Chapter Eleven
They had already dodged bullets from Mandy’s kidnappers, but Jameson should have known it wasn’t over. He’d let the news of the baby—his baby—distract him, and that could turn out to be a fatal mistake.
He needed to push aside that baby news and the emotions that came with it and focus on getting them out of this.
“Go to the back door,” Jameson told Susan. “Make sure it’s locked and that these guys don’t try to sneak up on us.” There weren’t any houses back there. Not that Jameson had seen anyway, but it was possible there were trees and shrubs that one of these hired guns could use.
“Check all the windows. Look for any vulnerable points of attack,” Gabriel added to Cameron, and the deputies hurried off to do those tasks.
“Is there a bathroom without windows?” Jameson asked Mandy.
She nodded. “There’s one just off the hall.”
Good. That was a start, though it wasn’t ideal since bullets could go through walls and still reach them. “Take Erica and Gracelyn there, now,” he told Kelly.
Jameson could see the stark fear in Kelly’s eyes, but he couldn’t assure her that this was going to turn out well. It could end up in a gunfight, though that wasn’t what Jameson wanted. Not with his daughter in the house.
Gabriel took out his phone, no doubt to call for backup, and while Jameson kept watch, he quickly reassembled the phone Mandy had taken. Right now, it was the only way he had to communicate with these snakes other than opening the door and going out there to face them down.
“One of them is getting out of the first SUV,” Gabriel relayed.
Yeah, Jameson saw the gun. He got out from the driver’s side, which meant the SUV was in between him and them. Jameson doubted that was a coincidence. The guy was using it for cover, and he was no doubt armed to the hilt.
Kelly’s gaze connected with his as she started moving. “Be careful,” she said, but she frowned as if that weren’t nearly enough.
She was right. Words alone weren’t going to fix this, or their personal situation for that matter, but if the thugs heard backup arriving, they might run again. Of course, they might be a good fifteen or twenty minutes from that happening.
Jameson waited until Erica, Gracelyn and Kelly had gone into the bathroom, and he shot a look at Mandy to prompt her to go, too. “I’m staying,” she insisted. “But I need a gun.”
He debated it, because Jameson still had a strange feeling about her, but he finally handed her the gun she’d taken from the kidnappers. Maybe she wouldn’t have to use it.
Jameson moved back into position at the window, and while keeping watch, he pressed the button to call the kidnappers. He wasn’t certain they would answer, but they did on the first ring. He put the call on speaker so that Gabriel would be able to hear.
“You probably thought you’d gotten away,” a man immediately growled. “Now it’s time to pay.”
Jameson didn’t even bother to address that threat. “Backup is on the way.”
“We figured it was. That’s why this’ll have to be fast. Give us Kelly, and the kid and everybody else will be okay.”
Even if Jameson had believed that, he wouldn’t have handed over Kelly. But he soon realized Kelly might have a different notion about that. He heard the movement behind him and saw that Kelly was in the doorway of the bathroom. She no longer had Gracelyn in her arms, but she’d clearly heard what the thug had said.
“Why do you want me?” she demanded, and she charged forward toward Jameson and the phone.
“You know why,” the man answered. “So just step outside, and there won’t be a shot fired. You gotta know that’s best for the kid and everybody else in the house. That includes your cop boyfriend.”
The hired gun had done his homework. Or else his boss had filled him in. It made Jameson wonder if these thugs knew that Gracelyn was his daughter. Or maybe they believed she was Boyer’s, just as Jameson had before Mandy dropped the bombshell.
Jameson gave Kelly the meanest scowl he could manage, and he motioned for her to go back in the bathroom. “If you go out there, they’ll kill you and then try to shoot everyone in this house. They aren’t going to leave witnesses.”
“Now, now,” the thug taunted, but he didn’t deny it. He couldn’t. The guy wasn’t wearing a mask, and even though Jameson hadn’t gotten a good look at his face, there was no way these goons would want to leave alive four officers and a PI.
Jameson kept the scowl on Kelly until she huffed and went back to the bathroom. Once she was inside, he returned his full attention to the caller.
“I don’t know what you’re being paid,” Jameson told him, “but it’s not nearly enough. Because you’re going to die if you stay here.”
He figured that would prompt the guy to give him another taunt. It didn’t. The man lifted his hand over the hood of the SUV and pointed his gun at the house.
And he fired.
The shot slammed into the house, right next to the window where Jameson was standing. It wasn’t the only shot, either. Several more came, and one of them crashed through the window and sent glass spewing over the room.
“There’s one in the backyard!” Susan called out.
Hell. That wasn’t what Jameson wanted to hear. Neither did Gabriel, because he cursed.
