Page 53 of Lone Star Witness

Not Colonel Rosa.

But rather Stephanie.

Jericho didn’t free her hands, probably because he didn’t want to take the time and because he didn’t trust her. He was reaching for the second rope when Nash shouted for him to take cover.

“Sonny’s at your nine o’clock,” Nash relayed to Jericho.

Jericho moved lightning fast and hooked his arm around Stephanie, hauling her behind a tree with him. Sonny began firing at them and moving closer. Step by step. One shot after another. Pinning them down with his gunfire.

“Hell,” Nash muttered. “We’ve got to get out of here. Now,” he added in a shout as he scrambled across the seat and threw open the back doors.

Marise managed to get just a glimpse of the drone feed, and she saw the gun that had been shooting at them no longer had the assault rifle. He’d taken something from his pocket and had hurled it in their direction.

“Grenade,” Nash supplied.

Caroline, Nash, and she jumped out of the van and started running. She didn’t look back. Good thing, too, since the explosion happened only seconds later, and the debris went flying.

There were the sounds of metal ripping apart. More sounds of the parts of the van smacking into the ground and the woods. It was like being caught in the middle of a battle.

Nash practically shoved them all behind a tree, and they dropped down. Not for long though. Because there was the sound of more gunfire. The thug was coming after them.

“Stay put,” Nash told them.

They did, but Caroline whipped out a knife, making Marise wish she had a weapon. Even her paperweight would do, but since it wasn’t here, she latched onto a long, skinny fallen tree branch that had a fairly sharp end. She’d use it like a spear if necessary.

Marise lost sight of Nash, and she cursed that she no longer had a monitor. She needed it for grounding, to stave off a panic attack.

“You’re in love with Slade,” Caroline whispered.

Marise snapped toward her, totally confused as to why Caroline would say something like that now.

“You are. I can see it,” Caroline went on. “So, fix Slade’s image in your head and use it to try to level your breathing. Try to think only of Slade.” She paused a heartbeat. “I have panic attacks, and I recognized the signs,” she added in a mutter.

Marise didn’t question her about her attacks. She simply did what the woman had suggested. Since she couldn’t see Slade on the monitor, she saw him in her head.

And it worked.

Sweet heaven. The man worked even when he was merely an illusion.

Caroline nodded, maybe approving of the fact that Marise was getting control of her breath, but the sound of a shot had Caroline and her whipping their attention to their right. This sound hadn’t been like the gunfire from the assault rifle. This was another weapon.

Marise peered around the tree and saw Nash making his way toward them. And he wasn’t alone. At first, Marise thought it was part of the illusion, but then she realized Slade was right there with Nash.

“The two gunmen are dead,” Nash told them. “And Jericho took care of the one by the creek.”

Just as he was explaining that, Marise heard the gunfire. She’d heard it earlier, and now she knew it was coming from the area around the creek.

“Sonny’s shooting at Jericho?” Marise asked.

“Yeah,” Slade verified. “And I don’t have a vehicle to put you in. Caroline and you have to come with us.”

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but with you,” Marise let him know. “Well, maybe I’d want to be in the hot tub with you,” she added, her nerves zinging and making her babble. “But here works since we’re together. Now, let’s go save the colonel.”

Slade’s mouth tightened, but he didn’t rethink this impromptu change to the plan. The four of them started walking toward the creek.

“Rule one,” Slade said, as he kept watching them. “You stay behind me. Rule two, get down once we have a visual on Jericho or the creek. Rule three, find a big tree and stay put.”

“That’s such a hero thing to say,” she muttered.

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