Page 58 of Maverick Detective Dad
He tried to assure himself that the impact hadn’t been nearly as bad as the killer ramming the SUV into Everly’s house. Everly could survive this, and he had to hold on to the belief that she had.
Noah fought to keep control of his own vehicle, and he managed to come to a stop about twenty yards away. Before he could even get out, the driver’s side door of the SUV opened. The man wearing the dark raincoat barreled out.
Not alone.
He had hold of Everly’s hair and dragged her out with him. Thanks to the headlights on the vehicles, Noah got a glimpse of her face. The terror, yes, and she had some cuts, but she was alive and fighting. She was trying to get away from the killer. Her struggling stopped though, when the killer turned and pointed a gun at the cruiser.
Noah didn’t stay put. He got out, and using the cruiser door for cover, he took aim even though he knew he couldn’t risk firing. Not with the way the killer was holding Everly. If Noah shot now, he could end up hitting her.
“It’s over,” Noah called out to the killer. “Everly didn’t kill Helen in that car crash fourteen years ago. There’s no reason for you to dole out so-called justice.”
He knew that wouldn’t stop the man, and it didn’t, but he wanted to try to get the guy to say something so he’d know who he was dealing with. Not that it mattered. He would do whatever it took to stop the killer from claiming another victim. But if he knew the killer’s identity, he might be able to come up with something he could use to distract him.
The killer turned and started running toward some trees, and he dragged Everly right along with him. Noah left the cruiser, and he ran to the SUV to use it as cover. He cursed though, when he heard the moans coming from inside.
Helen.
Hell, she was tied up on the backseat.
Noah didn’t smell any gasoline, and with the rain coming down, there wasn’t a high risk of fire, but he sent a quick text to let Grayson know the situation. And that he was going in pursuit. He couldn’t wait for his uncle to arrive because if the killer made it to those trees, he’d have way too many hiding places where he could hide and gun them down.
It might also give him enough time to go ahead and kill Everly.
Right now, he was using her as a shield, but the killer wouldn’t need that once he was out of the path of any bullet Noah could fire at him.
Noah started running, knowing he might have to drop to the ground at any moment, but he had to keep the killer and Everly in his sights. Hard to do though, the farther he got away from the headlights. The storm helped some with that due to the lightning strikes that lit up the night sky. It was possible one of those strikes would hit him. Or Everly. But at the moment neither of them had a lot of choices. They both had to stop the killer.
Behind him on the road, Noah heard the wail of Grayson’s cruiser, but he kept running. Kept his attention nailed to Everly. She stumbled, maybe on purpose, and thanks to a lightning bolt, he saw her glance back at him. The moment seemed to freeze with their gazes connecting.
He had to save her.
He couldn’t let this SOB kill her and take her from Ainsley. And from him.
“It’s River,” Everly shouted.
River. So, now Noah knew who he was dealing with. The man who Jared had said was angry with the world. So angry that he obviously didn’t care if he hurt an innocent woman.
“You’re not killing now for justice, River,” Noah called out to him. “You’re killing to cover your tracks.” Which, of course, meant River intended to try to kill him as well now that he knew his identity.
“It’s all justice,” River spat out.
“No, it’s covering your butt,” Noah muttered.
Noah cursed when River made it to the first of the trees, and he ducked behind them with Everly. River crouched down so he wouldn’t be an easy target, and he didn’t waste any time firing his gun. However, since Noah had figured that’s what would happen, he’d already run to the side and had then dropped down into the sopping-wet pasture. The bullet that River fired missed.
Well, hopefully it had.
It could have gone into the SUV.
Noah had to push the possibility of that aside, and he started to belly crawl his way to Everly. His crawling stopped though when he heard the sounds of the struggle. Everly didn’t scream, but she made a grunting sound that let Noah know she was in a fight for her life.
He got up and started running.
He had to get to her in time, and Noah wouldn’t consider any other possibilities. As long as he had breath in his body, she wasn’t going to die.
Noah ran as if everything in his life was at stake. Because it was. And he knew at any second, River could fire a fatal shot at him. Noah soon learned the reason why River hadn’t been able to do that though. When he reached the end of the trees, Noah saw Everly kicking River. She also had a death grip on the man’s wrist, and that grip had almost certainly prevented him from firing.
But not for long.
