come over to see you,” Lucas told her.
But she was shaking her head before he even finished. “I can’t trust Dr. Parton. Or anyone in the hospital. Someone planted that bug on the table next to my bed.”
Lucas certainly hadn’t forgotten about that. The device needed to be checked, but that would have to wait, because Grayson no doubt had every available deputy on this manhunt for the shooters.
“When there’s time, Hailey will need to give you a statement,” Lucas told Grayson.
Grayson nodded. He still had his gun drawn, was still keeping watch on the area just outside the building. “Is she in WITSEC?”
“Yes,” Hailey answered. “But I don’t want the marshals to know I’m here.”
Grayson mumbled something Lucas didn’t catch, but he didn’t need to hear the words to know that Grayson wasn’t pleased about all this going on right under his nose.
“Hell, you worked for me,” Grayson added.
She nodded. “I figured it was a way to keep an eye on what was happening in town, just in case something went wrong.” Hailey paused. “And something did go wrong.”
Yeah. And Lucas wondered if sleeping with him was in that something-gone-wrong category.
“I’ll call Mason and give him an update,” Grayson said after he shot Hailey a glare.
Hailey dropped back a step, holding onto Grayson’s desk. Lucas was volleying his attention between her and the outside. However, she got his complete attention when she made a soft gasp.
Lucas hurried to her, following her gaze to the computer on the desk. It was obviously the security feed that the doctor had sent Grayson. In the shot, the tall, lanky man was coming through the glass doors of the ER. Grayson had paused it and zoomed in on the man’s face.
Darrin Sandmire, no doubt.
Lucas had no trouble seeing the renewed fear in Hailey’s eyes. “That’s definitely the man who came to my house three months ago. And the man who ran me off the road that night.”
Lucas hadn’t needed to hear anything else about the guy to know that he wanted him caught, questioned and punished.
Hailey touched the screen to get the security feed moving again. Darrin disappeared from view when he walked past the camera and to the hall. Since it would have taken him several minutes to get to her room, Lucas sped up the footage, watching for Darrin to reemerge.
He did.
But the man wasn’t alone.
There was a woman with him, walking right by his side, and it was obvious they were talking. The woman was a blonde, and she kept her head down. Right until she was close to the camera.
Now Hailey’s gasp wasn’t so soft.
“I know her. That’s Colleen Jeffrey.”
The name meant nothing to Lucas, and he didn’t recognize her, either. “Who is she?”
There were tears shimmering in Hailey’s eyes when she looked up at him. “My half sister.”
Damn.
Lucas was about to assure her that maybe this was a coincidence. But it didn’t look like that to him. He needed to get this woman in for questioning right away.
He heard the footsteps. Hurried ones, and they put Lucas right back on alert again. Though he hadn’t exactly been relaxing.
“We’ve got a problem,” Grayson said, stepping into the doorway. “Someone tripped the security sensor near the back fence at the ranch. One of the ranch hands spotted a gunman.”
Hailey’s breath froze. She wanted to scream, to shout out for Lucas to hurry to the ranch so they could protect their son, but the words and sounds were wedged there in her throat.
No. This couldn’t be happening. This monster couldn’t get to her baby.
Even without her warning, Lucas thankfully understood just how dangerous a situation this could be, because he took off running toward the front of the building. Hailey followed him. Or rather, she tried.
Lucas must have remembered she was still hobbling, because he spun around, scooped her up in his arms and hurried toward his shot-up SUV still parked just outside the door.
“We need to use a cruiser,” Grayson called out to them. “Because this could be a trap to lure you into the open.”
Lucas stopped, and while everything inside Hailey wanted to move, to hurry to the ranch, she knew Grayson was right.
“Wait right here for me,” Grayson insisted. “I’ll bring the cruiser around to the front.”
Hailey didn’t want to waste precious minutes while he did that, but they didn’t have many options here. Lucas and she waited, the time crawling by slower than a snail’s pace, and it seemed to take an eternity for Grayson to drive up. Even before the cruiser came to a stop, Lucas and she jumped into the backseat, and Grayson took off again.
“I’ll call the ranch and get an update,” Lucas said.
As much as she wanted to know what was going on, Hailey didn’t want anyone there distracted right now. She wanted all the focus on protecting the baby.
Camden.
The name seemed foreign to her. Probably because she’d yet to see her son, but maybe that would change soon. Maybe they’d get to the ranch and put an end to the danger.
“Tillie,” Lucas said to whoever answered his call.
“One of the nannies,” Grayson provided to Hailey, but he didn’t even glance back at her when he spoke. He looked all around, no doubt in case someone was trying to follow them.
Or attack them again.
Hailey couldn’t hear what the nanny was saying, but since Lucas’s arm was pressed against her, she felt his muscles relax just a little. “We’ll be there as fast as we can.” He paused. “Hailey’s with me.”
The nanny perhaps hadn’t even heard she was out of the coma, so this could be a real shock. An unwanted one. Hailey didn’t know Tillie, but she doubted she was going to get a warm reception from anyone at the Silver Creek Ranch. It wouldn’t matter that she thought she’d done the right thing.
Still did think that.
But a family of lawmen wouldn’t see it that way. They would believe she should have trusted them. However, maybe they could see now that all the trust in the world wouldn’t have put an end to the danger.
Oh, mercy.
That reminder came at her hard, like a heavyweight’s fist. The reason she’d tried to escape was to avoid this. To keep her child safe. And now he wasn’t safe because of her.
“Whoever’s behind the attacks will use Camden to get to me,” Hailey said under her breath.
She hadn’t intended to say that aloud, and it stung even more when Lucas made a sound of agreement. He’d finished his call with the nanny and now was keeping watch. Along with glancing at her.
“That doesn’t mean you’re going to try to take him and disappear,” Lucas snapped. There wasn’t a shred of gentleness in his tone. In fact, it was the same tone he likely used with criminal suspects.
“It’s too late to take him and hide,” Hailey agreed. “Too late for me to disappear, as well. Because now that they know I’m awake, they won’t stop, and they’ll try to use the baby to come after me.”
That meant she needed to find out who they were. And fast. For that to happen, she needed to rely on Lucas.