Christmas Witness Pursuit

by Lisa Harris

  “You can’t do this on your own, Griffin—”

  “Trust me.” He reached into his pocket and gave her his pepper spray. “Use it if you need it, but we have the advantage. They don’t know I’m here.”

  * * *

  There was no time to come up with a plan, but the element of surprise turned out to be exactly what he needed.

  Griffin took the first man down in two sharp punches and then quickly pulled his limp body into the bathroom. With Tory’s help, they hoisted him into the tub and Elizabeth shoved a washcloth into his mouth to keep him silent once he came to.

  “I know where some rope is.” Tory scurried out of the room, returning seconds later with enough rope to secure him and at least one more.

  One down. Two to go.

  A second man ran up the stairs, clearly angry as he shouted something at his downed partner. Griffin didn’t give him time to react. His elbow struck the man’s jawbone, knocking him onto the carpet. Griffin let out a sharp huff of relief.

  Two down without firing a bullet.

  He finished confirming the men were securely tied, knowing this wasn’t over. Tory stood beside him, looking tired, but there was still a fight in her eyes. Her loss of memory was probably the only thing that had kept them alive, and now that she remembered...

  Griffin’s jaw clenched. He wasn’t even going to try to imagine what might have happened if he hadn’t managed to find her. And that kiss... He didn’t know what he’d been thinking, but the thought of losing her terrified him.

  He spoke into his radio. “Jackson, how far out are you?”

  “A minute...two at the most.”

  Griffin frowned. He wasn’t sure they had two minutes.

  “Where are you?”

  “Upstairs with the women and two of the men.”

  “Try to hold off a confrontation with Jinx until we get there.”

  “I’ll try, but even if I don’t do anything, I can guarantee he’s going to come to us.”

  That was inevitable.

  The stairs at the end of the hallway creaked.

  He’d been right. Jinx was coming.

  Griffin motioned for Tory and her sister to stay in the bathroom, guarding the men. Then he stood waiting in the recessed doorway, senses on alert and ready to defend them if necessary.

  Jinx started clearing the rooms. “Robert! Carl! What’s going on up here?”

  While Griffin had planned to do his best to wait for backup, he knew Jinx wasn’t going down without a fight, and he had to keep Tory and her sister out of the line of fire.

  “Police!” Griffin stepped into the hallway, recognizing the man from his mug shot. “Put the gun on the floor, then raise your hands in the air!”

  Jinx frowned, clearly taken aback by Griffin’s presence. “You just can’t stay out of this, can you?”

  “This never should have happened.”

  “Oh, but it did. And if you think you’re going to just walk out of here, you’re wrong.”

  “Your men have been subdued, which means it’s just you and me now. There’s nowhere to go, Jinx. This is over.”

  “Oh, it’s far from over. Where is she?”

  “It doesn’t matter where she is. You’re done using her.”

  “You’re wrong. I’ve arranged for a way out of the country. The good thing for you is that I’ll disappear. The unfortunate thing is that you won’t get to enjoy it. All I have to do is take you down and she and her sister will come with me as leverage to ensure I get out of here without any issues.”

  “Put the gun down, Jinx, because as much as you’d like to think what you just said is true, none of that is going to happen,” Griffin said, moving back against the recessed door. “Backup will be here within the next minute. I’ve got your men secured, which means you’ll be outmanned and outgunned.”

  Jinx’s gun went off and slammed a bullet into the doorframe behind Griffin. Griffin returned fire, hitting his mark. But before Griffin could move toward the injured man, Jinx fired off a second round. Griffin felt the impact as the bullet ripped through his leg. A moment later he collapsed to the floor.

  SEVENTEEN

  Tory heard the gunshots in the hallway, followed by an eerie silence. Panic welled inside her. She cracked open the door, terrified as to what she was about to find. Jinx was motionless on the ground a dozen feet from where Griffin lay, a pool of blood beginning to gather beneath him. She needed to move quickly. This was no graze.

  Griffin grabbed her arm. “Get back into the bathroom until backup comes.”

  She ignored his orders. “Elizabeth, help me pull him into the bathroom.”

  They moved Griffin out of the doorway, careful not to injure him further.

  “Griffin, can you still hear me?”

  “Yeah. I... I think I’m okay.”

  “You’re not okay. You’ve got a bullet in your leg. We have to get you to a hospital.” Tory glanced down the hall where Jinx was trying to sit up, then quickly shut the door and locked it.

  As long as Jinx was alive, he was going to come after them, but she couldn’t worry about him for the moment. Instead she quickly assessed Griffin’s wound, finding both the entry and exit. But it was bleeding too much. She needed to elevate his leg then create a makeshift pressure bandage to stop the bleeding.

  God, please...this can’t be happening. Not after everything else we’ve gotten through...

  They’d managed to escape and now lay trapped in the upstairs of some old house with a murderer after them.

  It couldn’t end this way.

  Elizabeth hovered above her as she worked. “How bad is it?”

  Tory ripped away the fabric around the wound and examined it. “Bad. I have to find a way to control the bleeding.”

