“Valiant effort, Vic. But you see, I’ve been a good boy. I did my homework. I know all about you and Ms. Garrett.”
“Then you know we’ve been through for a long time.”
The other man smiled. “Then you won’t mind too much when I put a bullet in her, will you?”
Staving off burgeoning panic, Chase stared at him, his mind scrambling. He couldn’t shake the same keen sense of familiarity he’d felt back in Boston. Where had he seen this guy before?
“Do I know you?” Chase asked, stalling.
“Let’s just say you know of me.”
“You’re familiar. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you before.”
“We’d never laid eyes on each other until last night.”
“If we’ve never met, then what’s this all about?”
Even in the darkness Chase saw hatred flash in the other man’s eyes. “I’m merely repaying a debt.”
“For who?” Willing his nerves to settle, Chase sidled closer. “Your father?”
“Don’t be a hero. Drop your weapon and kick it toward me.”
“Which son are you?”
“Get back.”
Chase inched closer. “Tell me why you’re doing this. If you’re going to kill me, anyway, I deserve to know that much.”
The man assumed a shooter’s stance. “I’ll kill you where you stand, you backstabbing bastard. And then I’ll kill the woman. I’ll put a bullet right through her belly. Right through the baby. And I’ll make sure you’re conscious so you can watch her bleed out.”
Rage mingled with cold, hard fear and spread through Chase’s body like ice water running through his veins. The first rule of military or law enforcement was that you never gave up your weapon. He didn’t intend to break that golden rule, but if it came down to Lily’s life or giving up his weapon, what could he do?
“In a few minutes,” Chase said, “this place is going to be crawling with cops.”
A chilling smile overtook the man’s face. “Then I guess I’d better hurry things along and get this show on the road.”
With lightning-fast speed, the man shifted the gun and fired. Shock stabbed Chase. White-hot pain knifed through his right hand all the way to his elbow. Instinctively, he used his left hand to grasp his injured right. When he looked down and saw blood, another layer of fear enveloped him.
“What the hell did you do that for?” Chase snarled between clenched teeth.
“That was for my father.” The man aimed the gun at his groin. “This one is for you.”
“Wait!” Chase shouted. “Tell me why! Tell me who you are!”
“Aidan Shea, bro.” He relaxed his grip on the gun. “I’m the man who’s going to send you to hell.”
“Why me? I barely knew your father.”
“You knew him well enough to frame him. You and your so-called band of brothers sent him to prison for something he didn’t do. Do you have any idea what that did to him?”
“I had no part in that.”
“Tell it to Satan, you lying bastard.” He took aim, the muzzle leveled on Chase’s abdomen.
Chase braced, expecting the impact of a bullet and mind-numbing pain. But he couldn’t stop thinking about Lily. This man was going to disable him, then he was going to kill her while Chase watched. He’d do anything to stop the horrific scenario. But what?
The only sound on the road was the pounding of his heart. Till the gunshot split the quiet.
His nerves jumped, and instinctively, he stumbled back, raising his hands in a useless effort to protect himself. But there was no need.
Aidan Shea crumpled to the ground.
Chase stared, disbelief and relief barreling through him in equal measure. His knees nearly buckled when he turned to find Lily standing twenty feet away, the rifle in her hands.
“Lily…”
He heard her name, realized belatedly he’d whispered it. Her gaze shifted to his. Worry skittered through him when he saw the distant look in her eyes. Her face was ghastly pale; tears glistened on her cheeks. She took a single step toward him, the rifle clattering to the ground.
Then he was running toward her, enveloping her in his arms. Her body trembled violently against him. He held her tight, wanting to calm her, protect her, thank her for saving his life. Smoothing her hair away from her face with his uninjured hand, he marveled at her beauty. At the softness of her body, so warm and blessedly alive against his.
“Are you okay?” he asked when he found his voice.
“I killed him,” she choked out.
“I know, honey.” He held her tighter. “I’m sorry you had to do that. He didn’t give you any choice.”
“He was going to kill you.” Her body vibrated against his.
“You did what you had to do.” When she only sobbed, he held her tighter. “You’re going to be okay. I promise.”
Worried that she could be going into shock, he eased her to arm’s length and set his hand against her face. “Shh. Easy does it. It’s okay.” But Chase knew firsthand how difficult it was to use lethal force. Even for soldiers and secret agents, no matter how tough or seemingly emotionally detached, it wounded the soul to take a life.
“You saved my life,” he said quietly.
Her focus went to his hand, where blood dripped from his fingertips. “Oh, Chase, you’re bleeding.”
“I don’t think it’s too bad.” The wound throbbed with every beat of his heart, but Chase was just thankful to be alive. “Let’s get you to the car,” he said. “I’m going to search the men and see if I can get a phone to call nine-one-one.”
She nodded. But he could see her lips quivering. Her teeth beginning to chatter. More than anything, he wanted to get her to a place where she could decompress. A place where he could take care of her.
Alarm shot through him when she gasped and doubled over.
“Lily! What is it?”
“Just…a cramp, I think.”
“The baby?”
“I don’t know. It’s too soon.” Another gasp escaped her. “Maybe.”
