Safeguarding the Surrogate

by Delores Fossen

But there was no shadow now.

  No. This was a man. A man with blood on his shirt.

  And staggering forward, he fell to the ground.

  * * *

  DANIEL FOUGHT HIS instinct to run to the man who’d just fallen, but he forced himself to stay back. Plus, he had to get Kara to a safer place, and that meant getting her off the porch.

  “I want you to climb over the railing and drop down into the shrubs,” Daniel told her, and he made sure it sounded like the order that it was. He didn’t want her arguing about this, especially when he added, “I’ll cover you.”

  Kara didn’t argue, not verbally anyway, but he could see the hard questioning look she gave him. She might have continued that look, too, but the man lying in the yard moaned, and it was definitely the sound of someone in pain. He’d likely been shot. Could be dying. And Daniel couldn’t get him the help he needed until he had Kara off this porch.

  “Help me,” the man said, his voice also laced with pain.

  Well, maybe.

  And maybe this was all just a trick to get them to go out into the open to check on him.

  “Help me,” he repeated, and Daniel could see the man struggling to crawl toward them.

  He also saw the man’s face.

  Rizzo.

  Daniel had no idea why Rizzo was there, but that blood probably wasn’t part of the ruse—if there indeed was one. No. The blood was real, Daniel could smell it, and he could see it on the right sleeve and shoulder of Rizzo’s shirt. The injury could have happened when someone kidnapped him and brought him here.

  As bait.

  If that was the plan, it wasn’t going to work. Daniel couldn’t let it work. He forced his attention back on the area where the gunman had last fired shots.

  “Climb over the railing as fast as you can,” he instructed Kara.

  She certainly didn’t jump to do that, and Daniel felt the hesitation coming off her in waves. “Just be careful,” she finally said, and she got into a position to make the climb.

  Daniel got in position, too. As best as he could, anyway. When she moved, so did he. He stood, took aim at where he presumed their attacker was, and he sent two shots in that direction. From the corner of his eye, he also kept watch of Rizzo. After all, the man could be armed and ready to strike.

  Kara got over the railing fast, and Daniel released the breath he was holding when she dropped into the shrubs. Their attacker didn’t fire, and Daniel didn’t know if that was because he’d ducked or because he was on the move, looking for a better position so he could kill them.

  Daniel scrambled over the railing right after her, landing directly in front of her. The shrubs poked and jabbed at the cuts they already had, but Daniel pushed aside the pain and focused.

  “Keep watch behind us,” he told Kara. He didn’t think the gunman could get past Barrett to come at them from that way, but he couldn’t take the risk.

  “I need an ambulance,” Rizzo muttered, still crawling toward Kara and him.

  Yeah, he probably did need fast medical attention, but a wounded man could still be dangerous. He could still be a killer. However, Daniel had to rethink that theory when the gunman started shooting again. He’d moved and was now more in the back center of the yard, but Daniel couldn’t see him. He could only see where the SOB was aiming.

  At Rizzo.

  Or at least he was aiming near Rizzo. Another shot blasted through the air. And another. Daniel couldn’t be sure if either of the bullets had hit Rizzo, but if not, they were coming damn close. He couldn’t just crouch there and let a man be murdered.

  “Stay down,” he warned Kara.

  Daniel had to leave the meager cover of the shrubs so he could return fire. He sent what he hoped was three rounds into the shooter. Even if he didn’t hit him, it caused him to stop long enough for Daniel to hurry out into the yard and take hold of Rizzo’s uninjured arm. He began dragging the man to the shrubs.

  And the gunman began firing again.

  Daniel felt the searing pain from a bullet as it sliced across his own forearm. Cursing, he didn’t let go of Rizzo, but he ducked down, trying to make himself less of a target.

  The sound of the shots behind him caused an icy chill to ripple over Daniel’s skin, and that chill only got colder when he realized that Kara was now out of the bushes and was trying to stop the gunman from doing any more damage. She was also putting herself right in the line of fire.

