No way could Reed confirm that, though. “Maybe this gunman who took Cantor is a ruse that Cantor himself set up so he’d look innocent.”
“You think he staged his own injury, too?” she asked.
Reed nodded. “It’s possible. The person behind this is facing capital murder charges. Cantor might go to any lengths to keep from getting the death penalty. Plus, if he hired this gunman to come into the hospital, it means Cantor’s not around to have to answer any other questions. Especially now that we all know he lied about being Rooney.”
Addison stayed quiet a moment and then gasped. “Cantor and the gunman could be coming here to attack us again.” But then she shook her head as if reconsidering that. “If Cantor wanted to kill me, he had his chance when he staggered into the sheriff’s office.”
Yeah, he had. Cantor could have just come in with guns blazing. Maybe that meant he didn’t want to kill Addison.
Not yet anyway.
But why had Cantor come to the sheriff’s office in the first place? It didn’t make sense.
Outside in the squad room, Reed heard Colt’s phone ring, and he stepped into the doorway, hoping to hear an update on Cantor or Mellie. The woman had to be at the hospital by now. Alive, hopefully.
But Reed immediately rethought that when Colt cursed. “We’re on our way,” he said.
Colt pivoted in Reed’s direction. “Someone just fired shots at the ranch.”
* * *
ADDISON COULDN’T CATCH her breath. Couldn’t speak, either. But that didn’t stop her from running out of Cooper’s office. It didn’t matter there might be kidnappers outside, waiting for her.
The only thing that mattered now was getting to Emily.
“Stop!” Colt shouted to them. “I’m coming with you. I’ll have the dispatcher get Shawna and Jasper in here ASAP to man the office.”
She hated to wait even the few seconds that it took Colt to do that, but they might need all the firepower they could get.
“Who called and how bad it is?” Reed asked as they hurried out the back of the building. He also drew his gun.
“Darnell was the one who called.” Colt didn’t stop moving. He locked the back door and got them running toward his truck that was parked nearest to the building. He, too, pulled his weapon. “Three shots were fired. None came into the house, but at least one hit the fence at the front of the property.”
Thank God the bullets hadn’t gone into the house where Emily and the others were, but it’d been a minute or more since Darnell, one of the ranch hands, called Colt with the news about the shooting.
There was no telling what had gone on in that minute.
With all the bad things that’d happened in the past twenty-four hours, Addison’s mind went in the direction of a worst-case scenario. But she couldn’t bear the thoughts that came. She had to focus on getting to the ranch.
“Stay low on the seat,” Reed warned her.
She did, but he didn’t. Colt got behind the wheel and drove away from the sheriff’s office while Reed kept watch all around them. There was a good reason for that. This could all be a ruse to draw them out into the open.
If so, it’d worked.
There was no way Addison would stay tucked away with Emily and the rest of the McKinnons in danger.
“I’ll check with Darnell to see what’s going on,” Colt said, making the call while they sped out of town.
The ranch was only about twenty minutes away. Not that far. But each mile would feel like an eternity.
“I’m calling Rosalie,” Addison insisted, and she pulled Reed’s phone from his pocket.
Thankfully, Rosalie answered on the first ring.
“Emily’s safe,” Rosalie said before Addison could even ask. “Austin and I are in the bathroom at the main house with Emily and our baby. We’ll make sure no one gets in here.”
Austin was an FBI agent and well trained to deal with situations like this. And Addison figured the bathroom was the safest place. The bullets would have a harder time going through the tile and natural stone in the McKinnon bathrooms.
Still, nothing felt safe right now.
“Have there been any more shots fired?” Addison held her breath, prayed.
“No. And the ranch hands are guarding the house and out looking for the shooter. Rayanne’s husband, Blue, is keeping watch, too.”
Blue McCurdy was yet another lawman. Addison was thankful for him and all the others, but she still wouldn’t be able to fight off the panic until she was holding her baby in her arms.
Addison heard a sound that caused that panic to spike.
Emily crying.
“She’s okay,” Rosalie volunteered quickly, “but I need to give her a bottle. Honestly, this is the first sound she’s made since we brought her in here. And try not to worry. I’ll call you if anything changes.”
Addison hated for the call to end, but she also wanted Emily to get the attention she needed to soothe her nerves. Yes, she was just a baby, but she had to sense the tension around her. Addison certainly felt it. Every muscle in Reed’s body was primed for a fight.
“There haven’t been any other shots fired,” Addison relayed to Reed once she ended the call with Rosalie.
Colt ended his call, too, but he shook his head. “Darnell and the others haven’t been able to find the shooters.”
“Shooters?” Reed growled. “Exactly how many are there?”
“Darnell thinks there are two of them. All three shots came from the wooded area at the front of the ranch. Probably fired from long-range rifles. One shot came from the east side. The other two came from the west.”
One gunman was bad enough, but now there were two.
Or maybe even more.
“We can’t just go driving into the ranch,” Colt added a moment later. “More gunmen could be waiting there to ambush us.”
