Gage Read online

  She stared at him. “You’re going after Dalvetti?”

  Gage figured a lie would just put more fire in her eyes. “I have to. If I don’t, he’ll try to use you and my family to get revenge against me.”

  A thin breath left her mouth. “You could stay at the house with Mason and me.”

  He shook his head. “I have to end this, Lynette.”

  “But it’s dangerous.”

  “It’s my job. It’s what I do, and believe it or not, I’m

  really good at it.” He shrugged. “Well, most days. I screwed up with the informant.”

  “No. You didn’t. Because Denton would have killed me and the baby if you hadn’t stopped him.”

  Gage had a hard time even imagining that, and he didn’t care how many people he had to take down to keep her safe.

  “I know I wasn’t in on the planning stage of this baby,” he said, “but so you know, I want it.”

  He expected that to soothe her because the words sure as heck soothed him and put things crystal clear in his mind. But she grabbed on to his arm—hard.

  “That sounds like a goodbye, and it’d better not be.”

  He shook his head. “No goodbye. I’m coming back, and we’ll work out the rest. Got that?”

  Gage wanted to hear her answer, but the blasted phone rang again. Because it could be his handler with more information, he answered it right away.

  “It’s me,” Mason greeted. “The others just drove out of here using the back way to get to the highway. Don’t worry. We have that trail closed off for any other traffic. But they had to use it this time because there’s a visitor at the end of the road where the two guards are. It’s Patrick Harkin.”

  Not now. “What the heck does he want?” Gage barked.

  “To talk to Lynette and you. I gotta say, you two are popular with the scumbag crowd. Patrick says he wants to explain how Ford found out you were alive.”

  Definitely not now. “Tell him to call me tomorrow.” Gage doubted he would be there then.

  “I tried that. Tried telling him I’d arrest him for trespassing, but he claims it’s important. Says it has to do with the drug lord.”

  “Dalvetti?”

  “The very one,” Mason verified. “I’m on my way to the guesthouse now so I can bring the computer to monitor the security cameras. If you want, I can have one of the ranch hands escort Patrick to the front yard.”

  No, it wasn’t what Gage wanted. He didn’t want Patrick within a mile of Lynette. But Gage also needed some answers. Any answers that would stop an attack, and Patrick might be able to provide those.

  “I’ll meet you in the yard in a couple of minutes,” Gage told him. He hung up and immediately turned to Lynette. “And this time, you will stay inside. You won’t argue about it, either,” he added when she opened her mouth.

  “I wasn’t going to argue. I was going to tell you to be careful. And to give me a gun for backup. I’ve been doing target practice in the woods behind my house, and I’m a good shot.”

  Gage didn’t doubt it, but he knew he didn’t want Lynette having to shoot a gun at anyone. Still, he opened the cabinet above the fridge and saw that it was still there. His grandfather’s old Colt .45. He checked to see if it was loaded. It was. And he put it in her waiting hand.

  “Stay inside,” Gage repeated. “Away from the windows.” He pressed a kiss on her cheek. And decided that was a sucky way for him to go out that door.

  So he kissed her the right way.

  He snapped her to him and put his mouth to hers. Yeah. The right way. His lips, moving over hers. He waited for the slight moan that he knew she’d make.

  She made it.

  And he kept the kiss long, slow and deep. Gage pulled away from her and was pleased they were both breathing hard. If he was going to muddy the waters with Lynette, he might as well do a thorough job of it.

  Or so he kept telling himself.

  He was doing that so he could justify the way he was complicating the heck out of things. He wasn’t free to think about a relationship with her. Not yet. And even after this situation with Dalvetti was over, they still had obstacles to face.

  Gage drew his gun and stepped outside. The rain had stopped, finally, and it was late afternoon, still plenty of light. For now. But it wouldn’t be long before the sun set. It also would be a god-awful long night without some kind of information that Gage was hoping he’d get from the weasel of a visitor.

