Page 93 of Sutton's Shadow

“Search the place,” Wyatt growled, even knowing they wouldn’t find anything. Sutton was gone, but he’d bet this bitch knew where. Finch and Evan took the upstairs while Logan stayed with the kids. Wade headed to the basement without a sound.

In no time, there were three shouts of “clear,” just as he feared. Knowing his friends would have his back, he stalked closer to the woman behind the counter. “Where is she, Valeria?” he growled.

Her eyes widened, then she laughed. She had no less than four guns pointed at her, and she laughed.

“I see the photographer princess has been telling stories.”

“I know all about you and El Sombra. And what you did in Colombia. Your little operation here is done. Tell me where Sutton is.”

She snickered again but didn’t say a word. He would not get anything out of her; he could tell just by scrutinizing her. The evil glint that said she enjoyed the chaos she wreaked on people’s lives was the same expression she had in Sutton’s photos. She took great pleasure in destroying people. He wondered how CPS didn’t perceive that in her.

The girl beside her stared, wide-eyed, at his gun, unmoving. He shifted his attention to her. “What can you tell me, sweetheart?” He softened his voice, as if he was trying to calm a skittish animal. “We’ll get you out of here and keep you safe. Can you tell me where they took the woman who was here?”

The girl’s eyes cut to the woman beside her for the briefest of flashes before she shook her head. Wyatt wanted to growl in frustration. She was too frightened of the woman to say anything.

“I promise, no one can hurt you anymore. You’ll be safe. Please, help me find the woman,” he tried appealing to her again.

Again, nothing. He tried one more time. “I’m Wyatt, Bethany’s brother. Did you know my sister? The woman I’m looking for helped Bethany and Lia escape. They’re safe now, but their rescuer is not. Is there anything you can tell me to help me find her?”

Before he could get an answer, a loud crash echoed from the other room. The woman moved faster than a flash. Before he could blink, she’d grabbed a knife from the counter and had the girl in a headlock with the knife at her throat.

Wade and Jude shouted for her to put the knife down while Finch and Evan checked out the disturbance.

“All clear,” Finch called. “A kid dropped the stuff they were packing up.”

Wyatt took a deep breath and placed all his focus on Valeria and the frightened girl. “Put the knife down. I don’t know what you hope to accomplish with this move, but if you haven’t noticed, you’re outnumbered. There is no way out for you. El Sombra most definitely will have you killed. You failed. He will not let that go unpunished.

“We can protect you, but not if you don’t put the knife down. Don’t make this worse by hurting the girl. Let her go and tell us where Sutton is, and I’ll talk to the prosecutor. I’ll tell him you helped us out, and he’ll be more lenient with you. But you gotta put the knife down.”

Her lips tilted up again in that creepy-assed smile. He did not have a good feeling as he stared down the woman who appeared to have no fear. Then she laughed, the sound shooting down his spine, making his senses go haywire.

With a slight movement he should have seen coming, she pulled a gun from behind her and started firing wildly while shoving the girl at Wade, who had been blocking the door to the backyard. Wyatt and Jude attempted to return fire, but the girl had been in the way before Wade tackled her and covered her with his body.

The woman continued to shoot as she dashed for the door. Upon reaching it, she flung it open before turning back with a smile. Wyatt froze in his tracks, knowing she had him dead in her sights.

“No!” Ronnie screamed, throwing herself in front of him as her final shots rang out before she bolted out the door.

A burning pain hit his arm just as his mother fell back into him. He caught her as they both tumbled to the ground. Jude hurtled over them and sprinted out the door after her. Wyatt struggled to get up to follow until he noticed the blood spreading in a puddle underneath Ronnie.

“Logan,” he called. “Ronnie’s been hit!”

Logan, the Nighthawks’ paramedic, dropped to his knees next to him, tore his pack from his back, and went to work on Ronnie.

“Looks like she got you too,” Logan remarked, indicating the gash on his upper arm.

“It’s nothing,” he insisted. He’d had worse than the graze he barely felt.

“Wyatt,” Ronnie rasped. She’d been hit in the right shoulder, and from the blood pool under her, he was pretty sure it was a through and through. He breathed a little easier knowing she probably hadn’t sustained internal injuries.

“Just relax, Ronnie. Logan’s going to take care of you.”

“I’m sorry, Wyatt. I... They trapped me. I had no choice but to help them.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“Not for me. I was in too deep. Owed too much. They owned me. They wanted my Bethany, but I held them off for as long as I could. Doing other things for them. They were angry when they were ordered to return Bethany to you. They were going to kill me if I didn’t help them. The kidnapping, the girl Bethany helped escape, they forced me to do it. I-I had no choice. They promised to kill me, then go after you and Bethany. I-I couldn’t le-let that ha-happen.” She sobbed as she finished her explanation.

He wanted to hate her for the things she’d done. He wanted to leave her on the floor and walk away, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

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