Chapter Nine

NORAH HADN’T REALIZED THAT Ryker had left the bed, her body lulled into a deep sleep by his even breaths and the steady rise and fall of his chest. But as she hears the gunshot ring out through the house, she awakens with a start and then feels her heart stop as she recognizes that she is alone in the room.

“Ryker,” she shouts, and when she hears silence she scrambles out of bed and tumbles down the steps in her urgency to reach him.

Her bruised hip and ego pale in comparison as she watches Eli carry a limp Ryker up the porch steps. He places him on the sofa they had been occupying earlier, and then immediately stands to press down on a wound Norah had yet to recognize, the blood staining what had been a white shirt.

“What’s going on?” Jameson asks from beside her taking the words right from her mouth.

“Someone shot from up in the trees and hit him in the shoulder. My guess is they were aiming for his chest, and he moved aside just in time. I need a first aid kit, he mentioned one being in the house and I need the anticoagulant stat.”

Norah stands frozen as Jameson rushes off, not even noticing that he had only tugged on a pair of boxers in his quest to determine what was wrong. She only has on one of Ryker’s undershirts covering her naked body. Luckily the soft material comes down to her knees.

Eli looks up at her with urgency in his eyes, “I need you to take over. He’s lost a lot of blood, and I’m hoping like all hell that there is a quick IV kit in that aid box. Are he and his brother identical twins?”

“They are, though I don’t see the resemblance,” she says trying to smile, but instead a sob breaks free as she presses against Ryker’s chest.

“Good, that means that they have the same blood type. Let’s hope that the gun man is running scared because I do not want to move him right now.”

Just as Eli moves to head inside Jameson exits and they crash into each other.

Frantically Jameson says, “I called Logan and Avery. The rest of the town will be here shortly I’m sure.”

“Even at three in the morning?” Norah questions but he looks at her like she’s grown two heads.

“Especially at three in the morning.”

Looking down at Ryker she watches as his chest struggles to rise and fall with each staggered breath.

She leans down and whispers into his ear, “Stay with me, Ryker. I love you.”

“Why didn’t Gary alert us?” Jameson says mentioning the security guard. Norah looks over her shoulder to find the light on in the distance and then she notices Cohen’s imposing body stalking toward them.

“Maybe Cohen will know,” she says as she adjusts her hands.

Eli comes over with the first aid kit and opens it up revealing a slew of items and Norah has no idea what half of them are. His hands search through the pieces until he finds what he is looking for and raises it in the air in victory.

“This powder is a blood clotter, and it hurts like hell so we’re lucky he’s unconscious otherwise I doubt he’d let us take care of both sides.” Norah nods, and he continues, “I’m going to get you to remove your hand when I tell you to, and I’m going to pour the clotting powder on the wound and then we’ll dress it. Then we’ll work to flip him over and repeat it on the other side. It’s only temporary until Logan can get him to the clinic to, unfortunately, clean it out and dress it properly. He may need a blood transfusion too. The bullet nicked a vein or artery with the way the blood is streaming.”

Norah pales at the thought of what Ryker is going through, but Eli presses a hand to her shoulder. “You can do this.”

“Okay.”

“On three. One. Two. Three.”

Norah lifts her hand and turns away as she imagines Eli cleaning the wound and then pouring the powder. Though unconscious she watches as Ryker’s hand twitches and she wonders if he can feel the pain, if he is screaming on the inside. She reaches out and squeezes the hand, holding him as a reminder that she is there and he immediately calms down.

It takes only a minute for Eli to perform the task and he motions for Norah and Jameson to help him flip Ryker over. Halfway to positioning him on his stomach Jameson looks down at the cushions and grimaces.

“Man, we just got those.”

Sternly Norah says, “Jameson!”

“Geez, I’m just saying. No need to go all ‘Mom’ on me.”

“Your mother would have slapped you on the back of your head for saying something like that.”

“True. Alright brother, let’s get you all fixed up,” Jameson says as they reposition Ryker on the couch.

Eli performs the cleanup and dressing once more and then stands back to survey his work.

“I hope that this is enough. And Jay, we need you to go with them to the clinic when Logan arrives. He’s probably going to need a direct transfusion.”

