The silence is deafening.Burk is lying on the floor, eyes open, blood seeping through his clothes.I now notice Elodie who slides down the wall.Murray is in front of her, holding her hands while there are two guns lying beside her leg.
“What h-happened?”Jaxie whispers from beside me.
“Elodie killed Burk, saved Murray.Nolan escaped.I have to go after him.Stay here,” I tell her and wait till she nods.
Pushing myself off the floor, I grab my cane, and palm my gun in my other hand.
Murray throws a glance over his shoulder.“No, you stay here with the girls.I’ll go after the fucker.”
I’m about to object, but I know he’s right.The woods are hell for me to walk through, let alone give chase while taking fire.I give him a tight nod.
Murray points at Elodie.“Take care of her.She’s in shock from killing that fucker.”
Now I’m the one nodding.Murray slips out of the cabin.
“S-safe?”Jaxie asks from behind the couch.
“Yeah, babe.”I hold out my hand and she rushes toward me.
She sees Elodie and squats down next to her.“Hey.Hey, l-look at m-me, Elodie.”
A tear slides down Elodie’s cheek.
She’s staring straight ahead and I doubt she’s looking at something when she says, “I shot him.I killed him.He’s dead.”
“Ssshhh.”Jaxie reaches out and takes her hand.“You had no choice.They were going to kill us.Everything will be fine.”
Elodie blinks and turns to Jaxie.“He was going to kill Murray.”
Jaxie gives her a watery smile.“You s-saved him.”
They fall into one another’s arms and start to sob.
Murray stomps back into the cabin, a furious look on his face.“Fucker got away.He’s hurt, though.Blood trail led to tire tracks.Hopefully the fucker will bleed out, it will save us from hunting him down.”
I stalk to the laptop and boot it up.“On it.”
“What are we going to do?”Elodie asks and glances at Burk’s dead body.
Murray and I share a look.“Your call, dude.My pigs are willing.”
My gaze lands on Jaxie.“Your call.Do you want to call the sheriff or get rid of that fucker and stick to the fact that he never came by?”
She bites her bottom lip.
I focus back on the laptop and try to find different security feeds to see if I can spot Nolan coming down the mountain.By now he should have at least passed one.
“No one will ever find out if we handle it ourselves,” Murray pushes.
“It needs to be her decision,” I grunt and keep searching.
“Pig f-food,” Jaxie states.
Elodie releases a sound between a snort and a laugh.
“I’ll handle it,” Murray states and gets to work.
Letting a few programs run on the laptop gives me the time to clean the blood while I wait for any result to pop up.I make a pit stop at the bathroom to bandage the graze on my shoulder before I get to work.
