Chapter Fourteen
Ivy dressed while she waited for Theo to come out of the private bathroom area. She figured he wouldn’t be in there long, which meant she needed to try to compose herself before she had to face him.
The sex had been amazing, and while that pleasure was still causing her body to hum, she doubted that Theo would be humming. No. He was probably already regretting this.
He would see it as a lapse in judgment, something that had caused him temporarily to lose focus. Heck, he might even regret it because it was too much, too soon between them. Either way, she didn’t want to look as if she expected something more than sex between them.
Don’t overthink this, she’d told him.
Well, it was advice she needed to take, as well. What was done was done, and she’d just have to deal with the consequences later. In hindsight, though, Theo and she should have worked out a few things before having sex.
Ivy pushed all of that aside, put on her clothes and sat back on the floor with the laptop. There were still no signs of an intruder. Both a blessing and a curse. Part of her wanted this to come to a quick end so she could see Nathan. Another part of her wished there was a different way. One that didn’t involve her brother and the hands in possible harm’s way.
Theo’s phone was still on the floor, and when it buzzed, she started to tell him he had a call. But then she saw Jameson’s name on the screen and hit the answer button.
“Is Nathan okay?” she immediately asked.
Jameson hesitated a moment, maybe because he’d been expecting Theo to answer, and Theo must have heard the buzzing sound because he raced back into the main part of the bathroom. He was dressed for the most part but was still zipping up his jeans.
“He’s fine,” Jameson answered, and with a huge breath of relief leaving her mouth, she put the call on speaker and handed the phone to Theo. “We’re all fine. Jodi and he are eating right now so I stepped into the bedroom to call you. I just got an update on Morris’s family. I’ve already told Gabriel, but he said I should call you because he’s basically got you and Theo locked in the bathroom...together,” her brother added.
Even though Ivy couldn’t see Jameson’s face, he’d probably lifted an eyebrow over that. He knew that Theo and she couldn’t keep their hands off each other. And they hadn’t. But no way was she going to get into that.
“Did the cops find Morris’s family?” Theo prompted when Jameson didn’t continue.
“Yeah. They were in a motel just off the interstate. A maid found them. They were tied up, gagged and blindfolded but otherwise physically fine.”
Ivy was betting that wasn’t true of their mental state. Unless they were faking this, that is. “Who do they say took them?” Ivy asked.
“They don’t know. The wife said that she and her daughter got back from shopping, and someone was in the house. The person used a stun gun on them. The guy carried them to a car and drove around with them for hours. In fact, he drove so long that he had to stop for gas.”
“Certainly the thug made or got a call or two during that time,” Theo pointed out.
“He made one call at the beginning of the drive and told the person that he had the ‘goods,’” Jameson answered. “Neither the wife nor the daughter could hear anything the caller said, but their kidnapper assured whoever it was that he would keep driving until he got further orders.”
All of this had no doubt happened while Morris was on his way to the safe house to attack them.
“The kidnapper received a call right before he dropped them off at the motel,” Jameson added. “By then, they must have known Morris had failed and there was no reason to hold his family.”
Yes, and the kidnapper’s boss could have already started lining up the next thug he or she could use to storm the ranch. Thank God the person had seen no value in killing Morris’s family. Of course, there was another thing to consider. If Morris had voluntarily been in on this, then his family could have faked the kidnapping and release. They might not know the truth about that unless they caught the man or woman who was responsible.
“The guy who stun-gunned Morris’s family wasn’t wearing a mask?” Theo asked her brother.
“No. The wife was able to give a description of the man, but it’s a pretty vague one. Not sure we’ll actually get much from it.”
Even if they did, the guy was probably long gone by now.
“I’ll get in touch with you if anything else comes up,” Jameson assured them, and he paused again. “I guess you two have plenty to talk over once we’re out of this mess. Let me know if I can help with that.” And he ended the call before Theo or she could even respond.
Theo put his phone in his pocket, and even though his attention went back to the laptop, Ivy knew he was thinking about what her brother had just said. She certainly was. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it because there was a soft knock at the door.
“It’s me,” Gabriel said.
Since he could have critical information, Ivy hurried to let him in. Theo stood, too, but he volleyed his attention between Gabriel and the laptop. Gabriel’s eyes did some volleying as well—between Theo and her.
“Is everything...okay?” Gabriel asked her.
She nodded and hoped it didn’t look as if Theo and she had just had sex. But judging from her brother’s huff, it did look that way.
“The last time Theo and you tangled, you left town for ten years,” Gabriel reminded her. “I’d rather that not happen again. In fact, when this danger is over and done, I want you to consider moving back here. It’d be a good place to raise Nathan.”
