Page 68 of Hidden Shadows
“Then you lethimtouch you!”
She swallowed the bile in her throat, begging the fear inside her to remain silent.
“And I started thinking…maybe you didn’tdeservethe life I had planned for us after all. Maybe, if I couldn’t have you, no one could.”
When a bullet fired, her breath stopped, and she had to cover her mouth to stop the gasp. Then there was another.
It took three bullets for her to realize the guy was shooting the snowmen…trying to find her.
Jesus Christ.
Fear spiraled up her spine, causing acid to build in her throat.
She crept as far to one side of the snowman as possible, not sure if that would save her from a bullet, but it was all she could do.
She tightened her fingers around the shovel yet again as her gaze moved around the area. Should she make a run for it? If she stayed where she was, she was a sitting duck.
Her gaze shifted to the fence again. It wasn’t far, but if the guy wanted to shoot her, there was no way she’d make it.
When a bullet fired through the snowman she was hiding behind, she barely stifled the cry.
If she hadn’t moved those few inches, she’d have been shot. Maybe killed.
Suddenly, his footsteps were so close she could hear his breathing.
Before she could overthink it, she swung the shovel as hard as she could and hit the guy in the head.
He cried out and fell to the ground, but the gun remained in his hand. She tried to run, but he lunged, grabbing her ankle, causing her to topple. She grunted and kicked at his hand, then his face.
When her gaze collided with his, something niggled at her memory. She’d seen him before. Where, exactly, she wasn’t sure.
She didn’t stop to think about it, though. She kicked again, her foot colliding with his nose.
He cursed loudly, grabbing his face as blood streamed from his nose. She jumped up and ran, throwing herself over the perimeter fence and slipping into the woods. She tried to follow the paths where the snow had melted so she wouldn’t leave prints. The shovel remained firmly in her fingers. It was so heavy, probably slowing her down, but it was the only weapon she had.
She ran so far and so fast that her lungs burned and her legs ached. But she didn’t stop.
She was just weaving through the trees when she saw something black behind a tree. Her feet slowed. A boot. Step by step, she moved closer…until she saw all of Beth’s body.
* * *
Nixon’s bloodran cold when he stepped outside. Where the fuck was Finley?
He moved toward the parking lot, weapon raised. Other than his rental car and the police car, there were two other vehicles in the lot. One of them had to be Rad’s, and the other…?
His gaze went to the Ford with the tinted windows. They were so dark that he couldn’t see inside.
Was that the fucker’s car?
Rage pumped through his veins. Rage at the asshole for setting this up. For targeting her. And rage at himself for letting the woman out of his goddamn sight.
He kept low as he neared the vehicle, then shot at the driver’s-side window. Nothing. He moved closer, reaching through the broken glass and opening the door.
When he saw the empty interior, not just the front but the back, his gut clenched.
A shot sounded in the distance.
His world stopped.
