Missing and Endangered (Joanna Brady #19)(78)

In her rearview mirror, Jenny saw the parked vehicle’s headlights flash on. The driver seemed to be making a U-turn in order to follow her, but then another pair of headlights bore down on the turning vehicle and the scene turned into a dazzling whirl of headlights as Nick’s truck plowed head-on into the much smaller sedan and sent it spinning.

“Nailed the bastard!” Nick crowed gleefully over the screech of rending sheet metal. “Now call the cops.”

The uncontrollable trembling that assailed Jenny’s fingers right then made it almost impossible for her to dial. Once she had summoned help, she made a U-turn and drove back the way she’d come. Nick’s pickup, a powerful Dodge Ram, had been built to haul livestock and hay. Its air bags were deployed, but beyond minor damage to the front end it was barely dented, while all that remained of the sedan was a jumble of broken pieces. Nick had been wearing his seat belt. The shooter had not. Nick had hauled the guy out of the wreckage and dumped him in the dirty snow along the shoulder of the road, where he lay bleeding, writhing, and moaning. The weapon was nowhere in sight.

“The cops are on their way,” Jenny gasped, falling gratefully into Nick’s comforting arms.

The 911 operator, still on the line, speaking through Jenny’s phone, was asking questions in the background. “He’s hurt pretty bad,” Nick said. “Tell her we need an ambulance as well as the cops.”

Just then a dribble of blood ran down the side of Jenny’s cheek. She looked up at Nick’s damaged face and realized where it had come from.

“You’re hurt,” she said. “Your nose is bleeding.”

Self-consciously Nick wiped his face with the sleeve of his jacket. “It’s nothing,” he said. “Air bag got me full-on, but I’m a helluva lot better off than he is. That asshole was trying to kill you, Jenny.”

She nodded. “I know,” she said.

“Unless I miss my guess,” Nick added, “Maggie is perfectly fine.”

And she was.





Chapter 35





Butch was in bed and Joanna was heading there, too, when Jenny called back. “A guy just tried to kill me,” she said into the phone, almost choking on the words as she forced them out.

That jarring announcement left Joanna feeling as though her body had been plugged into an electrical outlet. With her legs no longer fully supporting her weight, she sank down onto the bed.

“Are you all right?” she asked weakly. “What on earth happened?”

“I got a message, supposedly from someone at the Lazy 8, saying that something was wrong with Maggie—that she was down in her stall and couldn’t get up. I was getting ready to come check on her, and Beth wanted to ride along. When I told her no, we agreed that if she stayed home, I would call Nick. I was here and about to turn in to the ranch entrance when a guy standing on the side of the road took a potshot at me. Nick was a minute or so behind me. He rammed the guy’s car and nailed him good. The shooter’s not dead, but he’s on his way to the hospital. The thing is, Nick wouldn’t have been here at all if Beth hadn’t insisted I have someone with me. She saved my life, Mom. She really did.”

“What’s going on?” Butch demanded from his side of the bed. Belatedly, Joanna turned the phone on speaker and then repeated some of what Jenny had already said.

“Are you okay?” Joanna asked then. “Is Nick?”

“We’re both fine. The cops are here now, and the EMTs are loading the shooter into the ambulance. I don’t know how badly he’s hurt. He was in his vehicle and starting to come after me when Nick slammed into him with his truck.”

“I can’t believe someone tried to shoot you,” Butch said. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” Jenny declared. “We found a bullet hole in the bed of the pickup right behind the cab.”

“But both you and Nick are okay?” Butch asked this time.

“We are.”

“Then please give him a huge hug from us.”

“I already did,” Jenny said with a short laugh. “I hugged him for all I was worth. But the cops are wanting to talk to us now, so I have to go. I don’t know how long that will take, but I’ll let you know what’s going on.”

“Thanks, Jen,” Joanna said. “And tell Nick from me that he’s one good guy.”

“So now Beth’s cyberboyfriend is attacking Jenny, too?” Butch asked as Joanna pulled on her robe.

“I’d say so,” she replied, “and it sounds like he’s dangerous as hell.”

“And do you think the guy who shot at her is the same guy who was messing around with Beth?” Butch asked.

“Not on your life,” Joanna answered grimly, “not in person. Guys like that are cowards. They enjoy pulling the strings to mess with others without having the courage to show their own faces.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Butch asked.

“What any right-thinking mother would do under the circumstances, and that means everything I can,” she told him. “I’m guessing deputies from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office are the officers on the scene. First off I’m going to call Howie Fulton and let him know what’s happened. Next I’m going to call the campus cops at NAU and ask them to keep an eye on Beth. Then I’m going to pull every possible string at my disposal and put the FBI on this case, too, because I’m pretty sure this guy is connected to Beth’s Ron Cameron.”