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Again, she spotted Jebediah Clark sitting in the back of a pickup truck with a gun clutched in one hand.
But now she realized her mistake.
He wasn't alone.
She hadn't spotted the others at first, she supposed, because they'd been crouched out of sight. But now, as she peered towards them, she realized that two oversized, overweight, blading men with big, thick beards were sitting next to each other in the back of the truck.
One of the men was passing a bottle to the other, who took a long swig before raising his rifle and firing off a few more shots towards the front of the precinct. He then whooped and hollered.
"Give her back, you bitches!" screamed Jeb, his voice thick with the effects of alcohol. "Give her backnow!"
His voice shook as he spoke, laden with emotion as well as inebriation.
Rachel felt her heart pang, despite what she knew about the Clark son.
His brother was in jail--that was bad enough, but his wife was now dead.
The bodies had been found on his family's land, which meant his father was under close scrutiny.
Still...
He'd lost some of her sympathy when he'd decided to shoot up a cop precinct with some of his drinking buddies.
"Give her back!" Jeb was saying louder now. "Come on. I know she's in there!"
"Jeb!" a voice suddenly called out. "Hey Jeb, it's me!"
Rachel glanced over, stunned to realize it was Ethan's voice now booming out from behind cover.
She frowned at him, but didn't intervene.
She remained tense on the ground, taking cover. The sound of bullets had stopped for a moment. Jeb Clark and his two overweight drinking buddies had decided to take a break from shooting up the front of the precinct, but Rachel was feeling an itch now.
She couldn't stay here.
She had tomove.
Time was of the essence. Dr. Caldwell was still at large, and if he was the killer, then he might still be on the hunt.
She couldn't remain pinned down, and she didn't have the patience to deal with Jeb Clark and his idiot friends.
Ethan was shouting now, "Jeb? You really want to think this through now. You're shooting up a police station! How do you think this ends for you and your buddies there?"
At first, there was no reply. Then, Jeb's slurred voice called out, "That you, Morgan?"
Ethan remained hidden behind a concrete support beam. "Yeah," he said. "It's me." His hand was tensed on his weapon, but Rachel noticed he wasn't taking aim yet.
She admired his restraint.
"Give her back, Morgan! I know you have her in there!"
"Who? Your wife? She's dead, Jeb. We didn't kill her."
"I said give her back!" he swore, and there was another burst of gunfire. This time, a bullet tore through the open door and slammed into a desk, shattering a computer on top and sending shards of glass skyrocketing.
Ethan remained low. The other cops in the precinct also kept their cover.
Rachel, however, was slowly slinking away from the shootout, towards a side exit marked witha glowing red sign.
