“See if your father’s gun is still on him,” Griff told Rachel. “If it is, give it to Ruby.”
Rachel scrambled back to her dad so she could check, and found the small gun he carried in a boot holster. He’d probably had his primary weapon in his hand when he’d been attacked, which meant the intruder had taken it. Not exactly a comforting thought, though the snake had almost certainly brought his own weapons with him.
But why hadn’t he just come in with guns blazing?
And why hadn’t he killed Warren?
Maybe this was some kind of sick cat-and-mouse game as he tried to get to Griff and her. If so, it could be working. Because they couldn’t just stay put, not with Thea in possible danger. Heck, they couldn’t even call for backup.
She brought the gun to Ruby, and even though the woman was shaking badly, Rachel knew she could shoot. It came with the territory of working on a ranch, since snakes often came into the yard.
“Keep watch,” Griff instructed Rachel, and while she did that, he helped her father to his feet and moved him to the corner with Ruby. It wasn’t ideal cover, but it’d been an effective hiding place for her, and at least they weren’t out in the open.
Once Griff had finished, he turned back to Rachel. “You can stay here with them while I look for Thea.”
She was shaking her head before he even finished. “You need someone to watch your back.” Rachel paused and wished there was a better way to put this. There wasn’t. “This person is after us. If we’re apart, it’ll only make it easier for him.”
She could tell that Griff wanted to come up with a good argument for her to stay put. But he couldn’t. The safest place for her to be was with him, and yet it might not be safe at all.
Griff must have realized there was no time to debate this, so he nodded. Other than their cell phones, there wasn’t any other light in the room, but it was enough for her to see his worried expression. Still, he motioned for her to follow him.
“Stay close and watch our backs. I’m sorry it has to be this way,” he added. “And if something goes wrong, just get down as fast as you can. Don’t try to return fire or fight this guy.”
“All right,” she agreed, but it wasn’t something she could promise. No way would she just stand by if someone was trying to kill Griff.
With her breath stalled in her throat, Rachel followed him out of the family room. As he’d done on the stairs, he kept his footsteps slow while he gazed around him. Rachel watched, too, and listened, but didn’t hear anything. She wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.
They made their way through the dining room. The windows were all shut in there, but when they got to the kitchen, Rachel immediately spotted the open door.
A new jolt of fear came because Griff had said he’d seen Thea in the backyard. If the intruder had gotten into the house this way, he would have gone right past her, and that might have been about the time she’d screamed.
Griff’s steps slowed even more as he scanned the kitchen island and the breakfast nook. No one was there. But a passageway to their left led to an eat-in kitchen. It was too dark to see much of anything there. However, Rachel did see something on the other side of the room.
Another partially open door. This one to the pantry.
It wasn’t an ideal hiding place, since there was only one entrance. If the intruder was in there, then he was trapped.
Or waiting for them to come closer.
Griff motioned for her to get lower. Rachel did, so did he, and while they crouched down, they started for the pantry. But they’d made it only a few steps when he stopped.
“Use your phone to light up that area on the floor,” he whispered, motioning to a spot several feet from the pantry door.
Rachel did. She reached around him, shining the light on the tile, and that’s when she saw what had captured his attention. The dark colored drops and spatters. And she had no doubts as to what it was.
Blood.
* * *
GRIFF PRAYED THAT the blood belonged to the intruder and not Thea or one of the now missing ranch hands.
Of course, if it wasn’t his sister’s or that of someone else helping them, it meant Rachel and he were possibly about to have a showdown with the snake who’d orchestrated all this, since the blood drops led right to the pantry. Griff would have welcomed that if Rachel hadn’t been right behind him.
He considered taking her back into the family room to wait with Ruby and Warren, but if the intruder was in the pantry and Rachel was truly his target, he’d probably just try to gun them down if they ran. Well, he would try that if he was capable of shooting. Maybe he was too injured to do so.
Better yet, maybe he was dead.
A dead man wouldn’t be able to give them answers about the previous attacks, but he wouldn’t be able to harm Rachel, either. Griff would give up those answers about why this was happening if it meant keeping her safe. Heck, he’d give up anything to make sure that happened. Because it wasn’t just Rachel’s life that was at stake now. So was their child’s.
Griff dragged in a deep breath and started inching toward the pantry door. He kept his gun ready while he continued to glance around them. After all, the blood and the open pantry door could be a trick so the guy could sneak up on them. When he reached the door, Griff looked inside.
And he came face-to-face with a gun.
“Don’t shoot,” someone mumbled.
It was Thea. She was sprawled out on the floor, her back against the wall and her gun aimed right at him. Griff also saw the source of the blood. It was coming from the left side of her head.
Griff glanced around the pantry. Like the rest of the house, it was large, with rows of shelves and stacked boxes of supplies. Still, he could take it all in with a sweeping glance, and when he didn’t see anyone with Thea, he pulled Rachel inside, then stepped behind her, staying close to the door in case he had to return fire or get them out of there fast.
