Drury had to think about that for a few seconds. “You mean Ronnie?”
“Yes.”
He waited for Nicole to add more to that, and when she didn’t, he asked, “How do you know Ronnie?”
A few seconds crawled by. “He’s the one who moved me into the apartment. He works for the people behind all of this, and if he gets the chance, he’ll kill me.”
Drury had no doubts about that. Well, no doubts if Nicole was telling the truth that is. But she didn’t mention Ronnie in their other conversation. Only the two thugs who’d attacked her after she delivered the baby.
“I need to see your face,” Drury tried again. “I need to make sure you’re really Nicole Aston.”
Just as when she was on the phone, there was a long silence. So long that Drury thought the woman might turn and run. He hoped that didn’t happen because it could be part of a ruse to divide and conquer. Because at least two of them would have to go after her since she could have critical information to spare Caitlyn from yet another attack.
Just when Drury was about to give up, there was some movement. Not from the trees but rather from some shrubs.
“Stay back,” Drury reminded Caitlyn. He wished there was time to move her to another part of the building, but he didn’t want her out of his sight. Besides, there could be gunmen at the front of the building by now.
More movement in the shrubs, and finally the woman lifted her head. Not her hands, though.
“I want to make sure you aren’t armed,” Drury ordered.
She lifted her hands, slowly. No gun. Not one that was visible anyway, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have one nearby.
Drury picked through the dim light to study the woman’s features. She looked like the Nicole Aston in the driver’s license photo.
“I told you I wasn’t carrying a weapon,” Nicole said. “I came to you for help, but if you don’t trust me, I’ll have to go elsewhere.”
“Someone’s trying to kill Caitlyn. Maybe trying to take the baby, too. I have to be suspicious of everyone who might be connected to Conceptions.”
And Nicole was definitely connected. The question was, just how deep was her involvement?
“Come in so we can talk,” Drury tried again.
No hesitation from her that time. She quickly shook her head. “I want to see Caitlyn.”
“I can’t risk that,” Drury said at the same time Caitlyn said, “I’m here.”
Drury shot her a glare. He hadn’t wanted Nicole to know Caitlyn’s position, but then it was highly likely that Nicole had caught a glimpse of her the moment Drury opened the door.
“You need to do as Drury says,” Caitlyn called out to the woman. “Come inside. It’s not safe out there.”
“I know,” Nicole answered.
Apparently, she meant that because her gaze was firing all around them. She appeared to be as much on edge as the rest of them because Lucas, Kade and Grayson were doing the same thing. Drury was trying to do that while keeping watch on Nicole. He still wasn’t convinced that she wasn’t about to pull out a gun.
Tired of this standoff, Drury decided to put an end to it. “Tell me what you came here to say, or else I’m shutting this door.”
“I don’t want to go to jail,” Nicole said.
Once again, she’d surprised him. “For what?”
“I signed a lot of papers when I became a surrogate. A couple of months ago when I heard on the news about what had gone on at Conceptions, I got worried.”
She was right to have worried. There’d been a lot of illegal things going on at the clinic.
“When Ronnie came by to give me my monthly payment,” she continued, “I told him I wanted out of the deal. I was afraid what they might do to the baby. He said the papers I signed were like a confession. That if I went to the cops that they could use those papers to put me in jail. But I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with stealing any embryo.”
“I’ll want to take a look at those papers,” Drury insisted.
She shook her head. “The men who attacked me took them.”
Maybe just more tying up of loose ends, but they also might have taken them because they could implicate their boss.
“That’s why I need to talk to Caitlyn,” Nicole went on. “Ronnie said the baby’s mother could be arrested, too, because she’s the one who helped with the plan.”
“I didn’t,” Caitlyn quickly said. “I had no idea what was going on until I got the ransom demand.”
“So, Ronnie lied.”
Nicole’s voice was so soft that Drury barely heard her. But there was something in her tone. Something in the way she said Ronnie’s name. Maybe it was nothing, but it seemed as if Nicole might know more about him than she was admitting. Drury really needed to sit her down for an interview. There was no telling what she would reveal when questioned.
“Come inside,” Drury pressed. “Caitlyn is in here, and the two of you can talk.”
Nicole was shaking her head. Until he added the last part. Obviously, Nicole was very interested in seeing Caitlyn because she stopped shaking her head and made another of those nervous glances around her.
“All right,” Nicole finally agreed. “But don’t point your gun at me when I come out. I have panic attacks, and I don’t want to trigger one.”
A panic attack seemed the least of her concerns right now, but Drury glanced at Grayson. Grayson understood exactly what Drury wanted him to do because he stepped to the side, out of Nicole’s line of sight.
And he kept his gun ready.
Drury lowered his to his side.
Even though Kade and Lucas were still armed, that didn’t seem to bother Nicole. Perhaps because they were inside the car. Or maybe she wasn’t able to see through the tinted glass. Either way, she pushed the shrubs aside and started toward them.
She didn’t get far.
Nicole made it only a couple of steps before the shot blasted through the air.
