Mason levered himself off her but then dropped right back down. Abbie followed his gaze and saw the movement to the far right of that clump of trees. It was a man. And for a moment she thought it was Boone. But it wasn’t.
It was Ferguson.
Of course. So, he’d been the one to take Ford up on the offer to kill them. The money alone would have been enticing enough, but this was his chance to kill her and Boone, the man who’d protected her all these years.
Mason lifted his gun and took aim at Ferguson. He didn’t fire, probably because he was waiting for the man to move a little. After all, Eve and the baby were likely just on the other side of those trees, and if Mason missed, one of them could be hit.
Abbie waited, her breath frozen in her throat. Her heart slamming against her chest.
But Ferguson didn’t budge.
“What’s he doing?” she mumbled. He wasn’t looking out toward the ranch. Nor toward the road. He seemed to be focused on the cemetery itself.
That’s when it hit Abbie. It was probably where Boone was hiding out.
She watched in horror as Ferguson took aim. She wanted to shout out a warning. But couldn’t. She could only watch, wait and pray that Boone, Eve and the baby were out of the line of fire.
The seconds crawled by, making the wait unbearable.
Without warning, Ferguson suddenly dropped to the ground. Abbie shook her head, wondering why the heck he’d done that. But she didn’t have time to wonder long.
A bullet slammed through the air.
Not toward Ferguson.
But at Mason and her.
* * *
MASON HELD HIS BREATH. Waited for another shot to come zinging their way. Especially because the last one had torn into the fence. This was exactly what Mason had hoped and prayed they could avoid.
Gunfire.
He tried to crawl over Abbie to keep her down, but she maneuvered to the side and took aim. Good grief, the woman was stubborn, but if their situations had been reversed, he sure wouldn’t have stayed put either. Too bad Abbie was going to have to choke down her instincts and pride because he didn’t want her in any more danger.
“Get down!” Mason insisted.
Abbie did lower herself, slightly, and like him, she looked around to pinpoint the origin of that single shot. It had come from the general direction of where he’d spotted Ferguson. However, Abbie’s nemesis was nowhere in sight now. Probably because he’d fired that shot and then gotten down.
Mason glanced around to make sure everyone was okay. He could see just the outlines of his brothers who were scattered around the pasture. Six guns, plus Abbie. Mason had wanted more, but he couldn’t leave the wives and kids unprotected at the house. That’s why he’d asked every available ranch hand to stand guard outside the ranch house.
“Listen,” Abbie whispered, her voice trembling now.
And Mason knew why. He heard the same sounds she had. The baby. Crying. Grayson no doubt heard it, too, and there was no way he would continue to lie in wait in the pasture with his son’s cries filling the night air. No. This could get even more dangerous, fast.
Abbie apparently thought so, too, because she shouted out before Mason could stop her. “You said you’d let Eve and the baby go if I came. Well, here I am. Now let them go.”
Mason braced himself for a shot to come their way. But it didn’t.
“Come out where I can see you,” the person shouted back. Mason recognized the man’s voice from the earlier phone call. It was almost certainly Greer.
“You’re not going to do this,” Mason told her, and he latched on to her arm just in case she tried. He should have clamped a hand over her mouth.
“I’ll come out there when Eve and the baby are safely away from all this,” Abbie answered.
Silence. But Mason kept watch while he waited for Greer to respond.
Where the devil was Ferguson? Was he trying to sneak up on them? Maybe. But it could be worse than that. Mason had no idea how many other gunmen were working with Greer and Ferguson, and here Abbie was willing to walk right into the middle of that viper’s nest.
“I’m coming out,” someone else shouted. Not Greer this time but Boone. “You can release Eve and baby and hold me at gunpoint instead. Abbie will do whatever you tell her if you’re holding me. Isn’t that right, Abbie?”
“Stay back, Boone!” she yelled. And she no doubt meant it. She was terrified for his life.
