Standoff at Mustang Ridge (21 page)

She didn’t give up, though. Couldn’t. Clearly her life was on the line here. Royce’s, too, since he was already injured. She could hear him calling out to her, but she couldn’t take the time to answer. She was in a fight for her life.

Sophie tried to scramble away from the gunman, toward the weapon he’d knocked from her hand. If she could get it, then at least she’d have some way to defend herself. But before she could even get close to it, the man latched on to her hair and dragged her to her feet.

“Sophie!” Royce shouted.

“Stay down,” she warned him, and prayed he would listen.

Her attacker put her in front of him. Like a shield. And he shoved the gun against her head.

“Move and you die,” he growled.

His voice was a hoarse whisper. One that she didn’t recognize. Part of her was actually relieved that it wasn’t her father or brother who’d launched this attack. Of course, that didn’t mean one of them hadn’t hired these men.

That hurt far more than the throbbing ache in her hand.

She shoved aside the physical pain and the thought. Right now it didn’t matter who’d hired these men. It only mattered that Royce and she got out of this alive.

Sophie had some hope that it might be possible.

After all, the gunman hadn’t immediately killed her when he pulled her out of the barn. He could have. Easily. In fact, he’d obviously known where she was, maybe because he’d heard her breathing or moving around inside, so he could have just fired through the rickety wall and ended her life. But he hadn’t.

Why?

What did he want from Royce and her?

“McCall, make this easy on yourself and the woman,” someone shouted. The other gunman, she realized. Judging from the sound of his voice, he was still somewhere near the front side of the barn.

“I’ve called for backup,” Royce answered. “In a few minutes, cops will be crawling all over this place.”

She figured that was a bluff, but it did seem to unnerve the man who was holding her. He jammed the gun even harder against her head and started dragging her toward the front where she figured the other gunman was waiting.

“Let Sophie go,” Royce said. “There’s no reason for you to hold her.”

“Yeah, there is,” the man behind her yelled. He paused, and she heard the whispered voice then.

Sophie glanced around, expecting to see yet another attacker, but she noticed the tiny communication device hooked into the ski mask near his ear.

“Will do,” the man mumbled to that whispered voice.

So, there was someone else.
No
. The two gunmen were bad enough, but there was another culprit. One no doubt calling the shots. Maybe literally. Because while the gunman hadn’t immediately put a bullet in her, she didn’t think the same would be true for Royce.

“We have to leave with the woman now,” the man holding her shouted to his partner. “Deputy McCall, that means you either surrender now or we start shooting. We got a lot of ammo, and those barn walls ain’t gonna hold back many bullets. You want another shot in you, McCall?”

Royce didn’t answer, but she could hear him moving around inside.
Mercy.
He wasn’t surrendering, and she had no doubt that these men would do as they’d threatened.

“What do you want with Sophie?” Royce finally shouted.

She heard the whispered voice again.

“Business,” her captor answered, no doubt repeating what he’d been told to say by the person on the other end of that communicator.

“Business that has to do with those papers you took from our SUV?” Royce added.

Yes, the papers. The ones that implicated her father, Travis and the other man in an illegal land deal. Was that what this was all about?

“I’m guessing Milton Wells is your boss,” Royce continued. She could hear him moving inside, but she had no idea what he was doing. “I’m also guessing that Wells doesn’t want anyone to find out who he really is.”

The person on the communicator said something that Sophie wished she could hear because Royce seemed to be on the right track. Well, the right track for unnerving the man with the gun to her head.

“I have other copies of those papers,” she tossed out there. It, too, was a bluff. There were no duplicates because she hadn’t wanted other copies of the incriminating documents that could send her father to jail.

But her captor obviously didn’t know that.

“We’re taking her now,” he shouted to his comrade after getting yet more whispered orders.

So that was it. The papers were the key to all of this, and if the duplicates actually existed, they would no doubt force her to hand them over.

And then they’d kill her.

“This is your last chance, McCall,” the other gunman warned. “Surrender, and you’ll live.”

Sophie figured that was a lie, especially since the man holding her moved the gun and lifted it toward the barn.

