The Last Bride (DiCarlo Brides #6) (33 page)

Jonquil pulled out her phone, twisted it and raised it to the sky and one tiny bar appeared and disappeared, like a blip. “Hey, I might have something here.”

“We’ll never get a call out, but maybe a text message?” He watched as she keyed in a message and included all of her sisters and brothers-in-law. “Who knows who will look at it first?” she said when he rolled his eyes at the number of people on the text list.

SOS. Stuck without a car out at the Miner trail, need someone to come get Gage and me. Someone was shooting at us earlier.

She passed over the phone and he started walking around, holding the phone up until he found a spot with a single bar. He hit send and searched that area again for the signal as it blinked out again. His hopes rose, then plummeted as a message came back that it hadn’t sent. He pushed send again and tried to capture the illusive bar of hope.

He held his breath for a moment, but didn’t get a return notice. Did that mean it went out, or could it just not talk to the system?

Several minutes stretched before them and then there was a chime, and he grinned when he saw a returning message. From Cami.

I’m calling Vince now. He’ll know where you are. Hang tight.

“Cami got it and is calling out the troops. We’re saved.” He was so relieved. When he picked her up that morning, he had been thinking about spending the night with Jonquil, just the two of them in intimate surroundings. Freezing, hungry and dirty hadn’t played into his fantasies, though.

Jonquil smiled, relief on her face. “So glad. Can I sleep now?”

Gage chuckled and sat beside her again, putting an arm around her shoulder. They had been there for over ten minutes without any sign of the shooter. Maybe it was safe. “Go ahead if you like. Sleep sounds like a terrific option.” Not that he’d take it himself. Not until he had her somewhere truly safe again.

She leaned in against him and he waited, watching the road as twilight started to settle around them. He knew these woods, knew what was out there and had never been afraid. But he’d never had anyone come after him before—and especially not when he had Jonquil with him. Had he been wrong? Had it just been someone who didn’t want them on that trail? Someone with a cache of marijuana or something down the trail who was afraid they’d deviate and run into their operation? Maybe he had been confused, paranoid, something?

They waited for over half an hour. When he was starting to get anxious and his teeth were chattering, he pulled Jonquil closer and tried to heat her shivering body with his own. “Just a few more minutes, baby, and he’ll be here.”

A vehicle came around the bend and he stood up from the log, walking to the edge of the road. The vehicle went into the parking lot at the trail head and the front door opened.

“Vince!” Gage called toward the truck and then realized the cab light didn’t come on when the door opened. Before he could act, a gunshot echoed in the air and there was a whistling sound and the thud of the bullet embedding itself in the tree trunk behind him.

“Shit.” Gage dived back into the darkness where Jonquil waited. “Come on. We gotta hide.”

Gage was glad for the darkness surrounding them and the tree canopy keeping the moonlight at bay. Jonquil stood with him and they rushed through the forest, hiding in a group of bushes, sliding onto the ground beneath one in the darkness.

He pulled out his gun again and tracked the intruder by sound as they hid.

There was little noise as the attacker moved around in the brush and Gage tried to see some kind of form in the shadows, but it was too dark to differentiate one thing from the next. Then the sounds stopped.

He and the shooter lay in the quiet, in the dark, watching and listening to each other. Gage wondered how long before Vince would arrive. He glanced beside him where Jonquil huddled in silence, waiting. He could see the white in her eyes.

He waited a little longer, remembering what his friend Bo had told him about being a sniper. The first one to move died. And he couldn’t risk that, especially not with Jonquil beside him.

“Is he still there?” Jonquil’s voice was so soft he almost didn’t hear it.

Gage just nodded, waiting.

Jonquil’s phone beeped and a bullet shot into the ground near them. Gage redirected his aim and pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times. He heard a groan from where he had been shooting and a second later another vehicle pulled up near the driveway.

Vince’s voice came out of the darkness. “Gage, are you out there?”

