Chapter Twelve

Duffy’s friend made good time in the air and was depositing his passengers at Blue Grass Regional Airport just after sunset.

“Another fifty or sixty miles to go,” Duffy informed Charlie as he checked his laptop to verify Pete’s truck hadn’t moved in the last two hours. “Get us a rental car.”

Kid better watch his mouth, he ain’t running this show, Charlie grumbled in his head even as he walked away to do Duffy’s bidding.

***

Shannon and Pete sat side-by-side, their backs against the wall of their tiny deer blind. Pete used a penlight to illuminate his words to her, and she softly spoke her answers as they waited in the dark for trouble to arrive.

He flipped back through Larry’s notepad, grinned, and showed her what Larry had written.

Shannon gasped.

“So, he’s got a thing for Leah?”

It sure seems that way based on this, doesn’t it?

“It does,” Shannon agreed. “Well, don’t tell her I told you this, but I know for a fact she’s got a crush on him, too.”

Get out. Really?

Shannon nodded.

Huh. I wonder if they’re having as much fun in their blind as we are here.

She laughed as quietly as she could, and to Pete’s ears it was the finest music he’d ever heard.

He thought for a moment, then shrugged, and wrote Do you plan to stay in Chicago?

“Nope. I never planned to stay up there,” she murmured, enjoying the feel of his hand lightly caressing the back of her neck. “I’d always planned on moving home to Texas once I was done with my degrees.”

You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.

She smiled.

“So, should I expect you to ask me out in the near future?”

Why wait? I’ll ask now. Is it all right if I take you out sometime?

She giggled.

“What day?”

How about all of them?

She swiveled her head to stare into Pete’s eyes.

“Fine by me,” she whispered, and kissed him.

***

“Showtime! Headlights coming this way,” Larry’s voice crackled through the speaker of the walkie-talkie, and Pete jumped.

At Shannon’s questioning look, he pointed at the twin beams of light in the distance.

“Here we go,” she muttered with her game face on, loading two magazines for the pistol as she watched the headlights grow closer.

“Half-mile out, at the most,” Larry advised via walkie, and Pete chirped the mic once as an acknowledgment.

Pete handed her a pair of night vision binoculars as he loaded his rifle, then peered through the special scope he’d attached for nighttime viewing.

Suddenly Pete was snatching up the walkie and rapidly speaking into it, pausing to listen, and speaking once more before he set it down again and hurriedly scribbled on the notepad.

Shannon noticed his frantic movement and raised an eyebrow.

We’ve got a problem. That’s Larry’s great-aunt and uncle that just showed up. I have to get down there and get them somewhere safe before Duffy gets here.

“Here,” she said, not missing a beat as she offered him the 9mm and its magazines. “Switch with me. I’ll stay here with the rifle and cover you.”

He kissed her, grinned, mouthed “I’ll be back,” and disappeared down the ladder into the growing black.

***

“Okay, four miles up, take a left,” Duffy instructed from the passenger seat, and Charlie did as he was told.

***

It seemed to take forever for Pete to get back down to level ground so he could accelerate the ATV on his way to the cabin.

He came screeching to a halt near the couple, scaring the hell out of them in the process. The woman shrieked and ducked behind her husband.

“Lynda, Montie, hi. I’m so sorry I startled you. I’m Pete, Larry’s friend from the Army, remember?”

“Good Lord, child, you gave us a fright!” Lynda exclaimed, one hand on her heart.

Pete dismounted from the ATV and approached them.

“Again, I am so sorry for that. Listen, we have a problem. It’s not safe for you to be here right now.”

“What’s going on?” Montie demanded.

“Bad guys will be here any minute. The kind that shoot first and talk later and don’t care who they hurt,” Pete told them honestly. “You can’t be here.”

A glimmer far in the distance confirmed his worst fear.

“As a matter of fact,” he pointed past the couple, “I think they’re coming in now. You need to hide. Quickly. Here, take the ATV. Is that other cabin still further back on the property?”

“It is,” Montie confirmed.

“Go there. Now. I’ll send Larry down to you when this is over, okay? Please. You have to trust me.”

Montie went to the trunk of his car, pulled out a double barrel shotgun and a box of shells, and said, “Come on, honey, let’s get going.”

To Pete he said, “I’ll make sure they don’t get past ya,” and winked.

Then he handed his wife the shotgun and shells before climbing on to the ATV in front of Lynda and steering them out of harm’s way.

***

From her perch in the tree line, Shannon could only watch through the scope as the older couple took off on the ATV. She swiveled back to the right to watch a new arrival approach, and her heart leapt into her throat as she realized Pete wouldn’t be able to make it back to her side in time. The second vehicle was traveling much too quickly for that.

Breathe, and remember what you learned about shooting a rifle. You got this, she told herself, and made sure the butt of the weapon was properly cradled into her upper body.

She sighted in and waited.

Shannon watched Pete, the man who had captured her heart, as he turned on his heel and ran as hard as he could back toward her position. He was moving perpendicular to the car’s path, using the darkness as a natural shield to cover his retreat.

He’s gonna make it back to the trees, she thought. He’s gonna be okay.

Then time seemed to slow to a crawl as the next events unfolded before her eyes.

Because Pete Jenkins ran out of time to get to safety.