O’Neill narrowed his eyes on him. “Leave the room, Sue Ellen,” he crisply commanded.
Gasping, Sue Ellen pushed away from the chair. “Larry, I won’t let you do this.”
“Goddammit, woman, leave!”
The instant O’Neill’s aim on Paige strayed and his angry wife started toward him, Zach took his chance. He yelled, “Get down!” and charged. He slammed into him with his entire weight, grappling to unarm him, but before he succeeded he heard the blast of two gunshots.
He jerked violently on impact. Pain seared his shoulder, and an eerie opaque light exploded in his eyes. He stumbled back a step. His vision blurred. The room faded into shadows. Motherfucker . . .
His legs gave. He sucked the air for oxygen as a sticky wetness began spreading across his shirt.
“No.” O’Neill scrambled away. “Sue Ellen!”
“Paige!” Hissing in frustration over not being able to see, Zach found the cold metal of his backup and curled his fingers around the grip as he got up to his knees, attempting to focus. “Baby, talk to me. You all right? Fuck.”
“Sue Ellen!” O’Neill screamed.
“I’m fine . . .” Paige whispered. But she did not sound fine; she sounded shaky and frightened and far away.
Panic ate at him, his sight a black and gray blur. But his hand was steady, his gun ready, aiming at . . . just aiming all over the place. Hot in his hand. “Paige, talk to me. Where is he? Twelve o’clock? Two o’clock? Where?”
“One o’clock! I think. Dammit, I don’t know.”
Forcing his gaze on the blurry figure merging with a smaller one and straining to focus, Zach finally managed to hone in on O’Neill.
“Don’t shoot!” Paige cried. “He’s unarmed. He . . . he has her in his arms. He shot her.” Her soft, sweet voice traveled from a different direction. Coming closer to him. Tearing up into a sob. “Zach, you’re bleeding.”
It took a moment to bring her to focus.
God, no, she was crying. Her cheeks were flushed, her lower lip quaking uncontrollably. What he saw in her eyes— so damned beautiful to see once more. She still loves me. For a moment he thought he’d pass out when she slowly folded to her knees before him. His world tilted.
“Yes, shoot, Rivers!” O’Neill sobbed. “Do it.”
Zach jerked his attention back to him, his finger hot on the trigger, lips pulled back into a fierce, teeth-gritting snarl. “I’ll do it, asshole, don’t fucking invite me!”
“No!” Paige cried. “He killed his wife! She’s . . . she’s dead. He’s going to jail.” Weepy blue eyes sought out his, and her hands shook with indecision as they hovered above his chest. “Zach, you’re . . .” She made an awful little sound. “You’re shot!”
Screaming with rage, O’Neill dropped the limp figure in his arms and charged for Paige. “Bitch! It was supposed to be you, not her!” He lugged her up by the hair with an angry grunt and violently smashed her forehead against the wall.
Blood burst across the tapestry.
Stumbling to his feet, Zach roared, “Son of a . . . !” In a breath-clogging move, he wrapped his numbed, blood-caked arm around O’Neill’s thick neck and wrenched the bastard’s shiny bald head around. He pressed the weapon to his temple. “Let go of her!”
O’Neill growled and pulled Paige’s head back for another slam. The instant Zach heard her terrified scream, he gave a brutal jerk and pulled the trigger. Pop!
O’Neill crashed to the floor. Paige landed flaccid under him.
Cursing, Zach rolled the man’s lifeless body off hers. Pain exploded along his shoulder and arm as he gently eased her away from the bastard’s prone body. He dragged her limp figure across the floor, leaving a trail of fresh blood across the carpet.
He lifted his cell phone painfully from the floor and called 911, code officer down. See if the cruisers didn’t come screeching.
Blood continued soaking his left shoulder, hot and wet and never-ending. Clasping Paige’s limp body against his right side, he shifted until he reclined on the wall, grunting at the pain. “Paige.” He gathered her closer with his one good arm, his trembling hand awkwardly searching for pulse. He found it. Quick and sure, pushing into his fingers.
She was unconscious. A bright red gash raced up her forehead and her nose was dripping. A trail of blood streaked down the corner of her mouth. He rocked her, making a strange, animallike noise. “Baby.”
“He’s dead?”
His breath tore out of him as her lids opened. “Oh sweetheart, yes. Hang on. Hang on.”