Chapter Twenty-Three
As Clancy stepped out onto the small porch, she had a split second to take it all in before everything began to move too quickly. Vernon dropped the gas can and raised the gun. Past him, she saw not Sarah’s old car racing toward her, but a truck. Dub’s truck?
It distracted her for just long enough that Vernon closed the distance, grabbing her arm as he dragged her off the porch. As he did, she saw Luther rush to his brother, lifting him into his arms and carrying him inside the cabin.
When she looked up, she saw the truck, Dub’s face behind the windshield, coming directly at them.
The roar of the engine made Vernon turn.
As he did, he pulled her over in front of him, using her like a shield as he brought up the gun in his hand to aim at the truck, his other hand gripping her arm more tightly.
As he started to fire at the truck and Dub, Clancy dug in her pocket with her free hand for the gun. She couldn’t let Vernon kill Dub, but realized she didn’t have enough time to pull the weapon and stop him.
She threw her body against him, knocking him off-balance and shoving him to the side at the same time that he pulled the trigger. She heard the blast of the gun in his hand and an instant later the sound of the truck’s windshield shattering.
The truck veered off to the right, barely missing the back of the SUV before coming to a stop just inches from a stand of pines.
Vernon, still gripping her arm, threw her to the ground and raised his gun for a second shot as they both waited for Dub to get out of the truck.
* * *
DUB HAD PUT his driver’s-side window down, his gun in his hand, but Vernon gave him no chance to fire without risking Clancy’s life. He had tossed the handgun on the passenger seat.
Vernon’s first shot shattered the truck’s windshield, making it hard to see. He kept going, knowing that the man would fire again, only this next shot would be closer and probably more accurate. There was no way Vernon would miss at such close range.
But Clancy had pushed the man at the same time that Dub veered the truck away.
The shot destroyed the rest of the windshield as he had hit the brakes before almost crashing into a stand of pines.
Even before the truck had completely stopped, he’d grabbed the shotgun and was out of the truck, heading around the back of it for cover.
As he cleared the rear of the truck, he saw Clancy lying on the ground at Vernon’s feet. He couldn’t tell if she’d been hit. His sights were on the man standing over her, still holding a gun. Dub wasn’t about to pull the trigger until he was close enough that he knew Clancy wouldn’t be injured.
“Don’t come any closer,” Vernon yelled. The rest home manager started to raise his gun, then changed his mind. Instead of pointing it at Dub, he pointed the barrel at Clancy on the ground at his feet. “Take another step and I’ll kill her,” Vernon yelled. “You know I’ll do it.”
Dub stopped. There was no doubt that Vernon had killed before. He would do it again.
* * *
CLANCY COULD HEAR the sound of a siren in the distance, but she knew it would never reach them in time. Vernon was determined to kill them all and she had no doubt he would, given a chance.
She’d hit the ground hard when Vernon had thrown her down. Now, lying at his feet, she pulled the weapon Luther had given her. Dub had stopped moving toward them, but she could almost feel Vernon’s tension. He was like a wild animal ready to spring the moment he caught sight of his prey.
She knew she had to act. Dub had stopped, but she sensed not for long. As she looked up, she saw the look on Vernon’s face. He’d kill her, then Dub, if she didn’t try to stop him. Her only chance was to fire the bullet upward from where she lay. But if she missed, Vernon would kill them all.
Which meant if she was going to fire, she couldn’t just wound him. She had to go for a kill shot. She aimed for his jutting chin.
As she did, Vernon looked down at her. Surprise registered on his face at the sight of the gun in her hand. She fired.
* * *
DUB SAW THE gun in Clancy’s hand and what she was about to do. He closed more of the distance between them at the sound of the gunshot.
Then he watched in horror as Vernon reached down and grabbed a handful of Clancy’s hair in his fist. He jerked her to her feet and in front of him, knowing Dub wouldn’t be able to get a clear shot, especially with the shotgun.
Blood had splattered on the man’s face, making him look even more like the monster he was.
But Dub couldn’t tell how badly he was hit.
“Drop the weapon, you bitch,” Vernon cried. Dub watched her try to get off another shot before he slammed her arm holding the weapon into the front of the SUV and put the gun to her head again. “Drop it or I blow your brains out.”
The man gave another hard jerk on Clancy’s hair.
With a cry of pain, she dropped the gun, and Vernon kicked it away.
The man seemed to be in pain as he drew her close to shield himself with her body and tried to work his way around the SUV to the passenger side.
While not wounded enough that Dub could take the man without risking Clancy’s life, at least Vernon wasn’t moving as steadily as he had been before.
Dub had no doubt that Vernon would kill her, since that was what he’d come here to do. But things hadn’t gone the way the man must have planned them. He’d have to do a lot more killing to get away with this.
That only meant that Vernon no longer had anything to lose.
He would kill out of frustration and anger, and not hesitate to kill them all, because he had to know he was going down for this.
Dub had witnessed the man’s cruelty. Had he not gotten here when he had, he had no doubt Vernon would have burned down the cabin and Clancy and the others in it.
“She’s coming with me,” Vernon yelled. “Don’t try to stop us.”
“I don’t think so!” Dub yelled back.
As Vernon attempted to drag Clancy around to the passenger side of the SUV, Dub charged. He wasn’t letting Vernon get her into that vehicle, let alone drive away with her.
He saw a moment of indecision on the man’s face before Vernon lifted the barrel of the gun from Clancy’s head and pointed it directly at him—exactly what he’d prayed the man would do.
* * *
CLANCY SCREAMED WHEN she saw the gun was pointed at Dub. She drove an elbow into Vernon’s side. He let out a cry of pain only a moment before she heard the report of the gun.
She didn’t dare look in Dub’s direction. Instead, she went for Vernon’s face, scratching and jabbing, her nails digging in as she saw more blood from where she’d shot him in the side of his neck.
The sound of the siren grew louder and louder as Vernon was forced to release her hair to push her away. As he did, Clancy saw Dub out of the corner of her eye just before he brought the butt of the shotgun down in Vernon’s face. The man staggered for only a moment before he went down.
Dub peeled the gun from Vernon’s fingers as the sheriff’s SUV roared up. Max was out and rushing toward them, at first to her, and then to Dub, who was leaning against the side of the black SUV, bleeding from his right shoulder.
Clancy rushed to him. He put an arm around her and grinned, exposing those two adorable dimples. “Don’t worry. I’m still going to marry you whether you like it or not.”
She grabbed for him as he began to slump to the ground. She heard Max calling for ambulances before he rushed over. Clancy dropped to the ground next to Dub, terrified he was no longer breathing.
But even as he fought consciousness, he was still grinning at her. She took his hand, her heart jammed in her throat. “I don’t remember ever agreeing to marry you.”
“You will.”