“If you have a shot, take it,” Gabriel shouted back. “Just don’t let him get in the house.”
Jameson hit the end call button so the goons wouldn’t be able to hear what they were saying. There were more shots, not coming from the guy by the SUV this time. Jameson quickly realized they also weren’t coming from the back. They had slammed into the side of the house.
“I got a shooter,” Cameron let them know.
That caused the skin to crawl on the back of his neck, and Jameson’s thoughts jerked to a really bad place. If these thugs had the house surrounded, they could keep shooting until they ripped it apart, and backup might not arrive in time to stop them.
Gabriel didn’t repeat his warning to Cameron about not letting the guy in the house. His brother knocked out the glass on the side window where he was positioned, and he started shooting.
Jameson did the same.
That sent the guy behind the SUV dropping out of sight, but the gunfire continued on the side of the house. Worse, he heard shots at the back, too. “See if Susan or Cameron need help,” Jameson told Mandy. “But stay close to the bathroom door.”
He didn’t need to spell out why he wanted her to do that, but if these thugs did make it inside, Jameson wanted someone standing guard to stop them from getting to Gracelyn and Kelly.
“There’s one at your three o’clock,” Gabriel said.
Because of his angle, Jameson didn’t spot the guy at first, but then he saw him crawling toward the picket fence. Jameson took aim and put two bullets in him. The guy quit crawling. Whether he was dead or not was anyone’s guess, but maybe he was at least out of commission.
“How much ammo do you have?” Jameson asked his brother.
“A lot. So do Cameron and Susan. You?”
“Plenty.” He’d stocked up before they’d left to go find Mandy. “I’m thinking of trying to shoot out the SUV engine. They might get worried if they realize I can disable their ride. It could cause them to run.”
Of course, part of him didn’t want them to run. Jameson wanted to face them down and arrest the SOBs. But that was too big of a risk to take with the others in the house.
“Go for it,” Gabriel agreed. “As long as you’re shooting at the engine, it might keep thug number one pinned down.”
That was a good side benefit. An even better one would be if he managed to shoot the idiot in the head.
Jameson aimed his gun and started firing. His shot slammed into the SUV’s engine, and it got the reaction he wanted. The engine started to spew steam, which meant he’d hit the radiator. He caught a glimpse of thug number one scrambling to get back inside. He drove off, but it wouldn’t get far. Nor did the second SUV go with him. It stayed put, making Jameson wonder if the hired guns who’d been inside were now the ones at the sides and back of the house.
More shots blasted through the air, all coming from the back of the house, and then Jameson heard a sound that he definitely didn’t want to hear.
Breaking glass.
Not from the back or from where Cameron was, either. No. This had come from the other side. He didn’t know the layout of the house, but it sounded as if it’d come from the window in the room next to the bathroom.
“Go!” Gabriel ordered him.
But Jameson had already started running. However, before he even made it to the hall, there was a different sound. A welcome one. Sirens. That meant backup had arrived. It would probably send the men outside running, but it was the one inside who was the immediate threat. He could start shooting before the backup officers even got out of their vehicles.
The bathroom door was shut, thank God, and it was hopefully locked, but the door adjacent to it was slightly ajar. With his gun ready, Jameson peered around the corner.
No gunman. However, he did see the broken glass on the floor. That twisted his gut into a knot.
Jameson couldn’t risk the idiot firing into the bathroom, so he couldn’t wait to see what this guy was planning. He dragged in a deep breath and gave the door a hard kick.
He got lucky.
Because the door smacked right into the thug who’d just started to move toward him. The guy froze, and that gave Jameson enough time to take aim at him.
“Move,” Jameson warned him, “and you’re a dead man.”
* * *
KELLY HAD SO many emotions running through her that it felt as if there were a F5 tornado in her head. Too bad, because she needed to think. Needed to figure out what was happening so she could stop it.
It was almost a cliché, but this was one of the worst and best times of her life. She had her baby, a baby she hadn’t even remembered existed, and that was an incredible feeling. On the other side of the coin, though, her precious little girl was in danger.
“Pat, pat,” Gracelyn said, drawing Kelly’s attention back to her. Not that it had strayed far. She hadn’t let her baby out of her sight on the trip from the house to the sheriff’s office.
And wouldn’t.
But this wasn’t an ideal situation for any of them. Gracelyn was on a quilt in the break room at the back of the building. It would be night soon, and she didn’t like the idea of her little girl having to sleep here. Thankfully, Gracelyn didn’t seem to mind and was having fun alternating her play sessions among Erica, Mandy and Kelly.
Jameson, too.