  “What do you need from me?”

  “Are the other men still secure?”

  Elizabeth glanced behind her. “They’re not going anywhere.”

  “Then look in the cabinets and get me some towels.”

  A moment later Elizabeth handed her a stack of washcloths. “How are we going to get out of here with Jinx in the way?”

  Sirens sounded in the background. Maybe there was a way out of this, after all.

  “With help, hopefully.” Tory focused back on Griffin. “You’re going to be fine, but I need you to stay awake.”

  “Tory... If he comes after you...”

  “Forget about Jinx for the moment.”

  But that was impossible.

  “I know he’s injured,” Jinx’s voice shouted from the hallway. “But you’re not going anywhere until I’m out of here.”

  She checked Griffin’s pulse, her own heart beating rapidly, worried he would go into shock.

  “Don’t go out there,” Griffin said.

  “I’m not, but we need to end this,” she said, picking up his weapon.

  “Do you know how to shoot a gun?”

  “I’ve gone to the gun range a few times.”

  “We’ve got three bullets. If I pass out—”

  “You’re not going to pass out. Just hold on, Griffin, please... Help is coming.”

  She quickly went through their options. Barricading themselves had simply meant delaying the inevitable. Because while Jinx might be injured, if he came in after them, they had to be ready.

  She motioned at her sister. “Hold this as tight as you can against the wound, while I move the cabinet against the wall.”

  Tory scrambled to push the furniture, but it was too late. Jinx smashed into the door, trying to break it open. She pressed on it with all of her weight, but she wasn’t strong enough. Seconds later it slammed open, almost knocking her off balance.

  She stepped back, gripping Griffin’s weapon with two hands and holding it out in front of her in a face-off with Jinx.

  �
�Put the gun down, Tory.”

  She stood her ground, refusing to flinch at his command. The few times she’d gone to the range had taught her the basic mechanics of firing a gun. Shooting another person—even in self-defense—terrified her, but if she had to do it to save Griffin and Elizabeth, she knew she would.

  “Don’t take another step forward,” she said, holding her hands steady.

  “Or what? You’ll shoot me?” He leaned against the doorframe, a stain of red blood on his side as he kept his gun aimed at her. “You don’t have it in you.”

  “Don’t be so sure. It might surprise you what a person can do when the people they love are threatened.”

  “Maybe, but by the time you shoot me, I’ll have already taken down you and your sister and finished off your boyfriend there.”

  “Leave them out of this. This is between you and me.”

  “You’re stronger than I thought, but in the end it doesn’t matter. I always win. And if you choose the hard way, you’ll be the one who pays.”

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, the sheriff and the FBI have arrived.”

  Jinx was trying to take charge of the situation. Trying to intimidate her. But he was weakening from the loss of blood. She could see it in his eyes. The red stain was spreading. Sweat beaded above his forehead. And while adrenaline might be pumping at the moment and keeping him going, it wouldn’t be long until he collapsed. She just had to somehow find a way to buy them all time until that happened, without anyone else getting shot.

  Jinx motioned behind her. “Get them on the radio, so I can tell them exactly what’s going to happen. If not, all three of you are going to die.”

  What terrified her was that every minute that passed was another minute Griffin wasn’t getting the medical help he needed. But there was an even bigger problem at the moment. Even if she did get a shot off and hit her target, Jinx could easily take one or more of them down in the same amount of time.

  “Do what I said. Now!” he ordered.

  Not moving, she addressed her sister. “Elizabeth, slide the radio next to me and make the call.”

  She waited a few seconds for Elizabeth to comply.

  “This is Tory Faraday,” she said once someone answered. “Jinx is here. He’s armed and making demands.”

  “Tory, this is Sheriff Jackson. Is anyone hurt?”

  “Griffin was shot.”

  “How bad is he?”

  “He was shot in the leg. He’s losing a lot of blood and needs medical attention immediately.”

  “What kinds of demands?” the sheriff asked.

  Tory took a deep breath and caught Jinx’s gaze. “Tell them what you want.”

  “You’ve got one minute to get your people off my property. In the meantime, I’ll be taking a hostage with me, so if I were you, I wouldn’t interfere.”

  “Can you tell me where you are?”

  “In the upstairs bathroom—” Tory started to say.

  “Don’t answer that!”

  Tory could hear voices in the background before the radio went silent.

  She still had her finger on the trigger when a shot rang out. Jinx slumped to the ground in the doorway in front of her. A second later Tory felt her knees buckle as a uniformed deputy stepped into the room with the paramedics right behind him. She blinked back the terror. She couldn’t panic now.

  “There are two shooting victims,” she said. “Both patients are conscious, or at least they were before you shot him. Deputy O’Callaghan has a through-and-through to the leg, his heart rate is a hundred and twenty. He has previous injuries to his rib cage and a graze from a bullet to his forearm from a couple days ago. The other men that were with Jinx are secured the bathtub.”

  The officer stopped, as if trying to take in what she was saying. “Are you okay, ma’am?”

