Bodyguard's Baby Surprise (19 page)

Chapter 24

N
ick had spent so much of his life pushing Annalise Huxton away from him. He should have been an expert at it by now. But when it had mattered most, he hadn't pushed her away. Now she was in danger.

“What's the plan?” Logan asked
him
, his voice emanating from the radio. Despite all his bluster about being the boss, he was willingly handing over the responsibility to Nick now.

Her brown eyes wide with shock, Nikki stared at him. Logan had surprised her.

But he hadn't surprised Nick. Logan knew that this was Nick's call. The woman he cared about—the woman who carried his unborn baby—was in danger. It was Nick's responsibility to keep them safe.

If only he hadn't put them at risk.

Now that he had, he needed to figure out how to mitigate that risk and keep them safe.

Annalise sat in the backseat with Candace. The female bodyguard had her weapon out, ready to fire, but Annalise didn't look reassured. She'd heard everything that had come through the radio. She knew they were being followed. She knew she was in danger. Her fear was apparent in how shallowly she breathed, in how pale her face had become.

She should never have experienced the kind of fear she was feeling. She wasn't like him or Gage. She hadn't chosen a life of risk.

But she had chosen him. He wanted to ask her why. It was something he'd never asked her before. Why did she love him? He'd never given her any encouragement—until that night they'd made love. He'd never given her any hope that his feelings would change, that he could actually have feelings.

Why had she persisted?

Why hadn't she given up on him?

He had—long ago. He'd given up the hope of ever having a family, of ever feeling as if he belonged somewhere. Now he had a family. They might not have embraced him at first, but they were there for him now. When it counted...

When it would keep Annalise safe.

“Do we separate and divide them?” Logan asked.

That would divide them, as well. Nick was used to going it alone. Even as an FBI special agent, he hadn't often worked as part of a team. He'd gone undercover on his own to sniff out corruption in police departments across the nation. That was how he'd wound up with the assignment to clean up River City PD—because he'd been doing it for years.

Alone.

That was how he'd lived his life. Or had tried.

But Annalise had always been there. No matter how much he had complained, he hadn't really minded. He'd actually appreciated her attention—her love.

He couldn't lose her now.

“No,” Nick replied. “There's safety in our numbers. We stick together.”

Nikki smiled her approval. She was in danger, too—just like her other brothers had feared she would be. But there was no fear on Nikki's face. Like Candace, she had her gun out, grasped in a steady hand. She was ready.

Nick wasn't. He didn't want to lose Annalise. He didn't want to lose anyone else, either. And if there were as many men following them as Milek and Garek had warned, there was a very good chance there would be a confrontation.

A shoot-out.

With that much gunfire, there were bound to be casualties—on both sides.

* * *

The bulletproof vest weighed heavily on Annalise's shoulders—along with the burden of guilt. If only she had listened to Nick.

If only she had gotten rid of all of his mother's things.

No one would be in danger. Now everyone was—everyone Nick cared about—because of her. She could tell that he cared for them. Maybe he hadn't wanted to. After all, he was Nick, always so determined to be a loner.

But there were no loners in the Payne family. They all stuck together. Like Nick had said, there was safety in their numbers.

Yet Annalise didn't feel safe—even with the bulletproof vest. It hung low, covering her belly. The baby would be safe from a bullet. But if Annalise took one in the head... The baby might not survive without her. The risks of his being born this early were too great. He moved restlessly inside her as if he felt her fear.

She was scared, not just for herself but also for everyone else. Milek and Garek were posted at the storage unit gate so the vehicles following them couldn't get inside. Logan and Parker were nearby to back them up. Gage and Cooper stayed in front of the storage units Annalise searched with Nick and Nikki and Candace.

The rain was falling even harder now, beating down on the metal roof of the unit. Would they be able to hear if someone snuck up on them?

“There's so much stuff,” Nikki murmured.

Annalise felt compelled to apologize again. “I shouldn't have kept everything.” But she hadn't known what Nick might want, what could have meant enough to his mother that it would help him remember her.

She'd wanted him to have some fond memories of the woman who'd given birth to him. But she realized now that there were few fond memories to be had of Carla.

“What could she have hidden a gun inside?” Nikki asked the question.

Annalise had no idea. She knew what would stage a house, not what would hide a weapon.

“A book. A statue. A canister,” Nick replied. “Something out of character for Carla to own.”

“How is owning a book out of character?” Nikki asked.

“The woman never read,” Nick replied. “And she wouldn't have kept anything that could possibly have been of value.”

“Are you sure she didn't pawn the gun?” Candace asked. She stood at the door to the unit, staring outside as if looking for any sign of danger.

