Light flashed from a window.
Gunfire resounded.
“Terra!” he shouted.
A window shattered on the other side of the house. Gripping his weapon, Jack sprinted around the corner.
“Terra, hold on. I’m coming!”
Maybe he should have remained silent in case he was only alerting the intruder to his presence. But that could go either way. He could scare the danger away too—and give Terra hope.
As he rounded the corner, he spotted a figure running into the woods. He wanted to tackle the assailant, but Terra was his first concern. He dashed to the shattered window, avoiding chunks of glass.
She appeared in the window and pointed to the woods. “He’s getting away. Let’s go.”
He wouldn’t waste time arguing with her. She pushed the remaining shards of glass from the window using her arm wrapped in a blanket and began climbing out. He helped her through the rest of the way, and together they sprinted across the wet ground, flashlights lighting the way.
The clouds partially cleared, revealing a crescent moon. He flicked off his flashlight. “We can let the moon guide us without becoming a target.”
She turned off her flashlight too.
Jack took off deeper into the woods, Terra on his heels. Neither of them spoke until he stopped to catch his breath.
He searched the shadows. “Heading into the woods like this could be dangerous.”
“He could ambush us. But I don’t think he wants to kill anyone. I think he wants to escape.”
“He didn’t fire his weapon?”
“No. I told him to stop. I fired a warning shot, but he escaped anyway.”
Jack would learn more about what happened later. Right now, they had to focus on getting the intruder.
The moonlight dimmed, then faded completely.
Great. Now what? If he shined his flashlight, he could draw attention to them. And despite what Terra had said—that the intruder probably didn’t want to kill anyone—Jack wouldn’t risk their lives on it.
They stood back-to-back, weapons ready, and searched the dark woods as the trees dripped with rain. Coyotes howled.
And in the distance, an engine started up.
Jack sagged. “That has to be him.”
“Agreed. The neighbors aren’t close enough for us to hear their vehicles starting. Let’s stay alert in case we’re wrong as we make our way toward the road.”
Jack started forward, turning his flashlight on. The clouds had covered the moon again. “I don’t want to trip over a log. Did you get a good look at him? Tell me what happened.”
Hiking next to him, she shined her flashlight around as they rushed in the direction from which they’d heard the vehicle starting. “I was about to turn off the TV when the lights went out. It’s weird, because before that, I kept thinking . . . I had that sensation of being watched. You know? I attributed the feeling to that old photograph on the wall. It’s always creeped me out.”
“But you shook it off because you thought you were being childish.”
“Yes. And now I’m even more creeped out to think it wasn’t the photograph at all, but someone was in the house with me.”
He stopped hiking when they approached the empty road. “Wait. He was in the house while you were there?”
“I’m not sure if he was already there when I got home or if he broke in while I was there, but when the lights went out, I grabbed my gun and searched the house. That’s when I caught someone trying to escape through the window. He must have cut the power, hoping to guarantee he stayed in the dark as he made his escape, I don’t know.”
Or he’d hoped that would hamper the alarm system, depending on what kind was in place. Jack hadn’t heard it go off. He would need to check into that. “So, tonight you think someone followed you, but you lost them. And maybe someone was already in the house when you got home.”
“I know what you’re thinking—if they wanted to harm me, they had ample opportunity.”
“Let’s get to the road. I don’t know, maybe the license plate fell off the car. Maybe we can get techs out here to get the tracks. Something.”
At the road they shined their flashlights around.
“Here.” Terra’s beam focused on a set of tracks.
Jack called and reported the break-in and asked for a casting kit for processing the tracks before more rain washed them away, as well as techs to process the house. Jack explained that the break-in wasn’t typical and needed to be fully processed. A law enforcement officer had been targeted.
When he ended the call, she stared at him. “A law enforcement officer was targeted?”
“Yes. You. You were followed, and someone broke into the house where you were staying. Let’s not downplay this.”
“I have no intention of downplaying it, and I want the entire house processed for fingerprints.”
“Of course. We’re on it.”
She rubbed her arms.
Clearly, tonight’s events disturbed her more than she’d been willing to let on. Jack resisted the urge to draw her into his arms.
“I wish I knew what they were after inside the house. I didn’t see anything obviously missing, like electronics.”
“Does your grandfather keep any cash in the house? A safe, maybe?”
“If he does, I didn’t know about it.”
Jack and Terra waited in the cold drizzle until, finally, headlights shone in the distance, along with red and blue flashing lights. Jack directed the vehicle’s driver to avoid the tracks left behind so they wouldn’t be destroyed.
Deputy Matt Whitmire stepped from his county vehicle, and Jack explained he needed the tracks marked off and protected from contamination while they waited on techs to arrive with the kit.
“Sure thing,” Matt said. “It shouldn’t take them long to get here.”
Jack and Terra left Matt and hiked back to her grandfather’s ranch house.
Questions fought for space in his head. Could someone have been waiting in the house, expecting her grandfather or Owen? Could be the intruder hadn’t known Terra was temporarily staying there.
“When will Owen and Robert be back?”
“Tomorrow.”
“I won’t leave you
