Grayson glanced around to see the best way to approach this, and while he was still studying the situation, just like that the car alarm stopped. Maybe the battery had given out or perhaps Nate had managed to disarm it. Either way, it was now deadly silent.
The gunman lifted his head, just a little, and even though Grayson still couldn’t see his face, he didn’t think it was his imagination that the guy wasn’t pleased with the silenced alarm. But Grayson was certainly thankful for it. Maybe now he could hear this bozo’s voice and figure out who he was dealing with. If it wasn’t Sebastian, then maybe one of the Colliers had hired a triggerman.
“SAPD has the building surrounded,” Grayson tossed out there. “You can’t escape. But what you can do is let Eve go, and we can talk about a peaceful surrender.”
No answer, but he hadn’t expected one.
The guy finally moved. Well, he moved the gun away from Eve’s head anyway, and for a moment Grayson thought he might surrender. He didn’t.
He lowered the gun, pointing it down to the floor, and he fired.
Hell.
Grayson couldn’t see exactly what had happened, but judging from the look of sheer horror on Eve’s face and from her scream, the gunman had shot the security guard at point-blank range.
Things had just gone from bad to worse.
The gunman moved again, quickly this time. He put the gun back against Eve’s head and he pushed her forward. He followed with the front of his body pressed to Eve’s back.
The gunman was heading for that black van.
Nate was there, somewhere. Hopefully, in a position to stop a getaway attempt.
“You won’t be able to drive out of here,” Grayson warned.
But he’d barely had time to issue that warning when the gunman shifted his weapon.
He fired at Grayson.
Grayson jumped to the side, just in time, and he landed hard against the concrete floor. His shoulder jammed, the pain shooting through him, but he ignored it and came up ready to fire.
The gunman fired first, and the shot pinned Grayson down behind the back of a small truck.
“I have to kill you, you know,” the gunman said.
Or rather the gunwoman. Because that was a female voice. A familiar one.
“Cicely?” Grayson spat out. She was the last of the Colliers that he had suspected. “Why the hell are you doing this?”
“Because you all have to die.” Cicely’s voice was eerily calm, but there was nothing calm about her expression when she met his gaze over Eve’s shoulder. “Step out and die like a man, Sheriff Ryland. The other one, too.” She tossed a look in Nate’s direction. “And that other security guard.”
She was just going to kill them all?
Why?
“Your son is in custody for Sophia’s murder,” Grayson tossed out there. He was testing the waters, trying to get Cicely to talk. And he was also hoping to distract her.
What he didn’t intend to do was surrender.
“That’s a mistake. He didn’t kill his sister.” Cicely’s voice broke on the last word. “I know because I did it.”
Eve gasped, and that was pretty much Grayson’s reaction. “You killed your own daughter?”
A hoarse sob tore from Cicely’s mouth. “It was an accident, but I don’t expect you to believe that.”
“I do.” And Grayson wasn’t lying. He did believe her. “Why did you do it?”
With Eve still in a body lock against her, Cicely continued to inch toward the black van. “I’ll tell you, but it won’t save you. Nothing will.”
Grayson would prove her wrong, somehow.
“I begged Sophia to come home to me, but she just laughed. She wanted money, you see. Claude’s money and mine. She didn’t want us. Didn’t want to be family again.”
“So you killed her?” Eve asked in disbelief.
Cicely jammed the gun harder against Eve’s head. “I told you that was an accident,” Cicely practically yelled. “Sophia said her foster mother confessed to her who she really was—a Collier. The foster mother wanted to try and get money out of us. But Sophia gave her an overdose of insulin to get her out of the way.”
Grayson didn’t think Sophia’s motives were pure, that she did that in order to protect her biological parents. “Sophia did that so she wouldn’t have to share the cash with her foster mother?” he asked.
Cicely nodded. “Then, when Sophia and I were arguing, I pushed her, and she fell and hit her head.” Another sob. “I had Leon dispose of the body. But Leon remembered that someone at the rodeo had been taking pictures. Pictures that would link him to Sophia. And eventually link her back to me. Leon tried to get them back from Eve, and then you killed him.”