Maybe that was why no one had been able to find the gun—because it was gone.

“No,” Nick and Nikki answered in unison.

“It would have showed up in the system again,” Nick said. “The kind of people who buy guns from pawnshops use them, usually in the commission of a crime.”

Nikki snorted. “Yeah. And I checked records. Nothing matching its ballistics has been used in over thirty years.”

“So where would she have hidden something for thirty years?” Annalise wondered.

A book. Like Nick said, Carla had never read. But there had been a collection of books. A whole series about famous criminals. Annalise had thought they were Nick's, something he might have had to read when he was in Quantico. But he had never returned home after leaving for the Marines. So she realized now the books wouldn't have been his.

What had she done with them? She'd taken them out of the house shortly after Carla had died because she'd thought they were Nick's and she hadn't wanted them to go into probate in case Carla hadn't had a will.

And yet Carla had had a will. Her lawyer had been holding that letter for Nick to be read after her death. That letter had given him a family.

There had been another letter, too—one they'd learned had been sent to the prison where Darren Snow had been serving out the last of his sentence. Maybe that letter would take away Nick's family since it had sent the Iceman after Nick. And the Paynes had risked their lives for him and her.

She heard the gunfire...

It was even louder than the rain hitting the roof. It sounded as if it was near the gates.

“We have to get out of here,” Nick said. He grabbed her arm with one hand. His weapon was out in the other.

But Annalise resisted. “I know where it is,” she said. “I can find it.”

She'd put those books in the storage unit that contained her personal things. Her condo was so small that she had no place in it to store her holiday decorations and out-of-season clothes. She used one of the units for all that. It had given her a little spark of hope to see what she'd thought were Nick's possessions among hers, as if they would one day be together.

Now she doubted that would ever happen, even if they survived. Nick would never stop running from her. He was trying to run now toward the SUV parked outside the unit. But once they cleared the door, Annalise jerked from his grasp. If it hadn't been raining, she probably wouldn't have been able to slip free of his hold.

She had the keys to all the units in her hand. She had to find the one that opened the unit on the end. Her hand was shaking badly, and the keys were getting wet like her hair and her skin and her clothes. She dropped the keys on the pavement. “I need to open—”

“There's no time,” Nick said.

The gunfire grew closer now. The men had made it past Milek and Garek. Beneath the bulletproof vest, her heart pounded wildly with fear.

Nick was right. There was no time.

Then Candace and Nikki began to fire their weapons. Where were Gage and Cooper? Their SUV was still parked at the end of the row. The back door opened.

Nick swung Annalise up in his arms and rushed toward it. “We need to get you out of here.” But when he neared the SUV, it wasn't Gage or Cooper who leaned out to grab her.

The man's head was bald, his blue eyes icy with hatred. “Where's the gun?” he asked.

Nick held up his own barrel pointed toward the Iceman.

But the killer laughed and pressed the barrel of his weapon against Annalise's temple. “Try it,” he dared Nick. “And she's dead before she and her baby hit the ground.”

That muscle twitched in Nick's cheek. “We didn't find it.”

The Iceman's gun cocked. The sound echoed inside Annalise's head. “That's too bad.”

“I know where it is,” Annalise said. She wasn't fighting just for her life. She was fighting for her son's. He deserved a chance.

He deserved a life.

She couldn't fight like she had the day the men had stolen her car. If she tried to claw at this man's face, he would just kill her. He was that cold. She had to reason with him instead. “Let me get it for you.”

He didn't loosen his grasp on her. Despite how wet her clothes and hair were, he held her easily. He was strong, so strong that he jerked her fully inside the SUV with him, onto the backseat. Now her body blocked his. He was using her as a shield as more bodyguards closed in behind Nick. Shots continued to ring out—bullets pinging off metal, shattering glass.

“No, he'll get it for you,” the Iceman said. “He'll get me the gun in exchange for your life.”

“I don't know where it is,” Nick said.

“My unit,” she told him. “Number fifteen.”

“Find the gun,” the Iceman said. “And call me once you have it.”

“I don't have your phone number,” Nick said.

“You have hers.” He reached for the passenger door to pull it closed.

“You won't get out of here alive,” Nick threatened him.

“Then neither will she,” he said.

Tears stung Annalise's eyes. But she refused to shed them. She refused to let either this man or Nick see her fear. She had to send Nick a message about where to find the gun without telling him exactly where it was.

If she blurted out that it was in the books, the Iceman might just kill them all right there and find it himself. He had brought enough men with him to outgun the bodyguards. But if it would take a little longer for him to find it, he wouldn't risk it. Even now she could hear sirens in the distance.

