Page 57 of Colton Family Bodyguard (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

The man glanced at Callum and back at her, blowing smoke out and then dropping his cigarette onto the ground.

“No. I’m waiting for someone.”

“What’s your name?”

“Joseph Smith.”

“Do you have any ID?” Callum asked.

The man removed his wallet and showed them his driver’s license. It said Joseph Smith but any person, even a man who stole cars and committed murder, could come up with a fake one.

“Who are you waiting for?” Kerry asked.

“No one who’s staying here. We just agreed to meet in this parking lot because it’s halfway between where we live.”

“What is the person’s name who you’re meeting?” Callum asked.

“You a cop like her?” Joseph asked.

“No. There’s been suspicious characters loitering around this inn.”

Joseph didn’t respond right away but then he said, “Her name is Eleanor and I’d rather not tell you her last name. She’s married. I don’t want to get her in trouble.”

Callum halfway believed this guy. Just when he was about to interrogate him some more, a gunshot rang out and a bullet splintered the bark of the tree.

“Holy...!” Joseph dove for the ground as Kerry and Callum drew their weapons and took cover, she behind the tree trunk and he behind another nearby.

He searched the parking lot and saw no moving vehicles or anyone inside a vehicle. Most notably, there was no sign of the SUV.

He spotted something in the trees surrounding the inn. “Over there!” He pointed.

Kerry nodded and yelled, “You stay here!” then sprinted for the trees.

Callum followed. He couldn’t in good conscience allow her to track down a killer on her own. But she was the detective.

The shooter had a good head start, but he ducked behind a tree trunk and poked his head out to shoot at them. He missed Kerry by inches.

Callum fired back, forcing the man to retreat. He got a good enough look at him to know this person was bigger than the one in the SUV. Whoever this person was, he was very desperate to silence anyone who could track him down.

He and Kerry emerged from the trees where they had taken cover and ran to two others closer to their target.

The shooter fled. Callum didn’t have a good shot, but Kerry did. She fired and must have gotten the man’s leg because he stumbled and then limped away.

Callum lost sight of him in the trees, but they soon reached a clearing and the highway. An older model Camaro was parked at the side of the road and the shooter got inside. By the time Callum and Kerry broke free of the trees, he had the car racing away. Kerry took aim and fired twice, breaking the back window but missing the driver.

She stood on the side of the highway staring after the vanishing car, putting her gun away.

&n

bsp; Callum did the same.

“He’s a slippery one, isn’t he?” she said.

“Why did he shoot at us?” Callum asked.

“He was trying to shoot you,” Kerry said.

He had shot at Kerry, too. Had he gone insane?

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