“Looks like the rear tire was hit.” Aiden didn’t want to admit the ambush had caught him off guard, but it had.
He should have been prepared for this.
He and Reed stood guard on either side of the glass doors leading into the small lobby of the apartment building. For being what appeared to be a nice place, there wasn’t much security. Anyone could walk inside. Granted, the doors were probably locked at night, but that wasn’t much help in keeping riffraff out.
“I see it.” Reed called Brady, putting the call on speaker. “Gunfire while waiting on train, the Jeep SUV incapacitated, the other is okay. Everyone is safe, but we need an extraction plan.”
If Aiden didn’t know better, he’d assume Reed had also been in the army.
“Stay put. I’m on my way,” Brady said.
Reed disconnected from the phone. “The shooter was on the driver’s side of the vehicle.”
Aiden glanced at his soon-to-be brother-in-law. “What did you see?”
“Nothing really, but when the tire blew, I glanced in that direction. There was some movement within the trees, but nothing I can say with certainty resembling a shooter hiding in wait.”
“I don’t understand why the tire was hit.” Aiden swept his gaze over the area outside the apartment doorway. “From that vantage point, the shooter could have taken me out. That way Shelby and Eva would be easy pickings.”
“I agree, the strategy doesn’t make sense. Even if the shooter didn’t realize you had us behind you, why not set up on the passenger side of the road?”
“Why would the shooter set up here at all?” Aiden frowned. “Bill Parsons has to be involved. No one else from the army knew about us heading to the FBI office.”
“I agree.” Reed also kept his gaze trained out the window, searching for a sign of the shooter.
“What is going on here?”
Aiden turned to see a plump woman roughly in her fifties standing behind them. Her eyes popped when she saw the weapon in his hand.
“Gun!” she shrieked, and held her hands up, taking several steps backward. “Why are you here with guns?”
“There was a shooter outside, ma’am,” Aiden said calmly. “I’m with the National Guard, and Reed Carmichael is with the Milwaukee Police Department. You’re safe as long as you stay inside.”
“You don’t look like police! You’re not wearing uniforms!” This woman was bordering on hysteria, her head shifting from side to side as if looking for an escape route. “I’m calling them right now!”
“That’s fine, ma’am.” Aiden had to assume some of the other witnesses who were sitting in their cars waiting for the train had already done that too. Besides, it didn’t matter if the police were notified. They wouldn’t be there long. The minute Brady arrived they’d hit the road.
They needed to get to the FBI office as soon as possible. Especially after this latest shooting. Then a thought struck him. What if Bill Parsons didn’t bother to show for the meeting with Donovan? This could be nothing than a plan to get them out of the safe house.
A plan that had worked.
Ignoring the woman speaking urgently on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, Aiden continued watching the road. When Brady’s SUV pulled up, he almost sighed in relief.
“Brady’s here.” He glanced over to where Kyleigh stood in front of Shelby and Eva. The little girl was still playing with her farm animals, clueless as to the danger they were in.
He was glad for that because dealing with a hysterical child along with the woman screeching into the phone behind him would be a lot.
“Okay, Shelby,” Kyleigh said. “I want you and Eva to stay close. I’ll get you safely into Brady’s SUV.”
Aiden appreciated his sister stepping up to help. He nodded at Reed, and the two of them stepped through the glass door of the apartment first, each fanning out a bit to scour the area. Reassured, he quickly moved toward the SUV. He noticed the train had passed, and traffic was moving along the road. Well, sort of. The cars had to swing around Reed’s car, which was sitting behind the disabled Jeep.
He opened the back passenger door for Shelby.
“Wait!” She stopped abruptly. “I need the car seat for Eva!”
Aiden tamped down a flash of frustration. Obviously, he wanted Eva to be safe, and that meant getting far away from here.
“I’ll get it.” Reed holstered his weapon, then jogged over to where the disabled car sat. He made quick work of removing the car seat, then brought it over.
