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CHAPTER 71

Bend, Oregon Friday, August 2, 2024

SLOAN WAS brEATHING HEAVILY AS SHE CAME TO THE EDGE OF THE vineyards, her quads burning worse than during any CrossFit routine. But she ignored the pain. She had a singular goal to get to the house and call for help. At the edge of the vineyard, she paused. The cover the vines provided gave her a sense of protection, and she was hesitant to exit from them. She looked left and right while Nora continued to groan as she lay over Sloan’s shoulder. Between the edge of the vineyards and the back of the guest cottage were a hundred yards of field.

Sloan took off in a jog, Nora bouncing on her shoulder as she ran. Halfway through the field another gun blast sounded and brought Sloan to her knees. Nora tumbled from her shoulder and cried out in pain as she rolled onto the ground. Sloan took inventory, feeling her body for a wound or blood. She found neither, and felt no pain. Another gunshot rang out. Sloan crawled over to Nora, the cattails of the field enough to give them partial cover.

Lying on her shoulder, Sloan looked over the cattails to see Ellis charging across the field to where they were lying.

“He’s coming,” Sloan said. “We have to go!”

“I can’t,” Nora said. “You go. Get to the house and call for help.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

Nora shook her head. “He won’t kill me. I’m his wife.”

Sloan remembered the image of Tilly and Reid Margolis, lying dead in the tasting room, and had a different thought about that. She couldn’t leave Nora, and knew in an instant that she would either die defending her, or kill to protect her. She grabbed Nora under the arms and dragged her to the edge of the large machine that stood in the middle of the field. It was the yellow tractor-looking machine she had seen Lester using earlier in the morning to drive fence posts into the ground. It wasn’t much, but it was more protection than lying in the grass.

She dragged Nora around to the front of the machine and peeked around the edge. As soon as she did, another shot rang out. Sloan dropped back to the ground. Ellis was close, and even if Sloan were willing to leave Nora, running for the house would mean getting shot. To lie there and wait would mean the same.