Page 23 of Serial Burn

“Get down! Stay down!” She set the phone on the counter, pulled her weapon once more, and looked around. She had to get out of there or she was going to get people killed.

She ran through the kitchen and out the back.

NATHAN PULLED INTO THECHURCHparking lot and slammed the car into park next to Jesslyn’s Jeep. The Jeep’s shattered glass glinted like spilled diamonds and the driver’s door was open. He’d heard the shots, and when Jesslyn hadn’t answered his frantic shouts, he could only assume the worst. James, Kenzie, and Cole arrived. Cole was out of the vehicle before it stopped rolling and was immediately soaked. “Where is she? Greene and Otis are on the way, but they’re coming from another situation.” Sampson Greene was the handler for the K-9, Otis, who could find Jesslyn even in the rain.

“I just got here,” Nathan said. Jesslyn had called his personal phone and he was still connected to her line. He’d used his work phone to call the others.

Two more vehicles rolled in. Scott Butler climbed from one and Buzz Crenshaw from the other. The SWAT team had descended. Not because this was an official call, but because they were all friends with Jesslyn. He honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see Lainie and Steph show up once they learned of the situation.

The rain continued to pelt them all while red and blue lightsbounced off the church window and rain-slicked bodies. Nathan leaned in to get a look at the front seat. Her cell phone, but ...

“No blood,” he said. Relief flowed for a brief second before he straightened and looked at the others. “That doesn’t mean she’s not still in trouble. Her phone is on the passenger seat.” He leaned back in, grabbed it, and opened the glove compartment. No weapon. “She has her gun most likely.”

Or the person who took her had it. Unless she’d run. His heart pounded. He turned, searching the area behind him, the direction she would have run if she’d been able. The torrential downpour seemed to mock his frantic efforts, blurring his vision and soaking him to the bone. He shivered and fear for Jesslyn pounded him.

“Put your comms in and spread out!” he yelled over the roar of the storm. “Look for any sign of her!” Thunder boomed and lightning split the sky. Where had this weather come from? It was January. Thunderstorms didn’t normally happen in January.

James and Kenzie were nodding, their rain-plastered expressions grim as they shoved in the earpieces. A drenched Cole moved like a shadow, determination on his hard features.

Nathan’s anxiety eased a fraction. If anyone would find her, it would be those who cared most about her. His gaze swept the area, every sense heightened. The rain muffled sounds, but he searched for anything that might tell him which way Jesslyn went—or was taken.

His sodden feet carried him to the edge of the parking lot to the area behind the church. He glanced back at her car and its open door. If she had run, she would have come this way. Away from the shooter.

“Hey,” James said, his voice coming through the comms. “She called 911. She was at the restaurant but ran when the shooter put a bullet through the front door. Keep looking! She’s around here somewhere.”

The woods loomed across the street, a dark, foreboding barrier. If he was a kidnapper, that’s where he’d go. Assuming he didn’t have a vehicle waiting.

“We need footage,” he muttered.

“Already called it in,” Cole said.

“Great.” Nathan glanced down the road. Lights shone through the rain and he changed course. She’d gone for people. A phone. At the nearest restaurant. Now where?

A flash of something—or someone—wavered at the edge of the thick foliage. Ignoring the lights, Nathan sprinted toward the trees, adrenaline firing his pulse. “Jesslyn!” The woods and the sound of the rain swallowed her name.

The muddy undergrowth beneath his feet made each step a battle. Branches whipped at his face, leaving stinging marks, but he pushed forward. Then, a sound—not the storm, but something else. A branch cracking.

He froze, listening. Straining to hear over the downpour. There. To his right. He turned, squinting through the rain, and that’s when he saw it. The shadow darting between the trees at a quick sprint. Then it paused and turned.

Nathan reached for his weapon, but before he could draw, a sharp crack echoed through the woods, a sound unmistakably different from the thunder. A gunshot.

He ducked behind the nearest tree, scanning the area. “FBI!” he shouted. “Put your weapon down!” He gave his location to the others, who hurried his way. Tate and two other officers indicated they were close by, but Nathan stopped, scoping the area. The person was gone. Nathan turned his footsteps in the direction he’d last seen him, using the trees for cover.

The rain continued to pour, a relentless cascade. Nathan steadied his breathing and scanned for the shooter.

“We’ve got her!” Kenzie’s voice in his ear spun him around.

“Where?”

“Back at the church. She found us.”

Nathan slowed. The shooter could have gone in any direction by now. “I’ve lost him.” With one last look around, he scrambled back through the woods while the others continued to search for the man.

When he rounded the corner of the building, he found himself back in the parking lot. An ambulance had arrived during his absence, and Jesslyn now sat in the back of it, wrapped in a blanket, with Kenzie and James at her side. He hurried over to join them. “Jesslyn?”

She met his gaze. “I’m okay. Once again. But I’ll tell you this. Whoever’s after me wants me out of the picture for some reason.” She lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes. “Well, that’s a mistake, because I’m not going anywhere.” She bit her lip, then sighed. “And I’m going to let you guys help me because I know you’ll insist.”

Nathan nodded. She was right about that.

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