When she pulled away, more bullets showered his office walls.
“What the hell?” she asked, protectively covering his body. “I said cookies! Not a kiss!” she tried to make him laugh, but she knew how far gone he had to be to do that.
It scared her.
“I always said I was going to die in bed having sex. That was as close as I’m getting, so I had to improvise.”
She laughed.
“If you feel better,” he said, blood running from the corner of his mouth. “It was awkward and I didn't enjoy it.”
She touched his cheek. “Liar.”
“Don’t tell Croft.”
Emma could taste blood on her lips, and it wasn’t hers. She wanted to cry.
His blood was on her hands.
She was going to lose him.
She knew it.
“Chris, stay with me, okay?” she said, tears filling her eyes. “I need you to stay with me.”
More bullets.
They were getting closer.
Emma was beginning to think that she was going with him when he died.
Hope was running out.
“I’ll always be with you,” he said. “Call my folks and make sure you tell them I went instantly. You lie for me, Emma. I’d lie for you.”
She covered his body as more bullets rang out.
Then it got silent.
A ceiling tile fell out of the ceiling, and Emma glanced up.
“Kat?”
The girl tapped her lips.
“Let’s get you out of here,” she said, knowing she could pull Emma up into the duct system.
“Not without Chris.”
He stared up at Katerina. “Go, Emma. I’m already gone.”
She wouldn’t budge.
She wasn’t leaving him behind.
“Not happening, Christopher. Forget about it. I’m not leaving one of my brothers in here. I’m certainly not leaving a man I love here. We go together, or we stay.”
He pushed her with his hand. “Go, Emma. Please go for me. I can’t die with you here.”
She knew it.
He wouldn’t do that to her.
That was what she was counting on. If she stayed, he stayed. The man was stubborn enough to pull it off.
They were tied together in that horrible moment.
“Kat, how many?”
She held up three fingers.
“Come on, Emma, we have to extract you. Dimitri gave me the orders.”
She stood and fired back, hoping to keep them away from Chris’s office. Someone would run out of ammunition soon, and she hoped it was them, not her.
“Emma!” Chris ordered. “Get out and fight another day! Take Marianna down for killing me!”
She sat back down.
That wasn’t how this was going down. She couldn’t give up. When she lost Gage, she didn’t fight hard enough. Now, she was going to give it all she had.
“Where are they?” Emma asked.
“One by the main door and two outside by the doorway leading into the homicide office.”
“Can you get rid of the first one by the door so Greyson and Dimitri can get in?”
She grinned. “You want him alive or dead?”
Emma glanced down at Chris. “Dead. They’re wearing full body armor. Shoot for the head.”
Katerina nodded. “Here.”
She dropped a box of shells and a riot gun. “I borrowed them from lockup. They got the rest.”
Great.
The shooters had a room full of police assault weapons.
She was dead.
Well, if that was the case, she knew what she had to do.
Go down fighting.
“If we don’t make it out,” she said, pausing for more shots, “tell my husband I fought Marianna to the end, and he has to too!”
Kat slid back into the duct and got ready to do what Emma wanted. First, she had to alert Dimitri.
Emma was in charge.
This was now her game.
* * * Croft & Croft * * *
When he got there, the police were outside assessing the situation. They were working on the wounded, trying to figure out a way to get inside.
Natasha met them at the tapeline.
“Where’s Emma?” Croft asked.
“Inside. Kat went in. I can’t get close enough to the building. If you get me past the tape, I’ll get inside to help her.”
He knew Dimitri’s sisters were good at what they did, and right at that moment, they were his only hope.
Croft only prayed they could pull it off.
He approached the line, flashing his badge. The cop at the tape let him by, and his people too.
As he approached, the commissioner was standing there.
“We have a mess,” he said. “What the hell was your wife thinking?”
Oh no, he wasn’t pinning this on Emma.
Greyson didn't hesitate.
He punched him in the face.
The man hit the ground and all the cops pulled their weapons. Instead of escalating it, Commissioner Raye waved them down.
“Get out of here, Croft. We’ll get Emma out, and then we’ll sort out the details later.”
He didn't buy that at all.
This asshole was going to make his wife look like the scapegoat. He’d planned this mess, and somehow, it would be pointed at Emma.
“You know that bribe you asked for,” he said, loud enough for anyone to hear him.
“I don’t know what…”
“I’m not paying you a million dollars so my wife can keep her job. I’m not paying you so a good cop can keep her job. You and the Bookers of the world can fuck off!”
Greyson walked away.
“Dimitri, get my wife, and I don’t care what you have to do. Blow up the whole damn city if that’s what it takes.”
As he was about to call Katerina, his phone rang. It was her. He watched Curtis running his way.
Yeah, this was going to be bad.
He could tell.
“Katerina, update me!”
