one Stella wants. Let me go in. Maybe I can trade places with Erin, or at least be inside to protect her.”
“That’s not the way we do things, Mr. Tyler,” Forbes said. “Now stand back and let us do our job.”
“Stand back, hell!” Will growled. “I’m going in. If you don’t back me, damn it, I’ll do it without your help.”
As Forbes relented, Tori forced herself to breathe. Will would lay down his life to save Erin. Right now, she had no choice except to let him—even if it meant she could lose them both.
Her frantic hands twisted in her lap. How could she just sit here and wait? There had to be something she could do. Will would be unarmed. But she had a gun. She barely knew how to shoot, but if she could make a difference she had to act—and act now.
With everyone’s eyes on Will, Tori took the small pistol out of her purse and pulled back the slide to chamber a bullet. Then she slipped out the far side of the police car. Ducking low and keeping to the shadows, she cut around through the darkness, heading for the back of the motel.
* * *
Erin had rolled onto her belly and managed to inchworm her way across the linoleum floor. Now she was just a few feet short of the door. Stella, gripping her pistol and intent on the danger out front, had yet to notice her. What now? She couldn’t use her hands or her feet. She couldn’t cry out. But if the chance came to make her move—any move she could—she had to be ready.
As she lay there, tense and waiting, she heard a voice outside—her father’s voice.
“Stella! I’m unarmed and I’m coming in! I’m the one you want, not an innocent girl! Take me and let Erin go!”
Stella opened the door a few inches. Lying behind her, Erin could see her father standing in the bright light with his hands up. He was wearing a bulletproof vest, but his head was unprotected. As Stella raised the pistol, Erin knew that was where she would aim. At close range it would be an easy, and fatal, shot.
Erin had to do something.
As Stella tensed to fire, Erin flung the last of her strength into a lightning-fast tuck-and-roll that slammed her curled body into the back of Stella’s legs. The pistol roared. Through the partly open doorway, Erin saw her father reel and drop to his knees. A red stain flowed down the sleeve of his jacket.
Stella staggered to one side, caught off balance. Pushing to her knees, Erin head-butted her out of the way, shouldered the door open, and tumbled out onto the stoop.
As the police rushed forward, she heard the door bang shut behind her and the click of the lock. Stella was still inside, but now she was alone.
* * *
Tori had heard the gunshot from the rear of the motel. As she made her way through the overgrown oleander bushes, she could only pray that the single bullet hadn’t struck any of her loved ones.
She’d guessed that in an old motel like this one, there would be a bathroom window in the back of each unit. If she could get in that way, she might be able to catch Stella by surprise and rescue Erin. Now she saw that she’d been right about the window. But it was high and appeared to be latched from the inside. Never mind, this plan was her only option. Somehow she would make it work.
She was glancing around for something to climb on when the window slid open. Tori raised her pistol as a dark shape, barely lit by the moon, squeezed out through the opening and dropped five feet to the ground, landing with a grunt of pain.
As the figure pushed to a crouch, the moonlight fell on an upturned face. Eyes as fierce as a cornered puma’s glared at Tori. It was Stella.
She’d dropped her pistol as she hit the ground. Keeping her own gun leveled at the woman, Tori kicked the heavy .38 into the bushes, out of reach. Blind rage swept through Tori as she leveled her weapon. “Hands up, Stella!” she snarled. “You don’t know how much I’d enjoy pulling this trigger right in your ugly face.”
Stella’s laugh was pure evil. “You don’t have the guts to shoot me, lawyer lady. As soon as I can get my legs under me, I’m going to get up and walk away.” She