Page 63 of The Aura Answer
Jax was ready the moment Evie slumped. She’d terrified him the first time she’d done this. His pulse still accelerated. But he knew she was simply drained, more so if she’d just sent Sammy to the next plane.
He cuddled her close and took a seat on a rickety Bentwood rocker as she stirred.
The distinct crack of a rifle shattered the brief moment of peace.
Twenty-four
His earlier glee dilutedby hours of hunting for an apartment he couldn’t afford if he had to make car payments, Nick pulled off the highway at sight of the collection of family vehicles at the Barn. They must still be deciding what to do with the inventory.
His brain bubbled with suggestions. Creating ads and marketing slogans came easily, but he loved hands-on work. Gracie probably had a low opinion about that, given her bad experience.
He wasn’t entirely certain why he worried about her opinion, except he’d spent these last hours trying to imagine Gracie in the apartments he looked at and failing. She needed her little cottage and yard and her family. He needed an understanding, independent woman like Gracie, one who wouldn’t mind a modern apartment with a swimming pool for a courtyard—in a bad part of town where schools probably sucked.
He was starting to remember how he’d become mixed up with his family’s bad lot who waved cash.
He slid the Harley between Evie’s Subaru and Gracie’s Kia. While he watched, the mayor in her fur coat climbed out of a Mercedes near the front door. He’d driven fancier cars. He was no longer interested. Luxury cars only had two purposes—toimpress and to guzzle gas from one place to the next. He’d seen the result of showing off wealth. It was unhealthy for the budget and one’s morals. These days, he simply needed wheels.
The abrupt silence of the bike as he switched off made the loud crack even louder. Nick froze. He was a city boy, but he’d been on a pheasant hunt with a sponsor once. He was pretty certain that had been a gun. Did people shoot birds here?
In answer, right before his eyes, the mayor slumped to the ground between the barn and her car.
Bloody friggin’ hell. What did he do now?
Instinctively, he hit the emergency number on his mobile while ducking between the Subaru and Kia. Reporting his location to the dispatcher, he tried to scan his surroundings. He had a vague memory that the dispatcher wasn’t local.
The barn door flew open and Reuben dashed out. The gun cracked again. The computer nerd flattened beside the Mercedes and Nick lost sight of him.
He wasn’t a military man. He didn’t carry a gun. Where was Jax?
Another gun shot hit the dirt in front of the barn door when it opened again.
Back door. There was a back door—
The gun fired again. Nick couldn’t see where it hit. Could the sniper see the back door too?
His gaze traveled up the hill to the burned-out fruit stand. A sniper up there could see half the county while hiding behind those block walls.
Maybe they would go away if no one else emerged. Except he heard no sirens and the mayor could be dying.
He tried calling Gracie to warn her to keep everyone inside and got voice mail. The same with Evie and Jax. Bloody hell.
The gun spit two more times. Still no siren.
Cursing, Nick climbed back on the bike. Leaning low, he throttled the gas into full speed, scattering gravel like shrapnel. How far did guns reach? Obviously, pretty far to have hit the mayor. He knew nothing of weapons except some carried multiple rounds of ammunition. Surely no one would shoot into traffic? He hit the highway behind a hay truck and a semi.
He veered into the fruit stand lot as the first siren screamed down the highway. Before he could figure out what he meant to do, a scooter sputtered into life and rolled away—straight down the rutted hill behind the stand and into the muddy field beyond.
Anger dictated revving Jax’s expensive Harley into running the sniper down, but the sheriff’s car screaming into the lot below held him back. Torn, he hesitated. He never wanted to be arrested again. Twice was more than enough. And if he took off down that hill with his record... They’d think he was a sniper and shoot him.
Cursing, he stuck to his civic duty. He roared back to the parking lot and pointed out the direction of the sniper to the man in uniform.
While the lawman called in his report, Reuben rose from the gravel, hand extended. “You have a working phone? Give it to me.”
Startled, Nick did as told, and watched with relief as the fur-coated mayor warily stood up behind the massive Mercedes.
An ambulance roared in, and Reuben all but shoved the mayor toward it while shouting directions at his partner on the other end of the line about trajectories and blockades.
Jax peered warily from the Barn door, then stepped out at sight of the official cars roaring into the gravel lot.
