Love & Redemption (7 page)

“Tell me where the diamonds are,” Stephen ordered. “Otherwise, all I have to do is shoot your friend in the back of the head. That’ll finish you both off.”

Meeting Gavin’s eyes, it bewildered Shelley to see him smile. She had no idea what he found amusing at a time like this. Somehow, he backed up instead of pulling on Shelley. Her arms scraped against the outside wall, but she made slow progress toward safety.

“Tell him where to find the diamonds,” Gavin said softly. “Once I get you to the ledge and get your feet under you so you can help, it’ll only take a second to get you over the wall.”

“What if he starts shooting after I tell him?” she asked softly.

“How can he tell you aren’t lying?” He jutted his chin toward the street. “Besides, the police just pulled up. They don’t have much time to find the diamonds and get out of here.”

Hope filled Shelley with that news. Perhaps they would get out of here alive. At least they had a chance.

She tilted her head and hollered, “Did you even think to search my suitcase? You’re still an idiot. Why does Paul keep you on the payroll?”

“Shelley!” Gavin shook his head and heaved backward again.

Though she knew he worried about her angering Stephen, that was the one way to make sure he wouldn’t kill them before searching for the diamonds. He’d made a lot of mistakes since Paul hired him to work for S.A.T.O. Reminding him of that fact could buy extra time for Gavin to get them inside.

Stephen continued staring at her without moving, seeming torn about what to do. He probably thought she was lying—she wished she was.

“The cops are here, prick,” she called. “Tick tock. Your time’s running out. Better see if that’s really where I put the diamonds.”

Stephen’s head disappeared at the same time as Gavin gave one last heave and scooted the rest of his body inside the garage.

Shelley found purchase on the new ledge, her bare foot gripping the narrow strip more easily than her other one. She wrapped her arms around Gavin’s neck, clinging to him for balance and comfort. They weren’t safe yet, but their chances looked a lot better than they had a few moments ago.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Told you to trust me.”

Suddenly, a few inches away from her, a chunk of cement flew off the wall. Shelley looked up to see Terrance above her, taking aim again. The silencer attached to the end of his gun would keep the police from understanding what was going on up here, even if they could get through whatever barricade the rogue agents put in place. “Where are they, bitch? Give us the diamonds!”

Terrance must be dumber than she thought if he couldn’t find them. She hadn’t done much to hide the jewels. His IQ didn’t matter, however. He knew how to fire a weapon. She looked at Gavin as Terrance aimed his weapon again. “Pull me in!”

Gavin heaved while Shelley scrambled along the wall, though she was unable to gain any footing.

Terrance’s second shot clipped the edge of the wall above their heads. He was finding the range. His next shot wouldn’t miss.

Chapter Seven

Gavin took a deep breath, trying not to panic. Shelley’s fingernails raked across his neck in her frantic attempt to climb inside, and her panicky movements were throwing them both off balance.

“You have to calm down, Shell.”

“Tell me that once a bullet goes through your head,” she snapped.

Shuddering, Gavin remembered all too well what that looked like as an image of Sierra Valentine flashed through his mind. Another pellet-gun type of sound came from above and pieces of cement rained down on them.

“He won’t miss again.” Tears swam in Shelley’s beautiful blue eyes. “You have to get out of the line of fire, Gavin.”

Was she saying what he thought she was saying? “Screw that. I’m not leaving you!” Gavin heaved again, pulling beneath her armpits with all his might. Realizing it would take too much time to pull her inside, there was only one thing they could do in an attempt to avoid Terrance’s next bullet. “We have to move. It might screw up his aim.”

She nodded. “It’s worth a try.”

Gavin headed right, knowing he couldn’t go far before running out of rope. As it stood, though, he was wedged against the car he’d tied himself to. He needed extra room so he could pull with his entire body, not just his arms. Maybe then he could get her inside.

The spot on the wall they’d just left exploded into a dust of fine powder as Terrance’s bullet found the mark. Gavin tried to ignore it, dragging Shelley further right before the rope around his waist tightened. Luckily, that gave him enough room to back up between two cars. It was now a matter of getting her inside before Terrance shot her.

