Easy Little Lick (Copperline #3) (28 page)

“I just crossed a road, but I’m not sure what it’s called. I’m back in the woods, but kind of walking along it until I get to an intersection.”

“Stay out of sight until I get there, Ils,” I warned.

“I will,” she said, gasping for air. “Wait, there’s a road.” I could hear her moving faster, and she murmured quietly to Max. “It’s okay, baby. We’re almost safe. Cody’s coming.”

“
Dody
,” I heard Max whimper.

Fuck,
his scared little voice reached into my chest and squeezed my heart. I shoved my foot flat on the floor as I saw the streetlights of Valley City come into view.

“Okay,” Ilsa gasped, “we’re on Riverview Drive where it intersects with Eighth Avenue. There’s a bridge off to my right and some trees down along the river.”

“Get down in those trees and stay there,” I ordered. “I’m just coming into town. I need to look on the map to see how to get there, so I've gotta hang up for a minute.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

“Stay there. Right there. Don’t move.”

“Okay, Cody.”

“
Dody
,” I heard Max whine. “Want
Dody
.”

“He’s coming, baby,” she murmured as the line again went dead.

It felt so much longer than the six minutes it took me to get to the spot she was hiding. Fortunately, that spot was essentially right off the interstate.

So close.

I was so close to them.

Eighth Avenue went north to south, but I’d just crossed the river so, even without checking the map, I knew I’d have to turn to the left to get to where she was. A moment later, and I saw the bridge, and I jerked my truck to the side of the road and jumped out to find her.

“Ilsa!” I shouted. “Ils, where are—”

“Here!” she cried, running out of the trees towards me with Max in her arms. Tears were streaming down her face as she flew into my embrace.

God, she was here.
She was real and I was holding her. It was amazing. My legs almost gave out with the intense relief that coursed through my veins.

I pulled back to look down at her, to brush the wetness from her cheeks. My other hand came to rest over Max’s little blond head, his eyes wide and reflecting in the moonlight.

“I've got you,” I whispered. “I’m here.”

I didn’t even hear the shot.

It came out of nowhere.

Just the strangest sensation in my shoulder, a burning stab of numbing shock. A sharp cry rang out—a scream—and I realized it was from Ilsa. Looking down at my shoulder, I saw the rapidly spreading darkness soak my shirt and a spattering of blood that had hit her cheek.

“Get back,” I shouted at her, pushing her back down towards the trees and away from the road. “Run!”

Pure adrenaline took over as I whirled around and charged at the dark figure on the road. I felt a little dizzy, but pushed through it, bearing down on him as he aimed at me again.

But I reached him first, using the weight of my body to knock him back before he could get the shot off. He wasn’t a small guy, but nowhere near my size, and definitely not built like me. I fought tooth and nail to throw him hard into the ground. The two of us hit the pavement, my arm scraping along the asphalt as I pulled back and hit him hard in the jaw. The gun went flying.

The burn in my shoulder began to spread, growing sharp and painful. My arm felt weak.
Fuck
, my whole body felt weak. Spots began to appear before my eyes, blurring my vision, but I pulled together every shred of strength in me and hit him again. Just when I thought I might be coming out on top, he shoved his hand up against my wound, digging into the raw flesh.

The pain was staggering, and it ripped through my body, shocking me into momentary submission. I felt his hands at my throat as he rolled the two of us, smacking my head hard against the road. Dizzy with pain and blood loss, it was all I could do to stay alert, to not let the darkness take over. I shoved at him hard, a sudden burst that threw him off me, and he staggered back.

My head was swimming, my focus was off, and the throbbing in my shoulder made it almost impossible to move. I crouched as he started to come at me again, and then…

Another gunshot.

And another.

He took a stumbling step towards me, like his own mind hadn’t realized what happened, like he wasn’t bleeding out from a gaping chest wound right before my eyes. A second later, he dropped to his knees, then fell flat before me. I looked behind me to see Ilsa standing there, Max clutching her leg, and the gun in her shaking hands.

