She hoped Maddie would have a warm fire and a strong pot of coffee waiting for her when she arrived. Her new niece was already two months old and she had yet to hold her. Her oldest niece was participating in a play this Sunday at church, and she’d promised Maddie she would be there. She’d already missed the birth of the baby because of the flu. She wasn’t going to be absent for this, too.
A dark shape darted on the side of the road. She held her breath as she tried to think about her next decision. She couldn’t slam on the brakes, so she eased her foot from the accelerator to slow down. She remembered what Maddie told her about watching for deer. In their panic, they usually ran into the road without any warning. She slowed down a few more miles per hour hoping to add some brake time if one decided to play chicken with her car. She wouldn’t take a chance on anything keeping her from getting to her sister’s on time.
She scanned the sides of the highway as she drove. The death grip she kept on the steering wheel was cramping her fingers. She couldn’t wait to get off the highway. A sign ahead warned of a sharp curve. She held her breath as she rounded the bend. Headlights blinded her and she squinted to focus on the white stripes to keep from running off the road. But something didn’t look right. Headlights illuminated around her.
It was in her lane!
She swerved onto the narrow shoulder. The truck flew past her. She glanced in the rearview mirror to see red taillights spiraling into the air. Allison watched as the lights came to rest sideways against a rocky embankment.
Terror filled her chest as she hit the brakes. Her car spun across the center stripe and stopped in the oncoming lane. Allison pulled the car off the road, flipped on her hazard lights and dialed 911. Her heart pounded in her ears, drowning out the music from the radio. She shut it off and fought to calm her nerves.
The operator picked up.
“There’s been an accident on Highway 290 about thirty minutes south of Stonewater! I think we need an ambulance, but I’m not sure.” She inhaled several deep breaths to calm herself down.
“Ma’am, can you tell me how many people are involved in the accident?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No, but I’m sure people in the other vehicle are. I saw it flip in my rearview mirror.”
“I’ll dispatch an ambulance. Stay there until help arrives. Make sure you’re safely off the highway.”
“Yes, I am. And thank you.”
Allison disconnected the call and drove closer to the accident. With her emergency flashers still on, she got out of her car and shut the door. She activated the flashlight function on her cell phone to light her way as she walked. She glanced up and down the four-lane highway. No cars in sight. She prayed someone would come along soon and be kind enough to stop and help.
Ice crunched under her feet as she approached the black crew-cab truck. A blue tarp lay on the ground about ten feet away. The way it rested against a large rock made it look like something was under it. Maybe it had been ejected from the truck. Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t worth anything after hitting against the rocks. She hurried toward the pickup to help the driver. Her foot slipped on a patch of ice and she fell to her knees. A jagged rock tore into her leg. Fresh warm blood seeped into her jeans. Pain screamed through her body as she fought to get back on her feet. The first step caused her legs to buckle. Determined to help whoever was in the truck, she limped on.
Blood tickled her leg as it seeped into her shoes. The cut was bad. A wave of nausea washed over her. She sucked in a deep breath and forced herself to ignore it. Whoever was in the truck might need medical help. Or worse. And she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she didn’t do what she could.
A voice echoed from the cab of the truck. She jerked at the deep raspy sound. She urged her legs to run faster toward the wreckage, but the pain in her knee forced her to lope. She bit her bottom lip with each step. She stopped for a second, reached down and grabbed her knee to steady herself. Wet, sticky blood covered her palm. At least an ambulance was on the way.
She reached the truck and grabbed the side of the overturned bed to steady herself. The broken driver’s window littered the ground in jagged bits. Whoever was in there had to be scared and badly hurt.
“Hello? Are you okay? I’ve called 911. Someone will be here soon. You’ll be fine. Just hang in there.” The smell of cigarettes filled her nose. Thankfully, she didn’t smell any gasoline. She bent down to look inside. Her legs shook from adrenaline and pain. Sounds echoed in her ear as her senses waned. She sucked in a deep breath to steady herself. She needed to prepare her mind for what she might see. The sight of blood always made her faint, and knowing her own was seeping down her leg right now had her on the verge. “Dear God, please give me the strength to do this.”
“I’m going to help you out if you can move.” Allison peered into the window, and their eyes met and locked. Blood trickled down the man’s forehead as he lay tangled in a seat belt. Weeks of discarded fast-food trash covered his body. His face was scarred and pitted. Gray-streaked black hair pulled into a greasy ponytail fanned across his neck. Blood stained his long graying beard. His breath reeked of alcohol, cigarettes and onions. Her stomach rolled as she gagged.
