“I can’t take it anymore,” Shannon said as she stared at the snow falling fast and steady outside her home in Standish Bay. “When will it end?”
“I don’t know,” Cole answered as frustrated as she was.
Perhaps we need to meet with the head of the security company and plan a sting operation with me as bait.”
“No way.”
“If we don’t do something, it may never end. I don’t know about you, but I can’t go on living like this. Tip-toeing around, looking over my shoulder and expecting Cameron to be killed every time he leaves the house,” she sobbed. “I can’t do it anymore.”
Cole grabbed her and engulfed her in his strong arms, rubbing his hands up and down her back, trying to soothe her. “Shhh. I know it’s wearing on you. You’ve been so strong. I don’t know how you’ve done it.”
“Please call John and security. Perhaps they can have someone pretend to be me and Cameron to draw the killer out?”
“Good idea. I’ll see if they can get here this afternoon, weather permitting.”
Shannon paced her great room early that evening as she listened to Cole, John and a Mr. Nash, who headed up her security detail, discuss plans for a sting operation.
“Ms. Gallagher,” said Mr. Nash. “We will sneak you and your son out of the house and to a safe location and replace you with two of our best officers. With any luck, this will be over in a day or two. We’ll make it look as though you’ve cancelled your bodyguards, which will open the doors for the culprit to make his move. Questions?”
“No. Just end this. I want to get on with my life.” She took a seat beside Cole and placed her hand on his thigh. “Our life.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Cole checked and rechecked the gun John had given him to protect Shannon and Cameron with if need be. Just holding it in his hands had them shaking. Could he honestly pull the trigger and take another person’s life? He hoped to God he never had to find out. John risked a lot, probably his career, by providing him with the weapon, but sometimes desperate times called for breaking the law. Not to mention he could go to jail for carrying a gun without a license. Small price to pay if he saved the people he loved with it. Technically, he was still an ex-con on parole and not able to get a gun permit, but once again semantics aside, it was worth the risk.
Shannon and Cameron played cards in the hotel room while he tried, unsuccessfully to remain calm. They’d been here for two days already and the walls were closing in on him. John, along with the lone bodyguard posted outside their door, kept them informed on what was happening at Shannon’s house. Too bad there wasn’t much to report.
At eleven-thirty, Shannon and Cameron slept soundly in the bedroom while he paced in the adjourning living room, barefooted and trying to be quiet when his stomach growled. Sure, why couldn’t he have been hungry when dinner had come at seven? He flipped through the hotel’s room service menu and was surprised he could order until midnight. Ordering up a cheeseburger and fries, he flipped on the TV to the Late Show and muted the sound as he ticked off the minutes until he heard the knock on the door and the words from the guard, “Your food is here, Mr. Jackson.”
Cole opened the door and stepped aside while the security guard wheeled the dinner cart into the room. Just as Cole was about the grab the metal cover off the plate a loud crack reverberated in the room, lights flashed in his eyes and his head exploded as he crumpled to the ground, darkness swallowing him up.
“That was easy, good job,” Kyle Ward said as he entered the room and shook the hands of the guard. “Thanks for your help.”
“No problem. The extra money’s come in handy, and I owe my boss nothing.”
“Did you have your food delivered as well?” Ward asked as he handed the guard some sleeping pills.
“You bet.”
“Eat most of it. Take two pills, open the other one and sprinkle it on the food that’s left. That will insure you’re not accused.”
Ward closed the door behind the guard, pulled Cole’s body up against the wall and entered the bedroom, grinning at the two sleeping people. “It may have taken longer than I planned, but I’m gonna enjoy this,” he muttered to himself.
Killing Lindsey had not been planned. She’d pulled a knife on him when he wouldn’t take no for an answer. She had wanted to break it off with him and go back to her fucking asshole of a husband. He’d shown her, hadn’t he? And when Cole had been convicted of the murder, he’d laughed his ass off. My, how the mighty had fallen.
Now he would get to enact his revenge against Cole once again. He walked across the room and placed the barrel of a gun against Shannon’s temple, waking her up. “Shhh, don’t say a word or I’ll shoot your precious son.”