“Because he tried to kill us,” Grayson reminded her. “Eve did nothing wrong. She was only doing her job when she took the pictures.”
“Yes, but I couldn’t have the police thinking Sebastian had anything to do with this. He’s innocent, you know.” She pulled in a shaky breath. “Now, step out, Sheriff, and drop your gun so I can do what I have to do to protect my son.”
“You mean so you can kill me,” he answered flatly.
Eve frantically shook her head. “Stay put,” she told Grayson.
Cicely fired at shot at him. “If you stay put or hold on to your gun, I’ll make it painful for Eve. You’re not the sort of man to cower behind a car while the woman you love is screaming in pain.”
Grayson ignored that woman you love part and got ready to move. He would leave cover. There was no question about that. He wouldn’t let this insane woman hurt Eve. But he couldn’t just let Cicely kill him either, because he had to live so that he could rescue Eve. He wouldn’t do her any good if he was dead.
“I’m coming out,” Grayson let Cicely know. He glanced over at Nate who was ready to fire, as well.
Grayson slid out his gun first, not too far away. He needed to be able to reach for it. And then he stood.
At the exact moment that Eve shouted, “No!”
Eve rammed her elbow against Cicely and darted to the side. But Grayson didn’t have time to get off a clean shot. Because Cicely darted to the side, too, and the woman didn’t release the grip she had on Eve.
Grayson yelled for Eve to get out of the way, but the sound he heard turned his blood to ice.
The sound of the shot that Cicely fired.
Not at Grayson. Nor at Nate.
Grayson’s world tipped on its axis when the bullet slammed into Eve.
Chapter Eighteen
Eve heard the shot.
She also heard Grayson call out to her.
But she couldn’t answer. She couldn’t do anything except slide to the floor.
The pain was instant, searing, and it sliced through her right side like a red-hot stiletto. She grabbed at the fire and felt the warm blood against her fingers.
She’d been shot.
That fact registered somewhere in her mind. It also registered that she needed to tell Grayson to get down so that he, too, wouldn’t be shot. But Eve couldn’t make herself speak.
Was she in shock?
Or worse, was she dying?
Ironically, she could deal with the thought of her death, but not of Grayson’s. She didn’t want his life to end here in this cold, dank garage.
Because she was in love with him.
Always had been. Always would be.
And that’s why she had to save him. At least one of them had to make it out of here alive.
“Eve?” Grayson called out. “Are you all right?”
She tried to answer, but Cicely was still beside her, crouched down, with a gun in each hand. She jammed the gun to Eve’s head again.
“Tell him to come to you,” Cicely demanded.
Eve shook her head. She had to do something to buy a little time. “They’ll put you in jail,” she managed to say to the woman who’d just shot her. “They’ll give you the death penalty. All of this will be for nothing.”
�
�No,” Cicely quickly disagreed. Her eyes were wild, her gaze firing between Grayson and Nate. “Annabel is tied up in that black van. When the Rylands and you are dead, I’ll shoot her and make it look like a suicide. I’ve already forced her to write the note, and trust me, it’ll be no hardship killing that bimbo witch. She stole my husband. And my life. She deserves to die a thousand deaths.”
Oh, God. Cicely wasn’t just crazy, she was smart. If Eve couldn’t fight back and stop her, Cicely might just get away with this. Worse, Cicely was trying to maneuver herself into a better position to kill again.
Cicely tucked the gun she’d been holding in her left hand into the waist of her pants. That meant she could use that hand to put a tight grip around Eve’s neck. Cicely wasn’t choking her, exactly, but it was close. Eve was already light-headed enough, but it was obvious Cicely was going to do anything to force Eve to cooperate.
“Tell the sheriff to come to you,” Cicely repeated. “And make sure he’s unarmed.”
She would die before she did that because Cicely intended to kill them all anyway. Eve wouldn’t be the reason Grayson took a bullet.
