Chapter 11
Elena checked her weapon while Sully made the call to the sheriff about the incident.
Her weapon secure but ready, she shoved it back into her bag and gripped the door handle as Sully maneuvered the truck over the uneven terrain, catching up to David and following behind.
David still had Van on the line and had added Sully for a three-way conversation.
Maya sat next to her, clutching the medical kit on her lap.
They bounced and rolled until they got close. Just ahead, David slowed and Sully did the same, scanning the area. “See anything?” Elena asked.
“Nothing. Van, you see us?”
“Yeah. When you pass my truck, you’ll need to turn north about twenty degrees and then come straight at us. Be careful. No more shots have been fired, but I don’t think the shooter’s gone.”
They rolled up to the area of the fence that had been cut, past Van’s truck, and turned into the forest. Elena breathed a little easier once they had the cover of the trees around them.
“There they are,” she said, pointing, and Sully aimed the vehicle toward the two men.
Van had pulled Billy a good twenty feet into the trees.
She had no idea how David had spotted the path he took, but somehow he managed to lead them right up next to Van and Billy, using the vehicles as a shield on one side.
They were sitting ducks on the other side, but if they were going to help Billy, they’d have to take their chances.
Billy lay on the rough ground and Van knelt beside him, bloody hands pressed to the man’s right thigh. Maya was out of the truck before it fully stopped and Elena followed right behind her. Van looked up, his features pinched, eyes hard. “We rolled up to the fence and got ambushed.”
Sully and David joined them, but their eyes were on the trees and the open area that left them vulnerable to attack.
“Let me see,” Maya said, dropping next to both of them.
“He’s bad,” Van said. “We got out of the truck and were checking the fence. We were a good ways down the fence when someone opened fire. There was no way I could get him back to the truck.”
Maya was already cutting away Billy’s pants, exposing the wound. Blood pulsed a steady stream from the jagged hole in his right upper thigh.
Elena attached the blood pressure monitor, then looked up at Maya. “Arterial bleed?”
“Yes. We have to get this blood stopped. I need the hemostatic gauze and the pelvic binder.” Maya gloved up and Elena handed over the combat gauze loaded with clotting agents. “I’m going to pack the wound,” Maya explained to Van. “He’s unconscious, but hold him steady anyway.”
Van held on to his friend and Maya pressed her fingers into the wound. She stilled and looked up at Elena. “Found the source of the bleeding and he’s got some bone instability at the hip joint. Vitals?”
“BP is 80 over 40, pulse 130 and thready. He’s going into shock.”
“Starting the packing,” Maya said, feeding the gauze deep into the wound cavity. “Applying pressure directly on the bleeding vessel.”
Elena nodded. The specialized gauze would help form clots faster than the normal kind.
While Maya worked and Sully and David guarded them, Elena prepped two large-bore IVs.
She found the veins and inserted them with practiced ease.
“Fluid resuscitation started. Administering TXA.” The medication would help prevent the breakdown of the blood clots.
Maya nodded. “Good. Now for the pelvis.” Elena handed Maya the specialized pelvic binder from her trauma kit. “His pelvis is so unstable. If we don’t immobilize it, the bone fragments could shift and tear more vessels.”
“David, I need you over here,” Maya said.
The man hurried over. “How can I help?”
“I need you and Van to help me get this under him.” They worked together, positioning the binder just below his hip bones while Elena maintained pressure on the packed wound.
“Okay,” Maya said once they had Billy positioned face up once more. “On three. One, two, three.”
They pulled the binder tight, securing it with the Velcro straps. The compression would help stabilize the fracture and reduce the pelvic volume.
“Hopefully, that will limit the internal bleeding,” Elena said. “Please, God.” She looked up at Maya. “He’s going to need a blood transfusion.”
“He is. The best we can do now is keep him warm and get him transported to the hospital.”
“The ambulance is about five minutes out.”
The crack of a rifle shattered the moment. Bark exploded from the tree just inches from Maya’s head, showering splinters over Elena.
“Down!” Sully shouted, throwing himself over Elena and Maya.
Another shot rang out, striking the ground next to them. David returned fire and her ears rang.