Gage saw a slight movement and another shot rang out, then the sound of metal as it hit Vince’s classic car in the parking lot. A female scream followed. Gage held in a swearword as he pulled the trigger a couple more times. There was another scream of agony and a bullet entered Gage’s arm.

He gritted his teeth and managed to only groan at the noise.

The gun clicked once and he realized it was out of bullets. His second clip was in his pocket. The shooting stopped. He’d hit the guy, but was he incapacitated or waiting for a better opportunity.

Gage grabbed his clip and released the old one, shoving the new one in. Still, silence.

He waited for another long moment, then whispered softly to Jonquil. “Stay here.” He slowly moved to a crouch and circled around behind where the other guy had been, carefully moving in, wincing with the sound of every brush against the bushes around him and scuff in the ground. His arm throbbed and he felt blood running off his elbow.

When he finally got around to where he thought the shots had come from, there was no one there. He kept inching through the darkness and his phone beeped as it turned off. He twisted to hide behind a tree, waiting to see if anything came back at him, and caught sight of a figure lying in the darkness.

Gage crept closer and nudged the person with his boot. The body rolled over and he held out his Glock, ready to put a bullet in the guy’s head, but the tiny bit of moonlight peeking through the tree canopy showed the guy’s eyes closed and a dark, glistening shadow on his chest.

“Don’t move.” Vince’s voice came from the darkness.

Gage felt relief pour through him. “It’s me. The guy’s dead, I think. Or he needs an ambulance.”

“Not getting one of those up here in under an hour.” Vince shined a flashlight at Gage, then to the ground. “Well, that explains a thing or two.”

Gage looked into the face of James Scott. Several creative swear words exited his mouth while he watched Vince touch the guy’s neck. He searched for a long moment, then set a hand on the sticky chest.

Another long moment, then he shook his head. “Nothing. Any indication there was more than one guy?”

“Nope.”

“You’re sure?”

“I can’t be totally sure, but no, there’s no reason to think there’s more than one guy. He shot at us before noon, then apparently lost our trail, stole my truck, and came back here to look for us.” It sounded a little unreal when Gage put it like that.

“Where’s Jonquil, is she okay? Cami’s been freaking out all the way up here.”

“I’m surprised you brought her with you.”

“I wasn’t going to. She didn’t give me a choice.” Vince’s voice was grim.

That didn’t surprise Gage at all. “Other than a twisted ankle, I think Jonquil’s fine. We could both use showers and some dinner though.”

“I bet. You look awful. Whoa, you got shot! Let me take a look. When did this happen?” Vince pulled back Gage’s shirt to look at the wound.

“About the time you arrived. I haven’t had time to look at it yet.” Having his attention returned to it, and Vince’s ministrations were making it hurt worse, though.

Vince swore a few times and shook his head. “It’s a through-and-through, so at least the doc won’t have to dig for the bullet. I think it missed your bone, but I don’t envy you the recovery. You got some first aid supplies?”

“Yeah, Jonquil’s got them.” Gage turned back to where she hid and called out to her. “Jonquil, it’s clear, you can come out now.” He heard scuffling in the bushes and they moved in the moonlight as she crawled back out.

“What happened?” her face looked gaunt and eerie in the flashlight’s beam.

Gage took her hand, a lump rising to his throat and feeling a little shaky now that the danger was past. “He’s dead. We’re safe. Are you all right?” He checked her over, half afraid she got hit as well.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” she said, pulling him into a hug. “I was so worried about you.”

He held her tight for a long moment with his uninjured arm, his cheek resting on the top of her head. The thought that he could have lost her terrified him. “I was so afraid you’d be hit. I don’t know what I would have done if you were.”

“I’m not. I’m fine.” Her voice quavered, though.

He nodded and let it go. “You think Cami’s in the car waiting for us?”

“I’d be shocked if she isn’t. I swear I heard her scream earlier.”

“Nah, that was Vince, he screams like a girl. Always has.” Gage slid Vince a sideways glance.

