Guarding His Secret Son, page 16
Come on, Liam, get our deputies out here!
Micah began to cry, a sound that ripped at his heart. Liz tried to soothe the infant as he continued keeping watch.
A thumping sound drew his attention. One of the gunmen had gotten inside the house!
Garrett edged toward the corner of the island. When he saw the shadow of the guy on the wall, he jumped out from the corner and fired two quick shots in a row.
The perp fired back, the bullet imbedding into the wall beside him, missing his head by an inch. Then the perp he’d struck slid to the floor.
One down, one to go.
The wail of sirens indicated his backup was close. He could hear Liz whispering the Lord’s Prayer as he inched forward to kick the perp’s weapon out of the way and check for a pulse.
He was alive, but based on the chest wound, he wasn’t sure the perp would make it.
“Who sent you?” He lifted the guy’s head. “Come on, tell me who sent you!”
“Ebber...” The guy slumped sideways. And this time, when Garrett felt for a pulse, there was nothing.
A wave of frustration took over. What had the guy said? Edward? Elaine? Or someone else?
FIFTEEN
Curling her body over Micah’s carrier, Liz silently prayed for safety. She couldn’t believe more gunmen had shown up at Wyatt and Abby’s house. Their quest to kill Micah was relentless.
She couldn’t help but wonder if the innocent baby would ever be safe again. Right now, she held out little hope that they’d make it out of this nightmare unscathed.
“Garrett?” The deep male voice held an authoritative tone. “Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, thanks for getting here so quickly, Liam.” Garrett came over to help her up from her crouched position under the granite slab of Wyatt’s kitchen island. “One dead in here, but there’s at least one other outside.”
“The perp out here is down but alive. Stay put while we clear the area.”
Liz’s entire body was trembling, so staying put wasn’t a hardship. She should be used to bullets flying by now.
But she wasn’t. This was so outside her normal life of offering pre and postnatal care to her patients.
“Here, let me take Micah.” Garrett gently eased her aside to lift the carrier from the floor and onto the table. Then he gathered the crying infant into his arms, holding him close. She sank into one of the kitchen chairs, trying to control her rapid pulse. No wonder stress was often a precursor to a heart attack. “What did the gunman say? Who hired him?”
Garrett frowned. “I’m not sure. He may have said Edward or Elaine or something else. I don’t think we can put much stock in his mumbled attempt to answer my question.”
She wanted to scream in frustration. They were no closer to figuring out who had masterminded these attacks—someone other than Abernathy, who was in the hospital.
After several long moments as Garrett soothed his son, she heard Liam’s voice outside shouting, “All clear!”
A quick glance around Wyatt and Abby’s home revealed several broken windows. She felt certain bullets would be found imbedded in the walls or furniture. It wasn’t their fault, but she still felt guilty for the damage that had been done to their property.
“We shouldn’t have come here.” Garrett’s low voice held regret.
She waved a hand at the mess. “You couldn’t have anticipated this. Wyatt and Abby didn’t, either.”
“We should have.” His expression hardened. “Whoever is behind this must know more about me than I realized.”
She nodded slowly, understanding his concern. “Or they followed us here somehow. Maybe waited until they saw Wyatt and Abby leave before striking out.”
“That’s a reasonable assumption, too.” Garrett gently set Micah back in his carrier as Liam entered the house. “How many were out there?”
“Just the one. He’s still alive but has fallen unconscious. An ambulance is on the way.” Liam scowled. “We couldn’t get any information out of him.”
“I didn’t get anything from this guy, either.” Garrett gestured to the dead gunman. “I know I’m supposed to hand you my badge and gun after shooting a man, but I can’t do that until we find the mastermind behind this.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you for your shield or your weapon,” Liam said mildly. “Our small community hasn’t had this much violence in a long time. I need the help of every deputy in the department.”
Garrett winced. “I know my leave of absence is causing you to be shorthanded.”
“Since you’re smack in the middle of this mess, it’s almost like having you on duty.” Liam’s gaze softened when he looked at Micah. “You’re doing a fine job of protecting your son.”
“Am I?” Garrett looked somber. “It doesn’t feel that way.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Liam assured him. “We’re eliminating the gunmen, which is a step in the right direction.”
Liz wanted to believe Liam and his deputies would uncover the truth, but so far, it seemed as if they were still stumbling around in the dark. She struggled to remain calm and positive. “How are Wyatt and Abby? I heard you mention a tail. Was someone following them?”
Liam glanced at her. “Good question. I’ll check in with them now.”
She and Garrett listened as the sheriff used his radio to connect with Abby. “What’s your twenty?”
“Still en route to the hospital,” Abby responded. “We had to take a detour to lose our tail.”
“I’m afraid two armed perps showed up at your place and shot out a few of your windows,” Liam informed her.
“How are Garrett, Liz and the baby?” Abby quickly asked. “Anyone hurt?”
“Just the gunmen. One dead, the other on his way to the hospital.” Liam frowned. “You better watch your six. Those guys following you may try to beat you to the hospital.”
“We’ve put Owens and the hospital security staff on notice for that,” Abby said.
