“Wait—did you see that?” Mr. Anderson asked, abruptly stopping.
Jarrad stopped as well, and the jarring motion made her groan in pain. “What?” he asked.
“I swear I saw something on the skywalk.”
Jarrad scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I told you, there’s no one here. The sun’s setting. Everyone’s long gone for the day. You really think I’d bring us out here if I wasn’t certain it was deserted?”
A grumble sounded from Mr. Anderson. “Fine. Let’s go. What are we doing about that girl in the hospital?”
“I went to the hospital and tried to look at the chart, but Walker had stationed Angie at the door and she wouldn’t allow me in the damn room. Bitch. If we’re lucky, they’ll look at herhistory of being an alcoholic and put her condition down to drinking too much.”
Alcoholic…were they talking about Jamie? Did this have something to do with the reason Eastern had been acting strange after talking to his deputy yesterday at the hospital?
“And if not?”
“I don’t fucking know, do I, Dad? I guess we find the doctor who diagnoses her and pay them off before Eastern the Boy Scout finds out. It’s exactly why I told you to trash the rest of the shit—so this didn’t happen!”
“Don’t act all high and mighty with me. You’ve been just as much a part of this little operation as I have. And you certainly haven’t complained about the profits.”
So these guys were making their own alcohol, andbadly, by the sounds of it. Making people sick,killingpeople, then covering their tracks.
Assholes.
Jarrad shuffled her higher on his shoulder, and she cried out. At this point, her entire rib cage hurt so much she was almost numb to the pain.
Something on Jarrad’s hip flashed in the fading light, catching her attention. She frowned, forcing herself to focus through the pain. Was that…the butt of a gun? No, it couldn’t be. He wouldn’t be so stupid as to leave a gun within reaching distance. Unless he thought she was too injured to reach for it?
And yeah, itwouldbe hard to get to the weapon. But she had to try. They planned to kill her and leave her somewhere no one would find her. They’d actually admitted it.
She didn’t move immediately, instead taking a deep breath of courage and preparing her ribs for the pain…because therewouldbe pain.
Three seconds. She counted them down in her head.
Three…two…one…
She lunged.
“What the fuck?”
Ignoring Jarrad’s growled words, she wrapped her fingers around the grip of the gun, yanked it out and fired at Jarrad’s leg.
He cried out, dropping her to the ground. Pain flared from her ribs, racing down every limb of her body, but she ignored it, lifting the gun and pointing it at Mr. Anderson. He was already pulling his own weapon from its holster.
Sadie fired first—and her breath stopped when blood bloomed across his shirt.
Oh God…she’d shot him! She’d shottwopeople. She’d never shot another person in her life!
Mr. Anderson dropped to the ground, grabbing at his chest.
She spun to face Jarrad, but he’d already snatched up the fallen gun from Mr. Anderson and was limping behind a tree.
She didn’t think. She just jumped to her feet and ran.
Jace Walker leanedover the railing of the skywalk, the cool evening air brushing over his skin.
Home. He was finally home. A part of him still didn’t quite understand why he’d left his career as a Tactical Controller. He’d loved his job. Fuck, he’d lived and breathed it. The second he’d graduated high school, he hadn’t been able to leave Misty Peak fast enough, to get out of here and make something of himself.
Yet…here he was, back in the town where he’d grown up, for reasons he didn’t quite understand. Because he was done chasing adventure? Because somewhere along the way, he’d started craving something else? Something slower?