That caused the skin to crawl on her neck—it could be exactly what these gunmen had planned, because they were in the perfect position to come after them. Judging from where those shots had originated, the gunmen were across from the road that Colt would have to use to get them to the ranch house.
Colt would literally have to drive right by the shooters.
“We’ll have to approach this slowly,” Reed reminded her. “We might even have to wait for the gunmen to be found, because we can’t do anything that would make them start firing again.”
Her breath caught in her throat. Yes, she did know that. But Addison also knew she had to get to Emily.
“The ranch hands have fanned out,” Colt said. “They’re all looking for the shooters. We will, too, but we’ll do it from the end of the road. That way, if they fire, the shots will come at us and not toward the house.”
Reed cursed. Because he knew it was true—that they were right back in the middle of danger again.
That couldn’t be helped.
If she could save her baby by drawing fire away from the house, then that was exactly what Addison would do.
The minutes and miles crawled by, and by the time they reached the final turn toward Sweetwater Ranch, Addison’s muscles were so tight that her entire body was aching. Her head was pounding, too. And she thought she might pass out from holding her breath so long. Still, she forced herself to focus. To listen for any sounds or movement that those shooters might make.
Instead of taking the ranch road, Colt eased the truck to a stop on the shoulder, and Reed and he both looked around them. Addison tried to do the same, but Reed pushed her back down on the seat.
“I don’t see anything,” Reed said to Colt. “You?”
Colt shook his head and reached for his phone. “I’ll get an update from Darnell.”
But Colt had no sooner said that than she felt Reed stiffen even more than he alre
ady was. “There,” he said, tipping his head to the wooded area across from the ranch.
Exactly where Darnell had said the shooters had fired from.
“I see him,” Colt answered.
Even though she was already low on the seat, Reed pushed her to the floor, and in the same motion, he turned his gun in the direction where both Colt and he were now looking. Neither of them fired, but both had their fingers positioned over their triggers.
Colt’s phone rang, and without taking his attention off the wooded area, he motioned for Addison to answer it. She did, but she didn’t put it on speaker because she didn’t want the sound of the caller’s voice to prevent Colt and Reed from possibly hearing an approaching gunman.
“It’s me, Addison,” she answered in a whisper when she saw Darnell’s name on the screen.
“Tell Colt we have eyes on the shooter on the west side of the property,” Darnell said.
“We’re at the end of the road, and Colt and Reed have eyes on the other one.”
If there were only two of them, that meant they were both covered. However, there could be heaven knows how many attackers out there.
“Please tell me someone’s guarding the back of the ranch so these goons can’t get on the grounds,” she said to Darnell.
“Roy and Tucker are back there.”
Colt’s dad and his brother, a Texas Ranger. Good. That was firepower in the exact place it might be needed. There were old ranch trails that ran at the back of McKinnon land.
“Tell Colt that me and a couple of the guys are moving in on the shooter that we’re watching,” Darnell added. “Once we’re done with him, we’ll head your way.”
Since her hands were shaking so hard, it took Addison several attempts to hit the end call button, and she relayed Darnell’s message. Reed groaned, clearly not happy about playing sitting duck or helping Darnell, but at the moment it was the only option they had.
So they waited.
Addison tried to block out the memory of Emily crying. A sound she’d heard just minutes earlier when she’d talked to Rosalie. Hard to make the cries go away, however, especially when nothing was certain right now.
Nothing was safe.
But that would change. The safe houses were ready, and if they got out of this unscathed, Addison would make sure Emily was taken to one of the houses immediately. Far away from her and any place where the attackers would find her. That broke Addison’s heart, but it would break even more if she didn’t do whatever it took to get her baby out of harm’s way.
Even though she’d tried to brace herself for whatever might happen next, Addison still jumped and gasped when she heard the sound of the gunfire. Not directly nearby but in the area of the woods where Darnell had said he’d spotted the gunman. It wasn’t a single shot but several.
Oh, God. A gunfight.
She prayed those bullets would stay away from the house.
Colt and Reed continued to fire glances all around them. Waiting. With his partner under fire, the gunman on their end of the woods might start shooting, too. And if he did, maybe Colt and Reed could put an end to this.
Well, an end to the immediate danger anyway.
If they killed both gunmen, they wouldn’t get answers as to who’d sent them, but at the moment, Addison didn’t care about that. She just wanted this to end so she could get Emily to safety.
“You hear that?” Reed asked.
Addison hadn’t heard anything other than the gunfire, but she lifted her head just a little.
It was the sound of an engine, and it wasn’t the truck because Colt had turned it off. This sound was coming from the road just to the side of the woods.
“Hell,” Reed mumbled. “The gunman’s getting away.”
Part of Addison was glad the idiot was escaping, but if he did get away, it would mean that he’d just come back for another attack.
Reed threw open the truck door and stepped out, taking aim at the vehicle. She couldn’t see it, but judging from the sound, it was rapidly approaching.