* * *
THE SOUND OF the shot was so loud and seemed so close that Caitlyn thought for a moment that Drury had been shot. She caught onto him, pulling him out of the doorway, but he was already headed her direction.
Grayson scrambled to the other side.
It wasn’t a second too soon because the next shot slammed into the jamb only inches from where they’d both been standing.
Outside, Caitlyn heard a scream. Nicole. Mercy, had the woman been shot?
Even though she wasn’t certain she could trust Nicole and that she’d told them the truth about everything, Caitlyn didn’t want her hurt. Or worse. Someone could be murdering her right now in front of them.
She fought the flashbacks of her own father’s murder. Fought the fear, too, but that was hard to do. The adrenaline was already sky-high, and her heartbeat was crashing in her ears, making it hard to hear. Hard to hear Nicole anyway.
Caitlyn had no trouble hearing the next shot.
It, too, slammed into the doorjamb.
Drury cursed, pulled her to the floor and covered her body with his. Protecting her. Again. She wished she had a gun or some kind of weapon so she could help him, and while she was wishing, she added for the shots to stop.
They didn’t.
Two more slammed into the building.
“Can you see the shooter?” Grayson asked Drury.
Drury shook his head. “But I think he’s in one of the trees in the park. Somewhere around your ten o’clock.”
That didn’t help steady her nerves. Because that meant the shooter was in a position to keep firing. Which he did.
“What about Lucas and Kade?” Caitlyn had gotten only a glimpse of them before Drury had pulled her away.
“Still in the car. They won’t be able to get out.”
&
nbsp; No. Because they’d be gunned down. That also meant they would have a hard time returning fire. But at least they were safe. However, she knew that shots could get through a bullet-resistant car.
“What about Nicole?” Caitlyn managed to say.
Another headshake from Drury. “I can’t see her, either. I hope to hell she stays down.”
Maybe that meant Nicole was still alive. Of course, she wouldn’t be for long if they couldn’t get her out of the path of the shooter.
Except the gunman wasn’t firing at her.
“All the shots are coming into the building,” Caitlyn said under her breath.
“Yeah,” Drury verified. “It could mean Nicole’s in on this. Or...”
He didn’t finish that because another shot came at them. One that caused Drury to curse again. And she knew why. Because the angle of the shot had changed. Either the gunman had moved or there were two shooters.
Drury reached up, slapped off the lights and moved her even farther away from the door. Two deputies came in from the squad room, but Grayson motioned for them to get back. Good thing, too, because the shots went in their direction. Clearly, the shooter was pinpointing their moves, and with the lights off it could mean he was using some kind of infrared device.
“The walls and windows of the sheriff’s office are all reinforced,” Drury said to her. Perhaps he gave her that reminder because she was trembling now and cursing as well with each new shot.
Caitlyn wasn’t sure how many rounds were fired, but it seemed to last an eternity. And then it stopped.
Silence.
That was more unnerving than the shots because she knew it could mean the gunmen were closing in on them.
“Stay down,” Drury warned her.
He reached in the slide holster of his jeans and handed her his backup weapon. Caitlyn took it, but she had no idea what he had in mind. Not until he started to inch away from her.
Toward the door.
She wanted to pull him back, to try to keep him out of harm’s way, but there was no safe place in the room right now. Because if those gunmen got closer, they could start picking them off.
Grayson moved, as well. Both Drury and he stayed low on the floor, but they made their way to the door. Drury lifted his head, listening, and his gaze was firing all around the area. She suspected Kade and Lucas were doing the same thing.
“You can’t let them take me,” Nicole called out.
Caitlyn had no trouble hearing the terror in the woman’s voice, and she instinctively moved to help her. She didn’t move far, though, because Drury motioned for her to stay down.
“It could be a trap,” he whispered.
She almost hoped it was. Because a trap like that would fail, and it would mean Nicole wasn’t out there with hired killers. Of course, if it was a trap, it meant they had a very dangerous woman on their hands.
After long moments of silence, the sound of the next gunshot caused Caitlyn to gasp. And it didn’t stay a single gunshot.
“I see him,” Drury said to Grayson a split second before he leaned out and fired.
Caitlyn hadn’t thought the shots could get any more deafening, but she’d been wrong. Because Grayson began to fire, as well. And the shooters outside didn’t stop. However, even with all the noise, Caitlyn heard Nicole scream.
“No!” she shouted. “Please, no.”
Mercy, did that mean she’d been hit?
Caitlyn lifted her head just a fraction so she could peer out the door, but the angle was wrong for her to see Nicole.
However, she saw something else.
She got just a glimpse of a man wearing dark clothes and a ski mask. Obviously one of the shooters. He took aim at Drury.
“Watch out!” Caitlyn warned him.
But no warning was necessary. Drury had already seen the man, and he fired two shots, both of them slamming into the shooter’s chest. He made a sharp sound of pain and dropped to the ground.
“I think he’s wearing Kevlar,” Drury said to Grayson.
If so, then the guy might not be dead after all. He could just have gotten the wind knocked out of him, and once he regained his breath, he could try to kill them again.
