Page 62 of Outlaw Ridge: Ryker
Ethan had switched them. Or maybe they’d always been the targets. Maybe he had never intended to hurt Veronica, but to use the threat of her to draw Emma and Ryker further in.
It had worked.
Emma gritted her teeth as she watched the two women tremble, helpless in the cold.
“We’re not letting him kill them,” Emma said, her voice steady despite the tight knot in her chest.
Ryker gave a sharp nod, eyes still on the screen. “No. We end this.”
But as the drone hovered over the image of two bound women in the snow and Ethan crouched nearby with a rifle in hand, the weight of reality pressed in.
How the hell were they supposed to save them both… and walk away alive?
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Chapter Sixteen
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Ryker’s hands clenched tighter around his phone as he stared at the drone feed, the faint flicker of the two kneeling women, Dr. Colvin and Janette, still visible through the shifting lens. But his thoughts churned with something else entirely.
Where the hell were Veronica and Marta?
He hadn’t said it out loud yet, hadn’t wanted to push that possibility into the open air, but the blood at the house… the sheeramountof it. If it belonged to Veronica and her housekeeper, if Ethan had already made good on part of his threat.
Ryker’s gut twisted.
Ethan had taken enough. Lives. Peace. Trust. And now he was orchestrating this final spiral like a conductor with a score soaked in chaos. It burned in Ryker’s chest to think he might’ve claimed two more victims while they chased the wrong leads.
He shifted his focus to the drone footage but pulled out his phone again, thumbing through to the number Hallie had given them for the county sheriff’s office. It rang twice before a dispatcher transferred him to one of the deputies still at the estate.
“Deputy Colburn,” a voice answered, breathless and strained.
“Ryker Caldwell, Outlaw Ridge PD,” he said. “We need a status update. Have you located the homeowner or the housekeeper?”
There was a beat of static, then the deputy spoke quickly. “Yeah, we found them. Veronica Harper and Marta, they’re both alive.”
Ryker’s eyes snapped to Emma, relief flickering across his features.
“They’re in bad shape,” the deputy continued. “But conscious. Ambulance is already en route.”
Ryker’s shoulders loosened, just a fraction. “Thank God.” He paused. “When you can, contact Veronica’s daughter, Celeste Harper,” he added. “Let her know her mother’s alive. She deserves that.”
“Will do,” the deputy said, and the line clicked off.
Ryker lowered the phone, jaw still tight but no longer clenched with dread. “They’re alive,” he told Emma.
She nodded, her eyes still locked on the drone feed where two different lives now hung in the balance.
One win. Now they had to survive the next battle.
Ryker’s phone buzzed again, and he answered it right away.
“Talk to me,” he said, keeping one eye on the drone feed as it hovered in a slow circle over the clearing.
“It’s Hallie,” came the sheriff’s voice. “Hayes and Jesse are on-site, just up the road from you. Staying hidden, just like you asked.”
Ryker scanned the tree line, the snow now clinging in soft sheets along the brush. He couldn’t see them. That was good. Ifhecouldn’t, then neither could Ethan.
