. He fell against the sink, slamming his head on the fake marble. Blood poured from a deep gash on the side of his head and he fell in heap to the floor.

  “Fucking idiot!”

  Tony stood in the doorway, staring down at him. I backed up, but there was nowhere to go. My calves hit against the side of the tub and I started to lose my balance, but Tony grabbed my arm, catching me before I could fall. He pulled me toward him, turning so that I was pressed against his chest, leading the way toward the broken front window. The curtains were blowing in the breeze, letting in the cool air of the late March night.

  “You’re going to get me out of here,” he hissed against my ear. “This isn’t going to end with me in metal bracelets. You got that?”

  Of course I did.

  Chapter 21

  Maclean

  “I’m coming out!”

  I stepped forward. Kai grabbed my arm, holding me back. I stared at the door the number 110 burned into my retina. It opened slowly, and the hand that held to the edge of the doorframe was a feminine one with dainty nails. My heart sank.

  “It’s Rylee.”

  Kai just nodded.

  All of her appeared a moment later. She seemed relatively unhurt. Her face had a dark splotch on one side that would soon be a bruise, and she was moving a little stiffly. She was still in the same clothes. The boxer shorts and a T-shirt, she’d pulled on before we went to sleep, were mine. There seemed to be a bruise on her thigh, or maybe it wasn’t a bruise. Maybe it was something else.

  Had they hurt her? It was impossible to tell at this point.

  A tall, muscular man—the kind of guy who never smiles, the kind who makes killing a career—came through the door behind her. Using her as a human shield, He held her with an arm pressed to her the throat. He was twice her size, and holding a Smith and Wesson 500 magnum.

  A Fucking big gun!

  “He’s not playing games, is he?” Kai said.

  “Do you know him?”

  “That’s not Johnson.”

  I nodded, slowly. “Johnson was probably the guy I shot. He was the one who went after her the other night, right?”

  “I think so.”

  “He was on her tonight, too. I think he was the leader.”

  “They’re unmoored without him. You did the right thing.”

  Did I? I wasn’t so sure.

  “Let the woman go,” the captain said into his fancy amplification system. “We can’t help you if anything happens to her.”

  “Don’t want your help,” the man said. “I want to get into that van and drive away from here.”

  “We can’t let you do that.”

  “Then I can’t let her live.”

  The man lifted that massive gun to the side of Rylee’s head. Suddenly, I was standing beside the twisted metal of what was once a car, staring at the smashed body that had once been my wife. I couldn’t do this again. I couldn’t stand back and once again have to identify the body of a woman I cared about.

  I took a step forward, reaching behind me for my gun.

  “No,” Kai hissed. “Let them handle it.”

  “He’s going to kill her.”

  “Let them. Give them a chance.”

  I shook my head as I stared at the man, and then I saw it in his eyes. He was going to kill her.

  “You’re right,” Kai said softly, but before I could get the gun out of the back of my pants, he’d grabbed it and stepping forward, he fell to one knee. The man smiled a little, but just as his finger moved on the trigger of his gun, Kai fired.

  I ran, catching her just seconds before she would have hit the ground. There was blood.

  Too much blood.

  Chapter 22

  Kai

  Cops were walking around me as if it was normal to have a straight-backed chair with red and gold upholstery in the middle of a parking lot, with a cuffed man sitting in it. A few glances came my way, and a few comments were whispered behind hands, but nothing more.

  An ambulance was parked a few yards away; Rylee Gruffydd sat on the edge of a gurney with Maclean beside her. They were clinging to each other, as if afraid of letting go of one another. I watched them, wondering how such feelings could grow in such a short amount of time. Was it the situation, or was there really such a thing as love at first sight? I’d never believed in that sort of nonsense, but after the day I’d had, I was beginning to realize that a lot of things were possible that I hadn’t believed before.

  “That was a damn foolish thing to do,” the captain said, his face red as he walked up to me. “You could have hit the hostage.”

  “I knew what I was doing.”

  “You could have made the situation worse.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “If you’d hit that girl—”

  “He was about to fire. That big ass gun would have taken her entire head off, you realize that, right? And while you were all dealing with the horror of that, he would have slipped into that van and taken out a couple of you while he made a run for it. You would have had to shoot him anyway.”

  “But you’re not a cop.”

  “I’m a trained sharpshooter. I knew what I was doing.”

  He stared at me for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “You got a hell of a shot off.”

  “Of course I did.”

  “Not humble at all, are you.” He sighed. “Don’t leave town.”

  “Wasn’t planning on it.”

  He gestured to one of his men who came and unhooked the cuffs.

  “You ever think of joining the force?”

  I lifted my right pants leg to show him the straight bar of my prosthesis. “Don’t think this is regulation.”

  “That’s too bad. You’d make a damn good cop.”

  “I make a damn good soldier, too, but this isn’t regulation for that, either. Guess security is about all I can do.”

  “Maybe you can act as a consultant for the department. That would be a good compromise.”

  “We’ll see.”

  I walked over to the ambulance and caught Maclean’s eye. He came up to me..

  “She okay?”

  “She’s pretty shaken up, but looks like she’s just a little bruised, nothing more.”

