Page 18 of Lone Star Target

“Me,” Kit corrected. “The poison was meant for me.”

Trevor gave her a flat look, but there was hatred in his eyes. “That’s what happens when you buck up against a man like Marvin Shoemaker. You put your whole family at risk. Did you think of that when you agreed to testify—”

“Dad,” Brandon said, stepping between Kit and his father. “Aunt Kit is doing what she feels is right.”

Jace noticed the looks, just quick glances that Ramsey and Trevor gave each other, and he wondered if they were going to ask about the phones. If so, neither got the chance because there were more footsteps and a moment later, Angel appeared in the doorway. He wasn’t alone.

Brandon’s mother, Deanna, was with him.

“The gang’s all here,” Angel muttered, not bothering to hold back his disdain.

“Brandon,” Deanna blurted. She would have raced forward, too, but Jace blocked her. Now, Jace had three members of the Barclay family giving him seriously nasty looks.

“Is she armed?” Jace asked Angel.

Angel shook his head. “The cops frisked her before they’d let her come up.”

With that info, Jace stepped to the side to let Deanna rush to her son. She dragged him into her arms and let out a loud sob.

“You’re hurt,” Deanna said, and she whipped her attention back to Jace. “He needs an ambulance.”

“I’m fine,” Brandon insisted, untangling himself from his mother’s embrace. He gave her a kiss on her cheek. “Really. It’s just a little cut.”

“You’ll still need to have the EMTs check it out,” Jace told him. “The cops will need that for the police reports.”

Brandon nodded. “I’ll have to give a statement, too.”

“You will,” Jace verified. “All of us will,” he added, making sure Deanna, Trevor, and Ramsey knew that included them.

“I don’t have anything to tell the cops,” Deanna grumbled. “And I want to take my son to the hospital.”

“It’s not safe,” Angel and Jace said in unison.

Jace continued with the explanation. “The shooter could still be in the area so when the EMTs arrives, they can treat Brandon here in his apartment until they’re certain it’s safe for him to leave.”

“That makes sense,” Brandon agreed, and he looked at his parents and grandfather. “Why don’t the three of you go ahead back downstairs and talk to the police, and then when the EMTs get here, you can tell them where I am.”

“I want to stay with you,” Deanna was quick to insist just as Trevor snarled, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Brandon patted her arm. “All right.” He shifted his attention to Kit. “Why don’t Jace and you go down and talk to them?”

Even though Brandon didn’t come out and say it, Jace thought he was giving them permission to leave so they could take a look at those phones that Kit had tucked under her arm. Angel picked up on it, too.

“Go,” Angel insisted. “I’ll wait here with Brandon to make sure he stays safe.” There was a threat in his tone. A threat followed up with a menacing stare he aimed at Ramsey and Trevor.

Since Angel had spent so much in deep cover with the worst that society had to offer, he was extremely good at looking as if he would kick your ass. And he was even better at the actual ass-kicking himself. That expression he was sporting wasn’t a façade. It was all Angel.

Kit gave Brandon a quick hug and moved fast to get out of the apartment. So did Jace, and he positioned himself so that she was by the wall while they took the railing side. That way, she wasn’t out in the open. The moment they were in the elevator, Jace closed the door and held the button so that it stayed put.

“Keep the phones in the plastic bag,” Jace instructed. “That way, our prints won’t be on them.” That would at least preserve one aspect of evidence once the burners were taken into custody.

She nodded and maneuvered one of the phones so she could press the power button. As Brandon had told them, there was no pin needed. The screen flared on. And there it was.

A single text.

Of how Kit and he were supposed to die.

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