Love Under Two Cowboys (31 page)

Grant Jessop’s question of the night before echoed in her mind, and she pushed it away. Chloe didn’t think. She just braced and got ready. She’d give him one more step forward—

Someone shouted and pounded on the door to the apartment at the same time the window exploded. Something, or someone had hurtled through that portal, shattering the glass and landing on the carpet, out of sight. The sound pulled her focus away from Lockwood, toward the window. Nearly too late she realized she wasn’t the only one looking toward the man who was rolling, as if in slow motion, gun drawn, rising from the carpet.

Lockwood had spun toward the sound, too, his arm just a second behind his body as he brought it around, and brought his left hand up to steady his weapon.

Chloe didn’t think. She just pulled her pistol from beneath the pillow, aimed, and fired.

She knew with a sick kind of certainty that hers had been the second gun to discharge.

Brian made them stay a half block behind and to the left of the apartment building—which was where Adam had told him they could wait. When they’d arrived, she’d spotted Chase, Adam, Matt, and Jake, their heads together in conference. It looked as if Jake handed something to Adam. Chase had nodded, checked his watch—hell they
all
checked their watches—then he jogged off toward the front of the building.

He’d carried a pistol in his hand.

Carrie easily picked out her bedroom window—the purple curtains were impossible to miss. Those drapes weren’t completely closed, leaving a narrow strip open—not really enough, she thought, to look into the room. She had no idea what was going on, or what Adam had on his mind. She could only go by his body language. If she had to define his mood, she’d say he was wound tight and about ready to snap.

This is worse than watching a movie with the sound turned down.

Jake touched Adam’s shoulder and nodded in their direction, at Ginny, Carrie knew. Adam turned and Carrie would bet everything she owned that he’d been able to meet his wife’s gaze, even from that distance. Adam said something to Jake, who nodded once and then left his brother, headed for their wife.

They couldn’t tell what was happening, not really. They could only watch. Now it seemed as if Matt and Adam were arguing. Matt followed Adam around to the trunk of his car. She knew there was no way anyone in her apartment—if that
was
where that bastard was holed up, and she had to believe he was—could see the cop car, or the cops.

Carrie recalled what Adam had said when he’d first come to her, that the building was surrounded. Now that she looked, she could pick out different people that she knew—to all appearances, just ordinary folks who were outside, tending to their yards. Except of course those weren’t
their
yards. She saw Colt Evans and Ryder Magee, Richard Benedict with his brothers Trevor and Kevin, Morgan Kendall, Henry Kendall, Alex Benedict, and Joe Grant. She damn near screamed when she spotted Tracy’s husband, Jordan. He was perched in a tree, about fifty feet to her right, a rifle in his hands. It looked as if he was getting ready to shoot. She kept her eyes on him, wondering what he was doing. He held himself steady for a long time. Then he lowered the gun and spoke into his phone.

Carrie switched her gaze to Adam who held his cell phone to his ear, and she knew immediately whom Jordan was speaking to, but not why.

“He’s got a high-powered scope on that rifle of his. Likely, he was using it to get eyes into your apartment.”

Carrie turned in response to the voice. Ginny, who’d been standing tight and quiet beside her, her gaze on the man as he approached, nearly burst into tears and leapt into her husband Jake’s, arms.

“Shh, baby. It’s going to be all right. You know Adam knows what he’s doing.”

“I do, you know I do. Normally. But you didn’t see him when he left the restaurant earlier, Jake. He was
so
mad.”

Jake gave her what could only be called a tender smile, and used a thumb to wipe away her tears. “Now, I find it one of life’s little jokes that those words would frighten
you
.”

Despite her fear, she gave him a bit of a smile. He hugged her tight, and then kept his arm around her as he led her back to where Carrie and Brian stood hand in hand, watching and waiting.

“See, baby, he’s taking every precaution.”

