“As a matter of fact, we are celebrating something.”
I sat down in the chair catty-corner to Hayes’. “And that is?”
“I had a talk with my mom that was long overdue.”
I took a sip of the Coke Hayes had brought out for me and studied his face. There was worry there but there was also relief. “About Hadley?”
“Yeah.”
“How’d it go?”
Hayes picked up a chip and dunked it in some salsa. “Mom doesn’t see how the tension is eating away at all of us. Not yet. Her pain and fear are still overriding everything. But I’m going to hope I planted some seeds that will grow. And, at the very least, I cut off the latest emergency.”
“What was that?”
“Hadley not wanting to stay at my parents’ with everything that’s going on.”
I broke off a piece of a chip and popped it into my mouth. “She likes her independence.”
“That she does. I just hope my mom starts to see why.”
“I think she will with time. The more you gently bring it to her attention, the more she’ll start to see the signs on her own.”
“It was you who made me realize I needed to do it.”
“Why me?”
Hayes nodded. “You showed me that there is more power in facing the ghosts and tearing them down, than pretending they don’t exist.”
I reached over and laced my fingers with his, relishing the feel of his rough palm. “I’m glad I decided to face them.” And no matter what happened, I always would be. Because I got these stolen moments with Hayes. I knew what it felt like to be cherished by him in every way imaginable.
He leaned in and brought his mouth to mine. Comfort and fire, a combination that was solely Hayes, burned through my veins. The shattering of glass had both of our heads snapping up. I gaped at the hole in my window, and the rock I could see on the floor.
“Get inside,” Hayes barked as he scanned the forest.
“Hayes, don’t. You don’t know who’s out there or if they have a gun.”
He pushed me towards the back door. “Go. Call the station for backup. Tell them I’m in pursuit.”
I swallowed down the bile that crawled up my throat and ran for the door as Hayes took off for the forest. I scrambled for my phone, calling nine-one-one and relaying the details. The dispatcher assured me that deputies would arrive in twenty minutes. But twenty minutes was too long.
I moved to my gun locker in the corner and went for my rifle this time—better accuracy. I closed the cabinet with a bang and locked it. Moving for the back door, everything stopped as the crack of a bullet filled the air. Then there was nothing but silence.
37
Hayes
Bark flew as another bullet hit the tree next to me. I let a few choice curses fly as I ducked behind a tree for cover. “Time’s running out. Reinforcements are on the way.”
I just needed whoever this was to make one dumb move. To leave himself open for a shot or give me enough of a visual that I could make an ID. Something.
Another bullet flew past me, embedding itself in a downed log. “You need to work on your shooting. Why don’t you come out here, and we can settle this man-to-man?”
Only silence greeted me. “Too scared? Is that why you try to get the jump on women who aren’t expecting it?”
A hail of bullets peppered the tree I stood behind. Now, I was getting somewhere. I bent and picked up a good-sized rock. Pulling my arm back, I sent it flying into another tree about fifteen feet away. Bark splintered, and the unsub turned his gun in that direction. I aimed, catching sight of the movement, a hand or arm maybe. I fired, and the man hollered.
I charged forward, but before I could make even a few feet of progress, the crack of a bullet filled the air. Fiery, burning pain lanced my shoulder. The bloom so red-hot I saw stars. Another bullet whizzed past my head, and I was forced to duck behind another tree.
Footsteps pounded the forest floor, not towards me but away. Less than a minute later, that changed to hoofbeats. The force they echoed with told me he was getting away at a gallop.
I took a breath, my lungs rattling with the adrenaline dump. Looking down at my shoulder, I winced. Blood soaked through my short-sleeve uniform shirt. I carefully rolled it up. “Shit.” It was only a graze, but it was deep.
I pushed to my feet and started back towards the cabin, my gait a little unsteady. My uninjured arm rose, gun centered on the figure who stepped out of the trees. “Ev, what the hell?”
She slowly lowered her rifle. “Your arm. Oh, God, your arm.”
“I’m fine. It’s just a graze.”
“That is too much blood for a graze. We need to get you back to the cabin. Is he still out there?”
“Long gone. Horseback.”
Sirens sounded as Everly led me up the stairs and towards a chair. “You sit. I’ll get the reinforcements.”
Within moments, Young, Ruiz, and Williams appeared on the back deck. “Shit, boss,” Ruiz said. “Should we call the paramedics?”
Everly answered “Yes,” at the same time I said, “No.” She moved in close. “You have to be kidding me. You’re bleeding all over my deck, and you don’t want a medic? We need to take you to the hospital.”
“Call Hadley. She can stitch me up.”
Ev glared at me. “I’ll call her, but only so that she can drug you so we can take you in.” She pulled out her phone and walked to the other side of the deck to make her call.
“I like her,” Young stated.
“Of course, you do.” I winced as I tried to move my arm.
Young tracked the movement. “Are you sure you shouldn’t go to the hospital? That looks rough.”
Williams, looking a little green, nodded. “She has a point.”
“I’ll be fine. Hads will get me all patched up, she’s done it before.”
Everly sent me a glare as she walked inside still on the phone.
I turned back to my officers. “Call Forest Service. Unknown male subject on horseback.”
“You get a look?” Ruiz asked.
“Only enough to say, ‘male.’ I think shorter than me, but I can’t be sure. I only saw his back. I think a shot may have hit his arm.”
Ruiz lifted his chin in assent and moved to make his call.
Everly came out of the back door with what looked like a first-aid kit. “Hadley and Shiloh are on their way. They were picking up pizza so it shouldn’t be too long. In the meantime, I need to put pressure on the wound.”
Ev opened the kit and pulled out a gauze pad. She gently pulled up my sleeve and sucked in an audible breath. “This is going to hurt, Hayes.”
“I can take it.”
She slipped her free hand into mine and then pressed the gauze to my wound. “I’m sorry. Just hold on.”
Those same white lights danced in front of my eyes as the pain flared back to life. “I’m okay,” I gritted out.
Young did her best to distract me, asking me to walk her through the night’s events. By the time Hadley and Shiloh arrived, she was running out of questions. Thankfully, Williams had taken that time to bag the rock and clean up the broken glass because even on his bum leg, Koda tore through the cabin out to the deck like he knew something was wrong.