“Thanks.” Shelby shot Reed a grateful look as Aiden took the car seat and buckled it in. “I’m glad you brought her dolly too. Thank goodness she had the other farm animals in her hands.”
“Nooo,” Eva wailed. “I don’t wanna ride in the car!”
Shelby’s features were strained as she fought to get her toddler into the car seat. When Eva tried to hit her mother with the cow, Shelby took it from her hands. “No hitting,” she said sharply. “Settle down. We need to go. We’ll sing songs on the way, okay?”
Being on the run with a three-year-old wasn’t easy. Even with the few toys they’d managed to hang on to for her. After what seemed like forever, Eva was securely fastened in her car seat. Shelby dropped into the seat next to her.
“Get up front,” Reed said. “Kyleigh and I will follow, same formation as before.”
He didn’t waste time arguing. He ran around to jump in beside Brady. Reed and Kyleigh ran out to get into their SUV. Reed backed it up, then gestured for Brady to pull out.
The wail of police sirens could be heard as they drove away. Aiden imagined the plump woman would fill them in on the two gunmen who’d barged into the apartment building. He scrubbed his hands over his face for a moment, then shoved that concern aside.
“Fill me in,” Brady said.
“There’s not much to tell. The shooter was on the driver’s side of the road. Took out our tire. Kyleigh and Reed came to get Shelby and Eva out of harm’s way. We took shelter in the apartment building located on the passenger side of the road.” Aiden shrugged. “Truthfully, it doesn’t make sense. I guess it’s possible the shooter didn’t want to take me out, but removing innocent men hasn’t stopped him before now.”
“Maybe the goal was abduction,” Brady said thoughtfully. It hadn’t been that long ago that Caleb had been taken from his bed by a guy looking for a hefty ransom.
“If that is the case, why do that now?” He glanced back to see Shelby playing with Eva to keep the little girl occupied. “So far these have been shooting attempts. Why the change in MO?”
“I don’t know,” Brady admitted.
“We were sitting ducks out there.” He kept his voice low, unwilling to upset Shelby. Not that she wasn’t smart enough to figure things out on her own. “Any shooter within the army could have eliminated all of us with three well-placed shots.”
“We’ll figure this out,” Brady said in a reassuring tone. “I put a call in to Donovan but haven’t heard back.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Parsons was a no-show,” Aiden said.
“He’s the one behind these attacks, isn’t he?” Shelby asked.
He turned to look at her. “That was my first thought. Although it could be that someone pretending to be Parsons made the call to Donovan to set up the meeting, then took the time to ambush us. Hard to say for sure.”
“How did the shooter know we’d take that route?” Shelby frowned. “There were other ways to get to the FBI office building.”
“We took that route because the main road was closed.” He winced at how easily they’d fallen into that trap. Anyone could put up roadblock signs.
“We still could have taken the interstate, though,” she protested.
“Yeah, but maybe the shooter anticipated we wouldn’t, not after the way Mitchell was shot and killed.”
“I don’t like this,” Shelby whispered.
“Try not to worry.” Brady glanced up at the rearview mirror. “We’ll know more once we get to the office.”
“I hope so,” Aiden said. “But if Parsons doesn’t show, there won’t be anything more we can do there.”
“Considering how this latest attack went down, I’ll convince Donovan to go farther up the chain of command within the army and also within the bureau.” Brady’s expression was grim. “No way this was a coincidence.”
“That would be great.” Aiden took heart in knowing more upper brass would be involved. As much as he appreciated and valued his family, they couldn’t outrun this gunman forever. They needed answers.
“I don’t think my father got along with Bill Parsons,” Shelby said.
That surprised him. He twisted in his seat to look at her. “What makes you say that?”
She shrugged. “He didn’t say that in so many words, but I know he and Parsons climbed the ranks together. I think they served together at some point.”
“Okay, but what specifically did your father say about him?” he pressed.
