by Barbara Gee
“Oh for—” He broke off and grabbed my arm, dragging me off the trail into the trees. He was panting now, worked up and sweating, trying to regroup.
“This should have been so freaking easy,” he growled, his fingers digging painfully into my arm. “Now we’re gonna have to wait for dark, when I know for sure we aren’t going to run into anyone.” His eyes narrowed and he honestly looked like he wanted to kill me. “If you make so much as a peep—” he warned. He didn’t give me the consequence, but he got his point across.
Since I’d succeeded in getting exactly what I’d wanted—time—I nodded and followed him deeper into the woods. Surely Donna and Rosie had called for help by now. Soon there would be sheriff’s deputies combing the woods, right?
We stopped behind a large pine tree and he finally let go of my arm. The bruises were already showing and I rubbed it, cowering again, trying to figure out how to lead the deputies to us without risking them getting shot. How much longer before they’d get there? Ten minutes? Fifteen? Surely no longer than that.
The man was still in a rage, his hands on his hips as he glared at me. I backed up and turned to the side as if I couldn’t face him, when I really just wanted a better view of our surroundings.
As it happened, I turned just in time to see a blur of violet erupt from a cluster of trees, coming in hot, preceded by a large, leafy branch held aloft like a javelin. A loud, warbling, war-cry accompanied the charge; it was probably meant to be intimidating, but instead it served as a warning to the man. He pivoted, bringing his arms up to protect his face as he jumped back, eluding the brunt of the thrust.
It ended with both him and Donna going down hard, her glasses askew and barely hanging onto the tip of her nose. She looked so startled and dazed it broke my heart. I ran and dropped to my knees beside her, shielding her as the man rose up, his fury evident in every tense line of his body.
His hand went to his waistband and I froze, watching in horror as he pulled out the gun the fall hadn’t managed to displace.
“Don’t hurt her,” I said, so surprised by what had just happened that I forgot to keep up my terrified-girl façade. My words came out more as a succinct demand than a desperate plea, and he noticed. Maybe he was a little brighter than I thought.
His eyes narrowed to gleaming slits. “Playing me for a fool, huh, angel?” he bit out. “All that sniveling around—you’re gonna regret that. Starting with your friend here.”
My terror was suddenly all too real. “No, please.” I tried to cover as much of Donna as possible with my own body. “She’ll stay right here. We can tie her up and take her phone. Just, please, don’t hurt her. I’ll go wherever you want me to go and I won’t make a sound. I promise.”
Donna began struggling under my hold. “Let me up, Ava. We can take him together—” She broke off when she got her head up far enough to see the gun. “Oh, dear Heavenly Father,” she murmured fervently, “watch over us, your helpless children.”
“It’s okay, Donna,” I soothed, making sure I stayed between her and the gun as she sat up. I met the man’s gaze hopefully. “Can we just go? I’m not going to cause anymore trouble and I won’t make any noise.”
“That’s right, you won’t,” he snarled, “because you’re going to be shocked silent.”
Without warning he stepped to the side, pointing the gun right at Donna.
“Noooo!” I screamed, flinging myself sideways to cover her again, just as something crashed through the brush behind the man, startling him. His gun arm swung wild as he whirled around, and my terror level hit a whole new high as I watched Jude launch himself at the man.
He went down under Jude’s weight and momentum, but he somehow retained his grasp on the gun. I saw him bringing it up as Jude braced one hand on the man’s chest and brought his other fist back, preparing for a lights-out blow.
The powerful hit connected just as the pfffft of the silenced gun sounded. I was motionless, my jaw slack as I tried to comprehend what had just happened.
The man was out cold. Jude was still over him, breathing heavily, as if he’d been running through the woods full speed to get here in time. Which he probably had been. He raised his head and his beautiful blue eyes met mine. His lips tilted up in a crooked smile that ended in a grimace.
He put a hand to his side and it came away shiny red. The sight of his blood punched through my frozen state and I scrambled over to him, hanging onto my composure by a thread.
