“Who was this JD?” Andi asked.
“Spencer Delaney.”
“You fool. I told you to hold your fire until they were in the truck.” Spencer prodded Adam’s chest with the rifle. “If you killed Jillian or Andi, you’ll pay.”
“Are you crazy? Don’t point that thing at me. It could go off.” Adam shoved the rifle away. “I thought that was the whole purpose of being here—to silence these three.”
“You thought. That’s your problem. Andi knows where those three uncut diamonds are. They’re worth over a hundred grand. And Jillian has a handful of others. If they’re dead, how do you propose we find those diamonds?” Spencer turned toward the cabin. He wasn’t losing them, and once he no longer needed Matthews, he was history, as well. Just like with Jimmy, Adam Matthews would make a good scapegoat.
Spencer surveyed the cabin and surrounding yard. “Do you think you can give me cover while I work my way around to the back of the cabin? Then, when I get inside, I’ll call you to come.”
“You think you can get in from the back?”
The look he gave Matthews made him squirm. “No, I’m risking my life for the fun of it. If you’d been paying attention when we hiked our way here, you would’ve seen the north side doesn’t have windows.”
He pointed to a dead tree at the edge of the woods. “When I get there, I need you to divert their attention while I cross the clearing. Think you can do that without shooting me?”
“Don’t give me ideas,” Matthews muttered. “I’ll take care of it.”
Using the brush for cover, Spencer crept toward the dead tree. When he reached it, he looked back to see if his partner was watching. He nodded and Matthews ran forward, shooting at the cabin then ducking back into the brush as the cabin returned fire.
As soon as the shooting started, Spencer ran along the tree line and then made a break for an outcropping of woods twenty feet from the back of the cabin. He was no longer in their line of vision.
They were his now.
“This has to be the road,” Will said, looking at the map.
“It looks as though Jillian’s cabin is only a quarter of a mile off the main road,” David said. “Let’s leave the car here and spread out.”
“Good plan,” Brad said. “And Will, I’m sorry it took me so long to see the truth.”
“You just needed concrete proof,” Will said and slapped him on the back. “Now let’s go save your sister. Again.”
They blocked the road with the car and climbed out. Will followed along the drive while the other two slipped through the trees on either side of him. Movement straight ahead stopped him, and he crouched behind a bush.
Gunfire rang out, and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. Will sprang forward just as a man in a ski mask ran back into the woods toward him.
“Drop your rifle, or you’re dead,” Will said, leveling his Glock at the man’s chest.
The man hesitated.
“Drop it,” David said. He stood no more than twenty feet to the left of the man with his service revolver pinned on him.
The man’s shoulders sagged, and he dropped the rifle.
“Now, put your hands in the air,” David said and picked up the gun.
Will yanked off his mask. “Adam Matthews? Where’s Spencer Delaney?”
Matthews glared at him. “I don’t have to answer your questions. I want my lawyer.”
Gunshots rang out from the cabin.
36
THE BACK DOOR BURST OPEN, and Andi swung around as Jillian fired the .38.
The doorway was empty.
Seconds ticked away.
“Where’d he go?” Jillian whispered.
“Right here, ladies. Drop your guns,” Spencer said from the side door. He had his rifle aimed at Andi.
Maggie brought her rifle up, and sweat ran down Andi’s back. Spencer would kill her without a moment’s hesitation.
“You don’t want to do that,” Spencer said. “You might shoot me, but not before I kill her.”
“Shoot him!” Jillian yelled.
Maggie’s gun wobbled.
“Put it on the floor,” he said.
She did as he told her, and he kicked it away from her. “Now kick the shotgun out of the way.”
After she did, he moved to the window. “It’s clear!” he yelled.
He still held the rifle on Andi. “Where are the diamonds?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Andi said.
Uncertainty crossed his eyes, and he turned to Jillian. “Where are the ones you stole?”
“You think I’m crazy enough to tell you?” she said.
“Let me tell you what’s going to happen if you don’t. First, I’m going to shoot your kneecap off. Do you know how painful that is? But, if that doesn’t loosen your tongue, I’ll shoot the other one, before I start with your friends here.”
He’d do it too. Andi made eye contact with Maggie. Maybe if they both rushed him, but they’d have to do it before his partner got here. Maggie barely dipped her head.
Suddenly Spencer grabbed Maggie. “You move, and she’s dead,” he said, looking at Andi. “And there won’t be any of that judo stuff, either.”
Footsteps stomped on the porch.
“That should be Adam. Open the door,” he said, turning the gun toward Andi.
Just as she pulled on the door, Maggie elbowed Spencer in the throat. Grabbing his throat, he bent over, and she cracked his nose with the heel of her palm, sending him backwards while she twisted his rifle out of his hands.
Andi slammed the partially opened door, bringing a loud yelp and a thud. She grabbed the .38 on the floor and swung open the door. The second man lay on the porch. Holding the gun on him, she knelt. Andi’s head swam. “Will?”
