Page 86 of Bad Mother

“What about it?” he asked.

“The first shields of the NYPD were made of copper,” she said hurriedly. “It’s how the namecopcame about. My shield number in New York was five digits.”

Their gazes held for a moment, and he started to move toward the lock but then halted as an idea came to him. “What?” she asked. He turned his head, making eye contact with his mother, too, as they both drew closer. “Turn to the wall and keep pretending to discuss the map,” he said. He had no idea if there was some small hidden camera where Danny was watching them. He didn’t see one, but there were a million places something very obscure could be hidden. He was in security; he knew that well. Sienna pointed to a place to their left, and he tilted his head as he spoke as quietly as possible, with as little lip movement as he could. “Listen, the first room was geared toward me, toward my first big win. If that lock opens with your first shield number, he’ll have done the same, only directed toward you.”

“Which means that if there’s a room beyond this one, it will be for me,” Mirabelle said very quietly.

“If,”Gavin said. “But if we can open this lock and rush straight for the next one without stopping to work out clues, we might be able to take him unaware. He won’t expect that. What’s beyond these inner rooms, Mom?”

She frowned. “An open three-story lobby. There’s an escalator that goes down to a lower floor.”

Gavin nodded once. At least he knew what he’d be running into if he got that far.

“So we’re assuming the third lock has to do with something positive that happened in Mirabelle’s life,” Sienna said, pointing at another spot and turned slightly away from him. “Awinof sorts. But one he could know about.”

Neither one looked at Mirabelle, but she obviously knew they were waiting for her to offer ideas, because she made a small sound in the back of her throat that let them know she was considering. “I don’t know... my happiness is you. You and Sienna and... Argus.” Her voice cracked on Argus’s name, but she cleared her throat softly, pulling herself quickly together. “I love my house—”

“Yourhouse,” Sienna said. “He mentioned your house in his note.”

“The zip code?” Gavin said.No, wait.“Your street number is five digits too.” That buzz again. Anticipation. Anxiety. Anger that their last moments might be spent solving puzzles that never ended, all to make a man feel powerful and that he was controlling the board—just once. Fear that whatever plan they came up with would not work.

But Gavin was a gambler. He took risks. He played hard hands, and he was going to attempt this one. He had to because they were running out of time.

“The street number is more specific,” Sienna said. “More personal.”

Gavin agreed with a minor tip of his chin. “We’re going to go over there and enter your New York shield number,” he said, “and then you stay inside the doorway as I run for the other lock, where I’ll input your address.” He looked at Sienna, and he could see she was considering the plan and what, as a trained officer, her role should be. “We both know how to fight,” Gavin said. “But my size more closely matches Danny’s.” He didn’t relish fighting the man he’d just found out was his brother, but his brother was a murderer. And if it meant their survival, he’d do what he had to do. He had no idea what was going to be on the other side of the door, if anything. But they had to try because he could notthink of a better option. Sienna looked at him for a moment and then gave a quick nod.

All three of them moved to the door, and Sienna picked up the lock, her hands shaking as she began putting in the numbers. Her gaze lifted as she clicked the last one into place, and she met his eyes, mouthing, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he mouthed back, taking his mother’s hand in his and giving it one squeeze as Sienna pulled the lock and it opened. With a flick of her wrist she removed it and pushed the door open. Gavin burst through, sprinting for the other side of the dim room, the outline of another door barely visible. When he got there, his breath rushed out in a relieved gust as he saw the third lock. He felt the way he’d felt when he’d gotten a two on the turn during the game he’d described in that first room.

Necessary for a win but not quite there yet.

His hands were steady as he input Mirabelle’s address. There was a lifetime and an instant between the time he pulled upward on the lock and the moment it pulled free. Gavin’s heart slowed, then sped up, and he tossed the lock aside, yanking the door open and barreling through.

Danny stood several feet away on the other side, his expression stunned as he stumbled back before catching himself on the rail of the ledge behind him.

They both froze, brother facing off with brother, staring for several breathless seconds.

“I tipped my hand, didn’t I, Big Winner?” Danny finally said, reaching for his waistband. “The problem is, there’s only fifteen minutes left. Ticktock. Too late.”

Gavin didn’t bother to answer, instead lowering his head and rushing forward, straight at Danny, as the gun appeared and his hand began to rise.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Sienna and Mirabelle stepped through the door just as Gavin made contact with Danny, both of them flying backward, a cry falling from Mirabelle’s lips as they hit the railing and bounced off it and onto the floor. It was a terrible, nightmarish twist on the play fighting the brothers might have done had they grown up together, loving each other and hating each other as brothers did. The rushed, far-off thought zipped through Sienna’s mind even as she stepped toward them, instinctively reaching for the weapon at her hip that was not there.

They were fighting in front of a portion of ledge that held a railing, but the rest of it was open to the floor below, a nonoperational escalator in front of them.

Gavin gained the upper ground, rearing back and raising his fist, and Mirabelle screamed, a sound that made both men jerk, and Danny used the momentary micropause to raise the hand still holding the gun. Gavin reacted, slamming his own hand down on Danny’s wrist, but not before Danny pulled the trigger, the gun firing, the sound of the blast making Sienna’s ears ring as her leg caught fire. Or that was what it felt like as she went down on one knee, crying out in pain.

“No!” Mirabelle raced forward and barely caught Sienna before she fell over. She supported Sienna’s weight as she reached for her wounded leg.

“It’s okay, Mirabelle.” Sienna’s breath sawed in and out, agony moving through her leg in surges. She could see the hole where the bullet had entered, shattering her bone. It was bleeding profusely, but at least he hadn’t hit an artery.

The two men were still fighting, and Gavin made eye contact, his expression registering shock and rage. He hauled Danny to his feet and smashed his fist into his face. Danny got a hit in, too, as they continued to fight on their feet.

Mirabelle was crying as she wrapped what Sienna thought was her shirtsleeve around her wound and tied it off. “Thank you. I’m okay,” she choked, soothing the woman even while her fear and debilitating pain wound higher, watching as the two men fought their way toward the gun that had slid closer to the edge of the platform.

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