Page 77 of Concealed

This is the good part – it’s when we save Dean.

Waiting is the part that terrifies me.

The slower we go, the more time the bad guy has to do damage and get ahead of us.

But we’re limited by red tape and bureaucracy, even in the field. We can’t just do whatever we need to do carte blanche, even if it saves lives. There are rules and an order of steps that need to be followed, or else everything goes to hell and won’t hold up in court.

We’d get headlines calling us vigilantes and worse.

It’s a good thing Grant is here to keep us in line because, if I’m honest, I’d already be in that fucking house if I was here alone.

An officer named Fernando rests his hand on my shoulder. “You good, man?”

“I’m good.”

Maybe he asks everyone that question, or maybe it’s my reputation preceding me, but I’m not going to do anything to prove people like my father right tonight.

I can follow the rules and still take people down.

The van screeches into the driveway – we aren’t trying to remain undetected anymore. The element of surprise is long gone anyway because now that Dean has been made as a cop, maybe-Wang Yong knows there are more of us waiting in the wings.

We travel in packs.

But so do the gangbangers, and sometimes they have more firepower than we do.

Several other vehicles fly into the driveway behind us, and we rush out of the van. Four of us are holding onto the battering ram and charging toward the front door with a team of armed and ready cops behind us.

We smash the door one,

two,

three times.

It splinters open, and we rush inside.

The house is dimly lit and everyone is shouting at once, the noise a cacophony of indecipherable sound.

Grant’s voice rises above the rest. “Police! Weapons down and hands up where we can see them!”

Three heavy beats pass before I fully process the scene.

Dean is on her back, lying on the floor that’s gritty under my boots.

Maybe-Wang Yong is on top of her, and they’re struggling, each delivering blows.

He’s definitely Wang Yong – I recognize his mug shot, and rage fills me at what he’s done to so many girls, and what he thought he would be doing to Dean tonight.

Wang Yong has the edge over Dean – he’s bigger, stronger, and armed. She’s fighting back, but her blocks are half-hearted, and it’s clear she’s getting tired.

We waited too fucking long.

He stands up with Dean in his arms, his movements jerky as he forces her in front of him. He’s using her body as a human shield, preventing any of us from getting a clear shot.

We need to take him alive, but a shot to the leg would certainly slow him down.

There’s a gun in his hand, and he raises it without hesitation, pointing it straight at Grant, who is in the lead and clearly in charge.

I’m all instinct when I let go of the battering ram and lunge at Grant, knocking him to the ground just as the bullet goes off where his head was seconds ago.

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