Hill, Gerri - Angel Fire

“Okay. It could be him. We’ll check it out. Thanks, Rowan.”

“Sure.”

She pocketed her phone again. “The owner of the property lives here in Taos,” she told them. “That could be him.” She then glanced to the backseat where Tori and Sam sat. “You stay put,” she told Sam.

“Yes. I know the drill.”

Cameron nodded. “It would be too easy if it’s Angel. But let’s use caution, just in case.”

She, Tori and Andrea all pulled out their weapons. Even though they were wearing vests, she still felt exposed. She took the lead, her eyes glued to the house, looking for movement. Maybe it was her imagination, but it seemed unnaturally quiet. Each step they took sounded loud to her ears, the gravel of the road crunching beneath their boots.

“I’m going to go around to the back,” she said quietly. “You two take the front. Give me a chance to get back there.” She glanced at Andrea, meeting her eyes. “Nice and slow,” she murmured.

Andrea nodded.

Cameron walked on, inching closer to the side of the house. Andrea and Tori waited for her to get around, then started walking again. A couple of noisy black and white birds—magpies—were flushed from the trees nearer the road, and Cameron turned quickly, surprised to find three sheriff’s department cars skidding to a halt at the edge of the dirt driveway.

“What the hell?”

But she had no time to contemplate it. A single shot from the house—a rifle—shattered glass and the silence was broken. She saw Andrea and Tori hit the ground and she dove behind a tree as the deputies returned fire, their bullets spraying the house at will. Windows exploded with a deafening roar, and Cameron pulled out her phone as she crawled on her stomach farther away from the house.

Her hand was trembling as she dialed Rowan and she wiped the sweat from her eyes impatiently. She could no longer see Andrea and Tori, but she knew they were caught in the crossfire.

“Rowan…call your contact with the goddamn sheriff’s office. Now!” she yelled. “They’re firing at our house. Andrea and Tori are trapped. Get them to back the fuck off!”

“I’m on it,” he responded immediately.

She disconnected, then called Reynolds. “Get over here!” she said as soon as he answered.

“What the hell’s going on? I hear shooting.”

“No shit. The goddamn sheriff’s deputies are firing at the house.”

“What are they doing there?”

“Don’t have time to chat, Reynolds. I assume Angel is inside. Someone from the house fired first.” She ducked lower as a bullet kicked up dirt not five feet from her. “Tori and Andrea are trapped between them. I need some goddamn help out here.”

“On our way.”

Cameron rolled over, trying to get a view of Andrea. She heard a car start up and she whipped her head around, just in time to see the white Ford pull away in a cloud of dust, heading up the hill, away from them.

“Goddamn…son of a bitch ,” she muttered.

The shooting stopped almost as quickly as it had started, and silence once again took its place. She sat up, peeking around the tree.

“Andi?” she yelled.

“I’m okay,” Andrea called back.

“Thank God,” she murmured as she blew out a relieved breath. She stood, holding up her hands as she walked out into the open.

“I’m goddamn FBI,” she yelled as she held up her credentials. “Do not fire your weapons!”

She saw Sam run up behind the six deputies and pause for only a second before running along the driveway toward the house. Andrea sat up and so did Tori. Even from this distance, Cameron could see the blood. She took off running too, but Sam beat her there.

“Jesus Christ. How bad?” Cameron asked as she stared at Tori, her mouth pulled together in a painful grimace.

Andrea shook her head. “Don’t know yet.”

“Are you hit?” Cameron asked her.

“I took one in the vest.”

“Tori? Jesus, why does this always happen to you?” Sam asked as she knelt beside her. “Talk to me. How bad?”

“Flesh wound,” Tori said. “Help me up.” Her vest had no less than three bullets in it and blood seeped along her arm. “I think I’m okay.” She glanced angrily over at the deputies. “Which one of you idiots shot me?”

Cameron’s rage boiled over as she met Tori’s gaze. She marched toward the deputies, her glare causing several to take a step back.

“You shot a goddamn FBI agent,” she yelled, pointing at Tori. “What the fuck were you thinking? This is our goddamn case. Not yours!” She pounded her fist on the hood of one of the cars. “You fucking follow us again, I’ll have you thrown in your own goddamn jail,” she said loudly.

“Hey, wait a minute. We didn’t follow you. We were dispatched,” one of them said.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“There was a nine-one-one call from this residence. Said Angel Figueroa had been spotted here.”

“A nine-one-one call?” Cameron slowly shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she muttered. She glanced back at them. “So you just didn’t see us here or what? You fucking shot an FBI agent.”

“How do you know we did? He…he could have,” one of the deputies said, pointing at the house.

“No, he didn’t.” She narrowed her eyes. “If he had shot her, he would have killed her. Now all you’ve managed to do is let him escape and we’re right back to square one.” She ran her hands through her hair. “Goddamn it,” she murmured. “We had him.” She shook her head again. “You’re lucky the six of you are still alive.”

Before she could say more, Reynolds and Eric pulled up. Reynolds’s gaze collided with hers and she shook her head.

“He got away.”

“You let him get away?”

Cameron narrowed her eyes. “Don’t start with me, Reynolds,” she said. “No, I didn’t let him get away. These guys were firing on us. Friendly fucking fire. While we’re taking cover from these guys, Angel got away.”

Reynolds turned to the deputies. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“He fired at us first,” one said. “We just returned fire.”

Cameron walked away, leaving Reynolds with them. Tori had her vest off and was sitting on the porch of the house. Her T-shirt was shredded. She assumed Sam had torn it and made a bandage.

“Ambulance?” she asked Tori.

“Hell, no,” Tori said.

“You’ve got to have it looked at,” Sam contradicted.

“It’s fine.”

“It’s a bullet wound, Tori,” Sam said. “Don’t argue with me.”

“Sam—”

“It’s not up for discussion. You are seeing a doctor.”

Cameron and Andrea exchanged glances, and she nodded at the amused look in Andrea’s eyes. It was a conversation that the two of them had had before too.

Cameron left them and walked around the side of the house. Goddamn stupid decision on her part, she knew. If they’d truly thought Angel was inside, how intelligent was it to just walk up like they had? She shook her head. Her gut told her that no way was Angel inside. It was too easy. But she should have been smarter. She should have waited for backup. They should have been sure before just sauntering up like they had.

“Hey.”

She turned, finding Andrea watching her. “I’m sorry, Andi,” she said. “I walked us right into this. You and Tori, you could have been—”

“But we’re fine.”

Cameron shook her head. “I just…I just didn’t really think that Angel was inside,” she explained. “But he’s a goddamn sniper,” she said, her voice getting louder. “And I walked us right up to the house like we were coming for a visit or something.”

“Stop it, Cameron. This isn’t accomplishing anything.”