He was working the investigation from Gabriel’s office, but he kept popping in every ten minutes or so. Each time he came in, he zoomed right in on Gracelyn and once had even taken her picture with his phone. The glances he spared Kelly weren’t exactly of a friendly nature, and she couldn’t blame him. He would probably never forgive her for this.
After she finished off another cup of coffee, Mandy sank down on the floor next to them, and Kelly didn’t miss her sister wincing when her arm brushed against the sofa.
“The doctor left you some pain meds,” Kelly reminded her.
He’d done that when he had come to the sheriff’s office to stitch up Mandy and examine both Kelly and the baby. Gracelyn didn’t have a bruise or scratch on her. That was something, at least. If she’d been hurt in all of this, Kelly wouldn’t have been able to stomach it.
“The doc left you some pain meds, too,” Mandy pointed out just as quickly.
He had. But Kelly shook her head. “They might make me woozy.”
“Ditto,” Mandy agreed. “I’m thinking this isn’t a good time to be out of it.”
No. They might have to move again at a moment’s notice. The sheriff’s office was safe. Probably. But it was only temporary.
“Maybe Jameson will get some info from the gunman he captured,” Erica suggested. Despite the serious conversation, the nanny smiled at Gracelyn when she babbled something.
Kelly made a sound of agreement to Erica’s comment. She was hoping that would happen, too, but so far the yet-to-be-identified man wasn’t giving them much. Like his comrade, McGill, who was still in custody. Both men had lawyered up. At least the most recent captive wasn’t claiming that Kelly was the one behind this.
“FYI, I didn’t know about Gracelyn until long after she was born,” Mandy said a moment later.
Kelly tried to work through the clutter in her head to figure out why she wouldn’t have told her. “Maybe I thought it would put you in danger if you knew.”
Mandy shrugged, winced again. “If you’d told me sooner, though, I could have helped you. Like with that file from Jameson’s office, for instance. As soon as you got your hands on it, you didn’t tell me squat about what any of the notes and such meant to you. But that file could be the reason these snakes are after all of us now.”
That immediately troubled Kelly. Why wouldn’t she have shared that with Mandy? They were business partners. Fellow PIs. Again, it was possible she realized the info was lethal and she hadn’t wanted to involve Mandy. For all the good it’d done. Obviously, Mandy had gotten involved when those kidnappers took her.
“I feel like an idiot,” Mandy continued, groaning softly. “I should have known it was too easy for me to steal that phone and gun. Those men wanted me to lead them straight to you and Gracelyn. And that’s exactly what I did.”
“You didn’t know.” Kelly slipped her hand over her sister’s.
But they certainly knew now, and it was proof of just how far these monsters would go to get to her.
She was about to ask if Mandy could fill her in on the months she’d been hiding. Those after Gracelyn had been born. But before she could say anything, Jameson opened the door. As with his other visits, he looked at Gracelyn first. Smiled. Gracelyn returned the smile and babbled something again.
“Is she okay?” Jameson asked.
Kelly nodded, and Gracelyn got up and started toddling toward her. She clearly hadn’t been walking that long because she was still a little unsteady, but Jameson met her part of the way, and he scooped her up in his arms.
“I’m working on a place for us to go,” Jameson explained to them. “It shouldn’t be much longer.”
He didn’t add any other details, and Kelly didn’t ask. She trusted that Jameson would do what was best. Unfortunately, even his best might not be enough.
“Pat, pat,” Gracelyn said, clearly wanting him to play the game.
Jameson glanced around as if trying to figure out what to do, but his hesitation didn’t last long. He sank down on the sofa, positioning Gracelyn so she was facing him, and he did something that stunned Kelly.
He played patty-cake.
It was a sight that got Mandy’s and Erica’s attention, too. A hot cowboy with a baby on his lap. Kelly hadn’t even known he knew how to play patty-cake. The sight of them warmed her. And put a lump in her throat.
When he finished two rounds of the game, Jameson kissed Gracelyn’s cheek and sat her back on the quilt. In the same motion, he looked at Kelly. “We need to talk. In Gabriel’s office,” he added.
Kelly didn’t like the sound of that. This was either bad news about the investigation or Jameson was ready to rake her over the coals for keeping Gracelyn from him.
She gave Gracelyn a kiss, too, before she followed Jameson out of the room and to Gabriel’s office just up the hall. Kelly expected to find other cops there, but it was empty. Jameson had obviously been working, though, because there was a laptop on the desk, which was cluttered with open files and paper.
“When did you learn to play patty-cake?” she asked at the same moment that Jameson said, “The second gunman is Weldon Rosa. His name might sound familiar to you because he was a former client of yours.”
