Daddy Devastating (10 page)

A loud pop.

At first Julia thought it was the sound of a car backfiring, but she thought differently when Russ yelled, “Get down!”

But he didn’t just yell. He dove at her and pulled her to the ground. She hit hard, and her elbows and knees scraped against the rough concrete when Russ pushed her against the metal rim of her front tire.

There was another loud sound, and she saw concrete spraying from the pavement. And that’s when Julia knew that someone was shooting at them.

She choked back a scream and tried to get up so she could get into the car, but Russ held her in place by crawling over her. He also drew his gun. He was obviously trying to protect her, but she couldn’t see how that would help, especially if he got shot. Or killed.

They could both die here. And
then
what would happen to Emily? Was Milo going after her right now? Was that what this was really all about? Maybe he wanted Russ and her pinned down like this so he could kidnap Emily.

Julia struggled, trying to get to the car, but Russ pushed her right back down until she was pressed against the tire. She couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t let her just reach up and grab the door handle so she could jump inside, but she soon figured it out.

The next bullet landed just behind them and to the right, and it kicked up another spray of concrete and dust. Judging from the direction the bullet had come, the shooter was somewhere on the other side of her car. Maybe
directly
on the other side.

There were other vehicles around hers, but it was hard to see. Worse, there were massive trees that towered over the park and the parking lot. The shooter could be in one of those or even in the two-story office building near the park entrance.

She heard someone yell, and all around were the sounds of people running and calling for help. Hopefully, no one had been shot, but if the gunman kept firing, there was a possibility of that. Julia remembered all the families and children she’d seen. Every one of them was at risk.

But the shooter only seemed to have Russ and her in his sights.

There was another shot. Then another. Both came too close and stirred up more concrete dust. It was hard to see. And even harder for Russ to return fire. With everyone now running and screaming, he couldn’t risk shooting someone who just happened to get in the way.

But they couldn’t stay put, either.

“Emily,” she reminded him. She glanced over her shoulder at him, but his attention was darting all around the parking lot, including behind them.

“I know.” He took out his cell and made another call. “Where is this SOB?” he yelled into the phone.

She was close to both Russ and the phone, but Julia didn’t hear the answer because another round of gunfire drowned it out. The shot tore through the windows of her Jag, and pellets of safety glass fell to the ground beside them.

The next bullet came through the hood of the car.

It gashed through the metal and just missed Russ’s head. Julia didn’t want to know how close it’d come to killing him.

Russ ducked down, thank God, and yelled for backup to respond.

Julia prayed it wouldn’t take long for that to happen. After all, backup should have already been in place. Well, if Silas had done his job, it should have been. She suddenly didn’t like relying on a man Russ didn’t seem to trust.

There was the squeal of tires, and from the corner of her eye, she saw a black car come to a jarring stop at the edge of the parking lot. Her heart dropped.

Was this Milo’s men?

But Russ didn’t move, and he didn’t take aim at the two men who barreled out of the car. Both men were dressed in street clothes and were armed, one with a rifle and the other, a handgun. They took cover behind their vehicle but aimed their weapons in the direction of one of the massive trees. Russ aimed his gun there as well.

The shots stopped.

“The gunman’s getting away,” Russ spat out, adding a profanity.

He motioned toward the men who had gotten out of the black car, and one of them started to make his way toward Russ and Julia. Not in a straight line. He used some of the other vehicles as cover, and he inched his way across the parking lot until he got to them.

“Guard Julia,” Russ told the man. “Get her back to the hotel.”

Obviously, this guy was an agent, but she didn’t understand Russ’s “guard Julia” instructions.

Not until Russ moved away from her.

“I’ll join you at the hotel as soon as I can,” Russ said to her.

“You’re not going after that gunman.” She tried to catch onto his arm, but Russ shook off her grip.

“That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

Chapter Eight

Russ heard Julia beg him not to go, but he tuned her out so he could focus on the gunman. There was no way he was going to let this SOB get away with trying to kill them—even if that meant he’d have to do yet more damage control so he didn’t blow his cover with Milo.

If there was anything left of his cover not to blow.

