Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
Sam was not going to have this conversation with Liam in the mall parking lot. Not here. Not ever.
“Samantha,” Liam said.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
He held up his hands in mock surrender. “I get it. But that’s not what I was going to say.”
The girls stopped next to him and looked between the two of them in confusion.
Sam fisted her hand on her hip. “Then what?”
“My SUV is right here. Get in, and I’ll take you to your car.”
“Right.” She let her arm fall.
The girls piled into the back seat, tossing Bella’s shopping bags between them.
Liam climbed in and started the engine. “Which way?”
She pointed in the direction of where they’d parked. “It’s over there.”
He pulled the SUV in front of her car. “Stay in here while I have a look.” He hopped out, not bothering to wait for an answer.
She chewed her nails as he walked around the car. He peered inside, then dropped to his knees to look underneath.
Sam turned to the girls, who were chatting in the back seat as if this was completely normal. What she wouldn’t give to be oblivious to what was going on right now.
He stood up and walked around to the passenger-side door and opened it for her. “We’re good to go. Hop in and I’ll follow you.”
“Since we’re going to the same place, can Bella ride with us?” Sophia asked, suddenly paying attention to what was going on.
“That’s up to Samantha.” He looked at her.
“Call me Sam.” She peered back at the girls. “I don’t care.”
“Thank you,” the girls said simultaneously.
Liam shut the door behind Sam and walked her to her car.
“What are we going to do about this?” She gestured to the outlet mall.
“You aren’t going to do anything. I’m going to come back and take a look at the surveillance footage. Then see if I can light a fire under RPD to get me the info on this Aiden kid.”
She nodded.
“We should get going. I’ve got to take Sophia home before I can come back.”
“Since I’ve got to come over to your house this evening, what if she just stays with us this afternoon? She’ll keep Bella occupied.” Sam didn’t want to play twenty questions with Bella when they got home.
Liam studied her. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
“If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have suggested it.”
He nodded. “Will Dean be okay with it?”
She’d forgotten she was going to someone else’s house and would need to ask permission to invite guests over. “I’ll call him on the way and make sure it’s okay.”
“Sounds good.” He stuck his hands in his pockets. “Lock your doors when you’re inside.”
She nodded and climbed into her car.
Once they were on their way, she dialed Dean’s number. Hopefully, he wasn’t out on a call.
“Hey, Sam.”
“Put out any fires today?”
Dean was covering for one of the other team members today. She wouldn’t bet on it, but he’d probably picked up the shift to avoid the birthday party the boys had today. She couldn’t blame him. Screaming kids all hyped up on sugar weren’t her favorite.
“As a matter of fact, we’ve put out two. I was the hero. Like always.”
“Sure you were.” She laughed. “Listen, I was calling to ask if Bella’s friend Sophia could hang out with her at your house today. I would have called Cass, but she said the boys had a birthday party, and I didn’t want to add to her chaos.”
“The marshal’s kid?”
Was there a change in his tone?
“His niece, yes. We had lunch together, then took the girls shopping. Some kid was following us. Liam confronted him, but he got away. Liam’s following us to your house now.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes. We’re fine. Just, after the week I’ve had and the threat to the girls, I’m a bit unnerved.” She hoped that’s all it was, but deep in her gut, she knew it wasn’t. “I figure if Sophia could hang out with us, it would keep the girls busy and out of trouble until I meet up with Liam tonight.”
“Uh-oh. Do I smell a romance?” Dean teased.
Sam’s face heated. Her normal reaction was to go into why a romance would not be happening, but this was a ruse. One she needed to keep herself and Bella safe. “It’s possible we might be seeing each other.”
“I knew it!” Dean yelled. “Greer owes me twenty bucks.”
“You guys seriously bet on my love life?”
“No one said a word about love, sweetheart.”
Sam growled. “Whatever. Can Sophia hang out or not?”
Dean laughed. “That’s fine.”
“Thanks. Don’t get into too much trouble.”
“Me? Never.”
She disconnected the call and pulled into Dean’s driveway, and Liam pulled in behind her. Everyone got out and met at the front of Liam’s SUV.
“Here.” She handed Bella the key to the house. “Y’all go inside.”
Bella took the key, and the girls disappeared inside.
“I called Dean, and he’s okay with Sophia staying.” She sighed. “And now he knows that there’s something going on between the two of us.”