But Mason saw this from a different point of the view. From Ferguson’s. If he had Boone, he did indeed control Abbie, and it’d be easier to kill them both.
“All right,” Greer answered. “Boone, you have a deal. Come out so I can see you, and keep your hands in the air.”
“No!” Abbie shouted. But it was too late.
Mason saw Boone step from the clump of trees. Not too far from where he’d spotted Ferguson earlier. Mason couldn’t see Greer, but he had no doubt that the assassin had his weapon trained on Boone.
“They’re coming out,” Greer announced.
“What about the booby traps?” Grayson yelled.
Greer took his time answering. “Eve knows where she has to run.”
Oh, mercy. It was dark, and Eve was scared. Not the best of conditions for navigating what could be a minefield.
Mason held his breath. Waited. Prayed. Hoped that if his prayer failed, his aim wouldn’t.
Boone moved to his right and eventually out of sight. On Greer’s orders probably. Finally, Mason saw something he actually wanted to see.
Eve and the baby.
His sister-in-law had a crying Chet clutched to her chest, and she ran out from the trees. Grayson got up and raced over the fence toward them.
Mason and his brothers responded, too. They all approached, ready to fire if anyone took a shot at Grayson. Thank God that didn’t happen. Grayson helped them over the fence and pulled them down to the ground so he could shield them. The next step would be to get them completely away from there.
Abbie, too.
But that thought had no sooner crossed his mind, when there was movement in the trees again. Mason could see Boone, and he appeared to be arguing, but he couldn’t make out what he was saying.
“Eve and the baby should go now,” Greer ordered.
Grayson lifted his head, looked around. No doubt wondering if it was a trap.
“Just the two of them,” Greer clarified. “Not her husband. Not Abbie. Not anyone else. And hey, if I’d wanted them dead, they wouldn’t be out there with you.”
True, but Mason didn’t trust Greer or the snake who’d hired him.
“Go now, Eve!” Greer insisted. “Last chance to get that baby away from here before all hell breaks loose.”
Grayson gave her a nod, and she started moving. She stayed low. Kept the baby close to her. She made her way back to the house.
“Oh, God,” Abbie mumbled.
Just as Boone dived to the side.
There was no time to figure out why he did that because the shots started, and one of them slammed into the fence right next to Abbie and Mason. As close as that shot was, Mason still took a moment to glance back, to make sure Eve and the baby were out of harm’s way.
They were.
That was something, at least. Now he had to do the same for Abbie by taking out the shooter.
Shooters, Mason corrected.
There were two sets of shots, and both were coming right at them. Greer and Ferguson probably. But where was Boone, and was he in a position to help?
“What happened to your plan of taking me?” Abbie shouted over the shots.
“Stay quiet,” Mason warned her so the shooters couldn’t pinpoint their position, but he wanted to know the same darn thing.
“This is the plan,” Greer calmly answered.
None of them responded. They just waited. But Mason suddenly got a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
“You’ll stand up, climb over the fence and come stand by your grandfather’
s grave. That’s where Ford requested that you all die.”
Yeah, Ford was a sick SOB all right. “Any reason we’d just walk to our slaughter?” Mason asked, figured the answer he was about to hear was obvious.
Ferguson and Greer were going to use Boone to lure them out.
Not the wisest of plans, especially because all but Abbie hated him. Well, maybe not hate. But there was no love lost there. Maybe their attackers were counting on the fact that six lawmen weren’t just going to stand by while Boone was gunned down.
“You’ve got no leverage,” Boone called out to the gunmen. “I won’t have any of my sons or Abbie dying because of me.”
“Oh, it’s not you they’ll try to save.” And Greer let that hang in the air for several bad moments.
“What do you mean?” Grayson finally asked.
“I mean your wife is wearing a jacket with an explosive device. She’s probably inside the house now with all the others. The wives, the kids, the ranch hands. And even if she’s taken off the jacket, the device is still there.”
