“I’ll be right behind you.”
Or at least he would be once he was certain he’d pinned down the shooter enough for him to do that. For now, his goal was just to get Rayna as far away from that fire as he could manage.
He doubted she believed that “right behind you” part, but she moved out from behind him. “Just be careful,” she whispered.
Court nodded, told her to do the same. “Go now,” he instructed.
He came out from cover, lifting his head and gun high enough so he could send a shot in the general direction where he’d pinpointed the shooter.
The gunman fired back.
Court dropped down, and from the corner of his eye he saw Rayna doing exactly what he wanted her to do. She was practically on all fours and was scrambling down the ditch away from him. She wasn’t nearly far enough though, so he came out from cover and fired another shot.
That was when Court finally got a glimpse of the shooter. The person immediately darted behind a tree that was about twenty yards from them. Unfortunately, there were plenty of trees and underbrush on each side of their attacker, so Court had no way of knowing which way he would go.
There was a slash of bright lights to his left, and Court whipped his gun in that direction. But he didn’t think it was a gunman. It was hard to tell with the smoke, but he thought it might be Ian, and that he might be seeing the headlights from the cruiser.
Court glanced at Rayna again. She was still moving. Still staying down. And so the shooter would stay pinned down, too, Court fired another shot where he’d last spotted him.
Nothing.
He doubted that meant the guy had just left, though it was possible the headlights had given him second thoughts about leaning out to shoot.
The lights came closer. Yeah, it was Ian all right. Maybe the deputy would get in position to help them. But that hope barely had time to register in Court’s mind when there was another hissing sound.
Much, much louder than the others. The flames came. Not just on the road this time, either.
But into the ditch.
The line of fire flared between Rayna and him. And the flames came right at Court.
Chapter Seventeen
“Watch out!” Rayna called out to Court.
But it was too late.
She’d seen the new flash of fire, but she hadn’t been able to warn Court in time for him to get out of the way. Rayna turned to hurry back to him, and that was when she realized she couldn’t.
Because the line of fire was coming in her direction, too.
Whoever had set this latest fire had obviously meant to burn Court and her alive in the ditch. Well, Rayna had no plans to die, and she wanted to make sure Court didn’t, either.
Since she couldn’t move very fast on all fours, she got to her feet and started running. She hated putting more distance between Court and her, but maybe she’d be able to get into the pasture and then double back for him. Something that he was hopefully doing as well, since Rayna didn’t want him staying near that fire. Of course, being in the pasture wouldn’t exactly be safe, either.
The line of fire finally stopped moving behind her. Probably because there was no more accelerant to fuel the flames. She stopped and ducked back down in the ditch. Low enough for cover but high enough so she could try to spot the shooter.
Nothing.
The smoke and darkness were acting like a thick, smothering curtain all around her. Worse, the sound of fire might be able to mask the footsteps of anyone trying to sneak up on her. That was why she stayed facing the pasture. If the attacker came at her, that was the direction he’d likely come from.
Rayna could see the headlights from Ian’s cruiser to her left, but she had no idea where the deputy was. Maybe Court would be able to get to him, and they could use the cruiser to come after her. At least then they’d be protected from gunfire.
Her phone buzzed with a text, and even though it meant taking her eyes off the pasture, she glanced down at the screen, since it could be important.
It was.
Get as far away from the fire as you can, Court texted her. I’ll come for you soon.
Despite their god-awful situation, relief flooded through her. Court was okay. For now, anyway. Rayna prayed that it stayed that way. But it didn’t last.
A shot blasted through the air.
The bullet wasn’t fired in her direction though but rather had gone near Court. She doubted either Court or Ian had fired it, since it’d seemed to come from the area by the trees.
There was another shot.
Then another.
Rayna ducked down even farther into the ditch, but with the fourth shot, she was better able to pinpoint the location of the shooter. The person was moving away from Court and in her direction. Since the line of trees continued almost to the ditch, she had to keep watch not just in front of her but also to the side.
In the distance she heard sirens. Probably from the fire department. They wouldn’t be able to help, but at least they’d be close enough to put out the fires once the shooter was no longer a threat. Whenever that would be.
Her phone dinged again. It wasn’t from Court this time but rather from Ian. And the message he sent her had her stomach going straight to her knees.
Court was hit, Ian texted.
Rayna forced herself not to scream and bolt from the ditch to hurry to him. That was exactly what the shooter wanted her to do, and he would almost certainly gun her down. But while she could make herself stay put, she couldn’t stop the strangled groan that made its way through her throat.
No. This couldn’t be happening.
Somehow, she had to get to him, had to help him, but she couldn’t just go running into the pasture. Rayna forced herself to stop, and breathe, so she could try to think this through. It was hard to think though with the worst-case scenarios going through her head. And that was when she realized something.
She was in love with Court.
That was why she was reacting this way. That was why losing him suddenly seemed unbearable.
Maybe part of her always had been in love with him, but it had taken something like this to make her see it. Now she might not even get the chance to tell him how she felt.
