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Pete laughed. “Grange, my old pal. Glad you joined us. You’re just in time. Let’s go to the house and have a beer.”
“I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere with you. Let them go and then we’ll talk.”
Pete tightened his grip on Carla’s hair. She winced and Grange took a step forward. Pete put the gun to Carla’s temple.
“I wouldn’t do that. You know how good I am with a gun.”
Grange raised his hands. “Fine. Then tell me what this is all about.”
“You know what this is about.”
“Dina.”
Pete nodded. “You need to pay for what you did to her.”
“You know how sorry I am about that. But what happened to Dina was circumstance and terrorists.”
“Your fault. If you’d been on time, she wouldn’t have been there. She wouldn’t have died.”
Grange nodded. “And I’ll live with that guilt the rest of my life. So if you want to blame someone, if you want to kill someone, then kill me. Not Carla or Elena.”
“No, they have to pay. They’re innocent, and they have to pay. Just like Dina.”
Grange turned his attention on Elena. “Come here.”
“No,” Pete said.
Grange ignored him. “If we’re going to die, I want to hug my niece.” He reached for the gun on his hip with two fingers, took it out of its holster and threw it to the ground. “Look, no weapons. No tricks. I surrender.”
Grange turned his gaze back on Pete. “Now let me hug my niece. I spent my whole life separated from her because I thought I was keeping her safe. Now we’re all going to die. At least let me have this.”
Pete grinned, obviously sensing triumph. He nodded. “Fine. Then we go in the house, I lock you all up and then you blow up. But hurry, because time’s running out.”
Elena walked over to Grange.
Grange wrapped his arm around her. She squeezed him tight, but lost her balance when he jerked her to the ground and knocked the very breath from her.
A shot rang out. Carla screamed.
“Mom!” Elena cried out.
Grange rolled her over. She pushed at him and he let go of her.
“It’s all right, Elena. He’s dead.”
She jumped up and saw her mother shoving away from Pete’s body. Elena ran over to her mother and threw her arms around her.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, I think so. What happened? Is he dead?
“He is.” She turned to Grange, who came over to help his sister.
“How?” Elena asked.
“Jed,” Grange said, motioning to Jed, who swung out of a nearby tree and started toward them, rifle flung over his shoulder. “He’s a damn fine sniper. I just had to get you and me out of the way so he could take the shot.”
“Jed,” Elena said. She ran toward him and threw her arms around him, then pulled back when she saw the red stain on his arm. “You’re bleeding.”
