Another shot sounded and Lance dove from the machine to the ground. “Lance!” she cried.
“I’m not hit,” he answered back. “Just trying to make sure I stay that way.”
Her heartbeat doubled and she swallowed her relief and fear. More gunfire came from the other side of the cave and she figured the Wrangler’s Corner deputies were doing their best to subdue the attackers. She heard a cry and another shot. How many were there? Two? Three? More? Who had been hurt?
Amber glanced at Sam and worried about his stillness. He was still breathing fine as far as she could tell, but she wanted him under a doctor’s care ASAP.
She lifted her head in time to see Lance bolt from his cover. A white-clad figure rounded a tree and Lance slammed into him before he had a chance to pull the trigger. They went down together, wrestling. Lance’s gun spun from his hand, a hard fist landed on his face and he cried out. Lance’s weapon lay too far from him to reach, but he couldn’t have gone for it even if he’d been able to grab it.
He had one gloved hand wrapped around a black-clad wrist and was desperately fighting to keep the attacker from aiming his weapon at him. In a smooth move, he managed to roll the man to his back. Still keeping a death grip on the man’s wrist, Lance locked his legs against the man’s stomach, and landed a solid punch to the attacker’s jaw. The man simply grunted and struggled harder. Lance lost his grip on the wrist, the gun leveled on his face. Amber took aim and without hesitation, squeezed the trigger. The man under Lance jerked. Lance grabbed the weapon from the suddenly slack hand and rolled off. He stayed low, keeping the gun turned on the bleeding man who gripped his shattered arm and yelled obscenities at Amber. Lance’s gaze flicked to Amber who met his eyes. “Thanks,” he huffed.
“Anytime.” She ducked back down and turned to find Clay missing. Where had he gone?
She didn’t want to leave Sam alone so she bit her lip and waited.
The shooting had stopped, but the chaos hadn’t. Clay came back around to her side of the snowmobile. “We’ve got ’em.”
“All of them?”
“All but one,” he grunted. “There was one who got away. Ronnie’s gone after him.”
“Great.”
Clay looked over her shoulder. “Need any help with him?”
“Sure,” Lance said. “You can have him.”
Clay moved to take the swaying prisoner from Lance. He cuffed him ignoring the man’s cry of pain when he pulled his injured arm behind him. “Shouldn’t have decided to come shooting if you don’t want to accept the consequences,” Clay growled. He yanked off the ski mask. “You know this clown?”
Amber stared into a familiar face. “He’s Pirhadi’s right-hand man,” she said. “His name is Roger Quinn.”
“You’re a spook,” Roger growled.
“And you’re a killer,” Amber said without emotion.
“Pirhadi and Deon don’t like to lose,” Quinn said. “They won’t give up.”
“I’ll be ready.” She nodded to Clay. “I’m done with him.”
“Plane,” Sam whispered.
Amber spun to find Sam looking at Clay’s hat. It had a plane on it. One of the more popular airlines that he flew when he had out-of-town business. She went to Clay and gathered him to her. “Yes, it’s a plane.”
“Plane.” Then he sighed and closed his eyes once again.
“Lance, you take that snowmobile and get Sam to the doctor. We’ve got these guys covered. There were four,” Clay said to Amber. “We’ll find out who they were working for and get information from them.”
“We know who they were working for.”
“Yeah, well, it’ll help coming from them.” He looked at the man Amber had shot. “There’ll be paperwork for you.”
“I know.”
“We’ll take care of it later. Get to the hospital.”
Lance climbed on the snowmobile and cranked it. Amber tucked Sam against her once again and belted them in then looked around. “Where’s Kat?”
Clay shook his head. “I don’t know. She disappeared a while back.”
Amber frowned, but nodded. “All right. We’re ready.”
Lance nodded and soon they were moving quickly down the mountain with one of the deputies following. She thought it was Tiffany. She knew why Clay had sent her. Because one of the attackers had gotten away and Clay was probably concerned that he would try something again.
Amber figured he was right and kept her gun close.
THIRTEEN
Lance paced the tile floor of the hospital room and Amber leaned her head against the back of the chair. Tiffany, the deputy Clay had sent with them, guarded the door. Thanks to Tiffany and Lance’s presence, they’d been ushered directly to a room in the Emergency Department where the nurses had done their best to make Sam comfortable while they waited for the test results to come back.
The child’s fever was lower, and he seemed to simply be sleeping. Lance walked back to the window.
“You can sit down, you know.”
Amber’s quiet voice filled the room. Filled his head. He turned to see her leaning forward in the chair, smoothing the hair on Sam’s forehead. She did that a lot. A gesture of affection. Love. And it hit him that she was now a package deal. Whoever wound up with Amber would wind up with Sam. A six-year-old autistic boy who would need specialized care the rest of his life. Lance swallowed at the thought.
“Hey, you okay?”
He realized he hadn’t responded to her. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine.” But was he? He wouldn’t deny his interest in Amber. He wouldn’t deny he wanted her to stick around so they could see if there was anything to pursue in the way of romance after all this was over. If it was ever over. He rubbed a hand down his face. What was he thinking? He sighed. What he’d been thinking ever since he’d seen Amber when she’d come home for the birth of her niece. That he wanted to spend time with her.
