For now, anyway. She wouldn’t stay that way for long, though, with all that bleeding.
Even though it appeared the woman was seriously injured from a gunshot wound to the chest, Judson still took the time to make sure she wasn’t armed. No signs of a weapon. Her hands were empty, and she didn’t have a purse. However, she did have pockets in her jeans, and he patted them down while he dragged her to the cruiser and out of the line of fire.
The gunfire shifted, no longer being aimed at Livvy but rather coming at Judson. He didn’t take the time to return fire. He just kept moving until he got Yvette to the side of the cruiser.
It was possible that just moving her had made her injuries worse. But he hadn’t had a choice about that. Their attacker had fired at least two dozen shots, and many of them could have hit Yvette.
Hoisting Yvette up, he laid her on the back seat, and, staying low, Judson did another weapons check. But nothing. The keys were in the ignition, but the woman didn’t even have a phone on her.
“The ambulance is on the way,” Addie relayed to him.
Good. But whether it would make it there in time was anyone’s guess. Added to that, the EMTs wouldn’t be able to approach the scene until the threat from the gunman had been contained.
Judson decided to contain it.
He pulled out his backup gun from a slide holster and handed it to Addie. “If Yvette tries to hurt you, shoot to kill. Understand?”
Addie gave a shaky nod.
Since he could be leaving Addie with a killer, he hated dumping all of this on her, but he didn’t have a lot of options. Livvy couldn’t get to their cruiser unless she took a major risk of being gunned down. Judson couldn’t let that happen.
Readying his gun, he got out of the cruiser again, and in the same motion, he took aim over the roof. And straight toward those trees. Judson fired and fired and fired.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Livvy rejoin the attack after she reloaded, and she sent her own rounds in the direction of the shooter.
Finally, their attacker stopped firing.
And Judson had no doubts, none, that he or she was getting away. Unlike the attack at the ranch, though, he didn’t go running in pursuit this time. He couldn’t take that risk.
Not when it would be Addie’s life he was putting in yet more danger.
He shoved aside the notion of catching the gunman and instead focused on getting the identity of the SOB from Yvette.
“Who shot you?” Judson demanded, getting right in the woman’s face. “Who were you running from?”
Yvette stared up at him with eyes full of shock and pain. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out for what seemed to be an eternity.
“You have to stop him,” the woman finally said. “He’ll kill her.” Yvette’s words were all breath and had barely any sound.
Still, Judson heard her loud and clear. “Stop who?” he demanded.
She opened her mouth again, but this time, nothing came.
“Stop who?” he repeated, shouting the question at her.
But Judson was talking to a woman who couldn’t answer. Her breath rasped in her throat, and her eyelids drifted down.
Yvette was dead.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Addie sat at the dining room table at the ranch and read through the statement she’d just given Grace. A necessary statement in what was now another murder investigation, but Addie had hated going through it all over again.
Still, she would have gladly given the statement if she’d thought this would put an end to the danger. An end to the nightmares the attacks and abduction had caused. But it wouldn’t.
No.
She knew the memories of seeing Yvette die would stay with her for the rest of her life.
