“Wouldyou stop moving for two seconds?” Jane’s attacker rasped and muscled her flat on her back, mostly because she sagged in shock as she stared up at him.
“Gunther?”
He smiled down at her before rolling her toward Christian, keeping his body between her and the shooter, who popped off three more rounds.
She heard thuds but couldn’t see anything past Gunther Rapp’s big body.
Then the man who’d worked alongside her on the Code Blue Killer task force rushed away into the forest, leaving her, Christian, and an unmoving and bleeding Victor Bednarek all alone.
Jane hurried to fetch her gun and aimed it at Victor. She approached with caution. “Victor Bednarek, you’re under arrest.” She toed him onto his back and stared at four bullet wounds. One between his eyes, one in his throat, and two in his chest.
Dead. And it hadn’t been Gunther who’d done it either.
She still had no idea what the special forces slash FBI agent had been doing in the Greenbelt.
Unless he was the backup Lionel had insisted Jane use. Had he been the one in the car following her? Or had that been the shooter?
Had Gunther actually saved her life?
She stood there, thinking, reviewing what had happened. No. The shooter had taken his shots once Jane was out of the way. Although she could have been hit that first time. Killed even.
Christian moaned and hugged himself, so Jane hurried to him and checked for injuries, still alert for possible danger.
“Shh. It’s okay, Christian. I swear, you’re my best CI ever. The bravest.”
His tears kept coming, but the keening stopped. “J-Jane?” He launched himself at her, hugging her tightly.
“It’s okay. You’re safe now. You’re safe. The crazy bad man is dead.”
She ripped the bottom of her shirt to tie around his slender neck, staunching the bleeding. Once she’d done that, she managed to calm him down and called for backup, taking Christian with her to the road.
It didn’t take long for the police to arrive, having apparently already been called to assist the FBI. Gunther’s doing, she’d bet. She left an officer with Christian while she showed the others to Victor’s body. After promising to return to answer questions, she hurried back to the boy.
Jane couldn’t get over the surprises heaped upon her today.
Victor Bednarek. Now dead.
Christian, kidnapped but safe.
And Gunther Rapp.
She hadn’t expected to see him. And she didn’t see him again.
There and gone.
But at least Christian had survived.
She found him sitting in the back of an ambulance with a first responder and smiled at him. “I owe youso manysnacks from Whole Foods.”
He smiled through tears while the paramedic patched him up, tossing her dirty makeshift bandage.
“Christian, I have to get back to the police and the suspect. You’ll be okay with these guys.”
Christian gave a hesitant nod, obviously still scared.
The paramedic, a big burly guy with dark curls and a lovely smile, said, “Dude, you’re a hero. I heard all about it on the way over. I think you helped catch the home invasion guy. That’s big news.Andyou get to ride in an ambulance.”
“I better call my mom.”
