Page 129 of Always Knew It Was You

Hal’s eyebrows ruffle in frustration and then he presses his finger against his lip again, bidding me to stay quiet.

I nod, and then he steps out with his hands up.

“Don’t shoot,” Hal calls out. “It’s me.”

The Burned Man doesn’t shoot at him instantly. Instead, he sounds contemplative.

“I thought your father said you didn’t want to be a part of this.”

“Well, I changed my mind,” Hal says and walks up out of my view. “I heard Declan mention that Micah caught someone on video taking her. They’ll eventually figure out who it is. And the whole town is going to come down on me like they did with Nate Huntley. I can’t take that. Micah and Declan are out for blood and they’re not going to believe I had nothing to do with it anyway. So I might as well save my ass, and my dad’s.”

“Smart,” he says. “How did you drive up here?”

“Took a bus out of Laketown. When I got close, I rented a bike but ditched it a few miles ago. We should probably move soon.” He pauses. “If you’re looking for Carly, I think I heard something in that direction.”

“Yeah, you’re lying. And you’re terrible at it.”

Bang!

The shot makes me flinch but I still don’t scream even as Hal lets out a cry of pain and falls to the ground. Oh, God. I hear the footsteps getting closer, and know at any moment he’s going to see me. I can’t stay here. I have to run.

I start down when I finally see it. Micah. Before I can react, he springs out of the bushes and rushes for me, throwing me to the ground just as the gun fires again.

And then we’re surrounded by a flurry of gunshots, flying out and peppering the atmosphere with steel. Amidst it, I finally scream and sob the way I wanted to.

But the heartbeat above my ear is Micah’s. And it smells like Micah. He stares down at me with Micah’s eyes too.

“Am I dreaming?” I ask.

“God, I hope not,” he says, his hand caressing my face desperately. “I hope not, my Carly.”

And then finally, in his arms, surrounded by the cacophony and the faint scent of blood, I finally breathe.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

MICAH

I hold Carly close, pressing her into my body as the breath struggles to push out of me. The pressure builds in my chest even with my ragged exhales. I haven’t been able to take a full breath since she’s been gone and now it’s like all of it tries to enter and exit at the same time.

The terror still floods my mind, the image of watching her run and get shot at.

When I heard the first gunshot, my blood ran cold.

I almost bolted out to get her but Hal and an FBI agent dragged me back. The agent, Silas, reminded me that this is why they didn’t want me on the operation in the first place. But there was no way I was going to stay back agonizing while my Carly was in danger.

“You being here puts her in even more danger,” the agent hissed at me. “And if you run out there and jeopardize our plan, then she’s as good as dead.”

The harsh words got through to me, shocking me back into reality. He was right and as painful as it was, I stayed hidden, knowing that the rest of the agents were stationed around different parts of the forest and at least one of them might see her and save her.

We were able to narrow down what forest Carly was being held in, thanks to Amelia and her investigative online friend. Turned out that they managed to find the man who had seen the thieves and through his demented ramblings, he’d given them a clue that one of the thieves had stayed in a trailer in a forest near Sterling. It took some time to convince the police of our theory and to organize this operation. But I let them know I was going after her with or without them.

By two in the morning, the FBI and Declan’s security team began staking out this hill to find her. We’ve been searching for the past two hours and were communicating via walkie-talkies about how to approach the situation, when we heard the gunshots. That threw everything, especially me, into disarray.

Was it Carly who got shot? Was she dead?

Just the thought of it made terror grip my heart and for the first time in a long time, I prayed. I didn’t care about anything that happened to me but nothing could happen to her.

Just as I uttered the prayer, I saw her screaming, breaking out of the clearing. Hal got to her first but the bastard found them. When I saw Hal go down for her, I couldn’t hold back anymore. I had to save my Carly.

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