Finger on the Trigger

by Delores Fossen

  There was more movement. Louder this time, and it sounded as if some kind of struggle was going on. Rachel couldn’t tell what, but she knew it had to be bad when Griff cursed and dropped down, pushing Thea and her closer against the hutch and the wall.

  “Griff,” someone said.

  Her father.

  His voice was weak and shaky. He definitely sounded as if he was still fighting the effects of the drug he’d been given.

  “I’m sorry,” Warren added a moment later.

  That caused her breath to stall in her throat. Rachel glanced out, afraid of what she might see, and what she saw was her father being pushed into the dining room. There was someone behind him.

  And that person had a gun to her father’s head.

  * * *

  GRIFF HATED THAT it’d come to this. Hated that some thug was now holding Warren at gunpoint.

  And he especially hated that he hadn’t been able to stop it.

  He’d seen the movement in the living room, but because of the darkness, he hadn’t been able to make out who had Warren, and that’s why Griff hadn’t fired. When Griff had spotted the gun, he knew he had no choice but to get down or the intruder would have shot him. Then there would have been no one to protect Rachel and Thea.

  “I’m sorry,” Warren repeated. “I couldn’t stop him.”

  Rachel’s father could barely speak. Could barely stand, even. He was wobbling, but his attacker had his arm slung around Warren’s waist and was holding him in place like a human shield.

  Griff waited for the intruder to say something. He didn’t; he just kept inching Warren closer. Probably so as to be in a better position to shoot them. Hell. And now they were trapped.

  “What do you want?” Griff demanded. “And where’s Ruby? Is she all right?”

  The man didn’t jump to answer, and Griff couldn’t get a good look at his face. It also appeared the guy was hunching down a little. Probably to make certain that Griff wouldn’t have a clean shot. If so, it was working. Worse, Griff couldn’t tell if this was one of their suspects or another hired thug.

  “He hit Ruby with a stun gun,” Warren said. “She fell.”

  Which meant the woman could have hit her head or something. That was yet another reason to put an end to this, so that Griff could get Warren, Thea and Ruby to the hospital. Of course, the number one priority right now was making sure they were safe.

  And they weren’t.

  None of them were as long as that guy had a gun pointed at Warren.

  “Well?” Griff snapped. “Are you ready to tell me why the hell you’re doing this?”

  Griff probably should have reined in his temper to keep the anger out of that demand, but it was hard to do when this idiot was putting so many people in danger.

  The man groaned, and it seemed to be from frustration. Welcome to the club. Griff was frustrated and furious that he had allowed Rachel and the others to be in the middle of this mess.

  “I didn’t mean for it to come to this,” their assailant finally said. And Griff had no trouble recognizing the voice.

  Brad.

  The shock hit Griff hard. Even though Brad was on their suspect list, it was difficult to believe that a man he had known most of his life was now holding Warren at gunpoint. But Griff didn’t have to guess why Brad was doing this. The man had clearly gone off the deep end.

  Because of Rachel and him.

  Rachel gasped, too, and shook her head. “Brad, you have to let my father go right now.”

  “I can’t.” The DA didn’t hesitate. “Now, all of you throw down your guns. All three of you,” Brad emphasized. “And you’ve probably already figured out that you can’t call for help. I’ve planted some signal jammers all around the house, and I’ve got one on me.”

  Brad took out the small device from his pocket and tossed it onto the table. That explained why they couldn’t get out a call. Brad had obviously planned this attack for him, to bring those. But maybe something had gone wrong for it to come down to this. Griff was betting Brad had planned on getting a clean shot at Rachel and him before now. But time was running out, since Egan or Court had probably sent someone out to check on them.

  “If you argue with me about it or try to do something stupid,” Brad warned, “I’ll start shooting Warren. I won’t kill him, but I’ll hurt him.”

  Griff saw Rachel tense. She didn’t argue, though. She tossed her gun. Thea’s, too. Griff wasn’t so quick to move, but he wasn’t in a position to bargain. He didn’t want to be unarmed, but this wasn’t a bluff. Brad would indeed shoot Warren.