Although his shoes slid on the slick surface of the garage floor, Gavin steadily walked backward, gripping Shelley as tight as he could. Soon, the upper part of her torso rested on top of the wall.

Relief flowed through him. Just a few more tugs and she’d be safe. “It’s working.”

She let out a small hiss, but nodded her agreement. “Hurry.”

After more tugging, Shelley slid the rest of the way, falling on top of him as they both collapsed to the ground. The outside wall exploded seconds later.

“Son of a bitch!” Terrance screamed. “Stephen, we’ve got a problem. Get your ass to the elevator.”

Gavin’s muscles shook with fatigue, and he was sure Shelley must be in pain from being drug across the rough cement, but now was not the time to relax. He hurried to untie the rope restraining him and hopped up from the ground, extending his hand to assist her.

“We’ve got to run,” he said. “We’ll take the stairs.”

She shook her head, though she did run toward the vestibule containing the elevator and stairwell. “No running. Give me my gun. When the elevator door opens, I’ll shoot them before they get organized.”

“You’re assuming
they
won’t start shooting as soon as the doors open. They know what floor we’re on. What if they get you first?”

Without another word of argument, she headed for the stairway door and Gavin followed close on her heels. About halfway down the first flight, she paused and took off her remaining shoe, clutching it in her hand. After that, they gained more speed, but Gavin had to wonder where Stephen and Terrance were. Surely they already figured out the diamonds weren’t in Shelley’s suitcase.

If Gavin and Shelley reached the cops before the thugs caught them, there wasn’t much they could do. They wouldn’t risk getting arrested. Gavin was sure of that. Although he wasn’t the super criminal Shelley made him out to be, he had run across a few during his time in jail. True criminals always looked out for themselves first.

Then again, when he thought about it more, Gavin didn’t want the cops looking too closely at his background. He wasn’t sure going to them was the right course of action. Even if Shelley worked for some secret anti-terror thing, that didn’t mean the cops would believe Gavin hadn’t done anything wrong. Besides, he
did
steal the diamonds. There was no denying that.

They were getting close to the first floor and still no one had entered the stairwell. Gavin figured someone would be waiting when they stepped out, but he didn’t know if it would be cops or Terrance.

He put a hand on Shelley’s shoulder to slow her pace, thinking even more about his criminal past. “We need to get out of here without the cops catching us.”

She glanced back with narrowed eyebrows. “Why? The cops are who we want to see when we step out the door.”

Gavin reached inside his suit pocket and pulled out the black jewelry bag. “Maybe not with these.”

“You got them?” Shelley’s mouth dropped open, but then a wide grin broke across her face. “How clever are you, my sneaky thief? I thought I ruined everything by putting them in my suitcase. Now we can still give them to Jenessa and stop Paul’s plans.”

Gavin slung Shelley’s purse off his neck and unzipped it, dropping the diamonds inside before handing it to her. “Unless Stephen and Terrance went to the cops and told them we set the bomb off. I thought they wouldn’t go to the police, but maybe they did. It would be our word against theirs.”

“Oh.” Her mouth drew into a frown. “I didn’t think about that, but it’s a risk we can’t afford. It
is
odd that they never came in here to get us.”

He was glad Shelley at least gave some thought to his fears instead of brushing them aside. “It’s more than odd. They must have a plan to get the diamonds back. The cops don’t know who the bad guys are yet.”

She sighed. “If you have another plan about getting out of here, please tell me it doesn’t include scaling the building.”

“Maybe just one floor.” He laughed.

Shelley punched him lightly in the shoulder. “That better be a joke.”

“Of course it is.” Gavin squeezed her arm while stepping past her. He cautiously looked through the small window in the doorway. The ground-floor vestibule was empty. He wished he knew if the whole garage was. “I can’t see anything.”

“Stephen said they put up a barricade,” Shelley said. “Maybe no one could get in at all.”

“Then why haven’t they come inside the stairwell to kill us?” he asked, glancing up at her.

“I wish I knew.” She shrugged. “Only one way to find out. I’ll go first and check things out.”

