Page 96 of Royal Pain

“Damien!” she risked, her cry full of love and desperation.

The sudden silence was deafening.

Then there it was, exactly the hope she needed.

“Mommy!”

There wasn’t a man inside the space who didn’t give a collective sigh of relief. She took off running first. “Mommy is coming for you. I’ve got you, baby.”

We all ran a hundred yards and she stopped short.

“You bastard,” she hissed, her voice still strong.

As we skirted beside her, seeing the sight of the man holding his own son the way he was disgusted me. While perhaps anyone else wouldn’t notice, he had a hold around the boy’s neck that could be a choke hold in a split second.

“Mommy!” The little boy reached out.

“She’s no longer your mommy, Damien,” Joseph snarled.

I knew exactly how Jeff and Ron worked. But with a child, everything had to be handled delicately, especially when the mother could become unhinged at any point.

I was shocked when she lowered her weapon, even placing it in the small of her back under her jeans, crouching down and throwing her arms out. “Remember Pinocchio, baby? How brave he was?”

Damien had to think about it but nodded.

“Mommy will always love you. I promise. Nothing will ever take that away from me. But you need to be very brave.” The two had made eye contact and I slowly gave Jeff a quick look. It was time to make a move.

When the little boy started to struggle, trying desperately to get to his mother, his wails echoing in the tunnel, all of us acted at once, which jarred Joseph. He let go of Damien and the little boy rushed into his mother’s arms.

She jerked up, backing away. Joseph snarled.

“Get him out of here!” Ron yelled.

By then, I had Joseph in my clutches, the weapon placed against his head just like she’d done with her father.

Only I had no issue pulling the trigger.

The entire team stopped moving. Meanwhile Joseph was laughing, the stupid bastard.

“You will never take us down!” he yelled in a maniacal way. “We’re too powerful. We’re going to take over the world!”

My God, the bastard really believed it.

“The only thing you’re going to do is to take a one-way trip into hell.”

“Don’t do it, my friend. Don’t. He’s not worth it,” Jeff said very quietly. In his career he’d been forced to try to draw criminals from innocent people, and keep men from jumping off roofs. But he couldn’t understand how I felt.

About her.

About the little boy.

About the situation.

The bastard deserved to die.

The tension was high and the bastard kept laughing. Even the SWAT team wasn’t certain who to shoot.

“Do you remember our walk on the beach?” Her lilting voice floated above the strange hum.

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