The bullets continued to blast into the rear window over Caroline’s head, but even over the deafening sound, Jack heard something else. A siren. Another cruiser was coming up the road toward them.
And just like that, the gunfire stopped.
Part of Jack was glad that someone was no longer trying to kill Caroline, but he knew what the silence meant. The guy was getting away.
“Do you see him?” Jack asked Gunnar and Kellan. He was hoping they had a better vantage point from the front scene, but both shook their heads.
“The shooter’s probably using the ditch to put some distance between him and us,” Kellan concluded.
Yeah, Jack figured the same thing. “I’m going out there,” he said.
That got a loud, quick “No!” from Caroline.
“The gunman could be moving so he can get a shot at Scotty,” Jack reminded her.
That didn’t exactly stop the protest he saw in her eyes, but she didn’t say “No” this time. Instead, she whispered, “Be careful.”
He would, but Jack didn’t take the time to reassure her. That was because he needed to get aim on the gunman before he resurfaced and shot Scotty.
Jack got out of the cruiser, and this time he shut his door in case their attacker came out of the ditch with guns blazing. It would be a suicide mission, with three armed lawmen right there and a backup cruiser just seconds away. Still, desperation made people do stupid things.
Hoping to minimize what anyone could label as stupid, Jack used the cruiser for cover, running to the front end of it andkeeping down. Keeping watch, too. And it didn’t take him long to see what he’d been expecting.
The ski-masked shooter.
The gunman peered out from the ditch, and he’d moved all right. The guy was now a good fifteen yards from the cruiser. He pivoted, taking aim at Scotty. Just as Jack took aim at him.
Jack fired first.
Not just one shot but two, and as much as he wanted answers, he went for the kill instead.
And he got it.
The shots Jack fired took the guy down, and even though he was certain he hadn’t missed, he hurried to the ditch to make sure. Keeping his gun aimed and ready, he pulled up next to the ditch and saw the man sprawled in the mud and water that’d been left by the rain.
The guy was dead. Jack was sure of it. But there was someone who was hopefully still alive.
“Get the ambulance in here now!” Jack shouted to Kellan and Gunnar. He started running toward Scotty, and he prayed he wasn’t too late to save him.
Chapter Thirteen
Dead.
That was the one word that kept repeating in her head, and Caroline didn’t think it would go away anytime soon. Nor would the images of seeing Scotty’s car smashed into that utility pole.
She hadn’t actually seen his body. Jack was responsible for that. He’d insisted on her staying in the cruiser while the backup and ambulance arrived. Caroline hadn’t fought him on that since she’d known in her heart that Scotty was already dead.
So was the gunman.
That didn’t ease her frayed nerves, though. She would still hear the sound of all those gunshots and remember the terror she’d felt when Jack stepped outside the cruiser. Yes, she would definitely recall all of that with every detail. And more. She’d have to deal with the worry that this didn’t put an end to the danger.
Even though they didn’t have an ID yet on the gunman, Caroline figured he’d been hired to kill her. Whoever had done the hiring had likely covered their tracks. Maybe there’d been mistakes made and some evidence or a money trail left behind, but the odds were this would go down as another attempt to get to her.
Caroline drew in slow, deep breaths as Raylene’s sister, Deputy Clarie McNeal, pulled the cruiser to a stop in front of Jack’s house. Jack had spent most of the drive from the sheriff’s office on the phone and keeping watch, but now that they’d arrived at their destination, his focus would be on her.
Or at least it would be once they were inside.
Caroline needed the long breaths not only to try to calm herself but also to try to level out the effects of the adrenaline. If she didn’t, Jack would see the panic that was just beneath the surface, and it would make him worry even more than he already did. And there was no mistake about it—he was worried.
