Turner scooped her close. Lightning flashed overhead, revealing a dark stain at her temple. “Just how badly are you hurt?”
Sirens sounded in the distance, competing with the approaching thunder.
“I—where were you? I called Elliot. He’s on his way. I couldn’t find you.” She was reaching for him, her hands tight on his shoulders. Turner wrapped both arms around his woman and just held her. “Who hit us?”
“He had a gun. It was an ambush. Come on.” Turner wasn’t taking any chances. There were corrupt cops in the TSP now. He wasn’t going to risk her. “I want you to get behind the car until we see who is behind those sirens. Then we’re going to get you to the hospital and get you checked out.”
She’d been out when he’d come to. That didn’t just happen by chance. He wanted her checked out by her friends, preferably Allen or little Nikkie Jean, before he took her home to his family ranch, where there were armed staff to keep her safe.
Then he and Elliot were going to go hunting.
Someone had set them up tonight, pulling him out from the ranch. That bastard had been waiting for him. Turner had no doubt about that.
Just so he could be a target.
Now they’d just pissed him off—Annie was never going to be a target again.
He grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his Lincoln. He made quick work of wrapping it around her, keeping his eyes trained in the direction of his attacker. The guy could come back over that hill at any moment.
And Turner hadn’t been able to find that gun.
“Stay here, honey. I’m going to go check on that guy. Make sure he’s not creeping up on us.” The missing gun didn’t sit well with him. Not at all. “Get behind the Lincoln and stay down.”
“No. Stay here. Let Elliot’s men do that.” Her fingers wrapped around his arm again. “Please. Just don’t go back over there.”
Before he could say anything, two squad cars and two unmarkeds pulled to a stop in front of them.
Elliot Marshall was outlined in the flashing lights within seconds. Some of Turner’s tension lessened. “Elliot! Over here!”
The chief jogged toward them. “Turner, Annie, are either of you hurt?”
“I’m ok, but she was unconscious for a few minutes. There’s a man down just over that small hill there. He ran us off the road. Then when Annie was unconscious, he forced me from the vehicle at gunpoint. We…fought. He hit his head, and I made it back to Annie.”
It was almost simplistic in his explanation. Turner didn’t need that pointed out to him. Hell, if there were more details than that, he’d have given them. “There’s not a lot more I can say about it. I didn’t even get a good enough look at his face to identify him.”
Elliot turned toward the plainclothes detectives who had come up behind him. “Callum, Evers, check it out.”
The two detectives did as instructed, disappearing over the hill quickly.
Turner just held Annie in his arms and looked at the chief. “She was unconscious, El. I want to get her to the ER.”
“Paramedics are on their way,” Elliot said. He stepped closer and used a small flashlight to study Annie’s face. “How badly are the two of you hurt?”
“I—” Annie started to say something, but shouts came from over the hill.
Callum jogged up. “Chief, you’ll need to see this. The guy…you need to see this. You, too, Mayor Barratt. It…isn’t pretty.”
Turner wasn’t going anywhere without Annie. His hand tightened around hers. She wasn’t saying much, just shaking in his grip. When they crested the small hill, Turner could just see the outline of one of the detectives over the man who had attacked him. He’d honestly thought the guy would have taken off by now. Or at least tried to get back to the car he’d hit them with.
Dread filled him.
That guy should have taken off by now.
“What is it?” Elliot asked.
“He’s dead. Head wound, most likely from that rock right there,” Callum said, bluntly, pointing a flashlight toward a handful of palm-sized limestone chunks. “And it’s Officer Collin Eugent. He was wearing a damned face mask, almost obscuring his face. The hit probably killed him instantly. Evers found a gun ten feet to the east. Not TSP issue. That answers a few questions I had about him.”
“He was going to kill me,” Turner said, unsure what else he was supposed to say. He hadn’t meant to kill the man. He’d just wanted to ensure Annie was as safe as possible. “He started back toward Annie with the gun, and we were grappling. He had his gun, but I couldn’t find it in the mud after that. He was going to go back after Annie. It was an accident.”
Turner quickly outlined what had happened since the moment he realized the car was coming up behind them.
“It was self-defense then.” Evers said. It wasn’t a question. “He’s not in uniform. He’s wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun that isn’t standard issue. He would have recognized you, Mayor Barratt. He would have run your license plate number, as well. If it was legitimate business, he wouldn’t have pulled you from the car at gunpoint; nor forced you out here. And he would have rendered aid.”
“And he’s had access to privileged information. We can’t overlook that,” Elliot stated bluntly. “He overheard quite a few of our conversations. I’ve used him for a runner for weeks. He could have leaked anything.”
“He was going to go after Annie. He…I thought she was dead when we first crashed. I couldn’t let him come back for her.”
“It was self-defense, and defense of another,” Elliot continued. “You did what you had to do. Don’t forget that tonight when the nightmares come. You kept yourself and Annie safe. And that is what matters.”