by Lisa Childs
The storage units were tall and deep enough for motor homes and boats. There were also—so many rows that he had no idea which alley Nick had driven down. Or the man who’d been following him.
“Nick?” he called into the radio. “Where the hell are you?”
Nick must have shut off the radio so he wouldn’t give away his location to other man. But Gage needed to know where he was in order to protect him.
As he passed another row, he noticed a car parked far down the alley, its taillights burning holes in the gathering darkness. The sun was just beginning to set, but here between the tall buildings, it looked like night already.
Gage stopped his vehicle and called out his location into the radio. Nick might not be able to hear him, but the others hadn’t shut off their radios. And they were on their way. But as Gage opened his car door, he heard the gunshots.
And he knew no one else would get there in time to help. It was up to him. He was Nick’s only backup. His heart pounding frantically, he drew his weapon from his holster and headed around the front of his SUV. He’d parked it to block off that alley—to trap the car inside it with no escape.
The taillights turned to backup lights. Tires squealing, the car reversed—heading right toward him. Now he was the one trapped between his vehicle and the one bearing down on him. He lifted his weapon and squeezed the trigger. He had no idea if his shots struck anything but metal and glass.
He heard the metal ping. The glass shatter. But the car kept coming. Feeling the whoosh of air as it neared, he jumped, launching himself at the side of the one of the units. Metal crunched, and he waited for the pain.
But the car missed him. It didn’t miss the SUV. It struck it hard, hard enough to push it back. But it didn’t leave a space big enough for the car to get through. Brakes squealed again as the car lurched to a stop.
The driver’s door opened. The man was just a shadow. The only thing Gage saw was the gun he held, the barrel pointed directly at him. He lifted his own weapon and flinched as shots rang out.
The sound of gunfire had memories rushing over him—of other firefights. Of losing friends...
Where was Nick?
What had happened to him?
Would Gage find him as he had the others? His body bloodied, staring up at him through lifeless eyes...
Chapter 21
Nick cursed. He’d fired shot after shot. But from how easily the man ran away—around his wrecked vehicle and Gage’s—he doubted he’d hit him.
At the moment, he was the least of Nick’s concerns, though. “Gage!”
If anyone had been hit, it was Gage. The man had struck him either with his vehicle or with his bullets. Nick’s stomach lurched as he relived seeing Gage trapped between his SUV and the car bearing down on him.
Gage couldn’t have survived hell only to die at home—because of Nick. Nick would never forgive himself. And neither would Annalise.
He rushed over to where Gage’s body was slumped against the metal door of one of the storage units. Dropping to his knees, he leaned over him. He couldn’t see any blood but Gage’s jeans were torn and so was the sleeve of his shirt. His short golden hair was mussed, too. “Are you okay?”
Since night had begun to fall, the light above the door of the unit kicked on and shone down on his friend like a spotlight.
Gage’s eyes—the same clear green as Annalise’s—were open but unfocused, as if he couldn’t see. Or as if he could see something Nick couldn’t, something only inside Gage’s mind.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Sorry I didn’t save you.”
“I’m fine,” Nick said.
Gage just shook his head as if he didn’t believe him. But Nick wasn’t sure he’d even heard him.
“Are you hit?” Nick asked. Maybe he just couldn’t see the blood. He didn’t want to move Gage, didn’t want to risk injuring him more like he could have Nikki had she been hurt more seriously. Nothing was going to blow up here. The only risk was the gunman returning to shoot at them again.
He kept his weapon in his hand, ready to fire if he needed to. He could check Gage for injuries only with one hand. His wounded shoulder ached in protest, but he moved his arm, running his hand along Gage’s ribs.
The other man flinched. He was hurt. But Nick didn’t know if the injuries were new or old ones that had been aggravated. What the hell had Gage gone through all those months he’d been missing?
Nick touched the radio on his collar, turning it back on. “I need an ambulance.”
“You’re hurt?” Logan asked.
“Not me,” Nick said.
“Gage?”
A strong hand clasped his. “No,” Gage murmured. “I’m fine.”
He wasn’t fine. His eyes were still unfocused. And he kept flinching even though Nick wasn’t touching him. He was reliving the nightmare he’d endured.
Then Nick’s nightmare returned as he heard footsteps moving across the concrete behind him. He had his gun, but he wouldn’t be able to fire it fast enough to save both him and Gage.
* * *
Had she lost one of them? Or both?
Candace and Nikki claimed everyone was fine. But they drove her to the hospital, both their usually beautiful faces grim with worry. If everyone was fine, they wouldn’t have brought her here. Annalise was frantic.
She had nearly lost both men before. Gage all those months he had been missing in Afghanistan...
And Nick in the very hospital garage in which Candace parked the Payne Protection SUV. He’d been shot. He could have been killed then. It could have been his body she and Nikki had seen on that gurney.
