Chapter 75

Frantically looking around the room for a place to hide Riley, she hoped that once she put him down he would settle. The only place she could see was the closet. Gently putting him on the floor, Jordan inserted his pacifier in his mouth and closed the louvered doors.

She strode through the apartment to their bedroom that had been Woody's and was now shared by both of them. The gun safe was in the back of the walk in closet and she stood in front of it for a moment before taking a deep breath and punching in the first letter of each of Woody's sister's names in the order they were born, as the code to open it.

She looked at gun with trepidation before picking it up as if was one of Riley's most toxic dirty diapers. Standing there with the gun in her hand, her thoughts went briefly to her father. Wishing he was there to handle this for her, but also glad he had taught her enough about how to shoot so she could if she had to. With a gulping breath she went into the living room to wait for Palmer.

It seemed like hours, it could have been only seconds, but suddenly the front door of the apartment was kicked in. She was at last face to face with the man who had malevolently invaded her life, deceived her, and ran, the real Clark Palmer, wearing the face she had only seen on him in pictures.

Jordan had just the briefest of moments in the back of her mind to be glad that Riley, once out of her over stressed presence, had settled down and was quiet.

Palmer might have been expecting her to have been warned he was on the way, but the woman he had lived with and knew well, hated guns, he actually showed the briefest flash of surprise on his face when he saw Jordan with a gun pointed at him. "You wouldn't shoot the father of your child," he asserted brazenly, and stepped into the apartment.

She hated violence. She hated guns. But, she hated the man in front of her more. Closing her eyes she squeezed off a shot as she said, "To keep you away from Riley, I would!"

Jordan had meant to shoot him through the heart, to kill him outright and put her family out of misery. But when she heard him grunt instead of just fall to the floor, her eyes sprang open in time to see he had dodged her shot enough that it had only hit him in the shoulder. He was pulling out his own gun.

Two shots rang out in quick succession. Jordan's, being the second one, hit the door jam behind Palmer, just after his shot hit her in the abdomen.

He stepped over Jordan's body and walked into the nursery. His eyes did a quick sweep of the room and didn't spot the baby. But, the whimpering cries from the closet alerted him to Riley's hiding place.

Palmer had to holster his gun because of the shoulder wound before he could scoop up the small bundle as if it were a football. Passing by Jordan once again, she heard him say as she passed out, "I hate that name you gave him…"

Even though he hadn't been armed, Woody still had his car at the cemetery. It was equipped with a siren and light which made his race home much safer. Along the way he heard a report of 'shots fired' followed by his home address. This pushed his foot down on the accelerator even harder.

The car was barely in park before Woody had the door open and one foot on the pavement. Palmer was just pulling away from the front of the building as a new report came over the radio that there was a female gunshot victim and missing baby. Woody's heart sank. He had one split second to choose to run into the building and find Jordan, or to follow Palmer.

In the next heartbeat one thought became crystal clear in his mind, 'Jordan would kill me if I let Palmer get away with Riley!' He was back in the car in a flash, but Palmer's vehicle was already out of sight down the block.

To be continued…