Christmas Confidential (24 page)

They’d nearly reached the cover of the forest when a shot rang out. He hadn’t grown up on a Texas ranch for nothing. That was the sound of a rifle. They were outgunned.

Dropping her arm, he turned and raised his hands to his head. “Pretend we’re giving up. I need them to come closer. I want them in range.”

“This isn’t going to work,” she whispered as she, too, turned. “If they get close enough, you’re a dead man.”

“We’ll see.”

“Gage, I can’t let you...”

“Well, well, Amara, have you finally stopped running?” One gunman with a rifle, a young man of about thirty, stepped from around the corner of the cabin and drew a bead on her head.

“Hello, Andrei.” She didn’t answer his question but tried to edge ahead of where Gage stood.

Gage thought about her move for a moment and decided to let her temporarily cover him while he reached for the Glock he’d stuck in the waistband of his jeans.

“You don’t look like a ghost to me.” The fellow with the rifle stopped aiming at any particular target as his rifle tip lifted. “How is it that you’ve come back from the dead?”

“Ah, Andrei, you are still quite the joker. Is my father with you?”

Andrei didn’t have a chance to answer because right then an older man, one that clearly looked in charge, came around the cabin’s corner. Instead of a rifle, this man was armed with a .38 semiautomatic. Was this her father? Or the Russian mob boss?

Gage felt he’d be fast enough to take both men if he could find some kind of distraction. But he worried about where the rest of the men who’d arrived in those black pickups were right now. And how many men exactly was he dealing with here?

“Your father won’t be joining us,” the older man said with a heavy Russian accent. He took a couple of steps closer but kept the barrel of his weapon pointed at the ground.

“Hello, Dimitri,” Elana said quietly. “I’m flattered that you consider me worthy of your time.”

The old man flicked the tip of his gun in a dismissive gesture. “I am here accompanying my son. He believes a promise was made that must be honored in a way that will satisfy him. I am not so forgiving.”

Elana inched fully in front of Gage, blocking most of his body from the Russians’ view. He noticed her trembling and could feel her fear as he drew closer to her side.

“Are you willing to trade?” Elana’s voice sounded much stronger than he knew she felt. “I demand that you satisfy the Roma honor creed. Listen to my terms.”

Both Russian men remained silent but didn’t drop their weapons.

“I will trade myself for the life of this outsider. He means nothing to—”

Young Andrei broke in. “You have the nerve to talk of
honor?
And to dare offer such a trade? This—disgusting—outsider has broken the ritual purity laws. You are permanently tainted by his touch.”

Andrei shifted his rifle and took a step closer. “I’ll give you the gift of not killing you where you stand. Yet perhaps you would consider that preferable to what is to happen. You will come back with me—not as my wife as planned—but as my property. There will be many, many years for you to consider your treachery and to regret what you have done.”

Elana turned her head toward Dimitri. “Where is my father? He won’t stand for this kind of treatment.”

Dimitri took a breath and silently raised his weapon.

Gage could wait no longer. As a shot rang out and whizzed by him, he grabbed Elana by the shoulder and pulled her behind him. Then, taking a quick shooter’s stance, he fired at Dimitri before the older man could get off his next shot. A bloom of red blood blossomed on Dimitri’s chest, and without saying a thing, he slowly sank to his knees.

“You killed my father!” Andrei screamed and aimed his rifle.

Gage suddenly lost his balance as Elana pushed him aside and stepped directly in front of him to block the shot. The two blasts coming from Andrei’s rifle were not as far off the mark as his father’s shot had been. Trying to regain his stance and reach her at the same time, Gage heard the slugs hitting their new target, then watched while she doubled over and cried out.

“Noooo!”

At that exact moment, chaos broke out from the front of the cabin as police sirens and the sounds of shooting resounded through the clear, cold air. That was quick. Must be these were the same state highway troopers he’d noticed earlier when they were closing the roads.

Just then the noise of helicopter rotors overhead caught Andrei’s attention. Ducking his head, Andrei took a couple of hesitant steps toward his father’s prone body but then stopped, swung around and disappeared past the corner of the cabin.

