She shivered, realizing how close this guy had come to hitting her. That bullet had struck far too close. Even the storm hadn’t kept him away.
And worst of all, the shooter had escaped once again.
* * *
Jordan shot to his feet when he heard gunfire.
What in the world?
He’d fallen asleep on the couch, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized the power was still out. Where was Autumn? He grabbed his shotgun and ran to the door. “Stay,” he commanded the puppy hovering nearby, and to his surprise, Cutie obeyed.
Grabbing his father’s handgun, too, he bolted outside, trying to pinpoint the location of the gunfire. When he heard the second shot, he ran between the ranch house and the barn.
The darkness made it impossible to see the shooter. And he belatedly realized the assailant had targeted someone, likely Autumn and Bear.
Sure enough, he caught sight of her blond hair moving through the woods. He couldn’t see Bear as clearly but knew her K-9 was close.
The sound of a motorcycle surprised him. He frowned, slowing to a stop near the barn. Where was it?
Autumn called to Bear and ran toward the SUV. Jordan saw her and quickly followed. But rather than jumping into the car to follow, she slowed to a stop and bent toward her dog.
Was Bear hurt? His heart lodged in his throat as he hurried over to join them.
“What happened to Bear?”
Autumn glanced up. “He’s fine. I didn’t know you were out here.” She scowled. “You should have told me, I may have mistaken you for the gunman.”
That hadn’t occurred to him, and he squashed a flash of guilt. “I heard the gunfire—of course I came to back you up.”
“Do you have your phone?” Her changing the subject caught him off guard.
“Uh, no. Why?” He wasn’t even sure his phone had any battery left.
“I need to call this in.” Autumn hurried toward the house. “The officers on duty should be able to find a guy riding a motorcycle.”
“I can’t believe he swapped the car for a motorcycle.” He followed her inside, grabbing the towel she thrust at him. Understanding it was for Bear, he bent to wipe the dog down as she disappeared down the hall.
A moment later, she was back, filling in the dispatcher on the recent event. “Yes, the assailant is riding a small motorcycle of some kind, I’m not sure. Please issue a BOLO so that all units are on alert for this guy. There can’t be that many motorcycles out at this time of the night, especially in April.” There was a pause as she listened for a long minute. “Yes, thank you. Please let me know when he’s in custody.”
“You think they’ll find him?” He shouldn’t have sounded so doubtful, but it was hard to be optimistic. This guy had eluded them for so long, he was doubting they’d ever catch him.
“I hope so.” She ran her fingers through her tangled wet hair. “He should be easy to find, right?”
“Where did he get a minibike?” Jordan frowned, remembering how the black car with the partial plate had turned out to be a dead end. “You think he borrowed it from the same person who owns the black sedan?”
“Who knows?” She sighed and dropped into the closest kitchen chair. “If I hadn’t taken Bear outside to search, he may have gotten close to the house.”
That made him narrow his gaze. “Do you think he suspects we have cameras?”
“I’m not sure.” She shrugged and bent to pet Bear. Cutie brought the K-9 one of her stuffed toys, dropping it near Bear as an invitation to play. “I think he waited for the worst of the storm to pass. He used the minibike this time so he could hide it in the woods rather than parking on the road where the car could be spotted by one of the patrol officers.” She held his gaze. “For all we know, he has a police scanner. Or maybe he was near the ranch when he spotted an officer driving by.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense.”
The lights flashed on, momentarily blinding them. He blinked, then crossed to the computer on the table. He carried it to the kitchen to plug it in. “The cameras have memory cards, so we should be able to get a look at this guy if he was close enough for the camera to capture the image.”
“Can’t hurt,” Autumn agreed. “I asked Bear to search on his scent and he took me straight to the woods, so you may want to start with the camera that overlooks the back of the property.” She stood and headed to the kitchen counter. “Do you mind if I make coffee?”
“Help yourself.” Once the computer was powered up, he pulled up the camera that faced the woods. It didn’t take long for him to spot the figure dressed in black standing next to a tree at the outskirts of the woods. The guy wore a ski mask to cover his features, but it was obvious he was staring at the house as if determining how to approach the place.
