Guardian Ranger (Shadow Agents #2)(40)
Author: Cynthia Eden

And, over the rain and her racing heartbeat, she seemed to hear footsteps.

She pressed her muddy hands against her jeans. “Hello?” Veronica tried again.

But there was no response. She crept forward, just a little, and a sudden blast of gunfire ripped right past her head. Veronica slammed into the earth instantly.

Her breath heaved in her lungs. He shot at me. She remembered the eyes of the men who’d died before her.

Footsteps thudded toward her.

That was no Good Samaritan up there, coming to help a stranded motorist. Her instincts had been right about that.

Whoever it was out there…he was hunting her.

Carefully, she slid back into her cover. The line of trees was thin, and wouldn’t provide her much protection. She glanced to the left, to the right. If she tried to run away from the road, she’d be running straight into the middle of nowhere. And the shooter could just follow her. Then what would she do?

Die.

Her gaze went back to the road even as she began to creep to the left, a path that would take her away from the shooter’s car and—

Another shot blasted. Veronica stopped trying to creep away. He had a lock on her. Creeping wasn’t going to work.

So she just ran. Dodging left and right, the way her brother had always told her she should run if someone was ever shooting at her.

Another Cale Lane rule…“Never give ’em a steady target. The more you move, the harder it is for them to hit you.”

So she moved as fast as she could, dodging in between the trees, never moving in a straight line and praying, praying, that someone would come along soon to help her.

Then…then another vehicle’s rumbling engine cut through the wind and rain.

* * *

WHEN HE HEARD the gunfire, Jasper’s foot slammed down even harder on the accelerator. His windshield wipers sliced through the rain, and he kept a strong grip on the steering wheel. He hadn’t been able to reach Veronica at her home. The phone had just rung and rung. Every ring had made him more afraid.

There was another roll of thunder—no, hell, another blast of gunfire. He knew that familiar sound too well. He rounded a curve, headed hard and fast down the long, narrow road. He didn’t see anyone, not yet.

Then his lights cut across the darkness and the rain, and there was a shadow, a person, running right into the road. Running right at his vehicle.

He slammed on his brakes, and in that one frozen instant of time, Jasper was able to see her face.

Veronica. Terrified.

So afraid that she’d just run right into the path of a car. He jerked the wheel to the left, determined not to hit her, and his rental car bounced twice, then came to a jarring halt in the thick sludge of mud on the shoulder of the road.

Grabbing his gun, he leaped from the vehicle. “Veronica!”

Before his booted feet could even touch the asphalt, a car came racing right by him, sending him leaping back. The car’s engine screamed and the smell of burnt rubber filled his nose. He had a fast impression of a black car, long and lean, slicing right through the night and rain.

No tag.

Then the car was gone. Rushing away into the night.

His fingers tightened around the handle of his gun. “Veronica!” he shouted again. He rushed into the road. He hadn’t hit her, he knew he hadn’t. Please, don’t let me have hit Veronica.

She slowly rose from the other side of the road. She walked toward him with trembling steps.

He ran to her. He grabbed her, making sure they were out of the road in case that maniac came back, and he held her as tightly as he could. “What the hell happened?”

She was soaked. Her clothes were caked with mud, and her hair hung in wet clumps around her face. She shook against him, and her fear made the rage inside Jasper burn even brighter.

“H-he… That car, it forced me off the road.”

What?

“Then th-the driver…he came back for me.” Her arms flew up and wrapped around his neck. “He shot at me. He tried to kill me…and I was so scared that I wouldn’t be able to get away.”

He shot at me.

“Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you out of here.” He ran with her back across the road, put her inside his car, then did a quick check of the tires. They should be able to get out. If not, he’d claw their way out of that mud if he had to. Because he was getting her someplace safe.

He hurried back around to the driver’s side, jumped in, gunned the engine. He pushed his foot down on the gas, and, at first, the wheels just spun.

“That’s what happened to me,” she whispered. Her hands were in her lap. Her shoulders hunched.

Clenching his jaw, he tried again. The tires found traction, and the vehicle lunged forward. He drove fast and hard, even as he yanked out his phone to call Logan. The other agent answered the call on the second ring.

“I’m on Hawkeye Road with Veronica.” His words snapped out. “Some SOB in a black vehicle just took shots at her.”

“What?”

“Classic car, the kind that would stick out in a place like this,” Jasper said, his voice clipped. The length of the hood and trunk had been familiar to him. “No tags, but that car is going to be easy to track. Looked like an Impala.”

“On it,” Logan said. “You bringing her in?”

He slanted a fast glance at Veronica. Someone had tried to kill her. If he’d been just a few minutes later…

“I’ll do whatever’s necessary to keep her safe.” Because in that one instant, when he’d seen her on the road, her beautiful face illuminated by his headlights, fear so heavy on her features, everything had changed for him.

This wasn’t about a mission and not about a case. It wasn’t even about the poor men who’d lost their lives.

It was about Veronica. For him, she was the goal. Keeping her safe, keeping her alive and stopping the fool who thought that he’d hurt her.

Not on my watch.

Because until the EOD caught that guy, Jasper wasn’t leaving Veronica’s side.

Chapter Eleven

She entered the makeshift EOD headquarters with slow steps. Veronica knew that she looked like hell, but she didn’t care. She was pretty much just glad to be alive at this point.

Sydney’s eyes widened when she caught sight of Veronica, and she hurried toward her. “Are you hurt?”

A few scrapes and bruises didn’t qualify in Veronica’s mind, so she shook her head. Jasper stood behind her, and she was far too conscious of him, and of the deadly look in his eyes. She’d made the mistake of looking into that lethal stare a few moments before. She’d never seen that level of rage before, not from anyone.