wasn’t sure.
But he couldn’t wait around and find out if whoever was in that car had friendly intentions. Judging from the tracking device he’d found, his guess was no. No friendly intentions here. That vehicle was likely carrying more shooters who’d come after Caitlyn and the baby. And being inside the house wouldn’t necessarily help them if these morons opened fire.
Caitlyn ran down the porch steps, and Drury reached across the seat to pull her inside. The moment she was in, he gunned the engine to get them the heck out of there.
“You’re not going to drive toward that car, are you?” she asked. The fear was right back in her voice. Not that it’d completely gone away, but there was a triple dose of it now.
It was raining, they didn’t have a car seat and bullets might start flying at any second.
“We’re not going toward the car,” he assured her, and he bolted out of the side of his yard and headed not for the highway, but toward the main house.
It was a risk, but there were no completely safe options here.
Drury tossed her his phone. “Text Grayson and tell him what’s going on. And climb in the back with the baby. Get all the way down on the seat and stay there.”
She gave a shaky nod, and with the baby cradled in her arms, Caitlyn scrambled into the back. Drury heard her typing the text, but he kept his attention on the other car. Even though he hadn’t turned on his headlights, the driver of the vehicle must have seen him because he came after them.
Hell.
He had hoped the guy would just back off when he saw where Drury was headed. No such luck.
Drury drove toward the main house, but he certainly had no intentions of stopping. There was a security gate just ahead, and like everybody else on the ranch, he had the remote to open and close it. He started pushing the remote button the moment it came into view, and the metal gates dragged open.
It seemed to take an eternity.
And that car behind him just kept getting closer and closer.
“He’s got a gun,” Caitlyn said, and that’s when Drury realized she’d lifted her head and was looking out the back window.
“Get back down,” he warned her.
Yeah, the guy had a gun all right. Drury had no trouble spotting it because the passenger lowered his window and stuck out his hand, trying to take aim.
The moment the gates were open, Drury gunned the engine and flew through them, hitting the remote to close them.
It worked.
The gates closed before the shooter could get through. The driver hit his brakes, slamming into the gate, but the gates held.
Thank God.
Drury kept going, and he sped past the houses that dotted the ranch. He didn’t dare stop because the gunman might have a long-range rifle in the car, and Drury didn’t want to give the guy any reason to keep firing.
“Grayson says his brothers and the ranch hands have been alerted,” Caitlyn relayed after getting a response to the text she’d sent.
Good. Though he doubted that gunman would get out of the car and go in pursuit on foot, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Especially since Drury was already sorry enough for this fiasco.
He stayed on the road that coiled around the pastures, and once he was past the exterior security lights, it was too dark for him to see. Drury had no choice but to turn on his headlights.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Some place she wouldn’t like. “The sheriff’s office. And before you remind me that these goons can follow us there, they can follow us anywhere. At least if we’re at the sheriff’s office, the deputies and I can protect you, and it’ll get these idiots away from my family.
“Don’t say you’re sorry,” he added, his voice a little harsher than he’d intended.
Drury had caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror and could tell from the tears that she was about to apologize again. Well, it wouldn’t help. Nothing would right now except getting her and that baby to safety.
His phone rang, the sound cutting through the other sounds of his heartbeat drumming in his ears and the wipers slashing at the rain.
“It’s Grayson,” Caitlyn said. She passed him the phone, but since Drury still had hold of his gun, he pushed the speaker button and dropped the phone on the seat next to him.
“Where are you?” Grayson asked. “And what the heck’s going on?”
“I’m at the back of the ranch on one of the trails and about to come out on Miller’s Hill. The car with the gunmen didn’t get past the gate.”
“No,” Grayson agreed. “Gage had eyes on the car, and he said the driver turned around and sped off. He got the license plate numbers, but they’re bogus. Gage and Dade went in pursuit.”
Both men were Grayson’s brothers. And his deputies.
“I’ll take the back roads to get to the sheriff’s office. I should be there in about twenty minutes.” Drury paused. “Caitlyn Denson is with me.”
Grayson paused, too, and then cursed. A rarity for him since he was the father of a five-year-old son and had cut way back on his bad language.
“Caitlyn?” Grayson repeated like the profanity he’d just used. “You’re not involved with her again, are you?”
“No, not like that.” And Drury couldn’t say it fast enough.
“Good. Because the last time you hooked up with her...”
Grayson didn’t finish that. Didn’t need to finish it. Because Drury remembered it well enough without any reminders. Caitlyn had been a CPA in those days. A CPA who’d been helping Drury investigate the crime family that had employed her.
At least Drury had believed she was helping him.
However, he’d been wrong. Because Caitlyn had ended up marrying the very man whose family Drury had been investigating. But those were old memories, and he didn’t have time for them now.
“So, why is Caitlyn with you?” Grayson pressed. “And are those gunmen after her?”
“They’re after her.” That was the easy question to answer. The first one, not so much. “There might be another baby from Conceptions Clinic.”
He gave Grayson a moment for that to sink in.
“Caitlyn and Grant Denson’s baby,” Grayson concluded.
“Yeah. At least that’s what a man told Caitlyn.” Drury could still see her in the glimpses that he was making in the rearview mirror, and she was hanging on to every word. “According to her, a man demanded a ransom. She paid it, but he reneged.”
Grayson
