“Wait, if he’s not holding you captive…?” Lindsey’s voice was tight but stronger. How was she not destroyed by Megan’s story?
“Oh, yeah. Meet my brother, Pete. He and JJ are friends from high school.”
Her brother. Holy shit, that explained a lot. He’d known his cousin’s husband had siblings, but Todd had been in Afghanistan during their wedding. He barely knew Pete, let alone the man’s family. “So you were some kind of go-between for payoffs to the sheriff?” Todd asked Megan, unable to stop himself.
“Ding ding ding!” she said. “Wow, Lindsey. Your new boyfriend is hotandsmart. Seems like everything really does turn up gold for you.” She scoffed. “Well, itdid. That ends today.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Todd could see Lindsey tugging at her former friend’s arm. He wanted to yell at her not to antagonize the woman holding a gun to her fucking head. Instead, he hoped he could keep Megan talking to buy him some time and keep Pete distracted.
“What was the plan?” he asked.
Across from him, Pete started to fidget, his eyes darting around the room. Todd couldn’t forget that this man had been in the Army. Not a special operator, but he had skills. And he’d killed his own wife, and shot Jason, without hesitating.
Megan heaved an almost comical sigh, but clearly she was enjoying the spotlight. “It was supposed to be simple. These guys make it look like Lindsey fell off a cliff. Then, the deputies ‘rescue’ me, find her body, and clear me of foul play. She’s gone, I get to play the distraught friend without getting my hands dirty, and we all go back to earning our money. Win-win.”
A block of ice settled in Todd’s gut. This woman…Jesus. “So there was never a client with a cabin.”
“Nope.”
“Enough, Meg.” Pete’s face had turned almost purple.
“What? They’re not walk—” Megan screamed in pain.
The women dropped out of sight, pulling Todd’s attention for a fraction of a second.
Pete rushed him with a knife he’d pulled from somewhere.
Todd pressed the trigger repeatedly, filling the air with the ear-splitting sound of gunfire. Pete went slack and slumped forward onto the couch, his gray sweatshirt soaked in red.
One of the women screamed.
A shot rang out.
“Lindsey!” Todd raced to the side of the sofa.
Both women were on the floor in a tangle of limbs, fighting for control of the Glock. The knife he’d pulled off Harris and given to Lindsey two days ago protruded from Megan’s right leg.
Atta girl, Linds.
He plucked Megan out of the fray, ripped the gun from her grip with his free hand and dropped it into his side pants pocket. The blonde kicked and screamed and scratched as Lindsey scrambled to her feet, breathing hard.
Lindsey glanced at Pete and blanched.
“We have to go,” he said, recapturing her attention, though her eyes were glassy and she recoiled from him.
She nodded.
He struggled to keep a wriggling, flailing Megan subdued. He scanned the room for something to tie her up with, but they didn’t have time for a lengthy search.Fuck it.He yanked the knife from her thigh, eliciting an enraged howl, and simply dropped her.
Lindsey let Todd yank her over the threshold, her mind numb, her body on fire with the need to escape as shouts came from near the main cabin. As soon as he released her, she took off running, arms pumping as she bolted for the heavily shaded stand of trees about fifty yards away.
She fought for breath, lungs burning, her focus single-minded as she struggled not to slip on the slushy snow.
“Lindsey!”
A shot rang out.
She flinched and stumbled, expecting a slam of pain in her back that never came. Catching her footing, she forced herself to zigzag toward the trees rather than run a straight, easy-to-hit route. Anotherbanghad her risking a look over her shoulder. The guard dressed in all black dropped the weapon he’d been pointing in her direction and crumpled to the ground.
