Page 58 of Final Inning

“Come on. You are going to the hospital. Let someone else be in charge for once, okay?”

Chapter 48

Knight was ten minutes out from Buckbert when Dani called in. He answered quickly. “Dani? What do you know?”

“Miranda is injured, on her way to the ER, along with Lindhour. Lindhour…I’m not sure her prognosis, but…It doesn’t look good, Knight.”

Knight bit back a curse. “What in the hell happened?”

“Grocery store clerk was the accomplice. She went after Lindhour with a bat. Miranda interrupted. Miranda is banged up, but on her feet. Ward is there, along with a Commander Colton Hollender of the OHP. Miranda vouches for Hollender.”

“I’ve met Hollender,” Lorcan said. “Previous case. Miranda’s team assisted. He’s on the up-and-up. He’ll run a tight ship—and I’d trust him at my back. Or Carrie’s.”

That was something. Lorcan was fiercely protective over that beautiful redheaded wife of his. Knight understood.

“Clerk confirms, mostly. Johnson was with her. Both Kevin and Harper. Miranda said we need a DNA sample from Johnson to confirm.”

“Clerk in custody?”

“Miranda shot her. Self-defense. Lindhour has cloud-based cameras in her place. I’ve already accessed the feed. Miranda was on the ground, clerk was coming right at her when she fired. That clerk is on her way to the nearest trauma center. As is…Lindhour. I am hoping she recovers. The attack was…brutal. Clerk used a softball bat. And she was a hell of a lot bigger than Deputy Lindhour.”

Knight could imagine what the damage was all too well.

“Sebastian Lorcan and I are maybe ten minutes out. Keep us posted.”

“Miranda is off scene, en route. Ward is coordinating with Hollender.”

“Get me whoever you can get me here. We have at least seven deputies in this county, and who the hell else to go over. And Johnson will flee. The instant he realizes we’ve figured him out. He’ll be arrogant enough to think he’ll get away. But he will fight if he’s cornered.”

“I’m working on getting a warrant for you to track his cell phone now. But it might take a while. Even with exigent circumstances.”

“Do the best you can, Dani. And keep me updated on everyone’s conditions.”

“Will do. Be careful out there.”

Knight disconnected.

It was time to go hunting now.

He looked at the man next to him. “If you were running. If all shit was hitting the fan and you were a man like this Johnson—where would you go now?”

Lorcan was quiet for a moment. They pulled over when a pair of ambulances roared by. Knight knew—Miranda was probably in one of them. And Deputy Lindhour.

He could hear choppers in the distance. They’d meet the ambulances on the road, if they had to.

If he was a praying kind of man—now would be the time to say one for that beautiful young woman who had deserved better than this.

“Somewhere I have been before. Somewhere safe. And somewhere…not associated with my current life at all. Personally—I’d go back to my grandparents’ farm. It was the one place my brothers and sister and I would see each other after my parents’ deaths.”

Brother.

Johnson’s step-brother had owned a dilapidated hunting cabin right on the southern edge of the county at the time of his death. Maybe an hour from Buckbert. Dani had made it clear—Johnson had scattered his brother’s ashes there twenty-eight years ago.

“Call Dani. I need an address. And whoever she can get on the southeastern Helery Springs county line as soon as possible.”

Chapter 49

Within one hour, he had a team ready to go. PAVAD worked fast when needed. That it consisted of Malachi Brockman, Brockman’s sister Alessandra and her asshole husband—Seth Lorcan—and that assclown Cam Lake rubbed him raw. But they were good at what they did. No denying that.