Page 81 of Lethal Weakness

Using their granddaughter as a lab rat… All the horrible things I’ve seen in my career wouldn’t have prepared me for that.

I check the surveillance screens again, but there haven’t been any changes since the last time I looked.

I stand up from my chair and brace my hands over my head. I’ve been staring at the computer for hours.

I know every horrid detail of the Scotts’ plans.

I know everything they did to get this far.

I’m getting Linden and Avery out tonight. Even if it’s kicking and screaming. She can hate me all she wants, but at least they’ll be safe.

A screen on the far end of my desk lights up, and I know it’s the audio sensors picking up on a disturbance out towards the Scott mansion. It’s not odd. Sometimes a cow roams too far in the field and moos until it’s found. Sometimes the sensors pick up on coyotes and heat lightning… But I’m already on edge, and something about these flashes of noise draws me closer to my screens.

My surveillance cameras pointed out past my backyard don’t have a far scope; they can only pick up on so much, but I scan them anyway.

Something… Something moving in the farthest corner draws me in even closer until I’m leaning over the desk, nearly nose to screen.

Is that?

“Avery!” My hand swipes across the tabletop as I sprint at full speed out of the room. I’m out my back door and flying across my yard before I can get my gun holstered, clearing the back fence in one swift hurdle.

I’ve never run full force into the unknown quicker in my entire life. I’ve never been so fucking terrified. Why is she out here alone?

Where’s Linden?

My labored breaths burst out of my mouth in rapid succession, keeping pace with my legs, as I shove my com piece into my ear.

“CODE RED! CODE RED! I NEED HELP. NOW!” I shout, knowing my com will pick up my distress, even if the words aren’t clear. My message will be.

Code Red means shit has hit the fan, and the op is no longer the priority mission. Survival is.

Finally, I see her in the flesh, stumbling through the tall grass in her princess dress as sobs shake her tiny shoulders.

“Avery! Baby, what are you doing out here?” I slide to my knees in front of her and wrap her in my arms. Her entire body is trembling, and her tears soak my cheek.

“Mommy! Mommy, gone!” She cries uncontrollably.

Every mechanism in my body grinds to a roaring halt. “What?” I gasp.

“Down there!” She flings her arm out, pointing to nothing, but telling me everything.

If she sent Avery up here alone, that means she physically couldn’t keep going. She’d never leave her little girl alone if she had a choice. I only hope that doesn’t mean… No.

Fuck.

I scoop her into my arms, taking one last regretful look down the hill, and sprint back to my house. “Hold on, sweetie, just keep holding onto me.”

I can’t go down there, deeper into an unknown environment with Avery. I can’t leave her out here alone either.

Her arms cling to my neck, and I can feel the shivers racking her body. Pure fear is coursing through her, and it’s destroying me.

I’ve never been this rattled in my entire life.

Linden can’t be gone.

I jump the fence a little stiffer this time and go straight back into my wide-open back door and to my room. “I know you’re scared, Avery, but tell me what happened. Tell me everything,” I murmur as calmly as I can, dropping her onto my bed and wrapping her in blankets.

Her tiny body trembles even after I wrap the quilt around her and keep her tucked close to me. This little girl cannot lose her only real parent.