Page 17 of Child In Jeopardy

“I’ll let you know everything that happens in the interview,” Slater told Lana as they made their way out of the interview room.

Lana had had no doubts about that and murmured a thanks while she considered something else. “Once they know about Buck being Cameron’s father, my parents might feel obligated to try to get custody of him. I mean, how would it look in the press if they didn’t?”

It sickened her to think of handing over that precious baby to people like her parents. Thankfully, there’d be no way Buck could try to assert his parental rights. Not with his criminal record and the charges about to be leveled against him. Buck wouldn’t be a threat to custody. However, her parents might put up a good fight if they thought it would benefit them.

After they made their way down to the bottom floor, Slater texted Sonya to let her know they would soon be coming out of the building. That would mean another uneasy walk through the large visitors’ parking lot.

She and Slater retrieved their weapons from the security checkpoint at the front of the building and stepped outside, immediately glancing around for any signs of a threat. There were some uniformed cops going in and out of the sprawling headquarters complex. Some civilians, too. The place was a beehive of activity, which didn’t settle Lana’s nerves one bit.

As they threaded their way through the sea of parked cars, Lana’s phone vibrated, a reminder that she’d silenced it during the interview, and she frowned when she saw her mother’s name on the screen. She didn’t answer, not wanting to deal with either of her parents right now, but her mother immediately texted her.

Did you see the headlines?her mother asked.Someone is spreading lies about Stephanie.

Groaning, she showed the message to Slater just as he got his own text from Detective Thayer.The media’s picked up the story about Stephanie’s murder.

Great. It had to be bad press for the cop to give them a heads-up. Lana figured she’d need to glance through the article on the way back to the safe house. Not now, though. She didn’t want the distraction.

That thought had no sooner crossed her mind when Lana sensed the motion to her right. She snapped in that direction, her gaze automatically scanning for any sign of threat. She didn’t see any, but every nerve in her body was yelling for her to take notice. That danger was near.

And every nerve in her body was right.

Before she could even see exactly what the threat was, the man jumped out from behind the back of a large SUV, and Lana caught just a glimpse of the weapon before he jammed it against her chest. She felt the jolt of the stun gun go through her. Felt it rob her of all of the sensations in her body except for the pain. She could feel the pain. Every bit of it. And it literally brought her to her knees.

The feeling in her legs vanished, and she was suddenly boneless. Unable to move. Lana had no choice but to drop down on the concrete. Hard. So hard that it seemed to send a jolt through her.

Beside her, she heard the frantic footsteps, the spewed profanity, all mixed with the sickening thud of flesh slamming into flesh. But she couldn’t tell what was going on.

Oh, God. Was this Buck, and was he now going after Slater since he’d neutralized her? And she was neutralized. There was no question about that. Lana couldn’t reach for her gun. She couldn’t do anything to save Slater and herself.

It took every ounce of her energy, but Lana finally managed to roll onto her back so she could look up at the nightmare that was playing out in front of her. Slater hadn’t managed to draw his weapon, and he was in a hand-to-hand fight with a hulking brute. It was Buck all right, and he was even bigger and bulkierthen he had seemed in his photos. He towered over Slater and outweighed him by at least fifty pounds. She could only watch as Buck slammed one of his huge fists toward Slater’s face.

Slater managed to turn just in time so the fist was a glancing blow rather than a full-on punch, but that deflection didn’t stop Buck. He merely tried again, and when that one missed, he grabbed hold of Slater’s shoulder to drag him closer.

Around them, Lana could hear the shouts, and she prayed help was coming. Buck’s face was etched with rage, and she had no doubt if he got the chance, he would beat Slater to death.

Lana tried to kick out, hoping she could make contact with Buck’s leg so she could off-balance him, but the impact only seemed to anger him further. He looked down at her, cursing her.

“You’re a dead woman,” he snarled.

The threat cost him, because Slater took advantage of Buck’s distraction and drew his gun. Buck acted fast, though, latching onto Lana’s hair and dragging her up in front of him as a human shield. He pressed his back against the SUV.

“I’ll snap her neck,” Buck growled, the raging heat and anger in every word. “I’ll kill her where she stands.”

“No, you won’t,” Slater said. In contrast, his voice was all ice. As was his expression. “Because then you’ll have no cover. Look around you, Buck. Look at what you’re up against.”

Lana couldn’t fully turn her head, but from her peripheral vision, she could see several cops. All had their weapons drawn and aimed at Buck. She felt Buck’s breath quicken and could feel his heart slamming against her back. Lana also felt something else. The movement of Buck’s arm. When she felt the cold barrel of a gun jam against her head, she realized he, too, was armed.

“Yeah, but she’ll still be dead,” Buck taunted. “Tell your badge friends to back off, and she lives.”

Lana figured there was little to no chance of that. She suspected Buck wanted to use her to get to Cameron, and once she’d served her purpose, he’d kill her just as easily as he had Stephanie.

But she wouldn’t help him get to Cameron.

No way.

She’d die here before she let that happen.

“I think you badges call this a standoff,” Buck grumbled. “None of you has a clean shot. Can’t risk shooting me without putting bullets in her and any other unlucky person in the parking lot.”