How bad is he hurt? Rayna texted back. No way could she ask if Court was dead. She refused to believe that could happen.
The seconds crawled by, turning into what felt an eternity. Because her legs suddenly felt as if they couldn’t support her weight, Rayna leaned her back against the wall of the ditch. And waited. Even though she was expecting it, the jolt of surprise still went through her when her phone dinged.
Court says it’s not bad, that it’s just a flesh wound, Ian finally answered. He’ll be okay.
Rayna had no idea if that was true or if Court was merely trying to prevent her from panicking. If so, it wasn’t working.
Can you get Court into the cruiser? she texted Ian.
She didn’t have to wait nearly as long for a response. No. We tried to get to it, and that’s how he got shot. But Court wants me to try to get to you.
Of course he did. But Rayna had to nix that with a semi-lie of her own. I’m safe where I am, she answered.
She definitely didn’t want Ian leaving Court alone, especially since Court might not be able to defend himself.
Thea and John will be here soon, Ian added a moment later.
Good. Two more deputies might help them put an end to this. Again though, they might not be able to get close because of the fire.
Rayna slipped her phone back in her pocket so she could free up her hands, and she looked around the pasture again. There was no more gunfire, no glimpse of anyone in the trees. That didn’t mean someone wasn’t out there, but for now they were staying hidden.
That surprised her.
She would have thoug
ht the shooter would have wanted to go ahead and put an end to this, since he had to know that backup was on the way. Maybe it meant the guy had pulled the plug on this attack and had fled. Even though she wanted to catch this snake, right now her priority was helping Court.
When the next minute crawled by without any other gunfire, Rayna figured it was now or never for her to get to Court. Since she couldn’t risk the pasture in front of her, that meant taking an alternate route. She could hurry into the pasture on the other side of the road, skirting along the edges of the fire until she could get to a clearing to cross back over.
She got her gun ready and looked over her shoulder at the road behind her. The only thing she could see was thick smoke, and Rayna knew the moment she stepped into it, she’d start coughing, something that would slow her down. That was why she took a deep breath and turned to scramble out of the ditch.
But turning was as far as she got.
Someone wearing a gas mask reached out from that smoke, and that someone had a stun gun. Before Rayna could move or make a sound, the person rammed the gun against her neck.
The jolt went through her. So did the pain, and even though she heard her phone buzzing with a text, there was nothing she could do about that, either.
Rayna had no choice but to fall back into the ditch.
* * *
“RAYNA DIDN’T ANSWER,” Ian relayed to Court.
Court knew that wasn’t good. Especially since Rayna had answered the other texts from Ian. And this one had been important because it had been an order for her to stay put.
Where the heck was she? And why hadn’t she answered?
Court grimaced and bit back some profanity. He could feel the blood on his arm. Could feel the pain, too, where the bullet had sliced across it. It wasn’t a deep cut, but he would need stitches. Eventually. But for now, he just needed to get to Rayna.
Everything inside Court was yelling for him to get to her. Because he knew something was wrong.
Ian had sent that first text before Court could stop him, and Rayna now knew that he’d been shot. Despite Ian’s assurance that it wasn’t serious, she probably thought he was dying and would try to help him. That would almost certainly put her in danger, and unlike him, she didn’t even have any backup. Heck, he wasn’t even sure she knew how to defend herself if it came down to it.
“You know you shouldn’t be doing this,” Ian warned him when Court climbed out of the ditch.
Yeah, he did, but that wasn’t stopping him. Nothing would.
“You should wait here,” Court told Ian, but he knew that wasn’t going to fly. This was a stupid idea, but Ian wasn’t going to let him go out there alone.
Something that Court had allowed to happen to Rayna.
He cursed the fire that had shot up between them. He cursed their attacker, too, for putting them in this situation. Now he only prayed he could get to her in time to stop whatever was happening.
Somehow, Court made it out of the deep ditch onto the pasture grass. And he immediately got slammed with a wave of smoke. He had no choice but to cough, which only made his arm hurt even more. He ignored both the pain and the coughing and started moving. He also kept as low as he could while keeping watch of that treed area where he’d spotted the shooter.
No sign of the person now.
That didn’t make Court feel better. Because it could mean their attacker had gotten to Rayna.
That caused him to hurry. Well, hurry as much as he could, anyway. Everything seemed to be working against him, and it didn’t help that he didn’t know how far she’d managed to go. Hopefully, though, she had stayed in the ditch where he could find her. But even if she was close by, it wouldn’t be easy to spot her with the smoke and darkness.
The fire was dying some, but there were still some flames in spots being fanned by the wind. There was still enough of a threat from the shooter, too, that he couldn’t give the fire department the green light to enter the area. But when Thea and John arrived, they would almost certainly get as close as they could. In some ways that would make this situation even more dangerous.
Because Court didn’t want the deputies hit with friendly fire. Ditto for the deputies shooting toward Ian and him.