It would be. Though she’d been comfortable enough at her own ranch, it had never quite felt like home.
“You wouldn’t have to move in here,” Gabriel added. He must have taken her silence to mean that she needed more convincing. “We could build you a place or you could have the old house.”
“Definitely no to the old house. Too many bad memories there.”
If she came back for good, Ivy would want a fresh start. Something that didn’t add to the weight on her shoulders. Of course, that led her to the next thought that was on her mind.
Where did Theo fit in with this fresh start?
He’d said something about a desk job in San Antonio, but Ivy wasn’t sure if he was certain of that or not. It was one thing to love his son and want to spend time with him, but it was another thing to completely alter his life.
“Is something wrong?” Theo asked, his attention on Gabriel now.
Because she’d been so caught up in the conversation, Ivy only then realized that Gabriel probably hadn’t come up there to talk about their future. That sent her pulse racing, and it raced even more when Gabriel didn’t jump to answer.
“Look at the camera that shows the old house,” Gabriel instructed Theo. “You’ll have to zoom in.”
Ivy practically ran back to the laptop so she could see what was going on, but after frantically searching the screen, she had to shake her head. She didn’t see anyone moving around or lurking in the shadows. But she did see an open window on the second floor.
“I’m pretty sure that window was closed last time I checked, and I didn’t notice it until a few minutes ago.”
It was open, not fully, though, only by a couple of inches. Since there were no lights on in the old house, it was just a gaping dark space. However, Ivy could see the reason for his concern—that window was lined up directly with Gabriel’s house.
“The hands searched the place when we were on the way here,” her brother continued, “but someone could have been hiding.”
Yes, there was a huge attic along with enough rooms and closets that the hands could have missed someone. Someone like a gunman.
“Have you seen any kind of movement in the window?” Theo asked without taking his attention off the screen.
“No. And I considered having a deputy and a couple of hands go down there to check it out, but I decided against it. Too risky at this point.”
Definitely, because the deputy and hands would be out in the open and could be gunned down.
“Just keep a close watch on it,” Gabriel told them. “I’ll focus on the other cameras.”
Good idea, because whoever had opened the window could have meant to do that as a distraction. Maybe to lure them out. Or maybe just to take their attention off another hiding place.
Gabriel started to leave, and Ivy followed so she could relock the door. But Theo said a single word of profanity that stopped them both. With Gabriel right behind her, Ivy went back so she could see for herself what had caused Theo’s reaction.
And her heart went to her knees.
Because of what was now in the open window of the old house.
The barrel of a rifle.
* * *
FROM THE MOMENT they’d come back to the ranch, Theo had known an attack was possible. Likely, even. But it still gave him an adrenaline spike to see that weapon now pointed at Gabriel’s house.
“Get in the shower now,” Theo told Ivy.
Gabriel rushed out of the bathroom, no doubt so he could get to one of the windows downstairs so he’d be in position to return fire if it came down to that. Theo locked the door behind him and carried the laptop into the shower with Ivy and him, but not before Ivy grabbed a gun.
Her breathing was already way too fast, and Theo considered trying to do something to help her level it. But if he pulled her into his arms now, it would definitely be a distraction, and he needed to keep his attention on the rifle.
It was already dark, but there was enough of a moon to see the light glint off the barrel. Enough to see, too, when the barrel shifted just a little, and Theo spotted the scope on it. The shooter was taking aim at something, and he hoped it wasn’t a ranch hand or deputy who wasn’t hidden well enough.
“A shot from there would be able to make it here,” she said.
It wasn’t a question. She knew it could. But he hated to hear the slight tremble in her voice. Both of them wanted this showdown, but there was plenty of worry and fear, too.
Theo watched as the barrel shifted again, and he steeled himself for what he figured would come next. He didn’t have to wait long.
The gunman fired.
Three shots, one right behind the other. Theo couldn’t tell exactly where they’d landed, but they’d definitely hit Gabriel’s house.
The shooter turned the barrel again, and the goon fired more shots. Not at the house this time. It didn’t take Theo long to figure out what had been the gunman’s new target.
One of the security cameras.
He’d shot out the one in Gabriel’s backyard. That portion of the laptop screen went blank.
“The security system is still on,” Theo reminded Ivy when she made a slight gasp. “If anyone tries to get into the house, the alarm will sound.”
Plus, there were five other cameras and motion detectors. Theo figured, though, that the shooter would try to take out most of them.
And he did.
The next round of gunfire destroyed the camera on the side of the house, the one that had allowed them to see the rifleman.
“He’s setting up an attack,” Ivy said, her voice a little shaky, but she kept a steady grip on the gun she was holding.
