Watch Your Back (39 page)

Stevie leaped from the bed and reached for her gun and her cane. ‘What is it?’

‘We need to go.’

‘What’s happened? Who’s out there?’

‘Nobody that we know of, yet. Clay thinks we may have been compromised, so he’s making a precautionary move. Sheriff Moore will be here in a minute or two with her boat.’

‘We’ll be downstairs in a minute or two then.’

‘Hurry. I’ll meet you in the boat.’ Emma clicked her tongue. ‘Columbo, come.’

Tanner’s big brown dog uncurled itself from the floor next to where Cordelia slept and followed Emma out of the room. The dog hadn’t left its post all night long. When Cordelia had woken from her nightmare with a start, Columbo had come to his feet, teeth bared, looking around for something to bite. A stroke of Cordelia’s hand over the brown head had calmed the animal and it had returned to the floor to guard them. The animal had calmed Cordelia as well.

Maybe a dog wouldn’t be such a bad idea, after all.

Stevie gently shook Cordelia’s shoulder. ‘Cordelia, wake up.’

‘I’m awake, Mama,’ Cordelia said tremulously. ‘Are you coming with me?’

‘I am.’ Stevie made herself smile. ‘Come on, let’s get you dressed.’

Having slept in her sweats, Stevie was ready to go. She helped Cordelia change from her flannel PJs into warm clothes. Hand in hand, they hurried down the stairs to where Clay, Paige, and Grayson waited by the back door. All three wore body armor and helmets.

Stevie wanted to demand to know exactly how compromised they were, because by the look on their faces, the threat was more imminent that Emma had thought – or was willing to let on in front of Cordelia.

Paige wordlessly handed Stevie the flak jacket she’d worn in from the city earlier. Stevie fastened the Velcro tabs, aware of Clay’s careful scrutiny.
He’s checking for fear. To see if I’m about to lose it
. That told her more than anything else that he believed the threat was very real. Whatever he saw must have pleased him, because he gave her a hard nod.

‘Emma and Christopher are already in the boat,’ Clay told her, then knelt on one knee. ‘Cordy, I need you to pay attention.’ He guided her arms into a pink vest and zipped it up.

‘It’s heavy,’ she said.

‘It’s bullet-proof,’ he told her. ‘Just like mine. Sheriff Moore called all over the state until she found one just your size. Now, Cordelia, you’re going to put your arms around my neck and hold tight. I’m going to wrap this belt around us both.’

‘Like a baby in a snuggly,’ Cordelia said, making Clay smile.

His smile made Stevie’s heart stumble. She’d hurt him when they’d been in that bed on his father’s boat. Now that she understood what he’d thought, she also understood his reaction.

He’d been wrong, though. She hadn’t considered sex with him a mere topping off of her tank. It wouldn’t have been a onetime thing. It couldn’t have been. She wasn’t wired that way. Had she been, there would have been plenty of takers over the past eight years. No, she would have stayed with him, come to depend on him more and more.

But it wouldn’t have been the ‘forever’ that he deserved
,
so it was probably better to let him stay hurt. Then he’d stay away. Better a little hurt now than a broken heart later.

‘Exactly like a baby in a snuggly,’ he said. He put a small helmet on Cordelia’s head and tightened the strap. ‘I don’t expect any trouble, but I’m taking no chances.’

‘I understand,’ Cordelia said solemnly. She looked up at Paige. ‘Are you coming, too?’

‘Absolutely. I am sticking to you like glue. Your own personal bodyguard.’

‘And Peabody? Can he come, too?’ Cordelia asked.

‘Of course,’ Paige said, giving the Rottweiler at her side an affectionate scratch behind his ears. ‘He’ll stay at the farm.’ She gave Stevie a wry smile. ‘Because even though the hotel where Emma will do her interview shares his name, it’s not so willing to let my Peabody through its doors again. The last time we stayed there, he shed up a storm.’

‘I’m glad he’s going with us.’ Stevie had seen the dog stop grown men in their tracks.

‘We’re going to take Cordelia out to the boat,’ Clay said, ‘then I’m coming back for you, Stevie. Be ready at the back gate.’

‘And Grayson?’ Stevie asked.

‘I’m going out with you and Clay,’ Grayson said. ‘I’ll get you into the boat, then join you.’

‘And I’ll stay here,’ Clay said, making Stevie’s eyes abruptly widen.

‘What?’ she demanded. ‘You’re not coming with us? What if he comes? What if he takes another shot at you?’

