The Secret Witness (Shepard & Gray) by Victor Methos

Author:Victor Methos [Methos, Victor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2022-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

32

“Shit!”

Billie jumped out of the car as her deputies raced in after the boy. She looped around the house in a full sprint to the backyard in time to see Braden hop the fence and disappear.

There was little moonlight and only a handful of streetlights. The beams of flashlights cut through the darkness as deputies ran out the back, but the boy was fast and had a head start. A woman was screaming from inside the home.

Billie ran down the block and came around the corner. The neighborhood was quiet and still and only had two streetlamps before a dead end blocked off by homes and then a ravine behind them. Braden couldn’t have run right through. He would have to hide in one of the homes or come through here to get to the next neighborhood.

“Anyone have visual?” she said into her radio.

“Negative.”

“Consider him armed and extremely dangerous. Don’t take any chances.”

“Roger that.”

She walked in the middle of the road, glancing into homes as she did so. Never, not once, had she fired her gun on the job, and she’d only had to pull it out on a handful of occasions. The thought of having to use it now on a teenager made her stomach tighten into a fist.

“Braden?” she shouted. “Braden, are you out here? I don’t want to hurt you. I want to talk to you. That’s all. Just talk.”

No reply. She unsnapped the strap on her holster and stopped. The crunch of leaves—or maybe twigs or gravel—came from somewhere to the right of her. She heard crickets now and felt the trickle of sweat on her neck.

“Braden? I don’t want to hurt you, son. Just come out.”

Another sound. This one behind her. She turned, her heart pounding, and withdrew her weapon. She fell into the Weaver stance and scanned left, then right. It took a moment to register that the noise was a rock someone had thrown.

As she looked down at the rock, Braden tackled her from behind like a linebacker. His veiny hands went around her throat from behind. His weight felt like a boulder on top of her as she fought to turn around.

The gun had been knocked out of her hand. She grabbed at his hands on her neck, which were hard as stone and sweaty. Drool slopped from his mouth as he squeezed her windpipe, growling like an animal. She saw stars and felt herself losing consciousness.

Her gun was out of reach. Tucking her chin down, she managed to get the soft part of the skin between his thumb and pointer finger in her mouth. She bit down so hard she tasted coppery blood. His grip loosened enough that she managed to crawl out from under him and grab her weapon. The second she had it in her hand, Braden let go. He held his hands up and got off her, getting onto his knees. Giving her no excuse to shoot him.

Coughing and sucking breath as though she had been drowning, Billie held the firearm on him from her position on the ground.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.