  Griff tossed his gun onto the floor in front of them. Hopefully, though, it was still close enough for him to get to it if Brad started shooting.

  “I didn’t think it would come to this,” Brad repeated. “I thought by now that Rachel would have seen that Griff wasn’t right for her, and would have come back to me.”

  “That isn’t going to happen. Not ever.” Even though she practically whispered that, it was obviously loud enough for Brad to hear, because he groaned again. “Do you think I could be with you after this?” she added. “You didn’t only attack me. You attacked us. Griff, my father, Thea, Ruby and the ranch hands.”

  “Ruby and the ranch hands are fine,” Brad snapped. “I used a stun gun on them and tied up the ranch hands. They never even saw my face.”

  But everyone in this room had seen it. And that meant he couldn’t leave them alive. Brad was planning on killing them all.

  Maybe.

  “If you want to win Rachel back,” Griff said, forcing himself to keep his voice calm, “then you should start by letting Warren go. Then we can sit down and talk about this.”

  “I’m not stupid.” That was practically a shout. “I know it’s too late.”

  “Maybe not.” Even though it was a lie, Rachel also tried to sound a whole lot calmer than Griff knew she was.

  “It is too late.” Brad cursed her, calling her a vile name. “I saw you with Griff, you know. A month ago, when Warren got shot, I was going to check on you, to make sure you were okay. But I saw you leaving the hospital with Griff. I followed you, and you went to his place.” His anger increased with every word he said. “You stayed the night with him. You slept with him.”

  Griff was about to lie and say that Rachel and he hadn’t done that. It might save her. But then he got a glimpse of Brad’s face, and knew that he must have seen Rachel and him in bed that night.

  “What did you do?” Griff pressed. “Did you look through the window? Did you spy on us?”

  “From a distance. I couldn’t get too close to the house because I didn’t want your dog barking. I knew then that I had to take a step back and figure out what to do. I had to figure out how to get Rachel back.”

  “And you did that by blowing up my car, by trying to kill me?” Rachel snapped.

  She definitely wasn’t trying to calm him down now. Instead, she was dealing with her own anger, something that Griff understood, since he wanted to rip this idiot limb from limb for what he’d put Rachel through.

  This time Brad didn’t jump to answer, but Griff could practically feel the man’s ire turning to rage. “You let him get you pregnant.” Brad’s voice was low and dangerous now. “Don’t bother to deny it. I know about the pregnancy test.”

  Griff figured that was because of Brad’s spies, which were seemingly everywhere. Of course, it wasn’t something Rachel and he could have kept secret for long, but Griff would have preferred a gentler way of telling his sister and Warren. Both were too drugged up to react now, but he was certain he’d get an earful from Rachel’s dad.

  If they made it out of this, that is.

  Griff had hoped he would be able to reason with Brad, but they were well past that now. Especially since Brad had probably killed Dennis and Buddy. Well, maybe he had. There was another player i
n this.

  “What happened to the gunman you hired?” Griff asked. “The one who shot at Rachel and me in Silver Creek? Or was that you?”

  “No.” Brad cursed again. “It was Dennis and Buddy who did that. I told them to set someone up, and they chose Warren. The idiots. Marlon would have been a much better choice. And no, I didn’t murder Dennis. Buddy did when Dennis turned on us and tried to extort money from us.”

  “Buddy only did that because you gave the order to do it,” Griff said.

  “No!” Brad repeated. “Buddy did that all on his own, and then he tried to get me to pay up. That’s when I knew I had to put a stop to him. I put a tracker on his truck, and I followed him to the hospital in San Antonio. I think he was on his way there to tell Helen and anyone else who’d listen what I had done. I knew then I had to finish this myself.”

  Griff shook his head. “You could have just finished it by walking away, by accepting that it wasn’t going to work out with Rachel and you.”

