Lucas

Grayson paused, too. Hailey knew the sheriff well because she’d worked for him as an emergency dispatcher shortly after her arrival in Silver Creek. Grayson had a lot of experience as a lawman and was probably suspicious.

“Is DeSalvo connected to Hailey?” Grayson asked, though she could hear the clicks of his computer keys.

“Maybe.”

More keyboard clicking sounds. “Well, Preston DeSalvo was sent to prison about eighteen months ago. He’s dead. Killed in a fight at a maximum security prison in Arizona a little over three months ago.”

“Why was he in prison?” Lucas pressed.

“A laundry list of charges, including murder, extortion and gun running. An employee, Laura Arnett, testified against him, and she’s in WITSEC.” He huffed. “Now, what does this have to do with Hailey?”

“Maybe everything. I’ll call you back when I know more. In the meantime, can you make sure the ranch is on lockdown?”

“Already have. Mason called and said you’d asked him to go to your house. You think Hailey could be headed there?”

“I’ll call you back,” Lucas repeated, probably so that he wouldn’t have to lie to his cousin.

But the stalling wouldn’t last long. Soon, very soon, his cousins would be demanding answers. Especially Grayson, since he wasn’t just the sheriff but also the head of the Ryland clan. However, Lucas would be demanding them first.

“Laura Arnett?” Lucas repeated. “That’s your real name?”

She nodded. “I haven’t thought of myself as that since all of this happened. I’m Hailey Darrow. For now, anyway. But I’ll have to come up with another identity. DeSalvo’s dead, but no one knows who his partner was,” she added.

“The dirty FBI agent,” he spat out like the profanity he tacked onto that. “And you believe he’s after you?”

“I know he is. Well, one of his henchmen, anyway.”

She glanced around again, praying that one of those thugs wasn’t nearby, looking for her.

“I don’t know how he found me,” Hailey continued. “Maybe he hacked into the WITSEC files, or he could have bribed someone to give him the info. But three months ago, I found an eavesdropping device in my house here in Silver Creek, and I knew my identity had been blown.”

“You should have come to me.” His jaw muscles were at war with each other again. “Or since you were in WITSEC, you could have called your handler.”

“I didn’t get a chance. Before I could do anything, a hired gun showed up at my house. I hid, but he yelled out that if I didn’t give myself up, he’d go after you and use you to get me to cooperate.”

The skepticism was still written all over his face. “Cooperate with what?”

Oh, he was not going to like this. “I have some computer files that I didn’t turn over to the cops. Files that incriminate Preston’s son, Eric. Nothing as serious as murder, but it would have put him away for a few years.”

“I’ll want to see those files.” And it wasn’t a suggestion.

She nodded. “It’ll take a while to access them. I put them in online storage with some security measures. I set it up so the files won’t open until twelve hours after I put in the password.”

“Clever,” he mumbled, but Hailey didn’t think that was a compliment. No. Lucas was silently cursing her for not bringing this to him sooner.

“I let Preston know I’d leak the files if anything happened to me,” Hailey explained, “and that his son would head to prison right along with him. It was my insurance, a way of making sure he didn’t send his hired thugs after me.”

Lucas lifted his shoulder. “But he sent them anyway?”

“No. Preston was dead by then. I think the person who sent the thugs is the dirty agent. First, though, he wants those files.”

“Or it could be his son who’s after you,” Lucas quickly pointed out.

“Maybe. But I didn’t personally mention anything to Eric about having incriminating info on him.”

Of course, that didn’t mean Eric hadn’t found out. Eric hadn’t visited his father in prison. Not once. But Preston could have said something to one of his lackeys, who in turn passed the info on to Eric. Which wouldn’t have necessarily been a bad thing. Because it could have kept Eric off her back, too, had he ever decided to come after her.

“How did you get away from that hired gun?” Lucas asked a moment later.

“I sneaked out the back of the house. I had a car, some cash and new identity papers in a storage unit.” Hailey huffed. “I’ll answer all your questions. I promise. But we can’t stay here. In fact, you can’t be with me.”

He looked at her as if she’d just sprouted wings. “You think I’m going to dump you out here on the street?”

“No, but I was hoping you’d arrange to get me a car. Or let me use this SUV for a couple of hours.”

