Page 21 of Outlaw Ridge: Shaw (Hard Justice: Outlaw Ridge #5)

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Even though Shaw had anticipated something like this would happen, he hated that he hadn’t come up with a way for Ava not to be smack dab in the middle of it.

Obviously, the killer had taken the bait, and he got more proof of that when the second gunshot slammed into the side of the ambulance. Unlike the cruisers, it wasn’t bulletproof. He heard the shot tear through the metal siding and prayed it hadn’t hit anyone.

“Are you hurt?” he called out to Reed and Owen.

“No,” the two said in unison. “But we’re sitting ducks right now,” Owen added. “And I can’t see who the hell is shooting at us.”

A third shot came. Then, a fourth. And both shots told him something important. “The shooter is moving toward the back of the ambulance.”

Again, that was to be expected since the killer was coming after him now, to silence him. To end his life. He had to make sure that didn’t happen and that he kept Ava and the others safe during the process.

“I’m calling for backup,” Owen said. “But I’ll tell them to do a silent approach and hang back.”

Good. Shaw wanted to lure the killer closer so they could catch them, and the SOB would tuck tail and run if there was the sound of an approaching cruiser.

“I think only one person is firing,” Ava said from beneath the thermal blanket. “I’m not hearing two sets of gunshots.”

Neither was he, but that didn’t mean the killer hadn’t brought along some help. Or worse that another “Molly” had been dragged into this as an unwilling participant.

“Is the back door still unlocked?” Owen asked.

“Yeah.” That’d been part of the plan. To get this asshole to literally come after him face to face so Shaw could send the killer straight to the bottom pit of hell where he or she belonged.

The shots stopped, and Shaw listened for any sounds of movement. Obviously, Reed and Owen were doing the same.

“Still can’t see anyone,” Reed let them know. “There’s a deep ditch on the left side of the road, and I think the shooter might be in there.”

That made sense. The killer could shoot and duck down out of sight while using the ditch to move closer and closer to the ambulance.

It didn’t take long before the shots started up again, and two of them slammed straight through the ambulance, tearing holes in the siding and coming too damn close to Ava.

Shaw scrambled to her, pulling her off the gurney and onto the floor. There was no way to know which part of the ambulance would be safer, but he thought she’d be an easier target stretched out on that gurney.

Ava didn’t scramble for cover though. She immediately drew the gun that he’d given her and pinned her attention to the back door.

“Stay as low as you can,” Shaw instructed, and again, he hoped that was the right thing to do.

Dodging bullets would come down to luck since there was no area of the ambulance that would be totally safe, and he hated to rely on luck when it came to Ava’s life.

“Yeah, the person’s in the ditch,” Owen said just as Shaw heard the sound of an incoming text to either Owen’s or Reed’s phone. “The heat source at the landfill is definitely a person. The team’s moving in now for a rescue.”

If there was heat, that meant whoever had been put there was alive. Maybe whoever it was would stay that way so the deputies could get there in time.

There was another shot, this one ripping another hole in the ambulance, and Shaw was trying to pinpoint the exact location of the shooter when he heard something.

A scream.

It was a woman, but Shaw couldn’t tell who it was. “Can you see her?” he blurted to Owen and Reed because he sure as hell couldn’t from his view of the back window.

“No,” Owen replied. “I think she’s in the ditch.”

So, this could be the killer. Or another victim though the timing was odd for the latter.

It’d been less than an hour since Shaw had sent that showdown text, and it would have been a stretch for the killer to abduct a victim and get her here in that short amount of time.

Still, it was doable especially if the killer had already taken this woman.

“He’s making me do this,” the woman shouted.

And this time, Shaw had no trouble identifying that voice. It was definitely Lorelei.

“He wants me dead,” Lorelei continued to yell. “It’s Grant, and he wants to kill us all. He forced me to come here and said if I didn’t shoot you, that he’d shoot me. God, don’t let him kill me.”

Shaw scrambled back to the window at the rear of the ambulance so he could try to get a look at Lorelei. No such luck. It was too damn dark, and she was just to his left and out of his line of sight.

More shots came, none of them hitting the ambulance, and Lorelei screamed again. “He’s here. He’s trying to kill me.”

Shaw cursed because he knew that this could be the real deal. That Lorelei genuinely could be in grave danger. That Grant or someone else could have been the one to fire those latest shots.

But it was also possible this was a ruse meant to draw Ava and him out so Lorelei could kill them.

There were two more shots, followed by Lorelei’s frantic screams and shouts for help. Then, silence. Somehow, that was more unnerving than the gunfire and screams, and Shaw steeled himself up for the killer to throw open the backdoor and try to gun him down.

“Shit,” Owen spat out. “There’s a fire.”

Shaw’s jaw tightened, and he shot a sharp glance at Owen. “Damn it. Where?”

“Coming from the ditch and straight to the ambulance,” Owen answered just as Shaw got a whiff of something.

Smoke.

“I think someone poured gasoline around the spike strip,” Reed said, his voice tight with tension. “It’s possible there’s enough accelerant to trigger an explosion from the oxygen tanks.”

Shaw’s own chest was vising with some tension as well, and his mind raced, connecting the dots. The killer was raising the stakes, and they had to move fast. Because there were several oxygen tanks just a few feet away from Ava and him.

“How far out is backup?” Shaw asked.

“About two minutes,” Owen relayed.

Shaw wasn’t sure they had two minutes. The smoke was getting thicker, smothering, and he could feel the damn heat seeping into the ambulance. If they stayed put, they could be roasted alive or blown to bits.

He looked at Ava, and he was sure there was regret and sorrow in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“Don’t be.” She scurried closer until she was side by side with him. “We have to open the doors,” Ava added in a louder voice, no doubt so that Reed and Owen could hear. “We need to get out of here now.”

“Agreed,” was Owen’s quick reply. “Watch your six. Reed and I will do the same.”

Shaw nodded, swallowing the lump of regret that threatened to choke him. “Together, then.” His hand reached for the door handle, his grip firm, his gaze locked with Ava's. “Let’s end this, once and for all.”

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