Page 7 of Jina

She stretched out on her belly, her arms outstretched and the barrel of her gun pointed at the car. She would have loved to pepper it with bullets, but the distance between them was roughly eighty yards.

Almost the length of a football field. She sincerely wished she hadn’t left her sniper’s rifle behind in her apartment. Normally, she took it everywhere, but she hadn’t expected to need it at her sister’s.

Now she was too far out of range for her handgun to even hit the perp’s vehicle, much less render it useless.

But she could be patient.

Regardless of the red tape, if that idiot behind the wheel was the shooter and came any closer, she would shoot first and ask questions later.

Unable to sleep after his less than satisfactory interview with Jina, Cole was listening to the police scanner when the 911 call came in. Hearing her name, he jumped off the sofa, quickly dressed, grabbed his weapon, and hit the door at a run.

Of course, Jina had headed to Madison, he thought with a burst of annoyance. No doubt she’d wanted to be there when he arrived at her sister’s place the following morning for the dreaded interview.

While he found the move on Jina’s part to be highly suspicious, his immediate concern was her report of a vehicle trying to run her off the interstate. As it was now just past one o’clock in the morning, the only logical explanation was that the driver was the same shooter who had shown up at the gym.

As he took the exit onto the interstate, he thumped his fist on the steering wheel. He knew he should have stayed in his car outside her duplex.

Cole hit the switch to turn on the red and blue light strip along the back of his SUV and floored the gas pedal, racing as fast as he dared toward Johnson Creek. The state patrol would probably arrive first, but he didn’t care. After the event barely an hour ago, he had a vested interest in this gunman too.

Not to mention his need to confront Jina over her late-night trek to her sister’s place. For claiming not to know anything about the dead guy on her family’s farmland, she was mighty determined to keep him from doing his job.

What was up with that anyway? Was she really concerned about her sister’s delicate condition, or was there something else going on?

His gut was screaming at him that there was far more to this situation than Jina had admitted to knowing.

No more professional courtesy. After this latest stunt of hers, their next interview would be at the Peabody police station. And if Jina didn’t come clean this time, he’d toss her in jail until she did.

Up ahead, bright red and blue lights from the state patrol lit up the sky. He searched the right-hand side of the road for signs of Jina’s Jeep Wrangler but didn’t find it.

Until he glanced over at the farmer’s field. His jaw dropped when he saw the four wheels of her Jeep pointing at the sky. His gut clenched with fear.

Was she hurt? Killed?

His previous annoyance vanished behind a wave of concern. She could play the tough cop all she wanted, but she was still flesh and blood. And being an expert in jujitsu and kickboxing didn’t mean she could survive a car crash.

He pulled in behind the patrol car and jumped out. There was no sign of the officer, so he shouted, “Jina!”

There was no response, which only made his pulse kick into high gear. Was she unconscious? There hadn’t been a top on the Jeep an hour ago, and he prayed she hadn’t been thrown from the vehicle.

As he grew closer to the upside-down car, Jina crawled out from beneath the Jeep and stood to face the patrol officer. A staggering relief hit hard, but he didn’t slow his pace. “Jina, are you okay?”

“Cole?” She couldn’t have looked more surprised to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard the call come through the scanner.” He raked his gaze over her, grateful there were no obvious signs of injury. Maybe some bruising to her face, but nothing too serious.

Thank you, Lord Jesus!

“And who are you?” the cop asked.

“Detective Cole Roberts.” He felt slightly foolish for barreling out here like a bereaved boyfriend. “I’m with the Peabody Police Department.”

“Detective Roberts was at the gym earlier when an unknown perp took two shots at me,” Jina said, giving him an exasperated look. He belatedly realized she had an overnight bag slung over her shoulder. “I told you about that earlier. It looks like we’re both working under the theory that these two incidents are related.”

“What happened?” He gestured to the Jeep. “Did he ram into you?”

“No, I drove out here to avoid him.” She scowled, clearly upset at the state of her vehicle. “I was watching him try to follow me across the farm field in the rearview mirror when my tire hit that giant bolder over there. That’s what flipped me over.”

“And where is that vehicle now?” the patrol officer asked. The guy’s name tag indicated his last name was Parsons. “Are you sure you haven’t been drinking?”

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