Well, he’d gotten that, hadn’t he?
Not exactly like he’d imagined, true, but the time had still been...telling. Like telling him he hadn’t imagined that she’d been attracted to him the last time he’d seen her and that the feelings were mutual. Telling in that he never really knew her at all. And now someone was trying to kill her and she had a six-year-old son. Yeah. It had been telling all right. Was he man enough to deal with her and Sam? To be what they would need him to be? And why was he even thinking along those lines? She didn’t plan to stay in Wrangler’s Corner and he wasn’t leaving.
“Lance.”
He blinked. “What?”
“You have a really strange look on your face. What are you thinking about?”
He tried to relax. “Keeping you and Sam safe. Making sure you get to live the life that you deserve. That you both deserve.”
She frowned. “You’re being weird.”
“Sorry.” He forced a smile.
A knock on the door brought instant relief from the awkward conversation. Lance crossed the room and opened the door. Dr. Daniel Cullen stepped inside. “How’s he doing?”
Daniel, a friend of Lance’s from high school, walked over to look down at Sam. Lance cleared his throat. “Why don’t you tell us?”
Amber studied the doctor, anxiety written all over her.
Daniel smiled. “He’s going to be fine. He’s a sick little guy, but he’ll recover in a few days. He’s definitely got strep so we’re treating with that.” He tapped the IV pole. “There’s a bit of a sedative in there, as well. From what you said—” he shot a pointed look at Amber “—about his last hospital experience, we don’t need him pulling out his IV.”
She grimaced and nodded. “That’s probably the best thing for him.”
“And, he has the flu.”
“What? The flu, too?” She gaped and Lance frowned.
Amber looked at Lance and shot him a soft smile. “I think I know how to do that now.”
Lance’s heart thudded. His shoulders straightened. He almost shook his head at his reaction. Honestly, he couldn’t let her have that silly effect on him.
“Have you two had your vaccine?”
“Yes, I have,” Amber said. “But so did Sam.”
“It happens. Hopefully, the vaccine will make it a lighter case. So,” Daniel said, “we’ll call it a night. If you need anything, just buzz the nurse.” He glanced at the whiteboard on the wall. “Deborah’s on tonight. You’ll like her. She loves working with the children—and she’s good at it.”
“Thanks so much.”
He nodded. “And Lance, it’s been a while. You plan on coming back to church any time soon? We’ve missed your sharp wit in small group.”
Lance gave a low chuckle. “You mean my sarcasm?”
“Okay. That.”
“I hope to be back soon. Tell everyone I said hello.”
Daniel left with promises to do so. Lance heard the door shut and turned to find Amber’s gaze on him. “You go to a small group?”
He shrugged. “Yes. When I’m not working.”
“Or rescuing CIA operatives and their child?”
“Exactly.” He turned serious. “Thank you for today.”
Her eyes didn’t leave his. “You’re welcome.”
“He got the upper hand,” he said softly, loathing to admit it.
“I know.”
“I’d be dead if you hadn’t shot him.”
“I know that, too.” She blinked. “Let’s not rehash it.”
He walked over and cupped the back of her head. “Amber, I—”
“I’m not staying in Wrangler’s Corner, Lance, I have a job to do.”
He stiffened, but didn’t pull away. “And how does Sam fit in with that job?”
She blinked then sighed. “I don’t know yet.”
“I think you do.”
“What do you mean?”
He opened his mouth to speak then simply leaned over and kissed her. Just like last time, she went still then slid her hands around his waist and kissed him back. He felt her desperation and her conflict in the kiss. She wanted to stay, but felt she had to leave. He didn’t want her to go, but didn’t know what he’d do if she stayed.
Because he wasn’t ever getting married again. He pulled back. “I’m sorry.”
She simply looked up at him then nodded and turned away to walk over to Sam’s side.
“Amber—”
Another knock on the door interrupted them again. Lance’s hand went to his weapon then relaxed a fraction. Tiffany wouldn’t let anyone in who shouldn’t be let in. He went to the door and opened it. Clay stood there. “Hey, come on in.”
Clay, still dressed in his winter snowmobile clothes, had fresh flakes on his hat and coat.
“I guess it’s snowing again,” Amber said. Her voice sounded steady, and Lance wondered if the kiss hadn’t rocked her quite as much as it had him. The thought pained him.
Clay brushed at the white stuff. “Yeah.” He looked at Sam. “Is he going to be out of here for Christmas?”
Amber nodded. “Yes, from what the doctor said, he just needs rest and meds. He can do that at home.” She frowned. “Wherever that winds up being.”
“At the ranch, of course.”
Amber sighed. “Not if I’ve still got killers after me. I won’t take that chance. Mom and Dad have already been through so much, I won’t add to it.”
Clay’s mouth tightened, but he didn’t argue with his sister. Lance figured she hadn’t heard the end of it, though. “Did you get anything from the men you caught shooting at us?”
Clay rolled his eyes. “Not a lot. They’re a tight-lipped bunch. But it’s because they’re scared.”
