Numbers Never Lie (Crimson Romance)

by Shelley K. Wall

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The boyfriend. Trevan looked into Sophie’s eyes and placed his gun in front of her on the floor. He smiled softly and slowly raised his hands up for the man behind him to see. No … sorry, you’re not going to shoot her. No way. He hoped she knew what he was thinking and knew what to do. She should. They’d practiced enough. If she had to, he expected her to use the gun. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to. He nodded and once more looked into her eyes at the reflection of the man behind him, holding a gun to Callie’s head.

  “Turn around so I can see you.”

  Trevan slowly turned around. “Destin James, I’m Trevan Prater. I’m a federal agent. You really don’t want to do this.” He was glad to at least have the guy’s name from his staff before he’d arrived. He didn’t know a lot more but it helped to act as if the guy was an open book. It gave him a sense of command in a completely out of control situation.

  “Shut up.” Destin’s eyes darted around as he pointed the gun at Trevan, then back at Callie.

  “If you stop now, you’re in pretty good shape,” Trev said softly. “Let’s end this right now, Destin. Let’s just stop it, and everyone’s okay. Don’t do anything stupid. It’ll only make things worse. I don’t know what all this is about but we can work it out.”

  “What part of ‘shut up’ did you not understand?” Destin shoved the gun in his face and cocked it sideways. He was off balance, and that was the only opportunity Trevan would get. He lunged forward, pushing the gun up out of his face and ramming his body against both Destin and Callie. The gun went off, a loud boom amongst their scuffle, then one more slam and Trevan broke it free and it fell to the ground. He kicked it away and rammed again to knock Destin down. Trevan’s fist slammed into Destin’s ribs. Once. Twice.

  Callie crawled away from them trying to get free from Trevan’s fists and Destin’s boots. She scrambled toward the abandoned firearm Trev had kicked aside. Out of the corner of his eye, Trev glanced sideways at her movements but concentrated on Destin. He had rolled Destin over on his stomach and was yanking his hands out from under him. He had the full weight of his body anchoring the guy down so movement was limited.

  Sophie felt a series of sharp tugs and looked down to see a knife cutting tape away from her legs. Callie worked roughly, not concerned about nicking her legs. She rushed to get her free. She had the gun in her hand. The anger glazed in her eyes like a volcano ready to erupt. Her concentration flashed back and forth between Trevan and Sophie. When the tape was hacked away, Callie yanked Sophie from the floor and started dragging her away. Out of the kitchen toward the door. She jammed the gun to Sophie’s temple. Sophie watched the distance to Trevan increase.

  “Don’t do it,” Trevan yelled. “Callie, you’re one step away from being in prison for life. Is that what you want?”

  “Shut up.”

  Trevan still had to cuff Destin and couldn’t move. His weapon was on the floor. He slipped the cuffs on Destin’s hands, shoving his knee in his back as he lifted himself to get his gun. His eyes were locked on Callie and he didn’t glance away as he backed toward his gun on the floor where he’d left it with Sophie.

  “Don’t move, Trevor. I have no qualms about using this gun.” As if to punctuate her remarks, Callie waved the gun against Sophie’s head and yanked her arms back as they moved more quickly toward the door.

  “Okay, okay.” He held his hands toward them. “I’m not moving, but Callie, you’re not getting out of here. My entire department is outside.”

  “Really? Then why did I only hear one siren?” she challenged.

  He knew they were on the way and should be onsite in seconds.

  As Callie and Sophie backed out of his view, he reached behind for his firearm but didn’t feel it. He patted around on the floor. It wasn’t there. He looked. Nothing. He had to stop Callie, but had no way to do so. Don’t let her leave, he thought. If she leaves the building, Sophie’s chances are gone.

  Trevan lunged toward them, just as a shot rang out. Callie had aimed the gun toward the kitchen entrance, expecting him to follow. A sharp sting pierced his chest He looked down. Damn, she’d got him. Callie used the opportunity to shove Sophie out the door and drag her to the elevator.

