Chapter Six
Beau braced his hands on the truck’s dash as it skidded to a halt on the gravel road in front of his driveway.
“Are you trying to throw her out of the truck bed?” he demanded.
“Sorry. Guess I was going a little too fast.”
“No kidding.”
They both turned to check on Sierra. The truck bed was empty. Panic had Beau throwing open the door and jumping out to scan the road, worried he’d see her crumpled body because of Collier’s deplorable driving skills.
He saw her body, all right. But she hadn’t fallen out of the truck. She was jogging into the trees, her sawed-off shotgun slung over her shoulder.
“What the—Sierra, get back here.” He took off after her, not waiting for Collier.
For such a small woman, she sure was fast and surprisingly quiet as she made her way toward his cabin. He didn’t catch up to her until she was about to step into the clearing in front of the porch, not far from his massive woodpile.
He clapped a hand over her mouth and jerked her back into the cover of trees before anyone in the house might see her.
She bit him.
He jerked his hand back. “You little—I can’t believe you did that.” He turned his hand back and forth looking at it.
“I didn’t break the skin. You’ll survive. Don’t ever put your hand over my mouth and manhandle me again. I won’t stand for it.”
He flexed his bruised hand. “Noted. Never mind that I was trying to save your life.”
“I’ve got a pretty significant weapon on me capable of inflicting major damage. I can take care of myself. And we’re wasting time hiding in the bushes.” She ran around him and entered the clearing.
“Sierra, stop,” he called out.
Bam! Bam! Bullets strafed the dirt inches from her feet.
Beau grabbed her around the waist and whirled around, firing the .357 Magnum toward his house to cover them as he yanked her behind a tree.
Collier dropped to a knee beside them. “Where did those shots come from?”
“The far right corner. My bedroom. The window’s open. One of them must have seen Genius here when she offered herself up for target practice.”
She glared at him and slapped at his hands until he let her go. “If you hadn’t stopped me, I might have been able to take him out.”
“Did you know what direction he was shooting from so you could fire back?”
Her lips pursed.
“I didn’t think so. And you’re welcome.”
“When I get over being mad at you, I’ll thank you.”
“Don’t do me any favors.”
She frowned. “Any element of surprise we had is gone. What do we do now?”
Collier held up his phone, then shoved it in his pocket.
“Already done. I just called for backup. And don’t tell me I shouldn’t have, Chief.
This isn’t a simple smash-and-grab. If they were here to rob the place they’d have been out by now and they wouldn’t be trying to kill us.
Any idea who these guys might be and what they want?
Sierra, earlier you mentioned danger to the chief. What’s that about?”
“It’s Dawson,” Beau corrected him.
“What?”
“I’m not the chief anymore.”
“Oh, good grief,” Collier griped.
“Um, guys?” Sierra held up her phone, showing them the view from the camera she’d put in the foyer. “There are two men with rifles in the front of the house. They just passed the camera and took up positions by the front windows.”
“Rifles?” Beau and Collier both asked.
“Well, they didn’t look like shotguns so I think so. Why?”
They swore.
Beau grabbed her again, this time tossing her over his shoulder in spite of her shriek of outrage. He took off running toward the road with Collier running full out beside him.
The sound of glass shattering was their only warning. Sharp cracks of rifle fire sounded and bullets began pinging off trees, sending sharp bits of wood flying at them.
“Ouch,” Collier brushed wood from his hair.
“Go, go, go,” Beau yelled. “We’re seriously outgunned.”
“I’ve got a shotgun, for crying out loud,” Sierra called out, each word punctuated with a grunt as she bounced on his shoulder.
“Far enough?” Collier yelled.
“Far enough.” Beau slid to a halt in the dirt and set Sierra down.
He was fast becoming familiar with her glare as she aimed it at him again. She jerked her shotgun off her shoulder and held it up. “Why are we running from these guys when I’ve got this? We should circle back and—”
“Get yourself killed?” Beau snatched the gun from her. “A shotgun doesn’t have the range that a rifle has. Neither do our pistols. We need a plan. What’s the ETA on backup, Collier?”
He worked his mouth, a red flush creeping up his neck. “Um, it might be a bit. After the meeting the mayor was so angry he sent everyone home. It’ll take a while to get them up here.”
“Understood,” Beau said.
Sierra glanced back and forth between them. “I don’t understand at all. Everyone left? Who’s in charge at the police station?”
“As acting chief, I treated it like end of shift,” Collier said.
“End of shift? What does that even mean?”