She frowned, her gaze turning thoughtful. “I can’t remember the exact words. But I know he came home one day and said something like, ‘Any idiot can be promoted, look at how far Bill has come’ or something like that. I just got the impression he wasn’t impressed with the guy.”
That was a far cry from attempting to murder a colleague’s daughter and granddaughter, but there was likely more to the relationship between the two men.
Something he planned to ask the guy point-blank if Parsons really did show up to meet with Donovan.
Thankfully, the trip to the FBI offices located in Ravenswood was uneventful. Yet as Brady pulled into the parking lot, with Kyleigh and Reed right behind them, he turned to Shelby.
“You and Eva stay put until we’re ready.”
She nodded, then began to gather the little girl’s toys. “We’re getting out of the car, Eva.”
“I have’ta go to the bafroom.”
Of course, she did. He should have anticipated that. It seemed little kids had bladders the size of a peanut. At least they were heading into a secure location.
“Soon,” he promised Eva. He took a moment to secure his weapon in the glove box, knowing the feds wouldn’t allow him to keep the gun. Then he pushed open his car door and slid out as Brady did the same.
Kyleigh and Reed quickly joined them, also without their sidearms, he noted. The four of them crowded around the vehicle until Brady called his IT colleague to make sure there was nothing suspicious in the area around the building. After a shooting in the parking lot just a few weeks ago, Aiden knew the feds had added even more security cameras.
“Okay, let’s go.” Brady gave him a nod.
He opened the door to reach Eva while Shelby slid out on the other side. Seconds later, they were safely inside the nondescript brown-brick federal office building.
For the first time since leaving the safe house, Aiden felt as if they were out of the line of fire. Brady hustled them into the building, putting their names on a list and then gesturing toward the bathrooms. Shelby gratefully took Eva into the women’s room.
Once they were cleared and provided visitor badges, Brady opened the door to a large conference room. “Wait here.”
He nodded, glancing to where Shelby was taking Eva’s winter coat off. He didn’t have the heart to tell her they likely wouldn’t be here that long.
Long minutes passed. Reed and Kyleigh glanced around curiously. He was more interested in speaking with Sergeant Major Parsons.
Finally, the door to the conference room opened. A tall man dressed in a suit entered first, followed by a short man wearing a full-dress military uniform. Presumably Parsons. Lastly, Brady stepped inside.
Parsons drilled Aiden with a narrow gaze, and he belatedly saluted his senior officer. Parsons returned the salute, but the banked anger in the guy’s gaze didn’t lessen. “Staff Sergeant Finnegan?”
“Yes, sir.” Aiden wasn’t in uniform, having changed days ago after the funeral.
“You’re under arrest.” Parsons turned toward Donovan. “Thanks for arranging this meeting. I’ll take it from here.”
“Under arrest? For what?” Aiden didn’t look away from Parsons. The guy was guilty of trying to kill Shelby and Eva, although obviously not doing the deed himself.
“The murder of Emmitt Copeland.”
His jaw dropped. Wow. He hadn’t seen that one coming.
Aiden arrested? What was going on? Shelby didn’t believe Aiden was guilty of anything, but Parsons was intimidating in his uniform and dark scowl. She instinctively moved closer to Reed and Kyleigh, unsure of what to expect.
“Hold on.” The man dressed in a suit and tie that she presumed was Special Agent in Charge Donovan held up a hand, stepping forward to place himself between Aiden and Parsons. “You never said anything about arresting anyone.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Parsons said in a snide tone. “This is army business. I’m Finnegan’s superior officer. I absolutely have the ability to arrest him.”
“Technically, you need the military police to do that,” Aiden said. “Besides, the charge is bogus. I didn’t kill Emmitt Copeland.”
“That’s for a jury to decide.” Parsons didn’t look as if he cared one way or the other. “I can have two military police officers here in less than five minutes.”
Shelby noticed the flash of concern between Brady and Kyleigh. Her heart sank. Was this how Parsons planned to do this? Set up a fake arrest to get Aiden out of the way, leaving her vulnerable to another attack?
