Page 36 of The Deadly Shallows

To the right. No cars.

Her heart sank.

Then an engine roared. She looked back to the right as a semi rumbled around the bend. With a deep breath, she steeled herself and raced in front of it, waving her arms.

“Please,” she breathed.

His horn blared as he waved for her to get out of the way.

She remained fixed in place. This was it. Please, please, stop.

The engine barked as the trucker hit the Jake brake and slammed on the brake pedal, straining back as they shrieked. The rig fishtailed, and the cab shuddered to a stop inches from her.

The driver’s door opened as Saul crested the embankment.

“Are you crazy?” the trucker exclaimed.

“He’s going to shoot us,” she yelled as Saul lifted his gun. She raced around the rig for cover as the trucker slammed his cab door shut.

A line of construction vehicles rounded the bend, yellow swirling lights bouncing off the pavement.

A police car followed the construction vehicles, and Saul slinked back into the woods, where, no doubt, the second man was already hiding from view.

Collapsing in the passenger seat of the trucker’s cab, she rolled her head toward him. “Thank you.”

The man’s eyes widened as his gaze slipped over her. “What happened to you, lady?”

TWENTY

“They found her,” Emmy said over the cell. “Or rather, she found them.”

A level of relief he’d never felt before swept through Noah, loosening his taut chest muscles. Thank you, Jesus! “Wait . . .” His brows arched. “Did you say she found them? As in one of our teams?”

“No,” Em said. “She flagged down help on Highway 67, across the inlet a mile or so from the warehouse district. Ambulance is en route. I’ll text you the GPS coordinates.”

“Thanks, Em.” He didn’t think he’d ever heard better news, yet fear of what she might have been put through hung fast in his mind.

Gabby headed for 67 as they waited for the exact location to come through.

Within a matter of minutes, Em sent the GPS coordinates, and Noah punched them in. “We’re six minutes out.” He released a shaky exhale. It would be the longest six minutes of his life.

“Caleb and Mason are two minutes out,” Em said.

“Let them know we’re en route, Brooke too if you can patch through to one of the officers on-site.”

“Will do, boss.”

With Gabby’s driving, they made it in under four minutes. Commotion awaited them. A semitruck, followed by a string of construction vehicles, held up the right lane. A police car wedged across the left, blocking traffic. Patrol car lights twirled along with those of an ambulance that sat with its bay doors open behind the police vehicle.

Gabby hadn’t even put the car in park when Noah jumped out and rushed as fast as his stupid leg would carry him. He could make out Brooke’s form on the stretcher, the EMT injecting something into the IV bag.

Several K-9 units rushed past him toward the woods.

Please let them find who took her. Don’t let them escape.

Increasing his stride caused his wounded leg to wobble, but he ignored the throbbing pain, pressing for the ambulance.

Caleb stepped in front of him, and Noah shifted to maneuver around him. Whatever Caleb had to tell him could wait. He needed to be by Brooke’s side.