Adam’s wiry strength and manic energy made up for the weight and muscle difference between him and Clay. As Clay landed a punch on Adam’s face, Adam squirmed out from beneath him and scrabbled for Clay’s gun, shoved up against the rock.
An adrenaline rush surged through April’s system and she launched herself forward, snatching up the weapon that had flown out of Adam’s hand. Her weapon.
Hitching up to her knees, she swung the gun toward the two men rolling closer to the other gun, Adam’s fingers stretching out for the barrel.
“Stop!” She wrenched the word from her parched throat. “Stop, now. Leave the gun, Adam.”
He smiled through bleeding lips. “You’re not going to do it, April. I’m your little brother.”
As both Adam and Clay made a final, desperate grab for the gun, April took aim and fired.
Epilogue
April buried her face in Denali’s fur, the coarse texture tickling her nose. “How’s the progress on those tunnels going?”
Clay placed a glass of wine on the firepit, and the flickering reds and oranges filtered through the shimmering liquid. “We’ve gotten to half of them already. Some are crude, some are sophisticated, all were conduits for drugs and God knows what else for Las Moscas.”
“It’s a gold mine of information, isn’t it?” April stretched her hand to the fire and wiggled her fingers before pinching the stem of the wineglass and taking a sip of the cold chardonnay.
“Thanks to you.”
She tipped her glass in Clay’s direction. “Officially, thanks to you.”
“Less complicated for me to take credit for shooting and killing your brother than you.” He swirled the wine in his glass. “Unless you’ve changed your mind.”
She shoved her hair behind her ear and sniffed. “I don’t want it to be known that I killed Adam—even though he deserved it.”
“Not only did he deserve it, you took the shot in self-defense. He’d abducted you at gunpoint, and if he’d reached that gun before I did, he would’ve killed you.”
“At that moment, I didn’t even think about that.” She ran her fingertip around the rim of her glass. “It was you I was worried about. Always you, Clay.”
He pushed up to his feet and sat next to her on the other side of the firepit in his backyard. He set down his glass and draped his arm around her shoulders. “Misplaced worry. If you had just told me two years ago that someone was threatening you, threatening us, I probably could’ve nipped this entire thing in the bud.”
“If we’d gone through with the wedding, Adam would’ve killed you. I’m sure of that.” She grabbed his fingers brushing her arm, and entwined hers with them. “Why didn’t my parents try to get him help?”
“Maybe they just didn’t recognize what he was. You didn’t.”
“I was a child, and he was my younger brother.”
“You didn’t recognize him for what he was even when you were both adults. I guess he got better at hiding the fact that he didn’t have any real emotions, no human feeling.”
“He’s right. I didn’t want to see it. Especially after Mom...died and Dad disappeared.” She bolted upright. “Dad should know. He should know he’s no longer a suspect in Mom’s murder.”
Clay stroked his hand down her back. “Maybe someday, April. If he really is El Gringo Viejo, you don’t want him back in your life, anyway.”
“If?” She cranked her head to the side. “You were so sure he wasn’t. What changed?”
“Adam believed it with all his heart—of course, that’s not saying much. Did he convince you?”
“I’m not sure. He would never tell me what evidence he had.”
“You know what’s curious?”
“Lots of things. What?”
“The other female mule? They ID’d her. She was an ex-pat living in Mexico, may have had connections to El Gringo Viejo.”
“Which means El Gringo Viejo may be working against Las Moscas?”
“Maybe. He’s Mexico’s problem right now. We’ll have our hands full destroying those tunnels.”
“Hey, you two.” Meg stood at the patio door, music floating outside from behind her. “The party’s in here...or maybe not.”
April waved. “We’ll be there in a minute.”
When Meg closed the door, Clay scooted in closer and nuzzled her hair. “Or two, or three.”
Cupping his jaw, she whispered, “Have I ever told you I love you?”
“Not for a few years, but your actions speak louder than those three words ever could.” He kissed her throat. “Don’t ever try to protect me again without telling me about it first. Besides, that’s my job.”
“That’s our job, together. Isn’t that what’s in the wedding vows?”
“I’m not sure. I never got to say those vows.”
“Me, either.”
“When are we going to remedy that?”
“How close is Vegas?”
“Not close enough.”
And as Clay wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss against her willing mouth, she whispered against his lips, “Not close enough.”
Look for the next book in Carol Ericson’s
Holding the Line miniseries when
Chain of Custody goes on sale in July 2020,
only from Harlequin Intrigue!
Keep reading for an excerpt from What She Saw by Barb Han.
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What She Saw
by Barb Han
Chapter One
Deputy Courtney Foster sat at the oblong wooden conference table in the sheriff’s office, clicking a pen. The distraction helped her focus on work and not the sick feeling swirling in her stomach, building, threatening to send her racing to the trash can. She’d skipped her usual early-morning cup of coffee in favor of salted crackers.
“I just got a call from the Meyers,” her boss, Zach McWilliams, said on a frustrated-sounding sigh. “They’ve decided it’s not safe in Jacobstown anymore. Trip Meyer made a point of telling me that he’s afraid for his daughters to come home from the university over spring break.”
“I’m sorry,” Courtney offered.
Deputy Lopez shuffled into the room with coffee in hand and took a seat next her.
“Morning,” he
