Overkill(84)

And, dammit, the one time he’d failed to set his house alarm. He’d been so wrapped up with Kate… Seeming to read the silent apology in his expression, she gave him a tiny smile and an almost imperceptible shake of her head.

“Bridger,” Parsons said, “you must have a phone. Where is it?”

Zack nodded toward the sofa. “Side pocket of my jacket.”

Theo responded to another signal from Cal and went in search of Zach’s phone. When he produced it, Cal said, “What about yours?” He squeezed Kate’s waist.

“In my shoulder bag on the console table by the front door.”

When Theo had both phones in hand, Cal said, “Pitch them into the fireplace. The key fob, too.”

Theo looked conflicted, but he moved aside the fire screen and did as he’d been told.

As the items landed on the embers, the four of them watched them flare. Sparks flew up the chimney. One of the smoldering logs reignited with a loud pop.

Zach didn’t know until that instant what he was going to do, but he’d built a career relying on gut instinct and lightning-quick reflexes. He flung his arms out to his sides, giving Parsons a clear shot at his bare chest.

“Hey!” Parsons swung the pistol away from Kate and aimed it at Zach.

Theo cried out, “Cal!”

Kate shouted, “No!”

And Zach said, “Everybody, calm the fuck down.”

He’d said that a thousand times in huddles after a play had gone terribly wrong and hotheaded team members began blaming one another for the blunder that had cost them yardage. With the right intonation, it had never failed to get attention, and it didn’t now.

The other three had frozen in place, but all were poised for action, watching him, waiting to see what he would do next and act accordingly. “Let Kate go,” he said to Parsons, keeping his arms extended. “I’m an open target. Shoot me.”

“No!” Kate said in an adamant whisper.

“Eban wants you dead,” Theo blurted. “Because only you can pull the plug on your ex.” He was swaying from side to side, his eyes darting from Cal, to the pistol, to Zach, in a manic circuit.

Cal growled, “Quiet, Theo.”

“So this is Eban’s idea?” Zach said. “You kill us, and all his problems will go away? I seriously doubt that, guys, but I guess it’s possible. On the other hand, your problems will have just started. Eban puts Kate and me on TV, makes us big news, and twenty-four hours later, you knock us off.” He smacked his lips. “For you two, that plan blows.”

Zach prayed to God that his hunch was right and that what he was about to do wouldn’t get Kate killed. In which case, he would have to kill Parsons. Not that he would mind that all that much, but he would hate it for Melinda and her unborn child.

Looking directly at Parsons, he said, “Congratulations on your baby.”

Theo squeaked, “Baby?”

“Hasn’t he told you yet, Theo? He and Melinda are pregnant with their firstborn.”

Cal’s stern expression showed signs of weakening. “How do you know about the baby?”

“We visited with Melinda today,” Kate said.

Parsons took his eyes off Zach long enough to glance at her. “What the hell for?”

“I’ll be happy to tell you all about it, but not while you’re threatening our lives.”

Zach’s mention of his wife and expected child had the desired effect. Cal’s gun hand wasn’t as steady as it had been. “You had no right to bother my wife.”

“Actually, as an officer of the court, I did have a right,” Kate continued in that same measured voice. “But Melinda was already bothered when Zach and I got to your house. She’d been unable to reach you. She was crying because Eban Clarke is back in your life, and she despises him.”

Zach said, “She hates even more that you ask how high every time Eban says jump.”

“Shut up, Bridger. You don’t know anything about me.”

Zach started walking toward them in an unhurried tread. “I know you’d like hearing what Kate has to say. Why don’t you stop this craziness and listen? Melinda did. She listened hard. It beats me why she loves you so much, but the poor lady does and—”

“I said to shut up!”

“—you’re dogshit for making her worry herself sick, especially now that she’s having your kid.”

Cal’s chest was heaving with agitation. Zach feared he might have pushed him too far, so he stopped several feet short of them. “Kate’s barefooted. Her feet must be cold. I know mine are. But I think you’re the one with cold feet, Cal.”

He allowed the other man time to answer, but when Parsons just chewed the inside of his cheek and didn’t say anything, Zach continued. “See, what you’ve done makes no sense. It’s like you’re going for two when you’ve already got the game won with the touchdown.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s a football analogy,” Kate said. “He uses them a lot.”

Zach said, “I figure that if you had really and truly come all this way with the intention of killing Kate and me on Eban’s behalf, you would’ve just shot her, then me, and been done with it.

“You wouldn’t have bothered with this B-movie standoff. You wouldn’t have taken the trouble to destroy our cell phones. What would have been the point? We’d be dead. No, if you’d come to kill us, you’d have already done it and would be halfway back to Atlanta by now.”