Court and Ian were both on edge and braced for a fight. Not the best conditions for having other lawmen arrive on the scene. Especially since Ian and he were having to keep watch all around them.
Court stopped when he heard a sound. It was like a gasp, and it had come from just ahead of them. He stopped for a second to see if he could pinpoint it. And he did hear something else. A thud. As if someone had fallen.
That got him moving even faster, but Court was well aware he could be walking into an ambush. At least there were some trees to his left that he could maybe dive behind if the shooter was lying in wait for them.
He got a break from a gust of wind that cleared a section of the smoke, and he saw some movement in the ditch. He heard another moan, too.
Hell, it sounded as if Rayna had been hurt.
Nothing could have stopped him at that point. He readied his gun and ran toward that sound. The wind stopped cooperating though, and the smoke slid right back in front of him, stinging his eyes and blocking his view.
The moment he made it past the fire, Court climbed back down into the ditch. It was clearer there, and he finally saw more than just movement.
He saw Rayna.
She was on her feet, and at first he thought she was okay. Then Court saw someone standing behind her. And that someone had a gun pointed at her head.
Before Court could even react, that someone pulled the trigger.
He watched in horror as Rayna fell, and for several heart-stopping moments he thought she’d been shot.
But she hadn’t.
She had dropped down just as the shot had been fired. She was moving, trying to get away, but it was as if she was dazed or something. Her attacker had no trouble latching on to Rayna and dragging her in front of him.
Except it wasn’t a him.
With the gun back at Rayna’s head, the shooter yanked off the gas mask she was wearing, and Court got a good look at her face.
Whitney.
Rayna glanced back at her, too, shock and then anger going through her. But Court got only a split-second glance of both Whitney and Rayna before Whitney turned the gun on him.
And she fired.
* * *
RAYNA TRIED TO shout a warning to Court, but her mouth still wasn’t working well just yet. That stun gun hit had caused her muscles to spasm, and if Whitney hadn’t dragged her to her feet, she’d probably still be on the ground.
On the ground and fighting to save Court.
Thankfully, Court and Ian climbed out of the ditch and scrambled behind some nearby trees, but before they could make it to cover, Whitney shot at them again. Since the gun was right against Rayna’s ear, the sound was deafening, and she groaned in pain. She prayed that groan didn’t send Court racing toward her though. Because Whitney would almost certainly shoot him.
But why?
Rayna didn’t know why a woman she’d once considered her friend would now want Court and her dead. One thing she did know was that Whitney was trapped—something she probably hadn’t planned on happening. No. By now, she’d likely thought she would have been able to kill Court and her and then escape.
“Backup’s on the way,” Court shouted out. “Let Rayna go, and we can talk.”
“Talk,” Whitney repeated like profanity. “It’s a little late for that. Rayna should already be dead, but if I shoot her now, then you’ll shoot me.”
Rayna hadn’t thought for a second that the shot Whitney had aimed at her had been some kind of bluff. No. It was meant to kill her. Except Rayna had managed to fall just in time. She might not get that lucky again.
She wiggled her fingers and
toes, trying to get back the feeling in her body so she could fight off Whitney if she tried to pull the trigger again.
“Why are you doing this?” Rayna had to ask. But as soon as the question left her mouth, she thought she had the answer. “Bobby Joe. You’re the one who helped him hide all this time.”
Whitney didn’t jump to deny that. “I was in love with him,” she told her “And he threw it all back in my face. He was coming back to town to confess everything.”
That didn’t make sense. “You mean confess that he’d tried to frame me for his murder?”
“No. To confess that I had tried to frame you for his murder.”
Oh, mercy.
She couldn’t imagine that being true. Until she remembered how Whitney had changed after Bobby Joe’s disappearance. And that’d happened because Whitney had fallen in love with him.
“Bobby Joe helped with the framing, at first,” Whitney added a moment later, “because he had to collect some of his own blood. But then he had a change of heart. That’s what the SOB called it. A change of heart, and he was coming here to try to win you back.”
Rayna felt the sickening feeling wash over her. “It wouldn’t have worked. I would have never gotten back together with Bobby Joe because I’ve always been in love with Court.”
A burst of air left Whitney’s mouth. A laugh, but definitely not from humor. “Too bad Bobby Joe didn’t know that before he died.”
“You mean before you killed him,” Rayna snapped.
Whitney didn’t deny that, either.
All the missing pieces suddenly fell into place. Well, many of them, anyway. Whitney would have had the chance to get both a spare key to Rayna’s house along with the code for her security system. That would have made it easy for Whitney to send a hired thug to break in, drug her and then set her up for Warren’s shooting. That same hired thug had probably been the one who’d fired shots at them at the hospital.
The same one maybe who’d taken Court’s mother.
Unless the guy was out here somewhere. But Whitney didn’t seem to be waiting for her own version of backup. No. Her jerking motions and gusting breath told Rayna that Whitney had been backed into a corner and was now looking for a way out.
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