Page 74 of Girl, Bound

Ella glanced at herphone on the ground. Her call to Ripley was still connected.

She picked it up.

‘Mia, you stillthere?’

‘Yeah. You?’

‘Just about. You gethim?’

‘We got him, Dark.Cuffed him up like a hog for slaughter.

‘Alive?’

‘More alive than I’dlike. He's still twitching, but trust me - he ain't getting up anytime soon.’

They'd won. Paid forit in blood and sweat, but they'd won. And for this one shining moment, thatwas enough.

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

Crime scene tapecovered the area. Ella sat on the roadside, her backside gone numb from theunforgiving cement. Beside her, Ripley sprawled like a broken marionette. Theadrenaline had faded, leaving them both wrung out and hollow. The cavalry hadarrived in full force, too, swarming the scene like a murder of crows.

And at the center ofit all, Adam Draven. Chains dangled from his wrists and legs. Blood ran from amultitude of wounds. All while a gaggle of local uniforms circled him likesharks at a feeding frenzy. Try as Ella might, she couldn’t muster up much sympathyfor the man, even in his current state.

Ella tore her gazeaway, nausea churning in her gut. She'd seen enough of that freak to last alifetime. Her eyes found Holbrook instead, the old warhorse being loaded intothe back of a waiting ambulance. He looked pale, shocky, but he was alive. Theyall were, by some miracle or twist of fate.

‘Hell of a thing,’Ripley said, her voice a sandpaper rasp. ‘Thought for sure we'd be zipping theSheriff up in one of those bags.’

‘Guess the guy wastougher than we thought.’

Ripley huffed,reaching out to clap Ella on the shoulder. ‘You did good, Dark. Damn good. Keptyour head, saved the girl.’

‘Don't go pinning anymedals on me, Mia.’ Ella nodded toward the shackled prisoner. ‘I don’t knowwhat you did to that guy. I’m not sure I wanna know.’

Ripley flashed herknuckles. ‘Another few scars for the collection. But I gotta be honest, it feltgood to let the beast off the leash. Remind those creeps that this old dogstill has fangs. Remind myself, too.’

Ella chuckled, thesound scraping up her raw throat. She looked around at the chaos, the clusterof rubberneckers already gathering beyond the police line. Millhaven's finest,come to gawk at the freakshow.

Ella rose to her feetand said, ‘What do you say we get out of here? We’ve got enough evidence tonail Draven to the wall. He’s looking at three life sentences.’

Ripley smirked,accepting Ella's hand up. ‘What, no sightseeing?’

‘You want to gosightseeing?’

‘Not really. You?’

Ella thought about it.‘I wouldn’t mind seeing Stephen King’s house. Where’s that?’

‘Bangor. About twohundred miles away.’

‘Ah, dammit. Maybenext time.’

They took slow andheavy steps towards their sputtering government-issued clunker, weighed down bythe adrenaline comedown. But Ella paused, her eyes drawn to the ambulance whereAva Schofield sat huddled under a blanket.

The girl looked small,fragile, but there was a spark in her eyes that hadn't been there before. Asteel, forged in the hottest of fires.

‘Give me a sec,’ Ellasaid, clapping Ripley on the shoulder. ‘Got one last bit of business to takecare of.’

She made her way overto Ava, picking her way through the debris field of flashing lights and barkedorders. The girl looked up as she approached.

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