Page 19 of Lone Star Protector

She pulled out a rifle with a scope and scrambled back to the driver’s side door to stick it out for Nash.

“Thanks,” he muttered. “There’s a second one. Get it for Ruby.”

Caroline did, handing it off to him so he could in turn pass it to Ruby. “By the way, I’m a good shot,” Caroline let him know. “A very good shot,” she emphasized.

“Then, get a third one for yourself but still stay down.”

She did, after she sighed, and Caroline was about to ask if they needed ammo, but she saw Nash lift the rifle and use the scope to take aim.

“Drone feed in,” Ruby said. “One shooter. A male dressed all in black and wearing a balaclava. Armed with a sniper rifle. He’s in the cluster of live oaks. There.” She pointed to the same area where Nash already had the rifle pointed.

It wasn’t close. She’d done plenty of target training, and she hadn’t lied when she’d told Nash that she was a good marksman, but this distance would have been a serious challenge for her. Of course, it was possibly a challenge for the shooter, too, since he hadn’t actually hit them.

Not yet anyway.

And coming in closer toward them probably would have been akin to a suicide mission what with three cops, Nash, and Ruby on the scene.

“Stay down, everyone,” Nash shouted.

And he fired.

Since he was so close to her, the thick blasts from the shotgun thundered in her ears, and the shots just kept on coming. She counted to five before she heard something else.

Ruby cursed, and she pressed her fingers to her earpiece where she was no doubt getting bad news.

“The shooter dropped down out of the tree,” her mother blurted. “The sonofabitch is getting away.”

Chapter Seven

----- ? ----

“No,” Caroline shouted.

Nash whirled toward her, a horrible thought flying through his mind.

That she’d been hit. That one of the gunman’s bullets had made it through the SUV and into her.

But she hadn’t been hit.

And he saw the reason for her shout. The anger and frustration were in every part of her expression. All of those emotions must have just come pouring out of her, and she’d released it in that ear-piecing yell.

Like Nash, Caroline didn’t want Bodie, or whoever the hell this was, getting away. Nash wanted him stopped and taken into custody. He wanted him to pay for ripping Caroline’s life apart at the seams.

“I’m calling for more backup,” the county deputy yelled. “Nobody go in pursuit. I’ll get a team out here.”

Nash wouldn’t hold out hope that the team would get there in time, especially since the shooter probably had a vehicle stashed nearby and was at the moment already in it and heading to heaven knew where.

Or he could be waiting to gun down anyone who went into the clearing.

Either way, Nash wasn’t going after him, but instead he instructed the person monitoring the drone to keep track of the shooter. If they could see where he was going, they could catch him.

Well, they could do that after Caroline was safe, that is. And all right. It was obvious at the moment that she wasn’t anywhere in that realm of being all right.

“No,” she repeated, but this time it came out more like a sob. “I won’t cry. I. Will. Not. Cry.”

But tears watered her eyes. Tears that crushed his heart, and once again, he wished he could make the asshole pay for putting her through this.

“Go ahead and get her out of here before the fire department jams up the driveway,” Ruby whispered to him. “Slade is only a couple of miles out and will be here soon to follow you for backup.”

---