  Trevan’s vest was on. He didn’t worry about the small hole in his shirt. He kept following them, walking slowly so he didn’t aggravate Callie into firing again. He focused only on the two girls. There was panic in Sophie’s eyes. But there was also Trevan’s handgun tucked into her waistband, out of view from Callie. The sound of sirens was muffled by Callie’s voice as she screamed orders. “Stay back!” The elevator opened and the two of them entered it. “You know I’ll use this. You know I will. Stay out of this and keep your people back.”

  “I can’t. I won’t. You’re not getting out of here with her, Callie. Give it up. You’re not getting out.”

  “Yes, I am. And if I don’t, she won’t, either.”

  She meant it. There was nothing sane left in her expression. She’d kill Sophie if she had to. The elevator doors closed and Trevan was standing alone in the landing. He looked around, panicked, and saw the stairwell. He rammed through the door and flung himself down the stairs. He hit speed dial for Nate.

  When Nate picked up, he didn’t bother with pleasantries. “Callie has Sophie in the elevator with a gun to her head. She’s already shot at me so don’t take a chance. She will use the gun.”

  Trevan bolted down the stairs. He felt jabbing pain in his shoulder as he moved, but kept going. He leaped over the trashcans and slammed out the door, racing toward the elevator in the entry. Two shots rang out from inside the elevator. Oh, God, no!

  The doors opened. Callie stood over Sophie, sprawled on the floor holding Trevan’s weapon up with two, tape-covered hands. Sophie looked up at Trevan, just as one more shot rang out from the gun in her taped hands.

  Nate had arrived. Callie slumped to the floor in the elevator. Sophie scrambled on her back to get away from her. Trev lunged into the elevator and removed the handgun from Callie’s hands. No need. She was dead.

  Trev and Sophie both shifted their eyes to the front door of the building, where Nate stood with firearm drawn. “How’d you get here so fast, man?” Nate asked. “I was probably five blocks closer.” He scrunched up his face as he glanced at Trev then down at Trev’s shoulder. “Oh, man.”

  “Good Karma, I guess … and driving like a bat out of hell. The guy is upstairs in her apartment. Can you take care of him?”

  “Is he dead, too?”

  “No. Very much alive. He needs to be taken in.”

  Trevan sat down on the floor and dragged Sophie in against him. “You okay?” he said, his voice a little gruff with emotion. She dropped the handgun and collapsed against him.

  “I wondered when you’d get here.”

  “Sorry I’m late.”

  Sophie put her arms around him and he winced slightly at her touch, startling her. She reared back and looked at him. “You’re bleeding.” She touched the spot on his shoulder, a dark wet stain that oozed thick blood.

  “Yeah, she missed the damn vest.” He looked down, frowning. “It’s a straight through, should heal okay. You did good there, Henry.” He motioned his head to the elevator. He paused to catch his breath. “But you scared the shit out of me. Anything else I need to know about? You know, maybe another psycho-stalker, angry ex, or something?”

  “Not that I know of, but things are changing every day.” She gave him a wry wink and smiled, even though her hands trembled.

  Trevan felt a little giddy. No, that wasn’t it, not giddy. Crap! The hole in his shirt was surrounded with an ever-increasing blood stain. He slid down backward on the floor and closed his eyes. “Need to … rest … a … minute,” he whispered.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Four weeks later, Sophie pulled across the cattle guard to Trevan’s ranch house in her blue Dodge, her tires crunched down the gravel trail until she reached the front of the house.
She didn’t see his car but there was a Jeep and a Toyota SUV parked in the front of the house. She’d taken a big chance coming here. She worried that she’d made a mistake. Several times during the drive over, fleeting thoughts that she should turn around came into the foggy plan to surprise him, but she quelled them and continued. She had to at least try. As she tapped on the door, she listened for sounds inside. Silence. She decided to walk around the back and check outside.

  The yard was greening up from the rain, making it even more beautiful than she remembered. As she walked out to the end of the courtyard to look at the pool, she couldn’t help but feel a little rush of appreciation. He had added on to the pool. On the opposite side of the pool, a lattice wall flanked the far side and circled halfway around the area where the pool chairs sat. It came up about ten feet and a slatted wood and lattice trellis covered the top. The end result shaded the shallow end of the water and blocked the view to the hills from that side, but left the deep end with a spectacular view. Guess he decided he needed a little more privacy. Just as the grin broke free from Sophie’s worried mouth, she heard voices and turned toward the sound.

