Harlequin Intrigue, Box Set 1 of 2

by Delores Fossen

  Nor could Jericho take the time to find out.

  Because a second person came out of the car. It was the same thug that’d dragged Laurel by the hair. The guy was still armed, and even though he staggered a little, he still managed to point the gun at Laurel.

  He fired.

  Jericho hooked his arm around Laurel’s waist and yanked her behind the door of his cruiser. Not a moment too soon, because another shot came right at them. Apparently, the gunman hadn’t been injured in the wreck. And neither had his shooting buddy, Jericho quickly learned, when the second gunman got out, too. He didn’t waste any time joining in on the shooting fest.

  This was exactly what Jericho had hoped to avoid. Here, Laurel was under attack again, and all those stray bullets could be going into the nearby neighborhood.

  “Get in,” Jericho told her.

  She was still wobbly, so Jericho gave her a shove. He also sent a couple of rounds in the direction of the gunmen, but was careful to keep the shots low, so if they missed the men completely, they’d go into the ground.

  Behind him, the other cruiser braked to a stop. Levi stepped out, using his own door for cover. A good thing, too, because the idiots started sending some of their shots his way.

  “We need to get out of here,” Jericho called out to his brother. Levi darn sure didn’t argue with that.

  Laurel crawled to the passenger’s seat so that Jericho could get behind the wheel. He threw the car into gear, ready to hit the gas, but an SUV came flying out from a side road to their right. Jericho couldn’t see who was inside. But it didn’t take him long to figure out what they wanted.

  Whoever was inside the SUV opened fire.

  * * *

  THEY WERE CAUGHT in a crossfire.

  The blood rushed to Laurel’s head, and the punch of fear robbed her of what little breath she had left. She was thankful to be out of the car with the men who’d taken her, but now Jericho was right back in the middle of a deadly situation.

  His brother and the deputy, too.

  And there was nothing she could do but stay down and pray that they would all get out of this alive.

  The gunmen in the SUV didn’t waste any time shooting at the tires of the cruiser, and Laurel felt the exact moment they managed to do just that. Jericho still threw the cruiser into gear, no doubt ready to try to get them out of there.

  But then Laurel heard the plinging sound.

  Someone in the SUV had tossed something onto the road just in front of them.

  “Get down!” Jericho shouted. “It’s a grenade.” He threw himself over her, pushing her down on the seat.

  Just as the blast tore through the air.

  The impact was so hard that it lifted the front of the cruiser and sent it flying back several feet before they crashed to the ground. Because of the way Jericho and she were hunkered down, their heads hit the dashboard, hard. Hard enough for her to see stars.

  Laurel immediately looked back to check on Jericho and gasped when she saw the blood trickling down his forehead.

  “It’s just a cut,” he explained. “Same with you.”

  She touched her fingers to her own forehead, felt the warm blood, but she was too shaken to feel the pain. Too shaken to move.

  But Jericho didn’t seem to have that problem.

  He’d managed to keep hold of his gun, and he took another one from the glove compartment. “Stay down,” he insisted.

  However, he didn’t do that. He sat up, his gaze darting around and pausing for a moment on the rearview mirror.

  “Levi and the deputy,” she said, trying to get up. “Are they okay?”

  “They appear to be.” Jericho pushed her back on the seat and tried to start the cruiser engine.

  Nothing.

  It’d obviously been damaged too much in the explosion. No doubt what their attackers had planned. Now they were sitting ducks in the crossfire. But maybe they could somehow get to Levi’s vehicle. Or better yet, maybe they could take out these gunmen.

  “The men in the SUV aren’t shooting at us,” Jericho mumbled.

  Because her ears were still ringing, it took Laurel a moment to understand what he’d said. And to realize it was true. The men in the SUV were shooting at the thugs in the black car. And vice versa. The bullets were no longer coming at Jericho and her.

  What the heck was going on?

