The Silence (Columbia River #2)(74)

“Back in the car!”

Jayne shrieked and bucked against his arm. He bent into the Mustang near the driver’s seat, Jayne still trapped against him. As he straightened, Ava caught a glimpse of a pistol in his other hand.

It was in the car.

Ava raised her weapon another inch, but the Mustang was in the way, and Jayne was thrashing in his arms.

No shot.

Reuben turned toward the front of his car, his upper arm moved forward, and the crack of his shot filled the air.

The man on the ground screamed, and Jayne’s shriek erupted a split second later. Ava looked to Mercy, who had moved ten feet forward and to her left, but the woman shook her head. Neither had a shot with Jayne tight against Reuben’s torso.

Jayne swung her bound hands over her shoulder at Reuben’s face as she continued to kick and scream. He slammed the butt of the pistol against her head, but she didn’t stop fighting.

Ava stepped closer. I have to do something.

Jayne suddenly went limp, using her weight to throw him off-balance. Reuben floundered forward a step and wrapped his other arm around her.

Another shot cracked, and Jayne’s howl of pain turned Ava’s blood to ice.

She’s shot!

Reuben flung her into the back seat and shoved the driver’s seat back into position.

“Stop!” Ava shouted. “Federal agents.”

He glanced her way and dropped into the front seat, slamming the door closed and starting the engine. The tires spun as he floored the gas pedal, and the car leaped forward. It turned onto the road, speeding away in the opposite direction from where Ava and Mercy had just come.

Fury rushed through Ava. She could shoot at the rear window, but Jayne was in there somewhere, still screaming at the top of her lungs.

No shot.

The throaty roar of the engine sounded, and the car disappeared around a bend.

“Let’s go,” she shouted at Mercy. Her vehicle, now.

But Mercy knelt by the man on the ground, pressing her hands against his bleeding chest. “Give me your jacket!”

I’ve got to go after Jayne.

Ava froze, torn between running to their vehicle and helping. “Dammit!” She ripped off the windbreaker, balled it up, and pressed it against the wound, kneeling beside Mercy.

“I’ve got a kit in my vehicle.” Mercy pushed to her feet and dashed toward the road.

Ava pressed harder and the man moaned.

Reuben’s getting away. How badly was Jayne hurt?

“Hey!” She caught the man’s painful gaze. “You’re going to be okay. What’s your name?”

“Fuck off.” He groaned and tried to roll to his side.

A large exit wound high on his back, near his shoulder, bled freely. She pushed him flat on his back.

“You’ve been shot, you idiot. Hold still.”

“I’m going to kill him!”

Not if he killed you first.

The FBI windbreaker wasn’t absorbent, and the blood soaked Ava’s hands. Hurry up, Mercy. She took the man’s fury and fight to be good signs, but there was still too much blood.

Far-off sirens sounded.

Thank God.

“What’s your name?” she asked again.

“Tony,” he said through gritted teeth.

Tony Schroeder?

“Are you Kaden’s dad?”

Surprise flared in his eyes, and Ava took that as a yes.

“Why were you fighting with Reuben Braswell?”

His eyes clenched shut, and he groaned. “That fucker.”

“Did he shoot your son?”

Tony’s eyes startled open. “You knew?” He shuddered, and his face contorted in agony.

“We suspected. Why’d he do it?”

“I hadn’t gotten him his money yet,” Tony slurred, his voice heavy with pain.

“Money for what?”

The man screwed his eyes closed as his legs convulsed. “Guns.”

Ava remembered the stash of weapons under Kaden’s bed. Reuben killed a boy because of his father’s debt?

“How’d you find Reuben?”

“My cabin,” Tony forced out between clenched teeth. “Loaned it to him a few times. Thought he might hide here.”

Mercy’s SUV stopped a few feet away from Tony’s head. She leaped out and dashed to the rear, where she grabbed a large kit. Dropping to her knees beside Ava, she lifted the windbreaker and peered at the wound. Blood seeped steadily from the small hole but didn’t spurt.

“Exit wound?” she asked.

Ava indicated the back side of his shoulder. Mercy took a quick look. “Shit,” she murmured, “I called 911. Told them about the Mustang and asked for an ambulance.” She turned to dig in her kit, and Ava watched her work. Mercy had field talents that no other agents had. She had been raised in a survivalist and prepper family, and there wasn’t much that Mercy didn’t know how to do. Emergency medical care was the tip of the iceberg.

Mercy ripped open a silver package to reveal a large syringe that appeared to be full of small tablets. “Roll him to his side.” Ava supported him as Mercy pushed the wide tip into the exit wound and pressed the plunger.

Tony screamed.

“What is that?” Ava asked.

“Sterile sponges made from crustacean shells. They’ll expand and clot.”