Liam smirked. “Come on, dating me isn’t that bad. I’m quite the catch.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it.”
His face fell, and he quickly cleared his throat. “I better get going. I need to get that footage.”
Something she’d said had hit a nerve. She wanted to apologize but didn’t know how or why, so she just nodded. “Okay.”
She watched him climb into his SUV before she turned around and went inside.
The girls had already disappeared into the room she and Bella had been sharing. She checked on them quickly, then decided to sit down and watch some mind-numbing television.
She channel surfed for a while before finding a movie she’d seen a million times and watching it anyway. It was comforting. She knew everything that was going to happen, and there were no surprises. As the movie started, she scrolled on her phone, looking for a new place to live.
Realistically, she’d want something in the same area so Bella could stay at her current school.
Plus, it was conveniently close to the station.
It had to have at least two bedrooms. In a perfect world, there’d be three—then she could have a workout room slash study room for Bella.
Three-bedroom houses in her price range were going to be hard to find.
Suddenly, the window to her right exploded, and glass rained down on the carpet. Muffled pops and loud thudding filled the front room.
Sam dove for the floor and crawled away from the window and toward the hall. Bullets whipped above her, destroying anything in their path and lodging in walls. She dialed 911 as she crawled.
Bella’s and Sophia’s screams and the pounding of Sam’s heart drowned out the chaos as she made it to the hallway.
“911. Where’s your emergency?”
Sam gave the dispatcher Dean’s address. “Someone is shooting into the house.”
She moved the phone away from her mouth and waved at the girls, who stared from the floor in the spare room, faces pale. “Stay down and crawl to me.”
“Do you know how many shooters there are?” the dispatcher asked.
“I didn’t see anyone.”
“Are you in a safe place? Away from all windows?”
“We’re heading there now.” She led the girls to the hall bathroom. It was centrally located with no windows. She dragged them both past her, then shut the door. “We’re safe.”
“Are shots still being fired?”
The gunfire had stopped. “Not right now.”
She’d watched enough television shows and movies to know that that didn’t necessarily mean the attack was over.
“Officers are on their way. Stay on the line with me, okay?”
Sam motioned for the girls to get into the bathtub, where they huddled together and cried. She climbed on top of the bathroom counter, away from the door in case bullets came flying through it.
She looked wildly around, trying to find anything she could use to defend herself. There was nothing but bath toys and toddler things. A rubber duck wasn’t going to save the day.
Liam would know what to do. He wouldn’t be huddled up on a counter, waiting for them to come to him. He’d chase them down and make them regret showing up. That was what he was trained to do. She was trained to fight fires. Not the same thing.
“The officers are two minutes out. Can you tell me what’s happening now?”
Two minutes wasn’t long, but it was too long when someone’s life was on the line.
She shushed the girls, pulled the phone away from her ear, and listened for sounds. “I don’t hear anything,” she whispered into the phone.
“Okay, officers are on the scene. Sit tight. They’re going to check the perimeter, and then they’ll come to you. Remain on the line with me.”
“Okay.” Sam climbed off the counter and made her way to the girls. “The police are here. Just a few minutes longer.”
The girls sat up and wrapped their arms around her.
“Okay. They’re entering the house. Stay where you are until they knock on the door.”
Shouts and commands from officers echoed on the other side of the door.
Sam gripped the phone and forced her breathing to slow.
“Officer Johnson is coming to get you, okay?” the dispatcher said.
“Renegade Police Department!”
The girls whimpered at the man’s booming voice.
“He’s here,” Sam told the dispatcher.
“Okay, I want you to let him know you’re in there and follow his directions.”
“Thank you.” She disconnected the call. “We’re in here alone.”
“Okay, open the door slowly.”
She stood and unlocked the door, then slowly opened it. Three armed officers stood on the other side, weapons pointed down.
Her body trembled as she raised her hands.
Liam slid the CD containing the outlet-mall footage into his work computer.
The footage outside the sandwich shop popped up on screen.
He watched as their group left the sandwich shop, then followed their steps to the first store and waited to see when Aiden would show up.
He fast-forwarded the footage ten minutes and stopped when they all walked out of the store.
The guy didn’t enter the store after them.
He restarted the footage. A few beats passed, then Aiden slunk out of the store and turned the same direction the girls went. He’d already been in the store when they got there. Without seeing all of the footage, it looked like a coincidence turned into an opportunity.