Landon. Delores Fossen
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twentysomething woman inside gave him a jolt until he noticed that she wore a hospital gown and was hanging on to an IV pole. She was a patient.
He hoped.
“Go in the bathroom,” he ordered the woman. “Close the door and don’t come out.”
She gasped and gave a shaky nod but followed his instructions. Landon would have liked to have sent Tessa and the baby in there with her, but he couldn’t risk it. Anyone bold enough to send this gunman could have also planted backups in the rooms.
“Keep an eye on the woman,” Landon whispered to Tessa.
Tessa’s eyes widened, probably because she realized this could be a trap. Of course, that was only one of their problems. The baby was still crying, the sound echoing through the empty hall.
Landon heard the footsteps to his right. The gunman, no doubt. And he readied himself to shoot when the man rounded the corner. But the footsteps stopped just short of the hall junction.
He glanced back at Tessa to make sure she was staying down. She was, and she was volleying glances between him and the bathroom door. In those glimpses that Landon got of her face, though, he could see the stark fear in her eyes. He would have liked to assure her that they’d get out of this alive, but Landon had no idea how this would play out.
“Tessa?” the guy called out. “Time’s up.”
Landon braced himself for more shots. And they came, all right. The guy pivoted around the corner, and he started shooting right at Tessa and him. Landon had no choice but to push her deeper into the room.
“Deputy Ryland?” someone called out. It was the security guard, and judging from the sound of his voice, he was on the opposite end of the hall from the shooter. “The other deputies are in the building. They’re on the way now to help you.”
Good. Well, maybe. It could be a bluff since it’d been less than ten minutes since the shooting had started, and that would be a very fast response time for backup. Still, even if it was a bluff, it worked.
Because the shots stopped, and Landon heard the guy take off running.
His first instincts were to go after the guy, to stop him from getting away, but Landon had no way of knowing if the security guard was on the take. Hell, this could be a ruse to lure them out of the room so that Tessa could be kidnapped or killed.
Landon waited, cursing while he listened to the thug get away, but it wasn’t long before he heard another voice. One that he trusted completely.
Grayson.
“Landon?” his cousin called out. “Don’t shoot. I’m coming toward you.”
It seemed to take an eternity for Grayson to make it to them, and when he reached the door, Landon could see the concern on his face. Concern that was no doubt mirrored in Landon’s own expression.
“Come on,” Grayson said, motioning for them to follow him. “I need to get the three of you out of here right now.”
* * *
TESSA’S HEART WAS beating so hard that she thought her ribs might crack. Her entire body was shaking, especially her legs, and if Landon hadn’t hooked his arm around her for support, she would have almost certainly fallen.
She hated feeling like his. Helpless and weak. But at the moment she had no choice but to rely on Landon and Grayson to get the baby and her away from that shooter.
The sheriff led them up the hall, in the opposite direction of where the gunman had fired those last shots. Since that back hall also led to the parking lot, Tessa suspected he was getting away.
That didn’t help slow down her heartbeat.
Because if he escaped, he could return for a second attempt. But an attempt at what? He obviously had wanted her to go with him. Or maybe that was what he had wanted her to believe. If she’d surrendered, he could have just gunned her down, done the same to Landon. Heaven knew then what would have happened to the baby.
“This way,” Grayson said, and he didn’t head toward the front but rather to a side exit.
The moment they reached it, Tessa spotted the cruiser parked there, only inches from the exit and apparently waiting for him. When Grayson opened the door, she saw Dade behind the wheel.
Even though she now believed she could trust the Ryland lawmen, seeing him and Grayson still gave her a jolt. If she’d been right about Emmett’s killer being a cop, then it was possible the killer worked at the Silver Creek sheriff’s office.
Landon hurried her onto the backseat, following right behind her, and the moment he shut the door, Dade took off.
“Are you all okay?” Dade asked, making brief eye contact in the rearview mirror.
Landon nodded but then checked her face. Tessa did the same to the baby. The newborn was still making fussing sounds, but she wasn’t hurt. Thank God. That was a miracle, what with all those bullets flying.
When she finished examining the baby, Tessa realized Landon was still looking at her. Or rather he was staring at her. No doubt waiting for answers.
Answers that she didn’t have.
Someone had attacked her twice in the same day. Heck, maybe even more than that since her memories were still hazy.
“Maybe he’s one of Joel’s hired thugs?” Landon asked.
She had to shake her head again. Then Tessa had to stop because a new wave of dizziness came over her. It was so hard to think with her head spinning. “I only got a glimpse of him before you pulled me back, but he didn’t look familiar. I don’t know why he came after me like that. Do you?”
“No,” Landon snapped. “But I want you to guess why he attacked us. And the guessing should start with you telling me everything you know about Joel. The baby, too.”
His tone wasn’t as sharp as it’d been before, and his glare had softened some. Maybe he was starting to believe that this wasn’t her fault.
Well, not totally her fault, anyway.
Tessa tried to concentrate and latch on to whatever information she could remember. It was strange, but the memories from years ago were a lot clearer than the recent ones. In fact, some of the recent ones were just a tangle of images and sounds.
“Tell me about Joel,” Landon pressed, probably because she was still trying to figure out what to say.
“Joel,” she repeated. And Tessa went with what she did remember. “I started working for him two years ago as a bookkeeper. I didn’t know what he was,” she added. “I was an out-of-work accountant, and he offered me a job. Later, he wanted me to be a PI so I could run background checks for him.”
“But you soon found out what he was,” Landon finished for her.
Another nod. “But I didn’t know how deep his operation went, and he was hiding assets and activities under layers of corporate paperwork.” Tessa had to pause again, brush away the mental cobwebs. These next memories were spotty compared to the ones of her starting to work for Joel.
“Back at the hospital, you said you thought Joel had killed someone,” Landon reminded her. “Who? Emmett?”
Tessa closed her eyes a moment, trying to make the thoughts come. Finally, she remembered a piece of a memory. Or maybe it was just a dream. It was so hard to work all of this out.
“No. Not Emmett. I think the murder might have had something to do with the baby’s mother,” she said. “But...no, that’s not right.” She touched her fingers to her head. “It’s getting all mixed up again.”
“Her mother?” Landon questioned. “So you’re positive she’s not yours...ours?”
“Yes, I’m certain.”
She couldn’t tell if Landon was relieved about that