Both stopped, maybe surprised by what the other had said. Kelly was certainly surprised anyway. She shook her head. “I don’t recognize him.”
“Maybe because you never actually met him.” Jameson blew out a long breath and scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “According to your computer records, you had an appointment scheduled with him around the time you disappeared. It’s possible you never showed for that appointment.”
“Or maybe he’s the reason I went on the run. Mandy did say someone had tried to kill me.”
He nodded and made a sound that caused her to think he’d already come to that conclusion. “I learned to play patty-cake with Cameron’s nephew. Cameron lives on the ranch with him, and he brings him to my house sometimes.”
Kelly couldn’t help it. She smiled at the thought of that. It didn’t last. And just as quickly, she felt the tears burning her eyes. Tears that she cursed.
“I like kids,” he added. “I always wanted one or two of my own.”
She hadn’t known that about him. Of course, they hadn’t dated that long before things had gone to Hades in a handbasket. Kelly could blame herself for that.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Not just about Gracelyn—”
“Stop,” he snapped. His tone was as lethal as those glares he’d been giving her. But like her smile, the glare didn’t last, either. Maybe because she hadn’t been successful in fighting back those blasted tears.
Jameson cursed under his breath, touched her arm. “It’s a rough time for all of us.” The corner of his mouth lifted a little. Almost a smile. “That’s the mother of all understatements.”
That helped with the tears. Some. But she really did want him to know how sorry she was.
“How can I make this right?” she asked.
His eyes came to hers, and he stared at her as if waiting for something. Maybe for the answer to come to him. Judging from the way he bunched up his forehead, it wasn’t coming. Maybe because there was no way for her to fix things between them.
She wiped away a tear that made it onto her cheek. But Jameson wiped away the second one. His touch was a surprise. A welcome one. His fingers were warm on her skin. Strange that a simple touch from Jameson could suddenly make her feel a whole lot better.
Kelly expected him to move away. That’s what he usually did whenever they got close. But he didn’t. On a heavy sigh, Jameson slipped his arm around her waist and inched her to him. The touch had been a drop in the bucket compared to having her body against his again. There was more warmth. The attraction.
And memories.
More of those fragments came. Of another time he’d held her. Also when he’d kissed her.
She stood there, so close to him, and her body picked up the rhythm of his breathing. Her pulse was already thick and throbbing, and it only got worse when he pulled back just a fraction. That’s because Kelly thought this was all going to end.
It didn’t.
He studied her, easing her hair from her face. She could see the debate in his eyes, and he was trying to make himself put an end to this. Because she was a complication that he didn’t want or need. He cursed again, and that was the only warning Kelly got before his mouth came to hers.
There. That’s what she wanted. And she didn’t need her full memory back to know that. The kiss suddenly made the heat ripple through her. It didn’t stay a ripple, either. When Jameson kept kissing her, her body responded. So did his. She could feel him against the zipper of her jeans.
Kelly slipped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her. Not that they could get any closer, but Jameson didn’t fight it. In fact, he added to the complication by turning her and pressing her back against the wall. She hadn’t thought they could get any closer, but Kelly had been wrong.
The kiss didn’t stop, and Jameson deepened it when he took hold of the back of her neck. The fire was already too hot, but that created an urgency. A bad one. Because there was only one fix for it.
A fix they couldn’t have.
Even if her body was suggesting otherwise.
Jameson finally stepped back, probably because he needed air. Time to regroup, too. And she saw the moment he realized just what a stupid mistake this was. Not only had it caused them to lose focus, but this intimacy also added to the complications. They had enough of those without acting on the attraction.
Dragging in some breaths and cursing himself, Jameson stepped back even farther from her. Not a second too soon, either. Because Gabriel appeared in the doorway. He opened his mouth and looked at them. As if he knew exactly what had happened between them, he shook his head.
“We have a visitor,” Gabriel said.
“Yeah, and you need to see me,” someone added.
August.
Despite the scowl Gabriel gave him, August came to the door, as well. His mouth tightened when his attention landed on them. Like Gabriel, he seemed to know they’d just kissed. Apparently, Jameson and she looked guilty as sin.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Jameson said to August. “I have some questions for you.”
August’s eyes went wide. “What are you talking about?” But he quickly waved that off. “Save your allegations and slander for later. Right now, you have a much bigger problem on your hands.”
It took Kelly a moment to realize that August was talking to her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean Boyer.” August huffed. “Now he’s claiming that I helped you steal his daughter. And he’s headed over here with some kind of paperwork. My lawyers think it might be arrest warrants for both of us.”