Chapter 46
Forty-Six
“Ican see them, they just came out of the loft. Oh my god, he’s got her by the hair, dragging her, Free, please let me—”
“No, Jodi! Don’t leave that house!” Free snarled, careening around a corner.
Rain lashed at the windshield, the wipers wicking it away as quickly as it was coming down.
They were almost there. Almost there. So fucking close.
Roxy. Roxy. Roxy, Travis’s mind and heart chanted.
White hot fury raced through him at Jodi’s words, at the fear Roxy must be feeling right now, at the hands of this fucking monster.
And he’d let her push him away. Let her push him away, when she’d known all along that he’d found her.
Neal had threatened his life, and Roxy had done what she thought was right, to save him, to protect him.
He was going to have one helluva talking to this woman, when this was all said and done. Because there was no other option for how this was going to end.
“I see the lights flashing, the deputy is in the driveway,” Seren called, but relief was far from coming. He’d had Seren relay that Neal would most likely have Roxy’s gun on him, he was armed, and he was incredibly dangerous.
A gasp from the other end of the line brought his head around and then the worst sound he’d ever heard made his gut clench tightly. The muffled sound of a shot ringing out. “Oh my god, the deputy, he’s been shot! Run, Roxy!”
Pure, unadulterated panic choked him when the sound of a second shot rang out, muffled by distance and walls, and Jodi was sobbing. Seren was still on the line with the dispatch, now relaying that their officer had been shot. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t fucking lose her!
The driveway came into sight, the headlights lighting on it in the distance and Free took the corner far faster than was safe, the truck sliding sideways before he straightened it out.
Gravel flew behind the tires as they sped down the long drive, and then he saw the flashes of blue and red painting the main house garishly.
A sheriff’s cruiser was parked in the drive, the lights flashing, but he didn’t see an officer as they sped closer.
Free reached between Travis’s knees, popping open the glove box as they careened closer, skidding to a halt, gravel spraying.
A handgun sat in the glovebox. “Take it. Go!”
Travis grabbed it, jumping out of the truck before it came to a complete stop.
Rounding the hood of the truck, he saw Neal dragging Roxy, one arm wrapped around her neck in a chokehold, toward the other side of the barn.
He had just slipped between the truck and sheriff’s cruiser when he skidded to a stop.
“Holy shit,” he breathed, dropping to his knees in the gravel next to the prone figure.
Blood covered the officer’s chest and left arm, pooling beneath him, a bullet wound cleaving open his shoulder.
The rain mixed with the blood, sending it seeping in all directions in garish rivers through the gravel.
He was soaked in rain, his short, dirty blonde hair shorn close to his head and dripping wet. Gasping, choked breaths made Travis’s own breath stall.
Free caught up to him then, skidding to a halt in the rain slick gravel. He shoved him. “Go! I’ve got him. Go, God dammit!”
“No,” the deputy wheezed, lashing a hand out to catch Travis’s wrist as he made to stand. “I c-can’t le-let you g-g-go after th-them—” he coughed out. Blood seeped from the side of his mouth. Fucking hell. “B-backup. W-wait f-for backup.”
“Graham, you listen to me,” Free snarled, closing one hand over the bloody wound on his shoulder. The deputy hissed in pain. Free’s other hand grasped the back of the deputy’s neck. “Your only fucking job right now is to stay alive; do you hear me?”
The deputy nodded weakly, releasing Travis’s wrist. Travis jumped to his feet, catapulting over the hood of the cruiser and taking off in the direction that he’d seen Neal take Roxy.
Barreling through the rain, he ran as fast as he could, pumping his arms and legs as hard as he could manage, his legs eating up the distance.
He was a hundred yards away from the corner of the big barn when the blast of a gun echoed, followed almost simultaneously by an agonized scream, and then the terror of pure silence.
“Roxy!” he bellowed, putting on a burst of speed. He only prayed he wasn’t too late.