Chapter Seventeen
Damn it all to hell. This was not how Aiden had wanted this to play out. Not with Lexa and he sprinting toward Gillian. But here they were—doing just that.
And maybe running straight into a deadly trap.
He thought of the blood they’d seen on Chloe’s wedding dress. Blood that the woman had almost certainly put there herself to make people think she’d been seriously injured or even murdered. Well, Gillian could be doing that. She could have soaked her shirt with blood, or the fake stuff, all so she could lure Lexa and him to her. And then try to kill them.
But they couldn’t just stay put.
Not with both Lexa and him being cops. Because if Gillian was truly injured and being chased by a killer, then they had to help her. They had to stop her from being murdered.
Because his legs were longer than Lexa’s, Aiden could have easily outrun her, but there was no way he wanted to leave her behind and dash into those trees. That could make it easier for someone to try to pick her off. Or, hell, pick him off as well. It was a necessity they stay together.
Ahead of them, he heard Gillian scream again. A blood-curdling shriek that cranked up his adrenaline and sent his heart racing. Because he’d heard screams like that before.
And that situation had not turned out well. Now, he only hoped the flashbacks didn’t get to both Lexa and him. They needed to stay sharp. Focused. Because it sure seemed that Gillian was trying to escape someone who terrified her.
Lexa and he kept moving, fast, and when they reached the Dumpster where they’d first seen Gillian, they ducked to the side of it. Not ideal cover, but it was better than nothing.
Their breaths were both gusting, and it was hard to hear over the pulse jackhammering away in his ears. But they stood there, listening for any sound to let them know where Gillian was.
Nothing.
Not at first anyway.
Then, Aiden heard some rustling in the trees. The night and the thick branches of the oaks made it impossible to see anyone moving around, but someone was in there. Maybe just Gillian. And if a killer was indeed after her, Aiden hoped she had found a hiding place and would stay quiet.
“I need to text Owen,” Lexa whispered, taking out her phone.
While she did that, Aiden kept watch around them. Kept listening, too. But he saw or heard nothing. He didn’t want to risk calling out to Gillian because if the woman answered, it could give away her position.
Of course, she might already be dead.
And if so, then the killer could already be escaping.
Aiden wasn’t that familiar with this subdivision, but the odds were there was a road not far behind those trees. It could have been where Gillian’s intruder had parked.
The questions came. Why was this happening? And who was behind it? But Aiden had to shove that aside. Right now, Lexa and he had to try to find Gillian.
She finished the text to Owen, put her phone away and tipped her head to the trees. “Are you ready to go in there?” she muttered.
No, he wasn’t. He hated putting Lexa at risk like this, but it occurred to him that she might feel the same way about him. She was a veteran cop after all, and they had both faced danger. Had both been bitten in the proverbial ass, too, by a rescue mission gone wrong. That didn’t change things.
No.
And with a nod, Lexa and he got moving again.
Together and with their guns ready, they raced to the edge of the partially constructed house. Again, it wasn’t ideal cover, but they didn’t stay there long, only a couple of seconds, before they hurried to the first tree. They darted behind it and paused to listen.
Again, he didn’t hear anything.
Aiden tried to pick through the darkness to try to see Gillian or anyone else, and he caught just a blur of motion. Maybe the breeze teasing a branch on one of the trees. But it was movement all right.
He pointed out the area to Lexa and focused on it while his eyes continued to adjust to the night.
And he saw it again.
Maybe someone crouched down? It was impossible to tell from this angle so he motioned for Lexa to move. They did, hurrying to the next tree before they pulled up again.
This new position put them closer to that shadow but not close enough so they had to do the maneuver again. And again. Each step took them closer until he could finally make out the person.
Gillian.
She was hunkered down, her back pressed to a large tree trunk. The woman wasn’t moving, and the way she was positioned, Aiden couldn’t tell if she was even breathing. She could be dead.
Lexa looked at him, their gazes connecting for just a second, and he knew with that look, she was going in. So was he, even though they both knew the risk they were taking. They bolted off from cover, heading straight to Gillian.
The woman moved then, her head whipping in their direction. So, she was alive. Maybe ready to kill them.
But Aiden didn’t see her lift a gun or any other weapon.
