The small SUV started to roll. Along the street, thankfully slightly downhill. He kicked again to gain some speed. Amy looked up from the passenger seat.
“Stay down until I tell you. Then I want you to get out as fast as you can and run for it.” He could cover her. What mattered was that she get away.
She grabbed the door handle but didn’t pull it. “What about you?”
“I’m going to be covering you. So when I say, just run. Okay?” That last part was rhetorical. He wasn’t looking for her agreement, and given the look on her face she knew that.
Knew they had limited options.
Knew this was about her being safe and getting away.
Still, she said, “I don’t want to get lost.”
“I don’t want to lose you, either. Especially not when my phone isn’t working.” He took a breath. “I don’t want to get separated.”
The car rolled to the cross street. This was going to be fast, and they both had to be prepared to do what they needed to do. As soon as they’d cleared the last house, he said, “Go now.”
Amy yanked the door handle and stumbled out of the rolling vehicle.
Noah did the same on his side, already firing as he got out. One perpetrator, end of the street, ducked behind a car.
Noah fired twice. The slide on his gun jammed. He was empty.
The man lifted up and fired. Before Noah could move, fire sliced through the outside of his right arm. He cried out.
The SUV cleared his hip. If he stayed here he was going to get shot, so he raced after her. Noah holstered his gun as he moved, wincing at the burn. He could feel the wet of blood on his arm and the sleeve of his jacket.
He caught up to her partway down the street. “Gun!”
She glanced around wildly, then must have realized what he’d said. He’d love to have explained it to her. Thankfully, she handed over the one she held and he holstered his weapon to be ready to use the other.
If he wasn’t careful firing it, he’d run out of bullets with this one, as well.
“This way.” Amy headed for another side street. They ducked down it, and he turned as he ran. Looked in all directions. Watched for anyone in pursuit. Whatever the cartel’s number two was doing with Jeremiah, Noah was glad he was doing it somewhere else.
The last thing they needed was for her brother to show up now, when they had hardly any ammo, no plan and no backup.
“How far are we going?” Her breath came heavy and she started to slow. “I feel like we’re going to be running forever.”
“I don’t think he followed, but I could be wrong.” Noah slowed with her. He rubbed her back, between her shoulder blades. She glanced over, a small smile on her face. Until she saw his arm.
“You’ve been shot!”
He dropped his good hand and twisted to look at the wound. Okay, that made his head swim. “Right now it’s not important. We need to keep moving and keep watch. We have to be careful, but I think we need to get out of town.”
“You need to go to the hospital.”
Was she going to have another panic attack? They’d dropped the deputy off there. Maybe they could walk that far, and he could get his arm seen to. The nurse had to treat them, despite her obvious fear.
In the meantime he was going to do his best to ignore it. Because what was the point in letting everything slip into defeat? They were down, but they definitely weren’t out. Noah wasn’t going to quit until they were forced to admit they’d been bested. Not in the sense this was a competition. But he needed to consider the fact Jeremiah had them outmanned and outgunned, and while they weren’t going to quit that did mean the possibility they might lose. Big.
“How are we going to get anywhere?” She lifted both arms, then let them fall by her sides. “We can’t call for a ride, and we don’t have a car.”
“For now let’s just keep going.” The point was to stay alive, and that would only happen if they weren’t cornered.
She blew out a breath, but nodded. She took his hand and they speed walked together. Past the houses of people hunkered down. He figured it was like waiting inside for a storm to pass, hoping there was minimal damage.
They had no idea what was going on out here.
“Maybe the sheriff issued a warning. Like an Emergency Alert, or something.” Pain let the words slip out, when otherwise they’d have stayed in his head. Just thoughts.
Amy shrugged one shoulder. “Good. I’d hate for someone to get hurt.”
“Agreed.”
“Oh.” She glanced at him. “I didn’t mean—”
“I know. It’s okay. I’m okay.”
She raised one eyebrow.
Noah tugged on her hand. “Come on.”
* * *
“There.”
Amy dragged herself from her thoughts and looked up the street. Across on the other side a man hauled out two suitcases to the open tailgate of his SUV.
When she saw who it was, she pressed her lips together. Noah wanted to ask that guy for help? He probably didn’t even remember her, because she’d been the faceless, nameless bookstore employee. But she remembered perfectly the look on his face when he’d been practically yelling at her about why they didn’t have the latest bestseller. Like the tiny small-town bookstore could stock every book in the world. Just in case he wanted to buy it.
“What?”
Amy didn’t even know how to explain it. She settled on saying, “Just don’t expect a warm response. You might wanna lead with the gun, follow up with the badge and maybe think about punching him.”
Okay, so that wasn’t what she thought he should do. But so far, today was shaping up to be pretty bad, and she was scared. Noah had been shot. He had a few bullets, and then they would be defenseless.