Gage was torn. Finish off the jerk or take cover with Elana?

There really was no choice. He put the Glock in his pocket and picked her up in his arms. It was only a matter of a few steps to cover, and as he knelt behind thick scrub he prayed for her life.

She lay silent and bloody, and as far as Gage could tell she’d been hit by two potentially fatal shots.

“Oh, God, Elana. Why’d you do it?”

As he cradled her, spoke to her, she made no sound at all and never opened her eyes. Her breathing was labored and her body was as limp as a rag doll in his arms. She was dying, and he knew it.

Gage couldn’t believe what had happened. She’d taken the bullets meant for him.

But why? Why?

I love you, damnit. You must stay safe.

Her words, her pleas for his understanding, rattled around loud and true in his brain. She may have lied about many things, but the parts about loving him and trying to keep him safe weren’t lies after all. And he’d never given her a chance.

Stunned and unable to focus, he stumbled to his feet still clutching her in his arms. He had to get her to a doctor. Nothing else mattered. And no one would stand in his way.

If she died now, he would never be able to tell her how sorry he was. Her past, her family, none of it mattered. He wanted the opportunity to say that he still loved her. Always had and always would.

Chapter 11

E
lana’s pain seemed almost manageable today. They’d moved her out of ICU just this morning, and the feeding tubes had come out in time for a liquid breakfast. But how many days had she been here?

The past hours, days, weeks or however long she’d been in this hospital had gone by in a blur of pain and medicine-induced comas. She vaguely remembered the doctor saying she’d nearly died. That her right lung had been hit and collapsed. And that she’d had emergency surgery to correct the damage done by another bullet that grazed her head.

She’d asked the nurses about Gage the moment she came to. But she didn’t get an answer until the doctor arrived late last night when she’d been awake. He told her that Gage had survived the shootings and actually carried her out to the main road where a paramedic’s helicopter could land to transport her to the hospital. He’d saved her life by not giving up.

The doctor also mentioned that Andrei and most of his Russian gang had been captured. Andrei’s father had not made it out alive. The idea that she was finally free of the threat from the Russians hadn’t really sunk in yet.

“How’s the new room?” One of the nurses she was beginning to recognize came in with her cart full of testing and monitoring equipment—for the fourth time this morning.

“Have I landed in the never-ending monitoring room?”

The nurse chuckled. “It will be for today. Your first day out of ICU means we have to keep checking. But by tomorrow, things will calm down.”

“How long have I been in the hospital?”

“Your chart says it’s been five days today. It’s Christmas day, you know. Hopefully you’ll be going home soon. We’ll see what the doctor has to say tomorrow. An early release would make a nice Christmas present.”

“Uh...has anyone been to see me?”

“Not that I know of. Who were you expecting?”

Well, not her family, that was for sure. And she supposed Gage had gone back to Texas, too. It hurt thinking that he could save her life and still not love her enough to get past her lies and want them to make a life together. But as miserable as that made her, it might be for the best. Her father would never approve of a match with an outsider. Nor with the man who’d shot his boss.

Then it hit her. “My daughter. Gay, my little girl. She hasn’t been here?”

The nurse shook her head. “I doubt the doctor would’ve let your daughter in to see you in ICU. That’s pretty traumatic for anyone, especially a child visiting her mother. Maybe she’ll come now that you’re out.”

Elana felt her pulse jump. Where was Gay? Still with Brendan? Gage couldn’t possibly save her life and then take her child from her.

She endured the nurse’s tests and then asked for a phone. The nurse told her it would take a little while to order one for the room. Then she left.

Elana never felt so all alone in her whole life. She wanted out of this place. Now. Today. She had to find her daughter.

It would be hard enough to go on through life without Gage’s love now that she’d found him again. But to be deprived of her daughter’s love, too, would be the worst thing imaginable.

Her eyes glazed over in a veil of unshed tears. She wouldn’t be able to go on. Wouldn’t want to take another breath.

With her mind and heart consumed with thoughts of her baby, she missed the door to her room opening.

“Hey. How’re you feeling? Better?” Gage’s warm voice washed over her as she turned to see him coming close.

