Guarding Kelsey ((Books We Love Romantic Suspense)) (30 page)

Wolf’s words about keeping focus and having an edge became clear.
He already lived with the guilt of his partner.
He couldn’t afford to have any
more on his head.

The elevator arrived at the lower level and the doors opened.
T
he dull hum of the building generator broke the silence.
Martinez
exited first while Kelsey gave him a moment to disappear into the rows
of parked cars.
A few moments later she stepped into the lot.
She plunged her hand into her purs
e and searched for the keys.
As the elevator door began to slide closed, she jumped out.
She rounded the elevator shaft and walked towards her car, praying she was wrong, that they were all wrong.

A cold draft of air shot a chill down her already tingling spine.
She would be fine. Her uncle wasn’t involved. And if the worst did happen, Wolf was here, Martinez was here.
She repeated the silent words like a mantra.
A clear path stood between her and her car now.
Fifty feet and two support beams.
Don’t cross between them, she reminded herself.
She took the left side.

She cleared the beam at the same time she heard a scuffing sound.
She stopped short and she whirled around.
A shadowy fi
gure emerged from behind a mini-
van.
A sudden reminder of the figure in the library flashed through her mind.
She squinted, trying to make out the features of man.

“Kelsey.”

She recognized her uncle’s voice before she had a clear sight of him.
Breathe, she reminded herself.

“Uncle Daniel.
What are you doing here?”

He took a step closer but he still remained in the shadow.
His hands rested him
in
the
pockets of his London Fog
trench coat
.
“Don’t we have a meeting to attend?”

“I told Richie
I was driving myself.”

“Did you?
I must have misunderstood.”

She knew she had been very specific about
her plans
.
Still, a small part of her wanted to believe he made a mistake.

“Now that I’m here, we might as well go together.”
When he took another step forward, she stepped back.

“No,” she yelped before she could stop herself.
She didn’t want to believe he would hurt her, but
she hadn’t believed he would show up today either.
How many other misconceptions had she harbored?

“I
just
need to talk to you.”

“Like you talked to my father?
You killed him, didn’t you?”
She fought back the tears that burned in her eyes.

His shoulder hunched in contrition. He slowly circled the space between the beams.
She turned to keep an eye on him
at all times.
“No. It
was an accident.
I was only trying to stop him. He was going to press charges against me.
His own brother.”

“So you ran him off the road?”

His
voice pitched in agitation. “No.
I told you.
I was trying to stop him so I could talk to him.”

“But you
didn’t
help either
.
You left him to die.”

“You don’t understand
.”

She would never understand this!
They were brothers.
One of the clo
sest family bonds.
And now he stood in front of her,
looking for sympathy
.
“You got away with it.
Why did you come after me?”

“You left me no choice.
When you insisted on having an outside audit for the probate court, I knew they would discover my financial discrepancies.
It was only a matter of time before you started to question Richard’s death
.”

“But why?
He gave you everything.”

“He left
you
everything.
He gave me crumbs.”
He let out an animal-like snort
and pulled a gun from his pocket
.
“And you want to give it away to strangers.”

* * *

Wolf had heard more than eno
ugh.
Daniel
had confessed his guilt, but he had no remorse.
He’d already killed once. He wouldn’t get another chance.
With
lightning
speed, Wolf sprung from behind the car that had hidden him and moved towards Daniel with his own gun cocked.
“Drop it.”

Martinez drew up from the opposite side.

Daniel’s body jerked.
He looked from one side of the garage to the other, then back to Kelsey.
"You set me up?”

“You set yourself up,” she said so hoarsely it was almost a whisper. “I didn’t want to believe it.”

Wolf took another step forward but he didn’t have a clear shot.
“It isn’t murder yet. If you don’t try anything stupid here, you could get off lightly."

Daniel let o
ut a deep laugh, chilling in it
s bitterness.
"You don’t think she’ll let her beloved father’s death go unpunished, do you?”

“Accidental death is not the same as homicide.”

The man seemed to be weighing his options.
His gazed moved between the police officers and Kelsey in front of him.
He lowered his arm.