  Tory nodded but felt as if she were about to pass out.

  “Both of you?”

  Elizabeth grabbed Tory’s arm and nodded. “We’re fine.”

  “There are two ambulances here. We’ll get both men out right away.”

  “I’m a nurse, I can help.”

  “You’ve done everything you need to for the moment.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re a victim, too, ma’am, and we’re going to want both of you to be checked out, as well.”

  “He’s going into shock—”

  “I’ll make sure he’s okay.”

  She nodded as the paramedics went to work, but his words did little to calm her fears. All she could do now was pray that it wasn’t too late for Griffin.

  * * *

  Tory headed down the tiled hall of the hospital. The last week had proved to be physically exhausting as well as emotional as the last few pieces of her memory managed to come back. The FBI had been able to track down most of Jinx’s men. He was now sitting in isolation in a prison cell. The one positive thing that had come out of this mess.

  She’d planned to go home at the beginning of the week, once she knew Griffin was going to be okay, but somehow Elizabeth had convinced her she needed a few more days of rest before they left.

  Visiting Griffin in the hospital every day had seemed like the perfect excuse to see him, and she’d enjoyed her time with him. They’d watched movies, played card games and twice she’d snuck in something from the local diner for him. They’d talked until the nurses kicked her out. From their time together, she’d discovered she loved his laugh, his sense of humor and, even more, his company.

  She told herself the only reason she kept coming by was that she owed him. He’d taken a bullet for her—twice—and she couldn’t take that for granted. But she knew it was more than that. Not only did he know how to make her laugh, she felt comfortable with him and somehow couldn’t imagine not having him in her life.

  Every morning for the past few days, she’d woken up excited to see him, but there was something still holding her back from letting him past the wall she’d erected around her heart. She knew now that there was no one waiting for her back home. No boyfriend or fiancé who’d held a piece of her heart or had been worried about her while she’d been out in the storm, running for her life.

  And maybe that in itself was the problem. Everything she could remember now.

  Like promising her parents she’d take care of Elizabeth if anything happened to them and then, at twenty-one, watching their caskets being lowered into the ground. She’d taken extra shifts at the hospital where she’d just started working, determined to keep Elizabeth in college and a roof over their heads. There had simply never been time for a relationship. Nothing had really changed; staying in Timber Falls was only going to make things worse.

  Griffin was standing by the window, looking out at the mountains, when she stepped into his room.

  “Well...look at that,” she said, struggling to put aside her troubled thoughts for the moment. “You finally decided to get out of bed.”

  He smiled back at her. “Very funny.”

  “You look good. Color’s back in your cheeks, your bruises are fading more every day...”

  “I feel good. The physical therapy is paying off and I finally feel like my strength is coming back.”

  “I brought a crossword puzzle book, thinking you needed something a bit more challenging, but you might not need me to entertain you anymore.”

  “I wouldn’t say that, though you’re probably just sick of bad hospital jokes and my leftover Jell-O.”

  Tory let out a slow laugh. “Both of those are things I’m definitely going to miss. What’s the doctor saying?”

  “He’s pleased with my progress and said it’s time I went home. I’m hoping later today once they get all the paperwork finished.”

  “Hospitals are notoriously slow with their paperwork. Once you’re out, you’re still going to have to be careful with what you do. Make sure you continue w
ith the physical therapy to get your strength and range of motion back. You want to be able to get back to work.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll definitely do all of that. Thankfully, the doctor has assured me that I should get back my full range of motion, though I’m going to miss having such a good nurse taking care of me.”

  Griffin’s words sliced through her. Because now that he was going home, she had no more excuses to stay.

  “I’m glad to hear you’re going home, though I have a feeling you might not be quite so agreeable when the FBI asks you to help them with a case again.”

  “They’re not letting me go back to work for a while, but you’re right. Though I have a feeling another case with them would never be quite the same.” His gaze seemed to pierce right through her. “I might get roped into taking care of some old, balding man.”

  She shot him a smile. “Do you have something against bald men?”

  “Not at all. But there is something about taking a bullet for a beautiful woman in distress that makes a better story.”

  Tory’s heart stirred at his words. She never should have let her emotions get so tangled. She had no real ties to him or his family, but what she did have was a life back in Santa Fe where friends and coworkers were expecting her to return. Besides, while Griffin might be smart, charming and undeniably handsome, they both knew the reality. Nothing was ever going to happen between them. She’d only managed to drag out the inevitable by staying in Timber Falls as long as she had. She’d go back to work and, before long, he’d forget about her.

  She just wasn’t sure she could say the same. She’d never forget him.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m good. And... I’m sorry but, unfortunately, I can’t stay. I promised my sister I’d meet her for lunch. I just thought I’d drop this by on the way.”

  Griffin glanced at the clock. “It’s just ten.”

  “I know, but I need to run a couple of errands before meeting her.”

  Tory set the crossword puzzle book down on the bed and forced a smile. She was making excuses. She didn’t have to go, but the more time she spent with him, the harder it was going to be for her heart to leave.