"Take Kaden. Go in the house." The tension in his voice was solid, it demanded compliance.
"Okay," She fought the urge to run inside and lock the door. What was wrong? What had put Brian in battle stance? She'd have to trust him.
"Come on, Kade. I picked up some strawberry ice cream at the store."
"Can I have two scoops?"
"Three, if you want." She took his hand and hurried him inside.
Brian backed through the door right behind her. He closed it quickly. "Go into the back bedroom."
She obeyed, fueled by his body language and cautionary tone.
The sound of wood splintering reached her ears.
"Get down!" Brian pulled them to the ground and sheltered them with his body.
Fear shot through her. She pulled Kaden close as another bullet tore through the front door.
Silently she prayed Brian would be okay. No macho cop crap. She could hear him on his radio, feel the whisper of his labored breath against her hair.
"Dispatch, officer 557, shots fired, 415 Murray. I'm pinned down inside the house with two occupants. Fire is coming from a wooded area across the street. Approach with caution."
The radio crackled in his hand. "Copy 557, will dispatch officers on the scene."
Another bullet sawed through the top of the door. Kendall huged Kaden tighter, closed her eyes and waited for the nightmare to end.
"Littrell, you in there? It's clear."
"Yeah." Brian reluctantly let go of her. "Kendall?" He touched her back with his hand.
She rolled toward him and opened her eyes. "We're okay."
"Thank God." He reached out and brushed her cheek with his hand. He wanted to tell her he could keep her safe, but he couldn't promise her the sniper who'd just taken shots at them wouldn't do it again.
"What just happened?" She sat up, still holding her son as if she'd never let go of him. He didn't blame her.
"I don't know." Brian sat back against the wall and rubbed his eyes. "I caught a glimpse of something in the woods. It was probably the sun on his scope. He had the power to kill us."
"Why didn't he?"
"I don't know that, either."
A uniformed officer stepped through the front door. His gun drawn. "I've got an officer searching the woods across the street, but the shooter's gone. Do we need EMS?"
"No, everyone's fine." He helped Kendall and Kaden to their feet. "Physically, anyway. You okay, buddy?"
The child's big brown eyes were wide with confusion, but he finally grinned and nodded. "Yeah."
Kendall picked him up and leaned against the doorway; her eyes brimming with tears. She blinked them away and stared at him. "I'm going to take Kaden home."
He couldn't believe his ears. He wanted to shake some sense into her. Maybe he'd make her put her finger into one of the bullet holes in her door, just to make it real. "Kendall, you can't stay here."
"I know. That's why we're going somewhere where they can't find us. They won't be able to sneak up on us, either."
"And where's that?"
"Home."
Realization needled his heart. She was going home? Back into a world where lawlessness ruled the day. He pulled in his concern and disappointment. She was a McKinley. Hadn't he always known that? Hadn't he always been aware of her past?
He looked at Kaden snuggled in his mother's arms and mercy altered his judgement. He had to let her make the decisions about her child. He couldn't hold them. Hell, he hadn't been able to protect his own family.
"How soon do you want to leave?"
"Tonight."
Kendall sat on Brian's sofa watching the flames in the fireplace. She'd closed the blinds in the room to shut out the gathering darkness. Every passing minute seemed to tick by slowly in her head. She was going to see her family again. Turn over her most cherished gift to them for safekeeping, but it was the right thing to do. The last two weeks had turned her life upside down. She could deal with all the turns. But Kaden, what about him?
Downing the last of her tea, she stood up, went into the kitchen and put her mug in the sink. She dismissed the need to nose around. As much as she wanted to know where his wife was she didn't want to experience his wrath.
Wandering back into the living room, she eyed the pictures on the mantel. The little girl in the photos looked just like Brian. There wasn't any doubt about her parentage. The piece of metal she'd been forbidden to touch lay on the end of the mantel, daring her.
