Page 25 of Shielding his Legacy (Shattered SEALs #7)
Gavin awoke, a hush blanketing the room. The only sounds he could hear were Eva and the baby breathing, and he felt the corners of his mouth hitch up almost imperceptibly.
Abby had gotten up twice during the night, and he’d watched Eva nurse her in the near darkness, aware of her laying on her side, the baby snuggled up to her body and drinking her fill.
It seemed to him a sacred time—being awake with an infant in the night—and he was more grateful for that experience than he could remember being for anything in his life before it.
Once after she’d put the baby back in her bed, he’d opened his arm to Eva and kissed the top of her head as she rested her face against his chest and molded her body down the side of his.
He’d only wanted to be close to her, but their nearness quickly escalated to another round of lovemaking.
In the end, she fell asleep on his shoulder, just as she’d done each night in their hotel room in Phoenix.
He rolled onto his back and looked over at her. Her full, curvy lips were softly parted, her top two teeth just barely visible. Lush, dark lashes rested against her skin in perfect crescents, and he wondered if their daughter would grow up to be as beautiful as her mother.
Doing his best not to disturb Evie, he sat up and braced his hands on either side of himself. From that vantage point, he could just see a brightening strip of the white landscape beyond the glass. It was morning, though he wasn’t sure exactly how early.
Grabbing his phone, he gingerly sidestepped the sleeping baby and crossed to the small kitchen table. Placing the device down, he took several minutes to stretch, reaching high and low, letting a languidness he hadn’t experienced in just over a year seep into the fibers of his being.
He picked up his phone and scrolled through notifications just as a text came in from Razorback, the first word of which was in all caps: IMPORTANT.
Gavin narrowed his eyes and opened the message.
The words APB and MURDER SUSPECT jumped out first. There was a link, and he clicked it, lowering the volume as his web browser opened to a TV station homepage.
A video played, Eva’s photo displayed in the corner of the screen as a newscaster spoke to the camera.
The surge of adrenaline was instantaneous.
“Police are asking for the public’s help locating Eva Livingston, a person of interest in the death of police detective Anthony Griffin in Central Park two weeks ago.
“Livingston is believed to be traveling with this man…” His own photo appeared beside Eva’s.
“…Lt. Gavin DeGrey, a former Navy SEAL who left the military a year ago when a highly publicized civil suit was brought against him for the death of one of his SEAL teammates by the other man’s parents.
The lawsuit was later settled out of court. ”
His mind raced, working to process this information on several different levels. The police were looking for them—the search quite possibly put in motion by the very person Eva had caught on film.
“The pair was spotted by New York State Trooper Everett McDonald just a few miles from Lake Raquette in the Adirondacks.”
A curse hissed through Gavin’s clenched teeth.
The camera cut away to the policeman, the brim of his trooper’s hat pulled down low over his eyes in a severe line. “The subjects’ vehicle was pulled over on the side of the road, and the man and woman were inside, in what I’d call a compromising position.”
The phone vibrated, Razorback’s name appearing on the caller ID. With more than a twinge of regret, Gavin answered it, knowing he and Eva had experienced the last moments of peace they’d get for the foreseeable future. He answered without a greeting. “I saw the video.”
Razorback didn’t seem to notice the lack of pleasantries. “How close is that property to where the cop saw you?”
“Ten miles or so.” He headed for the bed.
“Good. That should be a safe enough distance.”
Gavin wanted to kick himself. “Not if I told the cop I was going ten miles up the road, and this place is the only stretch of houses in that vicinity.” He gave Eva’s calf a gentle shake and held the bottom portion of the phone away from his mouth.
Razorback swore in his ear. “So, he knows your trajectory and drive time.”
Gavin was focused on Eva. “Wake up. We’ve got to go.”
Razorback’s voice took on an urgency Gavin had heard from the other man at least a dozen times before. “You need to get out of there.”
“I’m on it.” A distant high-pitched wail had his head snapping toward the sound. “Goddamn it,” he muttered, the implications of the noise not lost on him. “I hear sirens. Call Sloan. Tell him I’ll pick them up in five minutes. They can’t fly the bird without unwanted attention.”
“Roger.” Razorback disconnected the call.
“Eva,” Gavin said more forcefully, shaking her leg harder. “Get up. The police are coming. We need to move, now.”
Eva sat up abruptly, seemingly completely awake in an instant. “Police?” She looked around at the sirens, now ubiquitous in the small space, and clutched the covers to her bare chest.
“Hurry. We have to go.”
“We can’t.”
“Of course we can. They’ve got an APB out on us, and I all but told that cop where we were going. Hurry up. Get dressed.”
“Gavin, what are we going to do? Get into a chase with the police? That’s not just one cop car. There are at least two, maybe more. We have the baby. We can’t outrun them.”
He had no intention of getting anyone hurt. “We can’t do a damn thing if we just sit here,” he snapped, frustrated with her determination to discuss this. “We have to go.”
She climbed out of bed and tugged on panties and bra. “These aren’t New York City police.”
“Come on. We have to hurry.”
“But they’re not New York police.”
He had no idea what she was getting at. All he knew was that she wasn’t moving nearly fast enough. “So what?”
“So, they’re not going to hurt me.”
The sirens suddenly got louder. They were very close to the cabin now, but rather than dashing out the door, Eva was standing there in her underwear, wide-eyed and determined to talk to him. “What are you saying?”
She picked up her shirt. “We can’t outrun them, Gavin. And they aren’t going to hurt me.”
“No, but they’re going to arrest you and take you back to New York, with the cops who will hurt you, unless we get out of here.”
She pulled the shirt over her head. “I’ll tell them I’m a witness.”
Her intentions clicked into a cohesive whole in his brain. “Eva, no. We discussed this. I can’t keep you safe.”
Picking up her leggings, she sat back on the bed and slipped them onto her legs. “Running away from the police isn’t safe. The roads are slippery. We don’t have a choice.”
“We do have a choice!” Control of this situation was getting away from him.
He feared it was already gone. The sirens were just outside now, likely within view of the house.
Had they already figured out which cabin they were in?
Had they found some connection between him and the owner of the property?
As if to answer his question, the sound of vehicles pulling up to the cabin could clearly be heard on the other side of the cabin wall.
Eva stood up from the bed and faced him. From her nest on the floor, Abby was beginning to stir, the scrunch of her face clearly warning she was getting ready to scream. “This is our best chance, Gavin,” Eva said.
She wanted his permission to play chicken with a freight train—a freight train that had already killed at least one other person. His throat worked against the heady mix of adrenaline and emotion that threatened to block his windpipe. He’d only just found her again. “What if I can’t protect you?”
Abby let out a wail. Outside, a policeman spoke into a bullhorn. “Come out with your hands up.”
Eva picked up the baby and crossed to Gavin, kissing him solidly on the mouth. “I love you,” she said, moving toward the cabin door before her words could sink into his mind. This wasn’t how this was supposed to happen. This wasn’t the plan.
She slipped on her shoes and was reaching for the door handle before his mouth worked properly again. “Wait!” he snapped.
She turned back to him.
“I repeat, come out with your hands up.”
He crossed to her, put one hand on either side of her face, and kissed her passionately. “I love you, too.” He slipped on his shoes. “And I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you safe.” His mouth pulled down hard at the corners as he looked back at her one last time. “Are you ready?”
Eva nodded.
The two of them walked outside, into police custody, and firmly outside the reach of HERO Force’s protection.