Behind the Lies (Montgomery Justice #2)(91)

“Daddy!” Sam bolted out of a thicket of pine and aspen and skidded over to Brad. “Mommy’s in the house!” He pointed to the fire. “Save her!”

“Sam, no! Get out of here. Run!”

Theresa turned the gun on the boy. “Not another step, brat.”

Sam froze in place, only a couple of feet from the madwoman.

She glanced at Brad and chuckled. “Your son, Chameleon. He picked a really bad time to return. The fire department and cops will be here soon. I don’t have time to stay and chat anymore.”

She aimed the weapon at Sam.

“No!” Brad lurched from the ground and heaved himself in front of her just as the weapon discharged. The bullet struck his chest, then exploded inside him. He knocked Sam down, covering his son with his body. Blood poured from the gaping chest wound, but there was nothing Brad could do.

He was dying.

Sam was alive.




Jenna lay half-pinned beneath Zach, fire and debris raining over them. Scarlet flames and plumes of smoke obliterated the sky. She looked to her left.

Gabe lay on the ground, unconscious and unmoving, pinned under several large, smoldering logs. Luke groaned and crawled to his brother, tugging at the wood. “Gabe,” he rasped. “Hang in there.”

Seth sat up just beyond his brothers, holding his bleeding head.

“Help me, Seth,” Luke said, tugging at the heavy wood. “They’re burning him.”

“Daddy!”

“Sam?” The sound of her son’s scream and a gunshot had her up and running, then staggering as the pain in her cracked ribs hit.

Gritting her teeth, she bolted around the corner. A woman bent over a bloody body on the ground. Oh God. Brad. She recognized his hair, the figure. Sam was struggling to pull himself free of the weight of his father’s legs.

“Shut up, brat.” The woman took a bead on Sam’s head.

“Theresa, stop!”

At Zach’s command, the woman whirled around. Jenna didn’t pause to think. She dove at Theresa. The woman screamed. Bullets whizzed by Jenna’s head, but she hit Theresa in the gut with a full tackle and took her down. Jenna cried out in agony. Pain exploded in her chest, more ribs cracking. Theresa lifted her gun. Jenna didn’t hesitate. She slammed her knuckle into the woman’s throat.

A crack sounded. Theresa choked, then tightened her hand on the trigger.

She fired.

At that exact second, Zach’s bullet shattered her skull.

Jenna lay panting on the ground. Theresa was dead, her brains splattered on the ground. Sam was safe.

“Mommy…help…”

Her son’s bubbling rasp terrified Jenna. She rolled clear of Theresa’s body, horrified to see blood spreading from a blackened hole in her son’s shirt.

“Sam!” She lurched to him.

Her son looked at her, tears in his eyes. He stared at his chest. “It hurts, Mommy.”

His eyelids flickered.

She clutched him and lifted the material. Blood flowed from the wound. This couldn’t be happening. “No, baby. You’re going to be fine. Mommy’s here. Zach!” she screamed. “Sam’s hit!”

“Shit!” Zack raced over, tore off his shirt, then pressed the cleanest side against Sam’s wound. “Luke,” he shouted. “Call an ambulance. Seth, get over here and help me staunch the flow. Gabe, make sure that bitch is dead.”

No one responded.

Jenna looked up. Luke and Seth carried a groggy Gabe, but Luke still had a phone to his ear.

“Help’s coming, baby,” Jenna said, touching his forehead. “It’ll be OK.”

“I’m…sorry, Mommy…” Sam’s voice was weak.

Jenna bent down and whispered in his ear. “No way, Junior Avenger. You’re not leaving me.”

She couldn’t stop the tears.

“I love you, Mommy.”

He whimpered then went limp in her arms.




Zach paced the hospital room, hating the beeping of the machines hooked up to Sam’s frail body. Surgery had taken hours, and Sam had barely moved since they’d brought him to this room.

“Sit down, Zach.” Jenna, her eyes swollen and her face bruised and mottled, patted the hospital chair beside her, right next to Sam’s bed.

Zach sat and gently took her hand, wincing at the bandaged wrists. He cupped her injured cheek, his gaze tender. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

She shook her head. “You saved me. Another few seconds and he would have killed me.”

Jenna bit her lip and stroked her son’s hand. “Sam’s going to be fine. I know he is.” She shifted in her chair, but groaned at the slight movement.

“You need to see the doctor? You need more pain pills?”

“No, Zach, I need you,” she said hoarsely, leaning into him. “Stay with me until Sam opens his eyes.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered, feeling like his heart would shatter at the faith in her eyes. He tucked her close and stroked her hair. He wouldn’t leave her until Sam woke up.

And he had to wake up.

A man pushed aside the curtain and peered into the room. The suit gave the guy away. Zach palmed his father’s 1911 and held his finger over the trigger.