“Really? I give him five minutes, and he’s going to wake up, and he’s going to fight tooth and nail to stay here,” Jameson counters.

As much as Norah wants Ryker to get proper treatment she has to agree with Jameson. Ryker can be pretty damn stubborn and will want to stay with the action. He isn’t going to sit in a hospital bed twiddling his thumbs.

As if on cue a groan sounds from the sofa and Norah crouches down to look into Ryker’s eyes as he turns his head in confusion.

“Hey,” she says gently as Norah runs her hands through his hair, her emotions finally getting the better of her as wetness fills her eyes.

“What happened?”

“You got shot in the shoulder.”

“So that’s why my arm hurts like hell. I remember. Did we get him?” he asks groggily and tries to move.

“Stay still, you’ve lost a lot of blood. Logan will be here soon to check you over and fix you up properly. And no, it looks like the guy is either still hiding in the trees or he’s taken off.”

From behind her Cohen speaks up. “And unfortunately it looks like he killed your security guard in the process. I’m so sorry, man.”

His already dim expression transforms into one of misery and Norah aches for him. Gary was his friend and had been with him since he joined the band. Hell, he built the house in the woods for him.

“How?” Ryker asks and while everyone else turns their attention to Cohen Norah watches Ryker.

“It looks like the guy had on a silencer and shot at him through a window hitting him in the back of the head. In his quest to get anyone standing in his way of Norah he dropped it as he moved through the trees which explains why it was so loud when he shot at you,” Cohen explains as he holds up the silencer.

“Shouldn’t we go inside? Get somewhere safer?” Norah cries out thinking that she’s the reason a man has lost his life and Ryker has been shot.

“Yeah,” Jameson says lazily. “Inside is good. Luckily the windows on the house are bulletproof – safety and all that.”

“Why didn’t you install them in the other house?” Norah asks as Eli and Jameson help Ryker to his feet.

“Because Gary didn’t want them,” Ryker whispers as he wobbles with each step as he enters the house.

As the group steers through the living room toward the basement Logan and Avery rush through the front door, each holding a baby carrier.

“What happened? I got the text from Jameson, and we came right away.”

“You live on the other side of town, how did you get here so fast? And with kids?” Jameson asks.

“The babies were up for a feeding and someone,” Logan nudges Avery’s shoulder, “may have gone over the speed limit in her hurry to get to her brother.”

Avery shrugs and doesn’t look the least bit ashamed. “It was an emergency. Anyway, I’m going to put the babies in the living room, and we’ll get started.”

“Actually, in case the shooter is still active I think we should head toward the basement. Just as a precaution. There is a small bedroom down there you can put them in,” Jameson explains as he begins to shuffle Ryker down the steps as Norah looks on.

“How are you holding up?” Avery asks as she holds the carrier steady to keep from jostling the baby inside.

“I’m okay. I just feel like all this is my entire fault. If I hadn’t come into your lives, then this wouldn’t have happened. Now there is a man dead, and Ryker isn’t too far behind.”

“Hey now, you have to think positively. This could have been so much worse. What if he had gotten into the house? What if he had killed you or Ryker while you slept? What if he had taken you away? There are all these ‘what ifs’ that will drive you crazy if you let them. Be strong and optimistic. You can’t change the past, but we can make our own future.

Norah thinks on Avery’s words as the beautiful woman with the Caribbean blue eyes smiles and walks toward her husband who has the other baby carrier in his grasp. She is right. At this moment she should be thankful that the situation hadn’t been worse and more lives hadn’t been taken. She’s lucky that it wasn’t an ambush.

She approaches Ryker as they lay him across the floor on top of a plastic sheet Logan removed from his medical bag and handed to Eli. Ryker looks uncomfortable, his skin has turned an ashen color, and Norah prays that Logan is able to help.

They watch in silence as Logan begins to undress the wound and clean it thoroughly, removing the new scabs and clotting powder. Ryker’s winces tear at her heart, but he holds her gaze steady as his brother-in-law works him over.

“How do you think he found you this quickly?” Eli asks from beside her.

Norah thinks for a moment and then it dawns on her. She had turned on her phone earlier in the evening. If her father paid attention to her at all in the years he was supposedly sent to prison then he would know that she spent her free time in Carson, North Carolina.