Clay’s smile was a mere baring of teeth. ‘I hope he does. I’ll be ready.’ His smile gentled into something genuine. ‘Are you ready, Cordelia?’

Cordelia straightened her spine, reminding Stevie of herself. ‘I’m ready.’ She raised her arms to Clay’s neck and he strapped her to him. He checked the pistol in his holster, slung a rifle over one shoulder, then jogged from the house without looking back.

Paige gave Stevie an encouraging smile before setting out after them, her own rifle comfortably cradled in her arms.

Stevie and Grayson followed them as far as the back gate, where Tanner stood in the open doorway, jaw tense. Stevie stood next to him, holding her breath as she watched Clay and Paige run across the beach to the dock.

Clay was holding her daughter against him as if she was his own child. The sight was bittersweet – and keenly brought to mind the conversation she’d overheard the morning before.

‘Clay has a daughter, too,’ she murmured to Tanner, needing to speak because her nerves had her about ready to jump out of her skin.

From the corner of his eye she saw his surprise. ‘He told you about her?’

‘He told Cordelia. I overheard. Why hasn’t he been able to see her?’

Tanner hesitated. ‘Ask Clay. I will tell you, though, that it was no fault of his own. All he ever wanted was a family, to be a father to Sienna. But his ex-wife was a . . . difficult woman.’

‘You mean she was crazy?’

Tanner’s reply was half-cough, half-grunt. ‘Ask him yourself.’

‘Okay, I will.’ But she didn’t think she would. She wasn’t sure Clay would answer her, for one. But mostly because she didn’t want to cause him any more pain than she already had.

Monday, March 17, 4.40
A.M.

Finally
. Robinette’s heart was beating hard. Hours of lying in the sand on his belly was finally going to pay off. Two people had already gotten in the boat – the psychologist friend of Mazzetti’s and a man he didn’t recognize. Mazzetti wouldn’t be far behind.

How clandestine
. Had he been watching from the road, he would have missed them.

Had Westmoreland returned his phone calls, he might have been able to cover both the road and the house, but it had been over twelve hours since he’d heard from his right-hand man.

Wes was either dead or he’d defected. If it was the first, Robinette would see that his ashes were scattered off the coast of Virginia, where Westmoreland had grown up. If it was the latter, well, Westmoreland’s parents still lived in the same house. If they somehow had an accident, Westmoreland would show up.
And then I’ll kill him and spread his ashes off the coast of Virginia
. Either way, the outcome would be the same.

Robinette tensed. The gate at the rear of the beach house had opened. Through his rifle scope he could see a big figure running toward the dock. It was Clay Maynard, wearing a helmet and a flak jacket. He was being covered by a tall woman with dark hair, carrying a semi-automatic rifle, a big dog running at her side. Mazzetti was nowhere in sight.

Maynard looked different. Bulkier. Robinette blinked hard to clear his vision and peered through the scope again. Maynard was carrying something.

No, he was carrying some
one
. A small someone. A child.
Stevie Mazzetti’s child
.

Dammit
. Her arms were tight around Maynard’s neck, most of her torso enveloped in a pink thermal vest. Maynard was moving
fast
, the woman beside him shielding his body with her own.

Mazzetti would be appearing through the beach house gate any moment. She had to be in the house. She wouldn’t let her daughter be separated from her. Would she?

Yeah, he decided quickly. She might. If she worried that her luck could never hold, she might just send her daughter away, to safety. Another second passed. Then another.

She’s not coming
. And Robinette’s best leverage was about to be taken away in that boat.

I can end this, right here, right now. Take down Maynard and he’ll fall with the child in his arms. She’s swaddled up like a papoose. He won’t be able to cut her loose
.

Then Mazzetti would come running.

Maynard’s leg was unprotected, so that’s where he’d aim. But first he’d have to take out the woman with the dog. She was shielding him too well.

He lined up the sight, aimed at her leg. Squeezed the trigger.

And smiled when she went down.

Monday, March 17, 4.41
A.M.

Stevie’s heart stopped. ‘Oh God,’ she whispered. ‘Paige is hit. He’s out there. Shooting.’
Shooting at Cordelia. And Clay
. ‘
Cordelia!
’ She shoved past Tanner and, ignoring his shouts to stop, barreled through the back.

She was stopped by Grayson who grabbed her around the waist and yanked her off her feet, dragging her back into the shadows within the fence. ‘Stevie,
no
.’