Liz understood they were concerned about another attempt to silence Joel Abernathy—permanently.
Garrett spoke up. “We’ll board up the windows, and I’ll pay for the repairs.”
“Don’t worry, it’s part of the job. We’re just glad no one was hurt.” Abby didn’t sound the least bit upset about the property damage. “We’ll take care of it. You have your own house cleanup to deal with.”
From the determination in Garrett’s eyes, Liz knew he’d insist. Not that the property damage was their biggest concern.
Their sole mission was to stay alive.
Garrett must have read her thoughts. He glanced between her and the baby, then turned to Liam. “We need a safe house. And I’m running out of options.”
“Let’s drive to headquarters for now.” Liam ran his hand through his dark hair. “I need to create a formal report about this. And you’ll be safe inside the brick building.”
Would they really? She forced the lingering doubt aside since it was likely their best option.
She turned when Micah began to fuss. No child should be in this tenuous position. She lifted the baby to her shoulder and bowed her head, resting her cheek on his downy, soft dark hair.
Garrett came up beside her, encircling her waist with his arm and squeezing her in a hug. Then he lifted his hand to stroke his son’s back while pressing a kiss to her temple. In that brief moment, she felt as if they were a family.
As soon as the thought entered her mind, she thrust it away. No matter how much she wanted this, she knew better than to read into Garrett’s gratitude.
At some point, the danger would be over and their lives would go back to normal.
Her patients needed her. More than Garrett did.
* * *
Garrett wanted to kiss Liz, but Liam’s presence held him back. Besides, he wasn’t sure she’d welcome a kiss from him. Not after the way they’d constantly been in danger ever since meeting. His promise to keep her safe was failing miserably.
It was only through God’s grace that they’d survived this latest attack. That, and the warning from Wyatt and Abby about being followed.
Too bad he didn’t know of any bomb shelters in town. It felt as if that was about the only place he’d be able to keep Liz and Micah safe.
He forced himself to step back from Liz and Micah. “Does he need to eat before we go?”
“Yes, I think we need a few minutes.” She cooed to Micah, swaying back and forth until the baby quieted. Then she gently placed him in the baby carrier, tucking the small white bunny close. “I think the gunfire hurt his ears. I’ll make a bottle. Shouldn’t take too long before we’re ready to go.”
“Take your time.” He wanted to feed Micah himself, but he was determined to stay alert for more danger. He crossed over to the dead gunman. After donning gloves, he went through his pockets.
“Hey, Liam?” He drew out a wallet. “This guy has an ID.”
“Let’s see.” Liam joined him. “Jacob Burns—and no surprise, his address is listed as Chicago, Illinois. Does that name ring a bell?”
“No.” He wished it did. “Interesting this gunman had his ID when most of the others hadn’t.”
“Maybe he’s not a professional. They could be running low on resources.” Liam clicked on his radio. “Dispatch, run the name Jacob Burns through the system.” He rattled off the guy’s date of birth and address as listed on the driver’s license.
“Ten-four.”
A surge of excitement hit hard. This could be the break they were looking for.
He glanced over to where Liz was finishing Micah’s bottle. She lifted the baby and sat with him in the crook of her arm. It was humbling how she’d set aside her grief over losing her daughter to care for his son.
The urge to pull her close was strong, but he forced himself to turn away. This was hardly the time to be thinking about how beautiful she was and how much he’d come to care for her.
Far more than he should.
He needed to stay focused on the threat lurking outside and the never-ending stream of armed perps stalking them, who were obviously determined to kill his son.
“Garrett?” Liz’s voice broke into his thoughts.
“Do you need something?” He crossed over to rest his hand on his son’s head.
“I was just thinking about that marriage certificate you found in Abernathy’s motel room.” She frowned. “Don’t you think there would have been an announcement in the newspapers about the wedding? Even a small wedding in the courthouse would be big news.”
“Good point. Abernathy might claim they wanted to keep things quiet, but that will look suspicious if he shows up with a baby and a marriage certificate that the rest of the family knew nothing about.” Yet it occurred to him that the couple may have gotten married in a private ceremony because of Rebecca’s father’s cancer diagnosis. And if the marriage was real, his life was about to get complicated.
Still, Abernathy would be arrested for the role he’d played in hiring a man to shoot him. Could a good defense lawyer convince a jury that Abernathy was only desperate to get his own son?
Maybe. The problem with juries was that anything was possible.
His gut tightened at the thought of fighting for custody of his son. “As soon as Micah is finished, we’ll go back to headquarters so I can dig into it further.”
Liam’s radio crackled. “Sheriff? We ran a check on Jacob Burns, but he doesn’t have a criminal record.”
“Thanks. See if you can broaden the search to family members. He’s been killed, so we’ll need to make a death notification.”
“Will do.”
“I pray he has family somewhere,” Garrett said. “We need to know who hired him.”
“Agreed.” Liam glanced at Liz and Micah with a soft smile. “Reminds me of the early days with our daughter, Ciara. All she did was eat and sleep, but now she’s more alert and smiling. Every day with her is a blessing.”