  Daniel didn’t bother to shout for her to get down. She was focused on giving him precious seconds to get to safety. So that’s what Daniel did. Still dragging Rizzo, he hurried to the side of the porch. Once they were by the shrubs, he let go of Rizzo, and in the same motion, he pulled Kara back to the ground.

  Not a second too soon.

  A bullet whipped through the air, cutting through the exact spot where she’d just been standing.

  His life didn’t exactly flash before his eyes, but it was close. Too close. And he felt a chill of a different kind. One that cut him all the way to the bone. He could have lost her.

  Damn it, he could have lost her.

  Later, he’d tell her that he hadn’t wanted her to risk her life for his. Later, he’d tell her a lot of things. But for now, he just wanted to get her out of there.

  Even with Rizzo’s injuries and continued mumblings for help, Daniel frisked the man to make sure he couldn’t pull a gun on them. But Rizzo wasn’t armed. He also didn’t seem to have any injuries other than the one to his shoulder, but there was so much blood that Daniel couldn’t actually see the bullet wound.

  “You’re hurt,” Kara said, her words rushing out with her breath.

  Daniel glanced down at his arm and shook his head. “I’ll be okay.” He’d need stitches, but Rizzo’s injury would also need some medical attention. “See what you can do to help Rizzo.”

  Kara kept hold of her gun, but she used her free hand to try to apply pressure to Rizzo’s shoulder. Rizzo was writhing now, and his arms were flailing around, so she used her knees to pin his hands to the ground. As soon as she’d done that, however, the man went limp. For one terrifying moment, she thought he was dead, but she felt his pulse and realized he’d just passed out.

  Daniel kept watch around them and took out his phone. He needed to text Barrett to see if he could pull a cruiser right into the side yard. That way, he could get both Kara and Rizzo into it so that Rizzo could be taken to the EMTs. But Daniel barely had time to take out his phone when something caught his eye.

  A woman.

  She came walking out of the shadows and into the yard.

  “Don’t shoot,” she blurted out.

  Daniel didn’t, but he did take aim.

  He didn’t recognize the woman, a tall curvy brunette with her loose hair partially covering her face, but he could see that her hands were cuffed in front of her. There were also plastic restraints on the ankles of her bare feet.

  And she wasn’t alone.

  Someone was behind her, using her as a human shield, and that someone had a gun pointed at her head.

  “Don’t shoot,” the woman repeated, her voice shaking. She was shaking, too, and even in the darkness, Daniel could see that she was ghostly pale. “If you shoot, he’ll kill me.”

  “He?” Daniel questioned.

  Daniel heard her captor mutter something, but he couldn’t make out what he’d said to her. Nor could he make out the voice. Was that Eldon or Sean behind the woman? Or was this someone else, maybe a henchman one of them had brought here to do his dirty work?

  “Rizzo,” she said. “He’s the one who set all of this up.”

  Daniel glanced at the unconscious Rizzo. “Really?” He made sure her captor heard the skepticism in that one word.

  There was more muttering. “Rizzo hired someone to scare Kara and you, to get you to back off the militia investigation. But Ri
zzo double-crossed him. Rizzo was going to kill the two of you and set up his hired gun to take all the blame.”

  Daniel tried to pick through the whirl of thoughts in his head to see if that made sense. Maybe. “What’s the name of Rizzo’s hired gun?” Daniel wanted to address the man and not talk through the hostage.

  There were more mutterings, and the woman answered, “Ned.”

  Daniel seriously doubted that was the guy’s real name, but it was a start. Now he needed more info fast. First, though, he handed Kara his phone and whispered for her to text Barrett.

  “Who killed the surrogates?” Daniel asked. “Did you do that, Ned?”

  “Rizzo killed them,” she said without hesitating. “I’m Annie Cordova,” she added a moment later.

  Daniel hadn’t recognized her face, but he sure as heck knew the name because he’d seen it on the list he’d gotten from the fertility clinic. She was another surrogate. And every instinct told him that she’d had no part in this attack, that she was just another innocent victim that a killer didn’t mind using to get to Kara and him.

  But who was using her?

