Page 48 of Taking Root

Chapter Twenty-Three

The day Danny reconnected with Adrian, this nightmare had flashed in front of her eyes, one that lingered in the recesses of her worst fears. Her father, the butcher, would somehow get him.

She’d be a helpless bystander as Kyle Peterson took yet another person she cared for out of her life.

As her father’s knife sank into Adrian’s gut, her world shattered into a thousand pieces. Those sepulchral hazel eyes, her father’s quick precision. The gasp from Adrian as the blade sliced through his shirt and sank into skin. The red, red blood blossoming in its wake.

The howl of a wounded animal echoed through the room, except the sound came from her.

Danny charged for her father, the tick-a-tick of her taser buzzing in her hand. No more killing. No more torture. No more. Heat stung her eyes as she focused in on her target with arrowhead precision.

She was lightning looking for somewhere to strike.

Danny slammed the taser into her father’s back with the force of a punch. He seized up, his limbs reacting this time as the currents rode through him. Drops of blood pooled on the floor from the gunshot in his calf, but her father was no better than a Terminator, a mindless, robotic machine determined to kill. He whipped around to face her, his blade dripping crimson. With Adrian’s blood. She was going to be sick.

Before he could swing his arm in her direction, her leg snapped out to thwack his forearm, sending him off balance. He almost dropped the blade. The glazed look in her father’s eyes held a terrifying intensity—desperation. As he lost his mind, fear pushed him to a dangerous brink.

He pivoted around to slam the handle of his knife into the side of her head. The world spun for a moment, and her vision blanked. The glimmer of silver gave her a single heads up. The blade descended, and only a lifetime of paranoid reflexes saved her. Her hands shot out for her father’s forearm, and she wrenched his arm to the side before dropping to the floor.

From behind her, Adrian staggered forward, his hands compressed over the wound leaking through his shirt. His fingers were stained crimson, and his breathing came out ragged. Her heart stuttered.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. They didn’t have time for this. Adrian would die if he didn’t get help. Now.

The blade sought her out again, descending like a guillotine. Danny rolled away from the swing to sweep into a crouch. Her father lunged, his movements growing sloppier with his speed. A bit of drool glistened at his lip from the effects of the taser. Not like the jolt had stopped him. Sweat pricked her forehead, and her heart pounded so hard in her chest she was two seconds away from a heart attack. She tugged out a thinner, faster blade from her waistband.

Blood for blood.

His shadow cast her in coldness as the blade loomed overhead. He would drive the tip down. Drive it straight into her throat. But in the moment, she could deliver the same. If she left this world taking him out, her life would have had meaning. She could do one good thing to combat the thousands of sins he’d accumulated.

She lay on the ground, the knife in her hand ready to sting.

Her death loomed above her, ready to descend.

The shattering of glass stopped them still.

Shards clattered onto the ground, and screeches pounded from outside. Footsteps rolled in like thunder, but Danny couldn’t get a look, not with her father’s blade looming above her. She stared at the point, waiting for the twitch in her father’s arm to signal his next move.

“FBI. Don’t move.” The shouts came from the entrance.

Danny had never heard a sweeter sound.

Her father glanced between her and the Feds, as if weighing which fight to pursue. Danny didn’t give him the chance. The moment his eyes slipped from her, she popped her leg out in a sweeping kick. Her shin slammed into his calves, and he stumbled. That hesitation was all the Feds needed.

Dave raced up to her father, pointing his pistol straight to the murderer’s skull, and Eve marched around on the other side, brandishing her handcuffs. Kyle Peterson managed a flimsy swing of his blade before Eve clapped his wrist in irons. The knife clattered to the ground. Danny’s chest heaved up and down, but she could barely process the scene before her, one she’d dreamed of on too many nights to count.

“You have the right to remain silent,” Eve began as three other Feds joined them to haul her father forward. Kyle Peterson glanced to her, dead malevolence in his gaze, the blame already assigned. Danny glared back. The Feds might be the ones hauling him off, but she was the one who sent him to his fate.

Danny surged off the ground, fumbling for her phone with shaky fingers. By the time she made it over to Adrian, she’d dialed 911. Adrian staggered forward, clutching the wound tight. Lines bracketed his mouth, which pressed tight in pain. The relief, that firework glow of victory vanished upon witnessing the pallor on his face.

“You have to survive,” she whispered, her voice ragged. The alternative wasn’t an option.

“I’ll be okay,” he murmured, wincing as he tried to take the steps forward.

Eve strode up to the two of them, her dark eyes flashing with irritation. Danny braced herself for the guaranteed reaming out. Not like she’d sit and wait for it. She looped an arm around Adrian’s shoulders as they continued toward the front of the building, awaiting the ambulance. Eve followed a step behind.

“You didn’t listen to orders,” Eve snapped. “You could have gotten yourself killed.”

Danny didn’t have time for this. “I was one of his goals, so we weren’t going to get a better chance than this. I wanted to fight.”

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