The remaining man tried to shoot Russell. Holden began firing. Luke tugged her closer, trying to tuck her between him and the workbench. Russell pulled back into the hall with a smile plastered on his face. His enjoyment registered with Avery right as a fourth man slipped into the room.
It happened in a flash. One second everyone was running for cover and firing. The next this man shot around her in Holden’s direction then grabbed her arm and dragged her to Russell’s side of the room.
When the gunfire stopped, Trevor’s three men were on the floor, ambushed by one of Russell’s. She felt a man’s beefy hand on her neck and the muzzle of his gun against her temple. Luke and Holden faced her, weapons up. There was blood on Luke’s face and Holden had blood coming from a shot to the arm. Their clothes were torn and faces white, but she slumped in relief that neither looked seriously injured.
Only Russell came out clean. She decided that’s what happened when a man hid from the fight and slinked out after.
Russell shook his head. “I had hoped to resolve this in an amicable fashion.”
“Let her go,” Luke said.
Holden nodded. “There are two of us. Whatever your guy does, Russell, you still get shot.”
“But I have her.” Russell tugged on her hair to prove his point.
The sharp pain in her scalp was nothing compared with the aches and pains everywhere else. The man with the hold around her head was pressing bruises into her skin. Not that she showed fear. She knew if Luke and Holden saw her in pain they might play it safe, and that could get them killed.
She wanted them in attack mode.
She wanted Caleb.
CALEB TRIED TO BE AS quiet as possible. His one leg dragged behind him. No matter how soft he tread, his steps made a soft rustling sound. He hoped the whirl of the fans would hide some of the sound. He also had the benefit of being behind the crowd.
Russell and his three Trevor-provided guards turned down the hall toward the labs. The stray held back. Caleb assumed it was his job to go in last and clean up anyone still standing. Since Trevor’s men weren’t supposed to harm anyone, they were looking at a potential surprise bloodbath here.
Caleb had to focus on the men. He couldn’t think about Avery. If he did, he’d lose it.
He kept his back to the wall and slid his way along, letting friction hold him up and momentum keep him marching. He’d just turned the corner, putting the extra man in his sights, when the guy shifted and the shooting started.
Caleb’s mind shouted at him to run. He had to get to Avery. Had to throw his body over hers. Protect her. She could not die. He could not lose her.
Fueled by nothing more than adrenaline and grit, he picked up his pace. Every step sent bolts of pain radiating through his body. He slammed his back teeth together to keep from shouting in pain. As he neared the doorway, he let his feet slide. A man went down right next to him a second later. His feet fell into the hall and his gun clattered against the tile floor.
Caleb forced his gaze away when he heard Avery screaming and Holden shouting. Caleb swore he heard someone laughing, as if this insane scene was anything but a horror. When the noise stopped, the acrid smell of smoke and fired ammunition filled the air. One of the men on the floor groaned. Then he heard the words he dreaded. They stopped him cold.
But I have her.
Leg or not, strength or not, he was going into that room and taking Russell out. No one was going to touch Avery. Caleb didn’t care what he had to do or if he lost his life in the process.
Balancing against the wall, he inched closer to the door. Russell was making threats and ignoring Luke’s orders to let Avery go. The raised voices provided the cover Caleb needed to slip in. He could get behind them, maybe get the jump on the guy who had Avery. Caleb couldn’t see the man, but he knew from the conversation she was trapped.
He hoped Luke and Holden wouldn’t shoot first and identify later as Caleb started counting down to his move. When he hit three, he plunged into the doorway, fighting to keep upright. Holden’s stare connected with Caleb’s right as he swung the weapon around.
Caleb used all his energy to shove Russell in the back. Caught off guard, the man stumbled forward into Luke. The commotion gave Caleb the opportunity he needed. He fired one shot into the back of the remaining attacker’s head while Holden pulled Avery free. The big man dropped to the floor in a heap.
The last bit of strength in Caleb’s leg gave out and he followed the other man down.
Russell wailed in fury. He grabbed for Avery but Luke held him back. Caleb saw Avery struggling to get to him and heard all the voices around him. He had just vowed to stand up, somehow, even if it meant crawling up the workbench, when Russell started shouting.