The police were on their way. He wouldn't risk sticking around for them to arrive.

“He's a killer,” she told Nick, hoping he'd get the message. That he would look in those books about serial killers for the gun. “He won't hesitate to pull the trigger.”

The Iceman chuckled. “Listen to your girlfriend,” he advised Nick as he pulled the door shut.

“Drive!” he ordered the man in the front seat.

Where was Cooper? Where was Gage?

Had she gotten her brother back just to lose him here, when he'd been trying to protect her? She closed her eyes as grief threatened to overwhelm her. There had been too many shots fired. Someone had gotten hurt.

Or worse...

* * *

Darren clasped her phone in his hand. Why hadn't it rung yet?

“What the hell is taking him so long?” he asked.

“Maybe he couldn't find it,” the woman suggested, her voice quavering with fear.

She was smart to be afraid. She probably knew that even if Nicholas Rus brought him the gun, there was no way she was going to live. He couldn't leave a witness like he had before.

He should have killed Carla thirty-two years ago. Then he wouldn't have spent half his life behind bars. He wasn't going back.

There was no way in hell he would return to hell.

“You told him what unit it was in,” Darren said. “He should have found it by now.” And he probably had. The guy had a reputation for being squeaky-clean. He'd probably turned the damn gun over to the FBI.

Once they ran ballistics and DNA and whatever the hell else they could get off evidence nowadays, they would be able to link him to more murders. A lot of murders...

It wasn't like the old days when all it had taken to convict someone was an eyewitness. A jury wanted solid evidence. The gun was it. “I've got to get out of here,” he told the driver. And he wasn't talking about the alley where they'd parked the stolen SUV. He wasn't talking about Chicago.

He needed to get the hell out of the country—to somewhere without extradition.

“What about her?” the driver asked.

He lifted the gun to her head again. She flinched as he pressed the barrel against her temple. “I'm going to kill her.”

And once she was dead, he would kill the driver, too. He couldn't leave behind any witnesses anymore.

Chapter 25

W
hy the hell wasn't the Iceman answering Annalise's phone? She'd had it on her. She always had it on her. While she'd left her purse in the SUV, the phone hadn't been inside. She must have put it in her pocket while they'd been searching the units.

Had Darren Snow given up waiting for him? It had taken Nick too long to get rid of the police, who'd showed up to investigate the gunfire, and find the gun. He should have realized what Annalise was telling him about the killer—about the trigger.

The gun was inside the books he'd found in her storage unit. The series of serial killer books had been out of place among her cheerful assortment of decorations and clothes. But it had taken him a few minutes to realize that was where she'd meant him to look.

Hell, she could have just told him. But she'd probably been worried that the Iceman would kill him then and just find the gun himself. She would have been more concerned about Nick's life than her own.

She was probably concerned about everyone else, as well. She couldn't know that they had all survived the gunfight. Everyone was okay.

But her...

Panic pressed on his lungs, stealing his breath away as his heart raced. “Answer the damn phone!” he yelled.

Nikki jumped; his outburst had startled her. The others were too shell-shocked to react. If they hadn't been wearing vests...

The shots that had hit them would have killed them. The vests had stopped the bullets but not the impact. Ribs were bruised or broken. But no one had sought medical treatment.

Gage paced the storage unit. “You shouldn't have made us stand down,” he said. “You shouldn't have.”

“He had his gun pressed to her head,” Nick said, his heart aching as he remembered the fear on her face. “He would have killed her.” And the damn vest he'd put on her wouldn't have saved her.

Nothing would have.

Maybe nothing had.

He could see the thought on the faces of the others. They thought she was dead. Even Gage...

“She never gave up hope on you,” he told him. “Everybody else thought you were dead, but Annalise wouldn't consider it. She knew you were too damn stubborn to give up.”

Gage released a shaky breath. “And I've got nothing on her. She's a helluva lot more stubborn than I am.”

Or she would have given up on Nick years ago. He saw that on Gage's face, too. She hadn't given up on him, and he wouldn't give up on her. He hit redial.

And finally someone picked up the call. “Special Agent Rus,” Darren Snow greeted him.

“No,” Nick replied. “I'm not an FBI agent anymore. I'm a bodyguard.” But he had failed to protect the person who mattered most to him.

The Iceman chuckled. “So you haven't brought that gun to the FBI evidence locker yet?”

“I haven't,” Nick said. “And I won't. I'm bringing it to you—in exchange for Annalise. Just like we agreed.”

“I had heard you're a man of your word,” the Iceman replied.

“What about you?” Nick asked. “Are you a man of your word?” He'd read those trial transcripts. Darren Snow was no Viktor Chekov. While Chekov was a killer, he lived by a certain code. The Iceman had no code—no moral compass whatsoever.