  Brad groaned, the sound of a man who was in a lot of mental pain. “I could never accept that. Never. And I’m tired of talking about all of this.”

  Griff was tired of it, too, especially since he was never going to convince Brad that he was doing the wrong thing. Still, there were a few more questions that needed answers.

  “Are Simon, Alma or Marlon helping you?” Griff asked. He didn’t expect Brad to respond and was surprised when he did.

  “Of course not,” the DA spat. “I wouldn’t trust any of them with this. But Marlon will get what’s due him. He’ll be the one arrested for this.”

  Yes, but something about that didn’t make sense. “Why drug Warren and take him to Silver Creek if you weren’t going to make us think he was behind this?”

  “That was all Dennis and Buddy’s doing. Marlon’s the one they should have focused on. Never trust idiots,” Brad snapped. “Now, I’m playing cleanup. At least if the CSIs find my prints here in the house, they won’t think anything about it because I’ve come here a lot. I’m a close family friend. Was a close family friend,” he corrected, but his voice cracked on the words.

  Obviously, Brad was going to set up Marlon in some way. For multiple counts of murder. And because of Marlon’s past behavior, he would indeed be a suspect. Griff disliked Marlon, but the man didn’t deserve this. Especially since Marlon’s arrest would mean that Brad would go free.

  If Griff didn’t’ do something, and fast, Brad might get away with it, too. He was the district attorney, and knew all the inner workings of the sheriff’s office. He might even be able to manipulate the investigation.

  But Griff wasn’t going to let that happen.

  No way would he let this lunatic kill Rachel and the rest of them.

  Behind him, Griff felt Rachel move, and he hoped like the devil that she wasn’t going to try to stand up. “So, the only person you’ve killed was a druggie CI who’d gone rogue,” she said. “That’s good. That means we can try to fix this.”

  Brad leaned out even farther, maybe to try to see her expression. It must not have been one he liked because he made a feral sound of outrage. “How could you have chosen Griff over me? He comes from nothing, and you let him touch you like that.”

  Hell. That wasn’t the right thing for Brad to say to her. Griff was used to such talk, but it must have hit a nerve with Rachel because she cursed Brad.

  Not good.

  Because it apparently was more than the man could take. He aimed his gun at Rachel. Griff could have sworn his life passed before his eyes when he thought Brad might kill her.

  But he didn’t.

  Brad didn’t pull the trigger. He shoved Warren to the side and, yelling like a crazy man, charged right at them.

  * * *

  FROM THE MOMENT that Rachel had seen Brad holding her father at gunpoint, she had known it would come down to this.

  This had become a fight for their lives.

  She hadn’t expected Brad to get rid of his human shield so that he could go after her, but the rage must have gotten the better of him. Griff apparently hadn’t thought he would do that, either. Griff was already in the process of reaching for his gun on the floor, but had to stop when Brad plowed right into them and smacked them against the wall.

  The DA was heavily muscled and outsized Griff by a good forty pounds, so the hit felt as if a Mack truck had come at them. The jolt from the impact shot through Rachel when her head collided with Thea’s, and Griff’s sister cried out in pain. Rachel hoped the woman wasn’t hurt even worse than she already was. She also hoped that they could put a stop to Brad before he tried to kill them.

  After all, Brad still had hold of his gun.

  As close as he was, if he pulled the trigger now he could easily hit one of them. But why hadn’t he just shot them when he was holding her father? Maybe Brad had figured that would have given Griff enough time to grab the gun and return fire. Then he would have been an easier target, since her father would have likely slumped down, leaving Brad’s body exposed.

  The impact of Brad slamming into him caused Griff to move farther away from his own weapon, and Rachel couldn’t get to it, either. That’s because Brad was now in the way. Even though he was right against them, he still managed to bring up his gun, and he bashed it against Griff’s head.

  The blood splattered across her face.

  Griff’s blood.