  Her eyes landed on Trevan, tall and lanky, sitting atop Blackie and coming toward her. His faded T-shirt stretched across the muscled arms. He talked to a shapely, dark haired girl. Sophie watched him playfully squirt water on her and she noticed that under the white T-shirt, the woman wore the swimsuit Sophie had used when she was here. Oh my god. He’s brought someone else here and they’re out riding. She whirled around and rushed toward the house, grabbing her bag from the chair by the firepit and digging in it for her car keys. She couldn’t look up. Had he seen her? She rushed around the side of the house trying to get to her car and leave. How stupid! I should not have come. This was a crazy idea. What was I thinking!

  • • •

  As he and Blackie cleared the trees and started back to his house, Trevan admired the way the hills greened up with the small amount of rain they received the week before. A short-term lushness, he knew, as this area normally got pretty dry by mid May and then stayed that way all summer.

  “Trev, can I have a drink of your water?” Tiffany asked as she came up next to him on her horse. He glanced sideways at her. She looked pretty good for a new mom, tired but happy.

  He originally wanted to live here because it was remote and he could get away from all the craziness at work. When his parents talked about selling the place, it was an easy decision to take it off their hands. It worked out pretty well as far as keeping up with his family. When he traveled, they used it for a vacation place. When he was home, they visited a lot. He hadn’t seen Tiffany in almost a year and it was nice … but truthfully, it made him feel a little like a third wheel with her husband and kid. How can just a few short months completely change a person’s perspective on life? He’d never felt envious before of big sis’s life but in a weird way he wanted that now.

  “Sure, no problem.” Trev lifted the water bottle from the bag he had looped over the saddle horn and moved closer to Tiff so he could hand it to her. As soon as she reached out for it, he gave in to a sudden urge to squeeze the bottle and water spurted up into her face and down her shirt.

  “Hey!” Tiff’s fist lashed out and belted him on the thigh, startling his horse a little. “Thanks a lot, jerk.” She wiped the water from her eyes and reached for the bottle while Trevan snickered with satisfaction.

  Tiffany took a slow drink as her horse moved lazily along. She glanced over the top of the water bottle as she drew in from it. “Looks like you’ve got company, brother.” She gestured toward the house with the plastic in her hand.

  Trev turned to look where she motioned and almost missed Sophie’s rush across the patio. But when she emerged a few seconds later in a dead race to the front yard, he realized she intended to make a getaway to the Dodge. Nope. Not this time. He kneed Blackie into a gallop and got to the car just as she opened the door to slide in. He slid off the horse and rushed toward the car but she slammed the door. “Sophie, wait!” He yelled after her as she started the car, spun it around, and headed for the gate. Gravel spewing scared Blackie. He made a snort and took off for the barn.

  “Dammit!” Trev jumped in the Jeep, started it up and drove it straight across the grass in an attempt to get to the gate before her. She followed the gravel path, which hugged the line of the hill, so if he just went straight up the hill, he’d beat her there. He bounced up the hill, hitting his head on the roll bar, and knocking through the gravel to slide to a stop in front of the Dodge about fifty feet before she reached the gate. He bolted out of the Jeep, striding toward her before the engine had even died.

  “Sophie, get out of the car,” Trevan said as he held his palm up to stop her. She just started backing up to go around the Jeep and he moved to block her by placing both hands on the hood of her car. “Stop!” he shouted. “Get out of the damn car!” His eyes focused on her as she shook her head and bit her lower lip.

  “Trev, what’s going on?” Tiffany came up next to them on the horse in a full gallop, watching him try to block the car with his body.

  “This is Sophie, Tiff, and by the looks of her face, I don’t think she knows who you are.” His brows furrowed angrily over his eyes in frustration.

  “Your Sophie?”