Kendall glanced over her shoulder. Any minute he could appear and jump on her, but he was in the other room hooking up the Nintendo for Kaden.
She moved to the end of the mantel. Her hand shook as she reached for the piece. Gently, she picked it up. It was an odd thing to have displayed. Kendall turned it over. A piece of grillwork. It had come from the right side of a car, she was sure. The tiny ridge of cast material on one side hadn't been ground away. She thumped the piece with her finger. It was an alloy. Foreign. Bouncing it in her hand, she gauged its weight.
"What are you doing?"
Brian's razor-sharp question sliced through her concentration. Caught off guard, she whirled around. "I'm...I'm..." She closed her hand around the metal and held her hands behind her back. "I'm enjoying the fire."
He stalked toward her.
Overwhelmed by the desire to run, she stood her ground as his gaze slid down the mantel, stopped and came back to her.
"Where is it?"
She brought her hand out from behind her back and opened it. The metallic scrap lay in her open palm. "What is it, Brian?"
"You tell me." He locked an inquisitive stare on her. It made her uncomfortable, but she stared right back at him, watching his jaw flex as he worked his teeth against each other.
His stance, hands on hips, warned her she'd crossed some invisible line.
She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. "It's a piece of grillwork. From the feel of it, it's from a foreign model, probably a mid to late nineteen-ninety." She looked at the piece again. "A Porsche maybe..."
Brian's hands dropped from his hips. She saw him suck in a deep breath and let it out. His face went pale and he deflated like a leaky balloon. He took the grillwork out of her hand and laid it back on the mantel.
"You expect me to believe you know all of that, just by toying with it?"
He plopped down on the sofa and rubbed his hands up and down his face before he looked at her again.
"Yeah?"
"Give me one reason why I should believe you."
Guilt tied her tongue. "Fine. It's just a piece of metal. Maybe it's your idea of a knickknack. Maybe it's a paperweight. How the hell should I know?"
"Woah." He stood up suddenly. "You started this, Kendall. Do you have the facts to back it up?"
She felt hot all over. If she told Brian how she'd obtained the knowledge, she was sure he'd think less of her, and she'd been working really hard to convince him she wasn't a car thief. "I'm pleading the fifth."
"No way." He was beside her. "If you know the kind of car it came from, you better tell me how you got that information."
The plea in his pale eyes bordered on desperation. Why was the chunk of metal so important? "Where did you get it, Brian?"
He moved slowly around her. "Come on, you know where I got it. You know everything about it...don't you?"
The accusatory tone in his voice bristled her nerves. His body language screamed menace. She stepped back. Caution surged in her veins and built like a riptide. "No."
He clamped his hands onto her forearms. An electrical current jolted into her body, made her heart race. "Stop it, Brian. Stop it. What's wrong with you?"
Releasing her, he sat back down on the sofa, in need of a comfortable place to fall. If Kendall knew anything about the accident, she was good at hiding it. From the top of her head to the tip of her toes, she appeared to be honest.
"Enough. We'll talk about it later." He stood up, drained. For years he'd wanted to know what had really happened to his wife and daughter. Now he wanted to talk about it later?
He pushed past her and went into the kitchen, but she followed him. Her expression was curious, determined. He wanted to hold out on her, but she wasn't going to let him.
"Tell me about them."
"They're dead. Killed in an accident." He turned away, turned against the sympathy that lined her face. He didn't want her pity. He wanted her to give him the answers he'd waited years for.
Which McKinley had killed his family? Who was he going to kill with his bare hands? Just a name and he could rest.
Her hand on his back made him jump and tipped his nerves on end. He was shocked by the desire her gesture aroused. Slowly he turned around, prepared to start with her, but he hesitated, studying the sorrow in her eyes, the apology on her lips.
Her lips. Caught in a torrential passion he couldn't control, he moved against her and pinned her to the counter with his body. Like a landslide, his impulse buried doubt and he moved to take her. She was beautiful and he was hungry...hungry to feel her beneath him, hungry for a closeness he needed to share.