“If you hadn’t just gotten shot, I’d pound on you for that comment,” Vince said.

Gage snagged the backpack from the log where they’d been sitting when the shots began and passed it to Vince, helping Jonquil limp along with his uninjured arm.

He felt blood ooze down his left arm and winced. Vince was going to insist on a doctor. He hated doctors. One thing at a time, though. Now to focus on Jonquil, get her home, deal with the sheriff’s office and they’d go from there.

Cami was out of the car before they reached it. “Are you okay? I’ve been so worried. Delphi and everyone have been texting me for updates every few minutes. We were so worried.” She pulled Jonquil into a hug, not pausing in her questions. “What did you do to your foot, or is it your ankle?”

“It’s just a sprain. Nothing to worry about. We’re fine. Thanks.” Jonquil’s voice wasn’t as reassuring as she might have wished though. Exhaustion oozed from it and Gage thought she sounded near tears. Not surprising when his own eyes were watering. That was the pain, though, he reminded himself.

Cami continued asking rapid-fire questions, helping Jonquil into the back seat. Robbed of his chance to help anymore, Gage slid into the other side and leaned back against the upholstery, completely wiped.

“Why didn’t say you were hurt?” Jonquil asked when the interior light turned back on for Vince to get in. She grabbed Gage’s hand so she could see the bullet wound better. “When Vince said you were shot, I thought he meant shot
at
not
shot.
Why didn’t you say anything?”

Cami’s voice joined Jonquil’s. “You’re what? Where?”

“I figured talking about it would only make it hurt worse.” He winced, even though Jonquil wasn’t touching it. Her thumb pulled a little on the skin a few inches away, making it throb. “Besides, I figured you could wrap it while we drive.”

“I have bandages in my pack.” Jonquil seemed to calm a little and became all business.

“And we didn’t use them on your ankle?”

“Not that kind of bandages.” She gave him a dirty look and pulled out a roll of gauze. She found one of the remaining bottles of water and dumped some on his arm, getting his pants wet again—not even the least concern for him at the moment, and blotted gently. Jonquil turned his hand over so she could see the other side. “Two sets of stitches for you. Yay.”

“Where’s your truck?” Cami asked. “You said you were stranded, you didn’t say you hiked out here.”

“We didn’t hike to get out here, the truck was stolen while we hoofed it over the hills and across streams with Jonquil’s twisted ankle.” He gritted his teeth as pain shot through his arm while Jonquil bandaged the wound.

“Sorry, I know it hurts. I’m trying to be gentle.” She brushed hair back from her face where it had escaped the braid and left a red trail of blood on her forehead. He reached out with his spare hand and brushed the blood off. “I’ll live.”

Vince started the car and backed it out of the parking lot, heading back to town. “We’ll call the sheriff’s office as soon as we have a signal. They’re probably on their way up here already—I’m sure Joel called them as soon as he got your text.” He looked over his shoulder to what Jonquil was doing. “How’s it coming?”

“He’ll live. Probably.”

Vince muttered a few choice words and gunned the engine. “We’re going to have words. Many, many words.”

“Great. Can we have them later?” Gage watched Jonquil tie off the gauze and then pulled her into his chest with his good arm. “I’m not sure if your upholstery is ever going to be the same.”

“I’ll let you pay to have it cleaned with all that extra money you’re raking in for us at the ski resort.” Vince’s answer was dry. “Now, what’s the story?”

As they drove down the mountain, and with Jonquil dozing on his chest, Gage told them the string of events.

“I never thought he’d go that far.” Vince said when the story was over.

“Tell me about it. How crazy do you have to be? It’s just a ski resort.”

“Ah, we have a cell signal!” Cami smiled at her smart phone and started to dial. She passed the phone back to him and he heard it ring again before the dispatcher picked up. “County dispatch, how can I help you?” a female voice answered.

“Hi, I’d need to report a shooting.”

As he gave information to the dispatcher, Gage knew his dreams of a hot tub and juicy burger were not happening tonight.