“That’s not going to happen. But I am taking you somewhere—to the sheriff’s office.”

“No.” She couldn’t say it fast enough, and Hailey went to the edge of her seat so she could take hold of his arm again. “Didn’t you hear me? The office could be bugged. My hospital room was. That’s why I didn’t say anything to any of the medical staff. I wasn’t sure who’d put it there or if I could trust any of them.”

Lucas had already put the SUV in gear to drive away, no doubt to head toward the sheriff’s office, but that piece of information stopped him. He turned, studying her, probably to decide how much of this was the truth.

Before he could make up his mind, his phone rang, and again she saw Grayson’s name on the screen. She doubted Lucas would keep her secret much longer. He would spill everything to the sheriff.

And that meant she had to get out of there—fast.

But how? Lucas had all the doors locked, and she wasn’t nearly strong enough to break the windows.

“We might have a problem,” Grayson said when Lucas answered, and he put the call on speaker. “Dr. Parton called, and he said right after you left, a man showed up looking for Hailey. He claimed he was her brother.”

Oh, God. “I don’t have a brother,” she mouthed.

“Doc Parton got suspicious,” Grayson went on. “And he just sent me the surveillance footage of the guy coming in through the ER entrance. I put his photo into the facial recognition program and got an immediate hit.”

Lucas groaned, no doubt because he knew what that meant. If the guy was in the system, he had a record. “Who is he?” he asked the sheriff.

“Darrin Sandmire. A low-life thug.” He paused. “Sandmire often works as a hit man.”

Her heart slammed against her chest. It was happening. Her worst fears. The killer wasn’t just after her. He was here in Silver Creek.

“Sandmire left the hospital before the security guard could stop him, so he could be anywhere in town. Now, you want to tell me what this is all about?” Grayson demanded.

“Yeah. I’ll be at the sheriff’s office in a few minutes.” Lucas paused. “Hailey’s with me.”

The panic shot through her, and she tried the door handle even though Hailey knew she was trapped. If Lucas took her to the sheriff’s office, she might be putting not only herself in danger but also all of them. Lucas put the SUV in gear again, but something must have caught his eye, because his attention zoomed to the driver’s side window.

To the park.

Hailey saw it then, as well. The jogger she’d spotted earlier. But this time, he wasn’t on the trail. He was coming straight toward the SUV.

And he had a gun in his hand.

Chapter Three

“Get down!” Lucas shouted to Hailey.

His first instinct was to draw his gun and take aim at the man running toward them. But Lucas didn’t want to get into a gunfight on Main Street where innocent bystanders—or Hailey—could be hurt.

Lucas wasn’t sure he believed everything she’d just told him, but it was obvious she had someone after her. Later he’d find out who that was, but for now he wanted to put some distance between this armed man and them. He hit the accelerator.

Just as the guy took aim.

And fired.

The bullet slammed into the side of the SUV, missing the window and Lucas by only a couple of inches.

“I need a gun,” Hailey said, climbing over the seat to get to the passenger side. She started to fumble around for the weapon that he’d knocked away from her.

“Stay down,” Lucas warned her, but her search took care of that. Hailey crawled onto the floor.

At least, it took care of it for a couple of seconds. Once she had the gun, she got back in the seat and took aim out the back side window.

She fired.

The sound blasted through the SUV, causing Lucas to curse. He hadn’t actually expected her to shoot. Too bad she missed, because the gunman sent another bullet their way.

Lucas sped off. The thug got off one more shot before Lucas took the first turn he reached. He wasn’t driving in the direction of the sheriff’s office, but he could double back.

Lucas tossed Hailey his phone. “Call Grayson and tell him there’s an armed man near the park at the intersection of Main and Everett Road.”

Hailey made the call, but she kept watch behind them, making sure that goon wasn’t in pursuit. The moment Grayson answered, she rattled off the information. Then she hit the end call button. No doubt because she didn’t want to answer Grayson’s questions. That was okay. For now.

But as soon as they reached the sheriff’s office, Hailey had better come clean about everything.

Lucas took another turn. Then another, meandering his way back to Main Street. That particular part of the park was only about seven blocks away from the sheriff’s office, so it wouldn’t take Grayson long to get a pair of deputies there to catch the guy.