  “They didn’t—”

  “No.” Maclean glanced back at her, clearly relieved. “She said Johnson died not long after they arrived at the hotel. The other died when he hit his head breaking down the door to the bathroom. Said it was an accident.”

  I nodded. “Is there anyone I can call? Her mother?”

  “No. But she’d like someone to run over to her sister-in-law’s place. She doesn’t want her to hear on the news.”

  “I can do that.”

  Maclean slapped my shoulder. “I don’t know if there are words…”

  “I’m just glad we were able to do our job and keep her safe. That’s all that matters.”

  Maclean nodded. “I’m going to stay with her, if that’s okay.”

  “You should get your head looked at while you’re there. Looks like it could use some stitches.”

  Maclean reached up to touch the back of his head. “Yeah. I might.”

  I waited until the ambulance attendants closed their bus up and drove off, only the flashing lights on as they made their way to the main road. I found my way back to my car, dodging the lookie-loos that had arrived.

  “Mr. Gabriel!”

  I sighed as I turned on my heel. “I still have no comment.”

  “Rumor has it that you fired the shot that ended the standoff. Is there any truth to that?”

  I studied the news reporter, thinking she was the kind of woman I might have turned the charm on for back in the day. She was beautiful, and she knew it. Just my kind of girl. But now I just smiled and said, once again, “No comment.”

  The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon when I arrived at Briar Cox’s house. All was quiet, the neighborhood still slumbering. I knocked on the door, worried the bell might frighten the child, but then worried the knock wouldn’t be heard. I moved my finger over the doorbell just as the door was jerked open.

  “Ms. Cox,” I said.

  She was slightly disheveled, her dark hair sticking out in odd angles all around her head. She rubbed her eye for a second, stepping back as she recognized me.

  “Mr. Gabriel? What are you doing here?”

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but there was an incident last night with your sister-in-law. She asked that I come explain it to you before you hear it on the news.”

  That woke her up. She gestured for me to come inside, stepping back so that I could. She was wearing the same sort of outfit Mrs. Gruffydd had had on, a t-shirt and baggy pair of shorts. It was quite a sight on both women, but I had to say that Briar had the legs for it.

  “I can make some coffee.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t want to trouble you.”

  “It’s no trouble. It’s already set up: I just have to turn the switch.”

  She led the way into the kitchen, yawning as she did. She touched the switch, then turned back to me, worry making her eyes slightly darker. “What’s happened to Rylee? Is this about the rat in her car last week?”

  I shook my head, gesturing for her to sit. I told her, beginning with the attack on Rylee a few days ago behind the diner, and ending with the cops arriving at the motel. The color slowly drained from her face. She stared at her hands, tears forming in her eyes.

  “Why her? Was this guy one of her clients?”

  “No. We don’t know what the connection is just yet.”

  “But he must have had a grudge against her, right? What else could it be?”

  I didn’t want to tell her what I thought. I knew her relationship with Roman was already complicated enough. Scaring her wasn’t going to help.

  “She’s at the hospital, getting checked out. I could take you to her, if you’d like.”

  “I would.” She jumped up, glancing around herself like she was missing something. “I need to call the neighbor, see if she’ll sit with Molly.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  She ran upstairs, and I could hear her feet on the floor, running around. I imagined her silhouetted against the windows as she’d been earlier in the night. I’d been afraid trouble would touch her tonight because of what I’d done, but I hadn’t imagined that this was how it would unfold.

  She was quiet in the car when fifteen minutes later, we headed toward the hospital. She leaned forward, as if she could make the car move faster.

  “I saw you sitting outside my house earlier. Was that because of Rylee or Roman?”

  I glanced at her. “I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t started something I wouldn’t be around to finish.”

  She nodded, glancing at me. “I appreciate that.”

  “I suppose you’ve been told that there are shelters, places you can go—”

  “I’ve been told.”

  “You could leave town.”

  “This is my home. I grew up four blocks from where I’m raising my little girl. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

  “But guys like Roman, they never change.”

  “Yeah. But I shouldn’t have to turn my life and that of my daughter upside down because my ex is a violent prick.”

  I smiled. I liked that. That was the woman whose voice had filled those letters five years ago.

  We arrived at the hospital to find Rylee still in the emergency room waiting for the doctors to release her. Nothing more serious than bruises was the diagnosis.

  “You’re okay?” Briar asked, rushing into the room and taking her sister-in-law’s face between her hands. “They didn’t do anything too horrible to you?”

  “No. Just smacked me around a little.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive.”

  “You’re coming home with me. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

  Rylee smiled, her eyes moving to me. “I hear you’re the one I should thank.”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything particularly interesting.”

  “No. You just shot the guy before he could shoot me.”

  “He did?” Briar glanced at me, new interest in her eyes. “When?”

  “They guy was using me as a human shield and he pressed this massive gun to my head. This guy took Maclean’s gun and shot him right between the eyes.”

  Briar’s eyes widened. “You saved her.”

  It was a statement, not a question. I looked down and shrugged. “It was the right thing to do.”

  She stared at me a moment longer, then turned back to Rylee.

  “How did you get yourself into this?”

 

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