There was her voice, but it was low.
“I made contact with Emma. She’s uninjured, but Chris Ford is gravely wounded. We need to get him to a hospital.”
“How bad is he?” Croft asked.
“Chest wound. Emma has staunched the blood, but she and Chris are pinned down in his office. I tried to extract her, but she won’t leave him.”
That made Greyson sick.
He wasn’t surprised.
They had to save Chris. In order to save Emma, he couldn’t die.
“We have three shooters. I’m going after the one at the front door. If I can take him out, you can get backup inside.”
Curtis looked horrified. “Kat!”
There was a pause.
“I’m okay, Curtis. We’ll talk later.”
“I told you to extract Emma,” Dimitri said. “We’ll get Chris out.”
She laughed. “She wouldn’t come with me. She switched it up. We’re going to take out the three gunmen. When the door opens, it’s safe to come in.”
The call ended.
“Jesus,” muttered Curtis. “I think I’m having a heart attack at my age.”
He wasn’t alone.
Croft was too.
“There’s no way she’d leave him,” Greyson said.
“What do you want us to do?”
He didn't have much time.
“Natasha, get into some FBI gear. You’re playing dress up. The rest of us will suit up. When that door opens, I’m going in. I don’t care what the commissioner says.”
They headed toward their ride to pull on gear.
Now they had to hope that the two women inside, and Chris Ford, could hold on.
Before it was too late.
* * * Croft & Croft * * *
She knew she was losing him.
Emma had seen many people die in her life. Some personal, and some professional.
Chris was fighting t
o stay alive. She could hear it in his gasps of breath, see it in the color of his lips, and worse, see it in his eyes.
She was losing another brother.
“Come on, Chris,” she whispered, covering him as more bullets exploded over them.
“I have to go, Emma. I can’t do it. I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She sniffled. “Please don’t do this to me.”
“Emma Croft! Come out!”
She glanced over her shoulder.
“So you can shoot me?” she asked. “No way!”
“If you come out, we’ll let him get help.”
Emma knew that was bullshit, but it might buy her time.
“If I do, will you promise to get him out?”
Chris glared at her. “NO! Trap! No!”
She touched his cheek. “I’ll be okay. Don’t move, okay?”
She grabbed both guns. Placing one in his hand, she knew he wouldn’t let her down.
“Protect yourself.”
“Emma, please. Don’t. God, don’t!” She was covered in blood. It was on her hand, smeared across her face from where she’d wiped tears.
He was all over her, and soon he feared she’d be bleeding too.
“I’ll be okay. I swear.”
She knew it was time.
“Here I come!”
Chris had very little time left. If they waited, then he was dead. It was time to take one hell of a risk, hoping it paid off. This was the kind of thing that got you killed, and she needed a miracle.
Stepping out, she raised her hands.
“Lose the gun.”
Slowly, Emma went to her knees. When she was obscured from the sight of the gunman, she tucked her weapon into the back of her pants.
Then she stood up.
“It’s gone,” she said.
“NOOOOO!” yelled Chris from the office.
When the gunman stepped around the corner, raising his gun, Emma went for hers.
Here’s where it began.
Or ended.
* * * Croft & Croft * * *
When you spent your life breaking into things for a paycheck, you got really good at doing it. Katerina was smaller than most people, and incredibly flexible. When she had to tuck into a corner, no one saw her.
It was just like now.
She had crept down the corridor, trying to find the gunman.
When she saw him, he was wearing total body armor.
The only thing not covered was the back of his head.
Well, that made it harder.
The bullets in her gun wouldn’t penetrate the face mask and chest plate.
Then she’d be dead.
This was going to mean being creative.
She saw the dip in the ceiling and knew what she needed to do.
Using her hands and feet, she walked backward up the wall until her ass was against the ceiling. She was now out of sight.
She’d once told Curtis that no one looked up, and that’s what she was counting on to survive. If she failed, Emma was dead, Chris was dead, and so was she.
As she got into place, she whistled, hoping to catch his attention. With the one gun in hand and her other one supporting her weight, she prayed he came down the hall.
She could only hold it for so long.
As she heard footsteps, she counted.
When he was right beneath her, she silently wished he’d move two more steps.
A mint fell from her hoodie pocket, and she watched it fall in horror.
Well, shit!
As it hit the ground, right beside his feet, Katerina swore it sounded like a gunshot.
Then, he looked down.
She took the shot.
The bullet tore through the back of his head, causing his face to explode onto the floor.
Then he fell.
A sigh of relief flooded her as she dropped to the floor. Now it was time to get that door open, and head back to Emma. If anything happened to her, Greyson Croft would be a mess.
He saw the door open, and he gave directions to the people at his back. They headed toward it, cops following behind.
No one relished going through a door into the unknown, but for his wife he would.
