Mistletoe Reunion Threat. Virginia Vaughan
kept it loaded with weapons and ammunition for situations just like this. His time with the rangers, as well as his freelance jobs, had taught him to always be ready to protect his back.
Leading her down the stairs and to the side door, he handed over the keys to the BMW while pulling a rifle from his go bag along with his night-vision goggles, which he slipped on. “You run to the car and start it up. I’m going to give us some cover fire.” She nodded at his instructions.
He raised the weapon and stepped out, scanning the landscape for any trace of movement. He didn’t want to just fire blindly. This was a family neighborhood, and he didn’t want to take the risk of unintentional casualties. As Ashlynn reached the BMW, he saw movement behind a bush. He held his breath, waiting to make sure it wasn’t a stray dog or a possum. Through his NVGs he saw the figure of a man rise and the outline of a weapon point at the vehicle. Garrett pulled the trigger, taking out the intruder as the engine on the BMW revved up. The man fell unmoving behind the bush where he’d been hiding. Garrett jumped into the car, aware that if the shooter was wearing a bulletproof vest, he would be back on his feet soon. Ashlynn quickly backed out of the driveway and took off down the street before more shooters became visible. But the sounds of gunfire from another direction as they roared away played in his ears confirming to him that whoever was after Ashlynn wasn’t acting alone. He prayed none of his neighbors had been collateral damage.
* * *
Ashlynn attempted to concentrate on the road, but the thumping of her heart in her chest demanded all her attention. She tried to push through the trembling fear that raced into every nerve in her body, steadying her breath and gripping the steering wheel until her knuckles were pale. And she didn’t let up on the accelerator, either. Thankfully, the roads were nearly deserted this time of night.
Over her pounding heart, she heard a noise and realized Garrett was speaking to her. She turned to look at him. His face was flushed with adrenaline, but that was the only sign that some madman had been shooting up his house mere minutes ago. “You can slow down now. We’re not being followed.”
She nodded, but her hands seemed glued to the steering wheel and her foot to the pedal. Finally, he touched her arm. “You want to pull over and let me drive?”
“No, I’m fine,” she said. Her voice was clipped and edgy. She hadn’t meant it to be. She was just trying to hold all her emotions together, but she wasn’t stopping this car for anything, not now, not until her heart returned to a normal beat and she was certain no one was behind them.
“How did they find us?” she asked him.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I disabled the GPS on our phones and on the car. You said you didn’t have anything on you that could be tracked. So they can’t be tracking us electronically. It has to be someone who knows our whereabouts, but the only person I told was Vince. I suppose anyone who works around the police would know about our reconnection, but other than that, who is even aware we know one another?”
Her gut constricted at that suggestion. Had someone in the police department betrayed them to a killer?
He pulled out his phone. “I’m going to call my friend Josh Adams. He’s a former ranger buddy who lives here in town. His wife works at the FBI office in Jackson. They’re good people.”
She glanced at him, nervousness ticking through her. “How do you know you can trust him?”
“There’s no one I trust more than my fellow rangers. Josh is on our side. If I can’t believe in anything else, I believe that.”
“I can’t trust him. I don’t even know him.”
He looked at her, eyes wide and surprised. He must have seen the fear on her—it had to be pouring off of her—because he gave her a reassuring nod and his voice quieted. “Then maybe you can trust me? I know I let you down before when I promised you’d be safe at my house. You weren’t and that’s on me. But believe me now, Ash. We absolutely can count on Josh.” He held up his phone as if asking her permission to make the call.
She pondered the decision only for a moment. She had no choice, really. She needed to trust someone and it wasn’t his fault she hadn’t been safe at his house.
Finally, she nodded and he hit the button and placed the call.
She gripped the steering wheel again and took a deep breath, hoping against hope she could believe in Garrett’s judgment about his friend.
He put the phone on speaker and when Josh answered, Garrett quickly updated him on the attacks against Ashlynn and the kidnapping.
“I heard about that on the news. How can I help?”
“We need a safe place to stay. Whoever is after Ashlynn is still managing to track us. I haven’t figured out how yet. We need somewhere off the grid.”
“I have just the place,” Josh said. “Elise has a great-uncle who left her a cabin outside of town. No one should be able to trace it to you. I’m texting you the address of a convenience store. I’ll meet you there in a half hour with the keys and a map to the cabin.”
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