“Oh no, oh Jude, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” I mumbled, pressing my own hand to the spreading redness on his shirt, applying pressure. “Donna, do you have your phone? We have to call 911. Please, call 911.”
“Hey, babe, calm down.” Jude’s big hand came down over mine. “I’m okay. I don’t think it hit anything vital. I’m going to be fine.”
My tears were all too real now. “You don’t know that,” I said. “Oh my word, he actually shot you. I can’t believe he shot you.”
Jude continued to press his hand over mine, helping to keep the pressure on the wound as he crawled off the man.
“Don’t try to stand,” I begged, then noticed there was even more blood on the back of his shirt than the front. Of course—the exit wound.
I stripped off my T-shirt, not even caring that I was down to a white sports bra. I folded the shirt into a small square and pushed it against Jude’s back.
“Donna, did you call?” I asked impatiently. “We need help here.”
“She doesn’t have to call,” Jude said gently, calmly. “Help will be here any minute. Rosie called 911 before she found me waiting for you on your front porch.”
As soon as the words were out, I heard the wonderful sounds of sirens, lots of them, and they were closing in fast. The adrenaline that had spiked at the gunshot now drained quickly away, leaving me limp and shaking.
Jude tried to comfort me, but I shook my head angrily, trying to stop my trembling. “I’m fine, you’re the one who’s shot! I’m so sorry, Jude, you were right about Abigail all along and I wouldn’t listen, and now look what happened.”
I felt a steady hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Donna leaning over us. “There, there, Ava dear. Jude’s going to be just fine. He has to be, because he saved my life and I need him to stick around so I can give him a proper thank you.”
Jude chuckled and it was the best sound I’d ever heard. “I look forward to that, Donna, although we’ll never know if he was really going to shoot you. He might not have shot me, either, if I wouldn’t have taken him by surprise.”
“Oh, he was going to shoot,” the woman said emphatically. “I saw it in his eyes.”
“Could be.” Jude winced as I increased the pressure on his back due to the bright red blood that was starting to seep around the edges of the shirt. “Donna, maybe you should walk back out to the trail and direct the deputies and EMTs to where we are,” he suggested. “I don’t want them to have to fan out through the whole woods looking for us.”
Donna, seeming no worse for wear, eagerly accepted that task and set off through the trees.
Jude looked at my would-be abductor to make sure he was still out, then switched his gaze to me, one dark brow raised. “I take it Abigail sent him?”
I nodded. “He’s her brother. He never got around to telling me his name, but he was here to get me and take me to her. He said she wanted to talk to me.”
“I’ll bet she wanted more than that,” Jude said grimly, his free hand coming up to cradle my head. “We won’t think about that now, though. You’re okay, and that’s all that matters.”
My tears started flowing again. “It’s not all that matters. You got shot, Jude, and if I’d listened to you and been more careful, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“You don’t know that,” he said softly. He shifted his weight and couldn’t quite hide another wince. “The end result is that we have this guy, and if the deputies can convince him to talk, we’ve got a good shot at getting Abigail, too. Then she’ll ge
t what she has coming and it’ll be over. No more loose ends.”
I wanted to sink into him and feel his strong arms around me, but instead all I felt was his warm blood seeping through my fingers. How could he be so calm and rational when he’d been shot?
“You’re bleeding a lot, Jude. What’s taking so long?”
He was squinting over my shoulder. “I think I see Donna out there jumping up and down and waving her arms, so I’m guessing they’re close.”
They were. Two minutes later, Donna and I were standing back out of the way while a pair of EMTs worked on Jude and three sheriff’s deputies surrounded the shooter, who was now handcuffed and slowly coming to.
He didn’t look nearly as threatening with glazed eyes, a badly swollen jaw, and his hands immobilized, but I remembered the way he’d looked before Jude’s arrival all too well. Especially his expression when he’d been about to shoot Donna.
