Page 69 of Hunted in Hope Town

But it was Boyd. And Kirsten. His knees nearly gave out as Kirsten rushed over to him.

“Colleen,” Boyd said as he reached them. He looked down at her. “Long time, no see.”

“You’ll all be dead soon enough,” she replied, but Ellis didn’t think she was so much certain as refusing to admit defeat.

“Doubt it. We took care of your backup group already.”

“There’s no way you took out five men by yourself, you arrogant…” But she trailed off, realizing her mistake.

“Wow, you really are good at this,” Ellis muttered sarcastically. “Just as good as any FBI agent.” He checked the rest of her pockets, ignoring the way she tried to put up a fight. He pulled out a phone and a knife and more bullets. He checked her boot, found another knife. He handed them all to Boyd.

When he was satisfied she was completely disarmed and not getting out of those ties anytime soon, and certainly not on her own, he got to his feet. And immediately put his arm around Kirsten, walking her away from Colleen. Boyd fell into step on his other side.

“Okay, so we’ve got to find three,” Boyd said in a low voice Colleen couldn’t hear, though she was bellowing enough she wouldn’t be able to hear much of anything. “We took out two. One for me, one for Bull’s-eye over here.”

Ellis looked down at Kirsten in some surprise. “I didn’t freeze up,” she said, leaning into him. “But I did close my eyes.”

He squeezed her tight. “Don’t do that again.”

“So I told her,” Boyd muttered.

“Boyd is hurt, Ellis. He keeps saying he’s fine, but…” Kirsten gestured at Boyd, who Ellis realized had been keeping his left arm out of view.

“It’s nothing,” Boyd said. “I’ve had worse walking down the street.”

Ellis believed him, more or less, but with three men still out there, they needed help. And Boyd would need medical attention. “I’m still calling in backup.”

“Okay, but if the cops show up? Or worse, the FBI? I’m disappearing, and I was never here.”

“Why…?” Ellis shook his head. He didn’t have time to get to the bottom of whatever Boyd was hiding or running away from. He had to get Kirsten to some kind of safety before the three guys still out there got to them. “How the hell did she con five guys into helping her?”

“If she was hooked up with the Carusos, she knows how to find violent people desperate for money.”

Ellis supposed he couldn’t argue with that.

“Couldn’t we just lock ourselves in the cabin and wait for backup to arrive?” Kirsten suggested.

Ellis could lock her up in there. And Boyd. Boyd was hurt. It’d be better if they were maybe in that cellar, safe. But if someone got through him…

He didn’t have time to finish that thought or come up with a plan. He heard it, a second too late. Boyd must have too. Because almost in time with the echoing sound of the gunshot, Ellis felt pain rip through his shoulder and knock him into the cold, icy snow. Hard.

Kirsten’s scream echoed louder than the gunshot.

BOYD HAD GRABBED HER, tossed her onto the ground. She crawled through the snow toward Ellis lying there, but Boyd had a grip on her leg and wasn’t letting her get far enough.

“We have to disable the shooter first,” he shouted at her.

He said it maybe twice, but she couldn’t process the words. Not when it was just like her dream. Her memory. Ellis, blood pouring out of his shoulder. Only here it was making the white snow red.

And he was so still. So still.

“Kirsten.” Boyd managed to get a good enough hold on her leg to drag her back to where he was huddled at the side of the house, a kind of makeshift barrier between the shooter and them.

But Ellis was out there in the snow not moving and—

She tried to suck down a sob.

“He’s okay,” Boyd told her, squeezing her arm hard enough it hurt. “Look at his hand.”