Jericho had no doubts, none, that it was exactly what Dorothy had in mind. Either way, she’d kill Laurel first chance she got.
“I suggest you change your mind,” Dorothy warned him. “Because if you don’t hand Laurel over to me, I’ll give my men the order to start shooting. You’re outnumbered, Jericho. Outgunned, too. They’ll kill all of you, including Laurel.”
Jericho knew this wasn’t a bluff. If Dorothy couldn’t have Laurel, then she’d have them all killed. Or try.
That was a risk. One that cut him to the core. But at least Laurel was inside the cruiser, and even though the engine was damaged, the windows and the sides were bullet resistant. His brother and Reese were also still close enough to their cruiser that they could use it for cover when all hell broke loose.
He hoped.
“Stay down,” Jericho whispered to Laurel. He took another gun from the glove compartment and also handed her extra magazines of ammo. “No matter what happens, don’t get out.”
Laurel’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. “What are you going to do?”
“Stay down,” he repeated, and brushed a kiss on her mouth.
“Levi, you ready to do something about this?” Jericho shouted.
“Oh, yeah,” his brother confirmed without hesitation.
Just as Jericho had thought. That was the only green light he needed.
Jericho came out of the cruiser with guns blazing.
* * *
“NO!” LAUREL SHOUTED to Jericho. But it was already too late. He was out of the cruiser, and the shots started flying.
Sweet heaven, he was going to get killed.
Maybe Levi and the deputy would be, too. Of course, it wasn’t as if Dorothy had given them too many options. And now Laurel could only pray that they got out of this alive.
Dorothy screamed out her own “No!” and Laurel wondered if she’d been shot. Maybe. But she quickly had to amend that when the woman belted out another order. “Kill them all. Do it now.”
Laurel lifted her head just enough to see out the back window. No sign of Dorothy. The woman had probably gotten back in the limo. Laurel’s father was on the ground, his hands covering his head. Trying to protect himself.
Dorothy’s gunmen were doing the same thing—they’d gotten behind the back of the limo. Out of the line of fire but still in a position to shoot and carry out Dorothy’s orders. It was the same for Levi and Reese. They were on the side of their cruiser, both of them shooting.
Jericho ducked down behind the door of the cruiser, once again using it for cover, but he continued to lift his head enough to return fire. So many shots came at him. Too many, and Laurel sat there, feeling helpless. And furious that Dorothy wanted her dead all because of money and revenge.
She thought of her son, and it broke her heart to think that she might not see him again. But at least he wasn’t here in the middle of the attack.
From the corner of her eye, Laurel saw the movement. The two gunmen from the SUV were getting into position to help out their fellow hired thugs. One of them scrambled toward the hole in the pavement created by the grenade.
Coming toward Jericho and her.
And not just coming toward them. The guy was trying to sneak up on Jericho so he could gun him down from behind.
Laurel didn’t think. She just reacted. She opened the cruiser door just enough so that she could take aim and stop him. But he must have seen what she was doing because he pivoted in her direction, bringing up his gun to shoot her.
But Laurel shot first.
The recoil of the gun stunned her a moment, but she quickly fired another shot. Both of the bullets slammed into the man’s chest. However, he didn’t drop to the ground. He stood there, frozen, his gun still pointed at her for what seemed an eternity.
Before he finally collapsed.
Jericho snapped toward her, and Laurel braced herself for his usual protest—what word of stay down didn’t you hear?—but he muttered, “Thanks,” followed by “Now, get down and stay there.”
The words had barely left his mouth when he levered himself up, turned and fired in the direction of the SUV. But not at the SUV itself. At the second gunman. Laurel had been so focused on Jericho and the man she’d killed that she hadn’t noticed the second one.
But he’d seen her.
He had his gun aimed right at her and was no doubt within a split second of pulling the trigger.
Jericho beat him to it.
