Grayson (17 page)

“Watch out!” Grayson yelled to his brother.

But it was already too late.

Grayson couldn’t hear the shot that the gunman fired, but he saw the end result.

A bullet slammed right into Nate’s chest.

Chapter Seventeen

Eve screamed, but the sound of her voice was drowned out by the blaring car alarm.

Her scream didn’t warn Nate in time. Neither did Grayson’s shouted warning to his brother. And because they’d failed, she watched in horror as the bullet hit Nate.

He flew backward from the impact.

“Oh, God.” And Eve kept repeating it like a hysterical mantra.

Had he been killed?

She thought of his baby daughter, Kimmie, who would be an orphan if Nate died. And it would be partly her fault. If she just hadn’t taken that damn picture then there would have been no attempts to kill her. All of this had started because of that.

Eve automatically bolted toward Nate so she could help him, but Grayson latched onto her and pulled her back to the ground. Good thing, too. Because the shots came at them again. This time, however, they were nonstop. Frenzied. They pelted into the cars on either side of them and the concrete floor in front of them.

Eve covered her head with her hands, but she couldn’t stay behind the shelter of the vehicles for long. “We have to help Nate,” she shouted, though she was certain that Grayson already knew that.

Because Grayson was practically lying on top of her, she could feel the rock-hard muscles of his body, and his chest was pumping from the adrenaline. His gaze volleyed between the stairwell and the area where the gunman was likely hiding. He was primed and ready to fight, but he would also do whatever it took to save his brother.

Eve couldn’t see Nate, nor could she hear him, but she prayed he’d somehow managed to survive the gunshot and the fall. Either could have been fatal.

She saw some movement at the other end of the parking lot and spotted another uniformed security guard on the stairwell. He had his gun ready, thank God, but he didn’t seem to be in any better position than Grayson was to stop this. Still, he might be able to do some good if the shooter moved.

Finally, the shots stopped. Maybe because the gunman had to reload. Or, God forbid, maybe because he was escaping. The thought of that sickened Eve. She didn’t want a killer to get away.

But right now, Nate was their first priority.

Grayson eased off her and inched toward the car to their right. He was probably thinking of making a run to the stairs, but she prayed he wouldn’t do that. He could end up like Nate, or worse.

Since she still had Grayson’s phone, she called nine-one-one to report an officer down, though someone was likely already aware of that. She doubted that Nate had come alone. But she immediately rethought that. Maybe that’s exactly what Nate had done. Maybe he’d rushed to help his brother and her and hadn’t considered the consequences.

She would have reacted the same way if it meant saving Grayson.

The moment she ended the call, Eve saw Grayson’s gaze swing to the left. And she soon saw why. The first security guard was crawling toward them. She saw the blood on his shoulder and knew that he, too, had been shot. They had to get an ambulance up here right away, but that couldn’t happen until the gunman had been stopped.

Grayson latched onto the guard and pulled him next to Eve. The man was clearly in pain, and even though he was clutching his gun, he had both it and his hand pressed to the wound. It didn’t take medical training to know he’d already lost too much blood. Eve pushed aside his hand so she could apply some pressure.

“Wait here,” Grayson ordered. “Use the gun if you have to.” His eyes met hers, and she could see that it was indeed an order.

But, God, what was he going to do?

Please.

She didn’t want him out there in the open, making himself an easy target. She wanted him to stay behind cover, even though cover didn’t mean safety. Not with those bullets flying everywhere.

Her heart was pounding against her chest now, and her breath was so thin that she felt light-headed. Despite the cold, there was a fine mist of clammy sweat on her face. She felt sick, but she tried to fight off the feeling of dread. They would survive this, somehow, because there was no other alternative. It couldn’t end here for Grayson and Nate.

Grayson took the gun from the security guard and handed it to her. Eve latched onto it, but she was shaking her head. “You can’t go out there.”

He shook his head, too. “I don’t have a choice. This has to stop.”

