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Her eyes widened, but she did as she asked, dialing as she ran toward the bathroom.

Seconds later, bullets shattered the glass of the window. Jackson ducked below the windowsill, desperately gauging how much time he had to hold them off until help arrived.

When more gunfire rang out, he grimly realized he had seconds, not minutes. He silently prayed for God’s strength and wisdom. Then drawing in a deep breath, he lifted his head and returned fire.

FOUR

How had the gunmen found them? Nina’s mind whirled as she gave the 911 operator her location. She cringed upon hearing several rounds of gunfire. “We’re at the Sunset Motel,” she repeated. “Did you get that?”

“Yes, I have dispatched deputies to your location.” The woman’s calm voice should have helped ease her fear. But that was impossible. Especially since she could hear Jackson returning fire. His handgun sounded different from the automatic gunfire from the bad guys’ weapons.

“Please hurry!” she begged, feeling desperate. What if Jackson got hurt? How long would it take for the gunmen to find her to finish what they’d started?

Swallowing hard, she wished she understood what was going on. A meeting with her Uncle Mark shouldn’t have started all of this! As more gunfire pummeled their motel room, she quickly decided she couldn’t simply sit there.

She needed a weapon! Spying the toilet tank cover, she reached over and grabbed it. It wasn’t much, but it was heavy enough that she thought it might do some good.

Creeping out of the bathroom, she rounded the doorjamb, spotting Jackson positioned near the window. After a moment’s hesitation, she moved toward him. Then had to duck behind the bed as more gunfire rained down on them. Jackson must have caught her movement, because he scowled at her, jerking his head to the side in a clear indication he wanted her to go back and hide in the bathroom.

Ignoring his directive, she moved toward him, using the toilet seat cover as a shield. Not that she was convinced it was thick enough to stop a bullet. Yet she pushed forward. If Jackson was going to risk his life for her, then she needed to be there with him.

In a brief lull of shooting from the assassins, Jackson popped up and quickly returned fire, before ducking back down again. The grim expression on his face made her worry they were running out of time.

“Deputies are on the way,” she whispered.

Jackson nodded, but didn’t say anything in response as more shots blasted the room. She huddled beside him, setting the toilet tank cover on the floor as she realized it would only be in Jackson’s way as he returned fire.

Hurry, hurry, she silently thought. The deputies needed to get there and fast!

Then as abruptly as the shooting had started, it stopped.

Jackson used the opportunity to quickly fire several more rounds. She risked a glance up over the sill of the broken window in time to see a large truck retreating from view. In the distance behind the truck, she could see red-and-blue swirling lights.

Finally, the deputies were on the way.

“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for keeping us safe!” Jackson’s reverent statement caught her off guard. She hadn’t realized he believed in God. Especially since Jackson had a reputation for being a player. Obviously, rumors could be grossly exaggerated and even false, but she’d known Jackson had dated several women in the past.

Not that she’d been interested in being one of them. Especially after she’d dated a ranger named Sean, who had been seeing other women on the side.

Still, it made her curious about Jackson. She’d been raised by her adoptive parents to believe in God but had stopped attending church after they passed away.

After being shot at several times now, she wondered if it wasn’t time for her to go back.

“You should have stayed in the bathroom.” Jackson glared at her with a dark scowl. For the first time, she noticed the trickle of blood running down the side of his face. Had he been struck by a bullet? No, more likely shattered glass. “What if these guys had gotten inside the motel room?”

“You’re hurt.” She reached up to touch the side of his face.

“I’m fine.” Jackson dodged her touch, looking annoyed. “It’s a scratch. You’re the one who risked your life for no good reason.”

“I couldn’t leave you out here alone.” Maybe it was silly to think she could have been any help to him, but she didn’t care. “Maybe I need to have a gun, too.”

That only made his eyebrows arch. “Do you have any experience with firing a weapon?”

“Not really.” She shrugged. “But even I should be able to point and shoot.”

“I’m not sure about that.” He turned away and slowly rose to his feet. The red-and-blue lights were clearly visible now as the squad rolled into the parking lot. “It’s not good that we don’t have a vehicle to get out of here. I’m not sure I want the cops to give us another ride. Maybe the bad guys followed the squad somehow.”

She stood and gasped in horror as she surveyed the damage to the room. The wall across from the window sported more holes than Swiss cheese. Dazed, she realized that some of the bullets had gotten all the way through the two sheets of drywall to reach the bathroom.