AIDAN SHEA COULDN’T BELIEVE he was going to die this way. Gut shot by a pregnant woman and bleeding out on some godforsaken road in the middle of nowhere. He had so much more to do. How had things gone so terribly wrong? If only he could complete this leg of the mission and eliminate Vickers. Ethan Matalon and Ty Jones had been next, but Aidan knew his brothers and father would take care of them.
With the last of his breath, Aidan cursed Chase Vickers. He cursed Ethan and Ty and all of the others who’d been involved. He’d wanted to finish Vickers himself. But he knew the most important phase of the plan had already been set into motion. The bomb he’d planted. No one knew about it, other than him and his brothers and father, and no one could stop it.
And the clock was ticking….
The knowledge comforted him in a way nothing else could. He smiled through the pain of the gunshot wound, and he tasted blood. It should have been their blood, but it was his own. No matter. Soon they would be dead and his father would be avenged.
Revenge was such a powerful motivator.
Now it was time to get down to the business of dying. Such a slow process. In the near distance Aidan could hear Vickers and the woman, and another wave of fury washed over him. Damn them to hell, he thought. Damn all of them.
A groan escaped him when he shifted. The pain had receded slightly. That was when he realized he still had the gun in his hand. That he could still move.
And he smiled.
“HANG ON.” Chase scooped Lily into his arms. She was amazingly lightweight. He reveled in her warmth as he carried her across the road toward the ditch where he’d left the Toyota.
They were midway to the car when a gunshot rent the air. Chase stopped, his heart dropping into his stomach.
“Put her down, Vickers!”
Chase spun to see Aidan Shea standing a few yards away, his pistol leveled on Chase. Blood oozed from his chest, shiny and red, staining his clothes in a
n expanding circle. Still, Chase set Lily on her feet.
“This ends here and now,” Shea said as he shifted the pistol and took aim at Lily.
“No!” Chase threw himself in front of her, but he wasn’t fast enough. The blast fractured the air and Lily fell to the ground. “No!” he screamed. “No!”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Aidan Shea’s body jerk. He spun around and fired three times in quick succession before crumpling to the ground. At first, Chase thought he’d succumbed to the bullet wound he’d sustained earlier. Then he spotted the other figure just beyond. Before Chase could identify him, the man staggered, then fell to the ground. What the hell? Another gunman? Chase considered trying to get off a shot with his left hand. But he needed to tend to Lily first.
Dropping to his knees beside her, he ran his uninjured hand over her, searching for a bullet wound, for blood. Her eyes were open, watching him. She was crying. Obviously in pain. Oh, dear God, please let her survive this.
“Honey,” he choked. “Where are you hit?”
“I’m not.” She took his hand. “I think it’s the baby.”
“Vickers!” a familiar voice called out.
Chase fumbled for his pistol with his left hand, surged to his feet and spun
Realization dawned in a rush. Ben Parker had arrived just in time. He’d shot Aidan Shea and saved their lives. Now he was down with a gunshot wound.
“Stay put,” Chase said to Lily, then he started toward the fallen man.
“About time you showed up,” Chase said when he came upon Ben.
“Timing was off just a little.”
Chase knelt beside the FBI agent, noticed the shiny slick of blood on the asphalt. “How bad are you hit?”
“Not looking too good. Bastard got me in the chest.”
Chase grabbed Ben’s cell phone and quickly dialed nine-one-one, asking for the police and two ambulances.
When he was finished, he looked down at Ben, then took his hand. “How did you find us?”
“There’s only one major highway that runs from Boston to Shane’s place. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.”
“That’s possibly how Shea found us, too.” Chase squeezed his friend’s hand. How had he ever doubted Ben’s loyalty? “You got here just in time.”
“Looks that way.” Ben’s eyes went to Lily. “She okay?”
“I think she’s in labor.”
Even through the grimace of pain, Ben smiled. “You better get over there.”
Chase squeezed his hand again. “You saved our lives, bro.”
“Just doing my job.”
“Ambulance will be here any moment.”
“Go,” Ben said.
Chase didn’t want to leave him—Ben Parker was in a bad way. But Lily needed him, too.
Taking off his shirt, Chase covered Ben with it to help keep him from going into shock. “I’ll be right over there,” he said.
“By the way…” Ben closed his eyes. “Congratulations.”
Chase gave the man’s hand a final squeeze, then strode quickly to where Lily lay on the ground and knelt beside her. “An ambulance is on the way.”
“I don’t think your daughter is going to wait.”
“What?” He’d heard—he just couldn’t believe it. “The baby is coming.”
“You mean right now? Here?”
A faint smile touched her lips. “She’s impatient, just like her dad.”
Alarm and a good measure of fear rattled through Chase at the thought of helping to deliver his own baby. An EMT, he knew the basic mechanics of labor and delivery, but there were so many things that could go wrong. “I’ve never done this before,” he blurted.
“I did it once in the emergency room,” she said. “The baby was very determined and came before the doc could get there. I’ll coach—” She bit off the words. Her face screwed up and sweat beaded on her forehead. “It’s…going to happen right now.”
“Tell me what to do.” His voice came out strong, but panic bubbled inside him.
