Chapter Fifteen
The plan was working. Now Lauren had to hope that was a good thing and that they could truly lead these thugs away from the ranch.
“Speed up,” Cameron instructed Jace. “They’d expect us to do that if we actually had the babies in the car.”
Cameron gave an uneasy glance behind them at the SUV, followed by an equally uneasy one at the sky. Going fast on these roads wasn’t a safe idea, but he was right. They needed to make this as realistic as possible. That meant taking risks.
More than the ones they’d already taken.
She prayed that whatever they would do, it would make Patrick and Isaac safe. Lauren didn’t want these goons anywhere near the boys. Still, it was a chance that could happen. While Cameron and she were luring the gunmen, the gunmen could be playing a cat-and-mouse game to get them away from the house.
“They’re speeding up, too,” Jace relayed.
Lauren got a glimpse of that, and yes, the SUV was much closer now, but Cameron took hold of her arm and lowered her to the seat. “Pick up the blankets,” he instructed. “Hold them as if you’d be holding the boys. The cruiser windows are tinted, but they still might be able to see inside.”
True, and again they had to make this look believable. Lauren gathered up the blankets in her arms, making sure they stayed rolled up.
“How much farther is the trail where we’ll be turning?” she asked.
Cameron didn’t jump to answer, and she saw the renewed alarm on his face. “Hold on,” he warned her. “They’re going to hit us.”
It wasn’t a second too soon because the jolt came. So hard that even with her seat belt on, it slung her forward. The strap caught her wounded shoulder in the wrong place and caused the pain to shoot through her. She made a sharp gasp that she tried to muffle, but she failed because Cameron looked at her. But he didn’t look for long.
That was because the SUV rammed into them again.
The cruiser went into a skid on the wet pavement, and she could see Jace fighting with the steering wheel to keep control. The cruiser tires clipped the gravel area just off the asphalt and sent a spray of rocks banging against the doors and undercarriage. It sounded like gunfire.
“Hold on,” Cameron repeated, and this time he took hold of her.
The SUV rammed into them again. And again. Obviously, the front end of the vehicle had been reinforced because the engine was still roaring behind them.
“Let me see if I can do something about this,” Cameron said when Jace finally got the cruiser back on the road surface.
He lowered his window, the rain immediately dampening the backseat. Despite the summer temperatures, the spray of water was cold, and Lauren started to shiver. Part of the shivering, however, was because Cameron was about to make himself an easy target for those hired killers.
Cameron leaned out enough so he could take aim, and he sent two shots in the direction of the SUV. Since Lauren was down on the seat, she couldn’t tell if he hit anything, but at least the SUV didn’t ram into them.
But the gunmen did something worse.
They returned fire. The shots slammed into the roof of the cruiser. The bullets didn’t tear through it, but Lauren could hear them slice across the metal.
“Why would they be shooting with the babies inside?” she asked, the question meant more for herself than the others. “Why would they risk that?” It didn’t make sense if they wanted the boys alive.
If.
“They’re not firing kill shots,” Cameron answered. “If they were, they’d be shooting into the window. I think they’re just trying to run us off the road.”
Yes, but even that could hurt Patrick and Isaac. Maybe that meant these thugs didn’t care if the babies were harmed or not. Or they could have figured out the boys weren’t in the cruiser.
That thought didn’t make her breathe any easier.
Lauren tried not to panic, but it was hard to rein in the fear. Not only were their precious babies in danger, but these goons could end up killing Cameron and her in a car wreck, too. Of course, that could be what the person behind this wanted. If it was Julia or Duane, they wanted her dead. Evelyn probably felt the same way about Cameron. She didn’t want to think of what would happen to Patrick and Isaac if these thugs succeeded in carrying out whatever orders they had.
“How long before we get to the trail?” Lauren repeated.
“A minute, maybe.” Jace was volleying glances between the road and the rearview mirror.
The SUV rammed into them once more, but this time Jace managed to keep control. There was no other traffic, thank goodness, so Jace swerved into the oncoming lane to stop them from being hit again.
“Let me try to hold them off.” Jameson lowered his window as Cameron had done, and he sent three shots at the SUV.
Maybe those shots would buy them some seconds until they could get to the trail. Of course, the SUV would follow them. That was the plan, after all. The driver could still ram into them. But they wouldn’t be going at such a high speed on the trail, and there’d be an ambush waiting for the thugs. Maybe they’d be able to capture at least one of them alive so they could get some answers.
