Newborn Conspiracy (14 page)

Well, maybe those pieces fit or maybe Devereux was giving them this information for a different reason."And your pointing the finger at Royce might be a way of trying to take the guilt off Genevieve."

The man nodded."It’s true. I’d prefer you go after Royce."

“I’m going after whoever’s guilty."

“Admirable."

“You should try it sometime." Logan propped his hands on his hips."So, if you think Royce is the culprit, why did you invite Donnie Bishop to this meeting?"

“Ah. Well, that was for my own information. I wanted to see how he would react to certain comments. I think he might be the one who’s trying to set up Genevieve. Yes, it’s true that she wanted to have your baby, but she didn’t go through with the surrogacy plan."

Logan groaned."Your daughter is more than capable of putting together a plan like this. Why can’t you see that?"

“I do see it," Devereux admitted. He looked at Mia."But now that you have a child, certainly you can put yourself in my shoes. Imagine that it’s your son who’s being accused of a heinous crime that could land him in jail. Wouldn’t you do anything to make sure that didn’t happen?"

“No, There are no excuses for criminal behavior."

Devereux shrugged."Then we agree to disagree."

“Not quite," Logan insisted."Who’s trying to kill us? And don’t guess—I want the truth."

“I don’t know the truth, but if I had to put money on someone, it’d be Royce. You already know that I don’t believe my daughter could do something like that. And Donnie, well, Donnie is self-centered and ambitious, but he doesn’t have a knack for violence. I don’t doubt his involvement with the surrogacy plan, but if he had anything to do with the shooting, then he hired someone to do his dirty work,"

“Genevieve could have done the same."

Another shrug, and Devereux dismissed it with the flick of his hand."Someone is digging through Royce’s background. Specifically, they’re trying to learn if he’s had any experience with explosives. I assume the person digging works for you." He didn’t wait for Logan to confirm or deny that."Royce has that kind of experience. He had a brief relationship in college with a young woman whose brother was a demolitions expert. According to my sources, the brother taught Royce some things."

So, Royce had the expertise to blow things up. But the real question was: had he?

“Another thing." Devereux went on."Whatever Donnie tells you about Genevieve, don’t believe it. He’ll do anything to make sure he doesn’t go to jail for what happened at Brighton."

“Old news from an old, unreliable source. Is that it?" Logan asked.

“Not quite. One last word of warning. Collena Drake,"

Logan just stared about him, “What about her?"

“She might have other motives that you’re not privy to. We do know that she was involved at Brighton as well."

“She was an undercover cop" Logan fired back."And she’s innocent. Remember, she got shot while trying to give us information."

“Shot but not killed or even hurt that seriously. She could have orchestrated it herself."

“And why the hell would she have done that?" Logan asked, though he probably figured all of this was Devereux’s smokescreen to take the blame off Genevieve.

Well, it wasn’t working,

“People have all sorts of reasons for doing things" Devereux concluded."Collena Drake is no different."

Logan dismissed that with a shake of his head, and he caught Mia’s arm as they left the room.

Mia had plenty of questions about the meeting, but she figured they’d have to wait because she expected to run into Royce and Genevieve.

But they weren’t there.

“The others already left," the guard informed them."Said they’d be back later."

“They left together with the other man, Donnie Bishop?" Logan asked.

The guard shook his head."All three left alone. Ms. Devereux was the last to leave." He led them down the corridor and toward the security checkpoints, Logan didn’t say anything because he didn’t want anyone, including the guards, to hear their conversation about Devereux. They collected their coats and his weapon as they proceeded through the checkpoints and returned to the main entrance of the prison.

“I didn’t tell you about Royce’s connection to the woman I rescued in South America because I was waiting on the report from my team. Obviously Devereux moved a little faster than my team did."

“Or maybe he already knew the information," Mia pointed out."Considering how protective he is of his daughter, he probably would have had Royce investigated."

“True."

