“Oooh, you’re not running from me, are you?”
“Hmm, good shooting. Can you shoot more than signs? I’m calling your bluff, bright eyes. You can’t shoot me.”
“I know where you are now.”
“Girl, do you not check your phone? Too bad. I want to talk to you.”
“Soon. Soon.”
Eva glanced up at Cole, seeing his mud-soaked jaw had gone rock solid. He’d read the messages over her shoulder. Reaching behind his back, he scraped out a hunting knife. She jerked in surprise, though in a way, she’d guessed he’d be the type to keep a weapon in a back holster. This was a cowboy who fought off all sorts of predators from the cattle.
But his shotgun was what they really needed to stand a chance. She groaned at her carelessness at leaving it behind.
“What are we going to do?” she whispered.
“Pray,” he said under his breath.
She did, almost immediately.God, all the things I’ve asked for before probably don’t matter as much as this matters now, so if you could listen to this prayer and ignore every trivial thing I’ve asked for up to this point, I’d be okay with that. Please help us out here… most especially Cole.He always pushed her to be better. Always. He was everything that she wanted to be, and so she tried to take on his faith too, pleading to God as if he crouched down in the mud with them.I’d rather die than have anything happen to Cole. I mean… I don’t want anything to happen to me either, but if you want to choose here, than keep him safe, okay?
Cole’s eyes squinted open beside her, and she was sure that his prayers probably contradicted hers to keep her safe, instead. It was okay. She was pretty sure that God was smart enough to figure out what needed to be done.
“We’ll stay hidden as long as we can,” Cole said. “He has a gun, so we’ll make him find us before we take him on.”
Eva nodded, staring at her phone. She should call 911, but some small towns didn’t have that service, just a local number, and who knew what they were doing during the holiday. She started to punch in the number anyway.
Cole shook his head at her, which meant something was wrong with that strategy. “Text my brother,” he whispered. “Tell him what’s happening.”
West never looks at my texts!
Maybe he would this time, considering the fight they’d gotten into.
A flock of birds flew up into the sky. She winced, knowing that meant the man was coming closer and that he wasn’t being shy about it.
If they were lucky, her stalker would get stuck in the mud.
She texted West: “We’re near Burro Mine. Someone is shooting at us. Get the sheriff.”
Another shot rang through the sky. She cringed, her fingers freezing over the screen. Was her stalker shooting up or at the reeds? Ducking down, she pressed send on her text.
The funny thing was that West had plenty of practice getting into fights nowadays. He might be their best bet—assuming that he got her text and decided to help.
The gun went off again. Was that his gun? The gun she’d left behind? She didn’t know, but her stalker must have an endless supply of bullets with the way he kept using them up. She clung to Cole. Her whole body felt stiff with terror. Cole covered her with his body. That wasn’t how this was supposed to be. He’d get shot first!
“Oh c’mon, you’re such a party pooper!” the man called out. “You’re not hiding from me, are you, little Eva? You’re not scared?”
She gritted her teeth. “Do you recognize his voice?” Cole breathed into her ear.
“I…” She tried to run the voice through the channels of her memory. Nothing was coming up. Her terror crushed down on her so hard that she wasn’t sure if she’d even recognize her daddy’s voice right now. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
The sounds of reeds crunching down marked the man’s progress. “You sure they’re here?”
She bit back a gasp of surprise. Her stalker wasn’t alone.
“Of course, she’s here, hiding like a scared rabbit,” the first man answered. “Eva! You showed the world where you were.” He was back to talking to her. “That wasn’t too smart, was it, baby Trout?”
Her back prickled in panic as the men came closer.God, please don’t let them see us.Fighting evil had a tendency to turn her closer to God, almost as powerfully as seeing the wondrous beauty that God had made of this world and of everyone around her.Give us more time, God; we’ve so much more to do here. Call it ultimate FOMO, but I’m not ready to leave any of this yet.
She wanted babies with her man, a family to call her own.