Total pages in book: 189
Estimated words: 181808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 909(@200wpm)___ 727(@250wpm)___ 606(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 909(@200wpm)___ 727(@250wpm)___ 606(@300wpm)
“I see several cars outside.” Larissa held the steering wheel for dear life as she went down the steep hill. “It looks like she has company, which is probably why she missed the appointment and didn’t answer my calls.”
As she drove closer to the home, Larissa debated turning around, but the trees were too thick and the rise to Eryn’s house was so rocky there was no way she would make it to the top if she weren’t driving her Jeep.
She parked next to a jacked-up black truck and released the death grip she had on the steering wheel. “I’m here. And since I’m here, I might as well check in with her. I’ll call you back when I get back in the car.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
“There are at least six trucks here, and three men and a woman are sitting on the porch. I’m good. I would turn around if there weren’t so many blocking the way. I’ll have to ask a couple of them to move. There’s no way I’m going to back down this hillside.”
“That bad?”
“I don’t understand why they made it so steep. I thought I was going to get a nosebleed for a second. All righty, I need to hang up to get out and go talk to Eryn.”
“Make sure you take your phone,” Priscilla insisted.
“I will. You can call the sheriff back and tell him everything is okay.” Larissa detached the cell phone from the holder as she got out. Juggling it, she started to pull her crutches toward her. “Wait—I see the sheriff coming up the hill. He’s not going to be happy you dragged him out—”
She leaned her head back into the car when she heard her cell start to lose the connection. Then Larissa unconsciously gave a startled scream. A burning pain on her shoulder had her releasing the cell phone as she dropped to her knees to hide behind the door.
“What are you doing shooting at me!” Larissa yelled out. “I’m Eryn’s midwife!” She placed a hand on her shoulder at the stinging pain and felt blood seeping through her fingers.
“What are you doing here?” a loud male voice yelled back.
“Eryn missed her appointment yesterday. I wanted to check on her!” Larissa yelled without raising her head.
“If that’s true, why are the police with you?”
“For the same reason—because Eryn was missing.”
“She ain’t missing. She’s right here. You all are the feds, wanting to see what’s in the house!”
“I don’t care what’s in the house. I was worried about Eryn!”
“You better get your ass out of here!”
Another shot rang out, hitting the door she was hiding behind.
“I was going to!” she screamed at them wildly. “I wanted you to move the trucks so I could turn around!”
When she heard several shots being fired, Larissa hunched herself into a ball. She barely lifting her head but saw the sheriff’s vehicle slowly coming to where she was parked. Gaping, she watched as the sheriff maneuvered himself across the front seat to the passenger’s side to fling the door open. Throwing himself to the ground, Knox then aimed his pistol toward the house.
“You can’t shoot. There’s a pregnant woman inside!” Larissa yelled at him.
Knox didn’t take his eyes off the house.
“She worth dying over?” he snarled loudly.
Larissa pressed her hand to her belly. Eryn wasn’t the only one pregnant. She had a duty to her own child to survive. Knox was a husband and a father; he deserved to go home to his family, too.
“Eryn, make them stop!” Larissa screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Stop it, Tanner!” a woman yelled. “If you had taken her to the hospital when I told you, none of this would have happened!”
“I’m not going back to jail because of that bitch!”
Larissa and Knox stared at each other as the man and woman yelled back and forth.
“Tanner, what are we going to do?” another male voice whined.
“All of you, shut the fuck up!” a man yelled over them, who Larissa assumed was Tanner.
“Woman, can’t you count? There’s only two of them, and there’s eight of us. We’ll take care of them, then clean the house out. Jay—”
Larissa felt her heart drop when she could no longer hear what he was saying. From the flurry of movement on the porch, she reasoned they had been sent out to surround them.
Frightened, she gave a whimper. Not wanting to appear like a wimp, she pressed her knuckles against her mouth.
When she raised her eyes, she saw Knox’s deadpan face looking at her.
“How in the hell did you manage to stumble into a drug house in Bumfuck, Egypt?”
She lowered her hand long enough to mutter, “Luck, I guess.”
Knox didn’t seem to appreciate her humor.
“What are we going to do?”
The sheriff pressed a button on his shoulder pad before he turned his eyes back to her. His face turned grimmer as Knox started giving her the stark facts.