Page 52 of Shielding his Legacy
The men broke into a run, slowing just enough to check doors along the way. Gavin’s pulse thundered, every footfall another beat in the drumline of panic that pounded his lungs and heart. He’d left Eva here with Abby, thinking they’d be safe in a building full of cops. He should’ve known better.
Emotion threatened at the edges of determined action. He’d only just found her, only just accepted his feelings for her and his desire for the three of them to be a family. He couldn’t handle it if anything happened to her or the baby. If Jacoby so much as hurt a hair on her head, the dragon would see to it that every drop of blood inside that man make its way to the outside.
Reaching a T, Gavin peeked around one corner, wishing he held Johanssen’s gun but keeping it hidden in its holster. He’d just told a building full of armed policemen there was a clear and present threat. He wouldn’t be useful to Eva if he was gunned down.
A man’s voice called out from the hallway behind him. “DeGrey!”
Gavin and Sloan whipped around. “No,” Gavin whispered. At the end of the corridor stood Jacoby and Eva, the baby on her shoulder. Jacoby’s arm was across Eva’s throat, and he had a pistol pressed to her temple. Abby was making small noises, ones that Gavin had learned preceded a full-on crying jag.
“You did this, DeGrey. I was just going to ask her a simple question and be on my way, but you had to use that radio.”
Gavin took a single step toward them. “Please?—”
Jacoby’s voice was shrill with desperation. “I swear to God, I will shoot her if you try to be a hero.”
“We’re unarmed,” said Gavin. “You don’t need to do this. I can get on the radio again. Tell them it was a mistake. You can walk out of here like nothing happened.”
A sob escaped Eva’s throat, and Jacoby yanked her more tightly to him, causing her to struggle. He hissed at her, “I wouldn’t have had to do this, if you’d just told us where youhad the film developed. But you couldn’t answer one small, goddamn question, now, could you?”
Sloan called out, “We all know where she got it developed.” He gestured to Gavin, while keeping his hands raised, making Gavin wonder where the knife had gone. “He told Razorback, who told Moto, who sent Cleats down there to pick up the film.”
Gavin nodded, seeing where Sloan was going with this. “Right. So even if you shoot the three of us, three other people out there also know.”
“Four other people,” said Sloan. “Champion, Razorback, Trace, and Moto.”
“Right, sorry.” Gavin apologized. “Four other people, at least.”
Jacoby narrowed his eyes. “You’re bluffing.”
“We’re not.” Gavin worked to keep his voice calm and level. “We can help you get out of here, but not when you’re holding her like that.”
Abby started to cry, a small hiccupping sound at first. Gavin knew he had about twenty seconds before she erupted into a full-fledged wail. “She’s about to get loud. That sound will echo down these corridors and bring them right to you. Let Sloan take the baby out of here.”
“Do you think I’m stupid?” Jacoby asked, even as Abby’s volume increased exponentially. “Do you really think I’d give you one of my hostages?” He yelled to be heard over the baby’s cries. “Let them know exactly where we are. We can start negotiations to get me out of this place.” Jacoby took his gun away from Eva’s head and pointed it toward the ceiling.
Gavin bit out, “Now!” just as Jacoby fired a single shot skyward, the sound reverberating off the tile hallway like a percussive bomb. Time shifted into slow motion. Gavin wasaware of Sloan’s arms coming down as he himself bent at the waist and reached for the weapon in his ankle holster. He prayed he was right—that Sloan had dropped the wooden knife into his fanny pack and was using it to provide cover for Gavin’s attempt to arm himself.
Gripping the gun, Gavin mused that he wasn’t dead yet, which was a good sign he’d been correct about Sloan’s actions. He righted himself, the gun at the ready, not knowing what he would find.
Jacoby was clearly rattled, his body shifted at least a foot, and his grip on Eva loose as he moved to avoid the thrown wooden knife. Abby’s cries were a torrent, but even as Gavin was aware of the sound, all sensory details narrowed to a single point—Eva’s frightened stare as it connected with his.
Then she was moving, just as he’d hoped, yanking herself away from Jacoby in the confusion that followed the knife being thrown. Gavin had a clear shot of Jacoby’s center mass, and he took it without hesitation.
Three shots in quick succession, the force of the grouping pushing Jacoby backward and down. He landed on his back and head and a sickening smack, dead before he hit the floor, but Gavin continued to hold the weapon in an offensive stance.
Sloan gently pushed Gavin’s arms down. “He’s gone.”
The dragon would have pursued Jacoby all the way to hell. He would have shot off the other man’s face, removing every testament to Jacoby’s humanity. But Gavin barely comprehended what his friend said. His gaze was focused on Eva and Abby, covered in a fine mist of Jacoby’s blood.
Eva stared at Jacoby’s body, her face devoid of any kind of reaction. Gavin suspected she was in shock. He crossed to her, withdrawing the radio as he walked and announcing, “Jacoby is down. Hostage situation resolved.”
Eva’s big blue eyes met his, a total lack of comprehension clouding her stare. “He found us,” she said over Abby’s cries. “In the supply closet. I asked the officer with us to look for you...”
Reaching her, he touched her cheek, tiny droplets of blood smearing with the tender gesture. “Shhh…”
“Is he… is he…”
“It’s not your fault, Eva.”