  Annie frantically shook her head at something that Ned told her, and the moonlight shimmered on the tears that spilled down her cheeks. “He said he’ll have to hurt me if you don’t swap places with me. He wants you to be his ticket out of here.”

  “No,” Kara insisted. “It’s a trap.”

  Probably. But maybe in Ned’s way of thinking, he’d have more to bargain with by using a cop instead of a surrogate. Of course, holding a cop was risky, too, because Daniel figured he was a much better bet at defending himself than Annie would be.

  “You’re to toss your gun into the yard,” Annie went on. “And then step out. He’ll let me go when you do that.”

  “Don’t. He’ll gun you down,” Kara warned him. Her voice was a raw tangle of fear and nerves, and she levered herself up enough to catch onto his arm as if to hold him back.

  Daniel knew he didn’t have time to think this through. Ned wasn’t going to wait, especially not with other cops nearby, and Daniel couldn’t stand by and watch another woman die. However, he could make this harder for Ned, or whoever was behind Annie, to kill him.

  “Give me your gun,” Daniel whispered to Kara.

  “You’re not going out there,” Kara snapped. “You’re not going to sacrifice yourself. Promise me you won’t do that,” she added as she slipped him her weapon.

  Daniel couldn’t agree to that promise because he’d do whatever it took. He lowered his own gun to the side of his leg, and using his left hand, he tossed Kara’s gun into the yard.

  “I’m coming out,” Daniel said the moment Kara’s gun hit the ground. “Let go of Annie.”

  Daniel levered himself up just a little, his attention nailed to the surrogate. He made eye contact with her and tipped his head down. He hoped she got the message that he wanted her to drop. Once she was out of the way, then he’d be able to shoot the man holding her.

  Annie gave a small nod back, and Daniel could see her steeling herself up to do what he’d silently asked.

  But she didn’t get the chance.

  Her captor tossed Annie over his shoulder and started running. Before Daniel could do anything to stop him, they disappeared into the shadows. Even over the thudding of his own heartbeat, Daniel heard the sound of the man’s running footsteps.

  He was getting away.

  * * *

  “NO!” KARA SHOUTED before she could stop herself.

  She knew it wouldn’t do any good, that their attacker wasn’t just going to turn himself in to be arrested, but the sheer frustration and dread had taken over. The gunman couldn’t get away, especially not with a hostage. He just couldn’t. Because if that happened, Daniel and she might never be safe.

  They might never be able to bring Sadie home.

  The killer could just wait until they thought they were in the clear and then come after them again. In the meantime, he would almost certainly kill Annie.

  “Barrett?” Daniel called out to his brother. “I need you on the side of the porch with Kara.”

  Kara didn’t have to ask why Daniel wanted that. He was going after the shooter. Part of her knew that had to happen, but the other part of her didn’t want to risk losing him. She was in love with him. She would have told him that, too, but Barrett didn’t waste any time getting to her. The moment he reached Rizzo and her, he gave Daniel the nod to get going.

  Daniel did.

  He hurried off into the night after the gunman and the hostage he’d taken.

  She could have sworn her heart skipped several beats, and there was a pain in her chest because her muscles were too tense. Kara whispered a prayer and hoped that their attacker wasn’t now lying in wait. Waiting to kill Daniel.

  “Once Esther gets here, I’ll give Daniel some backup,” Barrett whispered to her.

  With his gun drawn and his gaze firing all around them, Barrett positioned himself over Rizzo and her, obviously giving them protection in case the shooter circled back. If that happened, she wouldn’t have a way to fight back since her gun was in the yard where Daniel had tossed it. She was considering whether or not to rush out and get it when she felt something.

  Next to her, Rizzo groaned, and he reached down to rub his hand over his leg. “I think he shot me,” he mumbled, his words barely coherent.

  Kara couldn’t see any blood there, but then it was dark so maybe she’d missed it. However, it wasn’t dark enough for her to miss the glint of metal when Rizzo whipped out a gun from an ankle holster. Before Kara could even react, he had hold of her.

  And he pointed the gun at her head.

