Page 76 of Not This Night

He raised the gun, fast.

And squeezed the trigger.

A loud gunshot sounded, and he toppled backwards.

Rachel stared through her scope, stunned, unable to move, a slow, grim frustration settling in her gut.

Screams rose from the gagged victims while the echoes of the gunshot receded into the distance, leaving behind a hollow emptiness that resonated within Rachel. And for several seconds, she remained rooted in her position on the car roof, staring through her scope at Miguel's lifeless body sprawled on the clinic floor.

The woman he'd been holding staggered away, tripping over her own feet in her haste to escape. She crumbled into a shaking heap near the others who were slowly beginning to move, their faces reflecting shock and relief in equal measure.

She let out a slow, shaking breath. "Everyone just remains calm," she said into the microphone. "We're going to get you out safely but stay where you are and remain calm. Help is coming."

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Rachel was running late for date night with Ethan.

But she’d put it off long enough.

Even the two-hour drive back home hadn't managed to leave the scenes of chaos behind. Miguel's accusing, lifeless eyes still haunted her.

“What a waste,” she murmured as she pulled up to the small police station on her aunt’s reservation.

Chief Dawes was waiting for her.

The leathery-faced, native man wore a traditional headdress. Not something she’d often seen him wear. His skin was wrinkled like jerky, and his eyes were like chips of onyx, studying her as she pushed out of her car and approached slowly across the ground.

Miguel dead. Hostages alive.

It had been a close thing.

And yet, somehow, she felt as if she were stepping foot into an even more volatile situation.

“Your son here?” she asked.

Dawes just shook his head. His son didn’t like Rachel, and they’d had more than one run-in.

“Deputies went home. Your phone not working?”

Rachel shrugged. “Was busy.”

Dawes gave a grunt, and she grunted back. For several heartbeats, the two of them simply stared at each other.

“My aunt says you have a tape,” Rachel said at last.

Dawes merely shook his head, and Rachel frowned with a defiant blast from her nostrils.

“Not anymore.”

“What happened to it?” Rachel demanded coldly.

“Stolen.”

She let out a slow sigh. “You know what happened to my parents?”

Dawes nodded. “Dead.”

“You know how?”

---