Page 62 of Vanish From Sight
One thing Sawyer had underestimated was McKenzie.
The Scotsman quickly closed the gap.
Still, unable to get his feet up, Noah glanced back at McKenzie who was dangerously close to the back bumper. Had Sawyer slammed the brakes on, Noah would have been sandwiched between the two of them.
Noah figured if McKenzie brought the Bronco close enough, he could bring his boots up onto the front bumper and use that to push himself over the tailgate into the bed of the truck. It was a feat that might have been easier had Sawyer not been zigzagging all over the road to prevent McKenzie from trying a pit maneuver.
The situation only got worse by the second. With the wind whistling in his ears, he couldn’t tell McKenzie to back off. If he lost his grip now, he would go under the Bronco.
Noah could already feel his hands slipping as he desperately tried to maintain his grip. Then, as if McKenzie could read his lips or realized by Noah’s frequent glances back what he had in mind, he closed the gap, bringing the Bronco in really tight, almost to the point of pinning him. Noah slapped the worst thoughts from his mind as he used every ounce of strength to lift his boots onto the front bumper of the Bronco directly behind him. It wasn’t easy as Sawyer could see in his rearview mirror and was trying to put distance between the two vehicles.
Still, McKenzie stayed close, allowing Noah to finally lift his boots up onto the bumper. As soon as they touched, he pushed off and went over into the bed of the truck. His body thumped hard against the metal, causing Sawyer to glance back. Battered, bruised and more pissed off than before, Noah clambered towards the front of the truck. As soon as he was behind the rear window, he pulled his service weapon and tapped the window. “Pull over. Now!”
He might have had every reason to squeeze the trigger and end Sawyer’s life but he didn’t. Reality came rushing in as Sawyer eased off the gas and slowed the truck, bringing the vehicle to a stop at the edge of the road.
Gravel crunched below the tires. Grit swirled in the air.
In an instant, McKenzie swerved the Bronco up beside it to block off any attempts by Sawyer to change his mind.
With a gun raised, Noah cried out commands.
“Driver. Turn off the truck. Take the keys out and put them on the roof.”
The engine died. A cautious hand extended out the driver’s side and placed the keys on the top. Noah scooped them up and got out of the back of the truck. His body ached. His muscles felt as if they’d been stretched far beyond what they should. His arm felt like it was on fire, and he could feel trickles of warm blood running down to his hand.
“Get out with your hands up!”
“You good, Sutherland?” McKenzie hollered while keeping his service weapon trained on Sawyer.
“Never better,” he said sarcastically.
“Like I said, you should have let me drive.”
Noah scoffed, shaking his head. Within seconds, Noah dragged Sawyer to the ground and put a knee into his shoulder blade and began to read him his Miranda rights.
CHAPTER 17
SEVENTEEN
Tuesday, November 22, 2:40 p.m.
Noah was in no mood for Sawyer’s lies but since cuffing him and hauling him back to the Adirondack County Sheriff’s Office, that’s all that was coming from his mouth.
“My lawyer is going to have a field day with you all. I’ve done nothing wrong except protect myself from you lunatics. What did you expect? You show up in an unmarked police vehicle. Neither of you are in uniform. You flash some bogus badge. You could have been making it all up.”
“Aye, you must think we’re fools,” McKenzie said. “Setting a vicious dog on a law enforcement officer. My partner is having his arm sewn back together as we speak. If he doesn’t pull through, you might as well slap on some lipstick and prepare to sing for your supper as you are going to be getting really friendly with your cellmate. You are in a whole world of trouble, lad.”
Noah shook his head. He was standing outside the interview room, peering through a one-way window as McKenzie deliveredhis good cop, bad cop act. To be fair, he was pretty good at it, switching from hard-nosed to — we’re here to help you routine. The strange part was someone else was meant to be performing one of the roles. No, McKenzie figured he could handle both.
“He called you partner?” Callie asked, her eyebrow shooting up. “That’s new.”
“His words, not mine.”
“So will you pull through?” she said, her lip curling up.
Noah shook his head. “He loves to exaggerate.”
“How is it?” she asked, glancing at Noah’s bandaged arm.
