Page 63 of Unlikely Guardian

Worse, that need was growing, and he was certain it wouldn’t simply go away. With that thoroughly depressing revelation, he took the turn into his neighborhood and stopped at the security gate.

“Please tell me it’s been a quiet night,” Jason said to the guard as he punched in his security code.

The guard nodded. “Just a few people coming home from work and a pizza delivery.”

That snagged his attention. “You checked them all out before you let them in?”

“I did. I had the residents show picture IDs, and I called the folks that ordered the pizza and had them confirm it.”

Though Jason was appreciative of those security measures, he didn’t relax. He drove home, wondering how in the name of heaven he was going to put an end to all of this. Because without an end, Lilly and he didn’t stand a chance at having a beginning.

He approached the house with his cop’s gaze on full alert. And maybe it was that full alert that had him concerned when he noticed that the lights were off. Then, he checked his watch.

10:00 p.m.

Well past Megan’s bedtime, and as tiring as the day had been, it was no doubt past Lilly’s, as well. He pulled into the garage and sat there for a moment, listening. He was still listening when the sound shot through his SUV.

The sound nearly caused him to jump out of his skin. Before he realized it was his phone ringing.

“Sheez. Settle down,” he warned himself. He’d snap if he kept up this intensity.

“It’s Garrett,” Sgt. O’Malley said when Jason answered the call. “And before you ask, no, I didn’t find any of the suspects. But we’ve had a Corinne Davies sighting.”

Well, Jason hadn’t counted on hearing that, ever. “I take it she’s alive?” He used the remote to close the garage door and got out of his SUV.

“According to her neighbor, yeah. He says this afternoon he saw Corinne going into her house through the back door. We sent a unit out to see if she was there, but there was no sign of her.”

Which made her all the more dangerous. Well, dangerous if she was guilty of anything. Maybe Corinne was simply a victim, like Lilly. A case of learning a little too much and now having to pay the consequences.

“Thanks for the update,” Jason said, clicking the end button on his phone. He unlocked the door that led from the garage into the house and went inside.

And he came to a complete stop.

Two things immediately struck him as totally wrong. The security alarm didn’t kick in, and the house was much too quiet. It was bedtime, he reminded himself. But that reminder did nothing to stop the slam of adrenaline. That instant jolt of fear.

His stomach dropped to his knees.

Jason pocketed his cell and drew his weapon. Because the sense of urgency was growing stronger with each passing second, he hurried. Running, he made his way through the utility room and into the kitchen. No one was there. Including the officers he’d left to guard the place. But there was a half-eaten sandwich and a nearly full glass of milk sitting on the counter.

He considered calling out to them, but his instincts told him it was already too late for that.

Trying not to make a sound, he made his way across the kitchen and to the hall that led to the back of the house. With each step, his heart pounded, his focus pinpointed and his body prepared itself for the fight. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t too late.

But he was.

Jason confirmed that when he saw Lilly.

There she was. At the end of the hall. Just outside the door of the playroom.

The only illumination came from the night-light on the wall halfway between Jason and her. But it was more than enough for him to see the stark expression on her face.

The fear.

No. The terror.

That’s when Jason realized she wasn’t alone. There was someone behind her. With a gun that’d been rigged with a silencer.

And the gun was pointed right at Lilly’s head.

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