Page 44 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed
And while she couldn’t see that hand at the moment, another shot came their way. Then, another.
In between the deafening blasts, Hallie could hear Jay moaning in pain. Maybe bleeding out, but it was also possible that this injury was an act. Despite how real it had looked, and it looked damn real, it could be part of a ruse that Jay had set up tokill them. He could have hired a henchman willing to carry out this sick plan to murder her.
“Help me,” Jay begged.
Hallie wasn’t completely immune to that pain she thought she heard in his voice, but she stayed put. Listening. She also fired off a text to Jesse and Shaw, to warn them to stay put, that there was an active shooter in the house.
It wasn’t safe for the EMTs to come in.
Wasn’t safe for Shaw or Jesse to do that either since it would mean coming up the stairs where they’d be an easy target for whoever was in that back room at the end of the hall.
“You’re letting me die,” Jay howled.
Reed muttered some profanity and made a quick glance down the hall. He got an equally quick response of another shot being fired at them.
“It’s me you want,” Hallie shouted to their attacker.
She stepped into the doorway, peering out for a second as Reed had done moments earlier. Just enough time for the shooter to have possibly gotten a glimpse of her.
Of course, Reed moved in right next to her and gave her a scowl, but she had to do something. The longer this standoff went on, the longer it’d be before the EMTs could get in to tend to Mrs. Robey. The longer Jay would continue to lie there and bleed, too. But there was an even more important reason to end this.
The killer had to be stopped.
If that was Jay, then they already had him in their sights. And a paid hired gun might be willing to surrender. Or take the bait and come out for her with guns blazing. If so, she knew she could count on Reed to end this here and now. No way would he let her be gunned down.
And she felt the same way about him.
Yes, her aim might not be as good as his because of her injury, but she’d do anything in her power to get them both out of this alive.
She put the flashlight on the floor to free up her hand, and she nudged it with her foot so that it rolled out into the hall. It landed just right, creating a spotlight on Jay and the door of the room where the shooter was hiding.
“Well?” she taunted. “I’m right here, you sniveling coward. It takes a big man to club Mrs. Robey. Or to cower in a room while firing off shots.”
Because she was still in the doorway, she saw the movement. So fast. Like that shadowy blur on the stairwell earlier. Someone wearing a ski mask and dark clothes swooped out from the room at the end of the hall.
A man.
But she couldn’t tell who it was.
In a blink, the man dropped down, dragging Jay in front of him as a human shield. Hallie could see the blood that had already soaked through Jay’s shirt and his face was pale with shock and pain. The man pressed the barrel of his gun directly against Jay’s temple.
Reed and she both stayed back but took aim at the armed man. This possible henchman. Or he could be the real deal.
The killer they’d been searching for.
“Drop your weapons,” the shooter barked, his voice sharp and commanding. “Or I’ll kill him.”
Hallie froze, her weapon trained on the shooter, but her mind latched right onto that voice.
“It’s Luther,” she said, not in a whisper either, but plenty loud enough for him to know that she knew who he was.
“Yeah,” Reed replied. “The sonofabitch is the killer.”
She had to agree with that, but Hallie wasn’t sure why the man had created this nightmare. But she soon got an inklingof that when Luther shouted, “Idiots, you were supposed to gun down Jay. You were supposed to do your jobs and kill the asshole.”
“He wasn’t armed,” Hallie pointed out. “And he didn’t shoot at us, you did.”
“You were supposed to kill him because you hate him, and he’s trying to ruin you,” Luther insisted. “Then, you could have found me gagged and cuffed with his DNA all over me to prove that I was going to be his next victim.”