  From the moment she’d seen that SUV come out from the side road, Laurel had assumed they were working with the men in the black car. But clearly they weren’t if they were trying to kill each other. However, Laurel doubted that meant whoever survived would just let them walk away.

  “Will backup come?” she asked.

  “Eventually. I figure Levi probably called the second reserve deputy, Shane. He might respond alone, but Shane’s a rookie. No experience with chasing down bad guys. He’ll probably wait for the Rangers to arrive so he can bring them here.”

  “Where are the Rangers?” was her next question.

  “Too far away. It’ll be a good half hour.”

  She groaned. So they were on their own, because she doubted this attack would last that long.

  Laurel tried to steady her nerves. Hard to do with the danger right on top of them. Added to that, she was past the stage of just shivering. When the men had dragged her through the office window, she hadn’t been wearing a coat, and now that the engine was disabled, it was getting cold fast in the interior of the cruiser.

  Jericho’s phone buzzed, and he passed it to her to answer. That’s when she saw Levi’s name on the screen.

  “Were you hurt?” Levi asked before she could say anything.

  “Just minor stuff.” Laurel wiped the blood from her head, reached up and did the same to Jericho. “How about the two of you?”

  “We’re both fine. But we got an even bigger problem than the SUV and the black car. Another vehicle just pulled up behind us. A limo. The headlights are off, but when one of the people inside opened the door, I got a glimpse of a two guys in the front seat with guns. I’m betting we’ve got more gunmen joining this sick shooting party. I’ll call you back if I can figure out what the heck is going on.”

  God, no. Not more of them. Whoever was behind this had hired an army to kill them.

  Laurel was about to relay the info to Jericho, but his attention was on the rearview mirror again. “I see the limo.” And he added some more profanity.

  “Are they shooting, too?” Laurel asked. There were so many bullets being fired that it was hard to tell.

  “Not yet.” But Jericho no longer had his attention on the newcomers. He was watching the exchange of gunfire between the others. “Two down,” he said. “Lots more to go.”

  And then the gunfire stopped.

  Laurel lifted her head just enough to see that the two men in the black car were down. Literally. They were both sprawled out on the ground and likely dead.

  But why?

  The men in the SUV certainly weren’t shooting at whoever was in the limo. Did that mean they were working together?

  Before she could even try to come up with what’d just happened, Jericho’s phone buzzed again. She answered it without looking at the screen because Laurel figured the call was from Levi.

  It wasn’t.

  “Sheriff Crockett,” the man said. Laurel didn’t recognize his voice. She put the call on speaker so that Jericho could hear it. “Are you listening, Sheriff?”

  She connected gazes with Jericho, silently asking if she knew the caller, but he shook his head.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” Jericho snarled.

  “I’m in the limo behind your brother. Let’s just say I’m a friend trying to do you a favor. We don’t want you. Only Laurel. Hand her over, and you, your kin and the deputy can leave.”


  Laurel hadn’t thought her heart could beat any faster, but she was wrong. This attack was all for her. And it didn’t matter exactly that she didn’t know who was doing it or why it was happening, she’d put Jericho and heaven knew who else in danger.

  “That’s not going to happen,” Jericho answered, still keeping watch around them. “Now, who the hell are you?”

  “My name’s not important.”

  “Yeah, it is. Because I want to know who to arrest or kill. Your choice. Either way is fine with me, but you’re not getting Laurel.”

  “Then you’ll have to pay a big price for that decision. There are roadblocks in every direction. Explosives. Anyone who tries to get to you now will pay. Is that what you want?”

  “Text Levi,” Jericho mouthed to her. “Let him know.”

  Even though her hands were shaking, Laurel managed to do what Jericho asked without hanging up on the snake who was making these threats.

  “Why do you want me?” she asked the man once she was finished sending the text.

  Jericho shot her a nasty look, probably because he hadn’t wanted her to have any verbal contact with the goon, but Laurel wasn’t going to stay quiet.