“To our right, elevated position,” David called out. “I can see the rifle barrel.”
Sully shifted off Elena and Maya. “Keep working. Get him on that ambulance. We’re going after the shooter.”
Sully moved through the underbrush with David fifteen yards to his right, barely visible in the pine-scented air, but staying in sync with him as they homed in on the shooter’s position.
Sully’s boots pressed silently against the forest floor, each step carefully placed to avoid the brittle twigs that could betray his approach.
Another shot rang out, the crack echoing through the trees, the bullet aimed at the ambulance arriving at the scene. It pinged off the side. David fired back, and Sully held his weapon ready, the grip warm and reassuring against his palm.
The rifle disappeared. “Think he’s running?” Sully said. “Or holed up and hoping we don’t know where he’s shooting from?”
“Can’t tell, but if he’s running, he’s not shooting. Are we sure it’s just one guy with a weapon?”
“As sure as we can be at the moment.” Sully motioned to the hunting blind and makeshift ladder partially concealed by the tall pine about eighty yards ahead.
The wooden structure blended with the bark, but the unnatural angles gave it away.
His thoughts flashed briefly to Elena and Maya, Billy and Van.
Were they safe? Was Billy still alive? The worry lodged in his throat like a stone before he forced it down and refocused on what he needed to do.
David nodded and aimed his steps in that direction. A bead of sweat trickled down Sully’s temple as he moved quickly and as quietly as possible now that he was close to the location.
When no more shots came, he sprinted the final twenty yards toward the tree where he suspected the shooter was hiding. He pressed his back against a nearby tree, the bark scraping against his shoulder. He could hear movement above. The wooden planks creaked.
“FBI! Drop your weapon!” Sully called up, gun trained on the blind.
Silence.
Then the sound of someone scrambling higher into the tree.
“There’s nowhere to go,” Sully said. “My partner has a clear shot from the other side. Come down now and no one has to get hurt.” He squinted against the sunlight filtering through the branches, trying to get a glimpse of the shooter.
More silence.
“Now!” David said from his position.
No response.
“I’m a federal agent,” Sully called, sweat trickling down the small of his back despite the cold.
“Don’t make me climb that tree.” Not that he would.
The guy could pick him off like shooting fish in a barrel, but the threat couldn’t hurt.
His wounded shoulder throbbed with a dull, insistent ache as he maintained his position.
Still silence.
Come on, man. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.
He suppressed a sigh, wishing he had all the technology that went with being an agent.
He could use some eyes in that blind. “I’m not kidding.
There are two of us and one of you. We can wait.
Or I can just get someone to bring a chainsaw.
” Again, probably not, but he’d say just about anything at this point to get the guy to surrender peacefully.
Because he was Sully’s ticket to getting some answers.
Seconds passed, marked by the steady thrum of his pulse in his ears.
“Fine,” the voice finally said, young and uncertain, “I’m coming down.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yeah.”
“Leave the rifle and any other weapons you have up there. Understand? Do not have anything in your hands when you come down. And use both hands on the ladder to do so. Am I clear?”
“Clear.”
The tree rustled, branches swaying, then booted feet appeared on the top step of the makeshift ladder. Sully tensed and kept his weapon ready.
But finally the young man appeared. Empty-handed. Just as his feet touched the bottom rung, Sully reached out, grabbed a handful of his camo jacket, and yanked him to the ground face down.
“Hey! Why the rough stuff?”
“You shot at me and people I care about,” Sully said between gritted teeth. “And a man is fighting for his life because of you. Hands behind your back.” His knee pressed into the small of the shooter’s back. The guy’s breaths came out in panicked puffs.
David joined him and slapped zip ties on the shooter’s wrists. “I’m going to get the weapon.” He disappeared up the wooden steps.
“Who are you?” Sully asked, patting him down to check for more weapons. He removed a very large hunting knife, a pocketknife with a worn handle, and another small-caliber pistol. “Told you to leave this stuff up there.”
“Well, you’re not my boss, so . . .” The petulant tone reminded Sully of someone much younger than the man on the ground.
“Name, kid. What’s your name?” His captive didn’t answer.
