If it had been robbed. Max still hadn’t seen it on the highway. Where was it?
Where were Goldie and Donovan? He knew Goldie would have contacted him if she’d been able to, and that’s what worried him the most.
The highway out of Dry Gulch was flat open stretches of nothing but sagebrush and rolling hills to the mountain ranges in the distance. His mind raced. If he was right and Mandeville’s men had robbed the armored car before the drivers could reach the bank, then it could be anywhere between the last town and Dry Gulch.
There was no traffic on the highway this morning but then again there seldom was. Few people had reason to come to Dry Gulch, and even fewer had reason to leave on a weekday morning.
As he came over a rise, he saw smoke rising from something burning some distance from the highway in a ravine. He slowed as he saw the small red sports car parked just off the pavement. What he didn’t see was Goldie or Donovan.
“Pull over,” Havers said, jabbing him in the neck with the gun.
He considered the order, half expecting the man to shoot him the moment he did. At the last minute he swerved, throwing the injured man against the door as he came to a skidding stop onthe opposite side of the highway and, throwing open his door, lunged out into the barrow pit. He heard Havers swear and get off a wild shot.
But by then Max was moving fast through the sagebrush toward the smoking armored car in the ravine for cover.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Goldie heard the gunshot right after she’d heard a vehicle come to a stop back up on the highway. Her gaze flew to Donovan. He had been reaching inside the armored car and pulling out bags, which he’d stacked on the ground next to him.
“Don’t make a sound,” he said even as he lunged to put a hand over her mouth before she could. “We don’t know who it is, understand? If it’s your sheriff, we’ll find out soon enough.”
If it was Max, she needed to warn him that Donovan was armed.
“Don’t worry, he’ll assume I’m armed,” he said as if again reading her mind. He had an uncanny ability to do that, she thought, as he pulled her down beside him on the ground so he could look back under the vehicle to the highway.
She saw Max’s patrol SUV and felt a rush of relief at the same time she was terrified for him. That’s when she saw another man getting out of the back of the patrol car. While he appeared to be wounded and moving oddly, she saw that he had a gun in his hand just an instant before he fired it in their direction.
Donovan swore as he pulled her up and deeper into the shadow of the armored car. “Luca Havers,” he said, then swore again. “He’s come to pick up the money.” Donovan looked into her eyes. “He won’t leave any witnesses.” Donovan quickly untied her. “Go around to the other side so he doesn’t see you. No matter what happens, stay hidden.” Then, as almost an afterthought, he pulled out the gun and handed it to her. She looked at him, the question written all over her face.
He shook his head. “I’d rather you have it. Don’t be afraid to use it if Havers comes after you.”
She took the gun, turned and disappeared around the side of the vehicle.
IT WASN’T THE FIRSTtime Max had been shot. He felt the searing pain in his leg as he’d thrown himself into a shallow ditch not far from the highway. He needed to see how badly he was injured, yet he didn’t dare move. Not until he knew where Havers was.
The eerie silence after the gunshots worried Max. He lay between the highway and an armed Havers and the armored car and a no-doubt-armed Donovan. Talk about a rock and a hard place, he thought as he listened, hearing nothing at first.
Then he picked up the sound of movement closer than he’d expected. He peered through the brush next to him. Havers was coming through the tall sage only yards away, the gun in his hand. If the man spotted him, Max knew he would be dead. All he could do was literally lie low, holding his breath until the man passed.
He figured Goldie and Donovan would have heard the gunshots. Donovan would know that Havers was headed for them, armed and wounded and dangerous.
Max had no choice but to let Havers go on toward the armored car and Goldie and Donovan.
He saw that Havers’s back was to him, so he quickly checked his leg. The bullet seemed to have missed the bone. He lay back and waited. His only chance of stopping Havers was to come in behind him. Lying flat in the dirt, he counted off the seconds until he didn’t hear movement.
Lifting his head just enough to see through the sage, he saw Havers reach the back of the armored car.
Then he was up on his feet and moving as fast as his wounded leg would allow toward the armored car where he’d last seen Havers.
DONOVAN WAS LOADINGthe money into the bag he’d been told to bring with him when he heard Havers come around the side of the armored car. He’d been expecting Havers and Lolly. Instead, all he’d seen was Havers and the sheriff. Clearly the plan had changed at some point.
He glanced up, seeing the gun gripped in Havers’s fist, the blood-soaked clothing and the pain in the man’s face indicating he was badly hurt. He quickly glanced down and continued what he was doing. He knew Havers would kill him. He just hoped it wouldn’t be until he’d finished what he was doing.
“Where’s Lolly?” he asked into the quiet when what he was really wondering was,Where is the sheriff?
Havers swore profusely and mumbled something under his breath about her shooting him as he leaned against the side of the armored car. “You about done? I’m going to need to take your car.”
Donovan didn’t ask why. He wondered what had happened to Lolly after she’d shot Havers. He hated to ask. “Did she tell you she was pregnant?”