“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit,” she repeats as she stumbles backward onto the end table holding a lamp which topples to the ground.

“What? What is it?” Ryker asks and jerks which causes him to scream out in pain as Logan ends up digging into the wound.

“Stop moving,” Logan chastises.

Eli and Jameson approach her slowly looking at her as if she is a fearful cat ready to scamper off at the first sign of being spooked.

“What’s wrong?” Jameson asks unhurriedly.

“My phone. That’s how they found me. I . . . I didn’t think anything of it earlier. I was just checking messages, and I had some from this morning from an unknown number saying that they were watching me. Do you think -” Norah trails off.

“Dammit. Where is the phone? I want it now.” Jameson roars as he steps back toward his brother who is staring daggers at them wanting to be filled in.

“It’s up in the bedroom. I can go get it.”

Eli gestures for her to stay and he turns around to head up the stairs offering to retrieve the phone himself. Norah stares blankly at the steps leading to the upper floors until he returns and luckily it’s only a few minutes later when he finds the phone waving it in the air.

They seek out Jameson, but he is focused on his brother as Avery wipes his arm clean with alcohol. Logan and Eli had mentioned that Ryker may need a blood transfusion and it seems that it’s going to happen sooner rather than later.

Ten minutes later Logan finishes cleaning out Ryker’s wound and explaining how the bullet went cleanly through the muscle, but he may have to do some physical therapy to have it back to normal. He doesn’t mention nicking an artery or vein but says that Ryker has lost a lot of blood and Jameson is willing to supply some immediately.

She watches in amazement as Logan and Avery locate a vein on Ryker and an artery on Jameson. A tie is wrapped around Jameson’s arm and then the needles inserted. Norah watches the blood flow between the brothers and after a minute or two color returns to Ryker’s face.

“We’ll let this go a few more minutes, and then we’ll let them rest,” Logan explains as he stands beside her.

“Thank you.”

“I am glad that you all called. This could have been much worse. Not just with the blood loss but an inch to the right or left and he would have bled out. Not to mention if it had been his chest or lungs.”

Logan and Avery take a moment to check on their little ones sleeping peacefully in the other room and then remove the transfusion from Jameson and then Ryker tossing them in a plastic red biohazard bag from Logan’s satchel.

“Anyone up for breakfast? We might as well stick around. I’m sure the rest of the town is about to descend.”

“Breakfast sounds great actually. Do you think Sydney delivers?” Norah asks.

“No, but today I think she’d make an exception,” Logan jokes as they all head back upstairs; Eli and Cohen assisting Jameson and Ryker.

With the sun beginning to break through the horizon the town is true to their word and come to the gated house ready to defend Ryker. She isn’t sure how they are all getting through the gate but she suspects they all have been given Ryker’s passcode, but then that wouldn’t surprise her either. Even if he didn’t give it out it wouldn’t take long for his mother to share it.

Preston arrives first quickly followed by Dylan and the rest of the siblings, but Norah’s eyes hone in on the multiple bags that Sydney and Dylan carry in their hands.

“Hand over the food, and no one gets hurt,” Cohen jokes, but as she looks over to him with his grim expression, she isn’t sure that he is joking at all.

Norah takes a seat between the brothers as they slouch on the sofa, Ryker’s hand immediately seeking hers out.

“Hey, Jameson. When you’re feeling up to it do you think you can trace that phone number?”

His blue eyes turn toward her in a mix of questions and intrigue. “Oh yeah. I almost forgot.”

“Because I’m fairly certain that those messages could only be coming from my father.”

“Eli!” he shouts never letting his gaze waver from her face.

“What?”

“Go grab my laptop from upstairs. We have a number to trace.”

 

*

 

RYKER HADN’T SEEN NORAH since she and Jameson locked themselves in his office about three hours ago. He is just starting to feel more like himself thankful that his brother was able to supply him the blood needed to break him from his subdued state. Having a twin isn’t so bad under these circumstances.

Now he is regretting letting his brother have the upper hand again. He feels like he owes his twin something for saving his life and that isn’t a feeling Ryker enjoys at all.

He hasn’t so much as left his perch on the couch, afraid that he’ll tear something or make his injury worse, but after three hours of watching some action flick Eli had turned on and being hovered over by his mother Ryker has had enough.

