Touch of Red (Tracers #12)(90)

A shudder moved through her.

She took a deep breath and glanced around. On the ground near the spot where the pickup had been sat a black duffel bag.

He’d left it. Or dropped it in his haste. Brooke walked over and picked it up. It was heavy, and she wasn’t surprised when she unzipped it and found two pistols inside, along with several spare magazines. She also found four, five, six thick bundles of cash, like the ones Mahoney had given Joe Hurd. Brooke couldn’t leave the weapons there for anyone to grab, so she hitched the bag onto her shoulder and glanced around.

A flash of red near the trees caught her eye.

Cameron?

Brooke moved toward it. She gripped the shotgun in her hands and ducked low as she jogged toward the brush.

In the distance, the distinctive crunch of metal. Brooke froze and listened. A car crash? Was Sean involved? Maybe someone had intercepted Mahoney or Hurd as they’d tried to flee.

Brooke darted into the trees and glanced around for the red. It was Cameron’s sweatshirt. Had to be. She pushed through some mesquite bushes and ducked between oak trees and cedars. Thorns snagged her clothes, and she swatted the branches away as she searched for Cameron.

In the distance she heard yelling. Then the faint wail of a siren. Finally.

A glimpse of red caught her attention, and she looked up to see Cameron sitting in a tree, wedged into the V where the limbs split.

“Gimme the bag,” a gruff voice said.

Brooke whirled and lifted the gun just as Mahoney wrenched it from her hands.

His eyes were wild. Blood saturated his right arm, which hung limply at his side. His left arm held her shotgun with the stock resting against his hip.

“Take the bag off your shoulder and loop it over my head.” His words were labored but forceful. She started to resist, but then she thought of Cameron in the tree. Had Mahoney seen him?

“Now.”

Never taking her eyes off the judge, she slowly lifted the bag from her shoulder and held it out to him. He stepped closer.

“Loop it over my head.”

He couldn’t do it with his injured arm, not while keeping the gun pointed at her.

Brooke looped the bag over his head. Then she backed away, hands up.

A blur of red as Cameron leaped from the tree and landed on Mahoney, knocking him to the ground.

“No!” Brooke screamed, and lurched toward them.

Boom.

Fire tore through her leg. She rolled under some bushes and crashed into a tree trunk. Through the branches, she saw Mahoney charging toward her.

Pop.

Mahoney staggered back, clutching his shoulder. He collapsed with a yowl. The next instant was a blur of movement as Sean burst through the bushes. He landed on Mahoney, flipped him onto his stomach, and pinned his arms behind his back.

“Brooke!”

“Over here,” she shouted.

“Brooke, stay there!”

More grunts and howls as Sean cuffed Mahoney and frisked him for weapons. The judge was bleeding and bellowing about his shoulder.

Brooke swiped the branches away and tried to sit up. She scooted out from under the bushes as pain blazed up her leg.

Then Sean was there. He dropped to his knees and yanked his jacket off. “Jasper, get an ambulance! Now!” He leaned over her. “Brooke, you’re hit.”

“I know. I think . . . I think—” Her leg was on fire, and she couldn’t think at all. “Cameron . . .”

“Jasper’s got him. He’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Brooke closed her eyes, and the relief was so intense it almost eclipsed the pain.

“Jasper!” Sean stripped off his shirt and started wrapping her leg in a tourniquet.

Jasper stepped through the bushes. “Paramedics on the way. ETA five minutes.”

“Get the boy out of here,” Sean ordered. “Take him to the sheriff’s units over by the gate, and then lead the paramedics back here. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Brooke groped for Sean’s hand and found it. “Stay with me. Please.”

“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”





CHAPTER 28


Sean trained his gaze on the gray doors, willing them to open, but they wouldn’t move.

“Sean.” He turned around to see Callie stepping off the elevator. “What’s the news?”

“Still nothing.”

She had a cardboard coffee cup in her hand, and she held it out to him, but he shook his head.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

She took a sip and turned to look at the doors. “I thought they said an hour?”

“They did.” Sean glanced at his watch again. It had been nearly two hours since Brooke had gone into surgery, and still no updates. With every minute that ticked by, acid was eating away at Sean’s stomach.

He glanced across the waiting room at Brooke’s brother and his girlfriend, who were sitting in chairs beside a television no one was watching.

“Mahoney’s out.”

Sean looked at Callie and tried to process the words. “Out . . . ?”

“Of surgery. Sounds like his shoulder and arm are torn up, but otherwise he’s okay. Doc says he’ll be cleared to go later. Jasper and Ric are going to take him in. And Hurd is being booked as we speak.”