If only she weren't a material witness. If only he weren't a cop sworn to duty. His desire crashed. She could have been driving the car that had killed Natalie and Megan for all he knew. Maybe that's how she'd known the model of the car's grillwork. She was behind the wheel that night.
"I'm sorry." He leaned against the counter, watching the rapid rise and fall of her chest as she regained her composure. She'd felt it, too?
"I'm out of line."
"Me, too..." She started to fiddle with the dish towel on the counter. Her hand shook as she fingered the terry material. "Listen, I've been thinking about our situation." She raised coffee-colored eyes to his and he felt the earth move. "I'm going to take Kaden to my family for protection, but I'm going to stay with you."
A jumble of thoughts bounced around in his mind. She was going to stay with him?
"I can't let you do that, Kendall. If there's a safe place to hide, you belong there, too."
"You don't have a choice. My name was on the windshield. I'm safer with you and we can lead them away from Kaden. Oak Wood has an impenetrable security system."
He held up his hand to silence her. In her position he'd probably do the same thing. Maybe she was correct. They could do a better job. "I understand."
"It's nothing personal." She moved to touch his arm but he pulled away to dodge the physical bullet he was in no condition to take at the moment. Kendall was dangerous. Touching her was even more dangerous, but she'd just agreed to accept his protection.
"I'll clear it with my supervisor." Brian left the room, a strange new hope in his gut. He was about to enter the McKinley twilight zone. Keeping Kendall close was going to pay off as he'd never imagined. She could take him deep into a world he'd only skirted.
She was his ticket in.
Brian focused on the road in front of him. It would be like the McKinleys to hide as far away from the law as they could. That explained their tendency to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Was this place even on the map?
"Turn here." Kendall's voice was loaded with tension. Why was she so afraid to speak with her family?
The sound of tires leaving pavement and crushing gravel put a knot in his stomach. Without Kendall in the seat next to him, he doubted he'd ever find his way out of these parts. The road narrowed and turned to washboard, jittering the car to a crawl.
The headlights pushed into the darkness, but he couldn't see beyond their scope. The vegetation was dense. Saplings and branches from taller trees raked the sides of the car. Even if he stopped, there was nowhere to turn around.
The road went on forever and became tighter the farther they advanced. Even the leafy canopy overhead appeared to reach down and smother them.
"Where are we, Kendall?"
"A little farther."
Brian held his uneasiness at bay and focused ahead. He'd have to trust her.
A solid wall of vegetation loomed in front of them. It had to be ten feet tall. He took his foot off the gas and braked hard. "What the..."
"Pull forward. Touch the nose of the car to it."
"This is nuts." Out of habit, Brian looked into his rearview mirror. How was he going to back the car out of this hole? He'd always been a believer in what he saw and what he saw was an impenetrable wall in front of them.
"Just do it." Her voice went high. The dash lights illuminated a wet trail down her cheek. She wiped it away.
"What's up? You know we don't have to do this. There are other ways."
"Not safe ones. This isn't about me anyway. It's about Kade. They can protect him. I can't."
Guilt burned through him. He hadn't been able to keep Kendall or Kaden safe, either. It was going to take criminals to do it?
"Where do you want to go? How far?"
She reached out in the darkness and touched his leg, sending a firestorm through his body.
"Here."
"Okay..." He edged the car forward until it touched the wall of green.
"A little more."
"That's it. Anymore and we'll..." The green wall moved, giving against the bumper of the car. It opened to the left in one giant sweep. "A gate?"
"Yeah, but once you pull through, get ready."
"For what?"
"My big brother. He knew we were coming twenty minutes ago."
He stepped down on the gas pedal and squeezed the car through the opening. They'd no more than emerged on the other side when a man stepped into the beam of the headlights.
Brian braked, the hair bristled on his neck as he stared down the barrel of a twelve-gauge shotgun.
