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“And that’s why you turned yourself in?”
“What could I offer him, Rhys? Looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life? Never being able to contact his friends or family again? Always terrified he’d make a mistake that would get me or himself caught? You saw him out there – he wasn’t going to let me go! The man just spent the last two months fighting for his life and I’m supposed to ask him to sit around and wait for me in the hopes that I one day get out of prison? Or to waste his life savings on a defense that won’t do a bit of good? Or panic every time the phone rings because he knows it could be the call that says Shaw finally finished what he started?”
Rhys was quiet for a long time before he said, “From what I saw out there, he’s already in as deep as he can be, whether you want him to be or not. He’s not some foster family that’s going to dump you when things get to complicated, Luke.”
Before Luke could answer, there was a rap on the door and then Jax was pushing it open, his phone in hand. “I think we might have a problem,” he murmured as he held the phone out to Rhys. “Dane just texted it to me. He saw it on the Internet a few minutes ago.”
Rhys glanced at the phone and then bit out a curse before handing the phone to Luke. Fear went through Luke as he saw the picture of him and Gray sitting on the porch steps leading up to Gray’s cabin. He knew right away that the image had been snapped two days before when he and Gray had decided to sit outside after dinner and have a cup of coffee while they watched the sun set. While his name wasn’t mentioned, his image was clear as day.
“Jesus,” he muttered and he quickly clicked off the image to find the article. He bypassed the title and found what he was looking for. “Oh God, this has been online since yesterday morning,” he whispered. “I need to warn Gray,” he said as he stood and started looking for the contact list on Jax’s phone.
Jax took the phone from him and began scrolling but when a landline phone in the other room rang, he handed his cell to Rhys and left the room. Rhys found the number and hit dial but didn’t hand the phone to Luke. “He may not talk to you,” was all Rhys said in way of explanation. “Straight to voicemail,” Rhys muttered a moment later.
“We have a problem,” Jax announced as he strode back into the room. To Luke’s surprise, the man leaned down and grabbed a revolver from his ankle holster and handed it to Luke.
“911 just got a call from a guy claiming to be a reporter. He says he’s across the road from Gray’s place and he just heard a gunshot go off.”
Luke was moving before Jax even finished talking. He reached the sidewalk and began looking for a car to boost but then a hand settled on his arm. “You and Rhys take my car and I’ll follow you,” Jax said as he tossed some car keys to Rhys. Luke followed Rhys to a black SUV while Jax ran to the patrol car sitting in front of the station.
Terror sparked through Luke even as he tried to call up the coolness he would need to confront Shaw because he had no doubt in his mind that the man had finally found him and because of his stupidity, Gray was caught in the crosshairs.
ChapterTen
Gray barely had time to spit out the mouthful of blood before the fist slammed into his face again. This time, the blow caught him along the cheek and he felt hot liquid running down the side of his face and then down his neck a second later.
The time from when he’d left the station and had arrived back at the cabin had been a complete blur except for the brief call he’d put in to his lawyer to tell him to catch the next flight to Montana. He hadn’t given the man any details other than to meet Luke at the Dare Police Department and to spare no expense in preparing the man’s defense. He had no memory of the drive after that because he’d been too numb to feel anything. His only thought had been to stop at home long enough to pack a bag so as soon as he’d pulled the truck to a stop in the driveway, he’d let Ripley out of the backseat and then hurried to the cabin. The dog had disappeared around back somewhere and Gray hadn’t bothered to call her back since the animal would need as much time as possible to stretch her legs before Gray got her back in the car and pointed his truck south. His goal had been to put as many miles between himself and Luke as possible. He’d been so distracted that he hadn’t even noticed that the cabin door was unlocked and he’d already been halfway to the kitchen before he realized he wasn’t alone.
