Tangle of Lies by Patricia Potter

Author:Patricia Potter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media

chapter seventeen

Thank God she had the gun. Liz gripped it tightly. If she’d had to find it in total darkness …

The power had not gone off on its own. Someone was out there.

Her heart raced.

“Come,” she whispered to the dog. Would he understand? Obey? Instead, he barked and held his ground.

She wasn’t going to leave him. She took him by his collar with her left hand and led him to what must be the bedroom.

The gun slipped in her sweat-slicked hands.

Get a grip. Remember all those lessons.

But those lessons had involved cardboard targets, not a human being.

Caleb will be back soon.

The sound of breaking glass reached her. Tramp barked again and lunged against her hold, freeing himself and running toward the kitchen.

Liz hesitated, then followed. She wouldn’t be safe anywhere in the house. At least now she would have the element of surprise. The intruder would be distracted by Tramp.

She held the .38 in both hands as she’d learned.

A shadow loomed, big and powerful, in the kitchen area.

With a growl, Tramp leaped at him.

The gunshot echoed off the cabin’s walls as Tramp fell backward.

No.

The figure turned back toward her, and she knew she was next. She aimed and fired.

The intruder stepped back. “Shit.”

She had hit him, but then he turned his gun toward her.

The lights came on.

She blinked in the sudden glare, and the figure in black stumbled and went to his knees as he reached for the night vision goggles that shielded his eyes and tore them off. Then he aimed again.

Liz pulled the trigger twice. He went down just as another figure appeared in the broken window, a gun in his hand. She swung her weapon around.

Caleb!

She lowered the pistol. Her gaze returned to the figure on the floor. Tramp, blood dripping from his shoulder, stood and limped toward her. Her legs buckled under her, and she fell to her knees.

Caleb went over to the fallen intruder. Blood from his wounds pooled on the floor.

Caleb took the handgun that lay next to the still figure and slid it across the floor. Then he checked the intruder’s neck pulse before glancing up at her. “He’s dead.”

She laid her gun down on the floor. She knew her fingers wouldn’t hold it another moment. “I … I think Tramp saved my life,” she stuttered.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine.” It was a lie. She wasn’t all right at all. She wanted to be sick.

At the sound of his name, Tramp limped to Caleb’s side. Caleb stooped and examined the wound. “Shoulder, but it doesn’t look bad. The bullet went in and out. He’ll need a trip to the vet’s.” He rubbed the dog’s ears. “Good job,” he said with a slight break in his voice. “Good job.”

Tramp’s tail wagged.

Liz rose and took a few steps on shaky legs. She had her own thanks to deliver. She sat down beside Caleb and very carefully put her arms around the dog, her head against his.

Tramp’s tongue took a big swipe on her cheek.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

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