  “It’s nothing personal,” the man answered. “Just doing my job.”

  Well, it was very personal to her. People she cared about were in danger. “And who paid you to do that job?” she pressed.

  The man didn’t answer, and even though she couldn’t be sure, it seemed as if he was having a whispered conversation with someone. Probably someone in the limo with him.

  Laurel pushed the phone against her chest so the caller wouldn’t be able to hear what she was about to say, and she looked up at Jericho. “I don’t want you to die, but this might—”

  “No way,” he interrupted. “I’m not handing you over to them.”

  It was exactly what Laurel had expected him to say. But she had to make him at least consider it. “I don’t want to die, but if those men manage to kill both of us, then Maddox will be an orphan. I don’t want that, either.”

  “You really think our friend will let us all live? Not a chance. Because if he lets me walk, I’ll hunt him down. And I’ll kill him.”

  Yes, Jericho would. And the man on the other end of the line almost certainly knew that, too.

  “Enough of this.” Jericho snatched the phone from her hand. “Who the hell hired you to come after Laurel?”

  More silence. It went on so long that Laurel thought the line might have gone dead. But it hadn’t.

  “I hired him,” someone finally answered.

  And this time, it was a voice that Laurel had no trouble recognizing.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Dorothy.

  Jericho wasn’t sure which of their suspects would turn out to be behind this, but none of them would have been a surprise. All had motive.

  Or at least they thought they had motive.

  “You’re doing this because of the money you lost on those business deals?” Jericho snapped.

  “In part,” Dorothy admitted. “But I really don’t want to discuss that now. Is everything in place?” she asked, and it took Jericho a moment to realize that she wasn’t talking to him.

  “It’s in place,” a man verified. The same man who’d been talking to them earlier. One of Dorothy’s hired thugs.

  Jericho was about to demand to know what exactly was in place, but then he heard Reese’s shout. “I’m sorry, Jericho. I didn’t see them in time.”

  Heck. That couldn’t be good. Jericho turned around, trying to pick through the darkness, and he finally saw what he didn’t want to see.

  Levi and Reese.

  Their hands were in the air, and there was a gunman on each side of the cruiser his brother had been driving.

  “Don’t blame the deputy or your brother.” Dorothy’s voice had gone from sarcastic to taunting. “I brought plenty of backup with me, and there were men waiting in the ditch.”

  And it’d worked. It also meant Dorothy had at least six gunmen with her. Two in the SUV, the two guarding Levi and Reese, and the two that Levi had spotted in the limo when it first arrived.

  Of course, there could be more.

  Not to mention Dorothy was probably armed. He hoped she was because he couldn’t shoot an unarmed woman, but he darn sure could shoot an armed one. Especially this one.

  “Is Theo helping you?” Jericho came right out and asked.

  “Please. I have a coward of a son. He hired those men in the black car to save you, to kidnap you.”

  Laurel shook her head. “Why?

  “Because Theo was going to keep you all for himself so he could try to convince you that he’s the man for you. Laughable, isn’t it?”

  “Not really,” Jericho growled. “Nothing laughable about this. So, you lost money. Boo-hoo—”

  “I lost more than that!” Dorothy paused, and Jericho figured she was trying to get hold of the temper tantrum she’d just started. “I lost my reputation. My so-called friends whisper behind my back now. And that’s all because of Laurel.”

  “How do you figure that?” Jericho asked.

  “She was supposed to marry Theo. I told everyone it was finally going to happen. I made plans for business deals that hinged on Theo and Laurel being man and wife.”

  All right. Jericho didn’t want to have this conversation, but it might give him time to figure out what to do next. “You mean plans with Rossman and Cawley? Who, by the way, are both dead. Your doing?”

  She didn’t confirm the part about having them murdered. “Bigger plans than that. Ones that would have made me richer than my wildest dreams.”

