Fists clenched, Kate watched in horror as William raised the gun and pointed it at Alyssa’s head.
Kate charged.
Mazur turned off his lights as soon as he made the last turn off the deserted road and barreled down the driveway. He gripped the wheel, funneling his fears into action. If he dwelled on the stakes, he’d risk overthinking and making a mistake. He still hadn’t heard from Santos about the second property and prayed he’d arrived at the right place.
When he saw lights glowing from a large shed, he hoped he was on the right track. When he saw Kate’s rental car nosed in behind a silver four door and a green truck, he said a prayer of thanks. He jammed on the brakes and threw the car in park. Pulling his gun from the holster, he ran across the graveled drive toward the door on the left. As he reached for the door handle, he heard a woman scream.
Tightening his hand on the grip of his weapon, he pushed through the door and took a split second to survey his surroundings. Alyssa was cowering, her hands in front of her face. She was whimpering, but appeared okay. Another scream drew his attention to the right just as Kate plowed into William, who was holding a gun.
Kate didn’t have enough body weight or momentum to knock him over, but when her frame slammed against his arm, she created enough force to push it just as the gun fired. The bullet slammed into the wall, just feet from Alyssa’s head. Immediately Bauldry recovered and landed a right hook on Kate’s jaw. She took a half step and fell to her knees.
Mazur leveled his weapon, breathed out, and squeezed. His bullet burrowed through the side of Bauldry’s cheek. The man’s head snapped back as he staggered, gun still in his hand. Blood streamed down his face, staining his shirt. Dark eyes narrowing, William raised his gun toward Kate.
Mazur fired a second and a third time. These bullets caught Bauldry in the arm and chest and propelled him back. He dropped his gun. His expression was stunned as he dropped to his knees. He looked toward Kate as she rose up and glared at him.
“I love you,” Bauldry said before he collapsed to the ground.
Mazur ran toward Bauldry, grabbed his cuffs, and hooked Bauldry’s limp arms at the base of his back. He retrieved the gun before he looked to Kate, who had stumbled to her feet. Her face was red and already swelling.
“Kate?”
“I’m okay. Go to her.”
He ran toward his daughter. He scooped up his little girl and held her so close. She cried as her fingers clutched his shirt. In one second, relief washed over him, but as he looked down at the bloodstains on the side of her face, his heart broke. Nothing would ever erase the painful relief of this moment for him for as long as he lived.
He cleared his throat when he saw the blood around her mouth. “Are you hurt, Alyssa?”
“I left my bracelet in the car.”
“I found it.”
“And then I pretended to be asleep. When they weren’t looking I jumped on his back and bit his ear.”
He tipped her chin back and wiped the blood away. He studied the dark, angry bruise on her cheek. His girl had followed the advice Kate had shared when they had picked her up from school. “Shit.”
Mazur held his daughter close and watched as Kate swayed on her feet. He wasn’t sure what to say to her. He was relieved she was okay and wished he had the words to thank her.
Alyssa wiped away a tear. “Kate saved me, Dad.”
“She’s fierce. A warrior.”
Kate worked her jaw and rolled her neck, then stumbled toward Drexler. She rolled him on his back and checked for a pulse.
“Is he dead?” Mazur asked.
“Yes,” she said. Her voice was hoarse and rough.
“Kate shot him,” Alyssa said. “He had a knife to my throat.”
Mazur looked at his daughter and then past her to the constructed wooden box. Waves of emotions collided. Jesus.
Finally he cleared his throat and met Kate’s gaze. “Thank you.”
Kate lifted her chin. “Of course.”
She shoved a trembling hand over her head as she stared down at William.
“Are you really okay?” he asked.
Outside, the sirens of multiple cop cars approached through the night. Seconds later, there were cops everywhere.
“I’ll be fine.”
Kate leaned against the paramedic’s bay, fingering the broken pieces of the Wonder Woman bracelet as she watched the flashing blue lights from a dozen cop cars mingle with the spotlights on the forensic van. Yellow crime-scene tape had been strung around the bodies of Bauldry and Drexler, which still lay where they’d fallen.
It had been three hours since Mazur had raced to her and Alyssa’s aid. Once backup teams arrived, he’d driven his daughter home, leaving Kate, and now Nevada, on the scene.
Nevada approached her, his expression pleased. “The medical examiner will be here soon to take away the bodies.”
“Good.”
He folded his arms and hesitated as if searching for the right words. “You all right?”
No. She could barely stand, her head throbbed with pain, and for as long as she lived, she would never forget the look of fear on Mazur’s face as he’d hugged his daughter close. “Never better.”
“It’s got to feel good. This is a win in anyone’s book. You brought down the bad guys and saved a kid.”
“I wish it could be like this every time.”
Nevada shook his head. “Enjoy the wins when you have them.”
Gravel crunched under the tires of an approaching vehicle, and she saw Mazur rise out of it. As he strode toward them, she looked up at Nevada. “Mind giving us a minute?”
“Sure.”
Mazur’s face was drawn and pale under his thick stubble, which now darkened his jaw. He pulled Kate into his arms, and she willingly went. “I’m sorry I had to leave.”
The fingers of her good hand clutched the folds of his jacket as she allowed herself to relax for the first time in what felt like years. “Is Alyssa okay?”
“Sherry’s with Alyssa now. Alyssa is shaken up, and I know there’ll be more emotional fallout from this later.”
Kate looked up at him. “I don’t know what would have happened to us if she’d not been so clear headed.”
He looked down at her balled fist and uncurled her fingers to find the broken bracelet. A pained expression crossed his features before he met her gaze. “After all this has settled, I want to see you again.”
Personal ties in this business were so difficult to
maintain that she’d not even bothered to try since she’d joined her team. But now for the first time, she wanted more than the chase and the darkness. She rose on tiptoe and gently kissed him on the lips. “I’d like that.”
EPILOGUE
Quantico, Virginia
Three weeks later
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Nevada asked Kate.
The box centered on her desk was filled with the few items she’d kept during her seven years with the bureau. “I’m very sure.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Take a vacation,” she said.
He leaned against the edge of her cubicle, fumbling with a rubber-band ball. “And then what? You’ll miss the work.”
“I’m taking a leave of absence, not retiring.” She took the ball from him and put it in the box. “You’re the one who has been after me to take time off.”
“Yeah, but like a week in Cabo or a hike in the Catskills. Not a year off. You’re too good at what you do.”
“You might be right. I could get very bored. But I want to see what it feels like.”
He shook his head. “You won’t like it.”
“I’ll always be available for a consult. And you’ve got my number.”
He took the ball out of the box and tossed it in the air. “It won’t be the same.”
She snatched the ball in midair. “Nothing stays the same. It’s the one constant.”
He grinned. “Ah, Yoda, you’re so deep.”
She smiled. “Yoda. That my new code name now?”
“Seems fitting. Yoda is almost as smart as you.”
She reached for the box, but he took it. She followed him to the elevators and down to the lobby. The last time she’d left her home for college she’d known her life would never be the same. She had that same feeling now.
It had been three weeks since she’d left San Antonio, but in many respects it felt as if it were a lifetime ago. She and Nevada had searched Bauldry’s house the night he died. After Mazur took Alyssa to her mother and she’d fallen asleep, he had joined the search team in the house adjacent to the large metal shed.