  He glanced toward the ranch house and saw Mason driving up in the rust-scarred pickup truck that had seen better days. It was his usual mode of transportation, and he wouldn’t budge on getting anything new. In the other direction, Gage spotted one of the ranch hands escorting Patrick. Not in a vehicle.

  But walking.

  The other ranch hand was still at the end of the road next to the sleek black luxury car. Patrick’s, no doubt.

  “His car died,” the ranch hand called out. “He couldn’t get it to start.”

  “Then he’ll be walking back into town,” Mason said, stepping from his truck. He had a stuffed-full equipment bag. “Because I’m not tying up any of my men for the likes of him.”

  Gage couldn’t agree more. Now, he just needed to hurry this along so he could make sure the guesthouse was as safe as it could be.

  “I need to put this inside,” Mason let him know, and he carried in the equipment bag. A few seconds later, he came back out. “I told Lynette to boot up the laptop so we can keep an eye on all the security cameras.”

  Good idea. As long as she stayed put.

  “Start talking,” Gage said while Patrick was still walking toward the guesthouse.

  “You have a big problem,” Patrick answered.

  “If you’re here to state the obvious, then you can turn around and leave,” Gage answered back.

  When Patrick reached the fence, he started to open the gate, but Mason stopped him. “You can state more than the obvious from right where you are.”

  Patrick’s mouth tightened, and he eyed them both as if they were scum. Which made Gage wonder—if he hated them so much, then why was he here? Gage doubted the man had good intentions, but sometimes bad intentions worked just as well. Especially if Patrick could give them anything that would put an end to Dalvetti and his threats. It was telling that Patrick even knew about the drug lord. It meant he had at least something.

  “Ford isn’t going to let this go,” Patrick went on.

  Again, it was the obvious, and Gage’s eye roll let him know that. “The subject you wanted to discuss was Dalvetti.” But Gage paused. “Unless Ford has some connection there. If so, spill it and don’t waste any more of my time.

  Patrick swallowed hard. “I want a deal. Immunity from prosecution.”

  A deal? It wasn’t totally unexpected, but it didn’t have anything to do with Dalvetti. Or it damn well shouldn’t.

  “What have you done that would warrant prosecution?” Gage asked when Patrick didn’t add more.

  Patrick glanced around. The look of a man on edge. “Ford has some things on me. Things he said he’d leak if I don’t cooperate and do as he says.” He paused again. “He wants me to kidnap Lynette so he can get her the psychiatric help she needs.”

  Gage tried very hard not to curse. But he failed. “Lynette’s not crazy. Ford is. And what kind of dirt does he have on you?”

  More glancing around. “Business deals. Buried away a long time ago. You’d never find them, but Ford apparently kept copies of things.”

  “I’ll bet he did.” Gage glanced around, too. The weasel was making him nervous, and he still hadn’t spilled anything about Dalvetti. “So, why come to me? Why not just go on being Ford’s lackey?”

  He dipped down his head a little. “Because I don’t want to be part of what Ford’s trying to do to Lynette.”

  “You’re just a regular do-gooder, aren’t you?” Mason snarled.

  Patrick’s next round of glances included his car. It was just a glance, but Gage had dea
lt with scum long enough to know something was wrong.

  Gage lifted his gun. “You’ve got five seconds to tell me why you’re really here, and your explanation better include the name Dalvetti.”

  Patrick shook his head.

  Gage took aim at him.

  Patrick threw his hands up in the air. “Ford made a deal with Dalvetti.” He said the words so quickly that it took Gage a moment to understand what he’d blurted out.

  “I’m sorry,” Patrick said. “I didn’t have a choice.”

  Hell.

  “What did you do?” Gage demanded.

  Patrick only shook his head again.

  Gage looked at him. At the stalled vehicle. And at the ranch hand near the car.

  “Get down!” Gage shouted to the hand.

  The ranch hand immediately dived to the side, but it was already too late.

  The car exploded in a fireball.

  Patrick dropped to the ground, his hands sheltering his head.