  Sweet heaven. Now Griff was hurt. If Brad managed to knock him unconscious, he could try to beat him to death. Of course, she would do whatever it took to stop that, but she had to be careful not to get punched in the stomach. A blow like that could cause her to miscarry, and that was a risk Griff definitely wouldn’t want her to take. Still, she couldn’t just let him die. Not after...well, not after everything they’d been through.

  Brad tried to take aim at her with the gun, but Griff latched onto his wrist, holding it with both hands. Brad could no longer shoot her, but he used his left fist to hit Griff anywhere he could reach.

  Rachel glanced at her father to see if he was in any position to get one of the guns from the floor.

  He wasn’t.

  Her dad was obviously still woozy, and was now groaning, maybe in pain. He’d taken a hard fall when Brad had pushed him, so he could perhaps be injured. After all, he was still recovering from the gunshot wound that he’d gotten just a month ago.

  She couldn’t think about that now, though. Not when Brad hit Griff again. Even though the blow was harder than the first one, Griff still managed to push Brad away, shoving him backward and then lunging at him. The impact sent them both sprawling into the middle of the floor.

  Right on top of those guns.

  Brad somehow managed to keep hold of his own weapon, and even got in another hit to Griff’s head. Not good. She wasn’t sure how much more of this Griff could take.

  Rachel had to figure out some way to stop this.

  But how?

  She stood up to try to get closer to the fight so she could help. Brad must have seen her out of the corner of his eye because he quit punching Griff and turned in her direction. He brought up his gun.

  Big mistake.

  Rachel saw rage fire through Griff’s eyes, and he rammed his elbow, hard, into Brad’s shooting hand. The DA’s aim shifted to the right, but he still managed to pull the trigger.

  The sound of the bullet blasted through the room. And through her. For several heart-stopping moments she thought she’d been hit, but she hadn’t been. The shot tore into the china hutch right next to where she was standing.

  Griff was still on the floor, but he grabbed Brad, trying to pull him back down. Cursing him, and her, Brad fought back. He was swinging his arms and fists wildly, obviously fighting for his life now. But then so were they.

  Thea caught Rachel’s arm, yanking her back down next to her. Just in time, because Brad fired again. He
probably would have gotten off a third shot if Griff hadn’t tackled him. This time, Brad didn’t get the upper hand. Despite his size, Griff landed a punch on the man’s jaw.

  Brad’s head snapped back, and he looked dazed. But that lasted only for a moment. The rage returned, and he probably would have tried to shoot her again if Griff hadn’t continued to punch him.

  Since Brad still wasn’t giving up, Rachel scrambled across the floor to snatch up one of the guns that Griff, Thea and she had tossed there. She tried to take aim, but it would be too big of a risk for her to fire because she could hit Griff. She didn’t pull the trigger.

  But someone did.

  Brad.

  Unlike the other shots, this one was muffled. That’s because the gun was between Brad and Griff.

  Oh, God.

  And that’s when Rachel saw the blood.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Griff heard the sharp gasp that Rachel made, and even though he didn’t want her anywhere near Brad, she came rushing toward them. He figured she was doing that because she thought he’d been shot.

  And maybe he had.

  It took Griff several long moments to realize that he wasn’t in pain. Well, not in pain from a gunshot wound, anyway. He was hurting from where Brad had managed to punch him in the face too many times. However, the person who was in pain right now was Brad.

  Groaning and cursing, Brad moved off Griff and looked down at the front of his shirt. There was blood and lots of it. In the heat of the fight, Brad had shot himself. But he was still very much alive.

  Brad still had the gun, too.

  And that made him even more dangerous than before. The sound that tore from his mouth didn’t even seem human, and there was a wild, insane look in his eyes when his attention landed on Griff. Griff expected the man to try again to shoot him. He didn’t, though.

  Brad turned the gun on Rachel.

  Griff’s heart went to his throat, and he lunged at Brad as fast as he could move. This time he managed to wrench the gun from his hand. But it was too late. Griff heard Rachel make another sound. This time, it was a shout.