“A man sneaked up on me and clubbed me,” Thea whispered, her words slurred. “I tried to shout a warning to all of you, but he hit me on the head and took my gun. I had a backup weapon on me, though.” She rubbed her neck and winced. “He gave me some kind of shot, too, but I don’t think I got the full dose. That’s because I pushed the needle away and ran.”
It was probably a drug to knock her out, as the intruder had done to Warren, and judging from the way she was talking and her unfocused eyes, the drug was working. That wasn’t good, but Griff reminded himself that it could have been a lot worse. If Thea’s attacker had gotten close enough to hit her, then he could have easily shot and killed her.
So why hadn’t he?
The answer to that twisted him up inside. Because this snake wanted Rachel. It had been that way right from the start of the attacks, and unfortunately, it didn’t rule out any of their suspects.
“Did you recognize the man who did this to you?” Griff asked his sister.
Thea shook her head and winced again. She was obviously in pain, but Griff had no way to call for an ambulance. He only hoped the injury wasn’t serious.
Rachel grabbed some paper napkins from one of the shelves and pressed them to Thea’s head, obviously trying to stop the bleeding.
“He’s wearing a mask,” she explained a moment later. “But whoever it was, he must have come from the front on foot because I didn’t hear a car engine. I was watching the back and the sides of the house, so I know he didn’t come from anywhere in my direction.”
Yes, unless he’d managed to sneak past Thea. But that didn’t seem likely. That meant the guy had probably gone after the ranch hands first. But it was darn bold of him to attack two armed men with just a club.
“The back door’s open,” Rachel said. She was whispering, too. “Did you do that or did your attacker?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I left it open when I ran
in. Everything’s getting fuzzy. I tried to run to the stairs so I could get to Griff and you, but then I got woozy, so I ducked in here. If the guy came in this way, I didn’t hear him.”
So how had he gotten in? Griff knew for a fact that he was inside because he’d attacked Warren. That meant he was likely hiding somewhere, waiting to strike. Too bad the house was huge, because all the rooms would give this clown lots of places to lie in wait.
“Do you think you can move?” he asked his sister.
Thea nodded and took the paper napkins from Rachel. “But I can’t see straight enough to shoot.”
“I don’t want you for backup.” Rachel and he helped Thea to her feet. “I’ll leave you both with Warren and Ruby in the family room so I can find this guy.”
They looked at him. “You shouldn’t do that alone,” Rachel whispered.
No, he shouldn’t. But he didn’t have a lot of options here. He had a cop and former cop, both drugged, which meant it would fall to Rachel and Ruby to protect them.
Definitely not ideal circumstances.
But it wasn’t wise to go searching through the house with them in tow while he was looking for a killer. Maybe this guy would just come after him so Griff could put a fast end to it.
He didn’t remind Rachel to keep watch—she was already doing that. She also clutched the backup gun he’d given her. With his arm hooked around Thea’s waist, he leaned out from the pantry to make sure someone hadn’t sneaked into the kitchen. If the intruder had managed to do that, Griff didn’t see any signs of him.
Before he moved Thea and Rachel out of the pantry, he went over and shut the outer door. It wouldn’t keep someone out, but at least he’d be able to hear if it opened. After all, the intruder who’d entered might not have come alone. He could have hired thugs waiting outside to finish them off if he didn’t succeed.
Griff had a quick debate with himself about where to position Rachel, and he finally decided to place her on the other side of Thea. It took him a couple seconds to get them lined up in a way that they’d all be able to use their guns if necessary.
Griff prayed that it wouldn’t come down to that.
Because if it did, that meant Rachel and the baby would be in the line of fire.
He moved as fast as he could, which wasn’t very fast considering that Thea kept stumbling. Plus he had to keep watch. Not easy as they made their way through the massive house.
They’d just made it back to the dining room when he heard something. Footsteps, maybe. And they weren’t coming from the family room just ahead. No, these were coming from behind them.
He pivoted, putting himself in front of Thea and Rachel. Griff brought up his gun. But he didn’t see anything so he waited and listened.
Thankfully, he’d been to the McCall home so many times that he knew the layout like the back of his hand. With the kitchen door closed, that meant the person hadn’t come in from outside. So, he was probably coming from the direction of the living room. Unfortunately, he could cut through the family room to make it back to the foyer. If that happened, Ruby and Warren could be sitting ducks.
So could Thea, Rachel and Griff.
Because the intruder could come at them from the side. With where they were standing, they’d be easy targets.
“Get all the way down on the floor by the hutch,” Griff whispered to Rachel and Thea. It wasn’t much cover, but it was the only solid piece of furniture in the room.
Rachel nodded and took hold of Thea to do that. While the movement was necessary, the rustling it made could be masking the sound of other footsteps. Not good. Because Griff needed to be able to pinpoint the location of the goon if he got any closer.
The moment Rachel and Thea quit moving, he heard what he’d been listening for: another footstep. And it seemed to be coming from the foyer. The intruder was probably heading toward them. Griff turned in that direction, but it was already too late.
The shot came right at him.
