Chapter Sixteen #2
He stayed close to the wall of the inn, but that meant checking each window to make sure he wasn’t about to be ambushed when he went past it. He didn’t see anyone. That was the good news. The bad news was that Caroline and Clarie had likely moved to the back of the building.
From where the intruder had gotten inside.
The person could be there, waiting.
Caroline and Clarie were armed, he reminded himself, and he hung on to that thought while he kept moving.
Now it was the rain that was stinging his eyes, and somehow the tear gas was still making its way to him.
There was some gas coming out of the inn, too, which Jack discovered when he hurried past the window where Clarie, Caroline and he had escaped the first canister.
Even though he doubted they would go back inside with that tear-gas fog, he made a quick glimpse inside.
No one.
He could no longer hear any coughing or other sounds of movement, and he hoped that was a good sign. That Clarie and Caroline had managed to find some clear air and a safe place to take cover.
Jack considered texting Clarie to let her know he was nearby, but he decided against that.
If they were hiding from an attacker, he didn’t want to give away their location.
Besides, Clarie knew that Gunnar was also out here, somewhere, so she wouldn’t pull the trigger without making sure it wasn’t one of them.
He took another step and cursed when he nearly tripped over something. Not something, Jack quickly realized.
Someone.
It was a woman, and she was in a crumpled heap at his feet.
That sent his heart rate into a gallop, and he felt the cold fear ripple over his skin. No. Please. Not Caroline.
Jack dropped to his knees, and he forced himself to rein in his emotions. At least he tried to do that. It was nearly impossible to think of the woman he loved being hurt. Or worse. To think of her dead.
But it wasn’t Caroline.
He could see that once he managed to wipe the rain from his eyes so he could get a better look.
It was Clarie. And she was breathing. Thank God for that, but she wasn’t okay.
There was blood on her head and in her hair, and since there was a metal pipe next to her, Jack assumed that was the weapon that’d been used to assault her.
Where was Caroline?
Jack’s gaze fired all around, but he didn’t see her, and everything inside him was telling him he had to get to her now.
Still, he sent a quick text to Gunnar to let the deputy know Clarie’s location and that she needed medical help—fast. He hated leaving her there alone, but whoever had done this to her now had Caroline. Jack was sure of that.
Using his forearm to push aside the sopping wet shrubs, Jack hurried toward the back of the inn. He tried to listen for any sounds she might make. But he heard nothing. That certainly didn’t tamp down his fears.
When his phone vibrated with a text message, he glanced down at the screen and saw Gunnar’s response. I’m on my way to Clarie now.
Good. That would be one less thing on Jack’s mind, but he said a quick prayer that Clarie’s injuries wouldn’t be critical. With an attacker on the loose, it could be a while before they could get an ambulance in here for her.
Jack pushed through another cluster of overgrown shrubs, and he finally saw the edge of the back porch. The pressure clamped around his heart, though, when there was still no sign of Caroline. Hell. Had the person who’d tossed that tear gas managed to get away with her in tow?
He plowed his way through more of the weeds, and running now, he made it to the porch.
And there she was.
Not alone.
Not safe, either.
Caroline was on the porch, and despite the darkness, Jack could see that the color had drained from her face. With good reason. Because there was someone standing behind her.
Someone with a knife to her throat.
“I’m sorry,” Caroline said. There was a trickle of blood running down the side of her head and more blood on her sleeve. “Because of the tear gas, I didn’t see him in time.”
Jack pushed aside her apology for something that wasn’t her fault, and he focused on the “him” who was holding Caroline. Definitely a man. Jack could tell from his size despite most of his body being concealed. The coward was hiding behind Caroline.
Who was it?
Was it just another hired gun who’d been sent to kill them?
Jack couldn’t tell, because the guy was wearing a gas mask. Not for long, though. Using his free hand, he peeled off the mask, tossing it onto the porch, and flashed a smile.
“Hello, Jack,” Kingston said. “Caroline and I have been waiting for you.”
FROM THE MOMENT Kingston had come out of the shadows and clubbed Clarie on the head, Caroline had known it would come down to this.
Kingston wanted her dead, but he hadn’t killed her when he’d hit her with the metal pipe because he’d first wanted to use her to lure out Jack.
Kingston wouldn’t have been able to use a dead woman to get himself in a position to murder both Jack and her.