A shiver ran down her spine. Before she could voice her concern, Kyleigh sent her a reassuring smile. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She didn’t want Aiden to be arrested, but she knew that if that did happen, the Finnegans wouldn’t abandon her and Eva. And that meant a lot to her. Family loyalty she didn’t deserve.
“Be careful, Parsons. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to convince the MPs to arrest you,” Aiden said with a pointed look. “We have your second shooter in custody. Sloppy work on your part. Your guy missed again.”
Shelby did her best not to look surprised by his statement.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Parsons looked down his nose at Aiden, no easy task since the older man was five inches shorter. “Deflecting blame for your deeds onto me isn’t going to work.”
“Actually, I’m with the staff sergeant on this one.” Donovan turned and grabbed one of Parsons’s wrists. Brady stepped up to grab the other. “The fact that there was a shooter stationed along the route Aiden and Agent Brady Finnegan took to come here deserves further investigation. You’re in federal custody now, Parsons.”
The man’s face turned beet red to the point Shelby feared he’d suffer a heart attack, similar to the massive coronary that killed her father. “You can’t do this,” Parsons sputtered.
“Mommy, why are they yelling?” Eva asked.
“Shh.” She bent to pick Eva up, holding her close. “They’re having a disagreement, that’s all.”
The scene continued to unfold without anyone paying attention to her daughter.
“See, you’re here on my turf, so yeah, I can.” Donovan didn’t smirk as he slapped cuffs around the sergeant major’s wrists. “You can stay here with us while we wait for our respective superior officers to work this out.”
“What shooter? Remove these cuffs right now! I didn’t kill anyone, Finnegan did!” Parsons looked flummoxed by being handcuffed. “I’ll have your job for this, Donovan! You’ll never work for the federal government again, you hear me?”
“I could say the same for you, Parsons.” Donovan didn’t look concerned. He pushed the bound man toward the closest chair. “Sit down and tell us why you’ve arranged for a shooter to ambush Aiden Finnegan, Ms. Copeland, and her daughter.”
“I did no such thing!” The senior officer really looked as if his head might combust, just like one of those head-exploding emojis. Shelby was grateful for having Reed and Kyleigh beside her. She wouldn’t put anything past Parsons who appeared to be a desperate man.
“As soon as Tim Tobin is awake enough to be interviewed, he’ll corroborate the shooter’s story,” Aiden said calmly. “The gig is up, Parsons. You may as well tell us everything.”
“You’re insane, Finnegan. You’re the one who should be in cuffs, not me.” Parsons appeared to pull himself together, as if sensing he was only hurting himself by losing control. “I have evidence of your culpability. We’ll see whose evidence is believable when presented at a court-martial.”
There was a long silence as Aiden digested this. Finally, he asked, “Who provided the evidence against me?”
Parsons sneered. “I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“You do if you plan on getting out of here without being tossed in a federal prison,” Donovan said.
“On what charges?” Parsons asked.
Donovan leaned close. “You arranged to meet with me here, requesting Staff Sergeant Finnegan to be in attendance. Along the route to the meeting, a shooter tried to take him out of the picture. The only people who knew about the meeting are here in this room.” The SAC spread his arms wide, encompassing the small group. “Care to explain that?”
For the first time, a flicker of unease crossed the officer’s features. “You think I set him up? Is that what this is about?”
“I told you we have the shooter in custody,” Aiden said. “He pointed the finger directly at you.”
“Impossible,” Parsons said sharply. “I have no reason to want you or anyone else dead. But I did plan to bring you back with me, that much is true.”
Shelby swallowed hard. Was it possible Parsons was telling the truth? Had they gotten this all wrong? There was no shooter to provide evidence against the guy. Not until Tim Tobin was able to be interviewed about who had hired him.
“The fastest way to get to the bottom of this is for you to tell us who came up with evidence implicating Aiden Finnegan in Copeland’s death,” Brady said.