‘Let me go!’ She fought wildly against him, her heart thundering like a herd of stampeding buffalo. A far-away splash made her struggle more desperately and she smacked him with her cane. ‘Dammit, Grayson,
let me go
.’

He grabbed her cane and tossed it to the sand, still holding her in place. ‘No. That’s what he wants. He’s trying to make you come out into the open.’

‘I don’t care.’ Stevie was crying, huge sobs that robbed her of breath. ‘He wants
me
. Let him have
me
. Not Cordelia or Clay or Paige. Please, let me go.’

Grayson shook her so hard her teeth rattled. ‘Stop this now. Paige was hit. Don’t you think I want to go running out there, too? Look. Stop being stupid for a damn second and look.’

He spun her around, still holding her as she struggled to break free. Paige had crawled to the boathouse at the end of the dock where she held her leg with one hand.

She was okay. Hit, but alive. Clay – and Cordelia – were nowhere to be seen.

‘Where are they?’ Stevie demanded, her heart in her throat. ‘I heard a splash.’

‘Paige pushed Peabody off the dock to protect him. Don’t worry. He can swim.’

She renewed her struggle and he renewed his hold. ‘I’m not worried about your damn dog,’ she hissed. ‘Where are Clay and Cordelia?’

‘Clay rolled himself and Cordelia off the dock. Watch.’ He handed her the pair of night-vision goggles he wore around his neck. ‘Under the dock.’

Squinting, Stevie’s mouth fell open in shock. ‘Oh my God.’

Clay hung from the dock, holding on to the edge by his fingertips. He moved sideways as if playing on a jungle gym, Cordelia’s arms tight around his neck. He was agile, fluid.
Beautiful.
He released his hold on the wood, effortlessly swinging onto the deck of Sheriff Moore’s boat where he placed Cordelia into Emma’s arms.

Christopher had leaned over the side and was dragging Peabody into the boat.

Then Clay grabbed on to the dock ladder, hoisted himself back up to the dock, and crawled to Paige. He checked her leg, then he pointed to the boat.

Paige half-crawled, half-dragged herself to the end of the dock, gingerly swung over the edge and dropped into the boat. She positioned herself close to the rear, the rifle she’d cradled in her arms now aimed in the direction from which the shots had come.

The boat sped away with a roar of fully throttled engines. Clay rolled to his stomach, the rifle he’d slung over his shoulder aimed at the heavily treed area beyond the beach.

I should be out there with him
, Stevie thought.
I should be covering Clay
. But here she stood, helpless, escaping hysterics only because Grayson had kept his shit together.

Stevie let out a harsh breath as she took in the damage. The windows of Tanner’s boat were shattered and hunks of the dock were gone, mostly at the edges. He’d aimed for Clay’s hands as he’d taken her daughter to safety. Still, Clay had maintained his calm.
While I fell apart
.

‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured to Grayson, ashamed of herself. ‘I lost it.’

‘I almost did, too,’ he admitted. ‘When I saw Paige go down . . .’

‘Yeah.’ Swallowing hard, Stevie turned the night-vision goggles in the direction from which the shots had come. ‘I’d shoot at the fucker myself, but my pistol doesn’t have the range.’

‘Joseph’s agents that were out in the front are already in pursuit of the shooter,’ Grayson said. ‘As soon as Paige got to the boathouse, she radioed them with the shooter’s approximate location. I imagine whoever it is will be too busy running for cover to shoot at us anymore.’

‘How do you know all that?’

He tapped his ear. ‘She was miked. I have an earpiece.’

‘You were listening the whole time?’

‘Yeah. The first thing out of Paige’s mouth was that she was okay, that it was only a graze, and that if I came after her, she’d kick my ass.’ His smile was unsteady. ‘I was about to risk it when you came running out. It was easier to be brave when I was yelling at you.’

‘Glad to be of service.’ She retrieved her cane from the sand. ‘Sorry I hit you.’

‘You should be. That hurt.’

‘Paige will kiss it and make it better,’ she said wryly and started for the house. She stopped inside the door and gave a very pale Tanner a nod. ‘He’s all right,’ she said and watched the older man’s shoulders sag. ‘He was pretty amazing, actually.’

‘That he is.’ Tanner tilted his head. ‘What’s that sound?’

‘My cell phone.’ It was vibrating in her pocket. Her heart started to race again when she saw the 727 area code on her caller ID. ‘That’s Emma.’