Katy Lee - Amish Country Undercover

The snap of a twig.

The gunman was off to his right, just as Jack had predicted. Moving stealthily, he followed the other sounds the thief made, and soon realized the guy wasn’t very smart. So far, he had moved in the same right, right, left pattern. Jack figured it was so he could find his way out of the forest. But that also meant he could be tracked.

And just like that, Jack became the stalker with the upper hand.

He readied his gun as he took silent steps to his right. At ten feet, he turned left to keep to the gunman’s right. Jack picked up his pace to outmatch his target’s. He took one more turn, this time left, and came face-to-face with a shadowed figure in the dark, his eyes wild at being caught.

“Who are you?” Jack asked into the night, his trigger finger ready to pull. He stepped closer and noticed a bandana covered half the man’s face.

Or more like a boy’s.

Jack huffed in disbelief. “They’re hiring them younger and younger these days. How old are you? Seventeen?”

“None of your business. I’m here for the horse, but you have inconvenienced me.”

Jack laughed aloud. “That’s a big word for such a little guy. That’s a good one.” He laughed again.

The gunman’s eyes narrowed with anger. “How would you like another bullet in you?”

Jack’s laughter stopped cold. “I let you take a shot at me once. It won’t happen again.”

The boy lifted his gun straight at Jack’s head. Jack wasn’t about to give him another chance to fire.

He jerked to the right as his left hand reached for the gun and pushed it away. The weapon blasted, but the boy gripped it firmly as they grappled together.

The sound of a horse running interrupted them. Then Jack heard the thud of several horses’ hooves on the hard ground.

“There’s more than one,” he said aloud.

“The horses!” the boy yelled frantically. “The horses are loose!” He took off in the direction of one of the running animals, then veered to go after another. “Which one is it?”

Jack could see the boy knew what was at stake if he didn’t return with the thoroughbred.

His life.

“Tell me who you work for, and I can help you,” Jack said. He hadn’t moved from his spot, just turned to watch the boy grow more and more frustrated.

“She did this!” the boy wildly yelled. “I knew she would be trouble. I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.”

“You think the Amish woman did this?” Jack asked, biting back an amused laugh at the idea. Then he gave the remark some thought. The boy had to be right. Only Grace could have released the horses and caused the confusion.

But that wasn’t all she’d managed to do.

“That little Amish woman not only freed the horses, but she managed to disarm you,” he said with a smirk.

The boy looked down at his hands, now empty. He lifted confused eyes and saw two guns now in Jack’s possession. The boy’s own gun was now aimed at him.

“So tell me who you are,” Jack ordered.

The boy’s eyes flitted from side to side before resting on Jack. Slowly, he peered through angry eyes. “I’ve got all night. How long do you have before you bleed out?” He lifted his head in defiance.

Jack recognized that smug expression. He’d been just a little bit older when he had given that same look to his family and walked away forever. Only Jack had gone into law enforcement. This kid wouldn’t make it out of his teens if he stayed on a track of crime much longer.

“You’re a dead man,” Jack said. “You know that, right? And it won’t be me pulling the trigger that does you in.”

“That only means I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Jack shook his head. “You’ve got everything to lose. You’re just too blind to see it right now. Let me help you.”

A crunch of leaves to Jack’s left alerted them to the presence of someone else. Jack expected to see a horse trotting in, but at the silhouette of an Amish woman, he knew it was Grace. His weakening state held him back a fraction of a second too long. Just the time the boy needed to reach down to his ankle, then spring into a run at Grace. He wrapped an arm around her neck just as Jack leaped toward them.

Grace shrieked and flailed. Quickly, her body stilled, and she whimpered.

Jack rushed the last few steps until he realized the boy had a knife to her throat. It must have been strapped to his ankle, Jack thought distractedly, while his brain raced to figure out his next move.

He raised his hands in surrender. “I’m not going to shoot you. I only want to help you get away from these people before it’s too late for you.” He set the guns at his feet to show his words rang true.

But he readied himself to spring in and take the boy down.

“You forgot one thing,” the youth said, keeping Grace’s back pressed tightly against him. “I don’t want to get away. I was going places. And this is so much bigger than a few horses.”

Grace struggled to get free and cried out again when her assailant twisted her arm. She was yelling as Jack took another slow step forward. He was nearly there when he saw her lift her right foot and jam it down hard on the boy’s instep. He noticed she wore large boots now just as the boy hollered out in pain, and she did the same.

The young thief let go of her, and she fell to the ground. Boots forgotten, Jack took the opportunity to run at the boy, but just as he was about to make contact, his opponent turned and ran into the dark.

Jack started to go after him, but knew that in his current state he’d never catch up. Still, he had to try.

Then he heard Grace crying behind him.

Jack stopped where he stood, torn in two directions.

But he couldn’t leave Grace sobbing.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, retracing his steps to her. “Did he cut you? Or is it your foot? I saw you stomp on him. With your burns that took some guts.”

Grace lifted her face to him. Fear shone in her widened eyes. “I fought back,” she whispered in despair.

Jack grabbed his side with a grunt as he knelt to face her. He frowned at seeing her agony, both physical and emotional, then sighed and helped her to her feet. Automatically, they leaned together for support. “I know you think you fought back, Grace, but actually, you saved his life. For at least tonight. I was going to have to take him down.”

“But he’s only a boy.”

“It was either you or him, and trust me, it wouldn’t have been you.”

Her face lifted to his. So close, he could feel her soft breath on his chin. He studied her bewildered expression and knew before she said a word what she would have had him do. He knew the Amish way of turning the other cheek. “In my line of business, I do my best to avoid bloodshed, but if there must be some, I aim for the one who’s holding the weapon, not for the innocent bystander caught in the fray.”

“Like yourself?” she asked, her gaze locked on his. “I know you were shot. I found your blood in my home.”

Jack didn’t deny it. With a shrug, he said, “I’ll live. It’s just a graze.”

“We still need to tend to the wound. It could become infected.” The angle of her chin told him she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“I thought Amish women were supposed to be passive,” he grumbled.

“I’ll take that as the pain talking.”

Jack bit back a grin. She was different from the Amish women he’d grown up with. Maybe she would have stuck up for him when he was younger, even when his family hadn’t.

No, probably not.

He let the wishful thinking go and said, “First we need to round up the horses. They’re my first priority.”

“Not me anymore? Does this mean you believe I’m innocent now?” Hope brightened her eyes.