Parsons remained stubbornly silent.
“Tom Mitchell personally told me that he declared Copeland’s death an accident. That there was absolutely no evidence he’d been shot on purpose.” Aiden stepped closer, looking down at Parsons who was seated in a chair. “He also told me there was a rumor about Copeland having an extramarital affair. No one would substantiate that rumor, though, so he closed the case. Then he was shot and killed.”
Parsons’s expression remained stoic. “I’m fully aware of what happened. I assigned an investigator to look into Mitchell’s death. And maybe it is related to the Copeland investigation; then again, maybe it’s not. All I know is that new evidence has come to light implicating you, Finnegan. And that changes everything.” The older man narrowed his gaze. “You should know as well as anyone that there is no statute of limitations on murder.”
“Yes, and that’s something you should be aware of too,” Aiden shot back. “Murder for hire carries the same sentence as first-degree murder. Life in Leavenworth without the possibility of parole.”
The intensity of the glare leveled between the two men might have been funny if the situation wasn’t so dire. Shelby wasn’t afraid Aiden would be arrested now, but if Parsons was right about the evidence? She swallowed hard. What if he was taken away later?
She couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing him again. Oh, the evidence would get straightened out eventually, but that could take time.
How had she gotten so attached to him so quickly? She didn’t want to be in a relationship with another soldier. Once was more than enough. Yet there was no denying how handsome he was. How determined he’d been to keep her and Eva safe. Risking his own life countless times in the process.
But there was more to it than good old-fashioned physical attraction. It was everything about him. His kindness toward Eva. His strength, courage, and never-ending support throughout every step of this nightmare.
She loved him.
The realization hit hard. No, that wasn’t possible.
Was it?
Eva wiggled in her arms, tired of being held.
Still reeling, she bent and lowered her daughter to the floor. Thankfully, Eva crawled back under the table to begin playing with her farm animals again.
“This is ridiculous,” Parsons snapped. “If I’m really under arrest, then I demand a lawyer.” He glared at Aiden. “You’ll want to get one too.”
“There’s no need for a lawyer if you cooperate with us in getting to the bottom of the shooting incident,” Donovan said. “If you didn’t hire someone to kill Ms. Copeland, then who did? Who did you talk to? Who else knew you were coming here to meet with me?”
Parsons was silent for a long moment. Shelby willed him to talk, to give them something to go on. Despite her earlier conviction in thinking Parsons had set them up, she was starting to believe the guy hadn’t done it. That he’d been played for a fool by the real culprit.
It wasn’t a stretch. Parsons clearly believed Aiden was responsible for her husband’s death.
“I don’t like being forced into providing information on an investigation,” Parsons finally said. “But since you are coercing me, I’ll tell you that Sergeant Oliver Kennedy came forward as the witness to you shooting Copeland.” Parsons’s gaze swung to her. “Apparently, Finnegan wanted Copeland’s wife.”
“That’s not true!” Shelby shouted. “I barely knew Aiden two years ago.”
“Men can turn into idiots when it comes to women,” Parsons said.
“Kennedy,” Brady repeated. “Isn’t he the guy we discovered had a sexual harassment complaint filed against him? What was the female officer’s name? Justine Brooks?”
“Yes, that’s correct.” Aiden’s expression turned thoughtful. “I didn’t believe Kennedy was involved in the shooting because he was one of the pallbearers at Sergeant Major Savage’s funeral. He actually found the bullet that struck the ground inches in front of the spot Shelby and Eva were standing.”
“He saw you,” Parsons insisted. “And signed an affidavit to that effect.”
“He’s wrong.” Aiden’s eyes glittered with anger. “But I appreciate you giving us his name. I’m sure he’s involved in this.”
From the way the other Finnegans exchanged knowing looks, she knew they felt the same way. Was this the key they needed to put an end to this horrific danger?
She silently prayed that it was.