One of the EMTs, whose uniform shirt proclaimed him to be Adam, approached me.
“Ma’am, we’re going to stretcher him to the ambulance, which we parked right at the edge of the woods. He’s lost some blood, but it looks like a clean in-and-out shot to me. They’ll do tests at the hospital to make sure no organs were compromised.”
I looked at Jude. He was pale, but still alert and now talking to a deputy. He was the strongest, most incredible man I’d ever known. I knew he’d saved not only Donna’s life, but ultimately mine as well.
I watched as Adam and one of the deputies carefully lifted the stretcher and started through the woods. Donna and I fell in behind them, holding tightly to each others’ hands. I smiled gratefully when we cleared the woods and one of the sheriff’s deputies went to his car and came back with a black T-shirt for me to wear.
“Do you want to ride along?” EMT Adam asked kindly as they loaded the stretcher into the ambulance.
“Try to stop me,” I replied softly.
Chapter 29
Ispent the next six-and-a-half hours at the hospital. The time was a combination of talking to law enforcement and sitting with Jude. His parents and JP were also there. Chase and Hannah would have been, but they’d gone out of town to visit Hannah’s family for the weekend and were several hours away. JP called to let them know what had happened before they heard it from someone else, but he assured them Jude was fine and would be going home the next day, so there was no need to rush back yet that night.
Even though we knew Jude was going to be okay, his mom and I were still fighting tears most of the time we were with him. It was hard seeing him in the hospital bed, the thick white bandages so stark against the tanned skin of his left side. His doctor wanted to keep him overnight for IV antibiotics to ward off infection, but she said if a person had to get shot, the bullet couldn’t have hit at a better place. It had gone through the flesh of his waist, right between the bottom of his ribcage and his pelvis, so no bones or organs were involved at all. It was just a matter of the wound healing up.
I was so grateful he hadn’t been hurt any worse, but I couldn’t stop the constant thoughts of what might have been. If that bullet had hit something vital, Jude could be fighting for his life right now, or worse. I was pretty sure his family must be thinking that too, and I felt terribly guilty. My problems with Abigail could have gotten him—or Donna—killed, and that was all on me.
At one point, when Jude was dozing, my control slipped and the tears just started streaming down my face. I quickly excused myself and went down the hall to a small family sitting room that was blessedly empty. I went over to a corner and dropped into a chair, needing a little time to be alone and regroup before I went back to Jude’s room. I was drained and sore from my time in the woods, and exhausted mentally from hours of questioning.
I’d been asked for every detail of my conflict with Abigail, which of course meant I’d had to start from the beginning, telling all about my short-lived dating history with Ian, and the cameras in my condo. Hashing through it all again had been awful, especially now that I knew my refusal to take Abigail more seriously had almost gotten Jude killed.
I exhaled a long, shaky breath and hugged my knees to my chest, unable to stop shivering. I longed for warm, fleece sweatpants and a jacket instead of the shorts and borrowed T-shirt I still wore.
As I huddled there, my quiet tears gradually morphed into painful sobs. My mind kept cycling through the morbid possibilities of what could have happened out in the woods. It was all so horrifying. I thanked God over and over for protecting us, and yet I couldn’t get past how close to disaster we’d come. All because of me.
I don’t know how long I cried, probably not more than five or ten minutes, but it was enough to give me a pounding headache and make my whole face feel swollen and tight. I slowly became aware of a firm hand on my shoulder, and I raised my head and tried to focus my bleary eyes.
For a second I thought it was Jude, then realized it was JP. He was leaning on his crutches, his expression soft.
“I think that’s about enough, Ava. I know you need to get it out, but if you don’t stop crying you’re gonna make yourself sick.”
He went over to a table by a window and grabbed a box of tissues, then settled down on the chair beside me and put the box on my lap. I gratefully plucked a few out and pressed them to my wet face, controlling my breathing as best I could.
JP patted my knee. “He’s fine. You know he’s fine. He’ll be out of here tomorrow morning.”