“I hope I’m blessed the same way.” He did his best to shake off the sense of doom. “It’s hard to plan a future when I can’t find a safe place to stay.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of this.” Liam lightly clapped him on the shoulder. “Having an ID on the dead gunman is a good clue. I believe we’ll find family that may be able to give us intel on what he was up to.”
Garrett hoped his boss was right about that. He was anxious to get to headquarters to search for information.
While waiting for Micah to finish his bottle, he made good on his promise to board up the windows with plywood he found in the basement.
“Good boy,” Liz murmured, holding Micah up to her shoulder. She glanced at Garrett. “We should be able to leave soon.”
“Great.” He tried to hide his impatience. It wasn’t like they weren’t well protected here, with deputies outside and Liam nearby. Yet there was a deep sense of urgency pushing at him to get out of there as soon as possible.
He glanced at Liam, who stood off to the side, working on his phone. “Liam? Do you have something?”
His boss turned to face him. “Wyatt and Abby are at the hospital. Abernathy is refusing to speak to them without his attorney present.”
That figured. “Does he realize how much danger he’s in?”
A smile tugged at the corner of Liam’s mouth. “They’re doing their best to convince him to cooperate. Sounds like he’s afraid of being hurt again but doesn’t want to incriminate himself too much.”
Garrett swallowed a wave of frustration. Time was of the essence, considering the recent attack. “I hope he gets his lawyer there ASAP.”
“He will.” Liam sounded confident. “He’s upset they have one ankle cuffed to the bed.”
“‘Cuffed to the bed’?” Liz echoed. “Even when he’s in the hospital?”
“Yes, that’s what happens when you’re under arrest.” Garrett didn’t have any sympathy to spare for Abernathy. Not after everything they’d been through.
Before Garrett could suggest heading out, Liam’s radio crackled once more. Then he heard the dispatcher’s voice say, “Sheriff? I have information on your perp, Jacob Burns.”
“Go ahead, tell me what you have,” Liam said.
“He has a wife, Alicia, and a ten-year-old daughter, Amelia. Looks like there are serious money issues there. I see there are some debt collections on file, with legal action pending, and it appears their house has very recently gone into foreclosure.” The dispatcher paused, then added, “Do you want to interview her about this? It would make sense for you to handle the death notification at the same time.”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it. Thanks for the additional information.” Liam lowered his hand from the radio and turned to face Garrett. “Financial issues may explain why Burns took this job. Could be someone from Woodward Enterprises promised to pay off his loans, even going as far as to get his house out of the foreclosure process in exchange for eliminating Micah as the Woodward heir.”
“Yeah, especially since Robert Woodward’s company specializes in real estate. They could easily buy the mortgage out without breaking a sweat.” It wasn’t proof, but it was a link back to the Woodward family.
A very weak link.
His feelings must have shown on his face. “Yeah, I know, it’s not much. But once Abernathy’s lawyer gets there, we should learn more,” Liam assured him. “He has every reason to cooperate with us.”
Since it was about the only break they’d gotten, Garrett nodded. “I pray you’re right about that.”
He glanced over to see that Liz had finished feeding and changing Micah. “Are you ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes.” Her smile was strained. “I can’t deny I’ll be glad to get out of here.”
“I’ll escort you, Liz and Micah to headquarters,” Liam offered.
“Thanks, we’re ready.” He watched as Liz placed Micah in his carrier. He crossed over to clean the bottle and put the formula back in the diaper bag, then looped the strap over his shoulder. He lifted Micah’s carrier from the table. “Lead the way, Liam.”
“You got it.” His boss reached for his radio. “Make sure there’s a clear path to the SUVs.”
“Roger that,” came the response.
Liam led the way outside. Garrett urged Liz to follow, holding Micah’s carrier high in front of him to protect the baby with his body. Thankfully, covering the short distance to the SUV was uneventful.
“I’ll follow you,” Liam said. “My goal will be to prevent you from picking up a tail the way Abby and Wyatt did.”
“I appreciate that.” As he belted Micah’s carrier in the rear passenger seat, the back of his neck prickled. Almost as if someone was out there, watching.
Waiting for the opportunity to strike.
Reminding himself the deputies had cleared the area, he ignored the sensation. Liz was already tucked up front, and Liam stood a few paces back, covering them.
He stepped back and shut the door. As he rounded the back of the SUV, he swept another glance around the area but saw nothing alarming.
Once he was seated behind the wheel, Liam hustled over to the other SUV. Garrett started the engine, then headed out of Wyatt and Abby’s driveway.
Liam followed close behind.
Five miles wasn’t that far, but the winding highway roads made it difficult to go any faster than thirty miles per hour. He also didn’t want to lose Liam or create too much of a gap between them.
As he took one corner, he heard a loud popping sound.
“What was that?” Liz asked fearfully.
“I don’t know.” He glanced in the rearview mirror, expecting to see Liam coming up behind him, but the stretch of highway behind him was empty.
Then he heard another sharp crack. The wheel beneath his hands jerked, the SUV swerving back and forth, then listing to one side.