He’d stopped dead at the sight of a man in military garb standing near the kitchen table pointing a gun at him but it was when another spoke up from behind him that he’d turned around and realized he was staring at the same man who’d tried to take Luke’s life not once, but twice. The man was as clean cut as they came and held himself with an air of confidence that bordered on swagger. His dark eyes had sized Gray up quickly and Gray had actually felt a shiver go through him at the cool dismissal. And in that moment, Gray had known he would be used as a tool and nothing more. So when Shaw had barked at him to tell him where Luke was, Gray had said the words he’d spent a lifetime perfecting.
Fuck off.
As he waffled between awareness and the promise of an imminent blackout, Gray could hear Ripley going crazy outside as she had been for the past ten minutes. From the dog’s wild barking, he could tell the animal was running back and forth between the front and back of the cabin in a vain effort to find a way inside. At first, Shaw had seemed amused when the dog’s huge face and paws would appear in the window by the kitchen as the other man worked Gray over, but at some point he’d gotten annoyed because he fired several times at the dog through the glass. Ripley’s incessant barking was the only evidence that the man had missed but Gray was terrified that it would only be a matter of time. And every time the man who Shaw had referred to only as Quincy had hit him, Ripley’s outcry only became more agitated.
While the first several punches had hurt like hell, a warmth had settled in Gray’s limbs after a while and he no longer felt the same level of pain as each blow fell. One of his eyes was swollen shut but he could still hear well enough and he took a perverse pleasure in the sound of Shaw’s growing frustration as Gray remained silent every time he asked where Luke was. From the beating he was taking, Gray knew either Shaw would soon tire of asking the same question or he’d realize Gray’s answer wasn’t going to differ from his original one and he’d take a bullet to the brain. Gray almost wanted to laugh at the irony of it all because Luke was finally in the safest place he could be even though he doubted that had been Luke’s intent when he’d gone to the station.
“Fucker must have a nice dick to earn himself this kind of loyalty,” he heard Shaw mutter in his ear. “Or does that faggot like taking it instead?”
Gray only managed to say “Fuck-” before a fist slammed into his face again and he had no doubt that his nose was broken because blood poured down into his already blood-filled mouth.
“We’re wasting our time here,” Shaw snapped as he straightened. “Finish it. Let’s leave our friend a message he won’t soon forget,” he added.
Gray moaned as a hand reached from behind him and yanked his head back to expose his throat. It wasn’t until he saw the flash of a knife that he realized Shaw wasn’t going to waste a bullet on him. He closed his good eye and searched his mind for an image of Luke and a ripple of pleasure went through him as he realized how many he had to choose from – Luke smiling at something on TV, Luke playing tug of war over a stick with Ripley, Luke’s lips hovering over his as Luke slipped into his body.
A feeling of peace settled over him as he drew what he assumed would be his last breath but the kiss of the knife never came because all of a sudden there was the sound of glass shattering behind him and he was thrown forward. With his hands tied behind his back and his ankles bound to the chair he was sitting in, Gray had no way to brace himself and he hit the ground hard but managed to stay conscious. He could hear a man swearing and the sound of Ripley snarling. Gray managed to turn himself enough to see Ripley had somehow managed to break through the bullet riddled window and had the guy with the knife on the floor and was biting him on the arm. The man’s struggles did nothing to dislodge the pissed off dog but it didn’t matter because Ripley suddenly howled in pain as a gunshot rang out and then fell to the floor.
“No!” Gray shouted as he tried to break free of the bindings.
“Fuck, my arm!” Quincy shouted as he struggled to his feet, blood pouring from his arm where both the sleeve and his skin were completely shredded.
“Shut up!” Shaw yelled. A second later he said, “He’s here – cover the back in case he’s not alone. Now!”
Quincy pulled his gun free from the holster at his side and he went towards the back of the cabin. Gray could only assume he was going towards the door that led into the backyard just off the small mud room.
An arm wrapped around Gray’s throat and dragged him up until the chair was upright once more. He felt the cold metal of a gun pressed to his head just as the front door slowly swung open.
“It’s me, Shaw.”
Gray’s denial at the sound of Luke’s voice got lost in his throat as he watched Luke step unarmed into the cabin.