“Do you know if that was Darrin Sandmire?” Lucas asked her.

“I have no idea. But I’m pretty sure that was the same man who came after me three months ago.”

Hell.

Lucas had to rein in the anger that sliced through him. That was the SOB who’d put Hailey—and therefore, Camden—in danger. Too bad Lucas hadn’t managed to shoot him. But then he rethought that. He didn’t want the guy dead, not until he had answers from him.

Like who hired him.

Thugs like Darrin Sandmire always worked for bigger thugs. Maybe DeSalvo’s son, Eric. Maybe that unidentified rogue agent. Soon, Lucas intended to find out who’d paid this killer to come after Hailey.

Lucas took another turn, the tires squealing against the asphalt. The moment he was on the side street, he saw something he didn’t like.

A truck.

It wasn’t right in the middle of the road, but the front end was jutting out from the parking space in front of a motorcycle repair shop.

Lucas hit his brakes.

“You think someone’s inside the truck?” Hailey asked. Her voice was shaking like the rest of her.

Lucas didn’t know, and it was next to impossible to see inside the truck’s cab. There was a streetlight and a lit sign for the motorcycle shop, but the tint was so dark on the windshield that he couldn’t tell. He pulled up a little farther though so he could get a better look at the front license plates.

“Out-of-state plates,” he mumbled under his breath.

Maybe that in itself meant nothing, but Lucas got that feeling in his gut. The feeling that told him to get the heck out of there.

He threw the SUV into Reverse.

But the second he did that, the truck door opened, and a man bolted out.

The guy had a rifle.

“Get down,” Lucas repeated to Hailey. “And this time, stay there.”

Whether she would or not was anyone’s guess, but he didn’t want to have to worry about her being shot. He hit the gas, the SUV speeding backward. But he didn’t get out of the path of that rifleman fast enough.

The bullet slammed into the windshield.

Since this wasn’t the vehicle he used for work, the glass wasn’t reinforced. The shot tore through the safety glass, the bullet exiting out the back.

Great. Just great.

Now he had two thugs after them, and Lucas had no choice but to go back in the direction he’d seen that other shooter in the park. Maybe the guy was long gone by now. Or better yet, maybe one of the deputies had managed to capture him.

When Lucas reached the side street, he spun the SUV around so he could drive forward. He definitely didn’t want to head right into the middle of an ambush, so he headed for a better lit area.

“The truck’s coming after us,” Hailey said.

And that’s when he realized she’d lifted her head and was looking out the side window.

Lucas pushed her right back down. “Don’t make it easier for them to kill you,” he snapped. Yeah, it was harsh, but Hailey was clearly the target of some very determined attackers.

Whoever was in the truck fired another shot at them, this one slamming into the rear end of the SUV. A second shot quickly followed.

Then a third.

“There must be two of them,” Hailey muttered. She hadn’t figured that out by looking at them, though. She was still on the floor.

But Lucas knew there had to be two, as well. Those shots were too well aimed for someone who was trying to negotiate the turns and dodging the cars parked along the street.

“Hang on,” Lucas told her a split second before he turned onto another side street. He was thankful he’d grown up here and knew these streets like the back of his hand.

His phone buzzed, and since Hailey still had hold of it, she answered it and put it on speaker.

“Where are you?” he heard Grayson immediately ask. “Someone just called about shots being fired near Henderson’s Motorcycle Shop.”

“Someone in a blue pickup is shooting at us. We’re on Bluebonnet Street, coming up near the Corral Bar.” It was a risk since there’d be customers still inside, but Lucas didn’t plan on stopping or even slowing down. “I’ll turn back on Main Street and head in your direction. Please tell me you found the first shooter.”

“Not yet. But I’ll send Dade and Josh your way to help,” Grayson said, and he ended the call.

Good. Dade and Josh were both cousins, both deputy sheriffs, and maybe having backup would cause these thugs to quit firing.

The parking lot of the Corral Bar was lit up better than the rest of the street, and Lucas glanced in his side mirror at the truck. Definitely two men. And the one on the passenger side was doing the shooting.

“I can return fire,” Hailey insisted, already climbing into the seat and lowering the window. “Please don’t stop me. This is all my fault, and I have to do something to stop them.”

