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“Because I did it with Maddie’s dead body right there! I felt cold and unfeeling and just... I couldn’t process everything that had happened. I thought I was going to die, and I needed you to have what we had. It’s not everything, but it’ll give the white-collar crimes division of the FBI a lot to sort through. I couldn’t crack all the codes, but they probably can.”
“Okay. That’s good. Now we just have to wait for—”
She heard something—not sure what. A branch? A rock?
“Go! Now!” She pushed Grant up the stairs as a bullet hit her old Ranger right where they’d been squatting.
She couldn’t see the shooter.
“Thought you were so clever,” he called out from the thick trees.
Close, too close. She didn’t have a vest, and Lee was a good shot.
“You’ve been a fucking thorn in my side, Merritt. I was supposed to be back home before today. You’ve ruined my plans. But you and your ex just don’t play by the rules.”
She gauged where the voice was coming from. She had one shot to do this, to get Grant to safety.
“Grant, get to the door, get inside. Don’t hesitate. On three.”
A bullet breezed by her, clipping her arm. It didn’t hit her, not exactly, but her arm stung. Lee swore. Good thing the lights were off and the sun wasn’t fully up. He didn’t have a good visual; the truck and part of the house were in the way. But as soon as they ran up the stairs, he’d have a shot.
She couldn’t let him take it.
She said to Grant, “Three. Two. One. GO!”
She stood fully and fired repeatedly in the direction Nelson Lee’s voice had come from, near the largest pine tree to the east of the house. She counted down her shots while Grant ran up the stairs. She switched to her nondominant hand—which she was almost as good with as her right—and ran up behind Grant, still firing in the general direction of their pursuer.
Grant fumbled with the keypad but got it open when she had one bullet left. She pushed him inside, slammed the door, dropped the magazine, and slammed in another. She wanted Grant the farthest away from the shooter, which meant upstairs—but the shooter would also expect that, and that’s where he would go if he could get in. So she’d keep Grant on the main floor.
She said, “Go to the back bedroom, barricade yourself in until I give you the clear.”
“He’s going to come after you.”
“Do it, Grant.”
“When are the police going to be here? How long will it take?”
“Stop talking and do what I said!”
Grant had information, he was a witness, he was going to need to testify. Without Grant, she didn’t know if they would be able to shut down Franklin Archer or BioRise. She wanted BioRise most of all. She would destroy them.
Grant ran down the hall while she locked and bolted the front door. Shoved a chair under the knob to delay him. Then she went into the kitchen and crouched behind the butcher block counter. Checked her gun again. She’d given Grant her backup and she hoped if Lee somehow got past her that Grant would use it and protect himself.
She waited, her training taking over and keeping her as calm as possible. Her heart rate was elevated, but she had a clear head. She listened.
She couldn’t hear anything outside. Not Nelson Lee, not the police.
She pictured where he might come in. They’d secured the sliding glass doors, and it would take a lot of bullets to break the windows, which would alert her. She had to assume he was wearing some sort of body armor. Probably a vest.
She didn’t hear him on the stairs or deck. Was he waiting for them to come out? No...he would know by now that she’d called the police. He would know that time was not on his side. She could wait him out here, she had the upper hand.
But the man wasn’t stupid. What was his plan? Take out the first officer? Buy himself time?
The garage.
The Ranger was parked in the carport, but there was also a garage and basement. Shit, she should have thought of that!
Then she heard a loud shotgun blast in the hall. He’d blown open the lock of the door coming up from the garage.