“Terrified, probably,” Amber said. “Pirhadi won’t take their failure well.”
“He was with them,” Clay said.
“What?” Amber straightened.
“We got him on a camera in town in the back alley of the sheriff’s department.”
Amber stared and her jaw dropped slightly. “What was he doing back there?”
“Probably watching for me. If he knows who Amber is, it’s highly likely he knows who her family is. And what we do for a living. He might have figured that I’d be the one she’d come to for help since I’m a cop.” His jaw flexed. “And I didn’t see him. We got a complaint from the café next door that there was arguing out back. By the time Parker got back there, they were gone.”
“Or hiding,” Amber said. “But he doesn’t do his own dirty work. He has millions of dollars. He pays people to kill for him.”
“Well, this time he’s involved.”
She gave a slow nod. “Well, this time his son is involved, and that might make a difference. And he’s got an ironclad excuse to show up here. He can be the outraged, grieving father personally searching for his kidnapped child.”
“But with the papers you have,” Lance said, “it proves he’s not quite the grieving father. He signed his parental rights away to his wife.”
“Yes, but if I’m not alive to produce the papers then...” She shrugged.
“Right.”
Sam turned his head and sighed. His eyes flickered, opened and landed on the hat in Clay’s hand. “Plane.”
Clay looked at the hat. “You like the plane? You want to go flying on one when you’re better?”
Sam yawned, then coughed. “Plane’s coming. Dangerous Ravi.”
Amber leaned forward. “What?”
Sam sighed. “Plane’s coming.” He closed his eyes and drifted off again.
Amber tried to make sense of it. “He said there’s a plane coming and Ravi is dangerous.”
“Well, those weren’t his exact words,” Lance said, “but I can see how you might translate it that way.”
“Or he could just be thinking about something he saw on television. A show with a person named Ravi who was dangerous. I don’t know.” She rubbed her eyes.
He placed a hand on her tense shoulder. “Do you believe he’s trying to tell us something?”
She paused, as though wanting to be sure of her answer before giving it. She looked at Sam. “Yes. Yes, I believe it.”
“Then let’s take what he’s giving up and put it together.”
“But how?”
Lance took Clay’s hat. “For one thing, he’s fixated on planes. He’s mentioned the word several times.”
Amber sucked in a breath. “Seven, six, two, five,” she whispered.
Now it was Lance’s turn to frown. “What?”
“What if it’s a flight number?”
* * *
Amber stood. “And it’s coming from one thirteen to two forty-four.”
“From Ibirizstan to the US,” Clay said.
“But there would be connections. There’s not a direct flight from there, I wouldn’t think.”
“And which flight is he talking about? I imagine there are several flights a day with that flight number.”
“If it is a flight number,” Clay said. He pulled his phone from the clip on his belt. “One way to find out.”
While he searched, Amber stretched. Fatigue pulled at her. Lance’s phone dinged and he checked it. After reading the text, he looked up. “That was Ronnie. He’s at the jail.”
“And?”
“He said they had to bring one of the prisoners here to the hospital. He took a bullet to the chest. They hauled him on the snowmobile as
it was faster than trying to get an ambulance out there. Trent’s with him here at the hospital.”
Amber straightened. “Is the prisoner awake?”
Lance shot a text to Trent and Amber waited, her heart thudding. This might be the break they needed. His phone pinged again. Lance read then looked up. “Yes. Kat is with him, as well. Trent said she showed up a few minutes ago. The prisoner’s getting ready to go back to surgery, but says he needs to talk. To you.”
“Me?”
Another sound from his phone. “Trent said if we want to get anything out of this guy, you’re going to have to get it.”
“What’s his name?”
Lance texted. His phone dinged again and he looked at Amber. “You know a guy named Taj?”
She froze for a split second. “Yes, I know him. He was often the driver for us when Nadia, Sam and I would go into town or wherever Nadia needed to go. Sometimes she went and I stayed home with Sam. He didn’t seem that loyal to Yousef, but I could never get him to talk to me.”
“Sounds like he might be ready now.”
She stood. “I’ll go to him. Where is he?”
Lance frowned. “Not alone, you’re not.”
“I’ll take Tiffany with me. She could probably use a break. Clay can watch the door for a little bit while you stay in the room with Sam.” She itched to move, to pace and think. To get some answers from the man with a bullet in him. “I’ll be right back.”
“Aren’t you worried about someone you know seeing you?”
“No.” She reached into the backpack she’d managed to grab in all the chaos and pulled out a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a baseball cap, makeup and a hair tie. Then she went to the mirror and used the makeup. Within seconds, she’d transformed herself.
Lance blinked and his jaw dropped. “If I didn’t know it was you, I’d never look twice. That’s amazing.”
“We learn all kinds of cool things in spy school. I’ll be right back.”
Clay nodded, his brow furrowed. “As long as Tiff’s with you. When you get back I’m going to head over to the jail and talk to our prisoners one more time. I want to present this new information to them, tell them Taj talked and act like we know what’s going on. See if that shakes anything loose.”
Classified Christmas Mission Page 13
