Grayson (7 page)

“Yeah.” And for a moment, Grayson seemed lost in those bad memories. The dark ages. However, his cell rang, and he morphed from the wounded son to steely sheriff.

“Sheriff Ryland,” he answered. He put the phone on speaker and slipped it into a stand that was mounted to the dashboard. He also kept watch around them as they passed the last of the town shops.

“It’s me, Dade. I just got off the phone with the Ranger lab. They got a match on the photo.”

“Already?” Grayson questioned.

“It wasn’t that hard. Her name is Nina Manning, age twenty-two, from Houston, and she had a record for drug possession and prostitution. There’s also a year-old missing person’s report complete with pictures.”

“Nina Manning,” Eve repeated. It didn’t ring any bells.

“Is Eve still with you?” Dade asked.

Eve looked at Grayson and waited for him to answer. “Yeah. I have to drive her, uh, somewhere. But I want to know everything that’s happening with the case. Any sign of the gunman?”

“No. But Mason’s out here. If the guy’s still in the area, Mason will find him.”

Eve doubted the gunman was still around. Heck, he’d probably parked his car on one of the ranch trails and was now probably long gone. Or maybe he was looking for her. Despite the importance of Dade’s call, that caused her to look in the rearview mirror. No one was following them. The rural road behind them was empty.

“Were the Rangers able to identify the other man in the picture who had hold of Nina’s arm?” Grayson asked.

“There was no immediate match.”

Grayson shook his head. “I think he’s the guy who tried to kill us today so we need an ID.”

“The Rangers are still trying,” Dade assured him. “But they did get a match on the man to the woman’s right. His name is Sebastian Collier.”

Now, that rang some bells. Eve had seen the surname many times in the newspaper, mainly in the business and society sections. “He’s related to Claude Collier, the San Antonio real estate tycoon?” Eve asked.

“Sebastian is his son,” Dade answered. “And sonny-boy has a record, too, for a DWI and resisting arrest. Guess his millionaire daddy didn’t teach him to call the family chauffeur when he’s had too much to drink.”

Eve picked up the photo that Grayson had brought along, and she zoomed in on the man to Nina Manning’s right. Sebastian Collier looked like a preppy college student in his collared cream-colored shirt and dark pants. It certainly didn’t seem as if he was with the woman with multicolored hair.

But then Eve looked closer.

Sebastian’s attention was certainly on Nina. His eyes were angled in her direction, or rather in the direction of the grip the other man had on Nina’s arm. Sebastian looked uncomfortable with the encounter.

“Keep pushing the Rangers,” she heard Grayson tell his brother. “I want that other man identified. I also want someone out to question this Sebastian Collier.” He looked at his watch, mumbled something in disgust. “I’ll try to get to San Antonio myself as soon as I’m sure Eve will be safe.”

Dade assured Grayson he would do everything to get a name to go with that face in the photo, and he ended the call.

Eve hadn’t missed Grayson’s mumble of disgust, and she was positive she was the cause. He wanted to be in the heat of this investigation, but here he was driving her to Austin instead. She turned to face him, to tell him that he could just drop her off in Austin and leave. Not that it would do any good—he would insist on staying. But she had to try. This investigation was important to both of them.

However, before she could launch into another argument, she heard the sound.

It was a thick, hard blast.

At first she thought maybe they’d had a blowout. But the second sound was identical.

“Get down!” Grayson shouted.

Just as a third blast ripped through the truck window.

Chapter Seven

Grayson slammed his foot onto the accelerator to get Eve and him out of there, but it was already too late.

He heard the fourth shot, and he also heard Eve repeat his shouted command of
get down.
But he couldn’t duck out of sight. He had to fight to keep them alive. He pushed Eve down onto the seat so that she wouldn’t be hit with the bullet or the broken glass.

But the bullet didn’t crash through the glass.

It hit the tire.

Grayson’s stomach knotted, and he felt his truck jerk to the right. He fought with the steering wheel and tried to stay on the road, but it was impossible. The now-flat tire and metal rim scraped against the gravel shoulder.

“Hang on,” he warned Eve.

