Page 26 of Special Agent Isabella

We?Trouble?Keep the masked idiot talking until Tanner arrives. “You threw a rock into the kitchen window to set off the alarm on purpose. You were begging for trouble.” Moving infinitesimally closer, she added. “What did you do to the lookout in the garden?”

“He’s gonna have a headache when he comes to. Don’t worry about him. I need the Governor to come with me. There’ll be no hassle for you or the kid.”

“See, that ain’t happening. It’s my job to protect them and no one’s going anywhere without me.”

“No.” The man’s voice cracked, and Bella knew he felt the stress of the situation.

Stacy suddenly found her voice. “I’ll go with you. Just leave my daughter and Bella alone. I’ll do whatever you say.”

Bella saw her blink and knew she had something up her sleeve. That worried her more than anything else. When Stacy’s hand slowly descended to her pocket while the other one pushed Abbie aside, she had to stop her taking such a foolish chance.

“No. Uh-huh, Stacy. I’ll go. You stay exactly where you are.”

As if she understood the underlying message, Stacy’s expression lost its look of purpose, and she took her hand from her pocket.

“It has to be the Governor.” The trespasser grew more antsy, and his voice shook.

“Fine. As you insist.” Bella slowly lowered herself to the floor and crept beside the woman under discussion. When she saw the man’s hand push forward, she spoke with what she hoped made sense. “Ease up, buddy. I just want to hold on to Abbie.”

While she took the child away from her mother, her hand reached into the same pocket that Stacy had indicated held the weapon. Once she had the gun safely in hand, she released the control, slipped it behind her and rolled Abbie away. At the same time, she pushed Stacy to the side, whipped around and shot the intruder in the upper arm of the hand that held his weapon.

Swinging around from the force of the bullet, the man fell over and gave Bella the time she needed. “Get Abbie out of here.”

Before Stacy could move, she heard the door push open, and knew Tanner had entered the room. Keeping her sights on the man rolling in pain, she leapt to her feet and kicked away the other weapon while Tanner guided the mother and child into the hall.

His voice came to her clear, his strict orders for Stacy meant to be followed. “Call 911. Stay with Abbie.”

In seconds, he returned and joined Bella beside the fallen criminal. He reached to remove the mask, being careful that he watched every move.

Eyes creased shut in pain; an unshaven ordinary looking man lay in a fetal position, fear covering his pale face.

Jesus, another loser.

ChapterTwenty-One

Hours later, Stacy sighed with relief. The various law enforcement agencies had determined the crisis to be over. Turns out, an agitated couple had pulled off this nonsense. An unemployed man and his overweight wife had watched too many idiots spouting off bullshit on their computers and had determined to take the law into their own hands.

Where they’d intended to take the governor hadn’t been fully decided, but one thing was certain, there were others involved.

Knowing the grounds and house were safe now, Stacy moved to the sofa to check that Abbie was still sleeping. The child had refused to return to her own room, and her shattered mother couldn’t blame her. In fact, she’d decided that from now on, her daughter would be sleeping with her, in her bed where she’d be close during the long dark hours. She’d even voiced her thoughts out loud.

When Tanner had questioned her about how long she expected to keep that up, she’d answered honestly rather than intelligently. “Till she gets married.”

He nodded, a serious expression belying the twinkle in his eyes.

Once all the statements were made, and the police had their answers, she felt drained. The earlier fear had changed to anger which exhausted her more. Once they closed the door behind the bulk of people who’d bombarded her personal space, she turned to the two still there… Tanner and Bella.

They’d been beside her the whole time, giving accurate accounts of all that had transpired from the moment the alarm went off. Bella had only injured the burglar… on purpose not killing him. Or so she admitted to the agent who’d been questioning them. “Did you aim to kill?”

“No. Wasn’t sure if he wore a vest and needed to disarm the son of a bitch. Best to impede the arm so he couldn’t take a shot.”

The fact that she’d nonchalantly admitted that she’d aimed to disarm rather than to kill had made Stacy’s admiration for the cool-under-danger woman grow by leaps and bounds. God, she hoped one day that she could gain such proficiency of being unflappable.

She’d known if she had managed to get her gun in her hand, she’d probably have shot the lamp or window rather than the villain. She’d been that scared and shaky. But watching Bella in action had raised her hero-worshipping to new heights.

Strangely, her daughter, the little devil who she thought would have been all over her new friend had remained quiet. Clinging to her mommy, hiding her head when spoken to, she’d only go to Tanner when Stacy needed to follow the cop and didn’t want the little one nearby to listen.

“They’re gone now, and it’s almost morning.” Tanner stood with his hands in his pockets as if trying to hide the fists she’d seen him clench more than once during the evening. “I’m thinking we should all take a card out of Abbie’s deck and try to get some sleep. Stacy, did you get in touch with Bruce, your assistant?”

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