“Drop the gun
,” Wolf commanded.

“I’m sorry, Kelsey,” Daniel muttered as his arm came up again.

Wolf wasn’t sure where Kelsey found the courage or strength to react.
She shoved his arm to the side and dropped face down to the floor a split second before the gun discharged. The bullet hit a metal pole.
A ringing sound reverberated around the cavernous garage.
Before Carlyle could aim again, she rolled to her back and executed a lunging snap-kick to his arm.
The speed and power of her kick sent the weapon flying from his hand a good twenty feet away.
He looked stunned.

So did she.

Wolf and Martinez closed the distance, holding a dead aim on Carlyle.

As the shock wore off, and reality set in, Daniel dropped to his knees and wailed, “Finish it.
Shoot me and end it now.”

Wolf wanted to oblige the old man’s death wish and that scared him.
Adrenalin pumped though his veins and he was holding on by his last steady nerve.
He was vaguely aware of a burning ache in his side, but his attention and his rage stayed focused on Carlyle. The son of a bitch would have shot Kelsey in cold blood for no other reason than greed.

"Don't do it, Krieger.
It's not worth it," Martinez said. He fixed his gaze on Kelsey, who watched mutely.

Her stricken expression got to Wolf.
Even if he was justified, he couldn’t shoot the man.
He’d be damned if he would let that be the image of him she would carry with her the rest of her life.
She already had too much anguish to live with.

With a grunt of disgust, he set the safety on his gun.
“Cuff him and get him out of here before I change my mind.”

“Face down on the floor,” Martinez ordered.

Wolf waited until his partner had the situation under control, then he crouched down next to Kelsey.
“You all right?”

She nodded uncertainly.
Her face was smudged with dirt and tear stained streaks, but she looked gorgeous to him.
Alive, safe and unscathed except for a few minor scratches.

He gave her a hand up.
Leaning against a car for balance, he pulled her in his embrace. She clung to him.
Trembling arms encircled him, holding as if she would never let go.

“That’s one hell of a left kick you’ve got,” Wolf said.

“God, I didn’t even realize what I was doing.
I just did it.”

“It was a smart move.”

“He was responsible for my father’s accident,” she muttered against his chest.
“He confessed.”

“I know.
We all heard it.” Wolf could only imagine how the admission must have hurt her, when she
’d
had so much love and admiration for her uncle.
He stroked his hand along the side of her face.
“And he’ll pay for it.”

His
body convulsed and she tightened her hold.
A stab of pain sliced through him.
He groaned.
She immediately released him and stepped back.
Her hands, her sleeves were covered in blood.

“Oh, my God,” she cried.
“You’ve been shot.”

In all the confusion he hadn’t paid attention to the stinging wound that now throbbed at his side.
“It’s no big deal.
The bullet must have ricocheted off the beam.”

“No big deal?” she repeated incredulously. “You need to get to the hospital.
I’ll drive you.”

“You’re in no cond
ition to drive
.”

“All right.
An ambulance.” Kelsey scanned the ground until she found where she had dropped her purse during her fall.
She dumped the contents on the floor and grabbed her cell phone to call 911, shaking the whole time. When she came back to him, she pulled off her sweatshirt and bunched it up in a ball to hold against the wound on his side.

“I’m so sorry.”
She gazed up at him, anxiety causing her eyes to tear.
“They’ll be here soon.
Just try not to move around too much.”

He wasn’t about to run a marathon.
He’d be happy if he remained standing until help arrived. The fact that she apologized meant she blamed herself.
His injury was minor compared to what could have happened to her standing at point blank range.

Within minutes the underground garage was swarming with emergency personal.
The words
police officer
and
gunshots
uttered in the same sentence brought an unbelievable response.
Paramedics circled around.
Kelsey didn’t want to let go of him any more than he wanted her to, but she was ushered away by an EMT worker trying to assess the severity of the injury.
He called her back.
She started towards him when a uniformed officer caught hold of her arm and led her towards another EMT crew to be checked out.
The more distance that grew between them, the more he felt her slipping away.
He had to talk to her but with all the pandemonium going on, he couldn’t get near to her.