are explosives in the ditches on both sides of the road,” the man shouted. “If you shoot at me or do anything else to otherwise rile me, the explosives will go off.”
Karina gasped, and the paramedic didn’t fare much better. He dropped down to the floor.
“Explosives?” Cord asked, glancing around. He spoke in a loud enough voice that the guy outside would have no trouble hearing him. “That’s not the MO of the Moonlight Strangler.”
“You’re right, but sometimes a man’s gotta get creative. The explosives might not kill you. Might not. But it’s a big ol’ risk to take with such fragile cargo inside, isn’t it?”
That got Karina snapping to a sitting position. Or rather she tried to do that. She was strapped to the gurney that was locked in place on the floor, but she still lifted her torso as much as she could.
“I’m not that fragile,” she insisted. However, the dizziness hit her, and almost immediately she had no choice but to drop back down.
Karina cursed the dizziness. The pain. Cursed the fact that this idiot was taunting her after he’d come so close to killing her.
She could still feel his hands around her neck. Could still smell his stench on her skin. Could still hear his gravelly voice as he’d cut her.
This will show them.
But he’d whispered something else to her, too. Something she hadn’t been able to catch because by then the pain and the panic had been screaming through her head.
What had he said to her? What?
Knowing that might help them if she could somehow use those words to figure out who was behind that mask.
He’d seemed...familiar. Or something.
“Do you see any explosives?” the driver asked Cord. Unlike Cord, his voice was trembling. Probably the rest of him, too.
Cord shook his head. “It’s too dark to see much of anything out there.”
No doubt part of this killer’s plan. There might not be any explosives at all. But Karina rethought that. The attack at her place had happened nearly an hour ago. That was plenty of time for the killer to get out here and set up an ambush, especially since this was the only road leading into town.
It was also the same road that the backup lawmen would be taking.
Karina prayed their arrival wouldn’t make this situation worse than it already was. Maybe the deputies or whoever responded would be able to sneak up on the man and capture him. Alive. That way, he could answer questions and clear Willie Lee’s name for good.
“What do you want?” Cord shouted to the man.
“The woman,” he readily answered.
Had her heart skipped a beat or two? It certainly felt like it.
Cord glanced back at her, probably trying to reassure her that he wouldn’t just hand her over to a killer. And he wouldn’t. She’d only known him a month, but he wasn’t a coward or a dirty lawman. He didn’t like her. Possibly even hated her. But he would protect her with his life.
But that wasn’t comforting.
Karina didn’t want anyone dying to save her. Still, she wasn’t exactly in a position to defend herself.
“Why do you want her?” Cord called out to him.
“Because I’d like to finish what I started.” Another fast answer. Whether it was true or not, she didn’t know.
Was something else going on here?
“We should have started with introductions first,” Cord said. He moved to the front seat, probably so he could be in a better position to return fire. “Who are you?”
The man laughed. “And here I thought you were smarter than that. After all, we do share the same DNA.”
She could only see the side of Cord’s face, but she saw a muscle flicker in his jaw. “So, you’re saying you’re the Moonlight Strangler? Because you can’t be. He’s in a coma.”
“I’m not just saying it. I am the Moonlight Strangler.”
“Right,” Cord grumbled under his breath. Karina had no trouble hearing his skepticism.
“Though I gotta tell you, I never liked that name,” the man continued. “Moonlight Slasher would have been a whole lot better, don’t you think?”
“Haven’t given it much thought. A killer’s a killer no matter what he’s called. But I’m not convinced you’re who you’re saying you are. Convince me,” Cord insisted.
The guy laughed. “Boy, you got a smart mouth. I like that. It’s something we have in common.”
“I have nothing in common with you,” Cord snapped.
Karina figured that Cord didn’t want her to be part of this conversation. Correction: a part of this taunting. But this might be the only chance she got to ask the question she needed her attacker to answer.
“Why do you want me dead?” Karina shouted to the man.
That earned her a glare from Cord, and he motioned for her to get back down. She didn’t.
“Tell me why!” Karina said in an even louder voice when the man didn’t answer.
“You’re not gonna like the answer, sweetheart,” the man finally said.
The sweetheart turned her stomach. He’d used that same syrupy tone when he’d been attacking her.
Except he had used a different tone when he’d mumbled those handful of words that she hadn’t understood.
“Besides,” the man went on, “talking time is over now. I figure Sheriff Jericho Crockett or his lawmen brothers are trying to sneak up on me right about now. Hope they don’t step on anything that’ll make ’em go ka-boom.” He laughed. “Oh, wait. I do hope that happens. Crockett blood spilled all over these woods. What a nice way to end the night.”
Oh, mercy. “You have to warn Jericho,” she told Cord.
Cord motioned for the ambulance driver to make another call. The man did, and he told whoever answered that there might be explosives not just in the ditches, but also in the woods. Hopefully, the lawmen would get the word in time.
“Time’s up,” the man yelled. “Hate to sound all dramatic, but hand her over or else.”
“She’s hurt,” Cord answered. “And I’m sure you know why since you’re the one who hurt her. She can’t walk.”
“Liar. I didn’t do a damn thing to her legs.”
“It’s her head,” Cord explained. “You hit her hard enough that you might have fractured her skull. That’s why she’s in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.”
Silence.
