Because another shot came right at them.
Not a loud blast but more like a swish. That meant the gunman was using a weapon rigged with a silencer.
This had to be connected to Sophia’s murder. They couldn’t be that unlucky to now be the victims of a random attack. Maybe someone didn’t want them hearing whatever deathbed confession Claude was likely to make. If so, then it was even more vital that Grayson speak to the dying man.
Grayson pushed Eve flat on the concrete floor and tried to pinpoint the origin of those two shots. He also tried to spot the gunman. There was no sign of anyone, but he thought maybe the shots had come from a black van on the other side of the parking lot. It wasn’t a huge space, only about fifty feet across, but with the vehi cles jammed together, there were plenty of places for a would-be killer to hide.
“Call Nate and tell him we need backup,” Grayson told Eve. Without taking his attention off that black van, he grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket and handed it to her.
Another shot.
This one smacked into the headlight of the car right next to them. The glass shattered, flying through the air, and Grayson had to duck down and shield his eyes.
Almost immediately, he heard footsteps.
Behind him, he also heard Eve call Nate and request assistance, but Grayson shut out what she was saying and concentrated on those footsteps. Someone was running, and he caught just a glimpse of that someone before they ducked out of sight.
The person was dressed head-to-toe in black and was wearing a black baseball cap that obstructed the shooter’s face.
It could be anyone.
And that anyone ducked between two other vehicles—a white pickup truck and a red sports car.
“Nate’s on the way,” Eve relayed. “He said he’ll seal off the exits to the garage and do a silent approach.”
Good. He needed his brother because this situation could get more dangerous than it already was. If anyone came out of that elevator, the gunman would probably shoot to kill so there’d be no witnesses to this attack. Plus, someone driving into the garage could also become a target. Right now though Grayson’s biggest concern was Eve, and getting her safely out of there.
He lifted his head a fraction and listened for any sound of movement or more footsteps. None on both counts. Just Eve’s too-fast breathing, and she was mumbling something that sounded like a prayer. She was obviously terrified, and it didn’t help that this was the third attempt to kill her. In fact, it was probably worse now because she might be pregnant.
But Grayson pushed that thought out of his mind.
He needed to focus, and he couldn’t do that if he thought about the baby he’d possibly made with Eve.
The next shot got his full attention. It didn’t slam into the car as the others had. This one was aimed at the ground, and it ripped through the concrete just a few feet in front of them. The shooter had obviously gotten himself in a better position to deliver a fatal shot.
Grayson needed to throw him off-kilter as much as he could. That wouldn’t be easy since he only had his sidearm. There was extra ammunition in his car, but that was yards away and would be too dangerous to try to reach. That meant he had to make every shot count while maneuvering the gunman as far away from Eve as possible.
Grayson waited for the next shot, and he didn’t have to wait long. It, too, tore into the floor and sent a cloud of debris and dangerous concrete bits right at them. He ducked out of cover for just a second and then fired in the direction of the shooter.
He hit the red sports car.
The shot bashed into the front end, and almost immediately the alarm went off. It was a piercing roar that was almost deafening. And worse. It blocked out any sound of the gunman’s footsteps.
“Stay down!” Grayson warned Eve when he felt her move behind him.
He knew for a fact that she didn’t have her gun with her because he’d talked her out of bringing it. Now, he wished he hadn’t. He didn’t want Eve up and returning fire, but it would have been nice to have the extra ammunition.
Even with the distraction of the car alarm, Grayson saw where the next shot landed. This one hadn’t been aimed at them but rather the overhead lights. The gunman took out the ones near the elevator and stairwell, plunging that area into total darkness.
That could be good or bad.
Good because Nate would likely make his approach using the stairs, and the darkness would help conceal him. But that same darkness could also conceal the shooter if he tried to escape. Grayson didn’t want this SOB to get away. He wanted to end this now.
Two more shots came at Eve and him, one right behind the other.
The gunman had moved again. This time to the right. Hell. The gunman was moving toward those stairs. Not only would that give him an escape route, it would also give him a better angle to fire more of those lethal bullets.
“What’s going on up there?” someone called out. “I’m the security guard for the hospital.”
“Sheriff Grayson Ryland. We’re under fire. Stay back!”
But the words had no sooner left Grayson’s mouth when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. To his left. There was a man in a dark gray uniform. The security guard, no doubt. He had his weapon drawn and had ducked down a little, but he was still making his way toward them.
The gunman obviously saw him, too.
Because a shot went in that direction.
The guard dove to the ground, but he was literally out in the open and therefore an easy target. Grayson had to do something, so he came out of cover, estimated the position of the shooter, and sent a bullet his way.
Because of the blasted car alarm, he couldn’t tell if the gunman even reacted. Maybe he’d managed to hit the bastard, or at the very least maybe he had gotten the guy to back off so the guard could scramble to safety.
“You need to get down!” Eve snarled, and she put her hand on his back to push Grayson to the ground again.
It wasn’t a second too soon.
The next bullet that was fired would have slammed right into him if Eve hadn’t pulled him down with her.