Beau glanced at Collier before answering her.
“Mystic Lake has a relatively low crime rate and a staff of only four police officers in addition to the police chief. When the day shift ends, or if there’s a situation where all of the officers are needed elsewhere, the station is locked up and the department’s phones go to a switchboard in Chattanooga.
Only 911 emergencies get routed to a Mystic Lake police officer’s cell phone.
Everything else is tabled until morning. ”
“Who the heck set that kind of policy?” she demanded.
Beau cleared his throat. “I did. We went four years without a single call at night and then we were short of needed officers during the day shift because of staffing the station twenty-four seven all the time. I decided to move everyone to the day shift and instituted a partnership with the Chattanooga sheriff’s office for phone coverage after hours.
Like I said, there are only four regular officers. Do the math.”
“Now I understand my brother being killed. He could have been chased or stalked or whatever and never had a chance in a town with no law enforcement to speak of.”
Beau gave her an incredulous look. “I couldn’t convince you to go to the station this morning. And now you expect me to believe your brother would have called the police if he thought someone was after him?”
Her face flushed. “He might have, if he was in trouble and had no other option.”
“Wait,” Collier said. “Your brother’s name is Esteban? And you’re Sierra?” His eyes widened. “No way. You’re a Covington?”
She blew out a disgusted breath. “Give me back my shotgun. Now I have to kill him.”
Collier took a quick step back.
“She’s kidding.” Beau gave her a sideways glance. “I think.”
She crossed her arms, remaining silent.
“What’s the plan, Acting-Chief Collier?” Beau leaned back against one of the trees.
“Uh…well, I suppose we don’t have much choice. We should retreat, return to my truck and head down the road a bit, stay out of sight until reinforcements arrive.”
“Definitely an option,” Beau agreed. “Probably the safest one.”
“For cowards,” Sierra complained.
“You have a better plan?” Beau asked.
“We tried a frontal assault. Or, at least, we would have if you hadn’t interfered. What’s the situation at the back of your cabin? Any way we could circle around and surprise them?”
Collier chuckled. “If you have some mountain climbing equipment. The back of his house is on stilts, sunk into the bedrock. It’s a fifty foot drop off his deck, straight down.”
“We can’t cower here and wait on the police,” she said. “By the time they get here, those guys might sneak off in the woods and will be long gone. We need to catch them and find out who they are.”
Collier looked from one to the other. “Why? What’s really going on here that, one, there are apparently cameras inside the chief’s cabin and, two, you both seem to want to catch these guys? And don’t tell me it’s all about justice. What’s this really about?”
“You’re right,” Beau said.
“I am? Right about what?”
“Not you, Collier. Sierra. We can’t wait here and let them get away. Either of you notice anything? Like how quiet it is now?”
Sierra’s eyes widened. “They’re not shooting anymore.” She grabbed her phone and checked her app, running through the more recent video in addition to the live feed. “They headed back through the foyer about five minutes ago. All of them. Four guys.”
“Show me.” Beau scooted closer and watched her run through the video. “Stop. Back up. There. See that?”
She studied the screen, zooming in on the frame. “Caramba. They’re getting away.”
Beau grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. He passed her the shotgun and took out his pistol.
“Uh, guys. What’s going on?” Collier pulled out his gun.
Beau and Sierra took off running through the woods toward the cabin. Collier called out and hurried after them.
They all stopped at the tree line, right where they’d started. The silence from the house was almost as eerie as the earlier gunfire.
“Police, freeze!” Beau yelled.
Collier gave him a sideways glance. “That’s my line.”
“Habit.”
Collier laughed. “Mystic Lake Police Department. You’re surrounded. Drop your weapons. Come out with your hands up.”
“They’re surrounded? Really?” Beau arched a brow.
“They don’t know that they’re not.”
Beau laughed, then grabbed a rock and tossed it at the front porch. It landed with a loud thud.
Silence.
Sierra checked her phone. “Nothing. I think they’re gone.”
“Gone where?” Collier asked. “What did you see in the video?”
“Just a glimpse of the sliders from the foyer,” Beau said. “The ones off the back deck that you said wasn’t scalable. They all headed out but never came back inside.”
“Did they have ropes with them?” Collier asked.
“Not that I saw.” Beau gripped his pistol tighter. “You should both stay here, in case this is a trick and they’re waiting to ambush whoever comes through that door. It’s not like one little camera is going to catch everything they do.” He turned to look at Collier. “You okay with that plan?”