Chapter Twenty-Four
Goldie heard the gunshot right after she’d heard a vehicle come to a stop back up on the highway. Her gaze flew to Donovan. He had been reaching inside the armored car and pulling out bags, which he’d stacked on the ground next to him.
“Don’t make a sound,” he said even as he lunged to put a hand over her mouth before she could. “We don’t know who it is, understand? If it’s your sheriff, we’ll find out soon enough.”
If it was Max, she needed to warn him that Donovan was armed.
“Don’t worry, he’ll assume I’m armed,” he said as if again reading her mind. He had an uncanny ability to do that, she thought, as he pulled her down beside him on the ground so he could look back under the vehicle to the highway.
She saw Max’s patrol SUV and felt a rush of relief at the same time she was terrified for him.
That’s when she saw another man getting out of the back of the patrol car.
While he appeared to be wounded and moving oddly, she saw that he had a gun in his hand just an instant before he fired it in their direction.
Donovan swore as he pulled her up and deeper into the shadow of the armored car.
“Luca Havers,” he said, then swore again.
“He’s come to pick up the money.” Donovan looked into her eyes.
“He won’t leave any witnesses.” Donovan quickly untied her.
“Go around to the other side so he doesn’t see you.
No matter what happens, stay hidden.” Then, as almost an afterthought, he pulled out the gun and handed it to her.
She looked at him, the question written all over her face.
He shook his head. “I’d rather you have it. Don’t be afraid to use it if Havers comes after you.”
She took the gun, turned and disappeared around the side of the vehicle.
IT WASN’T THE FIRST time Max had been shot. He felt the searing pain in his leg as he’d thrown himself into a shallow ditch not far from the highway. He needed to see how badly he was injured, yet he didn’t dare move. Not until he knew where Havers was.
The eerie silence after the gunshots worried Max. He lay between the highway and an armed Havers and the armored car and a no-doubt-armed Donovan. Talk about a rock and a hard place, he thought as he listened, hearing nothing at first.
Then he picked up the sound of movement closer than he’d expected.
He peered through the brush next to him.
Havers was coming through the tall sage only yards away, the gun in his hand.
If the man spotted him, Max knew he would be dead.
All he could do was literally lie low, holding his breath until the man passed.
He figured Goldie and Donovan would have heard the gunshots. Donovan would know that Havers was headed for them, armed and wounded and dangerous.
Max had no choice but to let Havers go on toward the armored car and Goldie and Donovan.
He saw that Havers’s back was to him, so he quickly checked his leg. The bullet seemed to have missed the bone. He lay back and waited. His only chance of stopping Havers was to come in behind him. Lying flat in the dirt, he counted off the seconds until he didn’t hear movement.
Lifting his head just enough to see through the sage, he saw Havers reach the back of the armored car.
Then he was up on his feet and moving as fast as his wounded leg would allow toward the armored car where he’d last seen Havers.
DONOVAN WAS LOADING the money into the bag he’d been told to bring with him when he heard Havers come around the side of the armored car. He’d been expecting Havers and Lolly. Instead, all he’d seen was Havers and the sheriff. Clearly the plan had changed at some point.
He glanced up, seeing the gun gripped in Havers’s fist, the blood-soaked clothing and the pain in the man’s face indicating he was badly hurt. He quickly glanced down and continued what he was doing. He knew Havers would kill him. He just hoped it wouldn’t be until he’d finished what he was doing.
“Where’s Lolly?” he asked into the quiet when what he was really wondering was, Where is the sheriff?
Havers swore profusely and mumbled something under his breath about her shooting him as he leaned against the side of the armored car. “You about done? I’m going to need to take your car.”
Donovan didn’t ask why. He wondered what had happened to Lolly after she’d shot Havers. He hated to ask. “Did she tell you she was pregnant?”
Havers swore, then asked as if just remembering Goldie was supposed to be here, “Where’s the blonde?”
“I had to dump her back up the road. Women.”
Havers mumbled his agreement. “Can you hurry it up?”
“Almost done,” he said, feeling the man getting antsy.
Havers wanted this over with as much as Donovan wanted to put off the inevitable.
“This bag is heavy. I’ll carry it to the car since you’re still bleeding.
” He could almost hear Havers considering this.
It clearly wasn’t what the man had planned.
He saw him glance back toward the highway.
Probably wondering if they might be running into the sheriff on the way.
Max must have been wounded, if not killed.
“Sure. Why not.”
GOLDIE HAD GONE to the other side of the armored car, but then she’d spotted an outcropping of rock and dropped down behind it. She’d been afraid to even look, for fear she might be seen. Then she heard Donovan’s voice and that of the other man, who Donovan had called Havers.
She held her breath as she tried to hear their conversation. She could tell that Donovan was nervous. He expected Havers planned to kill him, she realized. That’s why he’d sent her off to hide. Why hadn’t he kept the gun?
Because he was no killer, she thought. She glanced toward the highway. She could see Max’s patrol SUV, the driver’s-side door standing open, but no sign of the man. Remembering the two gunshots she’d heard, she feared he was lying wounded in the sagebrush.
She looked at the pistol she still held in her hand. She couldn’t stay hidden here. Maybe Havers wouldn’t come looking for her, but maybe he would—after he killed Donovan. She couldn’t wait for that to happen.
Easing out from behind the rocks, she started toward the armored car when she saw Max. He was limping badly and had just reached the back of the vehicle. He hadn’t seen her. But she’d seen him and noticed that he wasn’t armed.
She hurried to the front of the armored car and as she reached it called, “Donovan?”
“What the hell?” she heard Havers say. “I thought you said you dumped her back up the road?”
Donovan cursed. “I did. She must have followed me.”
“Of course she did.” She heard Donovan let out a cry of pain. “Come on, blondie,” Havers called. “Come join us. Don’t make me come after you.”
Hiding the gun behind her, Goldie glanced around the corner of the vehicle. The man called Havers swung his gun in her direction, but she quickly jerked back out of sight as he fired in her direction. But in that split second, she’d seen Max coming up behind Havers.
Havers must have heard the sheriff approaching as well because as she came around the corner, this time the gun clutched in both her hands, Havers had his gun pointed at Max. Donovan was on the ground next to the bag of money, his head was bleeding and he was out cold.
“Any last words, Sheriff?” Havers asked.
“I’m right here,” she said behind Havers, and he started to turn as she pulled the trigger at the same time he did. Havers went down hard.
She looked from him to Max, terrified she had gotten him killed instead of saving him.
He was holding his shoulder, blood oozing between his fingers, but he was smiling at her.
She rushed to him. “We have to get you to a doctor,” she said, seeing that his leg was also bleeding. “Put your arm around me.”
“I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my life,” he said as he leaned into her, and they headed for his patrol SUV. “I didn’t know you knew how to shoot a gun.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Max Lander.”