Declan wished that Beatrice had succeeded. But if she had, he would have never met Kirby. Never learned the truth about his parents.
And he would have never met Eden.
Of course, if he hadn’t, Eden might not be on the verge of being killed by a revenge-seeking lunatic.
“And what about Jack?” Eden asked. “Did he help you with this plan?”
“Please.” Leonard stretched that out a few syllables. “I wouldn’t trust that fool to take out my trash, much less put together something like this. A plan like this takes coordination. And hatred. A whole lot of hatred,” he added through now-clenched teeth.
So according to Leonard, no one else was involved. That didn’t make this situation less dangerous, not with those guns aimed at them. But Declan had to find a bargaining tool.
“If you kill me and leave Kirby alive to suffer,” Declan said, “he and my brothers will track you down.”
“They’ll try,” Leonard calmly. “But after this, I plan to leave the country and die in a quiet peaceful place, far from the long arm of the law.” He paused. Lifted the gun he’d been holding by his side. “And now it’s time for you to die.”
“No!” Stella sobbed.
“Get them out of here first,” Declan bargained. “Eden, too. No need for them to see you put a bullet in me.” And that didn’t mean he was surrendering.
No way.
If he had the others safely out of the way, then he could try to fight back.
“Everyone stays and watches,” Leonard insisted. “And just so I can give you a little extra jab, Declan, I’ll have Eden done first.”
No. That couldn’t happen. He couldn’t lose her.
Leonard nodded. That was it, the order for her death. And the gunman in the middle, the one who’d issued those earlier threats, turned the gun on her so fast that Declan didn’t have time to react.
The shot blasted through the air.
And Declan heard himself yell while he tried to push Eden out of the path of that bullet.
Chapter Nineteen
Eden braced herself for the pain. And for death.
The blast came. Loud and thick. Seconds before Declan knocked her to the ground. Even over the sound of the shot, she heard him shout her name.
But the bullet didn’t go into her. The only pain she felt was from the impact of the fall.
Around her, everyone was scrambling. Declan, Kirby. Even Stella. They were all going for the guns, and it took her a moment to realize what was happening.
The man who’d tried to shoot her dropped face-first, his gun clattering away from him. Someone had shot him.
But who?
She didn’t see anyone, but Eden didn’t look that hard. She went after her gun instead. After all, Leonard was armed, and so were his three remaining goons.
The goons scrambled to the side behind some trees, and Leonard did, too, while he cursed a blue streak. Declan snatched up his gun, and in the same motion, he shoved Eden down into the ditch. Before she could get her own gun.
“Get Stella and Kirby,” Declan told her, and she grabbed for them. Thankfully, they’d already started in her direction. Now she had to get Declan there, too, but he waited until they were all stashed behind the meager cover before he scrambled in with them.
One of the gunmen fired, but he missed Declan. That didn’t stop him from trying again, though. But his weren’t the only shots. There were others coming from the back part of the woods, where the smoke was still thick.
“Kirby, call off your boys,” Leonard snarled. “Or they all die tonight.”
“I’m not one of Kirby’s boys,” someone shouted back.
Her father.
He was alive. But he was also close, right in the thick of this, and calling out to them meant Leonard’s hired guns could pinpoint his position and kill him.
“I took out one of your men,” her father added, “so why don’t you come after me instead of my daughter?”
“No,” Eden said. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want any of them to be in danger, but she was glad that her father had managed to take out one of them. Now hopefully it wouldn’t make him a quick target for the gunmen.
“Maybe one of your brothers can take out the rest of Leonard’s hired help,” Kirby mumbled.
Eden wished the same thing. But it wouldn’t be easy since they had to get through that fire.
“Put your hand on her shoulder to try to slow down the bleeding,” Declan said to her. He tipped his head to Stella.
The bleeding was worse and Stella was shivering. Maybe going into shock. They needed to get her into an ambulance right away. Eden scooted closer to the woman and pressed her hand over the wound.
“Finish them,” Leonard said to his men. “I’m gettin’ the heck out of here.” And Leonard headed out with his bodyguard right by his worthless side.
Declan moved as if he might go after the man, but he glanced back at them. And instead of bolting, he took aim at the gunmen behind the trees.
The shots started.
Those gunmen began shooting at them, forcing Declan lower into the ditch so he couldn’t return fire.
She heard Declan’s phone buzz, and since he was busy watching to make sure those gunmen didn’t come any closer, she took it from his pocket.
“Wyatt,” she answered after she saw his name on the screen.
“Where are you?” Wyatt asked.
“Pinned down by the fence. Stella’s hurt.”
“How bad?”
Because Stella and Kirby were hanging on to every word, Eden would lie. “She’ll be fine, but she needs a doctor.” She ducked when a bullet tore up the chunk of the grassy ditch just above her head. “My father’s here. Somewhere. And he took out one of the men, but Leonard’s getting away. He’s the one behind this.”