He pushes himself up using the arm of the sofa, and his mother scampers over to scold him.

“You need to rest, sweetie.”

“No, I need to go check on my woman,” Ryker replies to his mother as he takes a heavy step toward the stairs.

“I don’t think you’re quite up to it yet,” his mother explains as she tries to steer him back to the sofa.

“Don’t care,” Ryker insists shaking off her hand.

“Lets him be, Amy,” Ryker’s father says as he wraps an arm around her waist tugging her back. “You know I would be the same way if it were you.” Ryker watches as his father presses a kiss to the top of her head and a smile grows on her face.

“Fine, just be careful Ryker. You shouldn’t be moving around a lot right now. You should be resting.”

“I’ll be fine, Mom.”

Ryker turns around and heads toward the stairs to go up to Jameson’s office. But luckily he doesn’t have to take the trying trip up the steps in search of Norah. She comes bounding down the stairwell with a massive grin on her lips and almost tumbles into him.

“He was able to track the phone, and it’s showing a location in New Jersey, thank goodness. And we think we have the program figured out. I showed him some changes I had made in the coding, and he was able to mimic those changes with my thumb drive.  The numbers are close to syncing up so now we just wait until it pings the match and stops the search. Then we can test halting the program,” she explains without taking a breath, and Ryker stares at her in her excitement and falls in love with Norah a bit more. She speaks so passionately about this program and Ryker feeds off of it.

Even in his disabled state Ryker yanks her forward by gripping her shirt in his fist, now thankful she has pulled on a pair of leggings beneath his shirt. As she crashes into his shirtless body, she grabs his injured shoulder, but he doesn’t wince at the pain. Instead, he seals his mouth with hers and pours his love out with the kiss.

“What was that for?” she asks as she leans away.

“You’re so fucking sexy when you talk about your programs and codes,” he tells her.

“I can honestly say that is the first time I’ve heard that.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t be the last time.”

“What are you doing up? Shouldn’t you be resting?” Norah asks as she quickly pulls her hand away from his shoulder realizing it’s sitting on his bandage.

“I was coming to see you.”

“Miss me?”

“Of course.”

“And it had nothing to do with me alone with Jameson?”

Shaking his head, Ryker denies it. “No, not at all.”

Norah leans in and presses another kiss to his lips. “I don’t believe you,” she says against his mouth, her lips brushing against his.

“He’s a liar,” Jameson chuckles as he bounds down the stairs past Norah.

“If I weren’t hurt I would beat you,” Ryker says to Jameson’s back.

“I’d like to see you try,” Jameson counters with his arms crossed as he leans against the pool table.

“If I remember correctly I beat your ass yesterday.”

Jameson rolls his eyes and refrains from replying to Ryker’s statement.

Logan walks out of the small bedroom with Avery following closely behind him stifling a yawn and heads in his direction.

Ryker tosses his good arm over Norah’s shoulder, and she wraps her arm around his waist as Logan approaches them.

“I’m glad to see you’re up and moving. I’d like to take you over to the clinic so we can file this in your record and to see how everything is beginning to heal.”

Ryker grumbles and Norah squeezes his waist. “What if I don’t want to?”

“Not going to give you much of a choice really. I’ll have the guys drag you there,” Logan threatens.

“Fine.”

“Actually, it works out perfectly,” Jameson says as he uncrosses his arms from his chest. “I think we have the program synced up and I want to head to the office to shut down the scanner if Norah wants to join me.”

“Oh my gosh, really?” she exclaims as she pulls away from Ryker and heads toward Jameson in excitement.

“Yeah, it’s why I came down here. I was excited to tell you.”

Ryker watches their exchange, but he doesn’t feel the jealousy he had yesterday. Instead, he feels the same excitement that Norah must feel. They’ve made headway and may actually be able to stop this mess. With the program ended and Dylan sending the coordinates of Anthony Moretti’s whereabouts to the FBI he and Norah may be able to move forward. Or at least tackle the next issue in their relationship – his fans.

“Okay, well I can ride with you over to your office since its close to the clinic,” Ryker suggests since Logan and Avery have their car filled with the babies.

