Page 31 of A Simple Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1)

THIRTY-ONE

Liam

Present

William seems almost dazed as I lead him over to the car. I handcuff him, look into the back seat where the cat is, and pick her up and hold her with one arm as I put William in the back. Lucy Fur is really showing her colors as she yowls her complaints to me and holds up a paw like she’s threatening me with an imminent beheading if I don’t release her soon.

I ignore the sassy cat before taking a deep breath and calling Michaels. It really takes a lot for me to call him. I want very little to do with the man and want Gabriel to give me the A-okay to just kill Tobias, but I must keep my one true love happy.

When Michaels doesn’t answer, I grow increasingly irritated and call Matthew. Of course Donna is the one who picks up, even though it’s the phone on Matthew’s desk and she’s the last person I want to deal with.

“Donna, the very person I was hoping to speak to,” I say sarcastically.

“Then why didn’t you call me?”

“I need emergency medical assistance at Robinson’s house as well as backup at the woods behind Davies’ old house. You cannot inform Chief Hopkins of this. Do you understand? The killer has agreed to meet me and hand over Jeffers, but you cannot inform the chief or I’m afraid he’ll stop you. Carefully surround the area in a way to keep yourselves hidden from the killer until he passes Jeffers over. Once he does, I will secure her, and you can move in. He’s made it quite clear he’ll kill her if he sees anyone but Gabriel and me there.”

“When the fuck is this happening?”

“In ten minutes.”

“Are you kidding me? You expect me to get a unit out there in ten minutes?”

“He’s making it a short period of time, believing that it’ll give me less time to assemble a unit,” I say as I see Gabriel hurry over to the car. I pop the cat into his hands and she bats at me on the way over. “He believes we’re trading his partner for Jeffers. Donna, it’s extremely important that the chief doesn’t know.”

“Because you think it’s his son,” she states.

I don’t bother answering her because she knows what I think. “I’m going to do the trade and let the unit catch him as he leaves the premises.”

“Let me speak to Michaels and get everything moving. You’re not leaving us much time.”

“I’ll try to stall him as long as possible,” I say before ending the call.

“Was that a fake phone call? Are you pretending to be talking to someone from the department?” Gabriel asks as he gets into the passenger seat with Lucy Fur on his lap.

“How’d you know?”

“Because you’d never willingly call Donna.”

“Did I ever tell you how sexy I find you because you’re so damn smart?”

“Liam…”

“I called Matthew, Donna answered. They don’t have much time, but it is what it is,” I say.

“Do you have a body cam in the car?”

“Nope.”

“Hmm… you have tape?”

“In the trunk… for not at all sketchy reasons.”

“Of course not. I want to tape your phone to your chest. That way we can record what we can, even if it’s just audio.”

“You say ‘we,’ but you’re going to stay in the car and direct the police when they show.”

“I don’t need to direct them; they know where to go. I’m going with you.”

“I have it handled.”

“And if it’s a setup?”

“I’m hoping he’s being irrational enough that a setup won’t work out for him,” I admit as I drive. “So… William, how’d you end up in a life of crime?”

William is simply staring out the window.

“William?”

“I don’t want to kill him,” he whispers.

“You don’t have to kill anyone,” Gabriel assures him as he turns his phone on to record him, in case he says anything we can use. “Will you please tell me how you ended up with Tobias?”

“I should have listened. I should have killed you,” he mumbles.

He starts rambling and muttering, and before long, it becomes clear we’re not getting anything of use from him.

“William, are you hurt?” Gabriel asks, but William’s evidently taken a vow of silence for the rest of the car ride.

We pull into Tobias’s driveway since there’s really no sense in hiding where I put the car. Just as I’m getting out, my phone beeps and I see that Donna has responded with, “We’re heading your way. Ambulance is helping Robinson.”

“Oh look, Donna can be useful,” I comment. “I can’t wait to say ‘I told you so’ to her every time I see her for the rest of her life.”

“Or you could just graciously accept the fact that you were right.”

“Nah. That sounds stupid.”

“Of course it does,” Gabriel mutters. He hurries back to the trunk before pulling the tape out of my assassination satchel. “This is so foolish. This is going to go horribly wrong. What if he doesn’t give Jeffers back and is just waiting out there with a gun?”

“Then I just have to shoot faster,” I say as he tapes the phone to my chest. I stop and enjoy the feeling of his fingers brushing against my bare skin.

“We’re running out of time,” Gabriel reminds me.

“I know. Please stay in the car and protect Lucy Fur.”

“I can’t,” he says.

“Please?”

“I can’t,” he insists as he yanks open the back door. “I’ll handle William. You need your hands free.”

I slap a piece of tape over William’s mouth so he can’t hand over any information to Tobias when we get close, and we start the trek back to the woods. There’s not a lot of cover on the way and there’s a possibility that he could gun us down, so I keep William’s body tucked close to Gabriel, knowing that Tobias won’t shoot him out of fear of hitting William.

