Chapter Twenty-One
Audra didn’t bother to wait and see if Rosalie was keeping up. She had one mission. Get to the back side of the property.
She was certain that was where Copeland was. He was either digging into things alone, in which case she might shoot him herself. Or he was…
She threw that or away. Let the terrified version of her deal with it. Right now, there was only getting to him and figuring out what was what.
The answer came before she reached the back of the property. She heard the pounding of hooves, looked over to one of the pastures, where Bo was running in a kind of endless circle.
Bo. The horse Copeland took when he rode with her. Audra swallowed. She wanted to run, but that would only scare Bo even more. She approached, in careful steady strides, speaking in low, calming tones.
“Whoa. Whoa.” She managed to approach Bo, grab her reins even as she reared back up. Audra stayed out of the way as the horse came back onto all fours. “It’s all right, sweetheart. I’ve got you now.” But she didn’t have time…
Rosalie caught up, and so did Duncan and Franny, who Audra hadn’t realized had followed them out.
Franny moved forward, took the reins from Audra. “I’ve got her,” Franny said firmly. “I’ve got her. I’ll be okay. You guys go.”
Audra took off, but Rosalie was right behind, talking to Duncan. “You two go back to the house. Get Bo put away. Then you can lead the cops to us once they get here.”
“Rosalie.” Duncan’s voice was little more than a growl, but Rosalie kept pace with Audra and just spoke louder.
“We can handle it, Duncan. We have to handle it. Go with Franny. Please.”
Audra didn’t pay any attention to see if Duncan argued or not.
She kept resolutely walking to the back of the property.
She could have grabbed a horse—Bo, even—but she wasn’t sure Bo was okay, and any other horse would take too long to saddle.
Her truck could have made it back here, but she would have had to backtrack.
The UTV was out of gas, so on foot it was.
“Audra…” But Rosalie never finished whatever she was going to say. She just kept up with Audra’s relentless, determined pace. Over hills and dips, along the fence line and to the back of the property.
Maybe Audra was breathing heavily from exertion as they began to approach the end of her property line, but she hardly noticed. Out there in the distance, she saw a figure.
No, two figures.
Only when she saw the sun glint off the metal of what was likely a gun did she begin to slow. But she didn’t stop.
Because she could see clearly one figure was standing with his hands in the air—that was Copeland. And one figure held a gun toward him—that was Karly.
If it meant something, if she felt something, it didn’t penetrate the icy shell inside of her. The only thing she really concentrated on was a renewed sense of determination. She lifted her rifle as she walked closer.
“Audra, we should try to sneak up on her. We should—”
“There’s nowhere to hide,” Audra replied. Because all around them was just the rolling grassy land of Young Ranch and the spot they’d sold off to the lumber company with years-old stumps lining the ground.
Whether it was their voices or something else, Audra didn’t know, but Karly looked toward them, the gun still pointed at Copeland. Audra thought she’d turn it toward her and Rosalie, considering they were armed, but Karly didn’t do that.
She stepped closer to Copeland, behind him almost, but not fully. Because she pressed the metal to his temple.
Audra stopped on a dime, but she didn’t lower her gun.
She didn’t feel panic or terror or worry.
She was so calm, everything around her felt like some…
unreal dream. She could feel Rosalie behind her, but all she saw, all she felt, was the calm dark gaze of Copeland from across the grassy expanse between them.
“Audra.” Rosalie sounded scared, but Audra didn’t feel it. She was numb. She was calm. She knew what had to be done.
She kept Karly in her gunsight. “I’m going to shoot her,” Audra murmured.
“She’s using Copeland as a shield.”
“I can see that. I can also see exactly where I need to aim to hit her and not Copeland.”
“But… Audra, what if you hit him?” Rosalie asked on a concerned whisper.
Audra’s hand wanted to tremble, but she wouldn’t let it. For years, she’d won shooting awards. Hell, she’d helped save the ranch with the money she won a few years in a row. Now she’d help save the man she loved.