“I was beginning to think that you'd turned on me, Nicholas,” Darren said, “just like your whore of a mother did.”

“I'm nothing like my mother,” Nick said. At least, he wasn't like the one who'd given birth to him. He'd rather be like Penny Payne—the woman who wanted to assume the role of his mother.

“I've heard that,” Darren said. “I've heard you're all about law and order. It's hard for me to believe that you'd turn over evidence to me.”

“We made a deal,” Nick said—although he hadn't been given much choice in the matter, not with that gun barrel pressed against Annalise's head. “I'm holding up my end of it. Are you going to hold up yours?”

The Iceman chuckled again. But Nick didn't know what had amused him. His uneasiness grew.

“I want to talk to her.” Nick hadn't given up, and yet he needed to be certain that she was all right. He needed to hear her voice.

The Iceman's silence unnerved him and the others. They all glanced at each other, as if wondering...

Worrying. That Nick had taken too long, that he'd called too late.

“Nick?” Annalise's voice emanated from the speaker on his phone and echoed hollowly throughout the storage unit in which they all stood.

He uttered a ragged sigh, and the pressure on his heart eased. She was alive. “Annalise, are you all right? Has he hurt you?”

“You heard her,” the Iceman said. “She's alive. For now. But she and your kid she's carrying don't have much longer if I don't get that gun in my hands.”

“Where do you want to meet?” Nick asked.

“You're not going to try to lay a trap for me, Nicholas?” the Iceman asked.

“Of course not.” He would take no chances with Annalise's life.

“We'll meet out in the open, Nicholas, so I can be certain that you've come alone.” And he named a park not far from the storage facility. “Near the basketball courts.”

Logan was shaking his head, but Nick ignored him. “Agreed. But you won't see me or the gun until I see Annalise. Alive.”

The Iceman chuckled again—like he had a secret joke. Before he clicked off the phone, Nick heard Annalise shouting out a warning, “Don't trust him, Nick!”

Gage cursed. He had probably guessed what her outburst would cost Annalise. Pain.

The Iceman would hurt her. But he wouldn't kill her. He wanted the gun.

“You need to listen to her,” Logan said. “You can't trust him. You can't go alone, and you can't bring that gun with you.”

Nick shook his head. “I'm going to do exactly what he says.”

“That's evidence, Nick,” Logan reminded him. “You can't turn it over to a criminal. You know better.”

Nick shrugged. He knew the law, probably better than anyone else present. But for the first time in his life, the law didn't matter to him. He didn't care about right or wrong. He cared only about Annalise.

“We could switch the gun,” Logan suggested. “Get one that looks like it.”

“There's no time,” Nick said. “And he would know.”

“It's been over thirty years since he saw it last,” Logan argued.

“He would know,” Nick said because of his face. If the Iceman was going to believe Nick had brought the real gun, he'd need to see the struggle on his face, the guilt he'd feel for handing over evidence. While he'd feel some guilt, it wasn't the moral struggle he'd thought it might be. It was no struggle at all.

It didn't matter what the law said was right or wrong. All that mattered was Annalise.

* * *

Had Nick heard her? Had he heeded her warning? Annalise's heart pounded quickly and frantically. She knew Darren Snow had no intention of letting her or Nick live. He'd called up the men he'd hired, the ones who'd survived the gun battle at the storage unit.

There had been fatalities. She hoped only on the Iceman's side. Her brother had to have survived. He was tough—tough enough to make it through whatever hell he'd endured in Afghanistan. It would take more than a bullet to end his life.

She hoped the same for Nick. Because the Iceman had set up the park. He had shooters positioned on rooftops—ready to take head shots once the gun had exchanged hands. If Nick showed up at the park, he wouldn't leave alive.

And neither would she.

“I'm sorry,” Darren told her. But his apology lacked sincerity. “You seem like a sweet girl. But I can't risk going back to prison.”

She nodded as if she commiserated with him. But she could never understand a human taking another human's life, unless it was in self-defense or defense of someone else.

“You really should have rented the place to me furnished,” he said. “Then we could have avoided all of this nasty business.”

“It is my fault,” she agreed. And there was no way she could remedy it now. Nick had been right to push her away all these years. If she hadn't been so stubborn...

If she'd given up on him years ago, he wouldn't be in danger now. And neither would she.

The rain continued to fall, beating down on the roof of the stolen SUV—flooding the parking lot near the basketball court. No one played on the courts. Thanks to the rain and the encroaching darkness, it was deserted.

But for the man who stood with his back against one of the buildings near the court. Even through the rain, she could tell it was Nick. His black hair was wet and slicked to his head, but his eyes shone brightly in his handsome face.