“You see the other gunman?” Grayson asked.
“No.”
Caitlyn figured it was too much to hope that he’d run away. And she soon got confirmation that he hadn’t.
“Hell, he’s going after Nicole,” Drury spat out.
He scrambled to an even closer position by the door, and he took aim, but Drury didn’t fire. Neither did Grayson nor the deputies.
“Please, no,” Nicole repeated. Caitlyn hadn’t thought it possible, but the woman sounded even more terrified than before.
“You want her dead?” someone called out. It was a man, but Caitlyn didn’t recognize his voice.
“I want you to let her go,” Drury answered.
“No can do. But if you shoot now, the bullet will go into her. Is that a risk you want to take?”
That meant this thug was using Nicole as a human shield, and Caitlyn got a glimpse of that when the gunman moved into her line of sight.
Yes, he had Nicole all right.
The man had his left arm hooked around Nicole’s neck. His gun was pressed to her head. And he was backing away from the building. Caitlyn also saw something else.
Another gunman.
The second guy was to the thug’s right, and he had a rifle aimed at Drury and the others.
As terrifying as that was, this could also be a different kind of terror for Drury. Because this was almost identical to the way his wife had been murdered.
“What will it take for you to let her go?” Drury tried to bargain with the man. “She’s innocent in all of this.”
“I don’t care. Just following orders, Agent Ryland. You really don’t want to watch another woman die, do you?”
So the gunman knew who Drury was. And he knew about Drury’s past. Not exactly a surprise, but she had to wonder why the gunmen had made such a bold attack. Plain and simple, it was risky because they’d fired those shots into a building filled with lawmen.
“Why do you want Nicole?” Caitlyn shouted.
That earned her another glare from Drury. Probably because he didn’t want the gunman’s attention on her and also because he figured the gunman wouldn’t answer.
But he did.
“Nicole’ll get a chance to tell you all about that,” he said. “We’ll be in touch soon.”
“Don’t let him take me!” Nicole shouted.
However, they had no choice but to let the gunman do just that. With his gun still against her head and with his armed partner leading the way, the man took off running, dragging Nicole with him.
Chapter Fourteen
We’ll be in touch soon.
The gunman’s words kept playing in Drury’s head. The words of a kidnapper, not a hired killer. At least it didn’t seem as if the guy had plans to kill Nicole. Not yet anyway.
But what did the gunman and his boss hope to gain from this?
Money was the obvious answer. Maybe since they didn’t get an additional ransom from Caitlyn, this was a way of making up for that. Of course, this could be some kind of sick bargaining plan to get Caitlyn out in the open.
That wasn’t going to happen.
She’d already come too close to being killed, and Drury had to put a stop to it. He also had to put a stop to the other images that kept going through his head.
Yeah, the flashbacks had come at the worst possible moment.
Thank God he hadn’t frozen, but that’s because he’d had to fight those old images by reminding himself that other lives were at stake. He couldn’t go back in time and save Lily.
Hell, he h
adn’t saved Nicole, either, because the surrogate was in the hands of hired killers.
Drury nearly jumped when he felt the soft touch on his arm. He’d been in such deep thought what with wrestling his demons that he hadn’t heard Caitlyn walk up behind him in Grayson’s office.
“I wish it were something stronger,” she said when she handed him a bottle of water.
Yeah, they both could have probably used something stronger, but it would have to do. Especially since they couldn’t go anywhere. The break room was closed off, now essentially a crime scene, and the building was on lockdown until Lucas and the other deputies made sure the area was clear.
“I called the ranch,” she added, “and talked to the nanny who’s staying with Caroline. Everything seems to be okay there.”
By okay she meant safe, but it wasn’t truly okay because Caitlyn wanted to be there with her daughter. At least Caroline was in good hands. There were several nannies at the ranch, including this nanny, Tillie Palmer, along with plenty of cousins to help take care of her.
“We shouldn’t have to be here much longer,” he told her. Hoped that was true. And because he thought it would help, he brushed a kiss on her cheek.
It didn’t help.
That look was still in her eyes. The look of a woman who’d just been through hell and back. Hell that wasn’t over now that Nicole was a hostage and two of the gunmen had escaped.
The third was dying.
At least that was what the medic said when they’d whisked him away in an ambulance. The guy hadn’t been wearing Kevlar after all, and both of the bullets Drury fired had gone into the man’s chest. He was in surgery, but it wasn’t looking good.
“Your family has really stepped up to help me,” she said. “I won’t forget that.”
Yes, they had stepped up, and Drury wouldn’t forget it, either. He, his brothers and cousins had a strong bond, and they didn’t forgive easily when one of them was wronged. In their minds, Caitlyn had wronged him, but that hadn’t stopped them from doing the right thing.
“You two okay?” Grayson asked from the doorway. He had his hands bracketed on the jamb.
Both Caitlyn and Drury settled for nods. Of course, they were lying, but at least they were alive, and none of his cousins or the other deputies had been hurt in this latest attack. It could have been much, much worse. It sickened Drury to think that Caroline could have been with them.
Drury Page 13