Nikki reached for her hand and squeezed it. “He’s fine.”
Which he?
They wouldn’t have brought her to the hospital if at least one of the men she loved hadn’t been hurt. More Payne Protection bodyguards joined them. Garek and Milek helped escort her to the elevator and up to the emergency room.
The doors slid open to Logan and Parker pacing the lobby. They looked as grim as Candace and Nikki. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Who’s hurt?”
She turned toward those doors marked No Admittance and thought about forcing her way through them—just as someone stepped out.
Nick glanced at her before looking at the others. “You shouldn’t have brought her here.”
“Why not?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”
Oh, God, it was Gage.
“It’s too dangerous,” Nick said. “You remember what happened last time.”
The gunfire in the lobby. She would never forget. But that didn’t matter now.
“What’s wrong with Gage?” She reached out and clasped Nick’s forearms, gripping them for support.
“He’s fine,” he replied, too quickly.
“He wouldn’t be here if he was fine,” she pointed out. “Why did you bring him here if he wasn’t physically hurt?”
Nick’s face was as grim as everyone else’s had been. And that muscle twitched in his cheek, his telltale sign of stress. “I don’t think he was physically injured.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“There was gunfire—”
She gasped as panic overwhelmed her, stealing her breath away. She gripped Nick more tightly and ran her gaze over him. He didn’t look as if he had been hit. “But you would know if he’d been shot...” He would know for certain whether or not her brother was physically injured.
“A car nearly hit him, though.”
“Nearly?”
“It missed him. But he’d had to move quickly to get out of the way.”
He’d gotten out of the way, and he hadn’t been shot.
“Why did you bring him here?” she asked.
Nick released a ragged sigh. “He
wasn’t...he wasn’t...right. Something was wrong.”
Cooper walked up. “He was probably having flashbacks,” he said. “The gunfire probably triggered it.”
“He kept thinking I was hurt,” Nick said. “That I’d been hit.” He shuddered.
And Annalise’s heart ached for what both men she loved had endured. “Will he be okay?” she asked.
Nick nodded. “We brought in a doctor who gets it, who’s been there and knows how to help him.”
Annalise wished she could help her brother. But he hadn’t come to her when he’d finally come home. He had come to Nick. And Nick had gotten him help.
“Can I see him?” She wanted to make certain he was all right. That he was still the Gage she had known and loved their whole lives.
Nick didn’t argue with her like he had when she’d first arrived. He slid his arm around her and brought her back to the emergency room. For once, Annalise wasn’t the one being treated. But she felt no relief.
Nick paused outside a curtain and warned her, “He’s sleeping.”
He announced it as if it was monumental that her brother was asleep. She didn’t understand, but she had no intention of disturbing him. She only wanted to make certain he was all right.
Nick pulled back the curtain. Gage lay on a gurney, his eyes closed. There was no tension in his body. He looked completely relaxed. He looked like Gage again.
She stepped closer and slid her hand over her brother’s.
“In all the nights he spent at my place,” Nick said, “he hadn’t slept.”
Now she understood why it was so monumental that he was sleeping at last.
“I’m sorry,” Nick said.
She glanced back at him, confused. “Why?”
“If I’d known it was Gage on my protection duty...” He moved forward, too, so that he stood behind her, the heat of his body warming the chill from hers.
“You shouldn’t have risked your life, either,” she admonished him. In a few months, he was going to be a father—unless he had no intention of being involved in his son’s life.
“I had to try to end this.”
“Did you catch him?” she asked. She doubted that they had, though, or everyone wouldn’t have looked so grim.
He sighed, and this time the breath was ragged with frustration. “No.”
Her shoulders sagged. It felt like her burden grew. A burden of guilt and regret. She should have done what Nick had asked. He’d wanted nothing of his mother’s. If she’d gotten rid of it all like he’d wanted, nobody would think he had something he didn’t.
His hands covered her shoulders and squeezed. “We’re getting closer,” he said. “We’ll get him.”
But the Iceman was getting closer, too. He’d nearly run down Gage tonight—nearly shot him and probably Nick, too, although he hadn’t admitted it.
Two men had already died. She worried that more men would before it was all over. She worried that the men she loved would die.
* * *
Darren had almost had him, could have killed him. A dead man couldn’t lead him to what was his. But once he’d recovered his property, Nicholas Rus was a dead man.
The FBI special agent had tried to trick him, leading him to that storage facility. If what he wanted was in storage, it was probably in Chicago. Near the place the US Marshals had relocated Carla to after she’d testified against him in River City.
But it was small enough that it could have easily been transported to River City. Nicholas Rus could have found it the last time he’d been at his mother’s six months ago. He could have brought it back with him then. Or even before.
When she had died...
Too bad her death had been of natural causes—or as natural as years of drug abuse could be on a body. If Darren had known where she was, if he’d had a clue...
