Chapter Ten

Leah sniffled after a while, then tilted her head up to look at him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I got your shirt all wet.”

“It’s fine,” he murmured, and started to wipe her tears, but she flinched, withdrew from him, and did it herself using the hem of her t-shirt.

Seeing her flinch hurt his heart.

What happened to you? he started to ask but caught himself.

No. Don’t force it. She’ll share when she’s ready.

“I think I see lights,” she said, sniffling one last time. “Are they here?”

Larry pivoted to follow where she pointed.

“Looks like it,” he confirmed, and grabbing his night vision binoculars, took a closer look.

“Pete,” he said on the walkie. “Headlights coming in.”

To Leah he said, “You take these, and keep watching. I need to get the rifle ready,” and handed her the binoculars.

He turned his attention back to his weapon and had it fully assembled and ready to use in under sixty seconds. He moved to the half-window opening in the blind and attached the night vision scope, then took a quick peek.

“Tell Pete they’re about a half-mile out from us,” he told Leah, and she got on the walkie and relayed the message.

“Now what do I do? What can I help with?” she asked Larry.

He grinned.

“In my combat kit there’s a box of ammo, and an extra magazine for this thing. If you could load that magazine for me, that would make things faster later.”

“You got it,” she replied, and got to work, grateful for the opportunity to focus on something else besides her embarrassment at crying like a baby in his arms.

She jumped as Pete’s panicked voice came across the walkie.

“Larry, it’s Lynda and Montie that just pulled up. I’m heading down to warn them.”

“Send them further in,” Larry answered. “They should be safe there.”

“Roger that, I’m on it,” Pete said.

“Who is Lynda and Montie?”

“My great-aunt and uncle,” Larry explained. “Sweet, sweet people, with terrible timing to come visit. There’s another cabin further back on the property, out of sight from our cabin. It’s the best place for them to go.”

“Can they not just leave completely? Wouldn’t that be safer?”

“Zavier and Duffy could be here in three hours, or any minute,” he answered. “There’s just no way to know. The last thing I want is for Montie and Lynda to run into them, I know that much.”

“How did they even know you were out here to come visit with in the first place?”

“My second cousin, most likely,” Larry told her. “He waved at me when I was pulling into the grocery store parking lot earlier today.”

“Ah,” Leah said, and smiled. “Small town charm.”

She held up the binoculars again.

“Oh, I see Pete’s made it to them. Your uncle’s moving to his trunk?”

Larry laughed.

“Probably to grab the shotgun he carries around. He’s a laid-back man – unless you’re trespassing. Then he can be hell on wheels.”

Leah looked again, and chuckled.

“Yep, the gun and a box of shells.”

Then she gasped.

“Larry,” she stammered. “There’s more lights coming really fast. And Pete’s on foot! Montie and Lynda are driving off on his ATV.”

“I’m sighted in,” he said solemnly, as he finished fine-tuning his scope’s settings. “This is it.”

“Here’s your other magazine,” she pointed out, setting it on the little windowsill beside where he had his gun resting.

“Thanks. Hey, there’s earplugs in the side pocket of my bag. Might want to put some in. This could get loud.”

“What about you?”

“Earmuffs in the main part of the bag. Bring them over, please.”

She retrieved them and walked over.

“Hold still,” she said. “And keep watching Pete. I’ll put them on you.”

Leah situated them for him.

“Good?”

He gave her the thumbs-up symbol, and she grinned as she wedged the small foam-like pieces down into her ears.

Man, this probably doesn’t even come close to what Shannon’s been going through, she contemplated, noticing immediately that everything she could previously hear clearly now sounded like it was underwater.

She raised the binoculars again and watched, horrified, as Pete began to run, with the two men in the car both firing out their windows at him.

She watched Pete get shot and fall, and she cried out. His pursuers left their car and started toward him on foot. Then she heard a faint crack rolling through the air from across the valley, followed by a second and much louder one coming from the rifle six feet from her.

Hands trembling, she stayed the course and kept watching, and saw both men that had been firing at Pete were down on the ground.

“We’ve got to get down there. Pete’s been hit,” she heard Larry say as she pulled the plugs out of her ears. He took off his earmuffs, pulled two sets of handcuffs from a side pocket of his kit and led the way to the ATV.

“Here, hold this,” Larry said, and handed her the rifle. They climbed on the four-wheeler, the rifle wedged between them, and Larry drove as quickly as he safely could down the steep incline.

“Lean back,” he told her, and he did the same until they reached the valley floor where he could accelerate.

“Let me off at the cabin, I’ll grab the first aid kit,” she shouted, and he nodded, skidding to a stop in the gravel just long enough for her to bail off and hand him back his rifle.

***

She located the kit and a flashlight and was about to step out onto the porch when she shrieked in fright – a slender, gray-haired woman was standing in the doorway.

“I’ve called emergency services, they’re on the way,” the woman said as she held up a cell phone, and Leah nodded, and continued past her to head out toward where she thought Pete might be.

That must be Lynda, Leah thought almost in passing. I’ll have to introduce myself later.

She could hear Shannon yelling Pete’s name, and it broke her heart to hear the fear and pain in her best friend’s voice. She turned on the flashlight, and following the sound, she located where Pete had fallen.

Leah touched her hand to Shannon’s bare shoulder, and Shannon screamed in fright. Leah noticed that Shannon was using her favorite sweatshirt to try and stop the bleeding. 

She knelt beside her friend and opened the kit, sifting through its contents. She found three huge rolls of gauze and handed them over before starting to open the oversize cotton pads she’d also found.

She watched with tears in her eyes as Pete cupped Shannon’s cheek and gasped, “I love you. I want to make sure I tell you now, just in case.”

And Leah’s tears spilled over when Shannon sobbed even harder because she couldn’t hear him.

Please, God. Please don’t separate them. They just found each other. Please, Leah prayed over and over again.

When the EMT crew arrived to work on Pete, she tried to get Shannon to come back to the cabin to put on another shirt, but Shannon refused to budge. So, Leah ran back to the cabin and grabbed a loose t-shirt that she knew would be comfortable for her and went back to hand it to her. She helped her put it on, then hugged her best friend tightly as Shannon completely fell apart.

Leah stayed with her until she climbed into the back of the ambulance with Pete, then watched as it raced down the driveway out of sight. She wiped her eyes and turned around.

Ahead and to her right, Duffy was being loaded onto a gurney by the second of three ambulance crews that had arrived. As she moved closer, she saw that he’d taken a round through his right knee.

She felt no sympathy.

Traitor, and a dishonor to the badge. He had it coming.

Not far from him was the man she presumed to be Zavier from Chicago, also being treated by emergency personnel. His hands were cuffed together in front of him since he’d been shot through the right one.

She recognized his type all too easily and shivered.

Leah walked over to Larry, who alongside Montie was filling the local policemen in on the night’s events.

“I’ll be in the cabin. Let me know when you’re ready to head to the hospital, okay?” she said softly, and Larry nodded.

She stepped onto the porch and entered the cabin.

Lynda looked up from putting the last of the dinner dishes in the rack to dry, and said, “I’ve got coffee already made, unless you’d like some tea, dear.”

“Yes, coffee, please,” Leah said, and took a seat at one of the barstools at the counter. 

“Sorry you had to clean up after us. Things moved… a little quickly.”

“That’s all right, dear,” came the warm response. “You all had your hands full.”

“I’m Leah, by the way. You must be Lynda. It’s so nice to meet you.”

The next thing she knew, Lynda had moved around the counter to hug her as she began to cry.