Page 33 of Deputies Under Fire
“Understood,” Livvy murmured, and there was a whole lot of regret about this in her voice. “But Bennie and I can help if there’s gunfire.”
“No, you can’t,” Rory said quickly. “All a shooter has to do is hit the IED with a bullet, and the whole area can blow up.” He stopped, gathered his breath. “For now, just stop anyone fromcoming closer and plowing into us because that can detonate the IEDs, too.”
Livvy cursed again. “All right,” she said, and Eden didn’t think it was her imagination that Livvy was trying to steady herself. “Once we have a visual on you, I stop and we wait.” She paused. “ETA on the bomb squad is fifteen minutes.”
Eden was surprised it was that short amount of time. The bomb squad was a county unit, and they were based in a town on the other side of Renegade Canyon.
“Sit tight. We’ll be there soon,” Livvy added before she ended the call.
The silence came again, but Eden had thankfully tamped down enough of her body’s reactions so she could hear better. And she continued to keep watch since she didn’t want a shooter darting out from the woods for a sneak attack. After all, the plan might not be to kill them here, but rather to take them elsewhere so their bodies could be staged like Mellie’s and Brenda’s.
With the barn gone and the CSIs still crawling all over the site, the killer might have to find a new location, though. But there were plenty of other barns that might be a good substitute.
Every muscle in her body went on alert when she heard something.
The sound of an engine.
“Hell, it’s not Livvy and Bennie,” Rory groaned.
No, it wasn’t. This sound was coming from the opposite direction, and it didn’t take long before the vehicle rounded the curve.
Sweet heaven.
It was a Mack truck.
“Move now,” Rory shouted, and they reached for their doors at the same time.
Eden shoved open her door, hurdling over the IED and praying. She was doing so much praying. She dived to theground on the side of the road. There was a steep slope, and she didn’t have time to look for IEDs.
Or anything else, for that matter.
When she hit the ground, she just kept moving. Kept sliding down, down, down. So fast. And she couldn’t stop before her arm slammed into a tree. The pain shot through her, from head to toe.
And her gun went flying.
So did plenty of other things.
Eden heard the sickening screech of tires. Heard the impact, too, of the Mack slamming into the cruiser. Metal crunching metal.
Then, the explosion.
The horrible blast tore through the air, shaking the very ground beneath her and knocking her into the tree again.
Her training kicked in. Her survival instincts, too, and she forced herself to get up so she could grab her gun. The thoughts and fears were slamming into her now.
So many thoughts.
So many fears.
For the driver of that truck. Of the possible IEDs that could be planted around her. Of a killer who could be waiting to strike. But there was one thought that stood out above all others, and it was screaming through her head.
Rory.
She had to get to Rory.
Keeping watch where she stepped, Eden scrambled back up the slope. Not easily. It was one step forward and two steps back in some places, but she finally made it up to the top.
And her heart went into overdrive.
