Page 38 of Cassidy

She ducked as more gunfire rang out. “The bathroom,” she said, gesturing to it. “Get into the tub and keep your head down.”

“What about you?” Gabe asked, his brown eyes full of concern.

No question they were in a tough spot. Steele had taken the rental, leaving them without a quick way to escape. “I’ll hold them off until the cops arrive.”

“Then I’m staying with you,” Gabe said.

She wanted to yell at him, but that would be a waste of time. “Follow me, then. We’re heading to the other room.”

She duck-walked through the connecting doorway with Gabe following. So far, the shots had peppered the room Gabe had been sitting in. Their only advantage was that the shooter probably didn’t know about the connecting rooms.

It wasn’t much, but she edged toward the window, staying to the side as she scanned the wooded area across the parking lot. She knew that area well, as several other shooters had positioned themselves there to pepper the motel with bullets.

They really needed to stop using Gary’s motel as a safe house.

She caught a glimpse of movement. She held her breath, waiting to see more. There! A dark shadow near a tree. She lifted her service weapon and pressed the tip up against the glass window. It wasn’t optimal to fire through glass, but she would if necessary.

There was a lull in the shooting, giving her the impression the gunman was trying to figure out if he’d eliminated his target.

“Come out where I can see you,” she whispered. “Come on, show your face.”

Another flash of movement followed by another volley of gunfire. This time, she was forced to duck to the side as their window was struck.

Apparently, this guy was hedging his bets. What if he decided to take out more windows? She couldn’t sit there while innocent people were hurt.

Or worse.

She popped her head up and fired toward the shadow. Then she dropped back down to where Gabe was huddling beside her.

Where was the Brookland PD?

Cold air streamed in through the broken windows. Then she heard sirens.

She took another quick peek over the windowsill, but this time she didn’t see any movement near the trees. The silence stretched from ten seconds to twenty, then thirty seconds.

The shooter was getting away!

She jumped up and reached for the door, just as Gabe snagged her hand. “Wait, where are you going?”

“We need to find him!” She shook off his grip, then paused. All Gabe had for protection was the laptop. She couldn’t leave him alone and vulnerable. She abruptly dropped back down to her haunches. “Never mind. The Brookland PD is already on their way. They’ll fan out to search for this guy.”

Gabe looked torn between telling her to go and asking her to stay. She couldn’t blame him; it was a toss-up for her too.

“We’ll find him,” she said reassuringly. “Hopefully, Gary caught his image on the cameras.”

Three Brookland PD squads squealed into the parking lot, and several cops dressed in tactical gear jumped out and hunkered down behind the squads.

“He took off!” Gary shouted. “I was watching the camera when he took off!”

Instantly, the cops jumped up and spread out to search. But Cass instinctively knew it was too late.

The shooter was long gone.

ChapterNine

This being shot at was really starting to piss him off. And he hated knowing that Cassidy was under fire like this on a regular basis.

Not that he didn’t admire her skill and bravery, because he did.

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