He finished off the gunman with a shot to the head, and in the same motion, Jericho turned his gun toward the limo. He fired. And he took out the gunman on the left-rear side.
Laurel hated to feel relief that she’d just killed a man and had watched another die, but the relief came, anyway. They were winning. Except she knew that could change on a dime.
“Don’t shoot!” someone yelled. It was the final remaining gunman. “I’m surrendering.”
Laurel wasn’t sure if it was some kind of trick, but then she saw the man slowly get up from the limo’s right side. He still had hold of his gun, but he raised his hands in the air.
“Drop your weapon,” Jericho ordered. He stayed behind the cover of the door. Good. Because this still wasn’t over. “Are there any other gunmen in the limo?”
He tossed down his gun, shook his head. “Just the boss lady. Don’t shoot me. Arrange for me to get a plea deal, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“Where’s the proof that Herschel killed my father,” Jericho demanded.
The gunman shook his head. “I don’t know that, but I know plenty about the men she hired to kill you. That’s something you’ll want, right? It’ll be enough to put her in jail for the rest of her life.”
Before Jericho could answer, Laurel heard the sound. It didn’t even sound human at first, more like something that would come from a feral animal. But it was Dorothy. And it was the sound of pure outrage.
“Coward!” she screamed.
“Dorothy, get out of the car,” Jericho ordered her.
“If you kill me, you’ll never get the evidence I have against Herschel. Never,” Dorothy threatened.
Laurel figured the woman would use that to bargain while she stayed in the limo. She didn’t. Making another of those feral sounds, Dorothy came out from the backseat. A gun in each hand.
And she fired shots at Jericho.
Jericho ducked down in the nick of time, the bullets slamming into the cruiser door.
The woman didn’t give up. She kept firing. Kept screaming. Until Levi took aim at her and brought her down with a shot to the chest.
Dorothy fell, the guns clattering to the frozen ground with her.
“I’m sorry,” Levi immediately said to Jericho. “I wanted to take her alive.”
Laurel understood that. She also understood it’d been impossible to do that. It was clear Dorothy would have murdered them all if she’d gotten the chance.
“Don’t get out,” Jericho insisted when Laurel pushed open the door. He glanced around, no doubt looking for more of Dorothy’s hired thugs. Laurel didn’t close the door, but she did duck back inside.
“There aren’t any more of us, I swear,” the lone surviving gunman insisted, and he repeated his earlier offer. “I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
But Jericho didn’t turn his attention toward the gunman. He went to Dorothy. Leaned down and checked her pulse. He didn’t have to confirm that the woman was indeed dead because Laurel could tell from his expression that she was.
Levi hurried to the gunman, kicking his gun aside and cuffing him. Reese headed out to check on the other gunmen. No doubt to make sure they were dead, as well.
However, Jericho went to her father. Jericho caught onto the collar of Herschel’s coat and dragged him to his feet.
“Where’s the proof that you murdered my father?”
It wasn’t exactly a request. Jericho moved until he was right in Herschel’s face.
But Herschel just laughed.
She saw Jericho struggling to hold on to his temper. Laurel didn’t blame him. He’d loved his father, and now Sherman’s killer was right there in front of him.
Despite Jericho’s order for her to stay put, Laurel got out. She was already chilled to the bone, and the gust of bitter wind didn’t help. Nor did the fact that it’d started to snow.
Laurel hurried toward the others and hoped there was a shred of fatherly love left in Herschel. Enough of a thread for him to come clean.
“Where’s the evidence Dorothy had?” Laurel asked him, moving next to Jericho.
Her father’s gaze went from Jericho to her. Then to the wedding ring she was wearing. He smiled. Not an ordinary one. Definitely not one filled with any fatherly love whatsoever. Laurel had always figured he hated her, but that smile and the look in his eyes was all the proof she needed.
Jericho looked ready to unleash his temper and his fists on Herschel, but then his gaze met hers. She could almost see the battle going on inside him. Could feel it. That’s why she was surprised when Jericho took a step back.
