AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Amber, over here!” Simon calledout, shortly before a sound of pain came from him.
Fear filled Amber then. Hadsomething happened to Simon? Had Euan Hunter done something to him? The thoughtof that even as a possibility made Amber’s heart beat faster in her chest, herhand close over her gun automatically.
“I’m coming, Simon,” Amber calledback to him, running in the direction that she’d heard the crash come from. Herfeet pounded over the dirt of the farmyard, heading past the farmhouse to thespot where a large workshop stood next to one of the fields. A tractor wasstill outside it, several parts laid out beside it on a sheet as if in themiddle of a repair.
Amber saw Simon a second afterthat, fighting at close range with a man dressed in blue jeans and a worncanvas jacket. The man was taller than Simon, and at least as heavily muscled,with an unkempt beard and long hair falling past his shoulders. He had a toolbelt around his waist, and he was wearing heavy work boots. Amber guessed thatthis had to be Euan.
He and Simon were exchangingpunches in close with one another, hard enough that Amber heard them as theystruck flesh. She saw Simon wince with the impact of one of them, and shestarted to move to intervene, hoping that maybe with her assistance, Simonwould be able to take down this man.
Euan seemed to see her coming,though, because he turned and shoved Simon in Amber’s direction. Simon slammedinto her, the two of them going down briefly, and the impact of the fallknocked the breath out of Amber. Euan was heading back towards the toolshed,but Simon was back up on his feet in an instant, throwing himself at the otherman in a tackle that sent them both to the ground near the tractor.
The two struggled there. Euanslammed a palm strike into Simon’s jaw. Simon drove his elbow into the meat ofEuan’s shoulder, obviously trying to weaken that arm. They rolled over once,then again, strikes coming from both men as they tried to gain an advantage.
Amber struggled back to her feet,the impact of the fall slowly wearing off, leaving her able to breathe andthink again.
Even as she did it, Simon was ontop of Euan again, but the former soldier had managed to get his feet betweenthe two of them, holding Simon back. Simon tried to find a way around his legs,and Euan kicked out, sending Simon flying back to slam into the wheel of thetractor.
The soldier was on his feet againthen, reaching down into his tool belt and coming out with a screwdriver. Atsuch a close range, Amber knew it would be almost as dangerous as a knife. Itwould thrust just as easily, and to just as deadly effect.
Terror for Simon filled Amber inthat moment. She pulled her gun on instinct, leveling it at Euan. She didn’twant to kill anyone, didn’t want to shoot anyone, but if it came down toa choice between the life of a possible killer and that of a man who was bothher partner and so much more than that to Amber, there would only be onechoice.
Even so, Amber took a moment tomove into Euan’s line of sight, her pistol still aimed at him. She held up herbadge.
“FBI! Freeze, Euan. Make anothermove and I’ll shoot.”
Amber didn’t expect it to work. Shethought that, at any moment, Euan would lunge at either her or Simon. He wouldgive her no choice other than to pull the trigger. Amber had trained for that,but it still didn’t mean that she wanted to take a life.
Instead, though, Euan froze inplace, keeping his hands away from his tool belt.
“Wait, you’re FBI?”
Simon nodded. "We are. Both ofus." He held up his badge to prove it. "So, do you want to explain tome why we shouldn't run you in for leaping out and attacking me likethat?"
“I thought…” Euan shook his head.“I saw you trespassing. I thought you were here to… I don’t know. Sneakingaround my place, I thought you were trying to kill me or something.”
It was a paranoid way of thinking,but that only fit with what Amber had seen in his file.
“What are you even doing here?”Euan asked.
“We’re here to talk to you aboutRosalind Elm,” Amber said.
She saw Euan frown. “Roz. What didshe do now?”
“Rosalind is dead, Euan,” Ambersaid. “We’re the agents assigned to investigate her murder.”
“Murder?” Amber saw the shock onthe former soldier’s face. She saw him crumple in on himself, actuallycollapsing to the ground in his grief.
“No, it’s not right, she can’t bedead. I…”
Amber actually heard a couple ofsobs coming from Euan Hunter. She stood there, waiting it out, waiting for amoment to talk to Euan again.
“Euan, we need to talk to you. Wehave questions we need to ask.”
“Questions?” Euan said. “You havequestions? I've got questions, like who did this? I want to know so I can tearthem apart with my bare hands!"
The anger seemed genuine, but Amberknew they needed more than that.
“Euan, can we talk inside aboutRosalind… Roz?”