That was it. No other explanation. Grayson maneuvered around her and the guard and went behind them. He disappeared when he ducked around the front of the car to her right.

Well, at least he wasn’t going to charge out into the center of the garage. He was obviously trying to get to the stairwell, and maybe the security guard could provide some backup. However, that still meant Grayson was moving closer and closer to the gunman, and she was betting the gunman would be looking for them to do just that. Shooting Nate could have all been designed to draw Grayson and her out into the open.

If so, it had worked.

Eve couldn’t hear what the security guard was mumbling, but he squirmed, his face tightening in pain. She pressed harder on the wound to try to stop the flow of blood, but she also kept watch of the area near the black van where the last shots had originated.

“This is Sergeant O’Malley, SAPD.” The man’s voice boomed from a bullhorn. It sounded as if he was at street level. “Put down your weapon and surrender.”

Backup. Thank God. But since there was no response from the shooter, Eve doubted he would just do as the sergeant had demanded.

By her calculations it’d been a minute, maybe more, and the gunman hadn’t fired. Eve had no idea if that was good or bad, but it was certainly easier to think without those bullets bashing into the cement and other cars.

And because it was easier to think, tears sprang to her eyes.

Eve blinked them back. She couldn’t give in to the worry and fear, but she was terrified for Grayson. For Nate. For this wounded security guard whom she didn’t even know.

But who was out there doing this?

Sebastian? Maybe. But only if he’d managed to get away from his police escort. Of course, either Claude or Sebastian could have hired a gunman. It was possible Claude wasn’t even in critical condition but instead had orchestrated this to get Grayson and her into a position so they could be killed.

That brought her back to why again.

If they could just figure out who’d fired shots at them, then knowing the
who
would tell them the
why.

Eve finally spotted Grayson again. He was seven cars over to her right and was inching his way to the stairwell. She held her breath, waiting for another shot.

Nothing.

The seconds crawled by so slowly that she could feel them ticking off in her head. Finally, she saw some movement in the stairwell.

Nate.

Thank God he was moving. However, he wasn’t just moving. He had his gun aimed and ready and was making his way back up the stairs. Not easily. He, too, was wincing, and Eve soon realized why. His shirt was open, but there was no blood. Only a Kevlar vest.

Relieved, she let out her breath in a rush. Nate hadn’t been shot. The impact of the bullet had probably knocked him down the stairs. He looked shaken up but very much alive.

So, that was one prayer that’d been answered.

The security guard moved again, the muscles in his body going stiff, and Eve looked down at him to see what had caused that reaction. His eyes were wide and not focused on her.

But rather behind her.

Oh, God.

That was the only thought that had time to form in her head because Eve felt a hand grip on to her shoulder. She didn’t have time to move. There was no time to react.

Before someone pressed the barrel of a gun to her head.

GRAYSON’S HEART WENT to his knees.

This couldn’t be happening.

He’d had just a split second of relief because his brother was alive, but that relief went south in a hurry when he saw Eve. She was no longer where Grayson had left her—crouched with the injured security guard between the two cars. She was standing now.

And she wasn’t alone.

Someone was behind her, their arm curved around Eve’s neck, and that someone had a gun pointed directly at Eve’s head. The person had a second gun next to Eve’s neck. Both weapons were positioned to deliver a fatal shot.

Grayson couldn’t see the person’s face, only the black baseball cap. But he could see Eve’s. The color had drained from her cheeks, and she was looking around as if trying to figure out how to escape.

But Grayson didn’t want her to move.

Not with that gun pressed to her head.

“Drop your weapon and surrender,” Sergeant O’Malley called out again.

Grayson was thankful for the backup, but he didn’t want the sergeant’s demand to make this bad situation worse.

He took aim, and with his attention nailed to the gunman’s hand, Grayson inched closer.

“There’s no need to do this,” Grayson shouted. “Let her go.”

If the gunman responded, Grayson didn’t hear it. He wished like the devil that the car alarm would stop. He had to try to negotiate Eve’s release, and it was hard to do that when he couldn’t hear what was going on.