  “What did you do?” Gage yelled to Patrick.

  Patrick kept his head down, but Gage heard him loud and clear. “Dalvetti is here.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The sound of the explosion sent Lynette racing to the window.

  Oh, God.

  Patrick’s car had blown to smithereens. Just like the plane at the airport.

  She watched Patrick drop to the ground, saw him say something that had Gage throwing open the door and running inside toward her.

  “Get down,” he told her.

  Mason was right behind him, his phone sandwiched between his shoulder and his ear, and he was barking out instructions to someone on the other end of the line.

  “What’s going on?” she asked Gage.

  He caught on to her arm and headed for the bathroom. Without a word, he pulled back the plastic curtain of the tub-shower combo, and he put her inside.

  Gage looked her straight in the eyes. “According to Patrick, Dalvetti and your father are in on this together. And Dalvetti is here on the grounds.”

  Everything inside her went still. The calm before the storm, no doubt. But it was going to take a few seconds for it to sink in that a cold-blooded killer was at the ranch and that her father was perhaps responsible for his being here.

  Not perhaps, she amended.

  Almost certainly.

  This is exactly the kind of destructive stunt he would pull, and he would have no trouble sending Patrick to do his dirty work.

  “Where is Dalvetti?” she managed to ask.

  Gage shook his head. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”

  And that meant he would go out there looking for this monster.

  Lynette caught on to his arm, to beg him to stay inside, but Mason called out to them. “The ranch hand near the explosion is okay. He hasn’t seen anyone other than Patrick.”

  But then, Mason cursed.

  Her breath froze. And she waited to hear the bad news that had caused the profanity. There was no mistaking from Mason’s tone that it would be bad.

  Gage hurried out of the room, and Lynette moved in the tub so she could see them in the doorway of the bedroom. Mason was carrying the laptop and showed the screen to Gage.

  “Someone’s blocked all the feed from the security cameras,” she heard Gage say. “We can’t see a thing.”

  No. That couldn’t happen. They needed those cameras to pinpoint Dalvetti’s location. Especially with the sun setting. There were plenty of places for him to hide and then sneak up on the guesthouse.

  “I’ll keep an eye on Patrick and the front of the guesthouse,” Mason let him know, and he handed Gage the laptop and headed back out.

  “How bad is this?” she asked.

  Gage came back into the bathroom and put the laptop on the side of the tub. “If the feed comes back on, let me know. If Dalvetti or someone else is using a jammer, he might not be able to keep an interference signal for long.”

  Lynette looked at the screen. No images. Just white static.

  Gage disappeared into the living room where she could hear him rummaging around, and he came back with his grandfather’s Colt, extra ammunition and a walkie-talkie.

  “Mason brought the walkie-talkie in the equipment bag,” he explained. His gaze finally came to hers and held. “If Dalvetti gets past Mason and me, shoot him.”

  She wanted to ask what were the odds of him making it into the house, but Lynette really didn’t want to know. Because there was only one way Dalvetti would manage to make it inside, and that’s if Gage and Mason were dead.

  That couldn’t happen.

  Somehow they all had to make it out of this.

  “I’ll be careful,” Gage promised her before she even demanded that he say it.

  He popped a kiss on her mouth and left again. This time, she heard him leave by the front door.

  Lynette hugged her knees to her chest, but she kept the Colt in her hand. Ready. Well, hopefully. She’d done lots of target practice, but she doubted a man like Dalvetti would just stand there while she took aim and shot him.

  And he might not be alone.

  He’d probably brought some hired guns and a lot of weapons with him. Worse, he might even have had help from her father planning this attack.

  She listened, trying to pick through the sounds outside. She heard voices, and there was movement around the exterior of the guesthouse, but it was impossible to tell what was going on.

  There was a slight clicking sound, and Lynette’s attention flew to the laptop screen. It was no longer white static. The images came on, one by one, until there were six of them on the screen. Each shot showed a different camera angle of the ranch.

