Chapter Eighteen

“Dad,” Hayes heard Jemma mutter, and there was a whole lot of fear trapped in that single word.

There was a damn good reason for the fear, what with the gun at Stefano’s right temple. A shot there would be fatal.

But who the hell was holding that gun?

Hayes couldn’t tell because of the ski mask. Added to that, the person was crouching down behind Jemma’s father, using him as a human shield.

One thing was for certain—Stefano’s captor wasn’t Cordelia. The woman was lying on the ground, wailing in pain and still calling out for someone to help her. Stefano did glance in her direction, but he gave nothing away. No signs to indicate that maybe his wife was part of…well, whatever the heck this was.

“Dad,” Jemma repeated, and because she looked ready to jump to her feet, Hayes scurried over closer to her.

And he got shot at.

Her father’s captor sent a bullet right at Hayes, but it skipped off a boulder, and Hayes was able to duck behind cover with Jemma.

“Stefano,” Cordelia called out, and she turned as if ready to make her way to her husband.

“I can’t tell who’s holding him,” Jemma muttered.

“Neither can I,” Hayes agreed.

He figured the silence that followed the last shot was some kind of temporary standoff and that it wouldn’t last. And he was right. Because it was only a couple of seconds before Stefano spoke.

“Jemma, I’m to tell you that I’ll be allowed to go free and unharmed if Hayes and you will surrender.” Stefano’s voice was flat, but his eyes were cold and lethal. “Translation: he wants you to trade my life for yours. Of course, I don’t want you to do that. This sonofabitch is a coward who’d rather keep killing than own up to what he’s done.”

Stefano’s captor jammed the gun even harder against his head and growled something that Jemma couldn’t catch.

“Coward,” Stefano repeated, his voice even louder now. “He’s warned me if I say his name that everyone here will have to die.” He glanced at Cordelia again. “Including my wife. Cordelia, are you part of this?”

“No,” the woman shouted. “Never. I love you, Stefano.”

Stefano smiled. Actually smiled with a gun to his head. But Hayes couldn’t tell if that’s because he was touched by the woman’s words or if something else about this situation had amused him.

“If I say his name,” Stefano went on, “then he’s insisted he’ll kill me where I stand. But, oh, what a problem that will cause since my dead body will no longer provide him with cover, and Jemma and Hayes will blow out his fucking brains.”

Yes, that was a problem. And Stefano was right about Jemma and him delivering fatal shots. But then, her father would be dead, and Hayes didn’t want that happening, especially not right in front of her. Seeing him fall might cause her to launch to her feet, giving the killer one last shot at her.

“Who kidnapped you?” Jemma asked.

There it was again. That slight smile from Stefano. “I allowed myself to be kidnapped when this piece of shit rang my doorbell, pulled a gun on me, and killed my bodyguard. I knew this was about you, that he planned on using me, and I decided to bring all of this to an end.”

“You arrogant asshole,” his captor spat out.

And Hayes had no trouble recognizing the voice.

Royce.

“You murdered them,” Jemma blurted. “You murdered them all.”

“Not Hailey,” Royce shouted. “I didn’t kill her.”

The man sounded pissed but still in control. Not good. Because he did have an important bargaining card with Stefano. Still, Hayes couldn’t trade Stefano’s life for Dr. Logan’s, the CSIs, and Jemma’s.

Cordelia let out another of those wailing sobs. “It was accident,” she insisted. “I didn’t mean to kill Hailey. I was just trying to make her stop seeing Brooks.”

Hayes could see it playing out that way. Could see something else, too, and even though confirming it wasn’t a priority, it was still a loose end that needed to be tied off.

“Did Brooks threaten to rat you out for killing Hailey?” Hayes threw out there. “Is that why you shot him?”

The confirmation came in the form of a loud sob from Cordelia. Killing her own son probably hadn’t been premeditated, but self-preservation had been strong enough for her to pull the trigger.

“Two deaths explained,” Hayes said. “How about you, Royce? Care to fill us in on why you killed sixteen members of Outlaw Ridge PD and these five?”

“Fuck you,” Royce snarled. “The only thing I’ll say is that my offer still stands. Jemma can save her father’s life by trading herself for him.”

Hayes had a quick reply for that. “Bullshit. If you get the chance, you’ll kill every single person here. No witnesses left behind. That’s what the murders are all about, right?” He made sure that sounded like the taunt that it was.

“Jacob and Kyle deserved what they got,” Royce spat out.

“Yeah, because they were bullies,” Jemma said. “Last I heard, there was no death penalty for being assholes. But there is one for killing and killing and killing to cover up your crimes. Is that what you did?”

Silence for way too many seconds. Too much time for Royce to think. Or react. He could shoot Stefano and try to take out the rest of them in a death-by-cop scenario.

“You shouldn’t have digitized those records,” Royce growled. “You shouldn’t have mentioned what you were finding to your fellow cops.” His voice got louder with each word. “I was covering things up. Eliminating anyone still looking for Kyle or Jacob. I didn’t pass along the missing persons reports. I buried them.”

The burial wasn’t just for the reports but literally. He’d put five bodies in this pit and there could even be others.

“You killed, buried, and corrupted,” Hayes went on. “I’m betting it wasn’t hard to enlist Zander or a loser like Grady Thorton to help you.”

“They failed,” Royce spat out, confirming that he had indeed used them.

“So did you,” Stefano snarled.

Hell. Hayes saw it coming, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He didn’t even have time to shout out a No to Jemma’s father.

Letting out a fierce howl, Stefano rammed his elbow into Royce’s gut.

Just as Royce’s gun fired.

Everything seemed to move in syrupy slow motion but at warp speed, too. A blend of shouts, cries, and the gunshot all crashing together with the scene playing out in front of him.

Stefano falling.

And the blood.

Hayes had to push all the sounds and the sight of the blood aside. He focused just on the killer. Just on Royce. And Hayes pulled the trigger.

Behind him, Jemma did the same, and it seemed to Hayes that their bullets both fired at the same exact second. A double blast of gunfire.

That didn’t miss.

Both their bullets slammed into Royce.

The man froze, the shock registering on his face right before he collapsed onto the ground.

Hayes leapt up. So did Jemma. And they raced toward the two men. Hayes went to Royce to make sure the asshole was dead.

He was.

Both bullets had gone straight into his head.

Jemma raced to her father, dropping down onto her knees when she reached him. She gasped at the blood that was all over the side of his face. So much blood that it took Hayes more than moment to realize that it was coming from his ear. Royce’s bullet had shot off a chunk of Stefano’s ear.

“I’m all right,” Stefano insisted, pulling her into his arms. “And so are you. It’s over, Jemma. It’s over.”