He knew he should turn back and wait for the sheriff. This wasn’t his job. But all his instincts told him that he was close and that if he didn’t stop T.D., he would get away. Even if he didn’t go after Jinx right away, he would always be a threat to her. She would have to be on constant guard, waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for him to suddenly appear. When he did...
Angus knew that was why he had to find T.D. and end this. His pistol ready, he moved into the pines beneath the rock rim, knowing that if T.D. was going to hide somewhere, the rocks under the rim would be the perfect place.
He’d expected an ambush. He’d expected gunfire when he got close enough. T.D. had dropped his pistol, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have another weapon. Angus hadn’t seen any blood on the ground for a while now. T.D. wasn’t mortally wounded. That meant he was even more dangerous since even if he wasn’t armed, he could launch himself from a tree or a rock. T.D. would have the element of surprise.
Angus reached an open area and stopped beside a tree. A slight breeze moaned in the tops of the tall pines. He listened for a closer sound. Movement through the grass as someone approached. The snap of a twig under a boot heel. A stumble overturning a rock.
Hearing nothing, he spotted an object caught on the tall grass in the middle of the clearing. It appeared to be a blood-soaked bandanna.
Angus moved toward it, watching the tree line ahead as he did. When the warning came it was too late. He heard a rumble like thunder and looked up the mountainside. The rocks T.D. had dislodged were bounding down the steep slope directly toward him. The man had left the bandanna on the tall grass knowing Angus would see it and believe he’d crossed the clearing. T.D. had known he was following his blood trail.
The ruse had worked. Angus had only a few seconds to decide which way to run—forward or try to double back. The rocks had dislodged other rocks and started a landslide that filled the clearing above him.
Angus realized belatedly that the clearing was an old avalanche chute. There was nothing to stop the landslide now barreling down the mountainside toward him.
In those few seconds he had, he made up his mind. He sprinted forward, hoping to get to the trees before the landslide caught him up in it.
The damp, dew-soaked new grass was slick, his cowboy boots slipping and losing purchase. Once, he almost fell when his feet threatened to slide out from under him. He ran as hard and fast as he could. His legs ached from the sudden intensity of his effort. His lungs burned. He could hear the low rumble getting louder and louder, so close he could feel the air it displaced as it roared down the mountainside.
He was almost to the trees. Just a few more yards. A large rock appeared in front of him, careening past. Then another. He tried to dodge the next one. It clipped him in the leg, knocking him to the ground.
He rolled, the shelter of the trees so close he could almost reach it. A rock hit him in the side, knocking the breath out of him as he pulled himself up on all fours and launched himself into the trees. A fist-size rock bounced just as he threw himself forward. It smacked him in the head.
The lights went out before he hit the ground.
Chapter Nineteen
T.D. stared down the mountainside. He’d seen the wrangler get hit a couple of times by the rocks tumbling down the slope. Now all he could make out was the cowboy’s boots, still visible, protruding from one of the pines along the side of the clearing.
Was the man dead? Pretending to be dead? T.D. pressed his glove over his wound. He’d gotten it bleeding worse with the effort of pushing off the rocks to get the landslide started. But it had worked. The cowboy still hadn’t gotten up.
He waited, unsure what to do. Go down and check to make sure the man wouldn’t be after him again? Take the man’s gun and finish him? Or just get the hell out of Dodge?
He felt light-headed from loss of blood. He knew he needed a doctor. Fortunately, there was someone who was fairly close to a doctor who could patch him up and would without calling the sheriff. All he had to do was get off this mountain. He was pretty sure the bullet had gone clean through his chest just below his left shoulder. With luck, he would live.
The wrangler still hadn’t moved. He knew he probably couldn’t trust his thinking since he suspected he might be in shock. He wouldn’t have minded finishing the bastard off. The cowboy had come to Jinx’s rescue not once, but again last night. He’d seen them together. He knew that look of Jinx’s.
Just the thought made his blood boil. The sound of another helicopter made up his mind for him. He took one last look at the cowboy still lying at the edge of the pines unmoving and then he turned toward the game trail that he knew would lead him off this mountain to a ranch where he could get the help he needed.
He hadn’t gone far when he saw a saddled horse standing in the middle of the trail. He recognized the mount as Royce’s and couldn’t believe his luck. The mount was dragging its reins as if it had gotten spooked and come untied. He wondered where Royce was, but the thought was a quickly passing one.
T. D. Sharp wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak.
JINX WILLED HER phone to ring. The sheriff had promised he would call her the moment he knew anything about Angus Savage as well as T.D.
She knew Harvey would