  Still holding on to the gun, she pulled the laptop closer, her gaze rifling over each one.

  Finally, she saw Gage.

  Thank God.

  It wasn’t the best camera view, but he was in the yard in front of the guesthouse. A rifle was in one hand and his Glock was in his shoulder holster. He was hunched down as if prepared for an attack. However, the white picket fence wouldn’t give him much protection if bullets started flying. Patrick was in the shallow ditch just in front of that fence, looking ready to run off in a panic.

  Lynette didn’t care a flip about his fear, because Patrick had had a part in setting all of this up. In fact, he’d no doubt used this meeting to distract them in some way so that Dalvetti could jam those cameras and come onto the ranch.

  Her attention darted to all the monitors. She saw Mason on one of the other cameras. He was somewhere behind the guesthouse and was directing ranch hands. The men, at least a half dozen of them, were all armed and scattering out. She prayed it would be enough.

  The other cameras were positioned in the back pasture, the road and the front and rear of the main house. Things looked normal. Definitely no sign of Dalvetti, her father or any other gunmen. But then, her father wouldn’t do this in person. No. He wouldn’t put himself in danger, only others. Including Gage and her baby.

  That sent a shot of raw anger through her.

  When this was over, she had to figure out how to stop this from happening again and again.

  Lynette kept her attention pinned to the laptop. And because she was watching so closely, she saw the movement. Not near the guesthouse but near the entrance to the ranch where Patrick’s car was still blazing.

  Two men came bolting from across the road.

  They were dressed in dark green camouflage clothes and were armed with assault rifles. Behind them trailed another man, also armed with a rifle and other guns holstered in an equipment belt.

  The last man was no doubt Dalvetti.

  Lynette had never seen a picture of him, nor had she even heard a description, but she was certain that’s who it was. He moved like a man in charge. Like a man on a mission of murder. And he and those men were using the smoke from Patrick’s vehicle for cover.

  Lynette jabbed the button on the walkie-talkie, and she both saw and heard Gage answer.

  �
�The cameras are working. Three men just crossed the road near Patrick’s car,” she relayed with her voice shaking.

  “Keep watching and stay put,” Gage warned her again.

  She saw him use the walkie-talkie to speak to someone else. Mason, she realized. Because Mason said something into his own walkie-talkie and started toward the road.

  When she started to get dizzy, Lynette realized she was holding her breath. She wouldn’t be any good to Gage and the others if she fainted, so she reminded herself to breathe.

  The three guys in camo made it to the burning car but then climbed over the white fence that lined each side of the road. The opposite side of the guesthouse, but still with those rifles, they were possibly already in firing range.

  Lynette pressed the button on the walkie-talkie. “The three men are in the east pasture now. They’re using the fence and the smoke from the explosion to hide.”

  Gage didn’t respond right away, but she saw him turn in that direction. “I see them.” He clicked off the walkie-talkie.

  Just as the shot blasted through the air.

  Gage dived for cover on the side of the porch steps. Some of the ranch hands hit the ground. Mason ducked behind a tree. Patrick crawled closer to the fence but stayed in the meager cover of the ditch.

  Another shot.

  She couldn’t see which of the three men were shooting, but she did see Gage lift the rifle. He also levered himself up and out of the meager cover of the steps.

  Gage fired.

  So did Mason.

  Lynette watched their bullets tear into the wooden fence. The shots, however, didn’t stop the trio.

  More bullets came, and one slammed into the guesthouse. But not just into the guesthouse—in the bedroom just yards from where she was. She pulled the computer onto her lap and sank down lower into the tub. She couldn’t risk one of those shots hitting her because it would endanger the baby.

  She hated these men, Dalvetti and her father for every shot, for every drop of fear she felt with Gage putting his life on the line. But it only made her more determined to finish this once and for all.

  The next shots shattered one of the windows in the bedroom. There was a window in the bathroom, as well, but it was on the back side of the place. Mason seemed to be positioned to stop anyone from making it back there.