Mia buttoned her coat before they stepped outside. But even with the coat and the wool-blend pants and jacket, the cold air rifled right through her. "So, what was that about Collena Drake? You don’t think she could have anything to do with this?"

“No. I had her thoroughly investigated. She was pregnant when she heard about the illegal activity going on at Brighton, and she went undercover for weeks to try to figure out what was going on. The clinic director found out what Collena was doing and gave her a drug to induce labor. Once she delivered the baby, someone stole her newborn and tried to kill her."

Mia felt instant empathy with the woman. Mercy, what they’d both been through as a result of their association with Brighton."Then why did Devereux warn us about her? And for that matter, what was this meeting all about?"

Logan must have noticed that she was cold because he slipped his arm around her."Well, for one thing he apparently wanted to threaten Donnie to prevent him from giving us any information about Genevieve."

She agreed with that."And he also wanted to make us think that Royce was guilty. Anything other than blame his daughter. Would he kill to save Genevieve?" Mia asked.

“In a heartbeat."

Mia was afraid of that.

They stopped just outside the massive twelve-foot-high front entry gates and looked around the parking lot.

There was no sign of Royce or Genevieve.

And there was no sign of Donnie, either.

Logan turned, glancing at the dozens of cars that lined the parking lot, “I guess Donnie decided not to wait around for us, after all."

Great. And here Mia thought at least something good would come from this. Without Donnie’s sample recordings, this meeting had been a total waste of time.

‘“Why would Donnie tell us to meet him out here if he had no plans to stay?" Mia asked, checking her watch. It was still well over two hours to Tanner’s next feeding, but she didn’t want to spend time waiting around the prison.

“Maybe Devereux’s subtle threats got to Donnie and he changed his mind." Logan glanced around them."Let’s go. Once we’re in the car, I’ll call him and see what the heck is going on."

Logan hadn’t parked far from the entrance. In fact, just the second row over, but the brutal wind would make the short walk seem much longer.

“Wait," she heard Logan say, Mia turned her head to glance at him, to see what had prompted him to say that. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw Logan move. Fast.

He plowed into her and shoved her to the cement.

Mia landed hard, her hands and knees catching the brunt of her fall. Her brain didn’t even have time to register the pain when she heard the blast.

“Stay down," Logan warned."Someone just took a shot at us,"

Logan scrambled to cover Mia’s body with his own.

He prayed it wasn’t too late.

He couldn’t see where the shot had landed, but it couldn’t have been far. And that meant the shooter probably wasn’t too far away.

Hell.

Judging from the sound of the shot, it’d Come from some kind of assault rifle.

Who would be so bold, so desperate or just so plain stupid to fire shots in front of a prison?

Unfortunately, any of their suspects might be responsible, but he couldn’t worry about that now. Right now, he had to keep Mia from being hurt.

There was another shot. This one zinged into the concrete right next to them and kicked up chunks of debris and dust. Logan knew he couldn’t stay put. He needed to take cover behind one of the cars because those flying bits of concrete could be just as dangerous as a bullet.

Another bullet came at them.

He tracked the sound and thought it might be coming from across the road where there was a cluster of thick trees. Someone could easily hide there. It was a high ground. Perfect position for an ambush.

The next shot smacked into the high metal fence and set off alarms, “Thank God." Logan mumbled. Maybe now the guards would come running to investigate because he was in desperate need of some backup.

But guards and backup wouldn’t solve his immediate problem. Another bullet came at them.

Then another, until the shots were nonstop. A barrage of deadly gunfire and each bullet could be lethal.

“We have to move," he told Mia.

Since there was no break in the shots, he knew he had to pray for the best and go for it.

Logan lifted his gun and fired into the cluster of trees. Of course, he was way out of range with his handgun, but he hoped it would buy them a little time.

He fired again and caught her arm."Let’s go." Logan insisted.

Logan didn’t waste any time. Nor did he let her get to a standing position where she’d be too easy a target. Instead, he crouched in front of her and practically dragged her toward a dark- blue SUV.