“Everyone hold on,” Jace said. “The turn is just ahead.”
Lauren pulled in her breath and held it. There were wide ditches on each side of the trail, and if the SUV hit them again, they could land in one of those. They were filled with water and mud, and the cruiser would likely get stuck.
There was another thing that could go wrong, too. Simply put, the gunmen might not follow them. They might recognize this could be a trap and just speed away so they could regroup and come after them again.
Jace had to hit the brakes to slow down for the turn, but he was still going pretty fast when he took it. The trail was a mixture of gravel, dirt and grass, and judging from the way Jace had gripped the steering wheel, he must have expected them to go into another slide.
And they did.
The back of the cruiser fishtailed, slinging them around again, but Jace got them back on course. He didn’t speed up right away, though, and Lauren knew why. He was waiting for the gunmen.
She lifted her head to look out the back window. It seemed to take an eternity, but it was only a few seconds before she finally saw what she needed to see. The SUV made the turn, as well, and came after them. Jace hit the accelerator again.
“The reserve deputies and the Ranger should be about a half mile up,” Jameson explained. He kept his eyes on the SUV but motioned for Lauren to get back down on the seat.
She did. But she hated she was being protected like this when all three of the men were high enough in the seats that they could be shot. Of course, the gunman’s bullets would have to get through the glass first.
That thought had barely crossed her mind when there were more shots fired. These slammed into the trunk of the cruiser. Definitely not as “safe” as those on the roof since the trunk was right next to the backseat.
“What the hell?” Jace mumbled.
That put her heart right in her throat, and Lauren lifted her head again so she could see what’d caused his reaction. There was a motorcycle, and it was parked just beneath some trees just off the left side of the trail.
“Is that the Ranger?” Jace asked.
Jameson shook his head. “Maybe it’s one of the reserve deputies. I’ll ask Gabriel.”
He took out his phone, no doubt to call their brother, but Jameson didn’t get a chance to do that.
Because there was a blast.
It was deafening. Lauren couldn’t be sure, but she thought maybe it’d come from the direction of the motorcycle. She was sure of something else, though. It hadn’t been the sound of a bullet. No, this was something much, much bigger. And whatever it was, it hit them.
Hard.
Jace still had hold of the steering wheel, but it didn’t seem to do any good. That was because whatever had hit them exploded into the front end of the cruiser. There were ditches here, too. Ones almost as wide as those on the road. And that was exactly where the blast sent them.
* * *
CAMERON DIDN’T KNOW what the guy by the motorcycle had shot at him. He’d barely had time to spot the man before he’d fired something. Not a grenade. The blast hadn’t been big enough for that, but it’d been some kind of explosive device.
Jace cursed when the cruiser pitched to the left, and the deputy had no control when the tires on that side went into the ditch. Because of the rain, it was more of a small stream, and they instantly went into the bog.
Trapping them.
They were much too close to the motorcycle guy, since he was on the same side of the trail.
Cameron glanced down at Lauren to make sure she hadn’t been hurt in the impact. She hadn’t been, but she’d already pulled her gun and was about to sit up. He pushed her right back down.
Behind them, the SUV came to a stop. Not a fast one, either, which meant they’d slowed down enough, probably because the driver had known this was going to happen. And what had happened was the worst-case scenario for this plan. Because now they were trapped.
“I’ll call the backup,” Jameson said. He, too, still had his weapon drawn, and he was looking all around them.
Cameron was looking, too, but he could no longer see the man by the motorcycle. He’d likely slipped into the woods, and there were plenty of hiding places for him. The trees and underbrush were thick here.
“How far away is backup?” Lauren asked. She was shaking some, but not nearly as much as Cameron had expected her to be doing. Good. Because he might need her to help him shoot their way out of this.
He hated that she was in this position. Hated even more that he was the reason she was here. But Lauren and he were of a like mind on this. They’d wanted to do whatever it took to protect Patrick and Isaac.
And maybe that could still happen.
Cameron had to hold on to that hope. Unless the thugs had brought an army with them, then they might not be able to get to them in the cruiser. Added to that, backup was almost certainly on the way here, and they shouldn’t be that far away.
“Backup’s coming,” Jameson verified when he finished his call.