“Levi, I need some cuffs.” Jericho’s voice wasn’t exactly calm, his muscles weren’t anywhere near relaxed, but he sounded exactly like the lawman that he was. “Herschel, you’re under arrest for Quinn Rossman’s murder.” And Jericho continued to read him his rights.
“I didn’t kill him,” her father insisted. “And I can prove I was lured to the crime scene so his death could be pinned on me. Hell, I’m betting Dorothy’s hired idiot will tell you the same thing.”
Judging from the gunman’s stark expression, he would do just that.
Levi handed Jericho the cuffs, and he slapped them on her father.
But Herschel only laughed when Levi took him toward the cruiser. “With the lawyers on my payroll, I’ll be out of jail in no time,” her father insisted. “This isn’t over.”
And, yes, it sounded exactly like the threat that it was.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Jericho cursed the whole white-Christmas thing. It was snowing, and yeah, it was pretty all right. It’d make for a picture-perfect holiday, but with the ice already on the road, it was slowing down the drive to the safe house.
Laurel was next to him in the front of the cruiser; Levi, in the back. His brother was on the phone, but Laurel leaned forward and stared up at the night sky as if cursing it, too. It was a toss-up as to who was the most antsy about getting to the safe house so they could see Maddox. They knew the baby was fine, thanks to several conversations with Jax, but Jericho wouldn’t rest easy until he saw his son. Of course, resting easy was a pipe dream, anyway.
No doubt for Laurel, as well.
They both had nicks on their faces. Both looked as if they’d been through the wringer and back. That’s why it surprised him when she looked at him and smiled.
“It’s still a couple of hours until Christmas,” she said. “We didn’t miss spending it with him. Well, we won’t if the weather doesn’t slow us down too much.”
“We’ll be there soon.”
They were only a few miles away, but Jericho needed to drive around a little longer. The only thing good about going at a snail’s pace was that he could make sure Laurel and he weren’t being followed.
Not that the chances were high they would be.
Jericho hadn’t started the drive to the safe house until the Rangers were fairly sure they’d rounded up all of Herschel’s hired thugs. While the Rangers had been doing that, Jericho had arrested Herschel, and Theo and Dorothy’s gunman who’d surrendered at the scene. All three were behind bars.
“I killed a man,” Laurel said. It wasn’t exactly out of the blue. Jericho figured it’d been weighing on her mind along with everything else.
“You killed a bad man,” he clarified. “One who would have murdered all of us if he’d gotten the chance. You stopped him.”
She made a sound of agreement followed by a sigh. Of course, she knew that already, but it would give her nightmares for a while. Him, too. Jericho had gotten a few years shaved off his life when he’d seen her open the cruiser door, putting herself in the line of fire. For him.
“You saved my life,” he added. “Thanks for that.”
Laurel brushed a kiss on his cheek. “And you saved mine. But I need to thank you more than once since I lost count of how many times you saved me.”
He looked at her, barely a glance because he had to keep his eyes on the road. However, he wished he could just hold her.
All right, kiss her, too.
Just being with Laurel would make him feel a whole lot better.
“Keep pressing him,” Levi insisted to the person on the other end of his phone. He finished his latest call with one of the Rangers, but judging from the way he shoved his phone back in his pocket, he wasn’t happy with the outcome of the conversation.
“A problem?” But Jericho hated to even ask. Hated more to hear the answer because it was probably one he didn’t want to hear. “Are Herschel and Theo still behind bars?”
“They’re still there. For now. Theo’s been officially charged with kidnapping Laurel from the sheriff’s office.”
“Good,” she said, but there wasn’t much joy in her tone, and when she settled her head against his shoulder again—something she’d been doing on and off since the drive started—Jericho noticed she was still trembling.
“Dorothy’s gunman is cooperating,” Levi went on. “That’s the good news. The bad news is that he confessed to assisting in both Cawley’s and Rossman’s murders.”
