Page 32 of Hollow Moon

Maggie watched her two captors as she desperately tried to make her fogged brain sort out reality. She’d thought Knox was rushing up the steps to rescue her. Campbell had thought the same thing, and he’d fired. Now he was sorry he’d shot his . . . She might have said friend if she’d thought he had any.

She couldn’t just lie here now. As a nurse, she should help the man on the floor the way she had helped Knox. But in this case, she felt no obligation to tend to him. She had to get away.

While her brother was crouched over his companion, Maggie struggled to steady herself. On wobbly legs, she started across the room.

Could she get past the men?

No. But there was still the window.

This time she reached for the desk chair and smashed it into the already ruined pane.

Campbell hadn’t been paying any attention to her as he’d leaned over the wounded man, but he heard the glass smash.

“Stop!” her brother shouted behind her. “Stop or I’ll shoot.”

Her thoughts might be confused, but she knew one thing—she wasn’t going to stop. The sound of his running feet boomed in her head as she plunged through the window, dropped a couple of feet and landed on the roof of the porch with a thud.

She tried to catch herself, but the surface was slanted, and she started rolling toward the far edge, glass spattering around her.

Somehow, she caught herself before she fell, hovering at the drop-off. The world was spinning. Or maybe her mind was spinning, or maybe both. Below her, the ground seemed to get farther away, then come springing up to slam her in the face.

Her hand hurt, and she raised it, seeing blood. She must have cut herself on the window glass. But that was the least of her worries. She had to get farther back toward the house or she was going to splat against the ground. When she looked up, she saw Campbell leaning out the window, the gun still in his hand.

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As Knox sped toward the house, he heard the crash of glass again. Looking up, he saw Maggie hurl herself through the window and land on the weathered shingles of the roof. He saw her fingers scrabbling at the rough surface, unable to stop herself from sliding toward the edge.

The whole scene seemed to happen in slow motion as she slid toward disaster, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was too far away to even break her fall. His heart leaped into his throat as he kept running, struggling to suck in air. In the last moment before she tumbled into space, she caught herself and came to rest along the gutter.

Thank God.

She sat up, looking around as though she didn’t know where she was and couldn’t figure out how she’d gotten there. Knox’s focus shifted as he spotted movement behind her. To his horror, he saw the brother had followed her to the window and was looking out. In his hand was a gun pointed at Maggie.

“Maggie, get to the other side of the gable,” Knox screamed. She turned her head, staring at him.

###

The frantic call caught the bastard’s attention and he zeroed in on Knox.

“You.”

As long as Knox could keep the guy talking, maybe he could keep his attention away from Maggie.

“You slime. What are you trying to do?”

“Stay out of this.”

“Fuck off.”

Although Knox drew the semi that Cole had brought for him, he couldn’t risk a shot—not when Maggie was in the line of fire. But he saw her inching toward the other side of the porch, heading for the gable.

Before she reached it, Campbell’s gun swung back toward her and Knox felt the blood in his veins turn to ice. The brother fired a shot that struck right beside her shoulder.

“No!” Knox screamed. There was a drainage ditch filled with egg-sized rocks a few yards away. He ran to it and picked up one of the rounded stones, then hurled it toward the window. He was too far away for his aim to be accurate, but it struck the window pane above the bastard’s head.

“Hey,” Campbell shouted, his weapon swinging from Maggie to Knox. By the time he got off a shot, Knox was already zigzagging back and forth, picking up more missiles and throwing them. Some crashed into the window. Others bounced off the siding. None struck the brother, who fired a couple more times but was unable to score a hit.

Knox switched his attention to Maggie and saw her slipping around the corner of the gable. She breathed in a deep sigh, then pressed her shoulders against the worn siding.

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