  “Yes! No.” He shook his head. His Sophie? “Hell, I don’t know. Would you please put your horse between the gate and her car until I can get her out of the damn thing?”

  “No problem, brother, why don’t you just take the rope and tie her up while you’re at it!” Tiffany laughed but nudged the horse in front of the gate.

  Sophie’s escape route was completely blocked by the horse, rider, and Jeep. She stopped the car and sat behind the wheel, shaking her head and pounding the steering wheel.

  Trevan refused to give up. He slid around the car, keeping his hands on the hood, and yanked the door open before she could hit the lock button. He snaked a hand into the car and pulled on Sophie’s arm to get her out of the car. “What’s your hurry, woman!” He growled as he reached into the car and pulled the keys from the ignition and threw them into the trees.

  “Hey!” Sophie protested.

  “Good grief, brother, stop manhandling the poor girl!” Tiffany scolded. “That’s no way to win her over.”

  Sophie glanced from one to the other with confusion.

  “Yeah. That’s right!” The exasperation in his voice was beyond blatant. “My sister, Tiffany Sorrenson.” He made an introductory wave toward Tiff, who stepped forward and held out a hand in greeting.

  “Nice to meet you, Sophie. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  A long pause, uncomfortably long, grew between them as she looked from the girl to Trevan. Then Sophie cleared her throat, squared her shoulders, and held out her hand to shake Tiffany’s briefly.

  “Can you leave us alone now, sis?” Trev shot over his shoulder as he continued to face Sophie. He looked away briefly to see Tiffany get on the horse and trot toward the house and beyond to the barn. Slowly his eyes narrowed and returned to Sophie’s face. He sucked in a deep breath. “Nice to see you, Henry. What brings you out here?”

  “I came to see you. To see how you’re doing,” she stuttered.

  “I was pretty good until the last five minutes.” He reached up and rubbed his shoulder, wincing as he felt the sharp tinge of pain where the scar rubbed against his shirt.

  “I tried to visit you in the hospital.” Her eyes concentrated on the ground and she moved the toe of her shoe in a circular motion in the dirt. “They wouldn’t let me in.”

  “Yeah, they get pretty protective when something like that happens. Immediate family only. Sorry.”

  “So, you have a scar?”

  “Yes, but it’s not too bad. I’m on eight weeks of R and R, while I rehab the shoulder. Two surgeries to repair the wound and some internal damage, nothing major.”

  “No problems with your arm?”

  He flexed the hand and fingers
but only lifted it partially from his side. “It’ll take a while to get it back, but I’m told I’ll have full use of it in a couple of months. We’ll see.” He studied Sophie’s face. “What about you, you doing okay?”

  Sophie averted her eyes toward the house and then the trees, studying the way the house fit into the countryside. “I went to see my dad.”

  “I know,” he stated softly. “I came to see you as soon as they let me out of the hospital. You were gone. I called your office.”

  “I quit my job.”

  “Yeah, they told me you’d gone to New York.” He felt the pain again when he learned that she’d decided to move there. “How are things with your dad?”

  Sophie hesitated. She seemed to be picking her words carefully. “Good. Good. I needed to know why everyone … everyone who knows him loves him, except me. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get past it. I wanted to understand why he didn’t care enough about me to stay. I guess I thought that I wasn’t the daughter he wanted.” She looked back down at her shoes. “I wasn’t sure if it was because I wasn’t capable of loving anyone or — ”

  “Afraid to give them a chance?” Trev finished for her. His good hand raised and he ran his fingers over his hair then dropped them to his side, slipping them into the pocket of his jeans.

  “Maybe.”

  “So, did you figure it all out?”

  “Pretty much. At least, I think I did. I guess it was easier to — ”

  “Leave someone that cared about you before they decided to leave you?” He quirked an eyebrow at her and narrowed his eyes again, shielding the emotion. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Your dad left when you were a child. Your college boyfriend deserted you, your mom died. But in a way, that represented leaving, too, didn’t it? So, you just decided to make sure it wouldn’t happen again by being the first to leave.”

  “Yes, Dr. Phil. I guess you could put it that way.” She put a hand to her hair to move a curl back out of her face.