Free Tennessee Takedown by Lena Diaz Page B

of you okay?”
    Ashley’s wide-eyed gaze peeked out from beneath Chris’s shoulder. She gave Dillon a tentative nod.
    “Thanks to Miss Parrish, I didn’t get my head blown off,” Chris responded, his voice sounding raw.
    Dillon tightened his hold on his gun and focused on the speedboat. Randy shut off the engine and let the fishing boat drift up to the side.
    Max and Dillon aimed their guns into the floor of the boat.
    Empty.
    They glanced at each other in surprise, then both jumped into the boat.
    “Where the heck did he go?” Max asked. He hurried over to the driver’s body and felt his neck for a pulse, then shook his head.
    Dillon stared out over the smooth, dark surface of the river. “My guess, he went into the water and swam to shore.” He looked back at the police boat, a slow, lumbering beast. “Start making calls. Get the state police to put a chopper in the air and get another boat out here. Make sure they know a shooter might be in the woods. They’ll need to stop short of this location and hike the rest of the way in. Have the Blount County coroner meet me at Cooper’s Bluff Bridge, or what’s left of it. And get a BOLO out on our missing shooter.”
    He gave Max a quick, detailed description for the be-on-the-lookout announcement that would go out to every law enforcement agency in the county, from Cades Cove to Rockford, as well as neighboring counties. “Max, put a personal call out to Chief Massey at Bitterwood P.D. over in Ridge County, too. Bitterwood’s small enough and close enough to appeal to a gunman on foot trying to evade police.”
    Max nodded and grabbed his cell phone.
    Dillon hopped back into the police boat. “I’ve got her now,” he told Chris.
    As soon as Chris moved out of the way, Dillon scooped Ashley up again and hurried with her to the speedboat. He set her on the floor. “Lie down. Don’t sit up. Iceman’s still out there.”
    She didn’t answer. She was too busy staring at Baldy lying lifeless a few feet away.
    “Don’t look at him. Close your eyes.”
    She squeezed her eyes shut.
    “Chris, get over here. You’re coming with us,” Dillon called out.
    Chris was standing with Randy at the wheel of the police boat. He gave Randy a puzzled look then hurried to the speedboat and got in.
    “What are you doing?” Chris asked.
    “Getting the shooter’s main target out of here. Once we get back to the bridge to Cooper’s Bluff, you’ll need to stay with the boat to wait for the coroner to pick up our dead friend here. I’ll drive Miss Parrish back to town to get her medical attention.”
    Max put his cell phone away. “State police are on the way. And Chief Massey offered to send reinforcements if you need them.”
    “Good to know. Thanks, Max. Get back on the other boat. You guys get to shore and hunker down in the woods until the state police get here. If our guy’s got some dry weapons stashed nearby, he’ll start taking shots again. I don’t want you in the middle of the river when he does.”
    Max frowned with obvious disappointment. “We don’t need to wait. If the shooter’s in those woods, Randy and I can find him.”
    “Wait for backup. That’s an order.”
    Max gave him a curt nod and joined Randy.
    Dillon restarted the engine, and turned the speedboat back toward the bridge.
    * * *
    W HEN D ILLON CARRIED Ashley into the one-story offices of the Destiny Police Department, it only took a quick turn of her head to get the layout of the entire police station. One unisex bathroom to her left. Fifteen cheap laminate desks lined up in three rows in the middle of the rectangular room. A snack machine and tiny kitchenette on the right beside a door labeled Chief of Police, William Thornton. And along the back wall, two currently unoccupied cells with floor-to-ceiling iron bars.
    Take away the computers and phones, sprinkle in a few cowboy hats, and the place could be the setting of an old TV Western.
    “I’m sure I can walk,” she whispered,