Chapter 14 #3
It briefly occurred to him that Bruno might be barking at Doc Harmon. The dog wouldn’t know his fellow teammate and would alert Evie to the presence of a stranger. Yet he didn’t slow his pace.
Then Evie let out a shrill scream.
No! Please, Lord Jesus, no!
The prayer tumbled free without his realizing it. Still running, he tried to imagine who was at the rental house with Evie. The killer or Doc?
Would he get there in time to save her?
He never should have left her alone. Had the killer used the light to draw him from the house? If so, the ruse had worked.
He’d fallen for it like a rookie soldier on his first stakeout.
“I’m coming! And the police are on the way!” Maybe it was an empty threat, but he hoped that whoever was in the clearing with Evie believed him.
He put on another burst of speed and finally reached the clearing. His gaze widened in shock when he caught sight of a police officer holding a gun. Evie stood near the driver’s side door to the SUV while Bruno barked and growled beside her.
He didn’t recognize the cop because he couldn’t see the guy’s facial features clearly enough in the darkness. It wasn’t Rueger, that much he knew.
“Evie, look out!” He kept running but held his weapon with both hands again now, wishing desperately that she wasn’t standing between him and the armed cop.
“Last chance! Get in or I’ll shoot the dog!” The cop looked more than capable of eliminating Bruno from the equation.
Rather than obeying the cop’s command, Evie yanked the driver’s side door of the rental car open. “Get in, Bruno!”
“Stop!” The officer’s shout followed by a sharp crack of gunfire and the sound of glass breaking stole Cam’s breath. Was he too late?
Evie dove into the car behind Bruno. As she slammed the door, another crack of gunfire rang out.
Yet somehow, she started the engine, shifted into gear, and slammed her foot on the accelerator. A third crack of gunfire rang out.
The rental SUV surged forward as the cop fired a fourth time.
No! Please, Lord Jesus No! Concerned the cop had hit Evie sitting behind the wheel, he tried and failed to see the outline of her head through the rear window. Feeling desperate now, he closed the gap, praying with every fiber of his being that God would keep Evie and Bruno safe.
The officer abruptly dove to the side, tucking and rolling along the ground before he stopped moving and continued firing. The cop took so many shots it was impossible for Cam to count them. He couldn’t even guess at how many bullets the cop had left in his clip.
To draw the cop’s attention from Evie, Cam returned fire. Because the officer was stretched out on the ground, he made a smaller target.
But Cam had been trained by the best. He fired again, just as the face of the officer was revealed as the clouds moved away from the moon. He thought he heard a muffled grunt, but then more gunfire rang out.
Something struck Cam hard in the chest, sending him stumbling backward.
He wasn’t sure how he remained on his feet, but he did.
He took aim again, determined to eliminate the threat for good when Evie cranked the wheel of the SUV and drove straight at the location of where the cop was stretched out on the ground.
The SUV struck the man lying there with a sickening thump-thump. Even then, Evie didn’t stop. After she rolled over the officer, she put the car in reverse and backed over him again. Then she drove over him a third time, clearly determined to make sure he was no longer a threat.
The still form of the man on the ground didn’t move, yet Cam didn’t lower his weapon. He pushed himself to walk closer, although his movements felt slow and sluggish, like wading through hip-deep water.
Why was that?
Evie abruptly stopped the SUV and pushed the car door open, her stricken gaze searching his. “Cam?”
“Stay inside.” Cam’s voice was hoarse, and he belatedly realized he was woozy. He tried again. “Stay inside the car, Evie. Call 911.”
“Cam, are you okay?” Evie’s voice held concern. “Are you hit?”
He was going to say no, then belatedly realized he must have been hit.
Something had stopped him in his tracks, nearly knocking him over.
He slowly became aware of a burning pain across his chest. It was difficult to breathe, and he couldn’t seem to continue walking toward her.
Lifting his left hand to the source of the pain, he grimaced when his palm came away sticky with blood.
Too much blood.
Cam swayed, striving to stay upright, but a second later, he felt his knees give way.
The ground rushed up to greet him.
He groaned, still struggling to breathe. Staring up at the cloudy sky, he grimly realized he was wrong about Dan Johnson and Rick Thomas being involved.
Dead wrong.
The killer was their former classmate, police officer Kyle Abernathy, married to high school teacher Beverly and father of two children. Kyle who was sworn to uphold the law had undoubtedly used his badge to lure unsuspecting young women into trusting him. Only to end up as one of his many victims.
The good news, he thought as the darkness obscured his vision, was that thanks to Evie’s quick thinking, Kyle Abernathy would never kill anyone ever again.