Sweet heaven. They were going to start shooting.

She had to do something. She couldn’t just stand there and let Royce be killed. Sophie adjusted her footing, preparing herself to drop down. She’d also try to elbow the man in the stomach. It wasn’t much of a distraction, but maybe it would be enough for her to try to wrestle that gun away from him.

Sophie got ready, drew her elbow.

But before she could move an inch, she heard the movement behind them. Someone was running, and she saw the blur of motion from the corner of her eye.

Royce
.

He came from the back of the barn and slammed his gun against her captor’s head. He went down like a bag of rocks.

Royce immediately caught on to her. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered.

They turned to run toward the house.

But they didn’t get far.

Chapter Eighteen

Royce cursed when he saw the man step out from the back of the barn. The guy hadn’t been there just seconds earlier when Royce had gone through the door to get to Sophie. But he was there now.

And he had a gun pointed right at Sophie and him.

Royce fired even though he was certain he didn’t have a steady shot, and in the same motion, he dragged Sophie to the ground so she wouldn’t be in the direct path if the guy returned fire.

He didn’t.

It didn’t take Royce long to realize why. The other gunman who’d been at the front of the barn now raced around the corner, behind Sophie and him. He was still armed, and he pointed his weapon at them.

Sophie and he were trapped.

Hell.

Royce had known it wasn’t much of a plan for him to try to get her out of there, but he’d had to try. He couldn’t just stand by while these goons kidnapped her.

And he was certain that’s what they were planning to do.

Kidnap her and force her to tell them where those duplicate papers were that she’d hidden. Except he was pretty sure that the only copy of that land deal was now in the hands of the attacker who’d come from the back of the barn.

Royce covered Sophie’s body with his. Trying to protect her. And he studied the man who was now making his way toward them. He didn’t walk with the same air as the others. There was a confidence. No, make that arrogance.

This guy was the boss.

Too bad Royce couldn’t see his face. Also too bad it could be any of their suspects. If he could pinpoint which one, he might have a better chance of negotiating their way out of this dangerous mess.

Especially if it was Eldon or Stanton.

Royce could maybe play the family card and remind them that Sophie was blood. It might also mean her life wasn’t in as much danger as he’d thought it was since either Eldon or Stanton would probably indeed let her go once they made sure there were no other copies of those papers.

Other than an out-and-out escape, that was the best-case scenario here. For Sophie, anyway. The gunmen had already made it clear that they’d planned to kill him. Royce didn’t think they would automatically change their minds about that, either. He was a loose end they couldn’t afford to keep around.

The man in front of them aimed his gun. Not at Royce. But at Sophie, and he tipped his head to the gunman behind them.

“Put down your weapon,” the lackey ordered Royce. “If not, I’ll blow a hole in your lady friend’s arm. It won’t kill her, but it won’t feel too good, either.”

Royce glanced at both men, and there was nothing in their body language to indicate that was a bluff. They would indeed shoot Sophie. He had no choice but to toss his gun onto the ground, but he kept it close.

Still within reach.

Of course, either of those men could get off a shot before Royce could get his gun back in his hands, but maybe he could create some kind of distraction.

“Let Royce go,” he heard Sophie say. “And I’ll take you to the papers.”

Royce cursed again and shot her a “stay quiet” glare.

Which she ignored.

“If you hurt him,” she said to the man who stopped directly in front of them, “then I’ll never give you those papers.”

The man said nothing, but he did look at the other gunman who was behind Sophie and him.

“Want me to go ahead and take care of him?” the man asked his boss.

“No!” Sophie practically shouted. She pushed herself away from Royce, wriggling out from the meager cover that his body was providing for her, and she got to her feet. “I meant it. If Royce dies, you don’t get what you want.”

She looked back at Royce as he, too, got to his feet. There was worry etched on every part of her face and in her eyes, and that worry went up a huge notch when her attention landed on the blood on the jacket. The blood flow had slowed down significantly, thank God, but he was sure he looked like a man in need of serious medical attention.

