“How bad is it?”
His gaze zoomed to the corner at the sound of Sara’s soft voice. She stood half bent over, holding her sweats and stood still enough to blend into the gaudy wallpaper.
Jeremy’s heart tumbled. He’d always loved Sara. Not for him, but for Garrett. Jeremy had once worried she was too soft and sweet for his hard brother. But she could make Garrett smile just by walking into the room. She cooked for them, coddled them and had Garrett spinning. Jeremy knew if his brother would stop throwing up barriers, he’d have a happy life with Sara.
So, Jeremy knew he owed it to her to tell the truth. “There are men coming.”
“Where’s Garrett?”
“Watching over the front and finalizing the plan.”
“You mean he’s sacrificing himself. He’ll figure out some near-suicidal way to end this so only he gets hurt.”
“I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Do you get a say? I don’t.”
Jeremy didn’t have time to fix his brother’s bad choices. But he didn’t want her to go into another dangerous situation thinking Garrett no longer cared. “The rescuer thing is his messed up way of telling you he loves you. Words aren’t his strength. His day job requires him to use his fists to make his point. Changing tactics in his private life has been...”
“A struggle?”
“And that’s a nice way of putting it.”
“For the record, if he gets hurt I’m going to strangle him.”
The pushy save-him-or-else attitude had to be a good sign for Garrett’s wooing campaign. At least Jeremy hoped that was true.
“If it comes to him deciding to go out in a blaze of glory, I’ll stop it. Then I’ll hold him down for you while you beat some sense into him.”
“I can live with that.”
Jeremy winked at her and held out a hand. “We have to go.”
He pulled her behind him until they stood in front of room fifteen. A quick glance behind him told him that the team was in place. He couldn’t see anyone. If he hadn’t known this was an armed camp, he would have assumed it was an abandoned motel, which was exactly what everyone should think.
Meredith opened the door before he could knock. “What is it?”
He took in her sweatpants and slim T-shirt. She’d already put her sneakers on and had a gun in her hand. The woman didn’t back down from a fight.
He liked her spirit. “I thought you’d be asleep.”
“Something woke me up. A weird sensation.” She looked around him into the darkness beyond. “What’s happening that everyone’s up and moving?”
“A second strike. More men are coming.” Sara’s voice stayed even as she delivered the horrifying message.
Meredith blinked. “But you said this was off the grid, that the highway no longer came through here.”
The same questions had been floating through his mind. Their safe houses had been compromised. The reasons for that sort of system-wide malfunction were few. “I know.”
“Then how did anyone find us?” Meredith asked. Her voice held a yearning and confusion he hadn’t heard before.
“Good question.”
And there was only one answer—a mole.
But he couldn’t take that issue on along with everything else he had to juggle. As it was, every time he moved a thousand tiny swords rammed into his side. The stitches pulled and the area pulsed with pain. The only course was to ignore it, pretend everything was fine.
He glanced at the image on his phone and saw the green dots fanning out, coming at the motel in an arc. The spray of bullets would start any minute. His people had the advantage, but a stray bullet could kill any of them.
He glanced at Meredith. Could kill her. The thought sent a chill shooting through him.
“Get back in the room. Pax is above us.”
“What if the bad guys circle this place?” Sara asked.
They were dead. It was that simple. “Not going to happen.”
Gunfire burst through the quiet night.
“Get down!” He grabbed them both and crowded them against the bathroom wall. “Get in there and close the door. There’s no window, so only open this door for me or Garrett. And don’t move.”
Before Meredith could argue, he scooted across the room to the small window by the door. From his position on the ground he could peek over the sill and see outside.
Shadows moved off to his left. Shots echoed all around him until it was impossible to tell who was shooting and who was under fire. One man went down. The trees behind him rustled, then another shooter popped out, this one aiming for the roof and unloading.
Jeremy ducked with his hands over his head as ceiling tiles fell to the bed and floor. The glass above his head shattered and shards rained down on his back.
At the sound of crunching, he looked up to see Meredith crouching beside him. “What are you doing?”
“Making sure you weren’t cut into a million pieces.” She grabbed a pillow off the edge of the bed and used it to brush the sharp slivers off him and away from his knees.