The Iceman wasn't as certain, though. He peered at him. “Is it him or one of those bodyguards...?”

The driver shrugged. “Looks like him. And you told him to come alone.”

The Paynes wouldn't have allowed that, though. Would they? The family stuck together, protected each other. They had to be out there, ready to protect Nick. But she peered around and could see no one else.

From inside the SUV, she couldn't see the men Darren Snow had positioned on the rooftops, either. She didn't doubt they were there. He'd offered to pay them well.

Would Nick see them? He wasn't looking up. He was staring instead at the SUV.

“There's no one else around,” the driver said. “It has to be him.”

The Iceman hesitated yet, looking uncertain.

“It is,” she said. “It's Nick.” She'd loved him too long to mistake him for anyone else.

The Iceman released a breath. He believed her. Finally he opened the back door and pulled her across the seat and out the door with him. She stepped into a puddle, the water rushing over her shoe to soak her foot. Within seconds, her clothes were soaked, too, down to her skin.

The Iceman had taken the bulletproof vest from her. It wouldn't have mattered if she'd worn it, though, not when he'd ordered his snipers to take head shots. He wore it himself under his coat.

He didn't expect Nick to honor their deal any more than he intended to honor it. But he didn't know Nick.

He didn't know that he was a man of his word.

He gestured for Nick to come forward. Nick stepped away from the wall and crossed the basketball court. And Annalise held her breath.

They weren't supposed to shoot yet, though. Not until Nick handed over the gun.

Wait for my signal,
the Iceman had told them.
Once I know it's my gun, I'll raise my hand. That's when you open fire.

“Don't give it to him!” she shouted at Nick. “He's going to kill us.”

Nick didn't react. He wasn't surprised by her warning. He'd known. But he'd come alone, anyway.

For her? Or for their baby?

Where was everyone else?

It was just the two of them—against a killer.

The Iceman jerked her arm behind her back until she cried out at the pain. “Stop it!” he told her. “Or you won't die quickly. You'll just die painfully.” In his other hand he held a gun, pressed against her face.

“Let her go,” Nick said as he rushed forward. “She has nothing to do with this!”

The Iceman chuckled. “She has everything to do with it, Nicholas. You wouldn't have brought the gun if I hadn't taken her.” He used the barrel to gesture at Nick. “Did you bring it?”

“Of course.”

The Iceman's pale eyes narrowed skeptically. “I find it hard to believe that a man of your high moral values would have compromised his principles like this.”

Nick held up a velvet bag—one in which a fifth of whiskey usually came. His mother had liked to drink, too. “It's in here.” He tossed it over.

But with the Iceman's grip on her and his gun, he couldn't grab it before it hit the ground. He let her go so abruptly that she fell to the wet pavement.

Gunfire erupted. And Nick lunged toward her, as if to cover her body with his. But before he reached her, a bullet struck him. She didn't know if it came from above or from Darren Snow.

His gun was pointed at Nick. Nick kept coming.

He fired again.

Annalise screamed and, desperate to help, she grabbed up the bag. Knowing Nick, it could have been a decoy, a fake weapon. But she pulled out a real gun, the metal heavy and cold. It probably wasn't loaded.

Snow had forgotten about her lying on the ground. His focus was on Nick now. He stepped forward and pointed his gun at Nick, who was sprawled on the ground, rain falling on his face. His eyes were closed.

Was he already dead?

Darren must have wanted to make certain, because he cocked his gun and lowered the barrel close to Nick's head. Annalise lurched to her feet and squeezed the trigger of the gun she held—the gun that had already been used to kill.

Her wrist snapped at the recoil, and the weapon fell from her suddenly weak grasp. Pain radiated up her arm.

Darren Snow spun toward her, his eyes open with surprise. Then he dropped to his knees on the pavement and fell forward. She screamed as she saw the wound in the back of his head. Had she done that?

Had she killed a man?

She didn't care at the moment. All she cared about was Nick. She dropped to the ground next to him. “Are you all right? Nick?”

But his eyes—his beautiful eyes, usually so bright—remained closed. She'd killed a man to save him. But she might have been too late.

* * *

She had known, as Penny always did, that her children were in danger. This time it had been all of them. Panic constricted her heart, squeezing it painfully. She didn't know how she'd managed the drive to Chicago or how she'd found the hospital where they were.

But she'd managed somehow to get to them. Was she too late, though? Had she lost one of them?

She hurried to the waiting room.

“Mom,” Logan gasped as she walked in. Instead of protesting her being there, he hugged her tightly. As if he was a little boy who needed comfort.