Page 174 of Capturing You

She had no idea.

Before Forbes could voice the obvious question, she said, “We need to get out of the open.” They might as well have giant targets on their heads, though it seemed they had a guardian angel somewhere looking out for them.

“No, you?—”

“Now, Forbes, or we’ll both be killed.”

He grunted again but rose to a crouch, then started moving toward the cover of the woods. He supported his right arm with his left.

Following, she kept her weapon ready, just in case.

Considering all the threats she’d seen and failed to fire at… A commando she was not.

The screech of tires had her turning as a car careened away, down the driveway and onto the road, turning opposite Shadow Cove and all the emergency vehicles surely on the way.

Not ten feet into the woods, Forbes collapsed on the dirt and fallen leaves.

She kneeled beside him. “You all right?”

“Can’t go farther.”

“That’s okay. That’s okay. This is far enough.” She prayed it was, anyway. As long as the bad guys were leaving and the good guys were coming.

But Owen?

Lois?

How were they among the bad guys? She couldn’t fathom it.

Blood seeped from a bullet hole high on Forbes’s shoulder. She set her gun aside, then took off her jacket and pressed it against the wound, trying to staunch the flow.

She knew very little about how to treat injuries. Her polyester clothes weren’t exactly absorbent. Maybe her socks would be better?

Gross, but better.

She sat on the cold ground, ripped off a sneaker, then pulled off her cotton sock, which she pressed against the bloody wound.

Forbes sucked in air.

“Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just?—”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re doing?—”

A snap deeper in the woods cut him off.

Brooklynn looked up as a man emerged from behind a tree.

Leo Taggart lifted his gun and aimed at her. “I really wish you’d just minded your own business.”

She glanced at her weapon. It was right there, inches from her fingertips.

“Go ahead,” he said. “It would be better for me if it was in your hand. Of course, it will be by the time anybody gets here. I’ll tell them I didn’t recognize you, that you aimed, and I fired, just like I’m trained to do. Nobody will doubt me.”

He must’ve climbed through the cave. He must’ve been waiting for them, knowing that, if the burned house hadn’t taken them, they’d eventually show themselves.

“They know. We told the state police everything.”

“The ramblings of two amateur detectives—and no evidence? I won’t be charged.”