Chapter Sixteen
Rachel could have sworn the sound of that shot stopped her heart for several seconds. Oh, God. Griff could have been hit.
She frantically looked up, checking for signs of an injury. She didn’t see any; thankfully, the bullet had smacked into the wall right next to where Griff was standing.
Rachel reached out, catching his arm and pulling him to the floor. He’d already started to crouch down, and landed right next to Thea and her. However, he didn’t stay down. He jumped up, ready to fire, but when he cursed, Rachel guessed the shooter wasn’t in sight.
“Keep watch toward the kitchen,” Griff whispered to her. “He could circle back around and come at us from that angle.”
Rachel hadn’t needed anything else to make her more alert, but that did cause her stomach to knot. This stress couldn’t be good for the baby.
It also couldn’t be good for Thea.
Griff’s sister was obviously trying to fight off the effects of whatever drug she’d been given, but she was also in pain. She groaned or winced every time she moved. That didn’t make her a good candidate for backing up Griff if she had to return fire. Rachel wasn’t exactly a good one, either, because there was no way Griff was going to let her put herself in danger. That meant staying on the floor while he came out from cover to try to put a stop to this.
There was one hope in all of this. Maybe by now Court or Egan had tried calling the ranch, and would have known something was wrong when no one answered. If so, they could be on their way here right now. Maybe they would get to them before someone else got hurt.
Despite her heartbeat crashing in her ears, Rachel forced herself to try to listen for any sounds of the intruder, and she definitely kept her eye on the kitchen area. Unfortunately, there were spots she couldn’t see, and if the shooter wanted to sneak up on them, he could duck behind the large kitchen island and make his way closer. If he did that, he’d have a clean shot of Thea and her.
Thea was trembling all over now, but was obviously still trying to fight off the effects of the drug. It was a battle she seemed to be losing, so Rachel moved in front of her, sandwiching her against the wall and the china hutch.
The new position put Rachel at a better angle if she had to shoot into the kitchen. She wasn’t an expert shot by any means, but if the intruder showed himself, she would fire at him. Even if she didn’t hit him, it might give Griff enough time to adjust his aim and take out the guy.
Rachel heard some movement straight ahead. Someone was on the other side of the wall, which meant he could be going either to the kitchen or back to the family room. She prayed it would be the kitchen, since that would keep this monster away from her father and Ruby.
Because she was so focused on watching the kitchen, the sound of the shot stunned her. It hadn’t come from the sides at all. The gunman had fired through the wall directly in front of them. This bullet tore through the window to her right, shattering glass everywhere. Even though they could have easily been cut by the flying shards, the shot hadn’t come close to hitting them. That meant the shooter had fired a blind shot with the hopes that he’d get lucky.
“I can’t just shoot into the wall,” Griff whispered. “This idiot might have one of the ranch hands with him.”
Mercy, she hadn’t thought of that, and it was a good thing she hadn’t sent a bullet or two his way. It could have maybe been a deadly mistake—and exactly what the gunman had wanted them to do.
There were more sounds. Footsteps. At first they were headed toward the kitchen, then the opposite direction. Either this idiot was playing games with them or else there were two of them. That reminder certainly didn’t help tamp down the fear and adrenaline.
Rachel wanted to call out to her father, to make sure he was okay, but there was a chance their attacker didn’t know Warren’s and Ruby’s exact location. He could use any response they might make to hone in on them a
nd start firing. Even if the guy didn’t go into the room, he could still manage to kill them with more of those blind shots.
She looked up at Griff just as he was making one of those sweeping glances around them. He was all lawman now, primed and ready for the fight. But she also saw something else in his body language.
The worry.
He was afraid for her, for their baby, and that wasn’t a good thing to be feeling right now. It could cause him to lose focus.
The loss of focus didn’t last long, thank goodness. That’s because another shot tore through the wall, heading their way. Again, it didn’t come close to hitting them, but the noise was deafening, and made it nearly impossible to tell if the shooter was on the move.
Another shot quickly followed, and this bullet took out the rest of the window. Rachel had to duck down and put her body over Thea’s when the glass spewed at them.
“Are you hurt?” Griff whispered.
“No.” Rachel wasn’t sure that was true, but she didn’t want him worrying about them right now.
That’s because she heard another sound. Not footsteps this time. But she thought maybe it was a gasp, and it’d come from the family room, where Ruby and her father were. Rachel scooted up a little so she could try to see them, but the wall of the arched opening between the two rooms prevented her from doing that. It also didn’t help that there was a lot of furniture in the way.
Mercy. Their attacker could use that to hide from view.
The gasping sound caught Griff’s attention, too, because he pivoted in that direction. Rachel couldn’t tell if he saw anything because she had to keep her focus on the kitchen in case the shooter came that way, but there was certainly some movement now in the family room.
Everything inside her was screaming for her to go help her father and Ruby, but that could be exactly what the gunman wanted her to do. Because there was no way Griff would let her go in there alone. The shooter could use that as an opportunity to kill them both.
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