Reed fired, but judging from the profanity he started mumbling, his shot had missed. Addison heard the other vehicle speed away.
“Did you get a look at him?” Colt asked.
“Yeah,” Reed answered, jumping back in the truck. “There were two men. And Cantor was one of them.”
Chapter Fifteen
So much was coming at Reed right now. Finding Cantor and that gunman. Getting answers about this latest attack. But all those things were pushed to the back burner when he saw the marshals putting Emily into the car. The car that would take his baby to the safe house.
Away from Addison and him.
Colt was on the phone, searching for some of those answers they desperately needed. Cooper was back at the sheriff’s office doing the same thing. However, the ranch would stay on lockdown until both Addison and Emily were in their respective safe houses.
Addison had already kissed the baby goodbye more than a dozen times, but she kissed her again. Tears continued to spill down Addison’s cheeks. Reed could practically feel her heart breaking, but they both knew they didn’t have another choice. One of the kidnappers was dead, but the other was at large, and Reed figured he wasn’t working alone.
No way.
Cantor or whoever else was behind this would be back to finish the job. Well, their attacker would try anyway. But Reed had every intention of stopping him and anyone else involved.
Addison and Emily had been through enough.
“You want to say goodbye to Emily?” Addison asked Reed.
Not really. Reed wanted to be with her instead, but that was impossible. For now anyway.
He went closer, hating that sick feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. How could someone so little cause such a firestorm of emotions inside him? How could he love anyone this much after only knowing her two days?
And he did love her.
There was no mistaking that.
Reed leaned in and brushed a kiss on Emily’s forehead. She was asleep but stirred a little and opened one eye to peek out at him. Even though she was way too young to understand what was going on, Reed tried to put on a strong face for her.
“I’ll have you home soon, sweet girl,” he whispered to her.
It was a bold promise, especially since he wasn’t even sure where home was for her. They hadn’t exactly had any downtime to talk about living arrangements and such, but Reed knew that somehow he’d be a big part of Emily’s life.
Addison kissed the baby one last time, and the four marshals and the bodyguard nanny got into the SUV with her. It was a strong protection detail with twice the number of people usually involved. Reed had insisted on that because he didn’t want to take any more chances with Emily’s safety.
Marshal Dallas Walker got behind the wheel of the SUV and looked out at Reed. “As soon as I have them settled and I’m sure all is well, I’ll be back to escort Addison to her safe house.”
Reed nodded and managed to mumble thanks despite the thick lump that formed in his throat. That lump only got worse as he watched Marshal Walker drive away. He put his arm around Addison, figuring she’d need it.
She did.
Because she practically collapsed against him.
“It might take hours for the marshal to get to the safe house and then get back here,” Colt reminded them. “Why don’t y’all come inside until then?”
It was a generous offer, but Reed figured Addison wouldn’t be comfortable there. Yes, Roy didn’t seem upset about her friendship with Jewell, but Addison didn’t need anything else adding to her stress.
Reed glanced over at the guesthouse. “What about there? Can we use that place instead?”
Addison shook her head before Colt could answer. “Rosalie’s brother is
staying there.”
“He’s in San Antonio working a case and won’t be back for a day or two. Use the guesthouse,” Colt insisted. “You both need a break even if it’s only for a few hours. Get some rest.”
Getting rest and being tucked away were the last things Reed wanted right now. He wanted to be in the thick of the investigation, but it was obvious that Addison needed to get off her feet. She was a lightweight drinker, so maybe he could even talk her into a shot of whiskey, just enough to relax her so she could take a nap.
Of course, that was asking a lot from mere whiskey.
Until she had Emily back safe and sound, he figured neither one of them would be doing much resting. Still, he took Colt up on the offer, thanked him and led Addison toward the guesthouse.
“You saw Cantor in the getaway car,” she said.
Reed hadn’t been sure how much she’d heard of what he’d told Colt and Cooper. She had been seemingly focused just on Emily after they arrived at the ranch. Obviously, she’d heard that part, though.
“I saw him in the passenger seat,” Reed verified. “But I couldn’t tell if he was a captive or a willing participant.” Cantor would no doubt say he was the latter. And maybe he was. “He didn’t look too well. Definitely like a man who’d been shot and had left the hospital too soon.”
That still didn’t make him innocent in all this.
If Addison hadn’t been in the truck with Colt and him, Reed would have gone in pursuit and perhaps finally gotten the answers that could stop another attack. The dead kidnapper certainly couldn’t tell them much, but once they had an I.D. on him, maybe they could connect him to one of their suspects.
Quarles, Dominic or Cantor.
Reed opened the door to the guesthouse and didn’t waste any time getting Addison to the sofa. Didn’t waste time on the drink, either, though he also poured one for himself. He wasn’t exactly an old pro when it came to handling gunfire, but he’d had to deal with some situations. However, it’d never rattled him like this before.
Of course, the stakes had never been this high, either.
Reining in Justice Page 13