Chương 13
Dominic moved.
So did Ethan.
The gun went off.
The blast inside the concrete bay was deafening.
Lily screamed.
I dropped to my knees.
Dominic hit Martin from the side.
The gun skidded across the floor.
Ethan stumbled backward.
I grabbed him with one arm and Lily with the other.
“Are you hit?”
Ethan shook his head violently.
“I don’t know.”
“Where does it hurt?”
“Nowhere.”
I ran my hands over his jacket.
No blood.
Behind us, Dominic and Martin crashed into the wall.
Martin swung first.
Dominic blocked it and drove him into a pipe.
The second impact shook dust from the ceiling.
The exterior door burst open.
Rebecca stood there.
Her wrists were still bound.
Blood covered the front of her shirt.
For one frozen second, she stared at me.
“Claire.”
Then she saw Lily.
Her face collapsed.
Martin twisted beneath Dominic and shouted, “Rebecca, run.”
She did not.
She stepped inside.
Behind her, a man appeared in the doorway.
Tall.
Dark cap.
Catering jacket.
The cake man.
And he had a gun pointed directly at Dominic’s back.
Rebecca moved before anyone else did.
She threw herself sideways into the man’s arm just as he fired.
The shot struck the concrete wall above Dominic’s shoulder.
The sound tore through the utility bay.
Dominic released Martin and turned.
The man in the catering jacket slammed Rebecca into the doorframe.
She cried out and dropped to one knee.
I pulled Ethan and Lily behind the nearest support column.
“Stay down.”
Ethan grabbed Lily’s hand.
She was shaking so hard her rabbit slipped from her fingers.
The gunman swung the weapon back toward Dominic.
Martin shouted, “Caleb, don’t.”
The gunman ignored him.
Dominic lunged.
Caleb fired again.
The bullet struck a metal pipe and sent a burst of white steam screaming into the room.
Everyone flinched.
Dominic hit Caleb at the waist.
They crashed through the half-open exterior door.
Martin scrambled for the gun he had dropped earlier.
I saw it before he reached it.
“Ethan, cover Lily’s ears.”
I left the children behind the column and ran.
Martin’s fingers touched the grip.
I kicked it.
The gun spun beneath a workbench.
Martin grabbed my ankle.
I fell hard enough to drive the air from my lungs.
He started crawling toward the weapon.
I caught the back of his jacket with both hands.
“Stop.”
He dragged me several inches across the concrete.
“Claire, let go.”
“No.”
“This isn’t about you.”
“You made it about me.”
He twisted.
I lost my grip.
He got one knee underneath himself.
Then Gabriel came around the corridor bend.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Martin froze.
Gabriel’s handgun was steady.
“Move away from the weapon.”
Martin looked toward the exterior door.
Another shot sounded outside.
His face changed.
“Caleb.”
“Move.”
Martin slowly raised his hands.
Rebecca pushed herself upright against the doorframe.
“Gabriel.”
He glanced at her.
“Are you armed?”
“No.”
“Then stay where you are.”
She laughed once, breathless and bitter.
“Everybody keeps saying that tonight.”
Outside, Dominic and Caleb hit the gravel hard.
I could see only pieces of them through the doorway.
A shoulder.
A hand.
Dominic’s white shirt streaked with dirt.
Caleb struck him in the face.
Dominic staggered but stayed upright.
Caleb brought the gun around again.
Rebecca saw it too.
“Dominic.”
He ducked.
The shot missed.
Then a second security man appeared at the far end of the maintenance road.
He shouted for Caleb to drop the weapon.
Caleb turned toward him.
That gave Dominic enough time.
He drove Caleb’s wrist against the side of the utility building.
The gun fell.
Dominic kicked it into the grass.
Caleb swung wildly.
Dominic hit him once in the stomach and once across the jaw.
Caleb collapsed to his knees.
Dominic grabbed the back of his jacket and forced him face down into the gravel.
“Don’t move.”
Caleb laughed through blood.
“You sound like your father.”
Dominic’s face went still.
He tightened his grip.
Then released it.
“Good thing I’m not him.”
The security man cuffed Caleb.
Inside, Gabriel ordered Martin onto his stomach.
Martin obeyed.
The fight had gone out of him.
Ethan came out from behind the column.
“Dad.”
Dominic turned so fast it almost looked like panic.
Ethan ran to him.
Dominic dropped to one knee and pulled his son against his chest.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
He simply held him.
Ethan’s shoulders began to shake.
“I thought you got shot.”
“I didn’t.”
“I thought you did.”
“I know.”
“You said you were here.”
“I was.”
“You couldn’t stop him.”
The words were not accusing.
That made them worse.
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
“No.”
Ethan pressed his face against his father’s shoulder.
Dominic rested one hand on the back of his head.
“No, I couldn’t.”
Lily slipped out from behind the column.
“Mommy.”
I turned.
She ran into me so hard I nearly fell again.
I lifted her.
She buried her face in my neck.
“You left me.”
“I came back.”
“You left me.”
“I know.”
Her tears soaked my collar.
“I’m sorry.”
She clung tighter.
Rebecca stood several feet away.
Her wrists were still tied.
She looked at Lily as if moving closer might frighten her.
Lily noticed.
“Aunt Becca.”
Rebecca’s mouth trembled.
“Hi, bug.”
Lily stared at the blood on her face.
“You got boo-boo.”
“Yeah.”
“Big one.”
“Kind of.”
Lily looked at me.
“Fix it.”
I swallowed.
“We’re going to get her help.”
Rebecca lowered her eyes.
“I don’t deserve that.”
“Don’t start.”
“Claire.”
“Not tonight.”
She looked at me.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“I brought them in.”
“I know.”
“I gave them your schedule.”
My stomach tightened, but I kept holding Lily.
“I know.”
“I told them when you worked, where you parked, where you kept your spare key.”
The words landed one by one.
Gabriel looked over while securing Martin’s cuffs.
Dominic remained with Ethan.
Rebecca kept going.
May you like
“They said nobody would die.”
I stared at her.
