Point Blank. Sandra Robbins

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СКАЧАТЬ let him wrest the gun from her hand. She placed her finger around the trigger and tightened her grip on the pistol.

      “Stop this car!” she ordered.

      His lips curled into a sneer, and he pulled one hand away from the steering wheel. He doubled it into a fist and snarled at her. “Give me that gun before I make you sorrier than you already are!”

      Hannah knew it was now or never. She could cower on the floorboard and let him kill her, or she could fight for her life. If she shot him, the car would probably wreck and she might be killed. On the other hand, if he gained control of the gun, she could still be killed—and he’d probably try to make her death as painful as possible. She had the choice, and she wasn’t about to give the gun to him.

      Gritting her teeth, she wrapped both hands around the gun, aimed at him and fired. The driver’s window shattered at the impact, and he screamed. “You crazy woman, what do you think you’re doing?”

      He reached toward her again. This time his fingers wrapped around the gun and jerked it from her hand. Determined that she wouldn’t give up, she clawed at his hands in an effort to get the weapon back. For the first time she noticed that he wore disposable gloves, and she dug her nails into them.

      With a cry of rage, he pulled free of her and aimed the gun at her. Before he could fire, another shot from the police car struck the other back tire. The car veered toward the right and hit the loose gravel on the shoulder of the road. Hannah screamed as the car hurtled down the embankment, crashed through a fence and slammed nose-first into a tree. Her last conscious thought was that she hoped the police got to them in time to save her life.

      * * *

      Ben watched in horror as Hannah’s SUV careened off the road and became airborne for a moment before it crashed. Luke pulled the squad car to a stop on the side of the road, and they both jumped out. In the distance sirens screamed the approach of another police car.

      Please let her be all right. Please let her be all right.

      The prayer echoed over and over in Ben’s head as he and Luke ran toward the SUV that had smoke pouring from underneath it. He still couldn’t see Hannah’s head, and the fear that he was about to find her body inside the car that had folded like an accordion upon impact against the tree filled his mind.

      He’d already unholstered his gun, and Luke pulled his out as the driver’s door of the wrecked car opened. A man wearing dark jeans and a black hoodie jumped out and spun to face them. He had a gun in his hand.

      “Put the gun down!” Ben yelled.

      The man answered with a shot that kicked up dirt a few feet away from him. Ben didn’t slow as he returned fire. The man ducked behind the open door to gain cover and fired again. This time the shot hit near Luke’s feet.

      Ben and Luke both dived for cover behind the car and pressed their bodies against the hatch. “You can’t escape!” Ben called out. “Don’t add more charges to those you’re already facing.”

      Two bullets in quick succession blazed past Ben’s hiding place, and then he heard movement. He raised up enough to see the man running toward the forest at the back of the field. “I’m on it!” Luke called out as he jumped to his feet. “You stay here and see if Hannah’s inside.”

      Before Ben could stop him, Luke took off in pursuit of the fleeing man. The sheriff ran around to the passenger side of the car and jerked the door open. His heart plummeted to the pit of his stomach when he saw Hannah crouched on the floorboard with her head resting on the seat. The windshield’s shattered glass covered her and the seat. She didn’t move as he touched her arm.

      Blood poured down the side of her face from a cut at her hairline, and he raked the fragments of glass off the top of her head. He held his breath as he placed his fingers on her neck. The steady thump of her pulse sent a wave of relief coursing through him.

      Ben turned his face to his shoulder mic. “Unit 1. Officer in pursuit of fleeing suspect. The victim is secure, but unconscious and in need of medical attention. Requesting more backup and an ambulance on highway at Wears Valley.”

      “Ten-four,” Clara the dispatcher replied. “Ambulance on the way. More backup en route.”

      Ben wanted to examine Hannah more thoroughly to see if he could detect any other injuries, but with the risk of spinal injuries, he was afraid to move her. He leaned over and whispered to her in hopes that she could hear him. “Hannah, it’s Ben. I’m here. Everything’s going to be all right. You’re safe now, and help is on the way.”

      She stirred, and he held his breath as she lifted her head and stared up at him. “Ben,” she whispered. “Is it all over?”

      He squatted and returned her gaze. “The guy who kidnapped you ran off, but Luke is after him. The important thing right now is whether you’re okay. Are you hurting anywhere?”

      She lifted her hand to her forehead, frowned as she touched the blood and pulled her hand away to stare at it. “My head hurts, but I think I’m okay otherwise.”

      She started to push up, but he put a hand on her and restrained her. “Don’t move. I want the EMTs to examine you first. Just try to relax until they get here.”

      Tears pooled in her eyes, and the muscles in her throat constricted as she swallowed. “I think he really meant to kill me. I was so scared, Ben. Not for myself, but for Faith. She has no other family than me, and I prayed that God would give her a family to love her. Then I thought of you, and I knew you would never let anything happen to her.”

      His chest tightened, and he took a deep breath. “You know I love Faith like she’s my own daughter. As long as I’m alive, I’ll be there to take care of her and you, too.”

      “You’re a good friend, Ben,” she whispered as she let her head drop back to the seat.

      Ben started to say something else, but the sirens that had been wailing in the distance had now grown louder. He glanced up to see an ambulance and a squad car, their emergency lights flashing, stop beside his patrol car on the highway. Joe Collins, and another EMT who Ben hadn’t seen before, jumped from the ambulance and ran with the backup officers to where he stood.

      “In here!” he called out to Joe.

      He backed away as the paramedics swooped in to examine Hannah, then turned to the two deputies who’d just arrived. “Luke has gone after our suspect,” he said. “Let’s go give him some help.”

      The two men nodded and followed Ben as he ran in the direction that the kidnapper and Luke had gone. They were almost to the tree line of the forest when Luke stepped out into the field and jogged toward them.

      He halted in front of them and wiped sweat from his forehead. “I lost him,” he said. “There are a lot of trails that lead into the mountains hidden in those trees. It was impossible to find one he might have taken. It was as if he just disappeared.”

      Ben stared at the forest for a moment before he nodded. “That doesn’t surprise me. There’s some rugged country in this area. If we want to catch this guy, I’d better get a search team out here.” He pulled his shoulder mic toward his mouth and requested a canine search team at Wears Valley, informing dispatch that there was an escaped suspect in area.

      “Ten-four, Unit 1. Will advise ETA as soon as possible.”

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