Behind the Lies (Montgomery Justice #2)(68)

Unease snaked around her heart, but Anna refused to give in to the caution. Unlike the night of Patrick’s death, she would act on the wariness prickling in her mind. She sneaked out into the linoleum hall. The floor was strangely deserted. She’d never seen the place so quiet and glanced at the clock. Eleven. Shift change. That explained it.

She didn’t attempt to walk past the nurse’s station. Someone would be manning the location. Avoiding the center area, she crossed down the hall and detoured toward the room Jasmine had pointed out on their last excursion. Her daughter-in-law’s sharp eyes had seen what all her boys but Zach hadn’t. That John Garrison meant more than Anna had ever admitted. Even to herself.

Her arm quivered holding the weighty vase. She sped up her pace as much as she could. When she finally reached John’s door, she pressed to open it.

Something got in the way.

Leaning against the swinging door, she pushed harder, shoving aside a heavy object.

She stared down. A man’s shiny shoe attached to a uniform. The deputy. On the floor. Unconscious.

Her heart stuttered. She quickly looked up.

A man bent over John’s bed. He wore a white coat, but he ignored the man on the floor.

She stilled. This was so wrong.

What to do?

She ripped the IV from her hand, clutched the vase, and tiptoed into the room.

“You won’t be so hard to kill this time, Captain,” the man said. He shoved a syringe into the clear plastic tubing.

Anna didn’t think. She raced at the man and slammed the vase on his head. A loud curse erupted. He grabbed his bloody head and whirled around.

An ordinary man. A surprised man. An angry man.

He threw her to the floor and escaped from the room. Her head slammed against the metal bed. Mind whirling, Anna grasped John’s IV and yanked it from his arm. Spots spun in front of her gaze. She couldn’t see. She reached for the nurse’s button and pressed.

Gray closed in on her. John’s heart monitor sped up.

A shout echoed from the hall. Someone turned her over.

“Get security here, now!”

A man bent over her.

“John. Syringe. Murder,” she whispered.

“Check the IV,” the doctor shouted. “Anna. Can you hear me? Who did this?”

“Doctor.” She lifted her eyelids. The doctor’s concerned expression grew fuzzy. “Find my sons.”




The streetlights whipped past the SUV, the city’s nightly glow reflected off the roads. Finally, Gabe entered Golden, the road on its outskirts nestled up against the hills west of Denver. He closed in on the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Zach forced his entire body to perfect stillness.

He’d have loved to cart Jenna and Sam to Gabe’s former employers and put them in protective custody. If it were safe. Jazz might still be the lead SWAT sniper for the office, but Zach couldn’t trust any law enforcement agency. Not with Jenna and Sam’s lives.

The SUV swerved into the parking lot of Gabe’s new endeavor.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Jenna said. “Sammy’s Bar?”

Gabe winked at her and shrugged. “I didn’t want to rename the business when I bought it. Sammy’s has been an institution for years with a great location across from the sheriff’s office. I guess your Sam was supposed to visit. A bit of fate taking a hand, maybe.”

“It’s my place, Mommy?” Sam asked with a huge grin. “Then I want something to eat.”

Gabe maneuvered the vehicle behind the bar. The smell of barbecue hung in the air. The open lot with the basketball court made Zach uneasy. Too many places to hide. Gabe pulled up to a small house about forty feet from the back of the bar. Zach scanned the area.

A woman paced at the back door. “Who’s that?” Zach said before Gabe had even turned off the engine.

He glanced at the lone figure. She bent over, hands on her knees, and took in several deep breaths before standing and stalking into the bar.

“That’s Deb. She’s all right, just a bit intense.” Gabe’s normally easygoing expression sobered. “She’s the best chopper pilot in the state.”

Zach paused, studying his brother’s face. “Is she the one who flew you—”

“She saved my life and my leg,” Gabe said quietly. “She’s the go-to pilot for search and rescue and Flight for Life. She’s scary good, takes risks no one else will.”

“Someday, I have to thank her.”

“Good luck getting her to say a word,” Gabe muttered, exiting the vehicle. There was a story there, one Zach wanted to hear if he ever got his life back.

Gabe positioned himself a few feet away from the SUV, his body on alert. Once SWAT, always SWAT. Thank God. Zach unbuckled his seat belt and walked to the backseat. “Come on, buddy. Let’s get you and your mom inside.”

Taking Sam’s hand, Zach helped the boy out. Jenna gave him a tentative smile, but he had a hard time returning the expression. His mother’s words kept twisting around in his mind.

Don’t let love slip away.

How had she known? Had he been so obvious?

How could he let himself feel anything?

And yet, as Jenna stepped into the cool Colorado night, his entire body tensed at the ready. He wanted to whisk her away, protect her, and take care of her. For now. Forever.