Present Danger by Elizabeth Goddard (shoe dog free ebook .txt) 📗

what Leif is doing. Can I use your cell? I lost mine out there in the cornfields.”

Nathan handed it over. “I know you don’t think Owen is involved in illegal activity, and I can’t see it either. So, for now we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. And don’t worry, Terra. We’ll get Morrisey tonight. Every agency has been called in. Anyone who would engage law enforcement in this way has lost all control, if you ask me.”

Terra used the cell and called Owen. Gramps would be asleep by this time, and she didn’t want to disturb him. There wasn’t anything he could do. But she left a message for Owen, keeping it vague. She didn’t want to scare him, but he needed to be warned in case Leif showed up there. Terra sent Owen a text too. That’s all she could do for now.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the constant sound of rapid-fire bullets slamming into Jack’s vehicle. She covered her mouth to stifle the sobs. Jack had been shot. The whole time he was trying to protect her and he’d been shot.

Nathan squeezed her shoulder. “He’s going to be all right.”

Terra wiped her eyes and glanced at him. Despite his words, he was worried too. Nathan was a good guy, and she felt sorry that he and Erin hadn’t made things work.

Nathan slowed his vehicle at a four-way intersection, lights flashing, to assist the ambulance through.

“I get the feeling you like charging through town, sirens blaring.”

“This isn’t one of those times. I don’t like it when a cop is in trouble.”

“Jack told me the bullet went all the way through and that he would be okay.”

“Let’s hope he was telling you the truth.”

He steered through the emergency room entrance and parked. Leaving his vehicle running, he rushed around to open the door, but Terra was already out. She and Nathan watched the EMTs roll the gurney carrying Jack down the hallway. Terra made to follow, but Nathan blocked her. “Let them work without distraction. You say your prayers. The doctors will tell us the good news when they’re done. In the meantime, let me get you some coffee.”

She hugged herself. “Yeah, sure, okay. You’re right.”

Nathan led her to the cafeteria. Bought them coffees and sat with her at a small table. Terra didn’t want to be here. Not like this. Anguish flooded her.

“All I can think about . . . I keep seeing him reaching for me. Begging me not to leave him. And I left him. I’m out here.”

“You know you can’t be in there with him while they treat his injury.”

“Thanks for being here, Nathan. But you don’t need to hold my hand. Don’t you need to get out there and help find Leif before he kills someone else?” She hadn’t meant to sound so harsh.

The tears welled again but didn’t overflow. She was a special agent. A professional. But first responders and special agents could get emotional too.

Nathan touched her arm. “I’m right where I need to be. Take a deep breath. Jack wouldn’t want you to go into shock over this. As I mentioned earlier, the sheriff called in for assists from the state. Two additional counties. I think they can spare me. He’s my friend too, Terra. We go rock climbing now and then.”

A chuckle escaped. “I’m glad he has a friend like you then.”

His eyes met hers. “He’s going to make it. He was shot before, you know, back with the FBI.”

“I heard about that. But not much. What happened to him?” Her question was barely a whisper.

“I don’t know the whole story. Maybe he’ll tell you. I think he nearly died, but he saved a woman and took down a big human-trafficking ring.”

Her heart pounded. “Jack did?” She thought she knew the woman—if it was Rae Burke.

He leaned closer. “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to tell you any of that. I asked him about it, and he didn’t say much. But since he came from the FBI, some of what happened got out. Word got around. He’s private about it.”

Nathan frowned as he stared at his cup.

“What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.

“Jack will tell you what he wants you to know.”

Did that mean Nathan knew something he wasn’t free to share?

“Back there, he called me Sarah,” she said. “He didn’t recognize me. He was seeing Sarah. That nearly broke my heart that he would see his dead cousin.”

Nathan cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. “I just . . . I thought you’d want to know that he’s a hero. And more than that, he’s a survivor.”

Terra stared across the room at an elderly couple getting coffee. A survivor. Yes. She’d known that, given his background. And now she thought she better understood why he’d left her. That day she had thought he would propose but instead disappeared and walked out on their possible future together.

That day, Jack had been doing what he needed to do.

Jack had been surviving.

FIFTY-FIVE

Jack opened his eyes. Light from the hallway spilled through the half-opened door. He’d drifted to sleep after the surgery and blood transfusion and was told he would be kept overnight.

He needed to get out of this prison.

Jack forced his eyes to stay open. He vaguely remembered the doctor explaining something about a vein being lacerated. His humerus needing to be set. The bullet had barely missed an artery. He’d lost a lot of blood—enough that he lost consciousness but fortunately not enough to kill him before he got help.

A soft sigh drew his attention to the corner. He shifted his head and spotted Terra slouched in a chair, sleeping. Her brown mane was tousled and hung over her left shoulder. Her dark eyelashes fluttered. Was she dreaming?

Would she wake up and catch him watching her?

The thought brought on a half smile.

What was I thinking to give you up?

He had thought he was doing the right thing for the both of them. Aunt Nadine always said hindsight was twenty-twenty. Easy enough