“This isn’t over. Powerful people are involved. This will never get to trial.”
Luke shook Russell by the collar. “Shut up.”
“You think it stops with me? You have no idea.”
“Who else?” Holden shouted.
“People with power and money. Ask Trevor…” Russell’s comment gurgled to a stop.
The gunshot shook them all. They turned to the location of the shooter. One of Trevor’s men rested against his gun. Blood seeped from the side of his neck, but he got off the shot.
Somehow, some way, Trevor had managed to silence them all.
Caleb couldn’t summon up the energy to care. Other things mattered now. The most important was the woman standing not five feet away from him. “Avery?”
She pulled free of Holden’s grasp and ran to Caleb. Kneeling on the floor in front of him, half holding him up and weeping all the time, she covered his face in kisses as she professed her undying love. She didn’t stop until she fit her mouth over his and stole the last of his breath with a head-spinning kiss that had Luke laughing.
Caleb had so much he wanted to say to her. “Avery—”
“I was wrong.” She shook her head as she pressed her palms against his cheeks. “I blamed you for everything, but I did fire you. That was me. My insecurities about losing the job I wanted so badly.”
After everything, she was still willing to take the blame and let him escape responsibility. It humbled him that she loved him that much, but it was wrong. “Don’t say that.”
“I should have talked to you.”
He kissed her, trying to get her to understand that it was him not her who broke them apart. “You tried.”
“Not hard enough.”
“I wasn’t ready to listen.” In reality, he just wasn’t ready for her. He was still too raw and bitter from his divorce to appreciate Avery or give her what she needed, but that was over.
He had her now and would never let her go.
“I could have—”
He just went with what was in his heart. “I love you.”
She pulled back and stared at him with eyes filled with tears. “What?”
“I love you.”
She shook her head. No words came out.
His heart broke a little right then. “What have I done to you that I tell you and you still don’t believe?”
“What are you saying?”
He rested his forehead against hers. “I love you. Can’t-see-straight kind of love you.”
“About time.” Luke didn’t even try to whisper his comment.
Caleb ignored his friend and concentrated on the woman who meant everything to him. “You gave me this.”
“This?” She sounded appalled.
“Recovery.” He gestured toward Holden and Luke. “These two idiots and the rest of them. A life and a purpose.”
She looked around at the bodies piled on the floor. “This is a disaster. You can’t blame this on me.”
Caleb put a hand under her chin and brought her face back to his. “I love you.”
Her shoulders fell and her bruised face lit with a smile. “Say it again.”
It didn’t stick in his throat. Didn’t hurt or feel wrong. “I love you.”
He kiss
ed her then. There, in the middle of chaos, on the floor and in unbelievable pain, he crossed his mouth over hers and kept going until she sagged in his arms.
Holden’s face appeared right next to them. “Uh, hate to break this up.”
Caleb opened one eye and then reluctantly put a bit of distance between his mouth and Avery’s. “What?”
“We got some guys here who need first aid.”
“Russell?” he asked.
Holden shook his head. “Didn’t make it, but I’m guessing that was always Trevor’s plan.”
Caleb was about to shift positions and see if he could move his injured leg. Then he looked into Avery’s bright face. Despite the exhaustion and fear, the injuries and the horrors around them, she had never looked more beautiful.
“You know what?” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “What?”
“I’m going to let them get this one.” Then he lowered his head and kissed her again.
Chapter Nineteen
“I’m not doing this every night, you know.” Avery made the comment later when the warehouse was dark and quiet and she massaged Caleb’s leg. He had sprawled diagonally across the mattress and groaned with delight at her soft touch against the parts of his leg that didn’t ache.
When she heard the appreciative sounds rumbling up his throat, she knew she’d do whatever he wanted. It helped that he spent the past twelve hours professing his love. He said it to her in front of everyone and even announced it to the nurses at the hospital as they checked out his reinjured knee.
“Have I told you how much I love your hands?” His voice was muffled because he had an arm thrown over his face.
“I bet you’d say that to anyone who massaged your leg right now.”
He raised his arm and his head. “If Zach touched me I’d punch him.”
“Nice.”