Lily was already in the throes of another contraction. Chase forced his mind back to his EMT training. He knew that when the contractions came at close intervals, delivery time was near.
When the contraction passed, Lily blew out a breath, then began to breathe the way expectant mothers were taught to breathe in Lamaze classes. “I’m taking you to the car,” he said, kneeling to scoop her into his arms.
“The backseat. I need to lie down. See if you can find a blanket…”
Chase already had her in his arms. The pain in his injured hand forgotten, he quickly carried her to the car and opened the rear door. “We’re in luck,” he said, laying her down. “There’s a blanket.”
“For the baby,” she said.
“Okay.” Standing at the door, Chase glanced back at the road, wondering where the ambulance was.
“Will you be all right for a moment while I check on Ben?” he asked.
“I’m between contractions.” She smiled when he squeezed her hand. “Go.”
Chase sprinted toward the downed agent, praying the other man was going to be all right. “Ben?”
The FBI agent raised his head. “What the hell are you doing over here? Get back to that woman, Vickers. She needs you more than I do.”
Still, Chase was torn. The man was ghastly pale. His breathing was shallow and rapid. “Hang tight, man. Ambulance should be here any moment.”
Ben waved him off, then let his hand fall back to his side. Praying the other man survived his wounds, Chase sprinted back toward Lily.
PAIN SCREAMED through her with the ferocity of a wild beast raging through her body. Lily braced against the onslaught and pushed with all of her might. Just as the contraction ended, Chase appeared at the car door.
“The baby is coming,” she said as she panted.
“What do I do?”
Another contraction tore through her before she could answer. Lily squeezed her eyes shut and rode the wave of agony. At the crest, she used its momentum and pushed until her breath ran out.
When the pain passed, she propped herself up on her elbows and made eye contact with Chase. “Get the blanket ready.”
She could feel another contraction approaching and spoke quickly. “When I push next time, the baby’s head may appear. Support her head. Don’t pull. I’ll do the rest.”
Pain knifed through her with such power that Lily felt her eyes roll back. A scream hovered in her throat, but she swallowed it. Instead, she used every last bit of her energy to push her baby into the world.
She tried panting, the way she’d learned in her childbirth classes. But nothing could have prepared her for this. A keening sound tore from her lips, till the pain took her breath away.
“I see her!”
Grinding her teeth, Lily accepted the pain, used it to tell her what to do next, and she pushed harder. The contractions came now one on top of the other. No time to rest in between. All she could think about was holding her daughter in her arms for the first time.
“Keep pushing,” Chase cooed. “You’re doing great, honey. She’s coming.”
An elongated moan escaped her. The pain rolled lower, wrapping around her lower back and pelvis like a red-hot chain growing ever tighter.
In the next instant, a faint cry sounded. Lily raised her head and looked down to see Chase holding her squirming, supremely unhappy little girl.
She looked at Chase and, for the first time since she’d known him, she saw tears his eyes. He cradled the baby with the reverence of a man holding the most precious thing in the world. In this case, he was.
“She’s perfect,” he whispered.
A sob broke from Lily’s lips. But it was the sound of a mother’s joy. As Chase laid the child at her breast, emotion overwhelmed her.
“She’s beautiful,” she whispered through her tears.
The world shifted on its axis as Lily put her arms around her baby girl and cradled her gently. “Hi there,” s
he whispered. “Welcome to the world, little girl.”
“Is she all right?” Chase asked.
“She’s got good color and a strong cry.” Lily couldn’t stop looking at her child. “She seems to be just fine.”
Chase wiped his eyes. “She’s definitely got a healthy set of lungs.”
Lily choked out a laugh. As a nurse, she knew a baby’s lungs were the last organs to fully develop. Even though her baby had come early, she appeared to be entirely healthy.
“She’s cranky,” she said to Chase, then looked back at the child in her arms. “I can’t blame you, baby girl.”
Chase leaned close, and Lily realized she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t take her eyes off the baby. Neither could he. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Better than I’ve been in a long time,” she said.
He took her hand and squeezed. “We have a daughter.”
Lily looked down at the wrinkle-faced little girl. “She looks like you.”
Chase made a face and she laughed. “She’s got a few more wrinkles.”
For a moment the sound of their laughter filled the car.
“Have you thought of a name?” he asked.
“I was thinking of Chassidy.”
“Chassidy,” he repeated. “I like it.”
In the distance, sirens blared. Lily cradled her baby girl, thankful she was safe and alive and healthy. Chase hovered over her, like the new father he was. He hadn’t taken his eyes off either of them.
As the first ambulance arrived and the EMTs disembarked, Chase gave her hand a final squeeze and met her eyes. Within their depths, Lily saw all the things she’d always known in her heart. He loved her. She loved him, too. She always would. But she knew it wasn’t enough to change who he was or what he did.
The thought of him walking away, of her never seeing him again, was like a giant hand reaching into her and yanking her heart from her chest.
“I’m going to check on Ben,” Chase said.
Lily thought she saw something now in his eyes. Something vague, unsettling and slightly sad that she didn’t quite understand. It was as if he’d closed himself off emotionally.