The booming came from all sides. That qualified as a very bad sign. “Sounds like someone got through.”
“What?” she shouted over the steady beat of gunfire.
He heard the thunder of footsteps. A peek out the hole in the wall showed a man sneaking up the side of the building. He’d somehow gotten through the defenses Joel and Garrett had set up. Jeremy refused to let his mind go there. His brother was fine. They were all fine, but they had to end this.
Pivoting on the ball of his foot, Jeremy put the barrel out the window and shot at the closest intruder. He fell, then scrambled for the bushes just out of sight.
If he got around back, protection would become impossible. Watching 360 degrees in the pitch dark required special equipment that they just didn’t have.
Meredith snapped her fingers in front of his face. “How many are left?”
He looked at the screen. “I have five. From the positions, two of the figures should be Joel and Garrett.”
“Anyone close?”
“One is on top of us.” He pulled her close and whispered directly into her ear. “I’m going out there.”
Meredith grabbed his arm. “Please stay with me.”
At the plea he almost relented. For once he welcomed the darkness and his inability to read her expression. “You’re my cover.”
After a brief hesitation, she nodded, smacking the top of her head against his chin. “What do I do?”
“Fire off to the right.” He tapped on the bottom of her gun until she raised it. “Up high so you don’t hit me. The plan is to keep this attacker from unloading on me while I track him down.”
She’d already gotten in position. “I’m ready.”
He wanted to say something, to at least kiss her, but he slipped out the door instead. Bent low, he eased around the door and raised his gun. Glass littered the ground and he placed careful footsteps to keep from smashing the shards under his feet. Any noise could give him away.
He glanced at the phone one last time. Another dot not moving and slowly changing color, which could only mean one thing. Someone got hit. He took a second to hope the body was one of theirs, not his.
His target hovered nearby. He jumped when Meredith stared firing behind him. The rustle off to the side of the porch gave the attacker’s precise position away.
Jeremy dived, sliding down the porch on his stomach. When his shoulder slipped off the wood and into the air, he shifted and fired right into the figure looming over him.
The guy went down with a muffled yell. He rolled to the grass and came to a stop on his stomach. Jeremy slithered onto the ground after him. His eyes had adjusted to the black night, but seeing the dark metal of the attacker’s gun proved difficult.
Meredith kept shooting. He turned to tell her to stop, to get a half second of quiet, when the man on the ground reared up. He rolled to his side and turned with a gun already in his hand.
It happened in a flash. Jeremy saw the weapon and judged the distance. He lifted his own gun, but he knew the timing was all wrong. He shifted and prayed he’d be in time.
With one last ear-splitting shot, the attacker’s head fell back to the ground as his hands splayed to the side. In the slow-motion haze following the shooting, Jeremy saw shoes and heard yelling. When he looked up, Joel stood over his shoulder with his gun still up and ready. Meredith hovered behind him.
Joel slowly lowered his gun. “He was wearing a vest. I know you probably wanted to question him, but I had to shoot him in the head.”
“Where did you come from?” Jeremy couldn’t get the fog in his brain to clear. He knew it was a blessing. As soon as feeling returned to his body and his ears stopped ringing, the pain in his side would come screaming back.
“What?”
“You’re supposed to be up front with Garrett.”
Joel looked at the glass and wood chips all around his feet. “You needed me here.”
The green on Jeremy’s cell caught his attention. One dot moved up the lawn as two others climbed off the roof. Garrett wasn’t exactly making a covert entrance. He grumbled as he undid his vest, letting the sound of Velcro rip through the now-still night.
Meredith shifted as if ready to shoot, and Jeremy was on her in seconds. He put his hand on her arm and lowered the weapon. “It’s okay. He’s with us.”
Garrett stormed right up the path and jumped onto the porch. He didn’t look at anyone, not even Sara as she hugged the doorjamb.
He stopped in front of Joel. His hands shot out and he pinned the younger man against the side of the motel.
Joel’s head smacked against the wall as he fought to push Garrett back.
“What the—”
Garrett pressed his forearm against Joel’s throat. He gagged as he kicked out.
