Chapter Seventeen

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"Deanna?" Kit blurted, the worry already in her voice. "Where you are? What happened?"

"I was on my way to the sheriff's office in town, but Trevor's right behind me, and he's trying to run me off the road so I'm heading to Jace Malley's house. It's closer."

Yes, it was, but Kit still didn't want the woman coming here. Then again, she didn't want her brother murdering his wife either.

A sob tore from Deanna's mouth. "I found out Trevor tried to have you killed. Kit, he hired that horrible man to kidnap our son."

"I'll call the sheriff," Jace said, taking out his phone.

"Deanna, Jace is calling the police. Why didn't you—"

"No," Deanna practically screamed. "The sheriff is in on this. That's how Ramsey was able to get into the courthouse. The sheriff helped him and made sure all the doors were jammed."

That sent a shiver of ice through her body. Heck. Had that really happened?

Jace must have thought it was at least a possibility because he didn't make the call. "I'll let Angel know what's going on," he said instead.

Good. Because she knew they could trust Angel.

"Deanna, where are you right now?" Kit asked, just as she heard a loud noise of metal crushing against metal.

"A car has run into the gate," Roy announced. "The security feed is on the screen."

The monitor immediately switched from the report to the camera feed coming from the gate, and Kit saw Deanna's silver Mercedes. It had indeed crashed against the gate.

Deanna staggered out from the driver's side, and even in the milky light, Kit could see the blood on her head.

Along with something else.

Headlights cutting through the darkness behind the woman.

Deanna screamed again, and she ran to the fence. "Help me," she shouted. "Let me in."

Jace cursed. "I'll go to the gate," he said. However, he immediately seemed to rethink that. "This could be a distraction."

Yes, Kit had already considered that. Considered, too, that if Jace went to the gate, she'd be going with him. No way would he leave her here alone, and it could be five minutes or more before Angel arrived. Plenty could happen during that short span of time.

Deanna continued to scream. Continued to try to climb over the fence, and those headlights just moved closer and closer. Until Kit finally saw the familiar black vintage Hummer.

It was her brother's.

Kit couldn't make out who was behind the wheel, but the driver revved the engine as if preparing to slam into Deanna.

"If there's an attack, we'll make our stand here at the house," Jace spelled out, already getting her a Kevlar vest and a backup gun. "Roy, turn on all exterior security lights."

On the monitor, Kit could see the lights flare on. Lots and lots of them. Some had been positioned on the fence posts, others at the tops of the gate pylons, and still others along the road itself.

"Roy, open the gate, and as soon as the woman is inside, close it," Jace instructed. "That might stop the person or persons in the Hummer from coming in," he added to Kit in a mutter.

While she donned the vest, Kit watched as the gate slid open, and Deanna gave up her attempts to climb the fence. She dropped down to the ground. And fell. It took her a couple of seconds of struggling to get to her feet, and she hobbled through the gate.

But so did the Hummer.

It shot through the gate before it could be closed.

The camera feed on the monitor immediately shifted to inside the property, and Kit saw the driver made a beeline for Deanna. The woman screamed again, and she dived off the road and into a grassy area next to the pasture fence.

Jace cursed again, and she understood his frustration and concern. Going out there was beyond dangerous. But they couldn't just stand here and watch Deanna be killed.

"Let's get in the SUV and go after her," Jace said.

They hurried to the garage, and the moment he started the engine, he backed out while the camera feed popped up on the dash. The driver had thrown the Hummer into reverse and was no doubt backing up so he could have another go at trying to run Deanna over.

Kit hated to think of her brother trying to kill his wife. But then, maybe that wasn't what was happening at all. Jace and she wouldn't know for sure until maybe it was too late.

"Stay in the SUV," Jace said, an order that definitely hadn't come as a surprise. "Roy, reopen the gate so that Angel can get in when he arrives."

He slammed on the accelerator, speeding toward Deanna and the Hummer. The Hummer was doing some speeding of its own, and it darted at Deanna again. She caught onto the pasture fence, hoisting herself up and dropping to the ground on the other side.

The Hummer driver reversed once more.

Jace didn't hit the brakes of the SUV until he was less than ten feet away from the Hummer. Then, he maneuvered his SUV so that he was now between Deanna and her attacker.

Deanna let out what sounded like a loud cry of relief, and she scrambled back over the fence, hurrying toward Jace and Kit. The moment she reached them, Deanna pressed her face against the window and began to yank on the door handle.

The blood was streaking down the side of her face, and her eyes were wild, filled with terror.

Maybe.

But Kit reminded herself this could all be ruse, and that everything about this could be a setup.

"I'm not letting you in," Jace told Deanna. "Run to the house and wait on the porch."

Deanna shook her head. "Please. You have to save me," she begged.

Just as the Hummer driver drove forward.

That got Deanna letting out another shriek and moving quickly away from the SUV. Good thing, too, because the front of the Hummer slammed into Jace's vehicle.

Both Jace and she had on their seatbelts, but the impact from the bigger vehicle gave them a jolt, causing their seatbelts to vise over their bodies.

The impact also set off the airbags.

The engine continued to run so the Hummer hadn't disabled the SUV. Thank God for that, but because of the airbags, Kit could no longer see out the windshield. However, she heard the revving of an engine and realized the Hummer was coming at them again.

"Stay put," Jace said, drawing his gun and shoving open his door. He stayed in the SUV but leaned out.

Kit knew what he was going to do—fire into the windshield of the Hummer to stop the driver from trying to kill them. That was their best chance of surviving this. But still, it could be a deadly move.

Because there might be someone else in the Hummer who could shoot Jace.

With the Hummer engine revving, Jace took aim, but before he could fire, there was some movement to his left.

A blur of motion.

Kit caught just a glimpse of a hand. And the stun gun. Before the person jammed it against Jace's neck.

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