He yelled a few vicious words at her, part English, part Spanish. Allison backed away and tried to register what he’d said. The light she’d been using flicked off, and she stumbled back into the darkness. She clutched her phone in her hand. Now wasn’t the time for her battery to die! She tapped it blindly with her thumb as she fought to focus her eyes on the man inside the truck. Light streamed from her phone into the truck, blinked, then went out again, but not before she noticed the end of a gun pointing at her. A blast resonated inside the truck’s cab. Another exploded, then cracked against the rocks behind her.
He was shooting at her!
Fear jolted her body. She erupted into a full sprint toward her car. Pain pulsed in her knee as she stepped on colossal rocks. One misstep and she would be at the mercy of a deranged lunatic. She frantically swiped up with her thumb to find her flashlight function again. Light beamed off the ground and glimmered on something pale poking from the blue tarp. A hand! Terror ripped through her, forcing her to run faster. Was this man a killer? Had he killed the person in the tarp? If he had, she knew he wouldn’t stop shooting.
Dear God! Help me, please! I can’t die here like this. Another shot sounded from behind her. She reached her car and fumbled with the door handle. She jumped in and slumped down into the seat. Her breath came in rapid, wheezing gulps. She started the car and slammed it into reverse. The tires slipped on the icy road, making it hard to gain momentum. She glanced over the dash and saw the man crawling out of the truck’s back window. He stood and aimed his gun directly at her. She turned off her headlights and punched the accelerator. Allison spun the car around in the middle of the road. As she drove away in the darkness, she heard a bullet hit the back of the car. He was a good shot, and if she’d left her lights on, she was sure he wouldn’t have missed.
She waited until she was far enough out of the range of gunfire, then flipped on her lights. The steering wheel wobbled under her vise grip. Had he shot out her tire?
“Great!” she yelled and slapped the steering wheel. Well, she wasn’t stopping. The remaining three tires would have to get her to safety. Between the flat tire and the icy roads, she wasn’t sure she’d make it. Her heart pounded in her ears, and she fought back tears. How had this happened? Who was this man?
The steering wheel shuddered harder under her grip. Her tire wouldn’t last much longer. She had to pull over. She scanned the road for a place to stop and held her breath hoping she could keep driving a few more miles. The long stretch into town had only a few houses, and most were several yards away from the highway. If only she could drive the next fifteen miles on a flat tire. She knew it was a long shot, but she coul
dn’t make herself stop driving.
Metal scraped the asphalt as the last of the rubber flew from the wheel. Common sense set in, and she accepted the reality that she would have to pull over. She exhaled and stifled the cry lodged in her throat. Without warning, the front of her car spun toward a fence running parallel with the highway. Broken wood and rocks smashed into her windshield. The last thing she saw was the white cloud of the airbag, then her world went dark.
* * *
Sergeant Jackson Archer radioed the dispatcher as he approached a red sedan. “Nine-seven-six requesting information.”
“Go ahead, nine-seven-six.”
“I thought you said there was a pickup truck involved?”
“That’s correct. An overturned truck. Unknown status of the passengers.”
Jackson looked around for taillights in the fields surrounding the highway. “All I see is a red car. It’s smashed through John Langley’s fence. Notify him so his cows don’t get out on the road tonight. It won’t be long until this highway is impassable with the way this ice is coming down. We don’t need it filled with cows.”
“We’ll let him know.”
Jackson parked his police car on the side of the road and climbed out. He approached the vehicle with one hand on his waist resting on his service weapon and the other on his flashlight. He shone it through the driver’s window and saw a female with long, light brown hair slumped into the airbag. He opened the door and noticed blood in the car. He felt her neck for a pulse. She moaned as his fingers lightly touched her skin, then bolted up, her brown eyes wide with fear.
“Hello, ma’am. I’m Sergeant Archer. I’m here to help you. Are you all right?” She rubbed her forehead and pulled back her hand to look at it. “You’re bleeding a little. It looks like a nasty bump on your head. An ambulance will be here soon to help you.”
“I cut my knee.”
He peered into the car and aimed his light at her feet. Blood had soaked her jeans. He swallowed hard and pulled the light away before she could see it.
“I fell.”
Tears filled her eyes, and his insides melted. He was sure there was a husband somewhere worried sick about her tonight. “Everything will be fine. I’m going to help you. Can I call your husband for you? Let him know where you are?”
She stared at him for a second before finally responding. “No. I’m not married.”
“Any family you can call?”
“My sister. She’s expecting me.”