Wyatt mumbled some profanity. “We’re on the way. If possible, have Declan hold his fire so he doesn’t hit one of us.”
But before she could relay that to Declan, he fired. And for a good reason. One of the gunmen had run closer to them, ducking behind another tree. He was trying to move in for the kill.
“Just get here,” she said to Wyatt, but he was no longer on the line.
More shots came. Closer than before. The gunman had obviously gotten into a better position. Eden’s chest was tight from her pounding heart, and her breath was too fast. She tried to make herself settle down, but it was impossible.
It didn’t help when Kirby levered himself up and returned fire with Declan’s backup weapon. Both Declan and she pulled him back into the ditch, and that minimal effort seemed to exhaust him.
“Get down, Eden!” her father shouted.
That was the only warning they got before she saw him come out from the trees, and he started firing at the gunmen.
He took out the one nearest to them.
The other turned, took aim at her father. But Declan took care of him.
He double tapped the trigger, and the third gunman went down.
Eden said a prayer of thanks, but before she could even finish it, Declan was out of the ditch.
“You’re not going after Leonard.” And she tried not to make it sound like a question.
But that was exactly what he was doing.
“Wait with them,” he said to her father. “And call the ambulance and tell the medics it’s okay for them to come closer.”
Good. The ambulance was nearby, waiting for the gunfire to end, so it shouldn’t take long to arrive. But having her father stay with them meant Declan planned to do this alone. He wasn’t going to wait for his brothers, probably because he knew every second counted. If Leonard managed to get away, they’d probably never catch him.
And a killer would go free.
God knows how long that would eat away at Declan. Probably for the rest of his life, and it wouldn’t matter that the brain tumor would soon take care of Leonard.
Eden called the medic, relayed Declan’s message and then got to her feet.
“I have to go,” she told her father. She took the gun from Kirby’s hand. “Stay with Stella and Kirby until the ambulance gets here.”
Of course, if Declan’s brothers got there first, they’d have to arrest Zander, but that wasn’t something she could worry about right now. Declan was about to face down his own personal demon.
Her father tried to grab her arm to stop her, but Eden got away from him and hurried after Declan, who already had a good head start on her. Leonard had backup, and Declan would need it, too. Of course, he wouldn’t want it. Not from her anyway. Still, she caught up with him just on the other side of the clearing.
“Go back,” he ordered.
“Only if you will,” she argued.
He kept walking, but he also looked all around them. Until then, she hadn’t considered that Leonard might try to ambush them. She figured he’d get out of there fast.
But the sound had her rethinking that.
More footsteps just ahead.
Declan yanked her behind a tree and peered out.
“Looking for me?” someone said. Not ahead of them. But behind her. And it wasn’t Leonard or any of Declan’s brothers. This must be the bodyguard Leonard had with him.
Eden was between Declan and the man, so she snapped toward him, and she gave him a split second glance to make sure it wasn’t someone they knew. It wasn’t.
She fired.
So did he.
But Eden dropped down and fired again. The man dropped, too, but before he even hit the ground, there was another shot. Not the gunman’s. This one came from in front of them and smacked into the tree. It missed Declan’s head by what had to be a fraction of an inch.
Declan cursed, shoved her all the way down and returned fire.
There was little smoke here. The wind had carried it in the other direction. So she had no trouble seeing Leonard in the moonlight.
“I won!” Leonard shouted. And he fired a second shot at Declan. “You and Kirby will have nightmares about me for the rest of your life.”
Leonard took aim at Declan again. Declan aimed, too. He was the first to fire.
And Declan didn’t miss.
She saw the look of startled surprise on Leonard Kane’s face, as if he hadn’t expected to die. Not ever. And a single word of profanity left his mouth as he slumped forward.
Declan didn’t even wait a second. He hurried first to the bodyguard and touched his fingers to his throat.
“Dead,” Declan mumbled. And he raced to the clearing to do the same to Leonard. Eden kept her gun aimed just in case the bullet hadn’t killed him.
But it had.
As she’d done with Leonard, she looked at Declan’s face but saw no relief there. No sign of victory.
“Stella,” Declan said, catching onto her arm. They started to run. “We have to get Kirby and her to the hospital now.”
Chapter Twenty
Declan sucked at waiting, but he wasn’t the only one. Like him, Eden was pacing in the hospital waiting room.
Dallas was on his umpteenth call with his wife. Clayton, too. Both had plenty of nervous energy coming off them. Slade wasn’t pacing or chatting on the phone, but he had his wife, Maya, wrapped in his arms as if a hug could bring them some peace.
Maybe it could.
Because the pacing and the nonstop phone conversations sure weren’t working.
Only Harlan and Wyatt were seated. Wyatt had his legs stretched out in front of him, his Stetson over his eyes, but Declan figured he wasn’t getting much rest. Neither was Harlan, and it was likely to stay that way until they got some news about Stella and Kirby. They both had to be all right, and even though Declan didn’t want his mind to go in that direction, he couldn’t help but think the worst. Stella had lost a lot of blood, and Kirby was weak from the cancer. God knows what this ordeal had done to him.