Someone had sent this gunman after Julia and him, and Milo was at the top of Russ’s suspect list.

Somehow, he had to end this latest threat and gather all the pieces, so he could put them in place. But for now, his first priority was to stop a would-be killer.

He checked over his shoulder and made sure Julia was getting in the car with one of the agents. She was, but she wasn’t going voluntarily. The agent was shoving her into the backseat of the vehicle. The adrenaline had ahold of her now. She was in fight mode, but it wouldn’t take her long to remember that she needed to be back at the hotel with Emily. Once that happened, Russ could be sure both of them were as safe as they could possibly be.

It was up to him to make sure they stayed safe.

Ducking behind shrubs and playground equipment, he looked in the direction of a clump of tall live oak trees. If the gunman was still there, the thick branches and leaves were hiding him; but Russ suspected he was already on the ground, or making his way down that tree as fast as he could.

He kept his gun aimed and ready, and he shouted for the park visitors to evacuate. He certainly didn’t need a stray bullet hitting an innocent bystander.

Russ got beneath a tall metal slide so he could take a better look into those trees. But he saw no one.

His phone rang, and while he looked all around him to avoid an ambush, he also glanced at the caller-ID screen. It was Silas. Russ had a five-second debate with himself about answering it, but he knew he had to hear what his partner had to say. Besides, this call might be about Julia or Emily.

“Get out of there now,” Silas told him, the moment he came on the line. “Milo had a man watching. He’s waiting to see what you’ll do.”

“What I’m going to do is kill the SOB who fired those shots at Julia.”

“You can’t. I’m going in pursuit. Yeah, it’ll blow my cover as the buyer, but Milo thinks the Richardsons are the real buyers anyway.”

No doubt. But that was only one of the issues they’d have to resolve. “What about the agents who took Julia?” Russ asked. “Milo’s man saw that happen, too.”

“We’ll convince him that they were your hired guns.” Silas sounded out of breath, as if he had been running, but Russ couldn’t see the man anywhere in the park. “We can create fake IDs for them and plant some bogus employment records that’ll link them to you. They’re waiting at the park entrance for you to get in the car.”

His stomach dropped. “Waiting? I told them to get Julia to the hotel.”

“I told them to wait for you. It’s the only thing that makes sense, Russ. Now, get the hell out of here, or we might end up losing the Richardson kid.”

Russ wanted badly to argue. Like Julia, he was primed for a fight, and he didn’t want to let this shooter walk. Still, he couldn’t blow the investigation.

He couldn’t just turn and make a run for the car. Russ had to get out of the park in the same cautious way he’d come in—because it was possible the gunman was still in that tree waiting for an opportunity to shoot him.

Russ hurried. He didn’t want Julia waiting out in the open any longer than necessary, and he finally spotted the black sedan parked on the side of the road at the entrance. Other vehicles were speeding away, and the San Saba cops were responding with seemingly every unit they had. The air was filled with the sound of sirens and people shouting.

The back door opened when Russ was just a few feet away, and he got in before he cops could see him. He didn’t want to have to explain his gun or his lack of a badge. Especially since Silas had already warned him that one of Milo’s men was watching.

Julia was the one who opened the door for him, Russ soon learned. She was there on the backseat, and she grabbed his arm to pull him inside so he could shut the door. The moment he did that, the agent behind the wheel drove away. Not speeding. He didn’t want to do anything to draw attention to them so they’d be stopped. Russ’s supervisor and Silas would be the ones to fill in the local police on what was happening.

“You’re okay,” she said, her voice filled with breath and nerves.

Was he? Maybe physically he was, but inside he felt as if he were battling a hurricane. He looked at the scrapes on her knees and cursed. “You’re hurt.”

She shook her head. “Just worried. I called Zoey. Emily and she are okay. For now.”

That was good. But Julia was indeed hurt. He’d have to tend to those scrapes and check for anything more serious.

Unlike at the meeting, she looked on the verge of losing it. Russ hooked his arm around her and pulled her to him. “It’ll be okay,” he promised. But it was a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep. Still, he would try, no matter the cost.