“I’m so sorry,” Sophie whispered to him, probably because she was still blaming herself for all of this.

But Royce was blaming the man in front of them.

“Let me guess,” Royce said to that man. “You’re Milton Wells, the guy who signed that illegal land deal. Of course Milton Wells is just an alias, isn’t it?”

That wasn’t exactly speculation since neither Kade Ryland nor Royce had been able to locate any info about the man.

“You’re probably guessing—rightfully so—that eventually I’ll figure out who Milton Wells really is,” Royce added. “And that’s why you want to kill me.”

Sophie’s eyes widened, and she tossed glances at all three of them. Hopefully, she realized now that it wouldn’t do any good for her to go with them. If she did, it would just make it easier for them to kill her once they figured out that she couldn’t give them what they wanted.

She turned back to the man in front of them, her gaze traveling from his head to his boots. No doubt trying to figure out if it was her brother behind that mask.

“It’s either Stanton or Agent Lott,” Royce said, going with his theory that this was someone who’d posed as Milton Wells. “Because your father and Travis had already signed the document.”

Of course, it could still be one of them, but Royce thought he saw a slight change in the boss’s body language. Just a hint of movement that made Royce believe he’d hit the proverbial nail on the head.

“Lott,” Royce said. “I know it’s you.”

The man certainly didn’t confirm it. Neither did his hired gun that still had a Glock pointed right at Sophie’s arm. The seconds crawled by.

And the man finally cursed.

“This shouldn’t have been this hard,” he mumbled, adding more profanity. It was enough for Royce to recognize the speaker.

Agent Lott pulled off the mask, stuffing it into his jacket pocket. “If you think that knowing my identity will save you,” Lott growled, “then think again. One way or another, I will get those papers from Sophie.”

“Oh, mercy,” she murmured.

She didn’t sound relieved that it wasn’t a family member trying to kill them, probably because she knew just how dangerous a rogue agent could be. Lott had the shooting skills and the backup to gun them both down. And Sophie and he didn’t exactly have a lot going for them. No gun, and his shoulder was practically numb from the pain and blood loss.

But Royce had something Lott didn’t.

The will to keep Sophie alive. The agent was doing this to cover his butt and his illegal activity, but Royce was fighting for Sophie’s life.

“Sophie will go with you,” Royce said to Lott.

It was a lie. Well, hopefully. Royce didn’t want Lott to get Sophie out of his sight, but he needed some kind of diversion. Better yet, he needed one or both of those guns aimed away from them.

Sophie shook her head and caught on to Royce’s arm. “They’ll kill you,” she whispered.

They’d try. Royce would try to stop that, too.

He moved closer to Sophie, brushing his mouth over hers. “Play along,” Royce whispered.

“Touching,” Lott complained. “But I don’t have time for a lovers’ goodbye.” He motioned with his gun for Sophie to follow him. “Come on.”

She looked at Royce again, her eyes silently asking him what to do, and he glanced toward the side of the barn to that gaping hole. If possible, he wanted her through there. No, it wouldn’t be much protection, but it might keep her out of the line of fire when he went for his gun on the ground.

Sophie gave a shaky nod, hopefully understanding what he wanted her to do. While he was hoping, Royce added that she would duck inside the barn for cover and not try to save him.

“Goodbye,” she whispered. And then she turned as if she might indeed leave with Lott.

The agent reached out to take her arm. But he missed. Because Sophie screamed at the top of her voice and lunged toward the opening in the barn.

Royce dropped to the ground just as the shot blasted through the air.

* * *

S
OPHIE DIDN’T HAVE TIME
to make it through the hole in the barn. She’d tried to create a distraction by screaming, but it hadn’t worked.

Lott had fired.

At Royce.

Without thinking, she turned and dove at the agent. Even though he was a lot larger than she was, she had speed and fury on her side. Sophie slammed into him, catching him off balance, and sending them both crashing to the ground.

Lott cursed, calling her a vile name, and he flipped her onto her back as if she weighed nothing. But Sophie didn’t give up. She latched on to his right wrist with both of her hands and held on, digging her fingernails into his bare flesh.