“I had the misfortune of being picked up by the cops last summer on a minor drug charge. It was almost funny. The FBI has been looking for me so long and the local police in a podunk North Carolina town are the ones who managed to hem me up.”

“You were arrested? And they let you back out?” Eli almost laughed it was so ridiculous.

“I served eleven months and then got out. They never even suspected they had the head of one of the most notorious gangs in their midst.” He chuckled at his own joke. “So due to those unforeseen circumstances, you got a reprieve. Then once I got out and headed back up here, I had to start all over. You’re not the easiest guy to catch up with. Your schedule follows no discernible pattern, and you’ve got all those eyes on you.”

“Obviously not enough.”

He waved his gun crazily in Eli’s direction. “Enough that I couldn’t get close. I knew I’d taught you something all those years ago. So I had to find a way to get you away from those FBI agents. The only thing that worked was going after your clients. You’d fly out and they wouldn’t always follow you. But you never stayed long enough. Except for with her.”

“That’s why you focused on Kaylee.” Elliott’s chest tightened. All this time she’d been in danger. How many times had she been in the crosshairs when Justice was aiming for him? His stomach revolted and for a terrifying moment, he thought he’d vomit right then and there. All he’d ever wanted was to protect her, but his adoration of her had almost gotten her killed.

“She was the only one you consistently showed up for. Any hint of a threat on this girl and there you were, and you’d stay for days.” Justice’s eyes gleamed over the barrel of his gun. “Pretty thing, too. Innocent. You always did have a thing for saving the defenseless.”

Eli growled, his dominant instincts set into overdrive at just the thought of Justice anywhere near her.

“All I had to do was watch and wait. Those two things can give you an opportunity, even against someone as careful as you. The bomb was a mistake. I got frustrated. I realized then that if I killed you, I’d never know why you sold us out or how much you told the FBI. It was just that every time I thought of all those years on the run…”

His arm rose and Eli dove to the side, chunks of plaster exploding from the wall beside his head.

“I already told you it wasn’t me!”

Justice made a small sound of disagreement. “I don’t believe you. And now I’m done talking.”

Eli fired back and used the opportunity to double back and hide in the dining room. There were two ways into the room, but he would be able to hear Justice approaching from either side.

“You can’t hide.” The voice floated from his right. He must be in the front hallway.

Eli edged to the side slowly, then stopped, his instincts ringing when he didn’t hear the telltale squeak the wood floors made near the front door. He spun around, dropping low at the same time. He got off several shots before he fell backward, his arm suddenly numb.

Then he was engulfed in pain.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

AT THE SOUND of more gunshots, Kay and Mara both turned around. Hope let out a small whimper, and Kay wanted to cry along with her.

“We have to do something,” she moaned. She moved closer to the door.

“We can’t go out there. Matt told us to stay in here.” Mara crossed her arms.

“He’s going to get shot protecting us. I can’t just wait here.” Kay walked back to where Mara sat in front of the computer. She was clicking through each of the menus at the top of the program.

There had to be a better way to view the security cameras. Scrolling through all the images one by one was taking too long. Suddenly the screen split and they could see four images at once.

“Is that them?” Mara leaned closer. An image of two men circling each other was on the uppermost left.

“Yeah. That’s the living room, and look…” Kay pointed to the upper-right screen. “That’s the bedroom. Right outside the door.” She wished now that she’d insisted on knowing more about the security system. Eli had given her the password to disable the alarm and the separate passcode to the panic room, but he hadn’t shown her how to operate any of this stuff. If he had, she might be able to help him somehow. “I wish I knew how to work all this. If I did, we could set the alarm off or maybe cut out the lights. Something.”

“Just look around and start clicking. That’s what I did. It can’t be that difficult to figure out,” Mara suggested. She stood and held out her arms to take Hope.

Kay plopped down in the seat and scanned the main screen. It looked like the desktop of any computer, filled with icons and folders. She clicked on things at random until something popped up with images matching the ones on the other monitor.

“Found it. This must control the cameras.”

“Great. Maybe we can create a distraction of some kind. Like cutting the lights off so Eli has time to run away.”

“But what if we cut the lights and the other guy shoots?”

Mara’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah, or that could happen. What are we going to do? Matt said help is coming, but by the time it gets here, it might be too late.”

“I wish I had my cell phone. I could call Tank or one of the other guys. But I don’t know their numbers by heart.”

Kay started clicking through the different menus in the program. Camera feeds, windows, doors, fire alarm. She stopped. Fire alarm? “Maybe I can set off the alarm and the noise will give Eli enough time to get away.” She clicked the button next to the icon.