“You’re not just killing me,” Eve whispered. “I’m pregnant. You’re killing my child, too. Maybe a daughter. It would be like killing Sophia all over again.”
Cicely blinked, and with that blink Eve saw the hesitation in the woman’s eyes. Her gaze dropped to Eve’s stomach and then to the blood on the side of Eve’s gray sweater. It wasn’t much more than a split second of time, but that brief lapse was all that Eve needed.
She latched onto Cicely’s wrist.
It was risky, but at this point anything she did or didn’t do was risky. All she knew was that every drop of blood she lost put Grayson, Nate, her possible pregnancy and herself in danger. Besides, Cicely had killed both Sophia and the security guard, and Eve knew she wouldn’t hesitate to kill again.
Cicely made a feral sound, part scream and part groan, and she struggled to throw off Eve’s grip. Eve held on and tried to wrench the gun from Cicely’s right hand. Of course, the woman had a second gun that she could use, but Eve would deal with that later. For now, she needed a weapon so she could fight back.
“Eve?” Grayson called out.
The sound of the struggle must have alerted him because Eve heard his frantic footsteps. He was running to try and save her.
Or maybe running to his death.
Eve clamped onto Cicely’s gun because she knew that Grayson’s life depended on it.
Grayson cursed, and even though Eve couldn’t see him from her position, he was close by. Cicely was aware of that, too, because she bashed the gun against Eve’s head and then pointed the weapon at Grayson. Cicely fired.
The fear and adrenaline slammed through Eve, and despite the blow Cicely had delivered to her head, she kept fighting.
“Grayson!” Nate called out.
Nate sounded terrified, and that spiked the fear inside Eve. Did that mean he’d just witnessed his brother being shot?
Oh, God.
Eve couldn’t risk thinking about that now. She had to stay in the fight. Despite the pain and the fear, she had to keep fighting.
“Come closer and he dies,” she heard Cicely say, and she let go of Eve.
Eve swiveled around and realized Cicely was talking to Nate as he approached them. He had obviously retrieved his weapon and now had it trained on Cicely.
But Cicely had her gun aimed at Grayson.
Another smart move because Nate wouldn’t do anything to risk his brother being killed.
Nate froze, but he didn’t lower his gun, and he glanced behind him at the stairwell. Hopefully, there were backup officers there and ready to respond.
And then there was Grayson.
He, too, was ready to respond, but he was no longer the calm, collected lawman. Grayson said her name.
Eve.
It was a hoarse whisper filled with concern. No doubt from the blood.
“I’m okay,” Eve said to him, even though she had no idea if that was true. She might have lost the chance to be a mother, but worse, she might lose Grayson. “I’m so sorry,” she managed to say.
He shook his head. “For what?”
Too many things for her to say here. Besides, there was nothing she could say that would allow them to go back and undo everything. This was their fate, and unfortunately it was in the hands of a crazy woman hell-bent on covering up the murder of her own daughter.
“Eve needs a doctor,” Grayson told Cicely. “End this now.”
“It ends when you’re all dead.” But Cicely didn’t sound as convinced of that as she had just moments earlier. She glanced at Eve. “I didn’t know about your baby. If I had, I would have found a way to leave you out of this.”
“Baby?” Nate mumbled. That obviously shocked him, but he didn’t take his attention off Cicely.
Later, Eve would have to explain.
If there was a later.
The pain shot through her side again, and Eve felt the fresh trickle of warm blood. Grayson noticed it, too, because she saw his body tense. He was getting ready to have a shoot-out with Cicely. And he could no doubt kill her. But could he do that before she fired a lethal shot at him?
Eve couldn’t take that risk. She had to do something, and she used her own body. She kicked at Cicely, and she put every ounce of her strength behind it. The heel of her shoe connected with the woman’s shin, and Cicely howled in pain.
It wasn’t much of an attack, but Grayson made the most of it.
He dove at Cicely, his muscled body ramming right into the woman, and he slammed her back into the adjacent car.
Cicely made a gasping sound, fighting for the air that Grayson had knocked from her, but that didn’t stop her from trying to aim her gun at his head.