“No way.” And he meant it. It might indeed be partially her fault for not coming to him sooner, but she wasn’t sticking her neck out to fire any shots.

Hailey didn’t get a chance to argue with him. That’s because the sound of sirens stopped anything she was about to say. In the distance, behind the truck, Lucas saw the flashing blue lights of a police cruiser.

Dade and Josh, no doubt.

The driver stopped following Lucas and took a very quick turn off a side street. A street that would lead them straight to the highway.

No, hell, no.

Lucas didn’t want these clowns getting away, but it wasn’t smart to go in pursuit with Hailey in the vehicle. Besides, Dade and Josh went after them, and Lucas could only hope they’d catch them.

“Keep watch for the other shooter,” Lucas told Hailey.

He hated to rely on her for help, but with the glass in the front, back and side windows cracked and webbed, they had reduced visibility. That would make it hard for them to see the guy hiding between one of the buildings where he could shoot at them as they drove by.

Lucas held his breath, going as fast as he could, and he didn’t release that breath until he made it back onto Main Street. Definitely no sign of the shooter, so he headed for the sheriff’s office.

“Can you run?” he asked her.

“I’ll try,” she assured him. Which meant she couldn’t. “I had to use a cane to walk to your SUV.”

Definitely couldn’t.

The SUV squealed to a stop directly in front of the door to the sheriff’s office, but he didn’t get out. Lucas waited until Grayson hurried to the door and threw it open.

“I’m carrying you in,” Lucas insisted, and he didn’t leave any room for argument.

He scooped her up in his arms and rushed her inside the building, with Grayson locking the door behind them. But Lucas didn’t stop there. He hurried her past the squad room to the hall that led to Grayson’s office and the break room. That way, if someone did come in with guns blazing, she’d have some protection.

“Dade and Josh are in pursuit,” Lucas told Grayson. “Arizona plates, but there was something covering the numbers. Mud, I think.” Probably not an accident.

“Arizona?” Hailey repeated.

Lucas knew the reason for her concern. DeSalvo had been from Arizona, which meant his son, Eric, likely was, too. So, had Eric sent those goons after Hailey?

Now that they weren’t in the SUV, Lucas got a better look at her. Especially a better look at the fear in her eyes. And the fact that she was having to grip the door to steady herself.

“As soon as it’s safe, I’ll have the doctor come over to see you,” Lucas told her.

But she was shaking her head before he even finished. “I can’t trust Dr. Parton. Or anyone in the hospital. Someone planted that bug on the table next to my bed.”

Lucas certainly hadn’t forgotten about that. The device needed to be checked, but that would have to wait, because Grayson no doubt had every available deputy on this manhunt for the shooters.

“When there’s time, Hailey will need to give you a statement,” Lucas told Grayson.

Grayson nodded. He still had his gun drawn, was still keeping watch on the area just outside the building. “Is she in WITSEC?”

“Yes,” Hailey answered. “But I don’t want the marshals to know I’m here.”

Grayson mumbled something Lucas didn’t catch, but he didn’t need to hear the words to know that Grayson wasn’t pleased about all this going on right under his nose.

“Hell, you worked for me,” Grayson added.

She nodded. “I figured it was a way to keep an eye on what was happening in town, just in case something went wrong.” Hailey paused. “And something did go wrong.”

Yeah. And Lucas wondered if sleeping with him was in that something-gone-wrong category.

“I’ll call Mason and give him an update,” Grayson said after he shot Hailey a glare.

Hailey dropped back a step, holding onto Grayson’s desk. Lucas was volleying his attention between her and the outside. However, she got his complete attention when she made a soft gasp.

Lucas hurried to her, following her gaze to the computer on the desk. It was obviously the security feed that the doctor had sent Grayson. In the shot, the tall, lanky man was coming through the glass doors of the ER. Grayson had paused it and zoomed in on the man’s face.

Darrin Sandmire, no doubt.

Lucas had no trouble seeing the renewed fear in Hailey’s eyes. “That’s definitely the man who came to my house three months ago. And the man who ran me off the road that night.”

Lucas hadn’t needed to hear anything else about the guy to know that he wanted him caught, questioned and punished.

