I’m moving to the right side of your house.
Good. There was a door there, just off the playroom. Maybe Kellan would be able to slip into the house and get a look at this guy. Or, better yet, arrest him.
“I’m Deputy Owen Slater,” Owen called out. “Put down your weapon and come out with your hands up.”
It was something that, as a cop, Owen needed to say. He had to identify himself in the hope it would cause the idiot to surrender. Of course, it was just as likely to cause him to fire more shots. If he did, Owen would be justified in using deadly force.
But no other shots. Just another shout.
“Elaine?” the man yelled again.
Owen used the sound of the man’s voice to try to pinpoint his location. He was definitely no longer by the back door. Nowhere near it. This guy was in the guesthouse, where Laney lived. How he’d gotten there, Owen didn’t know, but it was possible that he’d climbed through a window.
Since the intruder was now on the same side of the yard as Owen, it made him an easy target, and that was why he hurried back into the barn. He glanced at Laney. Or rather, where he’d last seen Addie and her, but Laney had moved a few feet. She had positioned herself behind the hay bales and was using one as support for her shooting hand.
“Where’s the baby?” Owen immediately asked.
“On the floor behind me. She’s playing with my necklace. I wanted to be between the door and her in case... Well, just in case,” Laney added.
Just in case wasn’t looking very good right now. But at least they were all still safe. He heard Addie then, and she wasn’t fussing. It was more of a cooing babble, so the necklace must have been holding her attention.
“Elaine?” the man called out. He had moved since his last shout, but Owen wasn’t sure to where. He also wasn’t sure of Laney’s reaction.
The color had blanched from her face and he didn’t think it was because of the danger. Owen didn’t have to be a cop to figure out what that meant.
“You know this guy,” he said.
She didn’t deny it, causing Owen to curse under his breath.
“What does he want with you?” Owen demanded.
She didn’t get a chance to answer him because the man shouted again. “Elaine, let’s do this the easy way. Come out now and leave with me, and no one will get hurt.”
Hell. There was a good bit of anger now mixed with fear for his daughter. Anger that this thug would try to bargain like this. No way was Owen going to let Laney leave with a man who’d just fired a shot at him.
“Watch out!” someone yelled. Not the thug this time. It was Kellan. “He’s coming right at you.”
That wasn’t the only thing that came, either. There was a gunshot, quickly followed by another one. From the sound of it, the second shot had come from a different weapon.
Maybe Kellan’s.
Owen hoped it had anyway. Because he didn’t like the odds if this intruder had brought his own version of backup with him.
He debated opening the barn door so he could help his brother, but since this guy was likely coming for them, Owen’s top priority was to make sure that Addie was protected. He hurried to Laney and Addie, standing guard in front of them and waiting for whatever was about to happen.
Owen didn’t have to wait long. Someone kicked the barn door hard, and bits of wood went flying. The saddle shifted, too, and Owen steeled himself to fire. He was about to do that when he got a glimpse of the person who’d just broken down the door. The man, dressed in black, took aim at them. However, before Owen could pull the trigger, shots blasted through the barn.
Laney had fired.
And she hadn’t missed.
The bullets, first one and then the other, slammed into the man’s chest and he dropped to the ground like a stone. If he wasn’t dead, he soon would be, because he was already bleeding out.
Addie started to cry so Owen hurried to her. The relief came flooding through him because his baby was okay. She hadn’t been hurt.
He didn’t scoop her up into his arms, something he desperately wanted to do. First, he had to wait for the all clear from Kellan, and that might take a couple of minutes. In the meantime, Owen would need to hold his position. However, that didn’t stop him from asking one critical question.
Owen’s eyes narrowed when he looked at Laney. “Start talking. Who the heck are you?”
Copyright © 2019 by Delores Fossen
ISBN-13: 9781488063633
In His Sights
Copyright © 2019 by Danica Winters
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In His Sights (Stealth Series Book 2) Page 18