Page 51 of Defender

“Okay.Hurry.”

She picked up Chloe, praying her daughter wouldn’t wake and cry.She grabbed the blanket and drew it around her and the baby.

Chloe remained asleep.Summer went to the door leading to the balcony and opened it.

“I’m outside now.Chloe’s still asleep.”

“Help is going to be there in about eight minutes.You’ve just got to keep away from him until then.”

Chloe hurried down the stairs and across the open area into the trees.“I’m running toward the woods.”

She screamed and almost dropped the phone as a tree to her left splintered into pieces and a boom filled the air.She dove for cover behind other trees.

“Summer!”Ashton’s voice roared into the phone.

“I’m okay.He shot at me but missed.I’m in the trees now.”She could feel Chloe start to stiffen.“I’ve got to keep moving or Chloe’s going to cry.”

“Stick your hand out from behind the tree quickly, then bring it back in.”

She didn’t understand but she trusted Ashton.“I did it.Nothing happened.”

“Run deeper into the woods.He didn’t shoot at your hand so he’s probably working his way down the stairs.”

Summer began moving again and felt Chloe relax.She kept her daughter tight against her chest and forced herself to run as fast as she could.After just a few minutes, all she could hear was the sound of her own breath as it sawed in and out of her chest.

Chloe’s sleeping weight became almost unbearable.

She stopped to rest for a moment.“Ashton, I don’t know where he is or how long I can keep running.”She said the words around her breaths.

“I’m at the house now.Keep this line open.I’m tracking your phone.Don’t try to talk.Just keep moving, okay?”

“Yes.”She tucked the phone inside the blanket with Chloe and began moving again.Another shot rang out.Not as close as the first one, but close enough for Summer to realize the man was almost on her.

She picked up speed again, trying to use the cover of the larger trees, struggling to keep her footing in the darkness, arms burning in agony.She felt like she had run forever and knew she had to stop and rest for a minute.If she fell and broke an ankle she and Chloe would both be dead.

“Have to stop—For a minute,” she said as close as she could to the phone that was tucked in with Chloe.She hoped Ashton could hear her.

She found a large tree she could sit behind and sank to the ground, rocking Chloe back and forth in hopes of keeping her asleep.She felt something crawl across the upper part of her foot but didn’t let it faze her.Her fear of bugs and snakes definitely took a back seat to her fear of a maniac chasing her with a gun.

How much time did Ashton need?Was he already in the forest with them?Would her phone pinpoint her location or just give him a general idea?

Should she start running again?

The questions spun through her mind so quickly it made it hard to think.What was her best course of action?

And then the man stepped out from behind the tree in front of her, gun pointed right at them.

“I’m sorry,” he said, shrugging.“This is nothing personal.”

“Wait.I don’t know who you are.”She had to try to buy some time.

The man actually looked sympathetic.“I know.And like I said, I’m sorry it had to be you.I just have to take from them what they took from me.They have to understand the agony of grief.”

Before Summer could say a word, even beg for her daughter’s life if not her own, a shot rang out in the darkness.

Chapter Sixteen

Ashton plowed his car through the small ravine next to the safe house and drove as far as he could into the woods before the axel got caught on something.That was the third car he’d totaled this week, but he couldn’t care less.

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