The sound of a helicopter coming close, made Jana look up. Lights swept through the marsh, someone was coming. She heard brakes squeal and a car door open, and people talking loudly in the distance.
People were coming. They’d be here soon. They’d take him to a hospital, fix him up, and give him life in prison. He didn’t deserve that.
It didn’t matter. She couldn’t worry about that now. She had to rid the world of this cancer. She had to get her revenge. For the dead girl’s sake. For Merrick’s sake.
“Bombshell, don’t.”
Her face hardened.
“No,” Tony shouted. But she didn’t care. She fired and was almost thrown back into the mud from the kick back. His hands grabbed at his bleeding member, and his scream ripped through the marsh, sending a flock of birds crying up into fading clouds.
“Jesus,” Tony said.
The sheriff was in agony, but he was still alive.
“That was for the girl.”
She widened her stance and held the gun with all her strength. “And this one’s for Merrick, you monster.”
She emptied the gun into his chest, then dropped the useless gun into the mud as strong arms supported her no longer working legs.
Bombshell let Tony support her. She’d be strong for him. He’d lost his brother.
The sirens grew louder and emergency lights flashed across the wetlands. Jana felt numb as men in uniform ran over.
Tony hissed into her ear. “Bombshell, let me handle this. Sit in the car and act like you’re in shock. Don’t say anything.”
She nodded. She was in shock. That wouldn’t be hard to fake. She crumpled into the backseat, and burst into tears. Her world was over. Merrick was dead.
Chapter Twenty Nine
But, as the crime scene tape was being set up, Jana heard something over the din of her pounding shattered heart that made the tears stop. Tony was standing outside the cab door, keeping people away from her, and she heard him speaking on the phone. “How’s Merrick doing?”
He was still alive? Her chest contracted.
No one was around, so she tapped on the window. Tony opened the door. “Don’t speak,” he whispered, “you’re still in shock.”
“Is Merrick’s still alive?” she whispered, hardly believing it could be true.
“Yeah,” he said and a smile passed over his face. The smile that could only mean, that the man she loved had somehow survived. “Shhhh,” he added and put a finger to his lips. “Someone’s coming.”
Jana sat back in against the seat and tried to look like she was in shock.
A women dressed in a pant suit stepped into her line of sight, then opened the door. “Are you Jana Peters?” she asked.
Jana made her face go blank and let her tongue loll out of her mouth a little.
“Don’t pull that shit with me, ma’am. I heard you talking a minute ago.”
Jana’s shoulders drooped and her heart started pumping fast. She was about to get arrested. She was going to spend the rest of her life in jail because she had murdered a monster. Her chest tightened as she realized what that meant. Merrick was alive, but she’d never see Merrick again, or kiss him, or feel his warm body next to hers. He wouldn’t want her. Not after Tony told him what a cold-blooded killer she was. A tear fell down her cheek. It wasn’t fair.
“Ms. Peters?” the woman said in a voice quieter and gentler than she’d expect from the law. She peered at the woman and caught her glancing around, as if she didn’t want anyone to overhear them. She drew closer.
Tony tried to intervene. “Give her a break.”
The woman put out an authoritative hand out, telling Tony to back off or face her wrath. In a clear and quiet voice, she spoke to Jana. “Listen, let me do the talking. Don’t say anything.”
Jana gulped and let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Maybe she wasn’t about to go to jail after all. Tony looked relieved as well and took guard duty, making sure that no one was coming close enough to overhear.