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FIFTY-TWO
Terra shoved down the screams and covered her head as she ducked.
“Go, go, go, go! Get out on your side.” Jack shielded her.
She opened the door and slid out.
Jack crawled over the seat and joined her on the far side of his vehicle.
“An assault rifle,” she said. “He’s using an assault rifle.”
“Battlefield firepower.” He grunted. “The guy has lost it. PTSD or something.”
Terra’s heart pounded. The night sky. The tall plants. The gunfire. All of it seemed surreal. The fear could paralyze her.
“Terra.” Jack gripped her shoulders. “Breathe, Terra. We have to get out of here. But I need to warn the other deputies on their way, if it’s not already too late. I need to tell them before my radio is toast.”
Crouching, he reached across the seat to grab the mic and radioed again for backup. “Officers in danger. We’re being fired upon with an assault rifle!”
Jack relayed numerous codes to warn the deputies and also ask for additional backup. Then his radio squawked its last.
The gunfire continued to demolish Jack’s vehicle. No chance they were getting in a shot. Not here.
“Go ... go into the cornfield.” He shoved her away from the vehicle and covered her as she plowed into the six-foot-tall cornstalks.
He urged her forward as if the tall plants could somehow protect them against bullets. “Let’s go. I can’t let anything happen to you. I won’t.”
“Then we’ll protect each other.” She gasped for breath. She’d seen something similar happen before, and that ended in tragedy.
God, please don’t let it end that way this time!
She and Jack pushed deeper into the cornfield, running down rows. The tall plants and thick green leaves slapped her face as she ran.
“I’m not sure the corn will protect us from the onslaught,” she said. “If we have to face off with him, I’m not carrying an assault rifle. You?”
He swiped the sweat from his face. “It doesn’t matter. All we need is to be strategic.”
“Strategic. You mean like make our way around behind him? Ambush him?”
“No, I’ll be the one to make my way around behind him. You’re getting somewhere safe.”
“What about waiting for backup?”
“I’m not sure if he’s going to give us a chance to wait. It’ll take a few minutes for others to get here.”
Terra knew what could happen while waiting for backup. People could die.
“You’re not leaving me, Jack. I’m your backup. We’re in this together. Let’s hide in the cornstalks and wait for him to come find us. If he comes, we’ll be ready for him.”
She crouched down, then lay flat on her belly.
Jack dropped next to her. “I don’t like to cut and run.”
“I don’t either. But staying next to your vehicle would have been suicide.”
“Listen,” he said.
Silence filled the night. No sound of gunfire. Nor sirens. Nothing.