The second something cold and hard rested on her temple, she’d opened her eyes to find a middle-aged man leaning over her with hatred in his dark, almost black eyes. She swallowed the lump in her throat and fought the panic threatening to take over her body and mind. Who was she kidding, she was in total panic mode. Her heart thumped wildly inside her chest, her body trembled violently as she stared, wide eyed, at the man she knew had come to kill her and Cameron. Oh my God, where was Cole? Had he already been killed?
Tears slid down her cheeks onto the pillow as her mind screamed do something.
“No, no, no.” The man pressed the gun deeper into her temple, causing her to wince. “Don’t even think about it. And in case you’re wondering, your lover is very much alive, for now.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“Why?” he repeated. “Because I hate the mother-fucker. Now get up and do nothing stupid.”
Fighting down the bile rising up her throat, Shannon sat up slowly, afraid if she went too fast he might shoot Cameron.
“Move into the other room.”
Her knees almost gave way when her eyes found Cole, slumped against the wall with blood dripping down the side of his face. “Please God, let Cole and Cameron live,” she prayed internally to herself.
“Sit down on the desk chair with your arms behind your back.”
Shannon did what he asked. She knew if she didn’t someone she loved would die. The man made quick work of using zip ties to secure her hands and feet and duct taped her mouth.
He swung the chair around, caressed his hand down her cheek and cupped her breast, causing her to cringe in revulsion.
“Too bad I don’t have time to sample you. What I wouldn’t give to take you and make Jackson watch. But alas, it’s your lucky day, as I’ve a plane to catch.”
He exited the room and Shannon watched in horror as he came back with her son. The barrel of the gun now against his temple. Cameron’s eyes were full of fear as the man restrained him as he’d done her, only on the sofa.
“Now what to do?” the man said as he strolled over to stand in front of Cole. “Do I wait until he wakes and make him watch as I kill you both, or should I make you watch as I kill him? Decisions, decisions?” the man’s deranged laughter reverberated throughout the room.
He kicked Cole’s feet and slapped him across the face, sending his head and body reeling to the floor. “Wake up Jackson, time to pay the piper.”
She heard Cole moaning, then he pushed himself up, using the wall for support. “What the fuck are you doing here Ward?”
“Come now Jackson, you’re not that stupid?”
“What happened with AJ?” Cole asked as he wiped the blood out of his eye with his hand.
“Power of suggestion is well—a powerful thing.” Ward shrugged. “Add some drugs and you convince a man he killed someone. Put suicide in a wounded soul’s brain, and you get them to commit it.”
“You bastard,” Cole yelled.
What happened next happened so fast Shannon’s eyes could hardly keep up. Cole moved at lightning speed. He swung his leg out tripping Ward, causing him to fall back. The gun discharged and Shannon screamed against the tape as blood pooled on Cole’s shoulder. They fought on the ground each grappling for control of the gun. Where was the gun John gave Cole?” Shannon wondered as she and Cameron both struggled with their bonds. Her wrists burned as the zip tie cut into them. It was no use. She’d never get free.
The struggle continued. Ward got control of the gun but lost it when Cole punched him in the face and it skittered across the room. People were pounding on the door. But Ward had flipped the dead bolts, keeping everyone out.
Would it never end? She struggled to kick the rug and move the chair on wheels toward the two men. Her heart pounded because it was working. She had no idea what she’d do when she got close to them, but she intended to aid Cole. As she made headway, she watched as Ward raised up his arm, holding a deadly-looking switch blade. Once again, her scream was strangled in the tape, and she stared in horror as he tried to stab Cole in the neck. Cole deflected it with his arm, which now bled profusely.
She swallowed the bile crawling up her throat, she couldn’t throw up, or she’d drown in her own vomit. “Please God, she prayed, please help Cole.”
Determined to get closer, she scooted the chair and when she was in kicking distance of Ward, she gave it her all and swung her legs out, hoping to connect with his knees and take him down. Unfortunately, he saw her coming and his hand snaked out to grab her feet, but it gave Cole the chance he needed. He rolled across the floor, grabbed the gun, aimed at Ward’s leg and pulled the trigger. The man’s screams went on and on.
Cole stumbled to the door, flipped the lock and fell back as an array of people entered, guns drawn.