“I won’t hit him.” Not when everything depended on this. On her.
She’d been preparing for this moment, whether she knew it or not, all her life.
THE GUN WAS pressed to his temple. Copeland had no doubt Karly would pull the trigger if pushed even a little bit.
She was holding on to everything by a thread.
He could feel her desperation. Her loss of control, and maybe loss of hope that she could turn this whole messed-up endeavor into what she’d envisioned.
Audra didn’t look the least bit scared. She held the impressive-looking rifle against her shoulder, aimed at…well, he knew it wasn’t aimed at him, but it sure felt like it with Karly using him as a human shield.
If Audra had any feelings about that, she didn’t show it. The sun blazed behind her in a riot of deep reds and oranges. Her expression was calm, her eyes direct.
“Drop the gun,” Karly called out over the distance between them. “You’ve got ten seconds, or he’s gone.”
Audra’s gaze didn’t move. The gun didn’t drop. Her finger was curled around the trigger. Karly was on his right side, so his arm couldn’t do much. He could maybe land a kick before she shot him, but he didn’t know what the hell Audra’s plans were.
Karly started counting, but Copeland couldn’t pay attention. He was focused on Audra. Her blue eyes were on her target, and they didn’t waver.
She was going to shoot…and whatever happened, well, he’d have to deal with it.
When the gunshot went off, Copeland didn’t even flinch. The gun fell from his temple, exploded loudly near his ear, but he didn’t feel any impact. He turned to Karly.
She’d fallen backward, and she was screaming…though it was muffled to his ears. Her hand was bloody, but even as she shouted and cried, she was trying to reach out for her dropped gun with her left hand.
Copeland scooped it up easily before she did with his left hand. Karly was screaming at him, but he couldn’t make out the words. The gunshot had exploded too close to his ear.
Then he felt arms come around him. He couldn’t hold back the groan of pain or stop himself from swaying. Audra held him firm though, and he wrapped his good arm around her.
She was saying something to him, though he couldn’t make it out. But he got the drift when she started searching him for signs of injury or blood maybe.
“I’m okay. I’m not shot. I just took a tumble off Bo. Hurt my arm a bit.” His own words sounded weird and muffled. Audra’s blue eyes were bright with tears, but they didn’t fall. Rosalie appeared, holding a gun pointed at Karly.
Both Rosalie and Audra were saying things, but he couldn’t make out the words, so he just squeezed Audra tighter, trying to ignore the pain. “Gun went off a little close to my ear, so it’s all a bit muffled right now.” Easier to admit that when she looked so worried than that his arm was broken.
“Audra.” He looked at Karly, still writhing on the ground with Rosalie holding her at gunpoint, then at Audra, who only seemed to have eyes for him.
He had to tell her. “It was Karly all along. She knew about you guys, this place, and I think… I think your father convinced her it was all your fault you had this and she didn’t.
” He spoke in low tones, keeping his good arm tight around her.
“She was just trying to frame Austin for it. Down to the fake identity catfishing your mother.”
Audra watched him as he spoke. Dazed wasn’t the right word. She just seemed detached. Or partially detached, because he thought the emotion was starting to break through.
The muffled sound and pain in his ear were starting to ease a little, he thought, when he heard the faint sound of sirens.
It was when the police cruiser and the ambulance crested the rise that Audra began to shake. Then a tear slid onto her cheek.
He squeezed her tight. “Baby, you held that gun steady and shot somebody with about a centimeter of wiggle room. I don’t think you get to fall apart now.”
She pressed her forehead into his shoulder. She was still shaking, but he didn’t know if she was actively crying since she’d hidden her face. “Sure,” she said, her voice squeaky, even to his muffled hearing. “I’ll just keep it together then.”
“You kept it together when it counted.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Hell, Audra. I don’t know anyone who could have made that shot. Not a soul. Except you.”