“Eve is no threat to you,” Grayson tried again, all the while moving closer.

He didn’t have a clean shot, not with the gunman using Eve as a human shield, but he needed to get as close as possible because it was likely this SOB was planning an escape. After all, Eve was still alive, and there had to be a reason for that. The gunman had taken her hostage. But why?

Grayson was certain he would soon learn the answer, but he hoped he wouldn’t learn it too late. Eve couldn’t die. She just couldn’t. Someway, somehow, he had to put himself in a position where he could save her.

He glanced over his shoulder at his brother. Nate wasn’t following him but instead had crouched down and was making his way to the other side of the garage toward the black van and the red car with the blaring alarm.

Good move.

His brother might get a better angle on a shot that way, and Nate could also possibly block an attempted escape. The second security guard could help with that, too, since he was covering the other end of the garage. Grayson couldn’t let the gunman get Eve out of there because once he no longer had any use for a hostage, the shooter would almost certainly kill her.

“The security guard needs medical attention,” Grayson shouted to the gunman. Since the guy wasn’t moving, he wanted to try a different approach. “Why don’t you end this now so we can get an ambulance up here?”

Still nothing. But the guy was moving a little and looking around. Grayson didn’t like the edgy movement because it proved the gunman was nervous and way out of his comfort zone.

Grayson stopped but kept his gun lifted and aimed. “Step out so I can see you.” And he tried to make it sound like an order. Hard to do with that gun right at Eve’s head.

“What should I do?” she mouthed.

But Grayson shook his head. He didn’t want her to do anything. Not yet anyway. But if it came down to it, he hoped she could drop out of the way so that Nate or he would have a clean shot.

Grayson glanced around to see the best way to approach this, and while he was still studying the situation, just like that the car alarm stopped. Maybe the battery had given out or perhaps Nate had managed to disarm it. Either way, it was now deadly silent.

The gunman lifted his head, just a little, and even though Grayson still couldn’t see his face, he didn’t think it was his imagination that the guy wasn’t pleased with the silenced alarm. But Grayson was certainly thankful for it. Maybe now he could hear this bozo’s voice and figure out who he was dealing with. If it wasn’t Sebastian, then maybe one of the Colliers had hired a triggerman.

“SAPD has the building surrounded,” Grayson tossed out there. “You can’t escape. But what you can do is let Eve go, and we can talk about a peaceful surrender.”

No answer, but he hadn’t expected one.

The guy finally moved. Well, he moved the gun away from Eve’s head anyway, and for a moment Grayson thought he might surrender. He didn’t.

He lowered the gun, pointing it down to the floor, and he fired.

Hell.

Grayson couldn’t see exactly what had happened, but judging from the look of sheer horror on Eve’s face and from her scream, the gunman had shot the security guard at point-blank range.

Things had just gone from bad to worse.

The gunman moved again, quickly this time. He put the gun back against Eve’s head and he pushed her forward. He followed with the front of his body pressed to Eve’s back.

The gunman was heading for that black van.

Nate was there, somewhere. Hopefully, in a position to stop a getaway attempt.

“You won’t be able to drive out of here,” Grayson warned.

But he’d barely had time to issue that warning when the gunman shifted his weapon.

He fired at Grayson.

Grayson jumped to the side, just in time, and he landed hard against the concrete floor. His shoulder jammed, the pain shooting through him, but he ignored it and came up ready to fire.

The gunman fired first, and the shot pinned Grayson down behind the back of a small truck.

“I have to kill you, you know,” the gunman said.

Or rather the gunwoman. Because that was a female voice. A familiar one.

“Cicely?” Grayson spat out. She was the last of the Colliers that he had suspected. “Why the hell are you doing this?”

“Because you all have to die.” Cicely’s voice was eerily calm, but there was nothing calm about her expression when she met his gaze over Eve’s shoulder. “Step out and die like a man, Sheriff Ryland. The other one, too.” She tossed a look in Nate’s direction. “And that other security guard.”

She was just going to kill them all?