Hailey touched the screen to get the security feed moving again. Darrin disappeared from view when he walked past the camera and to the hall. Since it would have taken him several minutes to get to her room, Lucas sped up the footage, watching for Darrin to reemerge.

He did.

But the man wasn’t alone.

There was a woman with him, walking right by his side, and it was obvious they were talking. The woman was a blonde, and she kept her head down. Right until she was close to the camera.

Now Hailey’s gasp wasn’t so soft.

“I know her. That’s Colleen Jeffrey.”

The name meant nothing to Lucas, and he didn’t recognize her, either. “Who is she?”

There were tears shimmering in Hailey’s eyes when she looked up at him. “My half sister.”

Damn.

Lucas was about to assure her that maybe this was a coincidence. But it didn’t look like that to him. He needed to get this woman in for questioning right away.

He heard the footsteps. Hurried ones, and they put Lucas right back on alert again. Though he hadn’t exactly been relaxing.

“We’ve got a problem,” Grayson said, stepping into the doorway. “Someone tripped the security sensor near the back fence at the ranch. One of the ranch hands spotted a gunman.”

Chapter Four

Hailey’s breath froze. She wanted to scream, to shout out for Lucas to hurry to the ranch so they could protect their son, but the words and sounds were wedged there in her throat.

No. This couldn’t be happening. This monster couldn’t get to her baby.

Even without her warning, Lucas thankfully understood just how dangerous a situation this could be, because he took off running toward the front of the building. Hailey followed him. Or rather, she tried.

Lucas must have remembered she was still hobbling, because he spun around, scooped her up in his arms and hurried toward his shot-up SUV still parked just outside the door.

“We need to use a cruiser,” Grayson called out to them. “Because this could be a trap to lure you into the open.”

Lucas stopped, and while everything inside Hailey wanted to move, to hurry to the ranch, she knew Grayson was right.

“Wait right here for me,” Grayson insisted. “I’ll bring the cruiser around to the front.”

Hailey didn’t want to waste precious minutes while he did that, but they didn’t have many options here. Lucas and she waited, the time crawling by slower than a snail’s pace, and it seemed to take an eternity for Grayson to drive up. Even before the cruiser came to a stop, Lucas and she jumped into the backseat, and Grayson took off again.

“I’ll call the ranch and get an update,” Lucas said.

As much as she wanted to know what was going on, Hailey didn’t want anyone there distracted right now. She wanted all the focus on protecting the baby.

Camden.

The name seemed foreign to her. Probably because she’d yet to see her son, but maybe that would change soon. Maybe they’d get to the ranch and put an end to the danger.

“Tillie,” Lucas said to whoever answered his call.

“One of the nannies,” Grayson provided to Hailey, but he didn’t even glance back at her when he spoke. He looked all around, no doubt in case someone was trying to follow them.

Or attack them again.

Hailey couldn’t hear what the nanny was saying, but since Lucas’s arm was pressed against her, she felt his muscles relax just a little. “We’ll be there as fast as we can.” He paused. “Hailey’s with me.”

The nanny perhaps hadn’t even heard she was out of the coma, so this could be a real shock. An unwanted one. Hailey didn’t know Tillie, but she doubted she was going to get a warm reception from anyone at the Silver Creek Ranch. It wouldn’t matter that she thought she’d done the right thing.

Still did think that.

But a family of lawmen wouldn’t see it that way. They would believe she should have trusted them. However, maybe they could see now that all the trust in the world wouldn’t have put an end to the danger.

Oh, mercy.

That reminder came at her hard, like a heavyweight’s fist. The reason she’d tried to escape was to avoid this. To keep her child safe. And now he wasn’t safe because of her.

“Whoever’s behind the attacks will use Camden to get to me,” Hailey said under her breath.

She hadn’t intended to say that aloud, and it stung even more when Lucas made a sound of agreement. He’d finished his call with the nanny and now was keeping watch. Along with glancing at her.

“That doesn’t mean you’re going to try to take him and disappear,” Lucas snapped. There wasn’t a shred of gentleness in his tone. In fact, it was the same tone he likely used with criminal suspects.

“It’s too late to take him and hide,” Hailey agreed. “Too late for me to disappear, as well. Because now that they know I’m awake, they won’t stop, and they’ll try to use the baby to come after me.”