“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
Her head jerked in a nod, then switched to a no as she struggled to catch her breath.
“Where is he?”
“I hit him with a rock,” she gasped, pointing behind her. “Knocked him out by the trail.”
Unless she bashed his skull in, he wouldn’t be unconscious for long. Joel grasped her by the shoulders and spun them both around to put his body between her and the threat.
“Get in my truck and lock the doors,” he instructed as he pulled his gun. “Aaron’s on the way, but if anything happens to me before he gets here, take the truck and get out of here.”
Her already wide eyes went even wider. “No.”
“Yes.” He gave her a push. “I mean it, go.”
She began to back up. He watched her for one extra second—
A violent jolt stabbed between his shoulder blades. The gun report followed a split-second later, along with Brittany’s scream. Both echoed in his ears as his next breath was arrested by searing pain spreading through his back and chest. He lurched forward while desperately trying to spin his body around to face Randy. He fired off a round and saw the bastard dive for cover.
Two arms caught his fall. Brittany grunted as they stumbled to the ground together. God, what was she doing?
“Get to the truck,” he groaned, blindly firing another round to keep Randy down. “You can get out of here.”
“Not without you.”
She glanced behind them, but he knew he’d never make it to the truck. He tried to brace with his left arm and push them toward the trees with his legs. She pulled as he pushed. Wetness soaked his back. Every movement was like a knife being plunged into his body. Each breath he sucked in twisted that knife. She whispered a tearful apology with every moan of agony that fell from his lips.
In the cover of the trees, he grit his teeth and managed to peer around for a glimpse of their stalker. He didn’t see anything moving. The only thing he heard was the labored breaths he sucked in through his nose in a futile attempt to control his breathing and lessen the pain.
“I don’t see him,” Brittany whispered.
“Stay down.” The order sounded more like a groan.
A twig snapped off to their right. Then he heard a faint rustle of leaves. Brittany’s breath hitched. Joel focused.
“Shoulda stayed away, Morgan.”
Randy’s voice made her flinch. Joel met her worried green eyes and mouthed the word down. Slow and quiet, she flattened herself to the ground.
Come on, you bastard, say something else. He was losing strength by the second and prayed he didn’t pass out before it was too late.
He rotated his head to the right and listened. Another twig snap. Closer this time. He approximated the sound about fifteen yards away.
“Britt-nee.”
The sing-song taunt spiked Joel’s adrenaline and gave him a fix on his target. He rolled his body over hers while extending his arms for a single shot. A split second before Randy raised his gun, Joel’s finger squeezed the trigger. Two shots exploded.
Darkness on the edge of his vision mushroomed and took over his world as Brittany’s scream vibrated his eardrums.
Chapter 34
Please, God, let him live.
Britt had repeated those words in her head a million times from the moment Joel’s body went limp over hers. Casey’s voice had cut off her horrified scream. He’d rolled Joel off her, assured her he was still breathing, then helped Aaron get him into the squad car. They laid him on his stomach and she knelt on the floor to keep pressure on the wound while the sheriff raced to the ER with his sirens blaring.
Casey stayed behind to wait for backup to deal with Randy. She thought she heard someone say he was still alive, but she wasn’t sure and didn’t really care.
As soon as the emergency team in Estes Park stabilized Joel’s vitals, he was loaded onto a medical transport helicopter and transferred to the level two trauma center in Boulder for surgery.