“I see Mandeville,” Rance radioed back, his voice full of relief. “He just came out of the café and is—”
Rance’s words were drowned out by a loud explosion. The people in the street began to scatter. Max could hear screamingand see smoke roiling up from the café. He was already on his feet, rushing for the door.
“What was that?” he demanded into the radio as he ran outside.
“I don’t know, but people are running out of the café,” his deputy radioed back. The sky lit up then, in flashes of blinding light followed quickly by loud booms as an explosion of fireworks rained down on the town.
Max’s gaze shot to where he’d last seen Goldie. She and Donovan and the little red sports car were gone.
THE HOTEL LOBBYwas empty with everyone out in the street watching the fireworks as Lolly rushed in. She couldn’t wait to get to her room. The elevator door had just opened and she was stepping inside and pressing her floor number when Luca came up behind her. He grabbed her roughly and shoved her in, then slammed her against the wall.
As the doors closed, he put a hand over her mouth, his gaze filled with fury. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? We don’t have time for this. You need to come with me.”
She couldn’t have answered if she’d wanted to. She glared at him, waiting for what she knew was coming.
“I’m not going to let you ruin everything, you spoiled brat.” His hand left her mouth to slap her hard across the face, then the hand was back at her throat, squeezing the breath from her. “You’re going to come with me now or I’m going to—”
She didn’t need to hear the rest because she knew what he was going to do to her. She kicked him as hard as she could in the groin. His hand released her throat as he stumbled back, hunched over in pain.
Gasping for breath, she pulled the gun from her purse. His eyes widened but there was no fear.
“You’re not going to shoot me,” he spat out in a mocking tone.
“I’m pregnant with your child.” She hadn’t planned to tell him and questioned why she did now. Because she thought it might make a difference?
“Don’t worry about it,” he said as he began to straighten and come toward her. “I’ll kill you both before then. But right now, you’re coming with me.”
“Change of plans,” she said and pulled the trigger. The first shot caught him in the upper chest. He launched himself at her. She got off two more shots before he knocked her to the floor.
THE SKY FILLEDwith fireworks, exploding one after another in bursts of screaming rockets that shot up the main street before ending in ear-shattering booms.
“Mandeville and his driver are standing outside the café watching the fireworks,” Rance radioed from his vantage point, having to yell over the racket. “They’re standing in the street. Arnie is with them.”
The sheriff quickly radioed the other deputies behind the café and bank. Nothing happening back there. He radioed the bank. Nothing happening there either. “What about Luca Havers?”
“No sign of him.”
“I have to get into that café,” Max told Rance. “I’m going to check it and the bank. Keep your eye on Mandeville.” The main street had filled with people all out watching the fireworks display. He could have walked but had a feeling he was going to need his patrol SUV as he drove down the alley to park behind the café. Jumping out, he found the rear door unlocked. That alone made him hesitate. That and the fact that there didn’t seem to be anyone around as he walked into the café.
He could smell fried bacon mingling with the smoke from the fireworks going off from the roof but there was no one in thekitchen, no one in the dining room either. He took the stairs to the basement, gun drawn, to find it empty.
Quickly he checked to see if any of the concrete walls had been breached. He could see where the construction crew had taken out a lot of the disintegrating old concrete and replaced it with new. He ran his hand along the wall only to find it was still solid.
Hurriedly, he mounted the steps and ran out through the empty café to the back of the bank. He rang the bell and was quickly shown inside. He and Bill took the stairs to the basement only to find the walls intact.
“They’d never planned to rob the bank here in town,” Max said with a curse. “They just wanted me to think that was the plan. They must have hit the armored car. That’s why it’s late. I’ve got to go. Stay alert in case I’m wrong about that too.”
Max left the bank, headed for his patrol rig parked in the alley behind the café where he’d left it. Mandeville had played him. Worse, he had no idea where Goldie was. All he knew was that she was in trouble since she was with Donovan.
“Mandeville still out in the street?” Max asked, radioing Rance as he opened the door to his patrol SUV.
“He and the rest of the town.”
“I’m going to find Donovan and Goldie and the armored car. Stay in position. We can’t leave the town unprotected in case this too is another sleight of hand,” he said as he slid behind the wheel.
As he reached to start the engine, he felt the cold, hard steel of the gun’s barrel against his neck. “Slowly hand back your weapon,” Luca Havers ordered in a voice edged with pain. “Move too quickly and I’ll kill you. If I die, so does Goldie Shaw.”
Max did as he was told, handing his revolver back to Havers.
