“We’ve got company,” he whispered.
Elena shoved the granola bar in her pocket and Josh waved her over to him, relieved when she came. She was so tiny compared to him, but she’d proven that she was a survivor.
“You still have your knife?” he whispered.
“Yes.”
“Good. I saw them on the back deck coming around to the front. There’s a door to another deck off the master bedroom. Let’s go out that way. You have everything you need?”
Elena slipped on the jacket Josh had found for her and her backpack. “Yes.”
“Let’s go. Stay behind me. They still have their weapon, and if I need to, I’m going to shoot them. Okay? I don’t want to scare you.”
“Got it.”
Josh and Elena crept down the hallway and he saw the door where they needed to go. The only flaw with their plan was that the window shades were down and he’d need to put one up to get out the French doors. That could alert someone as to where they were.
“Stay here in the doorway until I get those blinds up,” Josh told Elena. He was glad when she did what he told her to, no questions asked.
He raised them, slowly and carefully. There was no one that he could see. Quietly turning the lock and opening the door, Josh cleared right outside. He didn’t like it. They were sitting ducks here, but they needed to keep moving. Obviously, whoever this was maybe had some tracking skills and had followed him to this house.
He waved to Elena to come. Quick and nimble on her feet, she was by his side in a heartbeat. Josh signaled to her to stay behind him, glad to see she had her knife ready. It was as good as it was going to get for his backup. Plus, too many people underestimated knives and how fast someone could stab another person. Elena was agile with good skills, based on the dead gang member she’d left behind.
They crept down the stairs, Elena staying right behind Josh. They came around the corner and face-to-face with one of the people. The man turned, shotgun muzzle pointing up. Josh didn’t hesitate—he knew the man wouldn’t either. He fired two quick rounds, hitting him center mass.
Josh wanted to grab the shotgun, but as he headed toward the man, another person beat him to the weapon. A woman. She turned and had the gun pointed at them and Josh fired at her, but missed. He and Elena ran—his only thought was finding cover before the lady shot at them. Elena stayed right behind Josh as they headed into the thick woods before they pulled up, both out of breath.
“Who the hell were they?” Elena asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m certain they were the ones who crashed the jail transport and killed the guards. I saw a man and woman. Come on, we need to keep moving. I think we’re safe to walk now, but we need to keep our ears open tonight. Somehow they found us and I don’t like that.”
They took off on foot and Josh found his way back to the creek, but made sure they stayed about twelve feet away from it. He didn’t want to step in mud or anything else that would give away their position. Elena walked next to him. Josh really wanted to ask her about the case, why she’d reopened it, and learn everything she knew, but he also didn’t want to make any noise.
He’d find out more later. For now, they needed to get to Maya’s property and the camper. There was more food and water there and maybe they would have a chance to talk.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Leaving the Bradfords and Coltens, Maya headed back to her vehicle. Laura had seemed like she was helping Natalia calm down. Maybe she wasn’t so bad. It just bothered Maya that the whole Bradford family kept showing up. She wanted to find out more about them, but right now, she had to find Josh first.
Indignant barks switched to excited barks as Maya approached her vehicle. She put on Juniper’s Kevlar vest and GPS tracker and put her booties in a pocket just in case they got into an environment where Juniper would need them, like another broken window.
Pops had sent her a text saying he was letting Lucas take control of the scene of the van accident and Doc was still technically the acting sheriff. Pops thought it was best to stay out of the way with his trial and the department undersheriff missing from a crashed jail transport.
“What a mess,” Maya muttered as Juniper, ready to go, danced around next to her. “Okay, girly. Your wish is coming true. Let’s go down and see what you can find.”
The pair went to an area where she could tell other law enforcement and first responders had trekked to the crash site. The path was steep, but this trail wasn’t too bad to follow. Juniper and Maya carefully navigated their way down. She didn’t need to slip and fall or twist an ankle. That would only make it harder to do her job.
Closer to the rolled van, the terrain finally flattened out, making it easier to get to the crash. Maya sucked in her breath. She’d seen accidents, but this one was bad. It was amazing that anyone had lived, much less walked away from this. Or at least, she hoped Josh had walked away from it. Doc was working on bagging one of the victims while Deputy Wilson, who seemed a little pale at the sight, helped him.
“Hi, Doc,” Maya said.
He stopped what he was doing and gave a quick wave.
“Still no sign of Josh?” she asked.
Doc finished what he was doing and then asked some search-and-rescue volunteers to carry the body up to his van. He came over to Maya. “My little morgue is getting full. I may need to take a couple of these victims to the funeral home.”
“I’m sure that’ll be fine,” Maya said. “Pops said Lucas would be in charge. He should be here soon. You can always ask him.”
