His living room had been torn apart.

The TV pulled out of the wall, the stereo system next to the TV. Valuable western sculptures stacked near the door.

Everything went through his mind in a flash. Someone had started to rob him and didn't finish.

Hair crawled up the back of his neck.

That someone was still here.

"Best not move, McBride." A cold voice came from behind Gage. "Turn around real slow with your hands raised. I don't plan on shootin' a man in the back."

A chill rolled down Gage's spine as he tried to place the voice but couldn't. His mind worked over what was happening, his thoughts racing.

He eased his hands up and turned to face the man. With a gun gripped in his gloved fist, a man with a large frame, shaved head, and cold eyes stood before Gage.

"What in the h.e.l.l is going on?" Gage asked, his body tense, his heart beating hard as he glanced from the gun to his attacker.

The man shrugged as he stepped closer. "Gotta job to do."

"Take whatever you want." Gage narrowed his gaze as he tried to come up with a way out of this. "Why do you need to shoot me?"

"h.e.l.l, I don't plan on just shooting you." The man laughed. "I'm going to kill you."

Gage saw the dispa.s.sionate look in his eyes and knew there was no talking his way out of this. Still, he'd do his best to throw the man off, to stall him. "Why?"

The man smiled and raised the gun, aiming it at Gage's head. "I'm getting a nice paycheck. It's hard for an ex-con to come by good money."

"Who?" Gage demanded as he clenched his fists at his sides. "Who is paying you to rob me? Is that person paying you to kill me?"

The man gave a slow, evil grin. "That makes no difference to you."

"It sure as h.e.l.l does," Gage said in a growl.

The man snorted. "Not if you're a dead man."

As the man gave a casual shrug, Gage took his chance.

He dropped and dove for the man's legs.

A shot rang out and Gage felt searing pain in his right shoulder just before he tackled the man.

The big man went down with a grunt as his body hit an end table and a loud crash echoed through the room as a lamp shattered on the floor. Gage rose up and slammed his left fist into the man's nose. The man shouted as blood flowed from his nose.

Pain screamed through Gage but he grappled with the man for the gun. Gage's right arm was almost useless but he had the advantage of surprise.

He grasped the gun barrel with his left hand. It was hot but he didn't let go.

Blood ran down Gage's arm while the man's blood was smeared across his own face. His grip on the gun was powerful but Gage's will to live was just as strong.

Another shot split the night and Gage felt heat and pain bury itself in his right thigh.

With all the strength he possessed, strength that seemed to come from nowhere, Gage ripped the weapon from the man's gloved hand.

Gage rolled off of the man, agony tearing through him as he rolled onto his right shoulder and thigh and landed on his back. His vision wavered and he was afraid for a moment that he was going to pa.s.s out.

The man surged to his feet and stood over Gage.

Gage gripped the gun in his left fist, training it on the man's chest.

The man went still.

Gage aimed the weapon, ready to fire, but the man leapt back.

The gun went off, the retort loud. The man had a shocked look on his face as he brought his hands to his belly. Blood began soaking his white T-shirt.

Eyes wild, the man turned and stumbled away from Gage.

Gage rolled onto his good side and pointed the gun at the man. Gage's vision wavered in and out and started to blacken, and he struggled to maintain consciousness.

In an instant the gun was ripped from his hands.

He tried to focus on the man now holding the gun again. The man's arm shook as he aimed his gun at Gage.

Pain exploded in Gage's head.

The world went black.

Chapter 25.

Harvey, his impatience growing, waited at the isolated location at the foot of the Bradshaw Mountains, where he'd told Chess to meet him. He was on the opposite side of Prescott from where Gage lived, about twenty miles outside of the town limits, but it shouldn't be taking so d.a.m.ned long for Chess to get here.

With a low growl in his throat, Harvey picked a lead pipe out from the back of his truck and started swinging it like a baseball bat, imagining bashing Gage's head in. He'd love to have killed Gage himself, but he intended to keep his hands clean.

Chess was good at what he did, so Harvey wasn't worried about him being caught. Chess had been sent to prison for some unrelated reason-the police had been unable to pin any murders on him. He'd served time for tax evasion and had gotten out two weeks after Harvey had.

Lights bobbed up and down the deserted road and Harvey lowered the pipe. Tension gripped his muscles. It had to be Chess-no one else would be out here this time of night.

Within moments, Chess's truck came into view. Harvey frowned. Chess was driving like he was drunk. Had the b.a.s.t.a.r.d had a few to celebrate? He had no idea what the man's habits were after he made a hit.

Chess's truck came to a hard stop, its tires sliding in the dirt before it jerked to a stop. Harvey's frown deepened as he waited for the man to climb out of his truck. A moment later the driver's side door opened and Chess tumbled out of the vehicle and landed hard on the ground.

Harvey's heart started beating faster as he walked up to Chess who was struggling to his feet. When the man managed to stand, he swayed, looking like he was going to fall again.

A hard, heavy weight settled in Harvey's gut as he saw that Chess's shirt was soaked with blood. Chess held his arm to his side and stumbled toward Harvey.

"What the h.e.l.l happened?" Harvey stepped away from Chess, gripping the pipe tighter. "Did you kill McBride?"

In the truck's headlights, Harvey saw that Chess's forehead was covered with sweat.

