Colt slipped around to the back of the house. He’d darted from behind Kate’s car after the first shot nearly hit him, but he was surprised that whoever was inside didn’t continue firing.

He eased around the rear of the house, slowing when he reached windows, and snuck a peek inside. He was on the back deck and peered inside a window into the kitchen. No one was there, so he continued. He saw no movement in the living room, but he could see a doorway that had to lead into another room where the person who fired the shot would have been.

His phone vibrated, and he answered.

“Talk to me, Colt,” Wolf said.

“I can hear the sirens. The cops are nearly here. I’m at the back of the house. I don’t see anyone yet.” Just as he said that a couple of shadows moved near the doorway where he had his eye trained. “Wait.”

A woman backed out of the room. One girl was hugged into her side, and the other—Sarah—was being pulled out, but she wasn’t fighting it.

“From what I can tell, the two little girls and the other mother are safe. I don’t know how many others are in the house, but I suspect it’s only Kate and whoever fired at me. I’m assuming that person is Jake Boone, who escaped from prison yesterday.”

“Don’t do anything stupid. Help is on the way.”

Colt hung up without making promises. He knew his SEAL unit was still too far away to help him, and the police would be coming in hot, which put them at a distinct disadvantage for entering the house undetected like Colt could. The one thing Colt knew for sure was that if that was Jake Boone in there and Kate was the one who ratted him out four years ago, he didn’t come here just to catch up. He and others from his motorcycle gang wanted Kate dead.

Colt tried the doorknob on the first set of French doors he came to. Locked. He stepped lightly along the house until he came to another set of doors, which appeared to lead to a living room. When he got there, he heard the sound of a man shouting. Daring a look through the paned doors, he was rewarded with a gut-wrenching sight—a man dragging Kate out of one room and toward another, holding on to the back of her neck. As the piece of shit coward turned toward him, Colt ducked to the right of the door, hidden from sight. The muscles in Colt’s neck and back tightened. He’d kill Boone if he hurt Kate, those two little girls, or the other mother.

As the sound of the scuffle faded, Colt peered through the window again. Jake and Kate had disappeared through another doorway. Colt tried the doorknob; it was unlocked. He slipped inside the house and listened.

Colt heard Jake close by. “Come out here right now, Sarah. Your mommy needs you.” This was followed by the faint sound of Kate’s voice, though he couldn’t quite hear what she said.

Next he heard the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting flesh and the grunt of a woman—Kate—followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor. Colt moved swiftly and silently across the living room until he could peek around the corner into a bedroom. Kate was moaning on the floor. Jake was yelling over her.

On the other side of the house, he heard screeching tires as sirens cut off.

“You could kill me,” Kate said one room away from Colt, “but it won’t change the fact that you’ll be dead soon after.”

“You think so?” Jake answered.

“I know so.” She laughed again. “But before we both die, I want you to know a couple of things.”

“What’s that?”

“First, if I had it all to do over again, I would rat you and the rest of the club out to the feds in a heartbeat. And second, Sarah’s not even your child. You see, I’m not the only one who betrayed you.”

Colt winced at Kate’s words, knowing that she was making Jake angrier. Did she want him to kill her?

He leaned around and looked inside the doorway just as Jake’s fist was coming down toward Kate’s head. He was holding her hands above her head. Colt darted into the room as Kate jerked her head and her entire body to the side, causing Jake to miss his target and punch the hardwood floor. Having freed her hands, Kate punched one hand up into Jake’s face. Blood gushed from his nose as he stood and started to back away. Before he could get too far away, Kate knifed her right leg straight up, catching Jake square in the groin.

“You fucking bitch,” Jake roared. Kate desperately crab-crawled away from her tormenter. Jake, overcome by pure rage, grabbed after his former lover.

Not wanting to use his gun for fear of hitting Kate, Colt sprinted into the room and dove at his target, crashing into Jake from behind like an all-pro linebacker, knocking Jake’s gun across the room. Jake scrambled to his feet and delivered a wild punch that connected with Colt’s left eye, but Colt, unfazed by the blow, returned the hit and added another to it. Jake stumbled backwards. Kate scurried over to the gun and picked it up, pointing it at Jake. “It’s over, Jake.”

Colt froze, wondering if Kate would shoot. He wouldn’t blame her if she did, but he didn’t want her to have that on her conscience.

Colt moved around the room and stood beside her. They both trained their weapons on Jake.

The sound of pounding fists on the front door broke the silence. “Police. Jake Boone, open up. We have you surrounded.”

Jake’s cold eyes bore into Kate’s. “You’re a dead woman, you stupid bitch.” A man with nothing left to lose, he darted toward Kate. Both Kate and Colt opened fire, getting off several rounds each. And Jake went down, dead before he hit the floor.