Chapter Seventeen
Callie pushed herself away from Quinn and staggered toward Nico. Her legs barely had any feeling, and it felt as if she’d never make it to him.
But he made it to her.
In seemingly one giant step, Nico reached her. He hooked his arm around her waist and got her moving toward the back of the building. Behind cover. And then he pulled her into his arms.
She melted against him, letting him support her. The relief came. So much relief. They were both alive, and their would-be killer wasn’t. Still, they had survived an attack that was no doubt meant to leave them both dead.
“Did he hurt you?” Nico blurted, and his voice was a tangled mess of nerves and adrenaline.
“No,” she tried to assure him. Her mouth wasn’t working much better than her legs, but she was aware of two things.
Nico had saved her.
And Quinn had just IDed Dante as the person who’d hired him.
“We need to speak to my cousin right away,” Nico snarled, a new emotion going into the mix.
Rage.
He was furious that Dante had set all of this into motion. Well, maybe he had if Quinn was telling the truth. But she couldn’t see a man using his dying breath to give them a false name and therefore protect the identity of his boss. But it was possible, especially if he thought his real boss would maybe retaliate against his friends or family.
Though she wanted to stay in Nico’s arms, Callie eased back from him so she could keep watch and so she could flex her arms and legs. She needed to get movement in them fast. She also wanted a gun, and hers was somewhere in that grassy area back by the police station.
Nico immediately took out his backup weapon from his slide holster and handed it to her.
“I’m tracking Dante’s phone now,” Shaw called out to them. He was behind the building across from them.
She saw Owen and Declan, too, and they were searching the area, maybe looking for Dante or any accomplice Quinn had brought with him.
“Seth is around here somewhere,” Nico told them.
Oh, God. That caused Callie’s gaze to fire around them again, but she didn’t see the witness. Of course, there were plenty of places to hide, and with the shops mainly closed, he could even break into one of them. Or he could be long gone.
“You think Seth came here to kill Quinn and us?” she managed to ask.
Nico didn’t get a chance to answer because Shaw called out to them. “According to the pings off the cell tower, Dante’s only about a block from here.” He motioned to his right.
There was plenty up there, up the street. Several stores and an old Victorian house that’d been converted into apartments. And she got a slam of fear when she remembered there was a nursing home there, too. But maybe Dante wasn’t panicking and looking for hostages.
Maybe Dante was trying to get away.
Callie didn’t want that. She wanted to confront the man, but she preferred doing that away from innocent bystanders.
“I’m getting drone feed,” Owen relayed. “Dante’s car is in the Outlaw’s Rest parking lot.”
That was an old-timey saloon, and unlike some of the other businesses, it would be open. Definitely not an ideal place for a confrontation.
“I’ll take Callie back to the station and head there,” Nico insisted.
But she had to insist something right back. “The drug’s wearing off,” Callie told him. And that was true. It was fading. Was she a hundred percent? No. But she would be by the time they made it to Outlaw’s Rest.
Nico looked nowhere convinced that she should be going along with them so she added, “Most of the deputies are likely out checking for injuries and taking reports. I wouldn’t have a lot of backup in the station.”
There. That got through to him. And again, it was the truth. Yes, Owen could call in someone to babysit her, but that would take time. Time for Dante to either leave. Or get in place for yet another attack.
Nico finally nodded, following it up with several choice curse words. “Stay close and behind me,” he ordered.
She would. Well, unless she needed to take measures to ensure Dante didn’t kill them and everyone around them. Like the nursing home, he’d have plenty of hostages in the bar.
The five of them started moving, hurrying toward Outlaw’s Rest while Shaw continued to monitor Dante’s phone and Owen kept an eye on the drone feed.
Callie kept an eye out for Seth.
If he was still in the area, they didn’t know what he intended to do, but it was possible he’d go after Dante.
Along with Nico and her.
Just because Quinn was dead, it didn’t mean the threat was over. Far from it. And she had to hope that the deputies had done a thorough job of clearing the streets.
When they reached the end of the block, they stopped, and Shaw and Declan took up cover at the side of the nursing home. Nico, Owen, and she stayed in the small park-like area for the nursing home’s residents.
From there, they had a good view of the saloon, and she soon spotted Dante’s Jaguar. It was just at the edge of the parking lot, but because of the heavily tinted windows she couldn’t tell if he was inside.