But he hadn’t known where she was or that she was even still alive until after she’d died. Then the bitch had had some lawyer send him a letter taunting him. He’d gotten it before he’d been granted parole.
He’d been damn lucky that whoever read prison mail hadn’t realized what she’d been talking about, about the evidence she would have used against him had he ever found her.
She was damn lucky that he’d never been able to find her. Evidence be damned, she would have died a long time ago—that traitorous whore. And it would not have been as painless as an overdose. He would have made her suffer for all the years he’d spent behind bars because of her.
While he couldn’t make her suffer anymore, he could make her son suffer. But he wasn’t sure if what would hurt Nicholas Rus the most was killing him or killing the woman and the baby she carried.
It had to be Rus’s kid. In all the months Darren had followed her around, he hadn’t seen her with any other man.
Annalise Huxton was a good woman.
Too bad she would wind up dying because of her love and devotion to Nicholas Rus. Yes, she was the key, the way to get back his property and to get back at the man who’d kept him from it.
Chapter 22
Nick had worked hard so he would never make the mistakes his mother had. He had never gotten involved with the wrong people. He’d never tried drugs. Hell, he rarely ever drank, because he hated the thought of losing control.
The only time he had ever lost control had been with Annalise. He’d wanted her so badly that he hadn’t thought about how it would complicate their relationship and potentially destroy his friendship with her brother. He hadn’t thought about protection, either. And now she was pregnant with his son.
What kind of father would he be when he’d never had one? Hell, he hadn’t had a real mother, either. Hadn’t had love...
Would he be able to love their son like he deserved to be loved? Like Annalise deserved to be loved?
Penny thought he was capable. But she was like Annalise, always so optimistic and hopeful. Except when it came to her own life. After Nicholas Payne had broken her heart, she hadn’t trusted it to anyone else.
She didn’t know or trust love much more than Nick did.
“Don’t worry about this.” Nikki’s voice emanated from the cell phone sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch on which Nick had sprawled. “I’m working it.”
“You shouldn’t be working it alone,” he said. “I ordered the transcripts of the Iceman’s trial.” Maybe they would find a clue in them to what his mother had taken from her former drug dealer and lover.
“And I’ll have hacked into the court records before you get them,” Nikki said.
He chuckled because she was right. And a little scary...
He was glad she was on his team now. Well, technically she was on Cooper’s. But they were all working together now because they were family. His heart swelled at the thought. Despite what he’d said to Penny, he had one. He had a heart; he just had never learned how to use it, how to open it to receive and express love.
“Get some rest, Nick,” his sister advised him. “We’re getting close.”
She was as optimistic as her mother when it came to work. Nick doubted she would ever trust anyone with her heart, either, not after learning the man she had respected most had betrayed her mother.
“You need some rest, too,” he said.
“I need some respect,” Nikki grumbled.
“You have it.” She had his. And she was earning the respect of her other brothers. They would see her for the capable woman that she’d become.
She said nothing for a long moment. He must have flustered her. Finally she spoke again. “I’ll let you know what I find out. Good night.”
“Good night.” He clicked off the phone. With the light pouring through the skylights, though, it was probably closer to dawn. He’d spent too much of the night at the hospital with Annalise, wat
ching Gage sleep.
He was all right, though. It was Annalise whom Nick worried about more. She was blaming herself for not getting rid of his mother’s things. But even if she had, the Iceman might have thought they still had whatever it was.
What the hell was it?
What had his mother done?
* * *
Annalise could feel Nick’s pain and frustration—just like she’d heard it in his voice when he had talked to his sister. From the bedroom doorway, she watched him. He was lying down, but he wasn’t trying to sleep. His eyes were open as he stared up at the skylights.
“You’re not going to take your own advice?” she asked.
He tensed as if she’d startled him. Then he sat up and stared at her. “What advice?”
“To get some rest.” She’d heard him tell Nikki—after he’d already sent her to bed.
“You didn’t take it,” he pointed out.
She shrugged. “I can’t sleep.”
“Don’t worry about Gage,” he said. “I think he’s getting better. Finally getting some sleep should help him a lot.”
She suspected Gage had bigger issues than sleep, maybe even bigger than what had happened when he’d been missing. Because he’d already been hurting before he’d reenlisted. His heart had already been broken.
Like Nick would undoubtedly break Annalise’s.
“I’m not worried about Gage,” she said. And at the moment, she wasn’t.
He stood up then and walked toward her. “Are you worried about the baby?”
“Always,” she admitted. “I worry that I won’t be able to take care of him.”
Nick reached out and skimmed his fingertips along her jaw. “That’s ridiculous,” he said. “You take care of everyone. You’re a natural mother.” The fingertips of his other hand skimmed over her belly. “This little guy is very lucky to have you.”
“What about you?” she asked.
Nick uttered a ragged sigh. “You’re more than enough.”