Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2) by Sonya Bateman Page A

friend knows his poisons.” Not-Agent Reese gestured with the gun. “I’ve got four more full clips of those. You don’t talk, I’ll keep shooting. We’ll find out how many it takes to kill him,” he said. “Let’s start with this. What were you doing with the werewolf?”
    My jaw felt like it hit the floor. He should’ve known damned well what we were doing with Sadie. “You are Milus Dei, aren’t you?”
    “Do you think I’m kidding?” he shouted. “I will kill him. Answer the question.”
    Before I could, the holding room door burst open and six feet of angry sheriff bolted through, weapon drawn. Her rush slowed as she took in the situation. “What the hell happened?” she said. “I heard gunfire—”
    Her eyes widened when they landed on Taeral and the spreading pool of blood beneath him. “Agent Reese, did you shoot my prisoner?”
    “This is a federal investigation now,” the man said tightly.
    She glared at him. “The hell it is. If they’re abducting my townspeople, it’s my business,” she spat. “I want you out of here, while I contact the Bureau and get someone in here to treat that man. If he’s not dead.” She turned and headed for one of the desks.
    “I don’t have time for this,” Reese muttered under his breath. And aimed his gun at the sheriff.
    “Sheriff, look out!” I shouted.
    To her credit, she didn’t even glance back. She dove under the desk, just in time for the bullet to whiz through the space she’d been seconds ago. But as she shimmied toward the other side, Reese crouched for a low shot.
    He wouldn’t miss this time.
    I grabbed the door of the cell with both hands and whispered, “ Oscaihl .” There was a click, and as the bars swung outward, I lunged for Reese and knocked him flat on the floor just when he pulled the trigger.
    The bullet sheared off a wooden desk leg, and the sheriff swore loudly. The desk tilted and crashed.
    I tried for the gun, but Reese threw me off and scrambled up, kicking me back down before I could do the same. Another report split the air.
    That one came from the sheriff.
    Reese let out a garbled shout. His gun clattered to the floor, and he clutched his bloodied hand to his stomach.
    “Don’t move,” the sheriff breathed from behind the ruined desk. She started to get up.
    And Reese moved, whirling on a heel to bolt for the door.
    “Goddamn it!” Sheriff Gormann fired a parting shot that punched a hole through the lower wooden panel of the door before Reese shoved it open and darted through. She grabbed a walkie from her belt and spoke into it. “Unit two, unit five, we have a runner. Take him down. Use necessary force. And get an ambulance here.”
    I coughed loudly. “Sheriff…”
    She turned a heated stare on me. “Thanks. It looks like you saved my life,” she said—and then raised her gun at me. “Now explain what the hell’s going on, or I’ll shoot you myself.”
     
     

C HAPTER 18

     
    I let out a breath. “What’s that saying about no good deed?” I muttered.
    Sheriff Gormann didn’t waver. “Good guys don’t know how to pick locks. Especially handcuff and cell door locks.”
    Well, at least she didn’t say I was magic. “That’s kind of a long story,” I said. “Can we—”
    “I’ve got time.”
    “Yeah, well my brother doesn’t!”
    “Shit. He’s alive?” Her face paled, and she grabbed for the CB again. “All units, I need that ambulance. Now.”
    The walkie crackled. “Called ’em, Sheriff,” a male voice said. “But your runner…did you mean that FBI guy?”
    “He’s not FBI, Walt.”
    “Oh.” The CB fell silent.
    “He got away, didn’t he?” the sheriff said.
    “Uh…yeah.”
    “Sheriff!” I said. “We don’t have time for an ambulance. The son of a bitch shot him with a poisoned bullet.”
    Her mouth parted slightly. Without a word, she headed for the far wall and the oversized first aid kit hanging on it.
    I made myself stand. This wasn’t going to be easy to