Page 29 of Lion’s Den

She groaned. “Oh, boy. How am I supposed to tell his mother what happened? Hey, Mrs. Ramirez. Julio was tossed into a lion enclosure at the zoo. Want to meet us at the hospital?”

“Yeah, that would be a tough call to make.” He squeezed her shoulders. “Why don’t you let me make that call? After all, I need to be good for something on this field trip because I’m sure not stellar at providing security.” He grimaced, disgusted with his own performance.

Sedona shook her head. “Julio’s mine, and I’m responsible for his safety. Looks like I did a lousy job. Although I’ll call her, I might hand the phone over to you for the law enforcement explanation.”

“If you think that’s best, we’ll do it your way.” With so many people milling around the boy, Sedona wouldn’t be able to hear Mrs. Ramirez, much less explain coherently what had happened to her son. “Let’s move out of this area so you can make the call.”

The incident made little sense to him. Why didn’t the man drop Julio the instant he knew a cop was in the vicinity and bearing down on him? That would have been the smart move. Instead, the man tossed an innocent child right into the heart of danger. Who does that?

So, the real question was his motive. He’d said it wasn’t personal. Were his actions motivated by a kidnap-for-ransom plan? Or was this somehow connected to Sedona’s kidnapping?

His frown deepened. This incident must be connected. Cam didn’t believe in coincidence, not in his line of work. He escorted Sedona to the outer corridor where the noise level was lower.

Sedona pulled her phone from her pocket and swallowed hard.

“You’ve got this,” he assured her. “It’s not too late to back out. Notifications are part of my job.” A part he hated. At least this one had turned out well. Not all of them did.

Instead of handing off the unpleasant responsibility to him, she squared her shoulders, tapped the screen, then pressed the phone to her ear. “Maria, this is Sedona Hart.” She paused as the other woman spoke. “Well, he was enjoying the field trip very much, but Julio fell and was injured. I need you to meet us at the hospital in Maple Valley. The EMTs are prepping him for the ambulance ride now.” Another pause, then, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be there.” She ended the call.

The sound of chatter on at least two police radios drew Cam’s attention. As a precaution, he stepped in front of Sedona until he saw David and Elliot striding toward him.

Cam breathed easier with backup. “David.”

“What happened?” David motioned for Elliot to go to Julio, then listened without comment until Cam finished his rapid-fire report to his boss. The sheriff turned to Sedona. “You are either one very brave or very lucky woman.”

When she said nothing, Cam narrowed his eyes. That wouldn’t fly with him when they talked at dinner tonight. Here, silence wasn’t golden. He must be able to trust her, and yes, this was a two-way street. Their levels of freedom to share details weren’t the same, unfortunately. His classified missions from his military days were still classified.

He may never be free to give her details if she wanted to know them. That sticking point had cost him every relationship he’d tried to build since he mustered out of the Army. His crazy work schedule had done the rest. Cam prayed Sedona was different, that she could handle secrecy and crazy schedules because he wanted this to work. Badly.

“Your turn.” David turned to Sedona. “Tell me what happened. All of it, Sedona.”

“I can’t add much more than what Cam told you.”

He pointed at her. “Not a good start. No waffling. Just spit it out.”

Sedona scowled. “We got off the bus at the zoo entrance. We counted the kids and chose our first exhibit to see for the day. Julio’s beloved lions won the toss at school, so that’s where we went first. Everything was fine until it wasn’t.

“A tall, muscular man in a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up was hovering near Julio. I don’t know why, but something about him just set off my trouble radar. As I started toward my student, I called him to me. Julio turned from the enclosure fence and tried to go around Hoodie who caught him by the arms. Hoodie dragged Julio back to the fence, scooped him up, and threw him over.”

“What happened next?” David prompted.

“He ran away.”

“What did you do?”

She studied him for a moment. How would he take this? “Hopped the fence and dropped beside Julio.”

“Why would you do that? Don’t you see how reckless that was?”

“I saw my five-year-old student being stalked by an angry lion.”

“Most people would have run or called for help. You did neither, and I’m wondering why that is, Sedona.”

“Later, all right? I promised Julio’s mother that I would meet her at the hospital.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“David.” Elliot appeared in the doorway. “They’re ready to transport Julio.” He smiled, a rare occurrence for Elliot. “He reminds me of Roman.” The Navy SEAL inclined his head toward Cam. “The kid is asking for Cam and Sedona.”