However, Grayson didn’t have time to thank her because everything seemed to happen at once. Another shot went toward the security guard who was trying to scramble away.
And then there was the movement in the stairwell.
For one horrifying moment, Grayson thought it was the gunman getting away. But this person wasn’t dressed all in black.
It was Nate.
His brother was sneaking up the stairs, trying to get a drop on the gunman. But it was dark, and Nate was out of position. Unlike the gunman, who was probably only a few feet away.
“Watch out!” Grayson yelled to his brother.
But it was already too late.
Grayson couldn’t hear the shot that the gunman fired, but he saw the end result.
A bullet slammed right into Nate’s chest.
Chapter Seventeen
Eve screamed, but the sound of her voice was drowned out by the blaring car alarm.
Her scream didn’t warn Nate in time. Neither did Grayson’s shouted warning to his brother. And because they’d failed, she watched in horror as the bullet hit Nate.
He flew backward from the impact.
“Oh, God.” And Eve kept repeating it like a hysterical mantra.
Had he been killed?
She thought of his baby daughter, Kimmie, who would be an orphan if Nate died. And it would be partly her fault. If she just hadn’t taken that damn picture then there would have been no attempts to kill her. All of this had started because of that.
Eve automatically bolted toward Nate so she could help him, but Grayson latched onto her and pulled her back to the ground. Good thing, too. Because the shots came at them again. This time, however, they were nonstop. Frenzied. They pelted into the cars on either side of them and the concrete floor in front of them.
Eve covered her head with her hands, but she couldn’t sta
y behind the shelter of the vehicles for long. “We have to help Nate,” she shouted, though she was certain that Grayson already knew that.
Because Grayson was practically lying on top of her, she could feel the rock-hard muscles of his body, and his chest was pumping from the adrenaline. His gaze volleyed between the stairwell and the area where the gunman was likely hiding. He was primed and ready to fight, but he would also do whatever it took to save his brother.
Eve couldn’t see Nate, nor could she hear him, but she prayed he’d somehow managed to survive the gunshot and the fall. Either could have been fatal.
She saw some movement at the other end of the parking lot and spotted another uniformed security guard on the stairwell. He had his gun ready, thank God, but he didn’t seem to be in any better position than Grayson was to stop this. Still, he might be able to do some good if the shooter moved.
Finally, the shots stopped. Maybe because the gunman had to reload. Or, God forbid, maybe because he was escaping. The thought of that sickened Eve. She didn’t want a killer to get away.
But right now, Nate was their first priority.
Grayson eased off her and inched toward the car to their right. He was probably thinking of making a run to the stairs, but she prayed he wouldn’t do that. He could end up like Nate, or worse.
Since she still had Grayson’s phone, she called nine-one-one to report an officer down, though someone was likely already aware of that. She doubted that Nate had come alone. But she immediately rethought that. Maybe that’s exactly what Nate had done. Maybe he’d rushed to help his brother and her and hadn’t considered the consequences.
She would have reacted the same way if it meant saving Grayson.
The moment she ended the call, Eve saw Grayson’s gaze swing to the left. And she soon saw why. The first security guard was crawling toward them. She saw the blood on his shoulder and knew that he, too, had been shot. They had to get an ambulance up here right away, but that couldn’t happen until the gunman had been stopped.
Grayson latched onto the guard and pulled him next to Eve. The man was clearly in pain, and even though he was clutching his gun, he had both it and his hand pressed to the wound. It didn’t take medical training to know he’d already lost too much blood. Eve pushed aside his hand so she could apply some pressure.
“Wait here,” Grayson ordered. “Use the gun if you have to.” His eyes met hers, and she could see that it was indeed an order.
But, God, what was he going to do?
Please.
She didn’t want him out there in the open, making himself an easy target. She wanted him to stay behind cover, even though cover didn’t mean safety. Not with those bullets flying everywhere.
Her heart was pounding against her chest now, and her breath was so thin that she felt light-headed. Despite the cold, there was a fine mist of clammy sweat on her face. She felt sick, but she tried to fight off the feeling of dread. They would survive this, somehow, because there was no other alternative. It couldn’t end here for Grayson and Nate.
Grayson took the gun from the security guard and handed it to her. Eve latched onto it, but she was shaking her head. “You can’t go out there.”
He shook his head, too. “I don’t have a choice. This has to stop.”
That was it. No other explanation. Grayson maneuvered around her and the guard and went behind them. He disappeared when he ducked around the front of the car to her right.
Well, at least he wasn’t going to charge out into the center of the garage. He was obviously trying to get to the stairwell, and maybe the security guard could provide some backup. However, that still meant Grayson was moving closer and closer to the gunman, and she was betting the gunman would be looking for them to do just that. Shooting Nate could have all been designed to draw Grayson and her out into the open.
If so, it had worked.
Eve couldn’t hear what the security guard was mumbling, but he squirmed, his face tightening in pain. She pressed harder on the wound to try to stop the flow of blood, but she also kept watch of the area near the black van where the last shots had originated.
