LITMIR.BIZ

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Her voice was shaking like the rest of her.

      Lucas didn’t know, and it was next to impossible to see inside the truck’s cab. There was a streetlight and a lit sign for the motorcycle shop, but the tint was so dark on the windshield that he couldn’t tell. He pulled up a little farther though so he could get a better look at the front license plates.

      “Out-of-state plates,” he mumbled under his breath.

      Maybe that in itself meant nothing, but Lucas got that feeling in his gut. The feeling that told him to get the heck out of there.

      He threw the SUV into Reverse.

      But the second he did that, the truck door opened, and a man bolted out.

      The guy had a rifle.

      “Get down,” Lucas repeated to Hailey. “And this time, stay there.”

      Whether she would or not was anyone’s guess, but he didn’t want to have to worry about her being shot. He hit the gas, the SUV speeding backward. But he didn’t get out of the path of that rifleman fast enough.

      The bullet slammed into the windshield.

      Since this wasn’t the vehicle he used for work, the glass wasn’t reinforced. The shot tore through the safety glass, the bullet exiting out the back.

      Great. Just great.

      Now he had two thugs after them, and Lucas had no choice but to go back in the direction he’d seen that other shooter in the park. Maybe the guy was long gone by now. Or better yet, maybe one of the deputies had managed to capture him.

      When Lucas reached the side street, he spun the SUV around so he could drive forward. He definitely didn’t want to head right into the middle of an ambush, so he headed for a better lit area.

      “The truck’s coming after us,” Hailey said.

      And that’s when he realized she’d lifted her head and was looking out the side window.

      Lucas pushed her right back down. “Don’t make it easier for them to kill you,” he snapped. Yeah, it was harsh, but Hailey was clearly the target of some very determined attackers.

      Whoever was in the truck fired another shot at them, this one slamming into the rear end of the SUV. A second shot quickly followed.

      Then a third.

      “There must be two of them,” Hailey muttered. She hadn’t figured that out by looking at them, though. She was still on the floor.

      But Lucas knew there had to be two, as well. Those shots were too well aimed for someone who was trying to negotiate the turns and dodging the cars parked along the street.

      “Hang on,” Lucas told her a split second before he turned onto another side street. He was thankful he’d grown up here and knew these streets like the back of his hand.

      His phone buzzed, and since Hailey still had hold of it, she answered it and put it on speaker.

      “Where are you?” he heard Grayson immediately ask. “Someone just called about shots being fired near Henderson’s Motorcycle Shop.”

      “Someone in a blue pickup is shooting at us. We’re on Bluebonnet Street, coming up near the Corral Bar.” It was a risk since there’d be customers still inside, but Lucas didn’t plan on stopping or even slowing down. “I’ll turn back on Main Street and head in your direction. Please tell me you found the first shooter.”

      “Not yet. But I’ll send Dade and Josh your way to help,” Grayson said, and he ended the call.

      Good. Dade and Josh were both cousins, both deputy sheriffs, and maybe having backup would cause these thugs to quit firing.

      The parking lot of the Corral Bar was lit up better than the rest of the street, and Lucas glanced in his side mirror at the truck. Definitely two men. And the one on the passenger side was doing the shooting.

      “I can return fire,” Hailey insisted, already climbing into the seat and lowering the window. “Please don’t stop me. This is all my fault, and I have to do something to stop them.”

      “No way.” And he meant it. It might indeed be partially her fault for not coming to him sooner, but she wasn’t sticking her neck out to fire any shots.

      Hailey didn’t get a chance to argue with him. That’s because the sound of sirens stopped anything she was about to say. In the distance, behind the truck, Lucas saw the flashing blue lights of a police cruiser.

      Dade and Josh, no doubt.

      The driver stopped following Lucas and took a very quick turn off a side street. A street that would lead them straight to the highway.

      No, hell, no.

      Lucas didn’t want these clowns getting away, but it wasn’t smart to go in pursuit with Hailey in the vehicle. Besides, Dade and Josh went after them, and Lucas could only hope they’d catch them.

      “Keep watch for the other shooter,” Lucas told Hailey.

      He hated to rely on her for help, but with the glass in the front, back and side windows cracked and webbed, they had reduced visibility. That would make it hard for them to see the guy hiding between one of the buildings where he could shoot at them as they drove by.

      Lucas held his breath, going as fast as he could, and he didn’t release that breath until he made it back onto Main Street. Definitely no sign of the shooter, so he headed for the sheriff’s office.

      “Can you run?” he asked her.

      “I’ll try,” she assured him. Which meant she couldn’t. “I had to use a cane to walk to your SUV.”

      Definitely couldn’t.

      The SUV squealed to a stop directly in front of the door to the sheriff’s office, but he didn’t get out. Lucas waited until Grayson hurried to the door and threw it open.

      “I’m carrying you in,” Lucas insisted, and he didn’t leave any room for argument.

      He scooped her up in his arms and rushed her inside the building, with Grayson locking the door behind them. But Lucas didn’t stop there. He hurried her past the squad room to the hall that led to Grayson’s office and the break room. That way, if someone did come in with guns blazing, she’d have some protection.

      “Dade and Josh are in pursuit,” Lucas told Grayson. “Arizona plates, but there was something covering the numbers. Mud, I think.” Probably not an accident.

      “Arizona?” Hailey repeated.

      Lucas knew the reason for her concern. DeSalvo had been from Arizona, which meant his son, Eric, likely was, too. So, had Eric sent those goons after Hailey?

      Now that they weren’t in the SUV, Lucas got a better look at her. Especially a better look at the fear in her eyes. And the fact that she was having to grip the door to steady herself.

      “As soon as it’s safe, I’ll have the doctor come over to see you,” Lucas told her.

      But she was shaking her head before he even finished. “I can’t trust Dr. Parton. Or anyone in the hospital. Someone planted that bug on the table next to my bed.”

      Lucas certainly hadn’t forgotten about that. The device needed to be checked, but that would have to wait, because Grayson no doubt had every available deputy on this manhunt for the shooters.

      “When there’s time, Hailey will need to give you a statement,” Lucas told Grayson.

      Grayson nodded. He still had his gun drawn, was still keeping watch on the area just outside the building. “Is she in WITSEC?”

      “Yes,” Hailey answered. “But I don’t want the marshals to know I’m here.”

      Grayson mumbled something Lucas didn’t catch, but he didn’t need to hear the words to know that Grayson wasn’t pleased about all this going

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