Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
“No, Hawk.” I looked to Royal, who hung up his phone.
“Hawk started a search, told me to stay with Hope, said you should get out there.”
“What? No!” Hope’s hands closed over my arm and held on tight. “There’s someone out there with a gun and they’re trying to kill you. You can’t go out there. Are you crazy?”
I pulled my loaded weapon from the holster at my lower back. “I’m armed,” I reminded her gently, “and this is what I’m trained for. I need you to trust me, Hope. I have to go out there.”
Royal took my place, helping Hope to her feet. “Hawk told me to get her to the lower level, away from any windows, and call West. Go, before he gets away.”
I pressed a quick kiss to Hope’s mouth and promised, “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I promise.”
I hated leaving Hope behind, but she was safer in the house with Royal and I needed to do my job. I ran through the house, past the unused family gathering room and out through the side door, not far from the edge of the woods. I called Hawk as I ran and learned that he’d picked up the shooter’s trail a few hundred yards west of my location.
It had been years since I’d been in the woods on that side of the house, but as I curved around the back of the property to meet up with Hawk I realized the shooter was retracing his steps back in the direction of the area where I’d been run off the road. Fuck.
Keeping low, my weapon in hand, I moved as fast as I could and still stay alert to my surroundings. As far as I could tell, I was alone in this part of the woods. Hawk was fast and he had a head start. He’d also spent the last few weeks learning every inch of the house and surrounding property. He might have been a newcomer, but he knew his way around better than I did.
I came over the rise to see Hawk staring up the hill in disgust. He shook his head when he saw me. “Fucking bastard was fast. Took off like a bat out of hell. I’d say he didn’t even stick around to see if he hit you. Just took the shot and ran. Smart. This about where you got run off the road?”
I didn’t have to look around to answer. “Yep. I rolled down that hill and hiked this way back to the house.”
“I heard a truck engine start up and take off a few seconds after I got here. That’s not much proof, but my gut says whoever tried to run you off the road took the shot.”
I holstered my weapon at the small of my back. The holster wasn’t my first choice, but I hadn’t wanted my weapon at my side where Hope would see it.
“Well, fuck. Suggestions? Do we need to put in a fence?” I scanned the woods surrounding us. The idea of a fence didn’t sit right. Forgetting the fact that it would be expensive as hell, a fence would be an annoying disruption to everything and everyone, cutting through our hiking trails and trapping local wildlife.
Hawk shook his head. “No. It would take too long and it wouldn’t be worth the cost. I can put up an electronic perimeter. I have some of the equipment and can order the rest. We’ll get a lot of false positives, but we’d get those if we had a wired fence anyway. And I’d rather send the guys out or go check myself and have eyes on the property. It’ll only take a few days. Let’s get back to the house and talk to West.”
“Yeah, I want to get back to Hope. She hasn’t been feeling well, and she passed out after that asshole shot through the window. Said she stood up too fast but—”
Hawk raised an eyebrow. “She pregnant? Already? Didn’t you two just get married?”
“It’s not that,” I said automatically before turning the word over in my mind. Pregnant? No. It was too soon to know, wasn’t it? We’d been careful, except for that one time… I couldn’t process the thought.
It seemed to take forever to get back to the house. West was walking through the door when we got there. I shot him a wave. “I’ll be right back. Meet me in the office.”
I sprinted up the stairs and down the hall to find Hope lying on the sofa in our sitting room, cradling a cup of tea in her hands, a worried line etched between her eyebrows. She sat up when I came through the door, almost spilling her tea.
“You’re all right,” she said.
“Of course, I’m all right. We chased him through the woods, but he got away. Hawk thinks it could be the same guy with the truck from a few weeks ago. He’s going to put up a perimeter around the house. No one will get close enough to take a shot at us again.”