Hell in a handbasket.
That didn’t help Laurel’s trembling. Because she knew what it meant. With that confession, Herschel wouldn’t be charged with those murders.
“Is my father getting out of jail?” she asked.
“Not tonight. The Rangers can hold him for questioning while they go through the evidence we got from Theo. There should be enough in that to make some charges stick for his attempt to have Laurel declared mentally incompetent.”
Yeah, but those weren’t charges for murder. Not for Rossman’s, anyway. And not for Jericho’s father. Levi’s and Laurel’s silence let him know that they were thinking the same thing.
“I’m sorry,” Laurel finally said. She paused. “Can you get the DA to offer Theo a deal? If he knows where his mother put the recording of my father’s drunk confession, then could he exchange that for a lesser sentence?”
“No. I want Theo behind bars for a long time for what he did to you.”
“So do I. But more than that, I want justice for your father. Think it through,” she added when Jericho opened his mouth to argue. “If my father’s out of jail, we’ll never be free to live our lives with Maddox.”
Well, he certainly couldn’t argue with that. “We can get Herschel some other way.”
“Not as fast as you can by having the DA strike a deal with Theo. Theo’s facing several felony charges, and he’ll get years of jail time. My father could get life in prison. Maybe even the death penalty.”
“Laurel’s right,” Levi piped in.
She was. But it felt as if he was minimizing what’d happened to her. Still, Herschel would do far worse than kidnapping if he got the chance. Now that Laurel had rejected him, Herschel would be even more intent on seeing them all dead.
“Make the call,” Jericho told his brother. “See if Theo’s willing to deal, and if he is, contact the DA and work it out.”
That caused Laurel to settle even closer to him. He probably should have told her to tighten her seat belt, but Jericho wanted this contact as much as she seemed to want it.
“You said ‘free to live our lives with Maddox.’ Did you mean it?” Jericho asked.
Laurel lifted her head. Blinked. “Of course.”
Then her eyes widened. “Oh, I guess that sounded bold. I need to give you a free pass.”
“Excuse me? What the heck does that mean?”
She glanced back at Levi, maybe to make sure his brother was on the phone and not listening to them. He was. Well, he was on the phone, anyway.
“A free pass for the sex,” she said. “Just so you know, I don’t expect anything because we slept together. And I don’t expect anything because of this.” She lifted her hand, tapped the wedding ring.
“Well, you should.” He said that a whole lot louder than he’d intended. And yes, it got Levi’s attention, but Jericho didn’t care. This conversation couldn’t wait. “You should expect everything from me.”
“Everything?” Laurel asked, sounding very uncertain of what that meant.
Jericho wasn’t exactly certain, either. Not of the details, anyway, but he had a bead on the big picture. “I’m your husband, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
He shot his brother a glare in the rearview mirror when Levi smiled. Maybe the smile meant that Levi approved of this marriage, or maybe it was just that whole thing of him watching his big brother squirm.
“You’d like to keep it that way?” Laurel repeated, still sounding uncertain.
Jericho would have attempted to clarify that, but that’s when Levi’s smile vanished, and he slid his hand over his phone.
“Theo didn’t ask for us to work out a plea deal with the DA for him to get a lighter sentence. He told the Rangers where they could find the evidence against Herschel,” Levi interrupted. “It’s at Dorothy’s house in San Antonio. The local cops are headed over there now.”
That was great news, but that wasn’t a great-news kind of look on Levi’s face. “What’s wrong?” Jericho asked.
“Theo’s on the line, and he wants to talk to Laurel.”
Jericho wanted to growl out a “no way in hell,” but it wasn’t his call, and Laurel reached for the phone before he could say anything.
She jabbed the speaker button. “Thank you for doing the right thing about the evidence,” Laurel greeted Theo. “I appreciate it. So do the Crocketts. But I’m not getting back together with you.”
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