Jeremy stepped in to help but the black rage clouding Garrett’s eyes stopped him.
“I don’t—” Joel tried to talk but coughed over Garrett’s forearm.
Pax and Davis didn’t move. All attention centered on Garrett and his rage. His hands trembled as he grabbed Joel’s collar and twisted even harder.
Garrett leaned in, his face just inches from Joel’s. “You have ten minutes to tell me what the hell is going on.”
Chapter Twelve
Meredith worried Garrett had careened right over the edge. The veins in his arms popped from the force of holding Joel against the wall.
Jeremy must have had the same concern because he tried to intervene. “Garrett, man. Ease up.”
When his brother’s concentration remained focused, Jeremy just stood there with slumped shoulders and a mouth turned down in a frown. Desperate to lessen the unease she felt radiating off him, she leaned in and slipped her fingers through his.
She half expected Jeremy to shake her off and grab Garrett. Not that she would blame Jeremy or even be surprised. Testosterone thumped through the air. He might have to rush in and stop a fight at any minute. It would be rational if he dropped her hand and went after Garrett again. The move would sting and rub against her pride a bit, but she’d get it.
Which was why, when he grabbed on as if she were his lifeline, something burst free in her stomach. She didn’t know she was nervous until he held on.
All that running, all those fears, and it turned out the one type of man she’d always vowed to avoid made her heart shudder. Life never ceased to amaze her.
“What happened?” Pax glanced at Davis then back to Garrett. “I don’t get this.”
With a second shove, Garrett pushed Joel’s back against the wall again. “Everyone stay out of this. This is between me and him.”
“It’s too late for that. We’re in it. All of us.” Davis went from lounging against a beam to stepping right between Garrett and Joel. With his hand on top of Garrett’s, Davis tried to pull the two men apart. “And last I checked we were on the same side.”
Despite Davis’s size and obvious strength, Garrett didn’t move. He braced his legs and pushed even harder against Joel’s chest. “Are we?”
Joel’s eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong with you?”
It was the same question playing in Meredith’s mind. Probably in all of their minds. She’d seen Garrett distracted as he rushed out the door on assignments and relaxed when he nursed a beer on the porch after his return. This out of control, ready to pounce and shred a man apart with his bare hands Garrett scared her.
She glanced at Sara, expecting the other woman to be curled in a ball or crying in a corner. The judgment probably wasn’t fair, but Sara didn’t strike Meredith as much of a fighter. She hid and froze when she needed to run and fight. The reaction was likely what a sane person who’d never seen violence would do in similar situations, but Meredith couldn’t fight off the nagging disappointment.
Lounging on her couch at night, she’d imagined the woman Garrett might find attractive. Built a model in her mind, and Sara wasn’t it. She was pretty, really pretty, and had that tiny fragile frame men seemed to love. But she lacked fire. There was no heat to her.
Except right now. Sara inched closer to Garrett. Without blinking, her gaze switched from Garrett to Joel. In a matter of seconds, her cheeks puffed and her assessing gaze mimicked Garrett’s.
He curled his hands around Joel’s collar. “Why didn’t you shoot?”
Joel sputtered. “What?”
“Garrett. Let the man have some air. He’s not going anywhere and this isn’t helping.” Jeremy yanked Garrett’s hands off Joel’s shirt and put his palm out. “Joel, hand over your gun.”
“No way.” Joel looked to Pax. “Help me here.”
“I don’t need to hear from him. No guns. No misunderstandings.” Jeremy let go of Meredith’s hand then. He slid Joel’s gun out of its holster. “I’ll hold this until we’re done.”
He passed her the gun. The simple act delivered a huge message. The world tilted and exploded around them, but he trusted her. She hugged that knowledge close to her heart as she held on to the gun with both hands.
Davis swore as he stepped off the porch and into the yard. “This is so messed up.”
“Garrett,” Jeremy said. “Get to it.”
“You looked at the guy heading along the right fence. You watched and tracked and then you let him go.”
“I didn’t—”
Garrett held up his hand. His lip curled back as he bared his teeth. “Do not deny it. I watched you.”
“Garrett, please calm down.” Sara tugged on his arm then.