Fatal Response. Jodie Bailey

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СКАЧАТЬ moonless autumn evening, everything was still.

      But a growing restlessness had her prowling the station. She’d organized the small kitchen. Considered baking brownies. Had tried to sleep on the small bed in the bunk room at the end of the hall. Every time she settled in and closed her eyes, something drove her to her feet.

      The same kind of instinct had kicked in when the woods north of town caught fire in a lightning storm a couple of years ago. Her subconscious had caught the scent of smoke before her nose realized it was there. She’d already been halfway to the station when the alarm sounded.

      There was no smoke tonight, simply a weird twinge in her gut that kept her from relaxing.

      It probably had to do with the car.

      For nearly two weeks, an older dark sedan had turned into the front parking lot of the station, turned around and left. The engine never shut off. The driver never left the vehicle. Each time, the only indication the car was there was headlights sweeping through the windows on the bay doors as the car made its turn.

      She’d mentioned the car to her cousin Wyatt, a Mountain Springs police officer, at lunch after church on Sunday. They’d ultimately decided it was a new parent with a sleep-resistant infant.

      Still, the random drive-bys poked at her creepy-meter a little bit.

      With a slight shudder, Erin checked the front door for the third time to make sure it was locked. The back door was as tight as the front, the music of crickets and frogs drifting in from the back of the building.

      Erin pivoted on her heel to go back to the office. There were always grant proposals to write. As one of two paid members of the mostly all-volunteer department, the bulk of the office work fell to her. At least it made the nights go faster.

      A muffled scrape crept through the back door. Erin leaned toward the sound. She’d strapped bungee cords on the large trash cans to keep the critters out. With the fire station situated on the edge of a broad mountain meadow, all kinds of wild animals drifted past the building. She’d seen everything from adorable baby raccoons to black bears that could swat her into eternity with one swipe of a massive paw.

      One time of having to clean trash strewn across the property by an unseen animal when she was a rookie volunteer had been enough to make her double-check the security of those trash cans.

      Still, the heavy plastic likely wouldn’t be able to withstand a bear. If the noise continued, she could always flip on the lights and scare the creature across the meadow and into the woods.

      Hand on the switch, she listened, the hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention.

      Tires screeched on the road to the station, and headlights swept across the doors of the bay. An engine revved as it strained through the gears.

      Somebody was flying along the short road that ended at the station. There’d been problems in the past with drag racers on the straightest stretch of road in the county, but the presence of the fire station had put a stop to racing when it was built twelve years earlier. With at least one firefighter constantly on duty, even the craziest of kids was smart enough to know a quick race would end in a phone call to the police.

      Whoever was out there was coming in hot.

      Lord, help me if they’re bringing in an injured child. With the closest hospital nearly half an hour away, it wouldn’t be the first time a Mountain Springs resident had forgone 911 to bring their emergency straight to the nearest help.

      Flipping on the outside floodlights, Erin shoved open the back door as a small red sports car slid to a halt in the center of the rear parking lot. The driver’s door flew open, and a young woman jumped out. She spotted Erin and hefted a large padded envelope over her head. “Don’t hurt him! Please!”

      Someone must be in the back seat of the car. Erin stepped away from the building. “Is someone in the car who needs—”

      “I came alone.” Her voice shook, pleading as she held the envelope out toward Erin, although a good twenty feet separated them. “Please. Just...please.”

      Erin eased back toward the building and snaked her hand behind her, feeling for the door handle. If this stranger was high or on a mental break she needed assistance, but she could easily turn violent. “Ma’am? Can I help you with—”

      “Don’t hurt him!” The woman rounded her car and stepped cautiously toward Erin, holding out the package. “Please, I don’t know—”

      An engine roared and tires screamed as another car accelerated and skidded around the side of the building.

      It was the dark sedan that had driven by so many times.

      The stranger’s eyes widened in panic. She froze, directly in the path of the oncoming headlights.

      Adrenaline streaked in a flashover through Erin as she took two steps away from the building.

      The car’s engine revved higher as it swerved toward the woman.

      It wasn’t slowing. Throwing her hands over her head, Erin tried to yell a warning, but her throat constricted. No! Stop! There was no way this was happening. Nothing she could do to prevent it.

      Time slowed. A dull, crunching thud tore the air as the dark four-door slammed into the young woman. Her body was hurled limply onto the hood of the car. The windshield cracked into a spiderweb from the impact of her head. She dropped to the ground and rolled.

      The sedan skidded around the corner of the building and disappeared in a shriek of tires, leaving behind the sharp smell of tire rubber and an unearthly silence.

      Erin’s breath came in hard gasps. A ringing in her ears drowned out the silence as the horror of the past minute gripped her in a momentary paralysis. Her mind screamed she should run, curl into a ball, call for help...

      But she was the help.

      Her training took over. Alert for sounds of the other vehicle’s return, Erin bolted for the broken body crumpled on the ground. Lord, let there be a pulse. Breathing. Anything.

      She dropped to her knees and let her gaze sweep the victim who lay on her side, eyes staring vacantly into the darkness.

      Swallowing a cocktail of grief and fear, Erin reached out to search for a pulse she was certain she would never find.

      Footsteps pounded on the pavement at the far side of the building. The sound rocked Erin back on her heels and she whipped toward the approaching steps, her mind racing with prayers and fear.

      A figure appeared at the dark corner, running toward her. In the shadows, she couldn’t make out features, could only tell it was a man. But there was something familiar—

      And then the man was awash in light, the silence shattered by the sound of an engine roaring closer.

      * * *

      There was no time to think.

      Army Sergeant First Class Jason Barnes sprinted toward the woman who stood silhouetted in the headlights of the oncoming car, refusing to question if he could outrun the vehicle sliding around the corner of the fire station with its engine revving into a high whine as it accelerated.

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