Theo hoped like the devil that she wouldn’t have to use the weapon. While he was hoping, he added that maybe the ranch hands would spot this snake before he could get anywhere near Ivy.
They lost a third camera with the next shots. This one near the front porch, and it meant they now had a huge blind spot in the area that divided the two houses. Since that was also where the shooter was, Theo doubted that was a coincidence, and it meant the gunman would probably try to make his way to Gabriel’s.
The silence came, and in many ways it was worse than the shots. As long as the guy was firing, Theo had known his location. Now he had no idea where the shooter was. However, he kept watch on the three other cameras since someone could be coming from that direction, too.
There was some movement on the screen from the camera on the other side of the house. Not an attacker. It was Al Talley, one of the ranch hands. He was at the back of a shed, and since Theo hadn’t spotted him earlier, it meant Al had probably been in the shed itself. Maybe the gunfire had drawn him out.
Hell, or Al could have heard the sound of someone approaching.
Theo was about to text Gabriel to see if he knew what was going on, but the next shot stopped him cold. Because this one didn’t go downstairs. It slammed into the window just a few feet from the shower. The bullet tore through the chunk of glass and sent it flying across the room.
“The shooter knows we’re in here,” Ivy whispered. Her grip tightened on the gun. She made a strangled sound of fear that came from deep within her chest.
Yeah, he did. That probably meant he was using some kind of thermal scanning equipment that could pinpoint them. The next shot proved it, too, because it tore through another chunk in the window, and the gunman kept firing, kept chipping away at it until the entire floor was littered with the sharp glass.
“Why didn’t the breaking window trigger the security alarm?” she asked.
“Probably because this one wasn’t wired into the system.” It couldn’t be lifted, which meant it wouldn’t normally be a point of entry for someone trying to get in. It still wasn’t, not with those jagged shards of glass sticking out all over.
“We’ll just stay put,” Theo said when the shots moved from the window to the wall. The wall adjacent to the shower. “The bullets can’t get through the stones.”
He hoped.
But the shots sure as heck could cause debris to fly through the air. It seemed as if the guy was trying to rip his way through the wall.
Theo’s phone dinged, and he saw Gabriel’s text message pop up on the screen. Are you both okay?
Fine, for now, Theo texted back.
He caught on to Ivy and lowered her until they were lying on the shower floor. It was larger than average size, but there still wasn’t a lot of room with both of them in it. They were practically wrapped around each other.
I have a deputy and one of the hands moving in on the shooter, Gabriel added in his text a moment later. I think we can get this snake.
Theo was about to answer, but then he heard a strange sound. Definitely not an ordinary bullet this time. It was something else. Something that was about to make their situation a whole lot more dangerous than it already was.
A small metal canister.
It dropped onto the floor and started spewing tear gas.
Theo tucked the laptop under his arm, yanked Ivy to her feet and they started running. But it was already too late. The tear gas was burning their eyes and causing them to cough. Slowing them down, too. Not good. Because the gunman started firing bullets again, and this time Ivy and he were right in the path.
He crouched as low as he could, making sure Ivy did the same, and Theo somehow made his way to the door. The moment he had it unlocked and opened, he scrambled out in the hall, shutting the door behind them so it would hopefully contain some of the tear gas. Not all of it, though. It was already starting to seep right out at them.
Ivy was coughing so hard that she couldn’t catch her breath, and he was certain her eyes felt as if they were on fire. His did, too, but Theo kept moving. Not downstairs, though. He took her to the hall bathroom. It had a tile floor but didn’t have the stone protection of the other room. Plus, it had a massive window over the vanity.
It wouldn’t take a gunman long at all to shoot through that.
But the last time Theo had checked, the ranch hand, Al, had been on that side of the house. Maybe he’d be able to put a stop to anyone who tried to put bullets or more tear gas into the room.
“Text Gabriel and make sure he’s okay,” Theo said, handing Ivy his phone. “I’ll look on the laptop and see if we have any security cameras left.”
They did. Three that were on the opposite side of the house from the shooter. Nothing much seemed to be happening there, but Theo heard more gunfire. This time, though, it came not from just one weapon but two. The gunman and someone else outside the house. Maybe a hand who had finally gotten in position to take out the shooter. Or at least stop him from sending more tear gas their way.
“Gabriel didn’t answer,” Ivy relayed to him. There was a new round of fear in her voice.
Theo was about to reassure her that Gabriel was probably just keeping watch and that nothing bad had happened to him. But he heard something that made Theo realize that might not be true.
The security alarm went off, the sound immediately blaring. And that wasn’t the only sound. He also heard Gabriel’s voice.
“Someone’s in the house,” Gabriel shouted.