  For a few stunned moments, she didn’t react. The shock of what was happening had left her frozen. Rizzo was behind this.

  Rizzo was the one who wanted Daniel and her dead.

  Kara didn’t have to ask his motive. This was about revenge. This was his way of getting back at Daniel for his accusations about the militia, and that twisted her stomach into a knot. Daniel had just been doing his job, and now this monster was going to try to punish him for it.

  By killing him.

  By killing all those innocent surrogates.

  If Rizzo had managed to get away with this, it would have looked as if Daniel’s murder was tied to the surrogacy. To her. To the decision they’d made for her to carry Sadie.

  She pushed aside the shock and fear and tried to ram her elbow into him, but Rizzo held on. Not easily. He was breathing hard, but she didn’t think it was from pain. All of this had likely been some kind of ruse, and he could have put the blood on himself to make them believe he’d been shot.

  Kara made a strangled sound, and she started to scramble away from them, but Rizzo stopped her by pressing the gun harder against her head.

  “Move and you die,” he told her before shifting his attention to Barrett. “You need to put down your weapon, Sheriff.”

  Barrett’s eyes narrowed, and Kara knew he was doing the same thing she was—assessing the situation. Trying to figure a way out of this. It wouldn’t be easy because Kara was literally between Rizzo and him.

  She now knew the position of his body was intentional. So were the fake injury and his cry for help. Even pretending to be unconscious while he waited for the exact moment to strike was part of his plan. He’d set all of this up, including the weapon he’d drawn from the ankle holster. Rizzo had likely known that Daniel would frisk him, and he had, but they hadn’t considered that Rizzo would have a concealed gun that he was now going to try to use to kill her.

  “You know I can’t do that,” Barrett answered, his voice as icy as the glare he gave Rizzo. “If I put down my gun, you’ll just kill all of us.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” He might have tried to sound nonchalant, but he wasn’t pulling it off. Kara heard the strain of nerves in h
is voice. Felt it in the knotted muscles of his arm.

  “You don’t need to do this,” Kara tried.

  Rizzo’s response was a hollow laugh. “Right. Let’s just say I need to cover up the mess I made. I just need to wait a couple more minutes to make sure Ned takes care of Daniel.”

  Her stomach knotted even more. Takes care of Daniel. Ned was no doubt Rizzo’s hired gun, and Rizzo had given him orders to kill Daniel.

  “You killed all those surrogates,” Kara managed to say. Maybe she could distract him. Or come up with some sort of diversion so that Barrett could get off a shot.

  Rizzo certainly didn’t deny committing the murders, nor was there any logic he could give her that would justify why he’d done that.

  “You killed innocent women and attacked Daniel and me to cover up your own crimes,” she snapped.

  The sound of the gunshot stopped Kara from saying more. She felt the punch of dread, and she prayed that Daniel hadn’t been on the receiving end of the bullet.

  Oh, God.

  Had Rizzo’s henchman succeeded?

  Was Daniel dead?

  The thought of it was unbearable, and it sent a slam of rage into her. How dare this miserable excuse for a human being do such things. He had no right to put them in danger. And Kara used that rage, letting it build and soar until she had it pinpointed on the man behind her.

  On a feral growl, she slammed her elbow into Rizzo, and in the same motion, Kara shoved away from him. Just in the nick of time. Rizzo pulled the trigger, and the bullet came so close to her that Kara could have sworn she felt the heat from it as it flew past her.

  She punched him, trying to knock away the gun, but he fired again. The sound of it blasted through the night and merged with Barrett’s shouts for her to get back.

  But Kara couldn’t get back from Rizzo. Nor could she run. If she did, Rizzo would be on her, and she seriously doubted he would have any reservations about shooting her in the back. No. He was basically a coward, preying on women who’d never done him a moment of harm.

  Kara managed to latch onto Rizzo’s right wrist, and she clamped on hard so she could try to keep his gun pointed away from Barrett and her. But Rizzo was a lot bigger and stronger than she was, and he’d obviously gotten his own slam of rage and adrenaline.