Oh, hell. And Mason just kept repeating it. Across from him, he heard Grayson utter something much worse.
“All of you, stand up now,” Greer ordered. “Drop your weapons, put your hands in the air so I can see them. And start walking toward me. One wrong move, and I detonate the explosive, and everybody in that house dies.
“Oh,” Greer said, his tone mocking, “you’ve got thirty seconds.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Stay behind me,” Mason warned Abbie.
She would for now, but they both knew that wouldn’t last long. Soon, Greer would want her since she was first on the list.
“Put down your guns,” Greer reminded them.
Abbie dropped hers, lifted her hands into the air. Mason dropped his, too, but Abbie saw the pistol he had tucked in the back waist of his jeans. He didn’t remove that one, but he did lift his hands and started over the fence.
“Behind me,” Mason emphasized to her.
Abbie did that, as well. She climbed over the fence, along with the others, and they started trudging toward the cemetery.
“Those thirty seconds are almost up,” Greer taunted.
That got them hurrying, even though Abbie hated that Greer was playing with them like puppets. Still, they couldn’t risk an explosion. They all came to a stop in the clearing, just a few feet away from the first grave.
Boone was already there, waiting for them to join him.
It took a moment for her to spot Greer because he was partly hidden behind a tree. And armed, of course.
“You sent a text to your wife,” Greer accused, looking directly at Grayson. “Don’t bother to deny it,” he continued when Grayson didn’t answer. “It’s all right if you told her about the device. I’m getting paid to finish things with all of you, not them.”
Despite the circumstances, Abbie believed him, and she was glad that Grayson had managed to warn Eve. Maybe now the Ryland wives and children would be safe. That was something, at least.
Greer pointed to one of the trees on Abbie’s left, and when she followed his pointing finger, she spotted the rifleman perched on one of the branches. That explained the two sets of shots.
Well, maybe.
“Where’s Ferguson?” Abbie just came right out and asked. “Or does he plan to stay in hiding when he shoots me?”
“He’s not going to shoot you,” Boone growled. And like Mason, he also stepped in front of her.
However, the shift in position didn’t block her from seeing Greer’s reaction. He certainly wasn’t jumping to answer, and he seemed annoyed. She hoped that meant Greer and Ferguson weren’t seeing eye to eye on how this should all play out. Dissention could work in her favor.
Greer pointed to two other trees. “Cameras,” he explained. “Senator Herrington left the money for this job in the hands of an attorney in the Cayman Islands, and the lawyer requires proof.”
Mason glared at the cameras, at the gunman in the tree and at Greer. “I hope your boss is paying you enough to have this much blood on your hands.”
“Who says I have a boss, other than the late senator, that is?” Greer fired back.
Mason shrugged. “You’re not smart enough to set this up on your own.”
Abbie gave Mason a warning groan, which he ignored. Maybe he figured he could goad Greer into doing something that would violate the rules of this nightmare.
“Besides, Ford left only three letters,” Mason continued, “and you didn’t get one of them.” He put his hands on his hips, close to his gun. “But it does make me wonder—will your boss keep you alive? Because I gotta say, you are a major loose end that could tie you to multiple murders and a boatload of other felonies.”
“Yeah,” Gage chimed in. “And because your boss isn’t showing his face, then I’m thinking he wants you to do all the dirty work. Then he takes out you and your wingman in the tree, sends the video to the lawyer, and he doesn’t have to pay you a penny.”
Even in the darkness, Abbie saw the anger flash over Greer’s face. “That’s not going to happen.” He turned that anger on Mason. “And time’s up. Step to the side.”
So that Greer could kill her.
Mason would try and stop that from happening. So would Boone. Abbie, too. But she doubted all of them would make it out of this alive, and she darn sure didn’t want someone else dying in her place.
Abbie glanced at Mason, making eye contact, even though she could see him inching his hand toward his gun. He didn’t have to tell her what he wanted her to do. He wanted her to get down while he had a shootout with Greer and the rifleman.
