Chapter 20
20
COURT
I stepped outside of the cabin and headed to my SUV as I dialed Dalton. He had texted a recent picture of Hughes and was wanting an update, but I had nothing other than Donnie was being an asshole. I wasn’t sure if it had to do with Morgan or what, but the whole situation was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. No way was I going to deal with him acting hostile without my gun.
“Hey,” Dalton answered.
I opened the liftgate. “Hey. Don’t have much time, but no, I don’t see Hughes.”
“That’s good, then.”
“Yeah, but Donnie’s acting weird, and I’m not sure it has to do with Morgan.” I unlocked my gun case.
“Why do you say that?”
“For starters, according to Morgan, he went out and bought a 4Runner for a friend to use in the winter up here. That’s not sitting right with me.” I pulled my holstered Glock from the case and clipped it onto the waistband at the small of my back and pulled my T-shirt over it to keep it concealed.
“Think it’s a getaway car for Hughes?”
I took a deep breath and then closed the back of my vehicle. “I hope not, but?—”
Pop.
My back went rigid when the sound of a gunshot pierced the air and birds scattered.
“Was that a gunshot?” Dalton asked.
I pulled my gun and raced toward where it came from. “Yeah.”
“What’s going on?”
Coming around the corner, I spotted Donnie lying on the ground, blood soaking through his T-shirt. I knelt and checked for a pulse. “Donnie’s been shot,” I stated into the phone. “He’s dead.”
“Who shot him?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, as I inched closer, I noticed Ryan hiding near a stack of logs and moved toward him. Just as I took another step, a figure emerged from the SUV. Instantly, I saw it was Hughes and said to Dalton, “Hughes is here.”
Hughes raised his gun and pointed it at Ryan.
“Noooo!” I shouted, the phone slipping from my hands. I lunged to get in front of Ryan, and pulled the trigger twice just as Hughes fired his gun. I felt the sting of the bullet tear through my shoulder, but as I fell to the ground, my head hit something hard, and then everything went dark.