He pushed her down on the concrete sidewalk just in front of the vehicle and, as he’d done before, used his body to shelter her. The position put a lot of pressure on his right leg and almost immediately the pain began to stab through him. Logan pushed that pain aside so he could assess their situation and get them the heck out of there.

The SUV was large enough to give them some protection, but the gunman obviously tracked them to their new position because the next bullet ripped through the passenger door of the SUV.

Behind him, he heard a much more welcome sound. The shouts of a guard. At least one. Maybe more.

“Stay down."’ he repeated to Mia when she tried to lift her head to see what the heck was going on.

Logan wanted to know that himself “Over here," he shouted to the guards so they wouldn’t mistake him for the gunman. The last thing he needed was for anyone else to start firing at them."I think the shooter’s in the trees across the road."

A bulky uniformed guard took up position at the main gate and, using a concrete pylon for cover, returned tire.

So did the shooter.

However, he or she didn’t aim for the guard. The person continued to shoot at Mia and Logan.

Beside him, Logan could hear Mia’s rough, jagged breath. He glanced at her to make sure she was okay. She was pale and trembling but, other than that, was holding up well. Far better than he’d expected. That was a miracle, considering his gun was in plain sight and someone was trying to kill them— again.

As the bullets continued to pelt the SUV and the prison fence, anger began to boil inside Logan, He was sick of this. He’d chosen a dangerous career and life, but Mia had done all she could to avoid it. Yet, here she was, tossed into a firestorm not of her own making. She was a victim again and that riled him to the core. How dare this shooting SOB put her through this?

The only saving grace was that this time. Tanner wasn’t with them. He was safe back at the hotel with the bodyguard. Soon, Logan would have Mia back there as well, but first he had to get past this gunman.

The shots stopped.

Just like that. There were no more thick blasts, only the howl of the winter wind and the sound of Logan’s heartbeat pounding in his ears.

“Who’s out there shooting?" the guard shouted to Logan. Another armed guard took position behind the pylon opposite his comrade.

“I don’t know," Logan shouted back."But I intend to find out."

Another pair of guards raced toward the gate, both of them with two-handed grips on their semiautomatic weapons. But neither of them could come out into the parking lot because the shots started up again. The rifleman had obviously reloaded.

How long was this going to go on?

Each second, each shot, was like an eternity.

Even though Mia and he were partly protected by the SUV, Logan knew that each new round tired could be potentially fatal. Bullets could ricochet, eat their way through metal and glass.

He needed to get closer to those trees so he could get a better shot. He probably couldn’t get within range of the shooter, but may be, just maybe, he could get close enough to get the idiot to stop.

“Wait here." Logan told Mia.

There was another advantage to his trying to get closer to the shooter. If he moved, he could probably draw the tire away from Mia and get a better angle to see—and stop—whoever was out there.

Mia caught his arm and frantically shook her head."What are you going to do?"

“You’ll be safe. Just stay down. No matter what. Stay down"

“Please don’t go."

He wasn’t immune to the fear he heard in her voice. Or was that concern he heard? Logan thought she might be angry at his plan of action, but he didn’t have time to explain what he needed to do."I have to do this"

She was still shaking her head when he moved away from her. He stayed in a crouched position and tried to use the other vehicles as cover while he made his way laterally across the parking lot.

The first part of his plan worked.

The shooter fired at him.

His leg throbbed, protesting the strain that he was putting on his still-healing muscles, but Logan kept moving. And he kept watching to make sure Mia stayed put and for any sign of the shooter in those trees.

Unfortunately, thick gray clouds had covered most of the sky so there was no sunlight to catch even a glint of gun metal.

He ducked in front of a red two-door car. A split-second later, a bullet shattered the windshield. Logan was thankful for each miss, but he knew he couldn’t assume that the gunman was a bad shot. Of course, that was a possibility—and if so, he was dealing with an amateur.

Which meant the gunman could be Donnie Bishop, Genevieve or Royce.

Or it could be a pro who was just having a bad day.