She moved to sit up straighter. He laid a hand on her shoulder to still her. Her hair felt like satin on his fingers. “We need the EMTs to check you out before you start moving around. It’s only a precaution. Why don’t you dial your sister, and I’ll let her know where you are.”
She pressed the buttons on her cell phone and handed it to him. “Her name is Maddie Porter.”
“Maddie Porter is your sister?”
“Yes, you know her?”
“She’s my nephew’s third-grade teacher this year. He loves her.”
“All kids love her,” she said, then closed her eyes and leaned back in the seat.
“I’ll let her know what happened and that you’re being taken to County General for treatment.”
He waited for someone to pick up but got a voice mail instead. He left a message and then handed her phone back. “Sorry, she’s not answering.”
“Thanks. She’s probably taking care of the baby or something.”
“Can I ask you a few questions about what happened tonight?”
“Sure.”
“The 911 operator said there was a pickup truck involved. Can you tell me where that truck is?”
“It’s back there,” she said, nodding in the direction behind him, then grabbed her forehead and winced.
“Take it easy. That’s a big bump.”
“No, I’m fine. Just feeling a little nauseous. You have to go back there and check for yourself. Someone was shooting at me. I saw them in my lane. I tried to miss them. I wanted to help, but...” She stopped to catch a breath as if she were having a panic attack.
He put a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down, ma’am. You can’t get yourself too upset. It’s better if you stay calm.”
“But he tried to kill me,” she blurted out. Her lip trembled.
He noticed the fear in her eyes. Or was she in shock? She didn’t seem to be, but he’d been wrong before. During his ten years in law enforcement, he’d seen a little of everything. “What makes you think he wanted to kill you?”
“Not wanted to. Tried to.”
Jackson tried to hide his skepticism.
“He shot at me. Several times. And I... I think he’s already killed someone. I think there’s a body back there. It’s in a blue tarp, lying on the ground against the rocks. I thought I saw a hand sticking out from under it.”
Jackson focused on her words. “What makes you think that? Are you sure?”
Her face hardened. “Yes.”
He exhaled. If she was right, he’d need every detail. “Let’s start over. From the beginning, so I can make sure I get everything.”
She closed her eyes, then opened them to stare at him. Her agitation was clear.
“He was in my lane. I swerved. He flipped his truck. I went to help. He shot at me.” He didn’t flinch at the irritation in her voice. In fact, he didn’t blame her.
Red and white lights illuminated the sky as the ambulance pulled in behind his patrol car. He glanced back to see Miles Waverley and a young woman he’d never met before step out of the ambulance. Jackson turned to Allison. “You’re in good hands now. Miles will take care of you.”
He moved out of the way to allow the paramedics to check her out. He punched the radio on his shoulder and spoke into it. “Nine-seven-six to dispatch.”
“Dispatch. Go ahead, nine-seven-six.”
“I need backup. I’m still searching for the other vehicle involved. There’s a report of an active shooter on the scene.”
“Another call came in about ten minutes ago reporting the overturned vehicle. No shooter reported. The person calling it in said they didn’t stop to check it out. They only wanted to report it.”
“I want to shut the highway down at mile markers seven hundred and six fifty. Go ahead and tell backup I’ll meet them there.” Jackson turned to the paramedics. “Miles, did you see an overturned pickup on 290 heading over here?”
Miles pulled a neck brace from a backboard. “No, we came here from the station in Stonewater. We didn’t see anything from that direction.”
Jackson turned to Allison. He didn’t want to leave her until he was sure her life wasn’t in danger. Right now, he couldn’t take that chance. He punched the radio again. “Dispatch, send an officer to wait on me at the ER.”
Jackson watched as the medics helped her. “I’m going to follow you to the emergency room. Once I know you’re safe, I’ll be heading out to the accident to see what we can find. Another officer will stay with you at the hospital until I get back. I’ll have more questions for you after you see the doctors.”
“I’m sure you will. I just don’t know if I’ll have the answers you need.”
He didn’t know if she would, either. Something about her story put him on edge. He doubted someone was a good enough marksman to shoot out her tire in the dark while she was driving away. Could be a fluke, but he wasn’t buying it. He walked to the back of her car and ran a finger across the bullet hole in her trunk.
He wasn’t sure what to make of her story, but she obviously wasn’t lying about someone trying to kill her.
Copyright © 2020 by Theresa Hall
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ISBN-13: 9781488061301
Fatal Ranch Reunion
Copyright © 2020 by Jean Bullard
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Fatal Ranch Reunion Page 19