When we reach the grave site, I direct Gabriel so his back is against a tree and William is in front of him. “You good?”

“Yeah.”

I try calling Tobias and even turn on the screen record this time, but he won’t answer. If Gabriel would just let me kill him without the police being involved, this would be ten times easier, and he wouldn’t be risking his life.

I hear footsteps before I see anyone.

“If I see even a hint of law enforcement, a bullet goes in her head, you hear me?” he calls.

“Such a pleasure to see you, Tobias,” I say as he comes into view with Jeffers in front of him. Of course his face is covered, and while he’s not wearing the white he seems to enjoy wearing, his features are pretty much hidden by the mask and dark clothes. He has a gun to Jeffers’ head and her arms seem to be tied behind her back. Her mouth is taped, and I can see tears streaking down her pale face as she staggers forward.

“Who the fuck is Tobias?” he asks. “You asked for the cop. I’ll give you the cop.” He’s holding her tightly and stops a good fifteen feet from us. “You let him go, and then I’ll let her go. As soon as you do, put your hands in the air.”

“You have to do the same, then,” I say.

“Fine,” he agrees as he lets go of Jeffers, slides his gun into his pants, and holds his hands up in the air. Gabriel looks over at me, and when I give him a nod and hold up my own hands, he does as well.

William quickly starts toward Tobias as Jeffers hesitates. It’s such a weird thing to do. Is it blood loss and weakness that makes her do so? Or is there something else? She steps forward, and her eyes aren’t meeting mine, which… fair, most people don’t seem to find joy in looking me in the eyes, but there’s no reason someone wouldn’t find comfort in Gabriel. I’m pretty sure he’s the exact person you’d want to run into after being held by a serial killer.

I see her arm drop a little… but why would she be holding it up if it’s bound behind her back? I assume with her missing hand, her right hand would have been tied to a higher part of her left arm, but what if…

Turning fast, I shove Gabriel back as Jeffers reveals the gun in her hand and shoots right at him. Pain bites into my side as she staggers and drops to her knees, gun still held tight as she fires off another round that misses wildly.

Quickly, I shove Gabriel back behind the tree as I pull my own gun out and aim it, but the only one still in sight is Jeffers, who is crying so hard I’m pretty sure she couldn’t shoot a fucking elephant three feet in front of her.

“Liam, you’re hurt,” Gabriel says anxiously as he reaches for my side.

“I’m fine. I need to stop them.”

“No, you don’t. It was never our plan to stop them. We were going to get Jeffers. And the police will grab them. Donna said they were heading over, so the place should be surrounded.”

No, my plan was that the moment Jeffers was in Gabriel’s hands, I was going to shoot Tobias in the fucking head. There’s no damn way I could get in trouble for shooting him when I called for backup and have reason to pull the trigger.

“Jeffers, please put the gun down,” Gabriel says, voice mighty gentle for talking to the very person who just shot me! “I don’t know what he told you, but you don’t need to do this. Your daughters are safe at home with your husband. I… I think that would be the only reason you’d ever try to shoot me.”

She drops the gun like she’d been holding a cobra ready to strike. She reels back as her eyes seek out his, confirming Gabriel’s thoughts.

“Go get her. Drag her over behind the tree,” I say.

Gabriel looks anxious. “You won’t move?”

“I won’t move.”

“There’s no fucking way you’d send me out there if you were really going to stay here. Do you think I’m stupid? Let them handle it,” Gabriel says as he grabs his phone and makes a call. “We need immediate medical attention. Two officers down but we have Jeffers. William and Tobias are heading south, I believe.”

“I’m not fucking down,” I grumble a moment before I hear a voice on the other end of the call.

“We’re delayed. What the fuck happened?” Michaels asks.

I grab the phone. “What the fuck do you mean you’re delayed? Someone told the chief, didn’t they? He fucking held you back. He knows it’s his son. Fucking hell.” I toss the phone at Gabriel and jump to my feet as pain eats at my side.

“Liam, please, no, no,” Gabriel yells. “Please stay here. I’ll fucking leave you if you go. I’ll leave you!”

I glance back at him, knowing there would be little worse than Gabriel leaving me… yet there’s definitely one thing far worse.

Gabriel dead.

“I have to keep him from touching you ever again,” I call as I take off running in the direction Tobias had gone.

Gabriel’s going to hate me. There’s absolutely nothing I can do about that. He can hate me… as long as he’s safe.

There’s a field between me and the road, and I can see them nearing the road. I’m sure Tobias has a car waiting for him, and I can only run so fast as pain rips through my side with each strike of my feet. I could stop to shoot, but at this distance, I doubt I’d hit anything, especially when there’s traffic. If I missed, the bullet could hit someone else. I need to be confident with my shot before I can take it. I yell all the necessary things, so if the camera strapped to me is catching any of this, Tobias and his father can’t use it to get out of something. It’s not like they’re going to listen to anything I say.

