Page 148 of Proof of Guilt

“I’ll use the door for cover,” he told her.

She still shook her head and reached for him. Theo wanted to take the time to reassure her, but maybe that wasn’t even possible, anyway. He put his hand on the door handle.

And then heard the sound crack through the air.

Not another bullet. It was a tear gas canister, and it smacked onto the ground just a few feet from the cruiser.

Hell.

Theo ditched his idea to open the door and instead try to start the engine to get them out of there. No such luck, though. The gunmen had seen to that. This had likely been their intention all along, and Theo had no choice but to move Ivy.

“We’ll go out your side,” he told her. “Open the door and get out but stay low. Wait for me, and then we’ll run to the shed where Gabriel is.”

It wasn’t an especially good plan, but he didn’t have a lot of options here. Especially not with the tear gas starting to ooze its way into the cruiser. His only hope was that the tear gas would hide his and Ivy’s escape. Then he had to hope they didn’t collapse along the way. It wouldn’t be a long run, but it would feel like a marathon with that gas burning their eyes and lungs.

Coughing again, Ivy threw open the door, and she practically tumbled out, landing in a crouching position on the ground. Theo kept low since the bullets were still coming, and he crawled toward her.

“Watch out!” Gabriel shouted.

Despite the gunfire, Theo heard him loud and clear, but he had no idea why Gabriel had yelled out that warning. Not until he saw the movement.

Someone was walking out of that cloud of tear gas.

That someone had a gun, and he latched onto Ivy, knocking away her gun. In the same motion, he took aim.

And the man fired.

* * *

THE SHOT WAS so close to Ivy that the sound blasted through her head. She braced herself to feel the pain from being hit. But nothing.

Well, nothing other than the pain in her ears from the noise.

From what she could tell, the shot had gone into the ground right next to her. Maybe he’d just missed. Or else it could have been some kind of warning shot. If so, it had certainly gotten her attention.

Despite the man’s having hold of her and that fired shot, she was alive, and she needed to do something to keep it that way. Ivy turned, ready to push her attacker away before he could fire again, but she was already too late. He hooked his arm around her and put the gun to her head. Worse, he was in position so neither Theo nor her brother might have a clean shot to take out this guy.

She tried to elbow the man in his gut, but he only tightened his grip on her until he had her in a choke hold. It was already hard enough to breathe because of the tear gas, and that certainly didn’t help.

The man, however, probably had no trouble breathing. That’s because he was wearing a gas mask. Ivy caught a glimpse of it when she managed to glance back at him.

“Let her go,” Theo growled. That’s when Ivy realized he had taken up cover behind the back of the cruiser.

Of course, the man didn’t release her, and he didn’t respond to Theo’s demand. He just started dragging her onto the porch. Only a few steps, and he would have her inside where there were at least two other gunmen waiting.

She forced herself to stay as calm as she could. Which probably wasn’t very calm. But she needed to think. Needed to do something to make sure no one got killed before she even tried to diffuse this.

“If this is about my husband’s money,” she said. “We can work this out.”

Again, no response. So if Lacey was indeed behind this, then she’d convinced the men not to bargain with her. Maybe by kidnapping their families. Maybe because Lacey had just paid them too well.

The man just kept dragging her, and the moment they reached the doorway, he pulled her inside. Ivy had been right about the gunmen being there. One was on each side of the door. A door they didn’t close. They stayed there, no doubt ready to shoot anyone who came after her.

At least the tear gas inside had thinned out enough for her to breathe. But the bad news was that the goon still had her in a choke hold.

“I gave birth to Travis’s only grandchild,” she tried again. She needed to hit some kind of nerve so she knew who she was dealing with. “He wouldn’t like it if anything bad happened to me.”

The man still didn’t say anything. That didn’t mean August wasn’t behind this, though. In fact, it didn’t rule out anyone.

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