I started to stand, but the entire world seemed to weave around me, and my body collapsed onto the ground. As my eyes began to drift shut, Ilsa dropped the gun and scooped up Max, coming to kneel beside me.

“Cody,” she cried, “Cody, look at me. Open your eyes.”

I tried, but my body just couldn’t do it. There wasn’t enough left in me.

“Cody, please,” she whispered frantically, “open your eyes.”

I felt her shuffling and heard the beeps of her phone. The faint voice of a dispatcher sounded in the quiet night.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“Help, a man’s been shot,” Ilsa cried.

I started fading in and out as I heard her giving some directions, and then she was leaning over me.

“Please be okay, Cody. Please be okay…”

Everything seemed so quiet. Only a hushed murmur or two in the distance. My eyes felt heavy and sticky, and it took all the strength I had to open them just the tiniest bit.

That was all I needed.

I was in a hospital room, in a hospital bed. I had bandages down across my chest and all kinds of IVs and shit in my arms. I had little monitors here and there.

But what settled me was Ilsa and Max curled up fast asleep in a recliner beside me. I closed my eyes with a sense of overpowering relief and let the heavy darkness pull me back under, content in knowing that they were okay.

The deep tone of a man’s voice was speaking, asking questions.

Ilsa’s voice was quietly responding from close by me, and I felt the cool touch of her hand on my arm.

Both were speaking in murmurs. I couldn’t understand much at first, just making out bits and pieces. I cracked my eye open long enough to see the officer’s uniform as he wrote on a small notepad.

Police? Oh, right… Simon.
Ilsa had shot him.

“We didn’t even see Simon until after he’d shot Cody,” Ilsa was softly saying. “There was so much blood. Cody was hurt, but he pushed me away. He told me to run.” She took a shaky breath and lightly sniffed. “I started to, but I couldn’t leave him there. When I saw the gun skidding across the road… I had to do
something
.”

“So you picked it up,” the officer asked.

“I did. I wasn’t… I didn’t know what to do, and when Simon hit Cody’s head on the ground…” A small sob broke through. “He was going to kill him. Cody was just trying to save me, and Simon… he was going to kill him.” For a moment, the room was quiet, and then Ilsa sniffed and continued. “I was afraid I’d shoot Cody by accident, but I had to stop Simon from hurting him.”

The murmurs began to fade out again as my shoulder started throbbing again, making it hard to focus. They mixed with faint sniffles. Then heavy footsteps headed away from the bed.

“I don’t think they’ll charge you with anything,” the officer said, sounding farther away from me now. “What you’ve told me seems to coincide with what his friends out in the waiting room said, both about you and your husband. The evidence we pulled at the scene seems pretty straightforward, and we got a copy of your denied order of protection. How that failed is beyond me. At any rate, none of it leads me to believe that the death of your husband was a criminal act on your behalf.”

The delicate touch of Ilsa’s fingertips dusted across my forehead, brushing the hair out of my eyes. I could almost feel her gaze on me, the thick cloud of worry that surrounded her.

“How’s he doing?” the officer asked.

“He’s alive,” Ilsa whispered. “He’s not out of the woods yet, but he’s alive.”

There was a momentary silence, the occasional sniffle, and then I heard a door open.

“We’ll give you a call if we have any more questions,” the officer stated.

“Okay,” she replied, and then the door closed.

In the quiet room, I heard Ilsa’s breath catch and hold, a quiet sob, and another catch. I felt warm teardrops fall on my arm.

I wanted more than anything to open my eyes, to comb my fingers through her hair. To hold her while she cried, but my body wouldn’t respond to my mind.

“I’m so sorry, Cody,” she softly cried. “I’m so sorry.”

A light kiss pressed against my arm, followed by her wet cheek as she laid her head down.

“Please be okay.” Her voice was fading again. Sounding far away even though I could still feel her touch. “I’m so sorry. So sorry…”