Chapter 7 - The Sheriff
“Get down!” Maria screamed.
Leo ducked below the window.
A shot cracked across the lake road.
The truck’s rear tire exploded.
Maria fought the wheel as the pickup fishtailed over gravel.
Claire threw an arm across Leo’s chest just before the truck slammed into a drainage ditch.
Metal groaned. Glass shattered.
For a moment nobody moved.
Then Maria whispered, “Everybody alive?”
“Yes,” Claire gasped.
Leo nodded.
Headlights filled the rear window.
Sheriff Cross’s SUV rolled to a stop twenty yards behind them.
“Out of the vehicle!” he shouted. “Hands where I can see them!”
Claire looked at Maria. “Is he with Richard?”
“I don’t know.”
“Grandpa said a cop called Martin.”
Cross shouted again.
Maria slowly raised her hands.
“We cannot outrun him on a blown tire.”
They climbed out.
Cross approached with his rifle lowered but ready.
A second deputy stayed by the SUV.
“Mrs. Mercer,” Cross said. “Your brother reported that Leo attacked him and stole confidential company documents.”
Leo stared at him. “That’s a lie.”
Cross’s jaw tightened. “I figured.”
Claire blinked. “What?”
Cross stopped three feet away.
Then he turned his rifle and aimed it at the deputy behind him.
“Tom, put your weapon on the ground.”
The deputy froze.
“Sheriff?”
“I said put it down.”
Slowly, the deputy obeyed.
Cross looked at Claire. “The officer your father contacted was Tom. I found the call log this morning.”
The deputy’s face drained of color.
Cross cuffed him against the SUV.
“He has been feeding Pike information for months,” the sheriff said. “I was trying to stop your truck because the bridge ahead is blocked by Richard’s security team.”
Maria let out a shaky breath.
Leo looked at Cross. “Do you know where Grandpa is?”
The sheriff nodded.
“He contacted me two hours ago.”
Claire stepped forward. “Take me to him.”
Cross glanced toward the ridge.
“We need to move first.”
He opened the rear door of his SUV.
Then his phone rang.
He checked the screen and went pale.
“What?” Claire asked.
Cross answered on speaker.
A dispatcher said, “Sheriff, Mercer House is on fire.”
Leo’s stomach dropped.
May you like
The dispatcher continued.
“And we have a report that Henry Mercer is trapped inside.”