The man looked over as they approached. Amy wriggled her hand out of Noah’s. She didn’t want the marshal to appear soft. Injured, but not a pushover. This guy wasn’t the type to think kindness was a good thing.
“I have a question.” Noah’s voice rang with authority. “Is there a shelter-in-place order in effect?”
“So what if there is?”
There was.
Noah said, “Do you have a phone that works?” He shifted to show the man his badge. “I need to call in.”
“What’s that got to do with me?”
“If you don’t have a phone, I’ll need to take your car. If you want to give us a ride that’s fine, or I can just commandeer it.”
“You guys can’t really do that.” He stuck his chin out. “And even if you could, I’m not letting you steal my car.”
“I’ll bring it back. Or the marshals service will pay you for it.”
“You think I care about that? You’re not taking my car.”
Amy glanced behind them, just to make sure no gunmen were going to start shooting at them for about the hundredth time today. “Maybe we could get some medical supplies. Or a washcloth. The marshal has been shot.”
Perhaps that would appeal to him. Though Amy doubted it. It occurred to her that maybe going into this assuming the man wouldn’t want to help them had been the wrong thing to do. It could have affected his impression of them.
Amy shook off those thoughts. It was what it was. She tried to be positive normally. To see the best in people. But where had that gotten her? She’d had to face the fact her brother was working with a cartel instead of getting a legitimate job to support his son. He’d taken the easy route. The quick payday. She tried to be honest, and where had that gotten her? Doing the right thing brought her here. On the run with a wounded marshal, trying to convince the meanest person in town to help them.
The man shot her a look, like she’d recently crawled out from under a rock and he didn’t like the look of her.
Noah said, “We really need your help.”
The man
turned away. At the last moment she saw the smirk on his face. He reached into the car and came back with a gun.
Amy nearly screamed in frustration. “Seriously? You can’t shoot a federal agent! Do you know what the repercussions of doing that are?”
He turned to her. Amy realized she’d said that aloud. She took a step back and lifted her hands. “We’re leaving. Try not to shoot a federal agent in the back while we do.”
They were just trying to get out of here. Why did this guy have to pull a gun?
The man said, “I’m within my rights to defend my property.”
Noah said, “Hold up a second, Amy. This guy is going to put his weapon down. Then we’re going to leave.”
She hadn’t figured he would want to turn his back on someone with a gun. Amy moved behind him, but with enough space. Even as she took those couple of steps she felt the heat of anger rise in her.
“You know what?” she yelled at the guy over Noah’s shoulder. “You need to back off. We’ve been shot at. Noah has been shot. We have bigger problems right now than you being belligerent. Forget we ever came over here and spoke to you. You’re not worth it. But if you cause problems for us—”
“You can take the car.” The voice was female.
They all turned. A woman stood at the doorway. Amy expected her to look beaten down, but she didn’t. Chin high. Nice outfit, something Amy would have worn to work in an office. She was older than Amy, owning her fifties in a way Amy would like to say she would do when she reached that age.
The woman jingled a set of keys in her hand, then tossed them.
Amy caught the keys.
Belligerent guy turned. “Mandy—”
“They need help.” She turned and went back inside. Like that was all she had to say. Like her man wasn’t standing in front of them, holding a weapon. She evidently didn’t want to wade in, just did what she could to resolve the situation and then bailed.
Amy clicked the locks. A car beeped, but it wasn’t the SUV.
A second later the garage door started to roll up. Inside was a sporty full-size car. White, with vanity plates. Evidently the wife, or girlfriend—whatever she was to this guy—was a sassy gal. Amy almost smiled.
The man’s lips thinned.
She nearly screamed out her frustration this time. Again. She’d lost count. “Are you going to shoot us?”
Even as she asked, Noah ushered her around the back of the SUV. He called out, “If you could not, that would be great.”
The guy stood there. Held the gun while they pulled out of the drive. Stared at them as they drove away in the woman’s car.
Amy shuddered.
EIGHT
“I’d hate to be a fly on the wall when they ‘discuss’ what just happened in a minute.”
Out the corner of his eye, he saw Amy wince. He said, “You mean when they fight about it?”
She clipped her seat belt. “If I’d had my purse, I’d have given him my therapist’s card. Seems like they might need someone to talk to.” She sighed. “Where to now?”
Noah tapped the steering wheel as they neared the end of the happy couple’s street. “Sheriff’s office?”
She said nothing, just shifted in her seat.
“I know today hasn’t exactly gone as planned, but we have a vehicle again. So we get to a phone and get out of town. Right?”
He didn’t want to make a promise he might not be able to keep. Right now he figured she was worried about the fact her brother was here, in town. This had to be about reassurance, not reminding her of the risks. “Jeremiah, or any of those guys, aren’t going to get to you. Not if I have anything to do with it. We’ve fought them off so far, haven’t we?”
She nodded.
