Tyler linked his foot around the chair leg and dragged Jeff closer to the tip of the blade. “Makena, you’re going to get one good stab in, and it’ll wound poor Jeff here. But I’ll deliver the final blow with the gun I keep for protection.”
He’d clearly written the sick scene in his head. She’d failed to play her assigned role and now he gave her another one. “Like a hero.”
He glared at her. “I am one.”
“This will never work.” Possible solutions ran through her head. She could crash her chair into him... She ran out after that.
“You had your chance. I wanted you to be my partner.”
Her mind flashed on another scenario. One that would save Jeff, too. Her gaze flicked to him. “How did you get here?”
“I followed you.”
She hoped that meant the Corcoran Team had as well. “I blamed you.” The apology stuck in her throat. She couldn’t get it out, not yet.
“He’s a liar,” Tyler said in a reasonable voice that carried over the mix of shuffling and chair moving happening on the floor.
She tried to pick up each sound and figure out what was happening. Jeff kept looking at her and then staring at Tyler’s stomach. She wasn’t sure what he wanted her to do, but she sensed she and Jeff were in this one together.
Jeff shot her one last intense stare. “No one will believe it. I’m not a killer.”
“Unfortunately for you, I am.” Tyler drew back the knife and stabbed it into Jeff’s side.
She closed her eyes but not before seeing Jeff’s pop open. He groaned and his body doubled over. Blood seeped through his white shirt. The room broke into chaos. The window on the side of the family room shattered and a male figure crashed inside. She turned her head to avoid the flying glass and saw the front door explode off its hinges.
Her eyes refused to focus, but she thought she heard Shane’s voice. The yelling ran together with the banging. The last thing she saw was Tyler reaching for his gun, and then a weight knocked into her, sending her and the chair in a free fall to the floor.
Everything happened at once. A drumbeat thundered in her ears and she struggled to loosen her hands, but it was too late. Her body bounced and her head knocked against the hardwood. She heard gunshots as Jeff’s heavy breathing echoed in her ears. Then she couldn’t see or hear anything at all.
Chapter Nineteen
Shane had waited a beat too long. He’d wanted to race in the second Tyler shoved Jeff into the chair. Shane saw the two of them as partners. Sick men who deserved whatever happened next. The full wrath of the Corcoran Team could fall on them and Shane would not suffer one minute of regret. He valued life but not their lives.
Then he saw the blade and Tyler’s gun and silently declared, “Go time.”
The explosives tore the front door apart. Shredded it into sharp pieces and sent them flying. He didn’t wait for the smoke to clear or the space to open, or even for Connor’s signal. Shane ripped the debris out of his way, ignored the cuts to his hands and marched through the door.
He headed for Tyler and didn’t stop. Not when he lifted the gun. Not when he fired at Jeff, who was a blur streaking across the table to cover Makena. Not when Tyler adjusted his aim and the barrel pointed at the general chaos.
He could shoot anyone, looked ready to kill without spending one second thinking about it. He wasn’t a man on the edge. He’d gone careening off it at rapid speed.
Shane didn’t waste time trying to fix Tyler or reason with him. They’d passed that point long ago. To whatever extent he’d ever dealt in reason, he didn’t now. Shane had no choice but to take him down.
He came in firing over the heads of Jeff and Makena, trying to get them to duck and stay down. He wanted to draw Tyler’s fire and keep his mind off the bodies on the floor. In Tyler’s obsessive state, anything could trigger him, and Shane didn’t want to test him.
But Tyler didn’t stick with the plan. He dropped down but kept shooting. He crawled toward Makena, and Shane increased his speed. Breaking every rule and ignoring protocol, he crossed right in front of Cam’s line of fire, heedless of the danger and desperate only to get to her. All those hours of practice and drills faded into the background.
Connor swore and Cam yelled. Shane blocked it all. He had to, because she lay tucked and unmoving. Blood covered her, but he couldn’t tell if it was hers or Jeff’s, as they were piled on top of each other.
“Stay back.” Tyler practically screamed the order as he reached for Makena’s arm. He pulled, trying to drag her closer.
She shoved away from him. Jeff trapped her in place, leaving her vulnerable to Tyler’s whims. The gun in Tyler’s hand waved and bobbled. He pointed it in every direction, as if he’d forgotten he even held it.