“This is Sergeant O’Malley, SAPD.” The man’s voice boomed from a bullhorn. It sounded as if he was at street level. “Put down your weapon and surrender.”
Backup. Thank God. But since there was no response from the shooter, Eve doubted he would just do as the sergeant had demanded.
By her calculations it’d been a minute, maybe more, and the gunman hadn’t fired. Eve had no idea if that was good or bad, but it was certainly easier to think without those bullets bashing into the cement and other cars.
And because it was easier to think, tears sprang to her eyes.
Eve blinked them back. She couldn’t give in to the worry and fear, but she was terrified for Grayson. For Nate. For this wounded security guard whom she didn’t even know.
But who was out there doing this?
Sebastian? Maybe. But only if he’d managed to get away from his police escort. Of course, either Claude or Sebastian could have hired a gunman. It was possible Claude wasn’t even in critical condition but instead had orchestrated this to get Grayson and her into a position so they could be killed.
That brought her back to why again.
If they could just figure out who’d fired shots at them, then knowing the who would tell them the why.
Eve finally spotted Grayson again. He was seven cars over to her right and was inching his way to the stairwell. She held her breath, waiting for another shot.
Nothing.
The seconds crawled by so slowly that she could feel them ticking off in her head. Finally, she saw some movement in the stairwell.
Nate.
Thank God he was moving. However, he wasn’t just moving. He had his gun aimed and ready and was making his way back up the stairs. Not easily. He, too, was wincing, and Eve soon realized why. His shirt was open, but there was no blood. Only a Kevlar vest.
Relieved, she let out her breath in a rush. Nate hadn’t been shot. The impact of the bullet had probably knocked him down the stairs. He looked shaken up but very much alive.
So, that was one prayer that’d been answered.
The security guard moved again, the muscles in his body going stiff, and Eve looked down at him to see what had caused that reaction. His eyes were wide and not focused on her.
But rather behind her.
Oh, God.
That was the only thought that had time to form in her head because Eve felt a hand grip on to her shoulder. She didn’t have time to move. There was no time to react.
Before someone pressed the barrel of a gun to her head.
GRAYSON’S HEART WENT to his knees.
This couldn’t be happening.
He’d had just a split second of relief because his brother was alive, but that relief went south in a hurry when he saw Eve. She was no longer where Grayson had left her—crouched with the injured security guard between the two cars. She was standing now.
And she wasn’t alone.
Someone was behind her, their arm curved around Eve’s neck, and that someone had a gun pointed directly at Eve’s head. The person had a second gun next to Eve’s neck. Both weapons were positioned to deliver a fatal shot.
Grayson couldn’t see the person’s face, only the black baseball cap. But he could see Eve’s. The color had drained from her cheeks, and she was looking around as if trying to figure out how to escape.
But Grayson didn’t want her to move.
Not with that gun pressed to her head.
“Drop your weapon and surrender,” Sergeant O’Malley called out again.
Grayson was thankful for the backup, but he didn’t want the sergeant’s demand to make this bad situation worse.
He took aim, and with his attention nailed to the gunman’s hand, Grayson inched closer.
“There’s no need to do this,” Grayson shouted. “Let her go.”
If the gunman responded, Grayson didn’t
hear it. He wished like the devil that the car alarm would stop. He had to try to negotiate Eve’s release, and it was hard to do that when he couldn’t hear what was going on.
“Eve is no threat to you,” Grayson tried again, all the while moving closer.
He didn’t have a clean shot, not with the gunman using Eve as a human shield, but he needed to get as close as possible because it was likely this SOB was planning an escape. After all, Eve was still alive, and there had to be a reason for that. The gunman had taken her hostage. But why?
Grayson was certain he would soon learn the answer, but he hoped he wouldn’t learn it too late. Eve couldn’t die. She just couldn’t. Someway, somehow, he had to put himself in a position where he could save her.
He glanced over his shoulder at his brother. Nate wasn’t following him but instead had crouched down and was making his way to the other side of the garage toward the black van and the red car with the blaring alarm.
Good move.
His brother might get a better angle on a shot that way, and Nate could also possibly block an attempted escape. The second security guard could help with that, too, since he was covering the other end of the garage. Grayson couldn’t let the gunman get Eve out of there because once he no longer had any use for a hostage, the shooter would almost certainly kill her.
“The security guard needs medical attention,” Grayson shouted to the gunman. Since the guy wasn’t moving, he wanted to try a different approach. “Why don’t you end this now so we can get an ambulance up here?”
Still nothing. But the guy was moving a little and looking around. Grayson didn’t like the edgy movement because it proved the gunman was nervous and way out of his comfort zone.
Grayson stopped but kept his gun lifted and aimed. “Step out so I can see you.” And he tried to make it sound like an order. Hard to do with that gun right at Eve’s head.
“What should I do?” she mouthed.
But Grayson shook his head. He didn’t want her to do anything. Not yet anyway. But if it came down to it, he hoped she could drop out of the way so that Nate or he would have a clean shot.
Grayson Page 13
