Page 69 of Cassidy

As much if not more so than Turk and Lonny.

“You did this?” She wished she’d brought her service gun along, but she’d left it in the SUV’s glove box. The hospital had a very clear no weapons rule, and she hadn’t expected to need it.

“Stop right there,” she said in her best cop voice. “You don’t want to make this worse than it already is. Put the gun away and we’ll talk. If you cooperate, I’ll convince the DA’s office to waive any jail time.”

“Yeah, right,” Ben sneered. “Your pal here is already onto us. And there’s only one way to fix that.” Ben abruptly reached over to grab one of Gabe’s pillows and pressed it over the barrel of the gun. “Cheap silencer,” he said with an eerie grin as he aimed the weapon toward Gabe.

Gabe yanked on the wires connected to electrodes on his chest and rolled to the side, causing the monitor to alarm loudly at the same time she launched herself at Ben. The gun went off, sending her heart into her throat. She slammed Ben against the bathroom door, fighting to rip the gun from his hands.

Anger and fear gave her the strength of ten men. Every minute she’d worked out with Jina and Raelyn at the MMA gym had paid off. She wrenched the gun free while planting her elbow sharply into Ben’s ribs. He howled in pain, but she didn’t stop there. She brought her knee up into his groin and then brought the butt of his gun down hard on the back of his head.

Gabe was out of bed, his gaze frantic as they towered over Ben who was curled in a ball on the floor. “Are you okay?”

“Peachy,” she said breathlessly, looking for something to use to tie Ben’s wrists together. Spying one of the heart monitor wires lying on the bed, she grabbed it and used it as a binding to secure Ben. “You?”

“You better teach me how to shoot,” Gabe said with a sigh. Then he gestured toward the heart monitor. “Oh, he shot and killed that thing.” She hadn’t noticed the alarm in the room had fallen silent.

But the initial alarm had done the trick. Several staff members ran into the room, looking on with astonishment at how Cassidy finished tying Ben’s wrists behind his back.

“Sorry about the damage,” Cassidy said, feeling guilty over the destroyed hospital equipment. “He got a shot off before I was able to take him down.”

“I’m calling security,” one of the nurses said, stepping back outside the room.

She reached down and dragged her bound stepbrother to his feet. “You’re under arrest for attempted murder,” she said, then proceeded to read him his rights. Gabe weakly sat back down on the edge of the bed, looking grim.

When she finished, he asked, “Is your stepbrother’s username Axe? I know I found them both under their own names, but I’m sure he created a new identity to help hide his actions.”

She had no idea, but the flash of guilt over Ben’s features confirmed Gabe’s suspicions.

“I saw his screen name linked with the Turk and commenting on Travis’s post downplaying the danger,” Gabe said. “Now we know Axe is Ben. I’m sure we’ll find everyone else involved, in this too.”

She nodded trying to hide her guilt. Logically, she knew she was not responsible for her stepbrother’s actions.

Five minutes later, the room was full of people. Rhy had arrived with the laptop, and the security guards had called the local police, who had hauled Ben away. Gabe’s mother, Shelia, had returned to the room to see her son, and Cassidy was glad when Shelia actually hugged and thanked Gabe for what he did for Travis, before being hustled away by the security team.

They spent nearly an hour giving their statements and explaining what had transpired. At some point during the process, Rhy spoke at length to Ian and filled Cassidy in on the latest aspect of the case. Then Rhy finally convinced the authorities to let her and Gabe go, promising to work together to close this incident.

The hospital staff moved Gabe to another room, but he stood with his arms crossed over his chest, threatening to leave against medical advice. “I’ll sign whatever you bring me, but I’m not staying.”

The nurse sent Cass a harried look.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Come on, Gabe, work with me,” she pleaded. “Ben is under arrest, and Rhy has tasked the rest of the team with finding and arresting Brian. Ian was able to pick up the investigation where you left off and has implicated both of my stepbrothers in this.” She frowned, then added, “Apparently, my stepbrothers were smart enough to not only make the malware, but to hack the game’s operating system to insert it.” She still couldn’t believe they were involved. Ben had once told her they were given beta versions of games to test them out. She doubted the company had expected anyone to use the beta version of a game for something like this. “According to Ian, they probably worked on it for six months straight, planning to reap in the bulk of their cash over the Christmas holiday once the game had been uploaded to millions of homes across the United States and even worldwide.”

“Until Travis noticed and raised the alarm,” Gabe said, finally sinking down onto the edge of the bed. “He’s a brilliant kid with a bright future.”

“He is,” she agreed with a smile. “He takes after you, Gabe. Travis is the kind to use his talent for good, not evil.” Unlike her stepbrothers, she thought grimly.

“So that’s it?” Gabe asked uncertainly. “It’s really over?”

“Yes.” She fought a wave of exhaustion brought on by the second adrenaline crash of the day. And she was secretly relieved she didn’t have to kill Ben, the way she had shot Taylor’s cousin last month. She managed a smile. “Please stay. I won’t be able to relax until I know your heart hasn’t been damaged by all of this.”

“Yeah, okay.” He stretched out on the bed. The way he absently rubbed the center of his chest made her realize he was still hurting.

“Thank you.” She dropped into the chair next to his bed.

He was silent for a long minute. “Cass?” He spoke in a low, hesitant voice. “Do you think you can find a way to forgive me?”

“Forgive you?” At first she didn’t understand, then she realized he had picked up the thread of their conversation before Ben had rudely interrupted to threaten them with a gun. She leaned forward to take his hand. “Of course, I forgive you,” she said. “I was a little hurt that you didn’t include me in your plan after we’d been working so well as a team, but your health is all that matters.”

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