“How the heck did Stella get away from you?” Declan asked Clayton once he was off the phone. He extended that question to Slade. After all, both of them had been at the hospital guarding her.
“She’s sneakier than she looks,” Clayton grumbled.
“And faster,” Slade supplied, not sounding at all pleased that he’d been outsmarted by a woman twenty years older than he was. “Once we got her back to the ranch, she slipped out through the kitchen and jumped in her truck. She drove away before we could stop her.”
“We had no idea she’d try something that stupid,” Clayton added.
Yeah, it was stupid all right, but Declan looked at his brothers’ faces. Both Slade and Clayton were parents now, their sons tucked safely at the ranch with their nannies. And Declan was betting that his brothers would do anything to save their children.
Even something stupid.
“At least now we know why Declan’s so hardheaded,” Harlan added.
Declan appreciated the insult. Coming from a brother, it was practically mandatory in situations like these. However, it didn’t help cut through the worry that any of them were feeling.
“Both Kirby and Stella will be okay,” Eden tried to assure Declan. She maneuvered her pacing closer to him and brushed her hand over his arm. It helped. But not enough.
There was worry all over her face, too, and like Leonard had said, this would give them enough nightmares for a lifetime. Thankfully, Eden’s sisters were okay. Declan and she had confirmed that with a phone call on the drive to the hospital.
“I should have been able to protect everyone better,” he told her. “Including you.”
She lifted her shoulder. Gave a weak smile. “We’re in one piece. I’d say you did a pretty good job.”
Now, that gave him some comfort. She didn’t hate him for the mess he hadn’t been able to prevent. Because he thought they both could use it, he leaned in and kissed her. If that garnered anyone’s attention, they didn’t say anything.
Harlan, however, grunted. “Maybe no one will shoot at us today.”
Wyatt put his thumb to the brim of his Stetson and eased it back a bit. “I get shot at all the time.”
“A lot of things happen to you that don’t happen to normal people,” Harlan grumbled. “It’s that pretty face of yours. Too pretty to be a lawman. Just makes people want to shoot you.”
Declan was thankful for the brotherly ribbing. It was an attempt at normal when the situation was anything but.
“The cold weather slowed the bleeding,” Eden added in a whisper. She put her arms around him. “Plus, Stella’s otherwise strong and healthy.”
Both true. But it crushed his heart to think of her in surgery to remove a bullet put there because a man believed he needed to avenge an old wrong.
Declan heard the footsteps in the hall, and everyone turned in that direction. Hoping for news. But it wasn’t the news they were expecting.
It was Sheriff Geary and Zander Gray.
Eden went to her father, hugged him and some of the worry faded from her expression. “I didn’t know if I’d get to see you before they took you to jail.”
Declan hadn’t been sure of it, either, but if the sheriff hadn’t brought Zander by the hospital, then Declan would have taken Eden to the jail as soon as they had word about Stella and Kirby. It didn’t matter what differences Zander and he had had. Eden loved him, and she deserved to see him before he was whisked away.
“The murder char
ges will be dropped,” Declan explained to Zander. “Leonard confessed to hiring someone to kill the witness, and he did that to set you up so that you’d look guilty.”
Zander nodded. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You’ll still have to serve time for the original charges.” But maybe it wouldn’t be much. He no longer had a burning desire to see justice served when it came to Zander.
Because he was Eden’s father.
And it would hurt her to see him behind bars.
Still, she seemed to accept that jail time was inevitable, and she left her father’s side to return to Declan’s. She slipped her arm around his waist again.
“I’ll talk to the D.A.,” Declan continued, talking to her father, “and tell him you helped us stop Leonard and his hired guns.” He paused. “Thank you for protecting my parents during the gunfight.”
“Thank you for protecting my daughter.”
Declan hadn’t expected Zander’s thanks to mean that much. But it did. “It wasn’t a chore.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” His gaze turned to Eden. “Come and see me when you can.”
She nodded, but anything she was about to say was cut off by more footsteps. This time, it was Dr. Cheryl Landry, and she no doubt had an update about Stella and Kirby. Declan couldn’t tell if the news was good or bad from the look on her face.
“Stella’s asking to see you,” the doctor said. “All of you.” And she included Eden in the glance.
The sheriff took hold of Zander’s arm. “We need to head out.”
Eden mouthed a goodbye and I love you to her father, and then hurried down the hall with the rest of them. Declan braced himself for what he might see in the post-op room. He hated that this might be Stella’s deathbed farewell.
But it wasn’t.
She wasn’t exactly sitting up and looking fit, but she was awake and smiling as much as she could, considering she’d recently come out of the operating room.
JUSTICE IS COMING Page 18