“Shit,” Shaw spat out, and he nudged them to show them the drone feed.
Dante. Definitely not in his car but behind a large oak tree. He was peering out, looking up the street in the direction of where Quinn had been.
The man was also armed.
She had no trouble seeing the gun clutched in his hand.
Even though the drone feed was grainy, it was clear enough to show the intense expression on Dante’s face. Was he waiting for Quinn to return? Possibly. Or it could be he was ready to step in if his hired gun failed. While Callie was considering other possibilities, she heard someone call out.
“Dante, I know it’s you,” the man shouted. “I know you’re the one who had Tucker killed.”
On the drone feed, she saw Dante’s head whip up. His gun did, too, and he was obviously looking around for who’d spoken.
“It’s me,” the man added. “The witness that you wanted dead.”
Mercy. This wasn’t good. Seth could end up getting himself, or others, killed.
Callie couldn’t tell where Seth was exactly, but judging from the sound of his voice, he was somewhere very near the Outlaw’s Rest.
“You’re The Fixer,” Seth went on. “I hacked into Quinn’s computer and found that. The idiot wasn’t very careful.”
Dante didn’t respond. Not verbally anyway. But he suddenly got a panicked, cornered look on his face, and if someone came out of the bar, he’d probably grab the person and use them to escape.
“You hired Quinn to cover your sorry, worthless ass,” Seth went on. “Because you didn’t want anyone to find out that you’d been the one to hire Zed Coulter to murder Abilene.”
Again, Dante didn’t confirm or deny that, but the panic on his face went up a considerable notch. It was as effective as a lie detector and confirmed for her that Dante was indeed guilty.
“Abilene screwed you over in a business deal,” Seth went on. “I got that from hacking into your computer. You suck at security, too,” he spat out like venom. “But you didn’t have the balls to kill Abilene yourself so you hired Zed Coulter, who was too stupid to carry out the job without witnesses. Witnesses you had killed. Except for me. That must stick in your craw.”
“You should have been dead by now!” Dante shouted.
“Well, I’m not,” Seth snarled right back. “But my friend is. You had him murdered,” Seth continued to shout. “Along with that Austin cop. Yeah, I found that out on Quinn’s computer, too. It was all there.”
Callie very much wanted a look at that computer, and maybe she’d get the chance for that. First though, they had to deal with this situation.
“Your friend was a killer,” Dante finally responded. “Did he tell you that? He killed Morrelli before Quinn could get to him and find out if he could tell us where you were.”
“He was protecting me,” Seth yelled at the top of his lungs. She couldn’t see his face, but it sounded as if the man was on the verge of snapping. If he did, there was no telling how many people would die. “And you tried to set him up by having Quinn steal his truck and use it to murder people.”
“Let’s distract Dante,” Callie suggested. “Let’s try to draw him out.”
Nico’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not making yourself bait.”
“No. But we could make him think he has a good chance to do something his hired gun couldn’t. Eliminate us. If he sees us and tries to shoot us, then Owen can take him out.”
She could tell Nico had a lot of trouble with that plan, but he also knew they were in a powder keg situation, and they had to do something fast.
Nico finally nodded. “All right. Let’s move there while we call out to Dante.” He motioned toward a van that was parked in front of the nursing home. Then, Nico glanced back at Owen. “Are you ready?”
“I’m ready,” Owen assured them, putting aside his phone with the drone feed and getting into position.
“You’re a murdering sonofabitch and it’s time for you to die,” Seth shouted. And he fired a shot. Callie didn’t know where, but she definitely didn’t hear Dante make any sounds to indicate he’d been hit.
Yes, things were escalating fast.
Nico and she didn’t waste another second. They hurried to the van, and before she could do it, Nico leaned out, showing himself.
“Dante,” Nico snarled.
Callie leaned out enough to watch Dante’s reaction. Not relief. That was obvious. The look he gave Nico was all killer.
And Dante took aim at him.
Dante fired, and Nico snapped back behind cover. But more shots came. Not from Owen but from the same area where Callie was certain that Seth was.
Three loud blasts, no doubt fired from Seth’s weapon.
One right behind the other, and now she did hear a sound. The sickening thud of bullets going into flesh.
Callie looked out just in time to see Dante fall face first onto the ground, she had no doubts about one thing.
That Dante was dead.