  “Ah, I get it now. You made those plans because of Laurel and her father’s connections. When the engagement ended, so did the connections, and you were left holding a very empty bag that you hoped would be filled with money.”

  Again, Dorothy didn’t verbally confirm it, but judging from her ripe profanity, he’d hit pay dirt.

  “Laurel ruined us,” Dorothy said a moment later. “Both Theo and me.”

  “I didn’t ruin you,” Laurel argued. “You did it to yourself.”

  “You did this!” she shouted. “And after all that, Theo still wants you back. Even after I told him that you had crawled into bed with that cowboy.”

  Even though Laurel was scared spitless, that put some fire in her eyes. “Jericho’s my husband.”

  “Right,” Dorothy said with a serious dose of sarcasm. “A marriage of necessity to stop your father from getting custody of your son. Well, I don’t think you have to worry about that anymore.”

  Jericho wondered if that meant that Dorothy had killed Herschel. No such luck. Because a moment later, Herschel got out of the limo. Not voluntarily. A heavily muscled armed goon shoved him out.

  Herschel staggered, and it took him several wobbly steps to regain his balance. The man’s hands were cuffed in front of him, and he looked disheveled. Definitely not a happy camper right now.

  “Give me Laurel or Herschel dies,” Dorothy threatened.

  Jericho so wished the woman could see the flat look he was giving her. “Do you think I really care a flying fig what you do to Herschel?”

  Laurel made a sound of agreement. After everything Herschel had tried to do to her, Jericho thought she might be willing to pull the trigger herself. She certainly wasn’t going to sacrifice herself for him.

  And that sent an uneasy feeling snaking up his spine.

  If Dorothy thought she could use Herschel to lure out Laurel, then the woman had something up her sleeve.

  Something dirty, no doubt.

  “Oh, you should care about what happens to Herschel,” Dorothy said. She was back to being as cold as ice. No sign of that hot temper right now. �
��If you want to know the truth, that is.”

  “What truth?” Laurel and Jericho asked at the same time.

  Herschel certainly didn’t jump to answer. Thanks to the interior lights from the limo, Jericho had no trouble seeing the man’s expression. Not defeat. He was riled to the core.

  “The truth about your father’s death,” Dorothy finally said. She stepped from the limo wearing a thick fur coat. And she was smiling. “Or should I say, his murder? Because Sherman Crockett was indeed murdered.”

  That uneasy feeling inside him turned to a full roar. “What do you know about that?” Jericho demanded.

  “Plenty. I know Herschel murdered him, and I have proof. Not with me, of course. I’m not stupid. But I have it tucked safely away.”

  Jericho figured this was about the time for Herschel to blurt out his innocence. He didn’t. Nor did he deny that Dorothy had such proof.

  “Let’s just say Herschel had too much to drink one night and got very chatty,” Dorothy explained. “He didn’t know I was recording every word he said.”

  Now Herschel responded. His narrowed gaze cut to Dorothy, and he cursed her. “You’ll burn in hell for this.”

  “Maybe, but you’ll be right there with me.” Dorothy patted his cheek before looking toward Jericho again. “Hand over Laurel, and I’ll give you Herschel and the proof.”

  So, that’s what was up her sleeve. Laurel for the thing that Dorothy thought Jericho wanted the most.

  “You can be the one to arrest Herschel. And you can be there when he gets the needle shoved into his arm,” Dorothy continued. “Think about it, Jericho.”

  He didn’t have to think about it. Yes, he wanted justice. He wanted it so much that he could taste it.

  But there was no way he’d trade Laurel for it.

  “No deal,” Jericho let the woman know.

  “Too bad.” Dorothy answered quickly enough that she’d no doubt considered that’s how this would play out.

  “Why do you want Laurel alive, anyway?” Jericho asked.

  “Because she’ll force me to go through with those business deals,” Laurel provided. “She needs my contacts, and my signature. And once she has that, she’ll kill me.”