“Watch out!” Eve shouted.
Grayson latched onto both of Cicely’s hands and bashed them against the car’s body. Her gun clattered to the floor, and Grayson snatched the other weapon from the waist of her pants. He tossed it on the floor, as well.
Nate moved in and kicked both of Cicely’s weapons away, but even unarmed, Cicely didn’t give up. She continued to fight until Grayson turned her around and pushed her hard against the car’s fender.
A sob racked through Cicely, and she went limp.
“Take Cicely,” Grayson immediately told Nate. “I’m getting Eve to the E.R.”
He kept his forearm on Cicely to hold her until Nate switched places with him. Grayson didn’t waste a second. He scooped Eve up in his arms.
“How bad?” he asked.
She wanted to lie. Eve wanted to tell him that everything would be all right, but the fight had taken the last of her breath. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Grayson raced to the stairwell where the other officers were pouring up the steps. One of those officers latched onto Cicely, yanked her hands behind her back and cuffed her.
Grayson looked down at Eve as he ran toward the E.R. doors. He was so worried. And scared. She realized that was the first time she’d seen fear in Grayson’s eyes.
Everything started to move in slow motion, and the edges of her vision turned gray. At first. Then, darker.
She fastened her gaze on Grayson and fought to keep her eyes open. But she failed at that, too.
Her eyelids fluttered down, and the last thing Eve saw was Grayson’s face.
GRAYSON WAS AFRAID IF he stopped moving, he would explode.
So he turned and once again paced across the surgical waiting room of the San Antonio hospital. It didn’t help his raw nerves, nor did it ease the massive knot in his stomach, but he couldn’t sit and wait as his brothers were doing.
Nate and Dade were on the far side of the room. Nate was on the phone, but both Dade and he were staring at a TV where It’s a Wonderful Life was playing. Grayson doubted they were actually watching the movie, but they were trying to maintain a calm, business-as-usual facade. For his sake no doubt.
They kn
ew he was ready to explode.
Mason, being Mason, didn’t even attempt a facade. He was in a chair on the opposite side of the room, and he was glaring at anything and everything—including Jimmy Stewart on the screen. He was especially glaring at the hall where a nurse had appeared earlier to tell them that Eve was finally being taken to surgery. Two hours.
That’s how long it’d been since Eve had been in the hospital. Grayson hadn’t known that one hundred and twenty minutes could feel like a lifetime, but he damn sure knew it now. Every one of those minutes had crawled by.
“She’ll be okay,” Nate assured him.
Dade mumbled his agreement, but it didn’t sound remotely convincing. Mason’s glare deepened.
The glare wasn’t for Eve. Mason wasn’t fond of too many people, but he cared as much for Eve as Grayson’s other brothers did. No, this glare was for Cicely, for what the woman had nearly done to Eve. But the good thing in all of this was that Cicely was locked away at the SAPD facility and couldn’t come after any of them again.
“Claude Collier’s condition has stabilized,” Nate reported when he ended the call. “Annabel’s still being checked out over in the E.R., but she’s going to be okay. Just some bruises and scratches from where Cicely attacked her and stuffed her in the van.”
It was the wrong attitude for a lawman to have, but Grayson didn’t give a flying fig about the Colliers. He only wanted good news about Eve.
At the sound of footsteps in the hall, his brothers stood, and Grayson turned to see Dr. Andrew Masters making his way toward him. Grayson had met the lanky no-nonsense doctor briefly when Eve had first been rushed into the E.R.
Grayson narrowed the distance between the doctor and him. “Is she okay?” he asked. But he wasn’t sure he could take hearing any bad news.
The doctor nodded. “Eve should be fine.”
“Should be?” Mason growled, taking the tone and the words right out of Grayson’s mouth. “What the hell does that mean?”
The doctor gave a weary huff and looked at Grayson. “Physically, she’ll be all right. The surgery didn’t take long at all.”
“Then what did?” That growl came from Dade. “It’s been two hours.”
Grayson Page 14