She still wanted to protect him. While he appreciated that, today had proven they were partners. Shelley had no special skills to get them out of this situation. She floundered around and needed him as much as he needed her. While he wished it wasn’t life or death, it was nice to be useful again. He’d been so used to being treated poorly in the past year, he’d almost forgotten how great it was to have a purpose and a place in the world.

He offered his hand. “How about we go together?”

***

Shelley took Gavin’s hand and squeezed his fingers tightly. She’d feel safer with her gun instead, but there were policemen out there. They had enough troubles as it was without cops shooting at them.

“I remember there being a side door for emergency exits or something,” she said, nodding her head to the left. “The cops will mostly be at the main entrance. Maybe we can sneak out the side and leave quietly.”

“You don’t want to go to the police at all now?” Gavin’s eyebrows rose. “What about letting them know Stephen and Terrance set off the bomb?”

She shook her head. “You’re right. It’s our word against theirs. I have an illegal gun in my purse and millions worth of stolen diamonds. We look like the criminals, not them.”

“But Nick wants you to catch those guys.”

Sighing, Shelley tried to tamp down her frustration. It wasn’t Gavin’s fault he hit on a sore spot. “I never agreed to work for Nick,” she said as calmly as she could. “Stephen and Terrance are his problem. All I agreed to was getting you out of here alive, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“I like living.” A grin curved half his face. “I’m down with that plan.”

“Thought you might be.”

Knowing they shouldn’t waste more time, Shelley cautiously opened the door, and they walked into the vestibule together. A quick glance at the lights above the elevator revealed the car was on the fourth floor.

Weird. No one else came down the stairwell. Could Terrance and Stephen really be on the fourth floor still? If so, why? Not that it mattered. There was nothing she could do about it. Where they were didn’t change her plan.

“It’s now or never,” she said.

Gavin nodded. “Let’s hope the cops are looking the other direction.”

Looking out to the main entrance, Shelley realized why no one had entered the space. Parked diagonally across the entrance and exit ramps were two cars. From the cops milling around and the wide berth onlookers gave them, Shelley could only guess the bright red lights blinking inside the front seats of the cars were attached to more bombs.

She wondered how long before the bomb squad would arrive. They must keep busy in a town this size. Unsurprisingly, vans from news stations already lined the street, and cameras and reporters stood behind the yellow police tape. Didn’t take them long. Reporters seemed faster than police some days.

One thing was sure, it would be easy to sneak to the emergency exit. Right now, no one even paid attention to the inside of the garage, and none of them wanted to go near the bombs barricading the way.

“What bothers me,” Gavin said softly into her ear, “is how Terrance and Stephen plan to get out.”

“True. I don’t think they’d really trap themselves behind bombs. Maybe they’re fakes.” Shelley led the way across the lot, sticking to the shadows of the far side—no sense drawing media attention to their escape plan. The concrete was frigid against her bare toes, and she couldn’t wait to get into the sunlight outside.

Gavin’s hand tightened in hers. “Do you think they’re just going to ram through it to get out? Maybe their van is bullet proof so they aren’t worried about police guns and stuff. If so, what about all the people standing out there?”

Shelley slowed and glanced at him. “For a criminal, you sure are worried about others.”

“I’m not a crim—”

The sound of squealing tires cut off whatever he’d been about to say.

At the top of the ramp to the second floor, the white S.A.T.O. van peeled out, heading straight for them.

“Run!” Shelley screamed, tugging Gavin along.

“We need to get between the cars,” he said, fighting to pull her the opposite direction she wanted to go.

“No!” She released his hand and kept running. The door wasn’t far. They could make it. “They’ll ram the cars into us. The door is our only chance. Don’t stop running.”

Suddenly, the windshield of a truck exploded, showering glass shards in her face. Shelley flinched, but didn’t slow down, blocking out the sharp pains in her feet as she stepped on broken glass.

“They’re shooting at us again,” Gavin yelled.

How could you tell, smart one?
Even if it was a stupid thing for him to say, Shelley saved her breath for running. Just a few more yards and they would be there. She didn’t even dare turn around and see how close the van was, but she heard it bearing down on them. The tires made a terrifying whirring sound against the garage floor.