Delores Fossen - Laying Down The Law

So, maybe Jax was already close enough to stop him. Cord didn’t know Jericho’s brothers that well, but Jax had been a deputy sheriff for years. Hopefully, that was enough experience so he wouldn’t walk into a trap.

“There might be other explosives,” Cord pointed out.

Another nod from Jericho. “We got your warning and then heard the blast. Jax will be watching for anything suspicious. If Jax gets a shot, though, he’ll take it.”

Cord knew what that meant—they might not be able to take this guy alive. Part of him wanted the moron alive. Because he wanted answers. But since he was convinced this was a copycat, they could perhaps get those answers even if the man was dead. Besides, if he stayed alive and managed to get away, he’d likely just come after Karina again.

“I can’t stop the bleeding,” Karina mumbled.

Her hands were covered with blood now, and the paramedic was barely conscious. They needed an ambulance and needed one fast. It was time to try to end this stalemate and maybe distract the man so that he wouldn’t hear Jax approaching him.

“Just how long do you think you can stay out here like this?” Cord shouted.

The guy laughed. “Well, you’re alive after all. And to answer your question, I can wait as long as it takes. But I’m guessing that’s not true for you, huh? Just how bad are Karina-girl and the others hurt? I didn’t get a good enough look to know when y’all ran like rats.”

Cord had to get his teeth unclenched before he could answer. “If you’re so concerned about them, why don’t you surrender and find out for yourself how they’re doing? We can have a chat about them after they’re on the way to the hospital.”

Silence. It went on way too long. “Nope. Not in a chatting mood right now. I’m thinking it’s time for me to get myself out of here. Another time, another place, Agent Granger.”

And almost immediately Cord heard some footsteps. Not the light treading ones as Jericho’s had been. Someone was running.

Karina would have gotten to her feet if Cord hadn’t pushed her back down. “He’s getting away,” she argued.

Not if Cord had something to do about it. “Wait here with them,” Cord told the sheriff.

He was about to bolt after the man when Jericho moved in front of him. “I’ll go. My brothers and I have signals already worked out. Keep watch, though, because this could be a trick.”

True. The man could be pretending to leave so he could ambush them. With Jax already out there somewhere, Cord didn’t want him to get caught in friendly fire.

Jericho headed out, hurrying but threading his way through the trees to keep his cover. Cord figured Jericho wouldn’t cross the road until he was clear of all the debris from the burning ambulance. Or until he was sure this clown wouldn’t spot him and shoot him.

All Cord could do was wait.

The paramedic who’d been driving took off his shirt and moved closer to Karina so he could help with his bleeding partner. Cord tuned them out and listened. No more running footsteps, but he did hear something. A sort of loud pop.

Karina obviously heard it, too, because her gaze slashed in the direction of the sound. “Did he hit someone?”

Cord shook his head. Too bad he knew from a case he’d worked the sound a hammer made when hitting a human body.

The next sound was one he had no trouble recognizing.

A shot.

It cracked through the air in the same general area where their attacker had been. And it was soon followed by another bullet.

Damn. He hoped Jericho and his brother hadn’t become this snake’s next targets.

Waiting had never been Cord’s strong suit, and it didn’t help that he had a guy literally bleeding to death next to his feet and a would-be killer was out there who thought this was a sick game.

Finally, he heard another sound that wasn’t more shots. It was footsteps, and they were heading right in Cord’s direction.

“It’s me,” Jericho called out again. He wasn’t running exactly, but it was close. And the lawman was all in one piece.

The breath Karina blew out was loaded with relief. Relief that Cord shared. Jericho hadn’t been shot. But that didn’t mean all was well.

“Your brothers?” Cord asked.

“Are in pursuit of the guy in the ski mask.” Jericho looked up the road. “An ambulance will be here in just a few minutes.”

Good. That was a start.

“You can’t let that man get away,” Karina said, standing and meeting Jericho’s gaze.

“We’ll do our best. In the meantime, there’s a note for you nailed to a tree over there.”

That explained the sound of the hammer Cord had heard. This guy had taken the time to leave a note. Why?

“A note for me?” Karina asked.

Jericho nodded. Frowned. Or maybe that was a scowl. “I didn’t touch it because it might have prints or traces on it. It’s handwritten. Or I should probably say it was hand-scrawled, as if he’d written it in a hurry. Which is a given, I suppose.”

“And?” Cord persisted when Jericho didn’t continue.

The sheriff stared at Karina. “It said, ‘Remember what I told you, Karina-girl.’”

Her shoulders snapped back, and she shook her head.

But a head shake wasn’t the answer Cord wanted. “What did he tell you?” Cord demanded.

“‘This will show them,’” she said. “He repeated that a couple of times.”

Cord stepped closer to her, getting right in her face. “And that’s it?”

Karina looked ready to give him a resounding yes. But then she paused. “No. He said something else.” Now, she shook her head again. “But it doesn’t make sense.”

Or maybe it was something she didn’t want to make sense. “What did he say?” Cord asked.

“He said, ‘You know exactly who I am, Karina-girl, don’t you?’”

Chapter Four

Karina was hurting in nearly every part of her body. She felt like one giant bruise, probably looked it, too, judging from the glances Cord kept giving her from across the hospital treatment room that they were sharing. Sympathy mixed with plenty of frustration.

She understood both.

The bald paramedic was in another room getting stitched up and also receiving a transfusion since he’d lost so much blood. The second paramedic had two broken ribs, one of which had punctured his lung. He’d already been admitted to the hospital.

And then there was Cord.

Karina wasn’t exactly sure what his injuries were because he had refused medical attention and had instead been making a string of phone calls. However, he looked as banged up as she did. Maybe more. Because she knew he was still recovering from the injuries he’d gotten last month.

Stab wounds.

And he’d gotten them when the Moonlight Strangler had taken him hostage.

Of course, Cord and everybody else on the planet believed that Willie Lee had been the one to do those horrible things to him, along with killing all those women. Despite the latest attack, Cord was still convinced that Willie Lee was the Moonlight Strangler. But Karina knew differently. The only thing that made sense to her was that the Moonlight Strangler had set up Willie Lee to take the blame not just for that attack on Cord, but for all the other murders.

She’d had zero luck proving it so far.

The nurse finally finished with the last of the stitches. “Wait here,” she said.

She glanced down at Karina’s bare legs and the blue paper examining gown she was wearing. Her bloodstained T-shirt had already been bagged for evidence.

“I’ll see about getting you a pair of scrubs, and I’ll talk to the doctor about releasing you,” the nurse added and left the room.

“Good,” Karina said before she thought it through. She didn’t want to spend the rest of the night in the hospital, but she wasn’t sure where she could go.