outer wall and searched the trees and brush, but she didn’t see anyone. She took the path again, moving from tree to tree, trying to make herself small. The climb became more difficult. Her lungs burned. The ground beneath her feet angled upward steeper and steeper. Finally, she came to a small clearing and she knew she was close to the top of the mountain. There were several large rocks, and a ring of small stones circling a heap of ash. Beer cans littered the area. Local kids came all the way out here for privacy.
From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of movement on her left. She took a shooter’s stance and aimed in that direction. She saw the man’s shaggy brown hair, dark green shirt and mud-covered blue jeans as he emerged from behind a wide tree trunk, a rifle sling across his chest. The barrel of the gun poked up from behind his left shoulder. “Freeze,” she called. “Police. Get your hands up.”
He turned toward her. Her mind registered the pistol in his hand. They both shot at the same time. Josie felt the impact of his bullet in her stomach, driving her off her feet, back through the air, and then she tumbled down the hill below.
Fifty-Four
Josie lay on her back, trying desperately to suck in air that would not come. The pressure on her abdomen was enormous. Get this vest off, get it off, get it off!!! She tried to say the words aloud, but the wind had been knocked out of her. Her lungs screamed, her whole body buzzed with panic. She couldn’t breathe; her gun was gone; and the killer was still out there, somewhere above her. Leaves crunched near her head. She tried to turn over, to get up, to scream but she couldn’t. Hands pressed down on her shoulders.
“Hold still,” a male voice said.
As the faces of two FBI agents in full tactical gear came into view, relief flooded her.
“She’s been hit in the vest,” one of them said.
“Let’s get it off her.”
They peeled the vest off and sat her up, the motion sending a spike of pain straight through her center. Finally, her breath returned. Gasping, she pointed toward the top of the incline. “He’s up there. I fired at him, but I think I missed.”
“We’ve got more units coming in from the other direction,” one of them said. “Let’s get you back to the school. There’s an ambulance waiting there.”
They lifted her to her feet. “I don’t need an ambulance,” Josie said.
“You should get checked out.”
“No,” she insisted. “I don’t need an ambulance. I just need to… I need to go home… or I… I need my gun. My gun.”
It appeared in one of the agents’ hands. “Here you go. Now let’s get out of here. You shouldn’t be out here injured.”
She took her gun and slid it into her holster, even that small movement sending pain through her belly. “I’m not injured.”
“We’ll see,” one of them said as they led her back down the hill.
They delivered her to the back of an open ambulance, but the moment the two agents jogged back off to the woods, Josie told the paramedics she was fine and walked back to her car, trying to keep her gait steady, while a searing fire burned her center.
She dialed Noah on her cell phone, put him on speaker and tossed the phone onto the passenger’s seat. “Hey,” he answered. “You okay? I heard all hell broke loose over there.”
Driving hurt. Everything hurt. Josie gritted her teeth and tried to make her voice sound normal. “I’m fine. Yeah, it was crazy.” She caught him up on everything except the part where she got shot. “I didn’t see Oaks when I came back out.”
“He’s over by the mill, last I heard. They found evidence that the kidnapper and his accomplice might have been squatting over there. No evidence of Lucy, though. I mean they didn’t find her in there.”
“He’s got her stashed away somewhere. Is Gretchen at the hospital?”
“Yeah,” Noah answered. “She’s waiting on Amy Ross. The husband is there, too. Mrs. Ross is in surgery.”
“Oh no,” Josie said. “Do they think she’ll make it?”
“They’re not sure yet. The bullet is lodged in her pelvis. She lost a lot of blood. I have good news, though.”
It was hard to imagine any news that might be considered good in the nightmare that had gripped the city. “What’s that?” she asked.
“We found Violet Young. Actually,