“We need to get to the Wainwright Hotel,” Russ reminded the agents.

He knew both of them—Kevin Lopez and Chris Soto—and knew he could trust them. If they’d been available at the beginning of his investigation, he would have requested either of them for a partner.

“Silas,” Russ mumbled.

“What about him?” Julia asked.

“He went after the shooter.” Perhaps without FBI backup, since the two security detail agents were with Russ. But maybe Silas would get lucky and be able to apprehend the guy and haul him in for questioning. Russ had a dozen things he wanted to ask, including first and foremost—who had ordered him to fire those shots?

Unless Milo was the shooter.

That thought caused him to rethink his hired gun theory. Milo had left in plenty of time to get up in that tree. If he had a rifle already planted there, he could have been the one to take the shots. And if it was him, Russ would make him pay. As soon as the Richardson baby was safe, that is.

“Emily has to be all right,” Julia whispered.

“She will be. But I have to move her to a safe house. You know that, right?”

There were tears in her eyes when she pulled back a little and met his gaze. “I know.”

“Just hang on,” he told her, and tightened his grip. All he could do was sit there and hold her.

Russ wanted to punch himself for allowing this to happen to her. Julia didn’t need this in her head, not with all the other nightmares she already had to manage. Unfortunately, this new nightmare wasn’t close to being over.

“Get started on the arrangements for the safe house and try to find some place local, so the move can happen ASAP,” Russ told the agents, when they pulled to a stop in front of the hotel. “I also want any surveillance disks from the park. I saw some security cameras, so let’s hope they were on and working.”

“Anything else?” Chris Soto asked.

“Yeah. I need to speak with Milo. Find a way for that to happen. I don’t have a number, because he uses only prepaid cells, but you might be able to reach him through his assistant, Sylvia Hartman.”

The agents assured him they would get right on his requests, and Russ didn’t waste any more time. He got Julia out of the car and into the hotel. The lobby had several people milling around, all of whom suddenly looked suspicious. Hell, everything was suspect right now and would be until he had answers.

There was a guard outside Julia’s suite door, but Russ didn’t dismiss him. He ordered him to stay put while he knocked and told Zoey to open the door. The woman did, and like Julia, she looked worried. Julia rushed past her and into the bedroom suite. Russ was right behind her, and they both saw Emily sleeping in her crib.

“You haven’t had any visitors or calls, have you?” Russ whispered to Zoey.

“Just the call from Julia. Are we in danger?”

Because he didn’t want to wake the baby, he took Zoey out into the sitting room. “No,” he lied. “But as a precaution, I’m moving all of you to an FBI safe house. Don’t call anyone. Don’t tell anyone what’s going on. I just need you to pack your things and get ready. Then wait in your room with the door locked and the curtains closed,” he added.

Zoey gave a shaky nod and hurried toward her room. Russ then turned his full attention to Julia, who was no doubt ready for a panic attack. But he did a double take. Yes, there were the remnants of tears in her eyes, but she didn’t have the pale, clammy look as she’d had after the alley meeting with Milo.

“I can’t go to the safe house,” Julia insisted.

“Excuse me?” Because Russ was sure he’d understood her.

She lifted her hands, which were scratched, and then quickly hid them behind her back when she noticed the damage. “If I’m not there for the meeting, Milo said it wouldn’t take place.”

He just stared at her. “After what just happened, I don’t intend to trust Milo about anything, much less a meeting that involves you being just inches away from him.”

“Then what about the baby?” she asked.

Yeah. That was the two-million-dollar question. “If the shooter isn’t Milo, then my next step is to call him. To tell him I don’t trust him. I want his boss, Z, to find someone else to use as a go-between. Sylvia, maybe.” Even though he didn’t trust Milo’s assistant, either. Sylvia might have given them the warning about Emily, but the woman was dirty by association, because no one legal and above-board would voluntarily work for a man like Milo.

“All I’m saying is I need to be available,” Julia explained. Her voice broke on the last word. “And I can’t be available if I’m shut away in a safe house. What if Milo wants another meeting in fifteen minutes? What if I’m not there and he finds another buyer?”