Page 54 of Marked For Revenge

Writhing in pain, Aaron fell all the way to the ground, clutching his shoulder. In all his moving around, Ava got a good look at the back of his jeans and didn’t see any weapons. Then again, she doubted now that he was truly the killer unless his own henchman had shot him by mistake.

“An ambulance will be here soon,” she muttered to him. Though Ava had no idea when that would happen with the gunshots being fired all around them. “Keep pressure on the wound until help gets here,” she added.

Even though Aaron wasn’t her priority—Caleb and Harley were—she still didn’t want him to bleed out. It was possible Aaron was innocent of everything that’d happened, and even if he had actually had some part in it, Ava wanted him alive so he could fill them in on any details he might know. She wanted any and all info that could catch this killer and end the murders.

Her head whipped up when she heard the sound of running footsteps. They definitely weren’t coming from the area where Harley should be. No, these were in the area where those shots had originated, and that meant the shooter was on the move. Maybe trying to escape. Maybe trying to go after Harley or Caleb.

She heard something else. Something that had every muscle tightening in Ava’s body. A moan, the sound of someone in pain. She couldn’t stay put, not after hearing that, and she wasn’t much good to Harley or Caleb if she didn’t at least try to help.

Ava bolted away from the tree and went after the killer.

HARLEY KEPT MOVING, kept looking for any signs of Caleb and the person who’d grabbed him. It was next to impossible to see drag marks, footprints or such, but he had heard something that gave him a good idea of the killer’s movements.

Movements that could have gotten Ava killed.

He refused to dwell on that because just the thought of it twisted him up inside. Instead, Harley focused on doing whatever he could to put a quick end to this so he could rescue Caleb and then hurry back to Ava.

Harley had no doubts that the killer or someone working for the killer had gone to the area where he’d left Ava and Aaron. He’d had no trouble hearing the shots. Had no trouble imagining what those bullets could be doing. That’s why Harley had backtracked and headed that direction, to try to take out the shooter before he or she could do any more damage.

But then the snake had gone on the move again.

Not slow, cautious steps, either, but moving fast. Harley was pretty sure the person was heading back to the original spot where Ava and he had first seen Caleb being grabbed.

Harley didn’t make a beeline in that direction. That would be too dangerous, to come at the killer head-on, so he went back to his original plan of circling around to hopefully come up from the side. That’d be his best bet for getting a clean shot to stop whatever the hell was happening right now.

He tried to avoid stepping on any fallen tree branches so he wouldn’t telegraph his movements, but he was certain he was making plenty of noise. That wouldn’t help with the element of surprise. However, the killer had to know that Ava and he would be doing everything possible to get Caleb out of there safely.

That would mean a confrontation with the killer.

Harley welcomed it. Welcomed the chance to stop the killer from doing any more harm. But he was going to have to make sure the SOB didn’t get the chance to stop him first.

He paused when he heard yet more footsteps. Close ones. Not running ones this time, and they were getting closer to him. He held his breath, listening and waiting. Then he had to curse when he caught some movement from the corner of his eye and realized it wasn’t the killer or Caleb.

It was Ava.

Harley was beyond thankful that she didn’t appear to be hurt, but he wanted to demand to know what the hell she was doing there. He didn’t have to wait long, though, for her to tell him.

“The shooter’s moving that way,” she whispered, tipping her head further to the left than he’d been heading.

If he’d continued on his path, he might have ended up having a face-to-face instead of sneaking up on him or her.

“Aaron’s been shot,” Ava added before Harley could wonder how she’d known that. “The shooter fired and then went in that direction.” She motioned to his left again, and then her eyes met his. “I couldn’t stay put.”

Yeah, he’d already figured that out. In some ways, it was easier having her with him because he didn’t have to imagine what terrible things might have been happening to her. But having her there was also a distraction, because Harley would do anything to protect her.

Anything.

“How bad is Aaron hurt?” Harley asked.

“A bullet to the shoulder,” she supplied.

So that meant Aaron was likely out of commission. Well, unless he’d faked his injury, and Harley wouldn’t put it past the man to do something like that. But if Aaron was truly injured, it meant Ava and he were about to face either Duran or Marnie. Of course, it could also be someone they’d hired. More than one, in fact.

If so, that meant Ava and he could be walking into a trap.

Harley had silenced his phone, but he felt it vibrate, and he took it out so he could glance at the screen. “It’s Theo,” he relayed to Ava. “He’s heading into the woods now.”

Keeping watch while trying to listen to their surroundings, Harley fired off a quick text to let Theo know about Aaron being shot and to give the sheriff a general idea of where they were. Hard to do that, though, when Harley wasn’t sure. However, Theo would have heard the gunshots and would have an idea of where to go.

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