out of this plan but to help in a way that wouldn’t spur an attack at the ranch. Even though Jericho wouldn’t be happy to see her, he would do everything humanly possible to protect Matthew. Not just tonight. But forever.
Good thing, too.
This could be the worst mistake of her life. The worst mistake of Jax’s life, too. Because this meeting could make their son an orphan.
“Unless we kill the Moonlight Strangler tonight, you’ll have to make sure everything here is secure, that he can’t get to Matthew,” she reminded him.
Of course, they couldn’t shut their little boy away for the rest of his life, and that meant one way or another, someone would have to stop the killer.
“Does Cord know about this plan?” Jax asked.
Paige nodded. “He’s in one of the trees across the road with a long-range rifle. He’s Jericho’s backup. He would have gone with me to the bridge, but the Moonlight Strangler said I could only bring you. Anyone else, and Matthew could be hurt.”
Jax’s teeth came together. “That’s not going to happen.”
It was the exact reassurance she needed. One that only a father could give. Yes, Cord would fight to the death for her, but Jax would fight to stay alive so he could keep their son safe.
“Once Jericho is here, we’ll come up with some additional security measures,” Jax insisted. “He might be able to get a deputy to pose as a hunter so we can scan the woods around the creek before we even get there. That way, we’d still be here if he’s detected.”
It was a risk, but everything was at this point.
“I saw him,” she said, her voice cracking on the last word.
Jax’s gaze slashed back to hers. “The killer?”
“Matthew. Belinda had him on the back porch earlier.” Mercy, just the memory of seeing him nearly brought her to her knees. “They were on the porch swing, and she was reading to him. He’s gotten so big.”
No longer a baby. He was a toddler now, almost two years old. Walking and talking. Every second seeing him was like a precious gift that Paige had never thought she’d get.
“I’ve missed so much.” She hadn’t meant to say that last part aloud, and it caused Jax to mumble something. She didn’t catch exactly what he said, but it was clear he believed that “dying” had been a choice she’d made.
It was.
And at the time it had been her only choice.
She saw the slash of headlights coming toward the garage. Jericho, no doubt. But just in case it wasn’t, Paige drew her gun from the back waist of her jeans.
A gesture that had Jax doing the same, along with raising an eyebrow.
Paige had never been much for guns, especially after witnessing her adoptive parents’ murders when she was just sixteen. The result of a botched robbery attempt. Since then, guns had always made her squeamish.
“You know how to use that?” Jax asked.
She was about to assure him that she’d learned, but her phone dinged, and Paige saw the text from the unknown sender.
“It’s from the killer,” she said. Paige’s heart went to her knees when she glanced through the message.
“‘Change of plans,’” she read aloud. “‘You and Jax start walking to the end of the road now. If you bring anyone with you or don’t follow the rules, I’ll start shooting. The first bullet will go into the house, and I’ll aim it right at your son.’”
Jax’s mind was already spinning. He’d been hit with way too much tonight, but all of those whirlwind thoughts flew right out of his head. He pinpointed his focus on the one place it should be.
His son.
His first instinct was to run into the house and hide Matthew and Belinda, but that could turn out to be a fatal mistake. The killer might see it as a violation of his demand and start firing. If the killer was close enough to be capable of doing that.
Jax just didn’t know.
And it was too risky to find out.
“Oh, God,” Paige mumbled, and she repeated it several times. “We don’t have everything in place yet.”
No, and Jax figured that was part of the killer’s plan. To keep one step ahead of them; to keep them off balance. But Jax didn’t intend to let this snake hurt his little boy.
“Text him back,” Jax instructed. “Tell him we need more time and that we want the meeting place moved back to the bridge.”
It was a long shot. Really long. And a moment later he realized it was no shot at all. “He’s blocked me,” Paige said.
Of course he had. The killer had delivered his orders, and he wouldn’t have them challenged, because he would have almost certainly known that they’d try to negotiate with him.
Jax sent a text of his own. To Belinda. It would terrify her, but again there wasn’t much of a choice. He instructed her to take Matthew into the main bathroom and get in the tub. The room was at the center of the house and would be the safest place for them to wait this out. Jax added that he would explain everything later and hoped he was around to do just that.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” he heard Jericho ask before his brother even reached the door to the garage.
“I don’t have time to get into a lot of details,” Jax said, motioning for him to come inside. “Paige is alive, and the Moonlight Strangler is possibly nearby, ready to attack.”
Jericho came in, put his hands on his hips, his gaze volleying from Jax to Paige. Jax could tell his brother had plenty of questions, but he also saw the moment when Jericho pushed all those questions aside and the sheriff part of him kicked in.
“What do you need me to do?” Jericho asked.
Jax wasn’t sure just yet, but he soon would be. He looked at Paige. “Where’s Cord exactly?”
She pointed to a cluster of trees across the road and on the far right side of one of the pastures.
“Text him,” Jax ordered her again. “Let him know what’s going on and ask if he can see anyone approaching the house.”
While she did that, Jax went to her equipment bag and took out the thermal scanner and handed it to Jericho. “I don’t know the range on this thing, but I need you to try to see if we’re about to be ambushed. Also, call the others for backup.”
By others, he meant their brothers, Levi and Chase. Both were lawmen with lots of experience.
Jax also considered having Addie’s husband, Weston, come down, but Jax didn’t want to leave his sister alone. They had a baby and would be in a very vulnerable position if the Moonlight Strangler wanted to make Addie a target instead of Paige. It’d be a first, since the serial killer had never gone after Addie, but it was too big of a risk to take.
“Cord doesn’t see anyone other than us and the ranch hands near the house,” Paige relayed to them after reading the response she’d gotten from him. “He wants to know if you trust all your ranch hands.”
Jax nearly snapped at that since he didn’t like an outsider like Cord questioning men he’d known all his life. But Cord didn’t know them, and it was exactly the kind of question a good lawman should ask.
“I trust them,” Jax assured her. “Tell him to text us if he sees anyone or anything out of the ordinary.”
While she did that, Jericho stayed just inside the doorway, out of range so he wouldn’t be seen, and he started up the scanner.
“The