Dylan moves into the space and Ryker is not sure how the man is able to sneak up on them. “If you’re leaving the house I’d like us to go with you. Just in case. I’ll have Preston, Heath, and Alexis set up some lookout points. Better to be safe than sorry. Otherwise, I advise you to stay put and let Jameson handle it on his own.”

“No, I understand. I can deal with them being close by,” Norah concedes. “Are you okay with this too?” Norah asks Ryker, and his chest warms knowing that she is considering his feelings too.

“It’s fine. You do what you need to, princess.”

The group moves as one to the upper level of the house and disperse into vehicles all while keeping Norah centered between the group. Only until she is secured in the backseat of Ryker’s vehicle does Jameson pull out of the garage and head toward downtown Carson in the early morning light.

They pull up in front of the pediatric clinic in town which houses Jameson’s office on the third floor. Ryker watches as Logan and Avery arrive at the main clinic up the road and he makes his way out of the car. From the rooftop of Wake and Bake up the street, Ryker can see Heath set up his position while Alexis sits on the bench of the pediatric clinics front door. Dylan stakes his spot along the back of the clinic at the employee entrances. And Preston mosies up the road looking like the quintessential small-town sheriff.

“Hey,” Ryker begins as he assists Norah from the car. “Be careful, okay?”

“I will. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I know. I love you.”

Norah smiles up at him and returns his sentiment. “I love you too.”

Ryker leaves her side and begins his trek up to the family medicine clinic leaving Norah in Jameson’s hands. He makes it about halfway to the clinic before the feeling of being watched washes over him.

As he turns around to glance back at Jameson’s office, he’s surprised to find Norah and Alexis standing outside speaking with each other.

Norah waves in his direction, and he chalks up his feeling to her eyes watching him walk away. Ryker considers that she must have been waiting for him to get to the clinic before she heads inside.

He throws a hand in the air, waving in their direction and continues to move in the family clinic’s direction.

When he approaches the parking lot of the clinic, he notices a car careening around one of the corners of the winding road at a breakneck speed. Ryker turns in alarm as he tries to peer into the deeply tinted windows as the car passes. The vehicle isn’t familiar, and his heart settles in the pit of his stomach.

“Norah!” he shouts, but the distance is too great for her to hear him. He tries to run in her direction witnessing the car slowing as it approaches Norah and Alexis.

The tip of a gun pokes out of the sunroof and releases a shot, slamming Alexis against the brick and stone siding, her body sliding down the fascia. Ryker isn’t sure where she is shot, but he knows she’s wearing a vest to protect herself. Luckily she required Norah to do the same before they left.

But a shot isn’t what Ryker fears. As a man rushes out of the car and wraps his oversized body around Norah, his fear becomes a reality. The man tugs a kicking and screaming Norah from the sidewalk and into the car. Ryker watches in horror as Norah bites the man’s arm, but it doesn’t faze him at all. Instead, he lays a punch to the side of her head, the same side with the healing wound.

His gut clenches to the point he’s afraid he’s going to lose the little amount of food he was able to keep down this morning.

Ryker advances on the car just as the vehicle begins to pull away. He tries to reach for the door handle, but he’s too late. With his adrenaline rushing through his veins Ryker looks around helplessly until he sees the two guns hanging around the holsters on Alexis’ waist.

He runs toward her slouched body on the wall, a breath of air escaping him when he sees that she is still breathing. The shock of the gunfire and the banging of her head on the wall must have been strong enough to render her unconscious.

Ryker snags one of her guns and points it in the direction of the speeding car. Flipping the safety off Ryker steadies his shaking hand and aims - thankful for the years his father spent with them shooting at the lake.

With his aim at the back tire, Ryker lines up his shot until another three shots ring out one right after the other. Another quickly follows and the vehicle whirls around in an uncontrollable spin until it’s stopped by a tree along the side of the road.

Ryker runs as fast as he can toward the scene with his gun drawn, barely noticing how Heath careens down the side of the building and then raises both handguns in the direction of the vehicle.

Just as they approach the car, the back passenger side door swings open and a shocked Norah crawls away from the scene crab style. Ryker changes his direction and heads toward her taking in her wild and fearful eyes and her bloodstained face and shirt.

“Norah! Princess, are you okay?” Ryker asks but as their eyes meet his worst nightmare comes true, she scampers away from him too.