For Chris Ford, he would.
In that moment, Greyson realized that for the people at his back—Curtis, Dimitri, and Natasha—he’d go through any door.
That said a lot.
At the entrance, Greyson peeked his head around. There stood Kat, and she was waiting for them.
“It’s clear to the bullpen. You have two more, and both have weapons from the armory. They’re shooting high powered guns with armor piercing bullets.”
Greyson wanted to be sick.
Then, he heard the single shot in the pause of automatic fire.
Then there was more firing.
Greyson ran toward it with his family at his back.
They had to get to Emma and Chris.
Before it was too late.
* * * Croft & Croft * * *
She wasn’t going down without a fight. She pulled her gun and hit him dead center to the face.
His head exploded in a violent gush of skull and brain. In the same second, she dove behind her desk, taking cover.
The barrage began again, and she knew she was dead.
It had been worth it.
She went down fighting.
Emma began crawling back toward Chris’s office, dodging the spray of glass.
As she rounded the corner, she found Chris there with his eyes closed.
Behind her, hell was breaking loose, only the bullets weren’t coming her way.
Backup?
“Chris, we’re good. Help is here.”
She touched his arm, and he felt chilly to the touch. When her fingers went to his wrist, there was no pulse.
He was gone.
Emma straddled his big body placing her hands on his chest.
“You can’t die,” she said, beginning CPR to pump what little blood was left in his body. “Come on, Chris. Don’t you leave me! You promised to hang in there. I lost Gage too early, and I’m not going to lose you too!”
“Emma!” shouted her husband.
“In here!” she called back, as she began breathing for Chris.
Then it was back to chest compressions.
“Come on, Chris. God! Please!”
Greyson raced in, gun drawn. He found his wife trying to keep Chris alive.
“There’s an ambulance outside.”
She kept going. “He has no pulse. I can’t stop!”
Tears were streaming down her face.
She was wearing only her body armor and his blood splatters.
She wouldn’t stop.
Dimitri called for the EMT’s.
As soon as he was done, he moved into position. “Let me do this,” he said, knowing she had to be getting tired.
“Don’t stop! We don’t give up on him! We don’t give up on anyone in this family!”
Dimitri took over with chest compressions. Natasha knelt at his head, gently touching his cheek.
When Dimitri stopped, she breathed for him.
The blood began bubbling from his wound. They were getting circulation.
As the EMT’s arrived, they kept working. They moved fast, getting in a line and Chris onto a gurney.
As they began rolling him away, Emma took his big hand in hers. “You’re my brother, Chris. I need you to stay. Come on, and fight for me. I’ll buy you the biggest fucking redneck truck I can find.”
They raced to the ambulance, and Emma ignored everything around them.
The dead on the ground.
The screaming family members.
The media taking her picture.
As she felt a jacket being placed over her bare shoulders, she glanced up at her husband.
“I want Dominic Marianna dead. He killed my brother.”
Yeah, he got it.
Honestly, he wanted him dead too.
* * * Crof
t & Croft * * *
Sunday Afternoon
He was glued to his TV.
BNN was looping the images of Chris Ford being wheeled out of the LVPD on a gurney, with Emma Croft by his side.
While Dominic was pleased that one of them was hurt, he was still disappointed that the bitch walked away unscathed.
AGAIN.
This cat had to be out of lives.
“Well?” Kenneth asked.
“I want to continue on with the plan.”
Yeah, he thought so.
“We didn’t pay them, did we?”
Kenneth stared at him. “Are you kidding? We did. You can’t hire someone to storm the police department, killing people, and not give them something in advance. No one is that crazy.”
“So, I’m out three million?” Dominic asked. “And they didn't even kill Emma Croft?”
“You just took down the police captain of homicide. It’s a good day in your world. Focus on that. It’s only money, Dom.”
Dominic heard his tone, and he didn't like it. He grabbed the heavy glass on his desk and whipped it at him.
It clocked Kenneth James, his attorney and only friend in the head, splitting his forehead open.
“Don’t you dare talk to me that way!” he raged. “It’s my money! It’s not a good day. A good day is when both Crofts are in body bags in the morgue!”
Kenneth scrambled out of the room, blotting his forehead with the pocket square of his suit.
Someone had to stop Dominic, and soon.
The man was losing his mind. He was a danger to himself, and everyone else.
This wasn’t only about the Crofts.
They were all in danger.
Inside the room, Dominic took a seat. If he thought that asshole lawyer of his was going to ruin his day, he had another thing coming.
Yes, he lost three million, but in all honesty, it had to have shaken the Crofts, and they would be running scared now.
There was no way they’d keep coming at him.
He won this round.
Focusing on the television news report, he watched the words scroll across the bottom of the screen.
Justice is Dead (Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 7) Page 39