Sully nudged him with a shove to his shoulder.
“Look, dude, you’re going to be spending some time behind bars.
How much time might just depend on your cooperation.
So . . . I’m going to ask you again. Who are you?
” His patience was wearing thin, frayed by worry for Elena and Ollie and everyone else caught up in whatever this was.
“Spencer Barnes.”
“And you belong to the prepper group up on the mountain?”
“Yeah.”
Now that he was disarmed, Sully righted him and let him lean against the tree. He looked to be in his early twenties with a full curly dark beard, dark eyes, and the black logo-less prepper hat on his head. Exertion and embarrassment flushed his face.
“And your purpose in shooting a man and trying to kill others?” Sully kept his tone even despite the rage simmering beneath the surface.
“Wasn’t trying to shoot anyone,” he mumbled, his head down.
“Well, you did.”
“It was an accident.”
“Right. Tell that to the guy who may not make it.”
“No, seriously,” Spencer said, reluctantly looking up to meet Sully’s gaze. “It really was an accident. I’m a terrible shot. I was aiming away from him. I mean I wanted to get close to scare him, but then I hit him and I didn’t mean to.”
Sully stared down at the kid, the confession so absurd it might actually be true. Was he serious? “What about the shots at the rest of us?”
A flush darkened his tan cheeks. “I wasn’t trying to hit you.”
“Why shoot at us if you didn’t want to hit anyone?”
He shrugged. “That’s not how I roll, but I was ordered to watch this area and . . .” He swallowed. “And shoot if someone came near.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. No one tells me anything most of the time. When they finally do tell me to do something, they don’t tell me why. They just said patrols were happening along the fence line and they needed them gone.”
“But you don’t know why?”
“No.” He shrugged and looked away. “And that’s all I’m saying.”
Sully sighed. “Right. Well, unfortunately, you shot at me. That’s attempted murder of a federal agent and that’s a federal crime.
” Sully paused. He wanted to interview the kid further, but he honestly didn’t know who he could trust at the Bureau.
Normally, he’d call Claire, fill her in that he was involved in a shooting, and have someone come pick the kid up.
But . . . the trust issue was real and the way things had been going, he didn’t want to turn the guy over to the feds until he was sure he could trust the agents coming to get him.
So for now, he’d let the sheriff hold on to him until Sully could figure out who he could trust.
Chris Gowen came to mind. They’d been friends a long time and had worked together on different task forces.
Chris was undercover, but Sully might be able to reach him.
“Come on, let’s get you turned over to the locals for now.
” Also, normally, he’d call for the Evidence Response Team, but then again, that brought all kinds of attention to the ranch.
But . . . did it matter at this point?
Yeah. He kind of thought it did. For now, he’d follow protocol to the best of his ability and deal with any fallout that deviating from it might bring. But the area needed to be processed. He’d talk to the sheriff and see if he had a deputy trained in evidence collection.
With a plan in place, he pulled the guy to his feet, and the three of them began the trek back to where he hoped and prayed Elena would be waiting with the vehicle.
He assumed Maya, and maybe even Van, had gone to the hospital with Billy.
He checked his phone and found a text from Elena.
Relief loosened the knot of worry in his chest.
Rode with Maya to the house. Doctor on board ambo, so Maya and I are with Ollie and Piper at the cabin. All is quiet.
He tapped a response.
On the way back to the house. Can you call the sheriff and tell him we have the shooter in custody?
He tucked the phone into his pocket. They finally reached the vehicle. They settled Spencer Barnes in the back with Sully next to him. David climbed behind the wheel, and the engine rumbled to life.
As they pulled away, Sully shot a glance at the blind where they’d found the shooter.
One piece of the puzzle secured, but still so many questions left unanswered.
His thoughts turned to Elena, to the picture of her sitting on the gym mat, laughing in between tugs to cover the Wonder Woman boy shorts and the infectious way she’d pulled Ollie into the fun while being mindful of the girl’s illness.
She was strong, but she wasn’t invincible.
He’d get answers as to why someone wanted to snuff out that light.
His hands fisted against his thighs.
He’d figure it out. Whatever it took.