They were going to crash.

He couldn’t avoid that. However, the crash was the least of Grayson’s worries. Someone had shot out the tire, and that someone was no doubt waiting for them. That meant Eve was in danger all over again, and Grayson cursed the bastard responsible for that.

There were no trees near the road, thank God, but there were clusters about a hundred yards off the road. That’s probably where the gunman was hiding. And then there was the creek directly in front of them. He didn’t want to go there because there were some deep spots in the water that could swallow them up.

“We have to jump,” Grayson told her, and he pumped the brakes to slow the truck as much as he could. However, he didn’t have much control of the vehicle.

Jumping was a risk, but the greater risk would be to remain inside so the gunman would have an easier chance of killing them. Besides, there was that potential for drowning.

Eve didn’t answer, but she nodded and caught on to the door handle.

“When you jump out, run toward the trees to the right,” he added. “And grab my cell phone.”

Grayson took out his gun. Eve grabbed the phone.

“Now!” He barreled out at the same time as Eve, and he hit the soggy ground ready to fire. The truck gave Eve some cover for just a few seconds, until it plunged nose-first into the creek.

The gunman fired, the shot kicking up mud and a clump of grass several yards in front of Grayson. Grayson returned fire, a single shot, praying it would buy Eve enough time. He could hear her running, but he had to do everything to keep the gunman’s attention on him.

Grayson spotted the gunman, or rather the sleeve of his jacket. He spotted Eve, too. She had ducked behind an oak and had taken out her own gun from her coat pocket. She leaned out and took aim at the gunman.

What the hell was she doing?

That knot in his stomach twisted even harder. She had purposely left cover, the very thing he didn’t want her to do. Grayson frantically motioned for her to get back. But she didn’t. She fired. Her shot slammed into the tree where the gunman was hiding. The bullet didn’t hit him, but it caused the man to jump back.

Even though Eve’s diversion could have been deadly, it was exactly what Grayson needed because he scrambled toward Eve and dove behind the tree. He also caught on to her and pulled her deeper into the woods. He damn sure didn’t want her to get hurt trying to protect him.

“Stay back,” Grayson warned her in a rough whisper. But he soon realized that staying back might be just as dangerous as staying put. That’s because the gunman was on the move. He dropped back into the thick patch of trees. The SOB was trying to circle behind them.

Grayson had faced danger alone and had even faced it with other lawmen, but being under fire with a civilian was a first. And to make matters worse, that civilian was Eve. He wished he could go back in time and save her from this.

He repositioned Eve behind him and went deeper into the woods as well, but not toward the gunman. They needed to get into a better position, so with Eve in tow, he started moving, going at a right angle. He tried to keep his steps light so that it wouldn’t give them away, but that wasn’t easy with the dead limbs and leaves littering the grounds.

Eve and he ran, until he lost sight of the road and truck, and he didn’t stop until he reached a small clearing.

Another shot came at them.

It wasn’t close, at least twenty feet away, but the gunman had sent it in their direction. However, Grayson now knew the gunman’s direction, too.

He moved Eve to the right, and they followed the thick woods until they reached the other side of the clearing. Grayson glanced back at Eve to make sure she was okay.

Her breath was gusting now, she was pale, but she didn’t appear to be on the verge of panicking. There was some fear there in her eyes, but there was also determination to get out of this alive.

Eve motioned across the clearing, and Grayson saw the gunman duck behind another tree. He caught just a glimpse of the man’s face, but Grayson was more convinced than ever that this was the same person in the photo with the dead woman. Grayson hadn’t had many doubts left that this was connected to the photograph Eve had taken, and he certainly didn’t doubt it now.

The gunman continued to work his way to his right, and Grayson did the same. It was a risk taking Eve deeper and deeper into the woods, but he had to figure out a way to stop this guy. Preferably alive. But he was more than willing to take him out if it meant Eve and he could get out of there.

When they’d made it all the way to a new section of the creek, Grayson stopped and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long.

Grayson spotted the gunman just as the man spotted them.

The gunman lifted his weapon, but Grayson was already braced for the attack. He shoved Eve back, took aim and fired before the gunman could. It was a sickening sound of the bullet slamming into human flesh.