And it had worked.
Jack had a gun, and to the best of her knowledge, Kingston only had a knife now that he’d discarded the pipe, but Jack wouldn’t have a clean shot with Kingston using her as a human shield.
“Is Clarie all right?” she asked, hating that her voice shook when she spoke. She didn’t want to give Kingston any more satisfaction from this, and hearing the fear in her voice probably added to his sick enjoyment.
But why was he doing this?
Caroline hoped she could learn that before she got out of this dangerous situation.
And she would get out. There were so many lives at risk—Jack, Clarie, Caroline herself and the deputies outside.
No way was she just going to let this piece of slime kill them.
First, though, she’d need to get away from that knife he was holding.
It was sharp—she knew that because he’d already cut her arm to prove that—and now he had it against her jugular.
“Clarie’s fine,” Jack said before he shifted his attention to Kingston. Jack’s eyes narrowed, and his expression was hard as steel. “Let me guess. You’re doing some favors for your old friend Eric.”
“I am,” Kingston readily admitted, and yes, he was enjoying this. He wanted them to know what he was doing and why. “Last year, Eric called me right from this inn while he was holding Caroline, and he asked me to tie up any and all loose ends for him. Ta-da! That’s what I’m doing.”
She didn’t recall that conversation because she’d been drugged, but hearing what Kingston had just said caused the anger to roar through her.
Caroline had to force herself not to ram Kingston in the gut with her elbow.
They needed more info from him. Because Jack and she had their own loose ends to tie up.
Yes, they would stop Kingston and arrest him, but when that happened, he might clam up.
They had to know if others were involved in this.
“Kingston hired Scotty to hack into WITSEC and find my location,” Caroline said. She didn’t have proof of that, but considering the circumstances, that was a good guess. “It wasn’t very smart of you to show up at my house, though.”
“Of course, it was,” Kingston immediately argued. “Me being there, it made me look innocent.”
It had. Well, in a way. But Kingston had always been one of their top suspects.
“And after you were done with Scotty, you hired thugs to kill him,” Jack said.
Jack moved a little to his left, and Caroline felt the pressure of the blade against her throat. “That’s a no-no. Stay put, Marshal, or I cut her before I’m ready.”
It turned her stomach to hear him say he was going to kill her no matter what. That made it even more important to draw this out. Because Jack wasn’t the only lawman out there. Gunnar and Manuel were here, too. Maybe one of them could get into position to take Kingston out.
“Scotty was a loose end,” Kingston went on a moment later. “So is Caroline, but she’s been a little slippery when it comes to finishing up things. I thought it would be a nice touch to kill her here. Eric would appreciate that.”
“Eric was a manipulative sociopath,” Caroline spat out. “The only things he enjoyed were using people and killing. He used you, Kingston.”
“Maybe because I wanted to be used.”
That was almost certainly the truth. He was as twisted as Eric.
“The person who talked to Eric on the phone that night used cop jargon,” she threw out there a moment later.
“Yes, a nice touch. That was Eric’s idea. He wanted to play with your head, maybe make you think he was talking to Jack.”
That gave her another jolt of anger, and she could see that it’d done the same to Jack. It was too late to punish Eric for that, but they sure as heck could make Kingston pay for his part in it.
She had to pause and gather her breath. “Who else did Eric and you use? Zeller or Lily? How about Grace?”
“None of the above.” Again, no hesitation, but Caroline wasn’t sure it was true.
Apparently, Jack wasn’t convinced of it, either. “You’re sure one of them didn’t help you?”
“Nope. Me and me alone. Well, other than those two incompetent idiots I hired. Amos Treadwell was supposed to shoot you. He failed. Jessa Monroe was the woman who threw the first tear-gas canister. She panicked and tried to run so I killed her.”
Caroline didn’t like having another dead body added to this, but she was glad Jessa wasn’t around to give her boss any help.
“And that’s why I’m doing this myself. Oh, but I did get Scotty to set up Zeller,” Kingston added. “You know, by planting that tracking device on his computer. All smoke, I assure you, since Scotty had already hacked in and gotten the address.”
Caroline figured Scotty had done all of that for money. Lots of it, which Kingston could have gotten his hands on. Scotty probably hadn’t figured the hacking would get him killed.
“And Lily?” Jack pressed. Like her, he must have decided to get all they could from Kingston.