Jake’s assurance to Ginny compelled Carrie’s gaze back to Lusty’s sheriff. Adam had taken something out of the trunk of his car. She saw almost at once that it was a flak jacket. He put it on, and then reached into the trunk again and pulled out a rifle, which he gave to Matt, and a coil of rope that he put over his left shoulder. Then he nodded, and headed off, appearing to be following Chase’s path. In just a few seconds, he was out of sight.

Carrie got a bad feeling when she watched Matt, rifle in hand, duck and run for the edge of the building.

“Sweetheart, where did Adam go?”

Carrie turned her head to look at Jake. She caught just the wisp of an expression, quickly masked when he met his wife’s gaze.

“He’s going around to the front of the building.”

“Why?”

“Ginny, sweetheart? We have to just trust him, now.”

It seemed as if they looked at each other for a long time. Finally, Ginny nodded. Jake bent close, kissed her lips, and then pulled her into his arms. She hugged him, then turned around so that she could, with Carrie and Brian, face the building.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and Carrie couldn’t help but keep checking her watch. That deadline Lockwood had given her loomed large and close. Twenty minutes gave way to fifteen. When there was nearly only ten minutes left, Carrie noticed movement, and had to squint to see what was happening.

“Well boy howdy, what’s Adam doing up there?” The sheriff appeared briefly in the window directly above Carrie’s bedroom. And then, as he opened that window, as he looked out, and down, and seemed to be measuring the rope, Carrie understood. Adam disappeared for a moment and then returned, hat removed, gloves on, rope looped around his right hand.

“Jesus Christ, he’s holding that rope the way he would if he was going to ride a bronco,” Brian said.

“Tell me he isn’t going to do what I think he’s going to—” Ginny stopped mid sentence.

It happened so quickly, Carrie nearly couldn’t wrap her head around it. Matthew flattened himself against the wall of the building, now just a few feet away from her apartment, rifle in hand. He looked up at his boss, and when Adam nodded, he nodded in return.

They moved in perfect synchronicity. Adam eased himself out the window, stood on the ledge, turned, and faced the building. Then he jumped.

He arced out and down and, feet first, shattered the window as he hit it, disappearing inside Carrie’s apartment. The rope snapped out, the end sailing up into the air. Matthew moved, gun at the ready.

Before he could reach the shattered portal, two shots exploded from inside the apartment, one on top of the other. She and Ginny both jumped, and then Carrie felt everything inside her go cold, even as Ginny screamed.

Carrie felt Brian’s arms wrap around her and hold her close. His silent message was clear. He wasn’t going to let her go
anywhere
near that building until they knew that everything was all right.

Matt lowered his rifle and seemed to wilt for just a moment. Then he straightened and appeared to be talking to someone inside the apartment.

And then Adam appeared at the window, apparently whole and unharmed.

“Oh, thank you, God.” The soft exclamation echoed Carrie’s sentiments exactly. Ginny moved to go to him, but Jake held her back.

“Let’s just wait a minute, honey. Wait for his signal.”

Matt was talking on his cell phone. Movement on the street to her right and slightly behind her caught her attention.

It was the EMT vehicle that was attached to the Lusty Fire Department. Carrie’s heart was pounding in her chest. Matt had called for the paramedics. She felt her heart clutch as dread began to build inside her.

Her cell phone vibrated in her hand and belted out that Kelly Clarkson tune.

Carrie’s hands shook as she answered the phone.

“Chloe!”

“Hey, little sister. I’m okay. Well, mostly. Here’s Chase.”

Her sister didn’t sound okay, not completely. But she was alive, and lucid, and Carrie closed her eyes in relief as she waited for Chase to speak.

“It’s over, sugar. We’re going to bring Chloe out for the EMTs to have a look at her. Bastard clocked her in face, and she lost consciousness. I’m going to hop out the window and Adam is going to lift her out and give her to me. I want you to meet us right there at the van. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay. Chase? Thank you.”