“I just feel so guilty,” I said between shuddering breaths. “What if he wasn’t fine? It could have been so bad. You guys tried to tell me Abigail could be dangerous, and I totally blew it off. I was so sure she’d stick with cyber attacks, which I could’ve handled. I never, ever thought she’d go this far.”
“None of us did. Not even Jude.”
I shook my head sadly. “I’m the one who knows her, though. I should have realized what she’s capable of.” I pressed my fingers to my eyes. “Someone could have died because I didn’t take her seriously enough. I can’t stop thinking about that.”
Jude shifted in his chair and stretched out his good leg. “We can sit here and go through the what-ifs all night and it’s not going to change anything, Ava. Jude will still be fine. The old lady will still be fine.”
“And I’m so grateful for that, I really am,” I told him earnestly. “I’ve said a hundred prayers of thanks. But I’m the one who brought the trouble here. It should be me lying in that bed, not Jude.”
JP gave me a stern look. “You need to turn this around and look at it from another point of view. If Jude had been the one to unwittingly bring the trouble to town and he needed help, would anything have stopped you from trying to save him?”
I shook my head quickly. “Of course not. I’d do anything to keep him safe.”
“And would you blame him if you’d gotten hurt?”
“Of course not,” I repeated softly.
He raised his brows and stared at me, making sure I was getting his point. “It’s no different for Jude, and you’re selling him short if you think he’ll ever regret taking that bullet to keep you safe. Even if he’d been hurt a lot worse, he wouldn’t regret it.” His eyes narrowed. “He wouldn’t like knowing you’re sitting here beating yourself up about it, either.”
He was right, I knew he was. But I wasn’t so sure Jude’s parents felt he same. “Your mom and dad have every right to be angry, though,” I said.
“But they aren’t. They’re a little shook up, but trust me, they aren’t angry at you.”
I shuddered. “If that bullet had gone—”
JP held up a hand and stopped me before I could go any further. “Enough, Ava. Focus on what is, not what might have been.”
I sighed and gave him a weary smile. “I’ll try. I promise. Thanks, JP.”
He was quiet for a moment, then he asked about my questioning by the sheriff’s investigators. “I assume you told them about the cameras? They need to know every detail you can remember so they can find
Abigail and put an end to this.”
I nodded vigorously. “I did. We started right at the beginning and I told them everything. I’m going to give them the cameras and the DVR too, although I know they won’t be able to find anything other than that one file. And they’re already questioning Abigial’s brother, Andrew. He’s not talking yet, but he has a long list of prior arrests, so he might be willing to make a deal.”
“Even if it means giving up his sister?”
I shrugged. “We can always hope.”
We sat in silence for a little while, then JP nudged my arm with his. “You good to go back in now? Jude’s probably awake.”
“Yeah.” My throat felt dry and scratchy and my face was still stiff, but I definitely felt more composed. I stood up. “Give me a couple minutes. I need to wash my face and find a bottle of water somewhere.”
“I’ll find the water, you take care of the face.” He squinted at me, his eyes sparking with sudden humor. “That could take a while.”
I grinned and tasted fresh blood when the cut on the inside of my top lip stretched open. It was okay, though. I’d needed that smile.
I gave JP an impulsive hug. “Thanks. For everything. You’re a lot nicer than you look.”
He chuckled. “Don’t tell anyone. I’ll meet you back in the room.”
I found a bathroom and scooped big handfuls of cool water over my face for a good minute or so. JP’s kind words had calmed my thoughts, and the refreshing water soothed my tear-ravaged face. I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t fall victim to the what-ifs again at some point, but for now, I felt ready to face Jude and his parents again.
I returned to the room and I could tell right away that Jude had been waiting for me. His eyes locked on mine and he held out his right hand, wanting me closer.
I was happy to oblige. I crossed the room and laced my fingers through his, holding on tight as his parents stood up and said goodbye, promising to visit tomorrow when he got home.