But she couldn’t speak. Was afraid this could be a dream.

“Think anyone would mind if I sat on the edge of the bed?” Gage smiled and eased a hip next to her. “I don’t care about anyone else. Do
you
mind?”

She shook her head, too surprised to say anything. But when Gage took her hand, her voice returned with a vengeance.

“Where’s Gay? What’s happened to my daughter?”

“Calm down. She’s fine. She’ll be in to see you in a little while. I needed a few moments alone with you first. Okay?”

Breathing a sigh of relief, she finally looked up at his face. What she saw almost took her breath away. That same loving look she remembered so well was back in his sensual gray-blue eyes. It made her suddenly remember the bandages still around her head and that she probably looked like death warmed over after five days in the hospital.

But Gage didn’t seem to notice. “You look better. The doctors promised me you would make it, but for a while I thought...” A lone tear escaped the corner of his eye as he swiftly wiped it away.

“You’ve been here? You came?”

“Of course.” His voice was rough and he had to clear his throat. “They refused to let me in ICU, but I sat right outside watching you through the glass. Every day I sat and I prayed. It was touch and go for a bit. But you’re a fighter.”

“Gage, I...”

“No, my turn first. I love you. I have loved you since the very first moment I laid eyes on you. And I don’t care what name you use or where you want to live. You’re going to have a danged hard time shutting me out of your life ever again. I
will
follow you the next time. Right to the grave if I have to.”

“Oh, Gage. I love you, too. No more hiding. And I want to be with you wherever you want to be. But my father. My family. Now that they know where I am, they’d never accept us.”

Gage dropped her hand and swiped a palm across his mouth. “I have some very bad news for you. Are you strong enough to take it?”

Drawing in as much air as she could, she fisted her hands in the sheets and nodded her head. “Go ahead. What’s happened?”

“Did you ever wonder how I ended up in Piñon Lake and spotted you?”

“Sure.” Wondering what this had to do with her family, she put her questions aside and said, “I knew it couldn’t have been a coincidence. How’d you find me?”

“I received an email telling me to look in Piñon Lake for someone lost. I thought the note was talking about my little sister, but that’s not what it was about. Turns out that email came from your father. He wanted me to find you.”

“My father? But how’d he know where I was? Why didn’t he come for me himself?”

“Elana... Is it alright if I call you Elana? Alicia doesn’t seem right anymore and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to saying Amara.”

She nodded but wanted him to keep talking.

“Yeah? Okay. Well, it seems your father always knew where to find you. Even when you were living with me. Your cousin Brendan’s wife kept him informed through the years. But your father knew better than to say anything to the Russians.”

“All this time? He knew and he never said anything.” She could barely comprehend what Gage was saying.

“I guess it was hard for him to keep the secret. He didn’t even tell your mother. And it must’ve been especially difficult to hold his tongue when Gay came along. But Maeve sent pictures and let him know where you were. He wanted you to be safe, Elana. Remember that.”

“Where is he now? And why’d he want you to find me?”

“He sent me that email when the Russians got wind you were still alive. He knew it would only be a matter of time before they found you, and he thought I could do a better job of protecting you and Gay than either the Keanes or you alone could do.

“And he was right,” Gage muttered as his mouth turned down in a frown. “Despite what
you
thought. You needed my help to beat the mob.”

Blinking back the rising panic she began to feel, she asked again, “Where is my father, Gage? Why isn’t he here?”

He pursed his lips as though he couldn’t—wouldn’t—say the words. Finally he whispered, “Dimitri tortured him to find you, and your father didn’t live through the punishment he received. I wish I could’ve thanked him. But...”

Her tears flowed freely. “Oh, my God. He...he...”

Gage cuddled her next to his chest and let her sob against him. “I know. I know.” He spoke softly in her ear. “This news couldn’t be more terrible. He was a hero for contacting me. But he wanted you to have an opportunity for a different kind of life. The kind of life you once had with me. Don’t ever forget that.”

“I won’t.” She fought against collapsing in her grief. She needed to keep going. Gay depended on her. And maybe...