They’re nearing a car parked in someone’s driveway, but they’ll have to slow down to get into it.

It’ll be the only chance I have of getting close enough to shoot Tobias. Of course William is closer to me, and I don’t want to hit him when he’s partially blocking Tobias’s body. I want Tobias, not William.

Suddenly, William jerks to a stop before hitting the ground on his face without even bothering to reach out to catch himself, making me believe he’s been tased. It’s two strides before Tobias realizes what’s happened, and by then, he’s on the far side of the vehicle. I raise my gun and shoot, but he ducks down.

He undoubtedly wants to come back for William, but the risk is too great when he realizes that there’s someone else helping me. He fires off his gun, but the aim is so wild that I’m confident he’s just shooting to keep us away as he gets into the car and speeds off. I shoot the back tire, but he dodges right into traffic before I can get a second shot in.

Matthew rushes forward to pin William to the ground as the man starts to get up.

“Secure him. Where the fuck is your car?” I demand.

“Liam, you’ve been shot,” he says as he pulls William’s arms behind his back.

“Have I? I didn’t notice,” I reply with much sarcasm as I see his car a bit of the way down the road. “Are the keys in it?”

“I think you need to stay put,” he growls, but he throws the keys at me. I catch them and rush toward his car as I rip the phone from where it’s taped to my chest and put out a call.

“Suspect is moving east down Route 429. Red four-door. He is armed but alone.”

I nearly drop my phone because the blood makes it slippery as I climb into Matthew’s car. I stab at the push button start far too many times before I realize I’m holding literal keys and not a key fob, and instead, I’m hitting the fucking volume button. When I get the keys inserted, I put it in drive and realize the street is caving in a bit. That’s not super good. I mean… it’s definitely been better.

Something slams against the door, and I jump, yanking my gun out before I realize that it’s my sweet Gabriel come to join me.

I unlock the door so he can climb in. “Hey, my darling. I think I need you to drive. I’ll shoot.” I try to give him the driver’s seat but end up oozing out into the road. “You drive, alright? I bet you’re sexy when you drive.”

“Will you stop moving! You’re literally trying to pump all of your blood out of your body,” he says as he pins me to the ground.

“I like it when you pin me down. It’s also sexy.”

“I’m pissed at you right now.”

“No! Gabriel, my love, my sweets. How could you be pissed? Get Matthew in on this car chase. He can drive, and you can pin me down in the back seat like you’re currently… ow, fuck, Gabriel! Did you stick your finger in the bullet hole to determine how deep it is? If you want to stick your finger in a hole, I guess I’ll let you stick it in my other hole. You’re the only man I’ll let do that.”

“God, he doesn’t even shut up when he’s bleeding to death,” Matthew observes. “Can anything make him shut up?”

“He’s not bleeding to death,” Gabriel says, and I hear his voice catch.

That makes me shut up for a moment. “Gabriel, I’m fine. I’m super fine. Just a bit lightheaded. I promise.”

“Your promises fucking suck,” he retorts.

“Matthew, you need to chase the car,” I say.

“There are others already on it and ahead of me.”

“Yeah, but they’re probably useless people like Donna.”

“I’m right here,” Donna grumbles from somewhere beyond Matthew. “And my ‘useless’ ass is the only reason you have one of the two in custody right now since I tased him. When we were told to stand down, I talked Matthew into going ahead with me… just in case. And it’s a good thing we did.”

“Did I say Donna? I meant Chris. Sometimes I mix your names up.”

“Just save your energy before someone else helps you along into the afterlife,” she says.

I reach out and push Gabriel’s hair back. “I really am fine, okay? I just got a bit lightheaded. You’re right, I don’t run too much. Sauntering is about my top speed, so running hard put me down.”

He nods like he’s trying to pretend he believes me as I hear the sound of an ambulance.

“Please don’t die on me. I love you,” he says as he grabs my face and kisses me.

“If I knew it was this easy to get a confession, I’d have let someone shoot me much sooner.”

“I’d have volunteered,” Matthew comments.

“See? Matthew could have shot me weeks ago,” I say.

“Why? What is wrong with you?” Gabriel asks, but I see a small hint of a smile among his stress.

“If he still has energy to act like this, he’s not too hurt,” Matthew assures him as the medical team descends on me like they’re not aware we’re in the middle of a very important love confession. I try to shoo them off so I can just stare into Gabriel’s eyes some more, but weirdly they ignore me.

“I’m riding with him,” Gabriel says.

“You have Lucy Fur.”

“Lucille is fine. She’s not the one bleeding all over right now.”

“You’ve picked me over the cat?” I ask in disbelief.

“Liam, just be quiet and compliant.”

How could I possibly when Gabriel loves me?