Page 84 of Spark
“Okay!Okay, I’m sorry.”
She had no choice but to at least pretend to tie Tyler up, lest Simon lose his patience, so she looped the zip tie around his wrist.The sight of the beaded bracelet Esme had made for him made her heart catch, but it also bolstered her calm.
This was going to be okay.Theywere going to be okay.
She was going to make sure of it.
“Okay.You’re right,” Chloe said to Simon.“I’ll do whatever you tell me to.”
She made a show of tightening the first zip tie with a loudzzzzzip, squeezing Tyler’s hand very softly before looping the other one around his opposite wrist and doing the same.But they still needed more time, and she needed to think of something, fast.
“I know you want to kill us,” Chloe said, the words cold and sharp, like metal shavings between her teeth.“But think about it, Simon.We’re in an apartment building.If you shoot us, someone’s going to hear it.You’ll get caught.”
“I’m in control.I’m not going to get caught,” he said, each word a live wire, fraught with danger.
“You don’t have to,” Chloe agreed, edging closer to him, one step, then another, almost within reach.“Tyler and I won’t tell anyone you were here.You can run.You’re smart.The police won’t find you.Then you won’t have to worry about any of this ever again.”
Simon’s smile was so evil and dark, Chloe felt it in her marrow.“You stupid, stupid bitch.I’m not going to get caught because I’ll be dead.But I’m taking the both of you with me.”
Oh.God.“You can’t,” Chloe whispered, and Simon threw his head back and laughed.
“I can do whatever I want.I was going to start with him, but you know what?I’ve changed my mind.I’m tired of telling you,I’min control.It’s time for me to prove it.”
He swung the gun at her, and three things happened at nearly the exact same time.Tyler vaulted out of his chair, one zip tie around each wrist but neither of them attached to the chair, and took a run at Simon.Chloe feinted and lunged forward, wrapping her arm around Simon’s and jerking upward until she felt his shoulder dislocate and snap.And the front door crashed open with a deafening bang, followed by three separate voices screaming, “Remington Police Department!Don’t move!”
Simon’s howl of pain followed quickly, his gun rattling to the floor.After that, things got a little hazy.Someone—Garza, she thought?—kicked the gun aside, while Addison forced Simon face-down against the floor as Maxwell and Xander held him at gunpoint.But then, Tyler had his arms around her, grabbing her close, and Chloe didn’t care about anything else.
“Oh, my God.Tyler.”She threw her arms around him, relief smashing through her, and he held her back, just as tight.
“Chloe!Shit, Chloe, are you okay?”
“I’m good.I’m not hurt, but you’re bleeding,” she said, pulling back only far enough to run her hands over the nasty gash on his head.
“I don’t care about that,” Tyler said.“It’ll heal.I only care about you.”
“You guys okay?”Addison asked, holstering her weapon as Maxwell, Xander, and Garza hauled a still-screaming and now-handcuffed Simon out the door.“Damn, Gates.That’s probably gonna leave a mark.It’s a good thing you got that call off when you did.”
“Thanks, but this one is all on Chloe,” Tyler said.“She’s the one who stalled for time, and you should’ve seen the move she used to disarm Simon.Pure brilliance.”
“Why am I not surprised?”Addison said, her grin going from ear to ear.“I’ll give you guys a second, but you’re going to have to get that checked out before we all head back to the precinct to tie this one up, you smitten kitten.”
“You got it,” Tyler said, turning his attention back to Chloe.“You were unbelievably calm.Not to mention, unbelievably brave and very, very badass, taking Simon down like that.”
“I didn’t do it by myself, and anyway, he tried to hurt someone I love.I wasn’t going to let that happen.No matter what,” Chloe said, shaking her head.“Call it a team effort?”
Tyler laughed.“I’m happy to be your wingman anytime.I love you, Chloe Ferguson.”
She kissed him ever so gently, knowing they’d never let each other go.“I love you, too, Tyler Gates.I’ll be your wing-woman right back.”
Epilogue
Six months later
Tyler was full of cookies, happiness, and nerves, not in that order.He’d sustained a nasty concussion the night the Intelligence Unit had taken Simon Navarro into custody, and even though he’d made a full recovery and been cleared for full duty a few weeks later, he’d found that when his head got full, it was better not to crowd the place.Of course, Chloe had taught him the same thing about his heart, so he stood back in his new, now-gleaming kitchen and let his mind spin along with his feelings.
Those weeks of recovery had been far from uneventful, even though Tyler had been restricted to a lot of rest and a couple of CT scans—which between Chloe, Esme, and his mother, he’d definitely been forced to get.With new evidence and warrants in hand, Intelligence had been able to arrest Simon on charges of arson, attempted murder, and about a dozen other felonies, as well as adding enough to Leo Navarro’s original murder charge to have him taken into custody while he awaited his own trial.
In a move that surprised (and, not gonna lie, delighted) Tyler and everyone else on the team, Leo took his attorney, Phil’s, advice, agreeing to cut a deal and testify against Simon, giving a lengthy statement detailing their criminal activity over the past five years in exchange for a life sentence at a lower security prison for the murder of Sal Brinkman.Delia Garza and the forensic accounting team had uncovered plenty to back Leo up on their own, but with the evidence Runner had pointed the RPD to on top of it?Simon hadn’t had a hope of anything other than spending the rest of his life in prison.