Noah wanted to squeeze her hand again, but they’d done that a lot so far today. As much as he liked it, what he couldn’t do was get too comfortable. Then he’d start assuming more to it than just helping reassure her in that simple way.
Noah didn’t need to get used to her being with him, needing his support. Within a day or so—maybe even hours if he just drove straight through to the closest office of the US Marshals—they would go their separate ways. She would be sent somewhere else. He might never see her again.
What would that leave him with? Just the memory of a few stressful hours that only came about because he’d been the closest marshal when the call came in.
Given how he suspected he truly felt about her, he’d probably have a broken heart along with the memories. Not more than that. He certainly wouldn’t have her in his life.
Which was exactly the reason he wasn’t even going to think about his feelings. Did it matter that he was seriously attracted to her? Nothing could come of it. Never mind how he felt when she looked at him with that trust clear in her gaze. She believed he would take care of her.
The threat was deadly enough that she had to rely on the marshals. She couldn’t do this alone, and the one they had sent to deal with it was him.
A fact he thanked God for.
He’d volunteered even before his boss could tell him that he’d assigned Noah to do exactly what he was doing now, because he’d been closest to Amy. Everyone else who could be spared was out in the Northwest looking for the escaped prisoners—one of which was here.
Amy shifted in her seat. “I’d rather get out of town than head for the sheriff’s office. Seems to me like just making a run for it will serve us best.”
He agreed. “It will give us the least chance of being seen by anyone else around town if we just go.”
She shuddered. He caught the tail end of it out the corner of his eye. Noah wanted to pull over and take the time to reassure her, but he couldn’t. Not when every time they’d turned around since he’d shown up at her cabin someone had been there, shooting at them. His arm stung, but not as badly as he’d have thought. Only if he moved too far, too fast. Must not be so bad.
Which was good, since he had no opportunity to get stitches right now.
Noah pulled out his phone as he drove the empty streets around the outskirts of town. At least, as far as he could tell, that was where they were headed. Going in the general direction of the highway, with Amy giving him directions.
Noah slowed down and glanced once at the screen, then dropped the phone into the cup holder. Still no signal. Could the cartel really take out a cell tower? Whether they had, or he just had no signal in this town, the result was the same.
They needed to get to a phone.
Maybe at a gas station on the highway. He needed to call the office and inform them what was happening in this town. Tell them to come and round up Jeremiah and all his cartel buddies. Because Noah certainly couldn’t do that himself and manage to keep Amy safe at the same time.
“So long as Jeremiah doesn’t find me.” She ran her palms down the legs of her jeans to her knees. A nervous gesture.
There was something she wasn’t saying. He knew her, from time spent together during the trial. This was more than just not wanting to face her brother. Amy wasn’t hiding something, and he didn’t figure she would lie to him. Still...there was something unsaid here.
“Talk to me.”
“I’d rather he didn’t find me, but that’s not only because I don’t want to see him. Which, of course, I absolutely do not.” She blew out a breath, still doing that nervous gesture.
As much as she didn’t want to face it, Noah figured she was terrified. “What is it?”
“I don’t want him to find me because of Anthony.”
Noah glanced at her for a second, then looked back at the road. “I’m really sorry for what happened to him.”
“Uh...” She went quiet for a moment. “You don’t know?”
“I don’t know what? I heard he was killed in a car accident. Is that not what...oh.” The pieces clicked together in his mind. The teen
had been a high-value target who’d needed extra protection. Their bad guy a man who would come after his sister for revenge.
To find out what happened to his son.
They could put witnesses who required an additional layer of anonymity in a different kind of witness protection.
The kind where everyone thought they were dead.
“Amy, is your nephew alive?”
* * *
Amy blew out a breath. “I have no idea. I mean, the accident was all a fake. But I haven’t seen Anthony in a year. He could be anywhere right now, doing anything. In danger. Safe.” She lifted her hands, palms up, then let them drop back to her lap. “I have no idea.” Noah said nothing.
“You didn’t know?”
“I wasn’t privy to it.” His tone was even.
“Sorry.”
He shook his head. “They didn’t withhold it for a particular reason. It was just that I had other duties during that time.”
“It was pretty early on. After they got to me, and then you guys showed up to save me...” Not a time in her life she was particularly interested in remembering. Those hours she’d been taken were as bad as parts of today had been. But she had to finish her point. “That was the catalyst. Anthony already didn’t want to be around me. When the cartel’s men got to me, that made it clear we had to make sure they never got to him.”
“So the marshals faked his death.”
“I can’t believe they didn’t tell you that.”
He shrugged then. “I got your full file today. All I did was program your address into my GPS and head out here.”
“I’m glad you did.”
She was so grateful he’d come. Not just because she had the protection of the marshals service, though that was part of it. But it was so much more. It was the fact that it was Noah.
Colorado Manhunt Page 5