Page 35 of Time to Bounce

The stun grenade that rolled into the room shocked everyone in it, man and woman alike.

Everyone but the three undercovers.

“Go, go, go!” I yelled.

Forty-five minutes later, everyone had been arrested, women had been taken to a hospital, and only one man had escaped.

Madman.

“Darryl Horton slipped out the back,” Tyrone looked pissed.

He wasn’t the only one.

“How did he get out?” I asked, looking at his men. “I thought FBI had the back entrance.”

“They did,” he scowled. “Apparently, there was a third exit no one knew about. Wasn’t on the city’s plans.”

I gritted my teeth.

“Any ideas where he’ll go?” Callena asked.

“I tried really hard not to get friendly with him,” I admitted. “He was fucked in the head already. I also tended to set him off. So to keep the peace, I chose to stay away as best as I could.”

“You don’t think he’ll go to your girl, do you?” Callena asked. “You said that he was obsessed with her.”

My heart froze.

Then I remembered that she was leaving this weekend.

While she was gone, I’d find him.

Then, when she got home, she’d be safe.

Tonight, I’d stay outside her house to make sure she stayed safe.

Tomorrow, I’d start the hunt.

I should’ve known she’d catch me.

I’d tried to hide in the shadows, but the stupid cul-de-sac she lived on was impossible to hide on.

Plus, she hadn’t been home when I’d rolled up hours later.

I’d started to call Maven and had pulled over in her neighbor’s driveway, when I saw her car puttering up.

She got out of her car with another pint of ice cream and turned directly toward me.

I cursed and rolled the bike backwards with my feet, right into her driveway behind her car.

“What are you doing here?” she asked warily.

“Some stuff happened tonight, and I want you to be very cautious,” I said carefully.

She set her ice cream down on the back of her car, then leaned her hip against it and said, “Tell me why I need to be cautious.”

I thought about protecting her from Madman, not telling her the depth of the shit we were both in, but chose to give her the information to help protect herself.

“Darryl Horton, Madman, the one who approached you at the bar that night…” the night that changed me forever. “We were able to arrest every member of the Aided Aimers except for Madman. He escaped through an exit that wasn’t on the city’s plans, and we didn’t have covered.”

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