“This is all my fault,” she whispered. “I should have never left Maddox with Sandy.”
“Herschel knows who Sandy is?” Jericho asked without taking his attention off the road.
“No, my father doesn’t know her, but he must have found out about her.” Laurel hadn’t expected that. Especially not so soon. She’d only left Maddox with Sandy a little over two hours ago, and she hadn’t thought anyone was following her.
She’d clearly thought wrong.
And her precious son could suffer because of her mistake.
“If Herschel’s the one behind this,” Jericho said, “then he won’t hurt Maddox. Will he?” His jaw muscles tightened again, and there was a low, dangerous tone to that question.
“No. Not intentionally.” But her baby was in the middle of an attack, and plenty of things could go wrong. Especially since both Sandy and the kidnappers would be armed, and Sandy wouldn’t just let the kidnappers take Maddox without putting up a fight.
Oh, God.
Those hired guns could hurt Sandy. Or kill her. Her father would have given them orders to keep Maddox safe, but he wouldn’t have extended such an order to the woman hiding his grandson.
Even though Jericho didn’t say anything to her, Laurel could almost feel him trying to work out some kind of plan. Good. Because they needed something—anything—to save their son. No, her father wouldn’t hurt Maddox, but if he got his hands on Maddox, he would hide him away so she could never find him.
“Hold on,” Jericho warned her. “I have to do something about these SOBs behind us.”
He slammed on the brakes, turning the steering wheel and bringing the truck to a stop sideways on the road. Laurel couldn’t see the men following them, but she heard the squeal of their brakes as they approached. Felt the cold blast of air when Jericho lowered his window. He took aim.
Then, nothing.
Jericho just waited. The seconds crawling by. Precious time that they should be using to get to Maddox. Laurel knew they didn’t have a choice. They couldn’t arrive at Sandy’s house with gunmen on their tail, but the waiting only caused the panic to smother her again.
Her heartbeat was already crashing in her ears. Her chest so tight that she couldn’t breathe. But she could think, and her mind was coming up with all sorts of worst-case scenarios.
Even though she knew Jericho wouldn’t approve, she lifted her head just enough so she could see out the side mirror. Laurel immediately spotted the black car. The passenger’s door opened, and a man leaned out. He had a gun, and he pointed it right at them.
The shot blasted through the air.
It took her several heart-stopping moments to realize the gunman hadn’t fired the shot. Jericho had. And their attacker dropped, falling out of the car and onto the ground.
Jericho fired another shot, this one slamming into the windshield right in front of the driver. The glass was tinted and there wasn’t much of a moon, so she couldn’t tell if the bullet hit the guy or not. Jericho maybe couldn’t tell, either, because he sent two more shots in the same spot.
Nothing.
“Which word of stay down didn’t you hear me say?” Jericho snarled. He didn’t even spare her a glance, but he threw his truck into gear and got them moving again—fast.
She’d heard every word just fine, but Laurel had to see for herself if the gunmen were going to follow them. They didn’t. Much to her relief, the black car didn’t move when Jericho sped away.
Laurel got back down but gasped when another sound shot through the truck, and for one terrifying moment she thought the gunmen had returned fire, after all. But it was just Jericho’s phone that she still had gripped in her hand.
“It’s Jax,” she said, glancing at the screen. Laurel answered the call and put it on speaker.
“I’m not far behind you—” Jax started.
“Look out for the black four-door car that’s maybe still in the middle of the road near the creek,” Jericho interrupted. “The guys inside are the ones who attacked Laurel and me.”
“Did you kill them?” Jax asked.
“Maybe. But even if I didn’t, I doubt they’re in any shape to drive.”
Good. It seemed wrong to celebrate anyone being shot or killed, but the men were another obstacle they didn’t need.
“If they’re alive,” Jericho continued, “arrest them. Get answers from them and get them fast. But be careful. I don’t know what kind of orders they have.”
Neither did Laurel, but she did know that wounded men could still kill, and she didn’t want that happening to Jax and Dexter.
“I’ll keep an eye out for the men and the car,” Jax assured him. “I just got off the phone with Sheriff Cooper McKinnon over in Sweetwater Springs. He and two deputies are at the residence. Two men fled on foot, and the deputies are in pursuit.”
“Did they take Maddox?” Laurel couldn’t ask fast enough.
“They didn’t have a baby with them, but Cooper said he’d call me back once he was sure the residence was secure. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.” And Jax hung up.
Her stomach tightened. It wasn’t over. Just because those would-be kidnappers were running, it didn’t mean there weren’t other hired guns inside the house. Maybe holding Sandy and Maddox hostage.
Or worse.
“Don’t go there,” Jericho warned her. The glance he gave her this time let her know that he didn’t want to deal with a hysterical woman. “You said your friend was a former cop, and I’m guessing she can handle herself or you wouldn’t have left Maddox with her.”
Laurel managed to nod. Sandy could indeed handle herself. But that didn’t mean something couldn’t have gone wrong. She should have hired a team of bodyguards to help, but there hadn’t been time.
Maybe still wasn’t.
“Any chance we’ll be able to link any of these hired guns to your father?” Jericho asked.
“No chance whatsoever. My father is thorough.” Among other things. She’d always known he was capable of breaking the law, but Laurel hadn’t realized until recently just how far he would go to make sure he got what he wanted.
And what he wanted was Maddox.
“Now that I’ve defied him,” she said, “my father will stop at nothing. Nothing,” Laurel repeated.
Jericho stayed quiet a moment. Kept driving, the tires squealing when he took the curves too fast. “And you really think marriage will stop him?”
“No,” Laurel readily admitted. “He’ll put me in jail or a mental hospital. But what the marriage can do is prevent him from taking Maddox.”
She hoped.
Still, it was a long shot. And judging from the way Jericho’s forehead bunched up, she hadn’t convinced him this was the way to go.
“Hang on,” he said just as he took another sharp curve. The truck went into a skid, but Jericho quickly regained control.
Laurel was far enough down on the seat that she couldn’t see out the windshield, but she did see the lights filtering in. No doubt from the town of Sweetwater Springs. That meant they were only minutes from Sandy’s parents’ house. However, it seemed to take an eternity for those minutes to pass.
She finally saw the swirl of blue lights from a police cruiser. Red lights, too. Probably from an ambulance.
That put her heart right back in