Page 34 of Peril in Piney Woods

Ted didn’t argue the point.

A couple of the longest minutes he’d ever experienced later, Meg’s truck came into view. Sure enough, the left front tire was flat. He parked. Scanned the area for Meg. Didn’t see her, but the jack laid on the ground next to the spare tire. A part of Griff hoped this was some aspect of her plan to evade this bizarre couple. But maybe it was just all the movies he’d seen that put the notion in his head.

Griff parked and got out. Ted did the same. Darlene hadn’t rounded the curve in the long driveway just yet.

When Meg didn’t appear, Griff called her name. “Meg?” He walked over to the truck, surveyed the deflated tire. He frowned. Looked as if the sidewall had been punctured.

“Where is she?” Ted scanned the surrounding woods.

“Meg?” Griff called again. “She has to be here—”

The blast of a gunshot silenced him. He shifted to see Ted preparing to fire a second time.

Griff started toward the other man. “What the hell?”

A second shot exploded in the air.

Ted stood for a moment, looking startled. The weapon he’d been holding slipped from his hand and clattered on the gravel. Griff blinked, stared at the hole in the man’s forehead.

Ted dropped to the ground.

“Run!”

Griff shifted his stunned gaze toward the trees.

“Run, damn it!”

Meg.

He couldn’t see her, but the voice was definitely hers.

Darlene appeared in the distance.

She was running now.

Gun.

Her arms were extended and she was holding a gun.

Griff lunged for the tree line.

Another gunshot sounded.

The bullet nicked a tree to his right.

Griff darted behind another larger tree. He held completely still. Listened.

Another gunshot.

A scream.

“Oh God.” He peeked past the trunk that concealed him. If Meg was hit...

He eased from his hiding place and moved carefully toward the road in the direction of the scream.

Darlene sat on the ground. Meg stood over her, the weapon in her hand pointed at the downed woman.

“Get up!” Meg ordered as she tucked something—another gun—into the waistband of her jeans at the small of her back.

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