"Shot him three times." Chess grimaced as if feeling a sharp pain. "But he got my gun and shot me before I got it back and shot him in the head."

"Sonofab.i.t.c.h." Harvey gritted his teeth. "Is he dead?"

"Yeah." Chess sucked in his breath. "I got him pretty good."

Harvey took a step closer to Chess. "Your blood will be all over the scene."

"I need help." Chess looked down at his b.l.o.o.d.y shirt, his hands covered with blood, too. "I need help bad."

"We have a serious problem." Harvey stared down Chess. "If the cops find you and match your DNA, then you're going to prison. And if you're caught, you might try to save your own a.s.s by telling the cops who'd paid you to take out Gage."

"They won't catch me." Chess was breathing hard. "Even if they did, I'd never give you up." His face was sheet white. "Help me."

"I'll be glad to help you." Harvey raised the pipe. "You f.u.c.k-up."

He swung the pipe as hard as he could at the wound in Chess's gut.

The big man screamed and stumbled as he doubled over. Harvey swung the pipe up, hitting Chess under the chin and snapping his head back. Then with all the strength he possessed, all the fury raging through him, he brought the pipe hard up against Chess's head.

The man went down, out cold. Harvey took the pipe and swung it again at Chess's head, shattering his skull and smashing it in.

As the man lay still on the ground, Harvey tossed the pipe into the back of Chess's truck. He'd ditch it as soon as he was finished.

For a long moment he stood over Chess's body in the darkness, debating on what to do then made up his mind. He reached into his own truck and pulled out a pair of work gloves and put them on, then grabbed a camping shovel he carried in his toolbox.

Getting rid of Chess's body was going to be a b.i.t.c.h. Harvey took the man under both arms and dragged him toward the back of Chess's truck. He dropped the man's body to lower the tailgate.

Harvey was a good-sized man, but Chess was a lot bigger and heavier. It took all of Harvey's strength to get the body into the back of the truck. When he finally did, he slammed the tailgate shut.

He wouldn't have to go far. This was an isolated enough area that there were plenty of places to abandon a truck and ditch a body.

Chess's truck was a 4 x 4 and it was easy going off the beaten path. He drove down into a dry gully and parked the truck in the middle of a cl.u.s.ter of trees.

Sweat poured down the sides of Harvey's face as he worked. He had plenty of darkness left but it seemed like forever before he had dug a shallow grave to roll Chess's body into. After he covered the body with dirt, he hacked at bushes and hid the truck the best he could. Finally, he grabbed the pipe from the back of the truck and wiped it down thoroughly before flinging it as far as he could.

An almost giddy sensation overcame him as he walked back to where he'd left his own truck, carrying his shovel. Gage was dead. He'd had two birds killed with one stone. He'd gotten his revenge and now Tess would be his.

A dozen other thoughts flew through his mind. He'd have to steal a set of old tires somewhere to trade out for the ones on his truck so that the tire tracks couldn't be traced back to him. He'd have to get new boots, too, since his boot prints were everywhere.

Yeah. He'd take care of everything.

The only other thing left to take care of would be Tess.

Chapter 26.

It was dark outside when Tess's cell phone rang. She'd just finished reading a couple of chapters from a book on writing and had jotted some ideas for a mystery in her journal.

She pulled her phone out of her jeans pocket. Her belly fluttered when she saw that it was Gage calling. She wondered if there would come a day when seeing his name come up on her caller ID wouldn't make her feel those flutters.

"Hi, Gage," she said with a smile, ready to tell him about her ideas for the mystery she wanted to write.

"Tess?" A male voice that was not Gage's spoke and Tess's stomach instantly dropped. "This is Tate."

"Is something wrong?" Tess gripped the phone as panic tightened her chest. "Is Gage all right?"

"He's in the hospital, in ICU." Tate's voice was hard. "The doctors are working on him now."

Tess's voice rose. "What happened?"

"I'll let you know just as soon as I find out more." Tate was trying to make his tone soothing now.

"I'm coming to the hospital. I'll be there as soon as I can get a sitter for Jenny," Tess said before she disconnected the call.

Heart pounding and stomach twisting, she tried to keep her composure as she called Glenna and explained what little she knew and where she needed to go. The young woman, who lived just a block over, said she'd make it to Tess's house right away.

Glenna was there within five minutes. Tess thanked her then gave Jenny a kiss and hug, grabbed her car keys and purse, and bolted out the door into the garage.

Tess started the car and was just about to put the car in reverse when she realized she hadn't raised the garage door. Trying to calm herself down, she pressed the b.u.t.ton to raise the door and backed out into the night.

It took her less than fifteen minutes to reach the hospital from the time she got off the phone with Tate. She hurried to the nurses' station and was told where the ICU waiting room was.

Tate was standing outside the waiting room door, a cell phone to his ear. When he saw Tess he cut the conversation short and stuffed the phone into a holster on his belt.

He was as tall as the rest of the McBride brothers and with green eyes like Gage's but harder features. Tate tended to be quieter than his brothers, even more than Blake.

"What happened?" she rushed up to Tate. "How badly is he hurt?"

She didn't realize she must have looked as panicked as she was until Tate took her by the shoulders, stilling her.

"How is he?" she rushed to say.

"It's been touch and go. The doctors aren't sure Gage will get through it." Tate gave her a grim look. "He's lost a lot of blood. I don't know how serious his injuries are."