Cameron looked back at the SUV again. No movement there. The men were staying inside. There was also no movement from anywhere in the woods, but he was dead certain more men were out there.
Hell.
“This could be a trap for the backup,” Cameron told Jameson.
Jameson cursed, too, and made another call. Of course, backup would have anticipated that the thugs would be on the lookout for them, but they probably thought they’d be coming to a gunfight. There hadn’t been a shot fired, though, since the blast that’d disabled them. That didn’t mean, however, that more shots wouldn’t come soon.
Cameron’s phone rang, the sound knifing through the silence. Lauren gasped, and then she groaned when she saw Unknown Caller on the screen. It was almost certainly their attackers. Cameron answered and put it on speaker, but he didn’t say a word.
“Deputy Doran,” the caller said. “Looks like you and your woman are in a tight spot. I think this is what folks mean by sitting duck.”
The thug was stating the obvious, but it still put a knot in Cameron’s gut to hear it. “What do you want?” Cameron snapped, and he motioned to Jameson to play the recording on his phone. Within seconds, there was the sound of Isaac fussing.
“I want you and your woman, of course. Those kids, too,” the thug said. “Good to know the little fellas weren’t hurt during the blast.”
“What if they had been?” Lauren snarled. “You could have hurt them. Is that what your boss wants you to do—hurt babies?”
There was plenty of anger in her voice, but Cameron figured it was also a stall tactic. The longer they kept him talking, the more time backup would have to arrive.
“Don’t have a clue what my boss wants to do to them, and it falls under the heading of I don’t care. I just want my money. And no, don’t bother to start offering me a payoff. I’m more or less committed to this, you see.”
Which meant he could be being blackmailed or coerced in some way. So Cameron tried a different angle. “If you want immunity, you’ve got it.” That was a lie. As a deputy he couldn’t make an offer like that unless he cleared it with the DA. “All you have to do is tell us who hired you.”
“No more talk about that,” the gunman growled. “Just shut up and listen.” He sounded impatient now. Probably because he knew they would have already requested backup, and that time was running out for him. “You and your woman need to get out of the cop car.”
“And the babies?” Cameron asked. “Which one do we bring?” Because that would narrow down the identity of the person responsible for this. If the man said to bring Isaac, then it was either Duane or Julia. But Evelyn would want Patrick since he was her grandson.
“I would say just bring one of them, but since I don’t know which one,” the gunman snarled, “I’ll be needing you to step out with both of them. And I’m not gonna do a countdown or anything. You come out with them now.”
Cameron doubted the man would want to hear this, but he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t take Lauren out there for her to be gunned down. “It’s too risky for the babies.”
“Hell, it’s too risky for you!” the goon practically shouted. “Now, move. I’d better see that door opening right now.”
Cameron looked at Jameson and Jace to see if they were ready for whatever was about to happen. They were. Jameson had turned off the recording, put his phone back in his pocket and he had a firm grip on his gun. So did Jace.
And Lauren.
“They’ll come to the cruiser after us, won’t they?” she asked.
As a minimum. And they didn’t have to wait long for that minimum, either.
“Time’s up,” the gunman said, but the words had hardly left his mouth when Cameron saw something he didn’t want to see. It was the guy who’d been by the motorcycle. This probably wasn’t the one they’d been talking to since this man didn’t have a phone.
However, he did have some kind of launcher.
And he aimed it at the cruiser.
Before Cameron could even react, another explosive came their way. It crashed into what was left of the front end of the cruiser, tearing the metal and engine apart. It also knocked out the front windshield. They had to shelter their eyes from the flying glass and debris.
“Still not convinced you should get out?” the goon on the phone said. “The next one goes right into the cop car where y’all are sitting.”
It was a bluff. Possibly. But Cameron couldn’t call him on that bluff, and he didn’t have time to come up with a plan. They were going to have to run for it, and there was only one direction to go. To the right, away from the thug with the launcher. That meant they’d have to run directly in front of the SUV.
Cameron looked at Lauren, who’d just followed his gaze out the window. Judging from her expression she knew what was about to happen.
“Take both blankets, one in each arm,” he instructed. That might save her from being gunned down.
Lauren gave a shaky nod and gathered them up. “When do we start running?” she asked.
“Now.”
Cameron threw open the door and started shooting.