In other words, suicide.
Abbie snapped toward Greer. She figured she had seconds, or less, to try to stop that from happening. “I don’t want to die in front of the Rylands,” she told Greer. Not a lie but the next part was. “I have no connection with any of them other than through Boone, and they haven’t exactly given me a warm and fuzzy welcome to Silver Creek.”
Mason shot her a glare, which she ignored.
“Ford’s instructions were that I was to die in front of Boone,” she continued. “Just Boone.”
That wasn’t an amused look Greer gave her. More like a suspicious one. He paused for several seconds. Then, he shook his head. “No deal. All of you stay together. And you die together. One at a time.”
Abbie had expected that response, but she wasn’t giving up.
Greer aimed his gun directly at her. She got ready to dive to the side. Away from Mason and Boone. And she hoped they did the same.
Everything happened fast but in slow motion, too. She saw Greer’s hand tense, ready to pull the trigger. But before he could do that, Mason rammed his body into hers, sending her crashing to the ground.
A shot cracked through the air.
But Abbie couldn’t tell who had shot or where the bullet had landed. That’s because Mason dropped right on top of her, and the fall and the impact knocked the breath out of her.
There was another shot. Then another. But Abbie couldn’t move because she was gasping for air. Mason, however, moved her. He dragged her behind one of the trees, and he came up to return fire.
Abbie heard the sound then. Not just a bullet. But the deadly thud of a bullet slamming into something. Into someone, she mentally corrected. There was a groan of pain.
And then nothing.
With her heart racing out of control, she looked at Mason. He had ducked behind the tree but was also still firing. He wasn’t hurt, thank God. Well, not yet anyway.
She frantically looked around for Boone. No sign of him. And she hated to have to consider that he might have been the one who was shot. If not him, then one of his sons.
“I have to take out the rifleman,” Mason mumbled. “Don’t move,” he ordered her again.
Abbie couldn’t anyway. She was still fighting for breath. Plus, going out there now would only get Mason and her killed.
Mason scrambled to the next
tree over, then another, and Abbie got her first glimpse of the war zone playing out in front of her. Grayson was behind one of the trees, and he, too, had taken aim at the rifleman. She was thankful that Grayson had a gun as well, but that wasn’t stopping the rifleman. He was firing nonstop, and he definitely had a better vantage point.
She shifted a little, still keeping cover behind the tree but also searching for Boone. No sign of him or Mason’s other brothers. Definitely no sign of the person who’d been shot. It was too much to hope that it’d been Greer or Ferguson.
Abbie thought of the Ryland wives back at the house and prayed that none of them would try to come into this. Of course, that was a strong possibility. She imagined herself in their place, with the men they loved in danger, and Abbie knew there was no way she could stay put.
With her breath level again, she searched around the tree for something, anything, she could use as a weapon. She latched on to a small limb and was dragging it closer when she saw the movement from the corner of her eye.
There was no time for her to react. No time to get out of the way. Something bashed right into her head. The pain was instant. Searing. And before Abbie could even call out to Mason, the darkness came.
* * *
MASON CURSED. THE RIFLEMAN was out of range of Mason’s Colt. Probably the reason the would-be killer had chosen that particular spot in the first place. Not good. Because as long as he stayed in that tree, none of them were safe.
He glanced around, trying to work out everyone’s position, but the only one he could see was Grayson. When the shots had started, everyone had scattered, and Mason only hoped that one of them was in a better position than he was to eliminate the rifleman.
“Abbie?” he heard someone shout. Boone.
Mason swung his gaze in her direction. And his heart went to his knees. He saw her all right, but she was being dragged into the bushes. Oh, mercy. Had she been shot? Or worse?
But Mason refused to believe that.
“Abbie!” he shouted. Mason ignored the rifleman and ran toward the spot where she’d disappeared into the thick underbrush.
Mason Page 17
