Page 119 of After All The Wreckage
“We’re well past that now,” West said. “I’d say neither of you are leaving.”
A sudden pounding on the metal roof of the warehouse almost drowned out his words. Hail drummed loudly as the tail end of the storm drifted overhead. Lightning flashed outside the upper windows, and I’d barely taken a breath before thunder shook the entire building. It rattled the metal doors and echoed around the concrete floors.
Some people were terrified of storms, and they had reason to be. Hurricanes and tornadoes ripped through water and land, leaving devastation in their wake, but I knew with every fiber inmy being, that this storm would help us. It would hide any noise Rory made.
“I get why Dunn took my mother. I understand him believing in her ability to predict his future. I even get how Hallie Marlowe investigating Argento Skies made you nervous. I mean, if she looked too close, there was a chance she’d find your money laundering and the ties to the Lovatos, right? But she didn’t have any proof, and I know better than anyone how hard it is to get law enforcement to act without proof, so why did you really run her off the road?”
“We don’t have time for some evil villain monologue,” the woman next to West said. “Take them all outside.”
“Have you studied storms?” I asked, looking the woman straight in the eye. She was probably the same age as Rory. Maybe a hair older or younger. But she had the same confidence as the woman I loved. “Because I have. I’ve spent years chasing them, and I can guarantee heading outside with the lightning striking near a metal building with you holding a metal object in your hand is just asking to be struck yourself.”
“Gage?” My mother’s confused voice drew my eyes to her face as she tried to step away from the congressman. Physically, she was a distorted version of the person I’d last seen, but when my eyes locked with hers, a new torture wound through me because her stare was as hazy as the rest of her. Had she been drugged or just held for too damn long and lost her mind? She shook her head, her once-beautiful curls thin and greasy, clinging to her, as she said in a slurred tone, “You’re not supposed to be here.”
She stumbled trying to take the last step off the stairs, and Dunn held her up, concern flitting over his face. God. Did he actually have feelings for her? Some warped kind of affection?
“Just do it here,” the woman said, dropping the tablet she’d been working on, and it hit the ground with a loud crack. “I’vewiped out any connection to our boss and left a trail back to Sutton instead.”
West cocked the gun still pointed at Demi.
“You shoot her, and you’re dead,” Rory said as she stepped out from beneath the metal staircase to the right of Dunn and Demi. My heart skipped a beat as my gaze landed on the gun she had pointed at West. “Hello, Chanel.”
“You don’t seem all that surprised to see me, Rory.”
“I’m not. And my father would be even less so. You aren’t as good at hiding your trail as you think.”
The woman, Chanel, narrowed her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Rory shrugged. “Every hacker leaves a fingerprint somewhere.”
Chanel looked at West. “What are you waiting for? Kill them all.”
Rory’s voice was firm and calm as she said, “You pull that trigger, and I guarantee you’ll be dead before you even finish.”
“You assume he’s the only one with a gun. You assume a lot of things. It’s almost laughable. You hated being judged for your size and your age, and yet you do the same damn thing.” Chanel reached behind her, and Rory aimed her gun at the woman instead of West.
“Don’t move.”
“How do you think this will play out?” Chanel asked. “West shoots Demi, you retaliate, but I shoot you and then your boyfriend. I’ll be the only one left standing with a gun.”
She hadn’t even finished talking when West swung his aim toward Demi again. As he pulled the trigger, Dunn screamed, “No!” and leaped, blocking my mom. A hole bloomed in the center of his forehead, blood spraying from the back as he tumbled sideways, taking the skeleton that was my mother with him.
West’s gun now pointed at Rory, and Chanel having alluded to having her own, I had to even the odds. With my finger on the stun gun’s button, I lunged toward Chanel, who was closest to me. Rory dove to the side as both she and West shot their weapons, and the sound reverberated through the room.
West’s body jerked backward as a bullet hit him in the shoulder. He tripped on the stairs behind him, landing near Dunn and Demi with a furious scream.
“Rory!” I screamed, watching as she skidded along the concrete toward my mother.
Chanel pulled a gun from her back, her aim following Rory’s movements as the woman I loved rolled to her knees. My breath left my body, and I took another gigantic leap, diving forward.
I was too late. Chanel’s gun went off, but it was matched by another loud report from behind me. The air next to my ear whizzed, and red bloomed along the white silk covering Chanel’s chest. A stunned expression filled her face just before she joined West and Dunn on the floor at the base of the stairs.
My feet propelled me forward until I landed on my knees beside Rory, calling her name again. I reached for her just as she reached up and our hands collided as thunder shook the building.
“I’m okay!” she said. “Chanel may have been a good hacker, but she was a really crappy shot.”
I pulled her to me. Heart thudding. Body trembling.
“Gage. I’m okay.” Her voice was muffled, buried against my chest.
