Because he’d been waiting back in San Francisco for the last leverage point to be left alone and unguarded.
Nic.
Cam was shouting, but Nic couldn’t understand the words for all the background noise on the other end of the line—the crash of waves, the wail of emergency sirens, thewhoomp whoomp whoompof helicopter blades.
“I can’t hear you!”Nic hollered back, absurdly loud in the cab of his truck, but he had no idea if Cam could hear him either.
“Hold a sec!”
Nic swung his truck into their driveway and threw it into Park, engine idling and heater still running.He cracked a window and checked the home security app on his phone as he waited.All clear, he deactivated it just as the racket on Cam’s end quieted.
“That better?”Cam asked.
“Much.Is Lette safe?”
“Yeah, EMS is seeing to her now.”
Relief was a much-needed breath of fresh air.“And you and Garrett?”
“Garrett’s fine.I got sliced by a knife?—”
His fresh air blew right out the cracked window.“You what?”
“Superficial,” Cam rushed to clarify.“We’re safe, Nic, but you’re not.Vaughn’s not here.I think he’s coming after you.”
Nic flipped off the ignition, grabbed his holstered Beretta out of the center console and his bag from behind the seats, then climbed out of the cab.“Not that I’ve seen.”He clipped the holster to his belt as he headed for the front door.“Hell, I’ve been looking for him all evening.I’ve got an indictment and an arrest warrant for him, but he’s nowhere to be found.”
“That was my next question.Good deal.And Bowers?”
“Folded under the evidence.Turned cooperating witness.”
“He’s been relieved of his position?”
“By Jack Hayward himself, and I’ve been named interim US Attorney.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.”He clapped and Nic could also hear the smile in his voice.“Stick a bottle of champagne in the fridge for when Vaughn is on his way to lockup too.Where all did you check?”
Nic ticked off locations as he fumbled in his bag for the house key, the sunset casting shadows across the front porch and making it difficult to see.“Home, office, airplane hangar, Curtis’s house, Gravity, and I even swung by Mobile Command, but he hasn’t come looking for me, or Victoria, there either.”
“One of his other properties, then?”
“Lauren’s on it.”Key found, Nic inserted it into the lock and jiggled it until it turned.Half the battle won.“Or he could be in the wind already.”
“We need to get someone else on you,” Cam said.“Eddie or Mel.”
“I’m at home, trying to get the damn door unlocked as we speak, and Eddie’s on his way over.”He wedged the phone between his shoulder and ear and wrenched the ancient doorknob with both hands.“I’ll get inside, activate the security measures, and wait for Eddie.”
“Nic—”
Finally, the doorknob gave, clicking free, and he pushed the door open, stepping inside.“I’m not sacrificing Victoria’s safety for mine.”
“You sure about that, Dom?”
The dining room lights flickered on, and all the moisture in Nic’s mouth fled as heat prickled under his skin.Duncan Vaughn sat at his dining table, spinning a Zippo lighter over a glass of whiskey, Cam’s bottle of Jameson off to the side.Behind Vaughn stood his usual two henchmen, still bruised from their run-in with Eddie the other night, and they’d brought another goon who was standing in the hallway door.Their bulk filled the space, making the house seem tinier than it already was, and they were way too close for Nic to draw his weapon and get four shots off before he risked getting shot himself.
“Nic!”Cam yelled, plenty loud now.Then, at someone else, Aidan likely, “Vaughn’s there at the house!”
Moving slow and deliberate, Nic raised his hands, waited for Vaughn to nod, then lowered his bag to the floor and took the phone in hand once more.He forced moisture into his mouth, licking his lips.“Boston, listen to me.”
