Page 66 of Twin Threats In Austin
Weapon drawn, Camden moved to block the shooter from taking another shot. Crouched on his heels, he asked, “What does it look like?”
“I’m losing blood,” Lee said, shock in his voice.
Camden tore off a piece of his undershirt. “Use this to put pressure on the wound until help arrives.”
“Out here?” Lee said, taking the offering as Camden resumed a defensive position.
“We aren’t alone,” Camden pointed out. “Someone will have heard the shot. You said there’s a search team.”
“I did,” Lee said as he grunted again.
“Everyone will descend on this area,” Camden said. “It won’t be long before the cavalry arrives. Hang tight, okay?”
“No choice.”
“You’re going to be fine,” Camden said with authority.
“No choice there either. Got a wife and six-year-old kid depending on me to walk through the door every night,” Lee said matter-of-factly.
“And that’s exactly what you’re going to do,” Camden reassured him. The bleeding was manageable if Lee kept pressure on the wound. The problem wasn’t the bullet fragment.
Asher had fired at two law-enforcement officers—three, counting Rochelle.
The dart-filled picture of his mother that was hanging on the bedroom wall spoke volumes about his mental condition. He’d snapped in the past few weeks. And now, Camden needed to figure out a way out of the woods while keeping a wounded man from bleeding out. Help might be on the way.
Camden had learned never to count on someone else showing up to save the day. He’d been lucky once when Ace jumped in front of a moving vehicle to knock Camden out of the way.
Had his luck run out?
Chapter Twenty-Three
“We’re losing track of the area where the shot was fired,” Rochelle said to Benny.
“At least we stopped moving in circles,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything familiar in the last five minutes since we started heading this way.”
They’d began moving in the direction of the gun blast seconds after hearing it. Rochelle couldn’t go in her mind to a situation where Camden was lying in a ravine somewhere. She couldn’t let herself believe he was gone before she got a chance to tell him how she really felt. It would be a shame to have to hold that in for the rest of her life.
The thought of losing another person she loved pierced her in the center of her chest.
Those thoughts, looping around in her head, fueled her to keep moving despite the pain in the bottom of her right foot. At least the boot gave her more mobility. Either way, she was making a beeline toward the sound.
She was keenly aware of the fact she had to be careful not to make too much noise as they neared the area where Asher Foley had to be. It had to be him. They were close. Lives beyond Camden’s were still on the line. At least she prayed Justina was still alive.
Deep breaths.
Moving swiftly through the woods as branches slapped at her face, she realized the sun was beginning its descent. Nightwould fall soon, making finding anyone or a way out even more difficult.
Dammit.
Not to mention, they’d been in the woods for what felt like hours without running into anyone else.
Rochelle stopped. “Are we even on the right track anymore?”
Benny shook his head. “I have no idea.”
And then she heard a noise. An animal?
“Did you hear that?” she asked, but Benny had already turned toward the sound. The trees were thick in this area, but light peeked in ten yards away. “Over there.” She turned toward the light and aimed her weapon as she methodically stepped toward the noise. If it was, in fact, a wounded animal, she would do the right thing and put it out of its misery if there was no way to save it.