The paramedic slammed the bay door on the ambulance. A few minutes later, the ambulance eased down the drive, followed by a second ambulance—the one Andi refused to ride in.
“I hope Jillian makes it,” Andi said. She still hadn’t processed all that Jillian had told them.
“How’s your leg?” Will asked.
“Hurts.”
“You should have gone with them.”
“You know how I feel about ambulances. Besides, that paramedic just got back from Afghanistan. He did a good job of cleaning it up and telling me I need more antibiotics. I’ll go to the ER when we get to Memphis.”
Will wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Thanks for helping, but you took too many risks.”
“Don’t start. It’s over.”
And it was. Jillian had given David a full statement about what happened eighteen years ago, and he was on his cell phone to his brother in the FBI. Brad had ridden with the county sheriff to take Spencer and Adam to the county jail. They would be extradited to Memphis, probably Monday.
“I’m glad it’s over too.” Will squeezed her waist. “Do you think Spencer will break first or Adam?”
“Adam.” He struck her as the weaker of the two. She turned as Maggie and David made their way to where they stood.
“What did your brother say?” Will asked.
“He put me on hold while he called the governor. Olsen will sign a fifteen day reprieve tonight.”
“Why didn’t he just release him?” Andi said.
Maggie smiled. “It doesn’t work that way. All the legal ends have to be tied up, but Jimmy will be told within the hour that he’s getting a reprieve and why.”
Andi leaned against Will. They had done it. An innocent man would go free.
“Think it would be okay if I called Jimmy and told him?” Will said.
David slapped him on the back. “If it were me, that’s what I’d be doing. We’ll wait for you in the car.”
The helicopter would pick David and Maggie up at Doskie. Andi stood close by Will as he called Walter Simmons’s number.
“Can I talk to Jimmy?” Will said when the CO answered.
“Sure can. He’s right here.”
Andi slipped her arm around Will’s waist while they waited, and he pulled her close for a second, releasing his hold when Jimmy came on the phone.
“Yeah?” Jimmy’s voice trembled.
“It’s over!” Will said. “Jillian confessed. She shot Stephanie.”
Andi had leaned closer or she wouldn’t have heard his whispered response.
“Thank you, Jesus.”
“Absolutely.” Will grinned at her.
“But it was Jillian? How? Why?”
“Andi and I are coming to the prison. We’ll explain it all then. I just had to tell you that it was over.”
“Thanks, Will. I’ll never forget this.”
Will disconnected, and they both released deep breaths.
Then his eyes widened. “You can’t go to the prison. We have to get your leg seen about.”
“I think they have an ER in Nashville. Closer too.” She forgot about the wound in her thigh as she looked up at him, and he held her gaze. The tenderness in his blue eyes almost cut off her breath.
“Taking you to the hospital is getting to be a habit. Kindly stop it,” he said, his voice husky. “It terrified me when I realized you were in the cabin and Spencer was there with a gun.”
“You risked your life for me.” No one had ever done that for her before. “Thank you. But I’m sorry I almost knocked you out.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “All in the line of duty, ma’am,” he said and caressed her jaw with his thumb. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“Shut up and kiss me.” His eyes widened as she slid her arms around his neck.
“Yes, ma’am.” He planted a light kiss on her lips and then lifted his head.
“Just one?” she teased.
“No.” He took her in his arms and captured her lips.
She returned the kiss, holding nothing back. She’d waited half her life for this kiss.
When he released her, he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Does this mean you’ll take a chance on me?” he said.
“I think I should be the one asking that question,” she said as he took her in his arms again.
Acknowledgments
AS ALWAYS, TO GOD, WHO GIVES ME THE WORDS.
To my family and friends, who believe in me.
To my editors at Revell, Lonnie Hull DuPont and Kristin Kornoelje, thank you for making my stories so much better. To the art, editorial, marketing, and sales team at Revell, thank you for your hard work. You are the best!
To my agent, the late Mary Sue Seymour; you believed in me when no one else did.
To Julie Gwinn, thank you for stepping in and becoming not only my agent but a friend.
To Sgt. Joe Stark, MPD, thank you for always answering my questions, even when I shot them over to you in the middle of the night. And because what you said and what I heard may not always be the same thing, I apologize for not getting it right sometimes.
To my readers, thank you for loving my stories.
Patricia Bradley is the author of Shadows of the Past, A Promise to Protect, Gone without a Trace, and Silence in the Dark. Bradley has been a winner of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, a finalist for the Genesis Award, winner of a Daphne du Maurier Award, and winner of a Touched by Love Award. Bradley is a published short story writer and cofounder of Aiming for Healthy Families, Inc. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America, and makes her home in Mississippi. Learn more at www.ptbradley.com.
Books by Patricia Bradley
LOGAN POINT
Shadows of the Past
A Promise to Protect
Gone without a Trace
Silence in the Dark
Justice Delayed
www.ptbradley.com
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