Still, that didn’t mean Gillian didn’t have one tucked on the other side of her body. Or she hadn’t planted some kind of boobytraps, maybe one of those IEDs that had been scattered around town.
“Run!” Gillian shouted.
Just as the gunshot blasted through the air.
Aiden took hold of Lexa’s arm, pulling her down, but she had already started in that direction. They landed on the ground on top of some dead leaves, rocks, and twigs, and the moment Aiden caught his breath, his gaze fired around, looking for their attacker.
The shot hadn’t come from Gillian. He was certain of that. His gaze had been pinned on her when the blast had happened.
Another shot came, this one slamming into the tree right over Gillian’s head. She screamed again and started scrambling away, crawling toward Lexa and him.
Aiden rolled to the side, searching for the shooter. He still couldn’t see him, but that second shot had given him an idea of where the gunman was. To the right, no doubt behind one of the trees.
Lexa cursed. “We can’t return fire,” she whispered.
No, they couldn’t. Because there were houses nearby which meant they couldn’t just start shooting because they could end up killing an innocent bystander.
If Aiden had been alone and if Gillian hadn’t been here, still screaming for help, he would have tried to circle around and come up behind the shooter. For now though, the priority had to be Gillian. Yeah, she could be faking this, but she could also be on the verge of being murdered.
Another shot blasted out. Again, aimed at Gillian. Or rather in her direction anyway. It slammed into the ground, kicking up dirt and debris.
“Try to cover me,” he told Lexa, and that was the only warning he gave her before he moved.
Aiden stayed low, automatically taking aim in the direction of the shooter, and he raced toward Gillian. He latched onto the woman’s arm and started dragging her toward one of the larger trees.
The shooter fired again.
The shot missed both of them, but Aiden could have sworn he felt the heat coming off the bullet. That one, too, blasted into the ground.
The next shot didn’t.
It came right at them, and Aiden heard the sickening sound of a bullet thudding into flesh. Not his. He wasn’t shot.
But Gillian was.
Aiden felt the spray of warm blood hit his face, and a strangled gasp clawed its way past Gillian’s throat. She muttered something, garbled sounds he didn’t understand. But he did understand that he had to get them both out of the line of fire. It was their only chance of surviving this.
He scooped her up, hauling her behind the tree, and then he immediately looked in Lexa’s direction. Aiden couldn’t see her, and he hoped like hell that she stayed behind cover.
Another shot rang out, this one tearing off a huge chunk of the tree right next to Aiden’s head. He dropped down lower, trying to figure out where Gillian had been shot so he could maybe apply pressure to the wound. That might stop her from bleeding out since an ambulance wouldn’t be able to get in here as long as there was active gunfire.
He soon learned that Gillian had plenty of blood on her. On the front of her shirt, her shoulder, and leg. On the side of her head, too. Aiden couldn’t tell though where the actual injuries were, but one thing was for certain, she wasn’t faking these injuries. Those moans of pain were the real deal, and her breathing was way too shallow. He could practically feel her dying in his arms.
Shit.
The flashbacks came, but cursing them, Aiden fought them. Fought them hard and continued to feel around until he located a bullet wound. Right on Gillian’s stomach. Yeah, she was bleeding out all right, and Aiden decided the best way to help her was to stop the son of a bitch who was shooting at them so the EMTs could get in here and try to save her.
“You coward,” Aiden shouted, hoping to taunt the shooter. “Too much of a coward to show your face.”
And he wondered whose face it was. Wylie’s? Hudson’s? Brady’s. Of those three, he could easily see Hudson doing this. Or rather he wanted it to be Hudson. Because if it was Wylie or Brady, it meant someone he knew well was a killer.
Well, maybe.
There was another possible player in this. Travis Walker, the man who’d likely built the IEDs. He could be doing mop-up for Chloe.
But that didn’t feel right.
A hired thug would be more likely to try to stay hidden away rather than come at them like this. That thought had barely crossed his mind when Aiden heard something. Not a gasp but some shuffling movement.
Sounds of a struggle.
“Lexa,” he managed to say, already getting up to rush to her.
But he was already too late.
Aiden bolted from the tree to see Lexa. Not alone. Someone was behind her, and while Aiden couldn’t see the person’s face, Lexa’s captor had a gun pressed to her head.