Tracker. Lenora Worth

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СКАЧАТЬ her at the tree, and she couldn’t reach it now. Panic-stricken, she looked around for a weapon. Anything would suffice. Glancing back at Zeke, she tried to send him a silent message. She made a big deal about looking past him as if she saw someone else. Straining forward, she shouted, “Jake, did you see that? I think someone’s in the woods.”

      It was enough to cause her ex to lift his head and glance around. He shifted, his hard-edged gaze sweeping the area.

      Penny slumped against him again, causing him to shift. She slipped down and grabbed a jagged piece of rock and managed to twist toward Jake, her arm raised as she lifted the stone toward him while his arms went up in the air. She’d been a softball pitcher in high school so she could pretty much aim for any sweet spot far away. But up close, it was too hard. Thinking quickly, she aimed for the weapon in his outstretched hand. The heavy rock made contact enough against the gun for Jake to lose his grip. His gun flipped out into the air and fell a few feet away.

      “You shouldn’t have done that, Penny,” he snapped as he shoved her onto her back and slid toward the weapon.

      Zeke shouted at her, “Run. Go. Get out of here!”

      The canine started barking and snarling.

      Then the FBI agent shouted again, “Run!”

      Penny grabbed her backpack as she headed into the woods. Her cell phone was inside. She could call the inn and warn Claire.

      Gunshots went off. The FBI agent commanded, “Attack!”

      Glancing back, she saw Jake roll and then hop up, the gun now aimed at the dog as he ran ahead of the barking canine, shooting to keep him away. But the dog was quick. He nipped at Jake’s booted foot, his teeth sinking deep.

      Her ex grunted and let out a string of curses, all the while fighting to get free of Cheetah. But his efforts failed. His pants ripped and he managed to get up and stumble forward, the dog still on his heels.

      Penny couldn’t stop to watch.

      The whiz of a bullet hit a tree near her. She heard the shots and realized Jake was making good on his word to try to kill her.

      She heard more shots and pivoted around. Her crazy ex was now shooting toward the dog.

      Zeke began returning fire. The medium-sized dog was becoming more and more aggressive, barking angrily and dancing away from the continuous shots. The animal would gain on Jake again any second now. Penny turned and ducked behind a tree just as the dog leaped into the air and headed toward her assailant.

      But Jake took one more shot and disappeared into the woods.

      Zeke came hurrying by. “Stay there,” he told her on a rushed breath.

      Then Jake shouted from somewhere above her on some rocks, “Call off your partner, Zeke. I have Penny in my sights and I will take out her and the dog. You know I’m a good shot.”

      The words echoed out over the woods like an eerie wail. As if to prove he could do it, Jake shot above Penny’s head. She ducked and held her breath.

      Then she saw Jake running through the rough terrain in a zigzag pattern. Heard him shout, “I’m taking him, Penny. None of you can stop me.”

      He fired another round of shots, causing Zeke to rush toward Penny and push her down, his big body shielding hers.

      “Halt,” Zeke called to the canine barking loudly at the rock formation.

      Cheetah whirled and stopped.

      “Come,” Zeke called again, the reluctance and frustration obvious in his tone.

      The obedient dog returned and stood watch, his beautiful heavy fur quivering with awareness.

      “Why did you let him go?” Penny shrieked at Zeke while she struggled to get up. But he was still blocking her, protecting her. Then she stared into his chocolate-brown eyes. The anguish she saw there only mirrored what she’d been feeling for the last few months.

      Something swift and sizzling arced between them in a flash of emotion.

      “I had to for now,” Zeke replied softly as he placed his hands on either side of her shoulders and got up. Helping her to her feet, he added, “I know my brother. He’d shoot you and Cheetah, or he’d ambush us later. He wants you dead so he can take my nephew.”

      “Your nephew?”

      “Yes,” he replied, defiance in his eyes. “Kevin is my nephew. I have to get to him before Jake does.”

      She agreed with him there but wasn’t so ready to accept him as Kevin’s uncle. That sounded way too personal right now.

      They’d discuss the rest of this later. “You’re going after him even though you just let him slip through your fingers?” she asked, still in shock and worried about her son, still reeling from Zeke’s touch and the way his dark eyes had probed her.

      He placed a gentle hand on her elbow and steered her through the woods and underneath the shelter of a giant rock near a pine tree. “Right now, I’m going after Jake.” Then he turned to the canine. “Cheetah, guard.”

      Penny looked from the dog now standing in front of her back at Zeke. “Oh, no. I’m not sitting here while my son is in danger.” She tried to move past him.

      Zeke held her back down. “Listen, I’m going up ahead to look for my brother, but we’ve got backup in the area. You need to stay here and wait for one of them to arrive, understand? Now, tell me where your son is right now so I can send someone to check on him.”

      Penny didn’t hesitate on that. Holding her hand to her sweat-dampened hair, she said, “The Wild Iris Inn on Elk Rock Road. Just inside the town limits. Claire is the owner and she babysits for me. He’s with her. I need to—”

      “Stay here,” Zeke commanded. “Cheetah won’t let anyone come near you.”

      “And if your partner here gets shot?”

      He pulled a handgun out of his shoulder holster. “Do you know how to use a weapon?”

      She nodded. “My grandfather taught me.”

      “Good. Then you know what to do with this one. You’ve got seventeen rounds. One already in the chamber, safety off. When the magazine is empty, run as fast as you can to the main road.”

      With that, he took off. “Hurry,” she called, thinking she’d go where she wanted after he left. “Jake could be at the inn right now. He said he had a van stashed somewhere.”

      “Got it,” Zeke responded, already running away.

      Penny tried to move but the dog moved with her. Blocking her. Feeling helpless, she searched for one of the trails. The canine gave her a daring eye-to-eye stare. Too good at his job.

      Frustration gnawed at her. What more could she do? Feeling lost and so very alone, she prayed, tears falling fast and hard down her face. Please, Lord, help me now.

      “Please don’t let it be too late for my son,” she said out loud. The courageous animal СКАЧАТЬ