“Hell, I didn’t do much. Now hang up so I can bring your sister to you.”

It didn’t occur to Carrie until they were at the clinic that there might have been a reason the men kept her and Ginny from going to the apartment, or why, instead of using the door, all their in-and-out activity was centered around the window. It didn’t even occur to her to ask about Lockwood, because Chase had said it was over, and that was all she needed to know in the short term.

Carrie held her sister’s hand the entire time that Robert Jessop examined Chloe. He was concerned about her loss of consciousness, of course, because that indicated the possibility of a concussion. But her jaw wasn’t, as Chloe told her she feared, broken.

Her sister seemed very quiet throughout the exam, and Carrie wanted to chalk that up to the adrenaline crash. Yet Chloe clutched her fiercely.

And then Carrie had a shiver of déjà vu.
I was quiet and uncommunicative after I escaped the Lockwoods, and she let me be, and that was a mistake on both our parts.

Jillian Gillespie helped in the exam rooms when she wasn’t manning the front desk. She’d pushed a stool close to Carrie so she could sit, but she’d stayed standing. Now she took advantage of the seat, pulling it close, and met her sister’s gaze. Carrie wasn’t going to let history repeat itself. She wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass, either.

“I love you, Chloe. I knew I had to tell you that before all this happened. I never stopped to consider what it was like for you, back then, when we were separated. Then, when you finally found me, I never let you be there for me. I’m sorry about all of that, more than I can say.”

Chloe met her gaze, shaking her head slowly. “We were just a couple of kids, Carrie. Both of us not much more than babies, doing the best we could in the aftermath of the worst possible circumstance. I think we ought to just cut us both a lot of slack, and let it all go.”

“In a minute, maybe.” Carrie used both hands to hold her sister’s. “Will you tell me what’s got you all quiet? Are you in pain, honey? Please tell me.”

Chloe closed her eyes, but not before Carrie saw such sorrow in them. When she opened them again, tears glistened. “I killed him, Carrie. I raised my gun, aimed, and I killed him.”

Carrie supposed she’d known that, somehow, deep inside. She guessed she wasn’t very good at facing the icky stuff in life. Then her sister’s words, so recently spoken, came back to her. All things considered, maybe she’d handled a good forty years’ worth of icky stuff so far. Maybe she
should
give herself a break.

What I should do is get my eyes off myself and put them on my sister
.

She reached out and gently brushed Chloe’s light brown hair. She didn’t know what she could say to her sister. She opened her mouth, but someone else spoke, instead.

“What you did, Miss Chloe, was you saved my life.”

Carrie looked up as Adam Kendall came into the exam room. Adam turned to Robert. “Do you mind if we come in, now?”

Robert made a face, which told Carrie more than words ever could have that her sister was going to be all right. “Hell, why not? I’m getting used to having my exam rooms being used for all manner of various and sundry purposes.”

“You’re cranky,” Adam accused. “You need to get to Houston with your brother and your woman. Play around in that club of yours. You always come back much more mellow from there.”

“Bite my ass, cousin.” Robert smiled as he said that, a real smile that reached his eyes, so Carrie guessed this was normal behavior between the doctor and the sheriff.

And then she realized they were clowning around for Chloe’s benefit. Chase and Brian came into the exam room right behind Adam. They headed straight for her, and ranged themselves one on either side of her. Each of her men put a hand on her and she felt better—anchored, and safe.

Adam moved closer so that he stood on the other side of the stretcher. His gaze was on Chloe, but his question was obviously directed to Robert Jessop.

“How is she doing?”

“She has a slight concussion. She’ll need to be monitored for the next couple of days. Her jaw’s not broken, but it’s definitely bruised and going to be sore. Chloe may want to limit herself to soft food for a few meals, until that pain eases.”

While they spoke, it seemed to Carrie that her sister’s gaze was focused on her toes. She felt her trembling, and could only give her hand a little squeeze in response.