“I love you.”
She smiled, hugging the comment close to her heart. “I know.”
“I don’t even get to hear it back anymore.” Caleb flopped on his back, sounding extremely pathetic. “One day and I’m taken for granted.”
She knew he was kidding. Still, she loved to torment him. “I don’t feel like it.”
“Just wait until I can get up and chase you around.”
“Until then we’ll have to think of other ways to entertain ourselves.”
“This one is good.”
She let her hand slip up his thigh as she moved her body higher on the bed. When she glanced up, he was staring at her.
The amusement had left his face. “I do love you, you know.”
“And I love you.” Her fingers tangled in his belt. “Now lie back and let me show you.”
A huge smile filled his face. “I love it when you take charge.”
“Then you are about to have a fantastic hour.” And a fantastic life. She would make sure of it.
TREVOR DIDN’T KNOW WHY John insisted they meet on the steps of the Capitol. Seemed a bit dramatic. He assumed the location indicated John’s mistrust of Orion’s offices. He probably worried Trevor would tape their conversation, which he would. It paid to collect information. With Bram gone and the Russell situation neutralized, Trevor could put the entire episode behind him. He had learned something. He’d never be blackmailed again.
“You’re early,” John said.
“Call it a habit.” That’s exactly what it was. “I admit to being curious about your request.”
John glanced around, then frowned. “I found it.”
“What?”
“I have the tape.”
Trevor felt his blood drain from his face. “I don’t know what—”
“Let’s not play games, Trevor. I’ve listened to it. Amazing what you can learn about a man’s character when he’s under fire. Almost makes me worry for your ex-wife’s safety.”
Trevor struggled with the best way to handle the situation. He hadn’t been prepared for this news. For this shock. “As you know, she’s very much alive.”
“For now.”
Trevor could feel his life slipping out of his control. “What are we doing here, John?”
“You didn’t actually think Russell was the top of the food chain, did you?”
The shocks just kept coming. As soon as Trevor regained his balance and started breathing again, John hit him with something new. “Meaning?”
“I was his security. I held the tape the entire time. Figured it would be the perfect way to get you to do my bidding.” John laughed. “What, you haven’t figured it out? You thought Russell was controlling Bram? You can’t be serious.”
“No.”
“Of course not. Russell was weak, hampered by an oversize ego.”
Trevor didn’t say anything. Didn’t move. Inside rage built until his muscles ached with the need to pound John into the ground. On the outside, he refused to let it show. He knew from experience the longer he stayed quiet, the more he would learn.
John seemed determined to share his information, and Trevor let him. Later Trevor would assess.
Then he would plan.
AVERY LOOKED AT LUKE over the top of her coffee cup the next morning. “Why aren’t we pulling Adam in from West Virginia?”
Caleb loved that she said we. She fit in with Recovery as though she’d always been there. She had a job to go back to but for right now, she wasn’t in a rush. She said she was content to be with him, and he wasn’t arguing.
“Maddie isn’t safe yet,” he explained.
She shot him a surprised look. “How do you figure that?”
“Let’s say we’re not sure we have all the players in this game,” Luke said. “Trevor clearly is in deeper than we thought.”
Zach took the seat across from Avery. “And we still don’t know where Rod is.”
Her frown deepened. “So, what do we do?”
Caleb knew the answer. It was one of the things they did best. “We wait.”
“And Adam gets stuck fifty miles away.” She seemed particularly disgruntled on Adam’s behalf.
Zach laughed. “He’s doing okay.”
Avery froze while taking another sip of coffee. “Just how pretty is Maddie?”
“Very,” Zach said.
Luke got up and kissed Avery on the forehead. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home to my wife.”
Caleb got it now. The need to rush home to a woman, to be with her all the time. He put an arm around Avery’s shoulders. “We’ll protect the warehouse.”
Luke waved as he walked with Zach to the door. “Just make sure it’s standing this time tomorrow.”
“I think we can manage,” Avery whispered to Caleb.
He kissed her. “Yeah, we manage just fine.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8506-8
GUNNING FOR TROUBLE
Copyright © 2011 by HelenKay Dimon
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Gunning for Trouble Page 16
