Page 81 of Shallow Remains

I hadn’t always known how to build something like this. But Elliot had taught me well. I’d learned so many things from him. How to hide in plain sight. How to identify and isolate a target. How to kill.

How to love.

My hands became unsteady, the sudden pang of grief so sharp it stole my breath.

I blocked it all by brute force of will. Ruthlessly smothered the rush of memories stored like photographs in a box at the back of my mind. I couldn’t afford to be emotional now. Emotions made people sloppy. Weak.

I was no longer sloppy or weak. And this time around there was no one else to jeopardize the operation. I’d always hated group projects because no one else ever pulled their weight. Now I only had to worry about myself.

The time to grieve had passed. Now it was time for vengeance.

I knew where Maddy was. That she felt relatively safe there.

But she wasn’t. And neither was her lover. Once these devices were planted, I could finally make my move.

The blackout hood and restraints were already tucked into my bag with my weapons at the door.

It would be just like what happened in Syria. I would take her when she least expected it. When she felt safe.

And this time, she wouldn’t be able to escape what was coming.

“Quiet, you three,” Mae scolded her yapping dogs as she hurried through the house to the front door, wiping her hands on her dirty denim overalls. Fall cleanup was a messy job.

A familiar silhouette was outlined in the window at the top of the door. She pulled it open, smiled at Willow. “Hi, young lady. What a nice surprise.”

“Hi, Mae.” Willow stepped in and pulled her into a hug. “I just came by to check the cottage and make sure everything is secure. I left Rufus there. He’s doing a perimeter check of the backyard right now, but he could use a good walk. Do you feel like joining us?”

At the mention of all that, she thought of the car she’d seen pass by a few hours earlier. She’d been out back by the shed getting out some tools and noticed it as it drove past her property up the street, where it had slowed in front of the cottage.

It might have been nothing, and she hadn’t been able to get a good look at the driver or license plate to identify either, but she had made note of the make, model, and color, along with the three letters that started the plate number. In light of what had happened, it might be worth passing along to Rafe, just in case. The important thing was Maddy was safe now. Between Lachlan and Blaine, those boys wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

“Oh, I’d love to go with you, but—” Her phone started to ring in the kitchen. “Come on in. I need to check that.” She hurried as fast as her increasingly unstable feet would take her.

A familiar dread spread through her insides when she saw the number that confirmed this was the call she’d been waiting for. She couldn’t ignore it and didn’t want Willow to overhear any of the conversation.

“Hello,” she answered, stepping out the sliding doors and onto the back patio and shutting them behind her.

“It’s Doctor Mohammed. Have you got a few minutes to chat?”

Not good news, then. She stiffened her spine, raised her chin. Ready to accept whatever the diagnosis was. “Yes, go ahead.”

“I’ve reviewed all your test results. Based on them, plus your symptoms and physical exam…”

His voice faded slightly into the background as she listened to the rest of what he said. The world around her seemed to blur at the edges, all the autumnal colors in her cherished garden swirling together.

It was just like the strange out-of-body experience when she’d heard that Carson had been murdered by that cowardly, homophobic bastard she hoped was burning in hell.

“I see,” she said slowly when he finished, reaching out to grasp the back of a chair at the patio table to steady herself.

“We’ll need to do some follow up appointments and get you started on a treatment plan as soon as possible.”

She nodded. Tried to take it all in, her mind racing ahead to what her future would look like in the coming months and years. If she had that long.

The road ahead looked as bleak as the heavy gray layer of clouds overhead.

“Do you have any questions for me?” he asked.

“No, not at the moment.” She was still processing it.