A deadly thud.

Clutching his chest, the man flew backward and landed among the dense underbrush.

“Is he…dead?” Eve whispered.

“Maybe.” The moments crawled by, and Grayson waited. Watching. He looked for any movement, but he didn’t see it. “Stay here.”

Eve caught on to his arm and looked ready to launch into an argument about why he should stay put, but her gaze dropped to his badge. Resignation went through her eyes as a worried sigh left her mouth. “Be careful.”

“That’s the plan,” he mumbled, and he headed in the direction of the fallen gunman.

He kept watch on Eve and tried to push aside all the other things that crept into his mind, but Grayson knew once this threat was over, he had a dozen other things to deal with—especially Eve.

Grayson reached the spot he’d last seen the gunman, and he cursed. The gunman was still there, in the exact place where he’d taken his last breath. His gun had dropped from his hand.

“He’s dead,” Grayson relayed to Eve.

She started toward him, practically running. “You’re sure?”

Grayson leaned down and checked for a pulse, but that was just to keep everything straight for the reports he’d have to write up later. “Yeah.”

Eve was nearly out of breath by the time she made it to him. She took one look at the man’s ash-white face, and she shivered and leaned against Grayson.

He’d seen death before, maybe Eve had, too, but it was different seeing it like this. She was trembling hard now, and there were tears in her eyes, so he took her arm and led her away. There was no need for her to see any more of this.

“Why did he try to kill us?” she whispered, her voice clogged with emotion.

Grayson didn’t know for sure, but he figured it had something to do with the dead woman in the photos. Maybe this gunman had killed her. “I’ll find out,” he promised Eve.

Since she looked ready to collapse, Grayson pulled her into his arms. She didn’t put up a fight, probably because there was no fight left in her. This had taken, and would continue to take, a lot out of her. Grayson regretted that, but he didn’t regret that this guy was dead.

Or that he was able to give some small comfort to Eve.

She was still trembling, but her breathing started to level. What she didn’t do was move away, and Grayson was thankful for it. He hated to admit it, but the shooting had shaken him, and being this close to Eve was giving him as much comfort as he was hopefully giving her.

Even now, under the worst of circumstances, he couldn’t help but notice how nicely Eve still fit in his arms. Her body practically molded against his.

“We’re not bad people,” she mumbled. “This shouldn’t happen to us.”

Yeah. But Grayson knew that neither good nor bad had anything to do with this. The dead man was likely trying to cover up a murder, and in his experience people would do anything and everything to avoid jail.

She pulled back and stared up at him. Their gazes connected, and that
fit,
too. He could read her so well and knew the tears were about to spill again. She had a good reason to cry, and later he would lend her his shoulder, but for now, he had things to do.

“This guy might not be the one who killed Nina Manning. He could be just a triggerman,” Grayson explained, trying to keep his voice void of emotion so that she would stay calm.

He failed.

Despite her leveled breathing, Eve still looked anything but calm. So, to soothe himself and her, he brushed a kiss on her temple and then eased back so that she was no longer in his embrace.

“The only way we make this better,” Grayson whispered to her, “is to end it. I have to find out why this man came after us.”

Eve’s bottom lip trembled, and she nodded. Seconds later, she nodded again. “I’m not weak,” she assured him. Something he already knew.

“You just saw me kill a man. There’s nothing weak about your reaction. Truth is, I’m shaking inside.” And that was the truth. Killing didn’t come easy to him, and he hoped like hell that it never did.

Another nod. Eve blinked back tears and reached out to him, but neither of her hands was free. She had her gun in her right hand. The cell phone in the other.

He took the cell from her and motioned for her to move even farther away from the body. “I’ll call Dade,” he let her know. And he tried. But the signal was so low that the call wouldn’t go through. Grayson sent him a text instead and gave Dade their location.

Eve slipped her gun into her pocket and pulled her coat tightly against her. It wasn’t freezing, but it wasn’t warm, either. Besides, she was battling adrenaline and nerves, and that was no doubt contributing to the trembling.