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Tamara looked over at Essie and held her finger to her lips as she stood, holding the staff behind her back. Essie nodded and followed her lead. Her heart slammed against her rib cage as they shuffle-stepped toward the side door as quietly as possible. Chatter from the guard's walkie-talkie filled the silence, helping to cover the sound of their footsteps. A few more and they'd be at the door. She could almost reach the knob. Another step closer. She reached out and—
"Where do you think you're going?" the guard asked, taking a menacing step toward them.
Tamara didn't think. There wasn't time. She reacted with the only skill she had.
As the big man steamed toward them, she twisted her wrist, increasing her speed on each turn. Finally, she raised her arm and threw the staff at him with all the force she'd used in her pageant days when she’d send a baton skyward, execute a double cartwheel, and then catch it. The staff shot through the air, high and true, cracking him right between the eyes. He crashed to the ground.
Tamara whirled around and reached for the side door, but the front door burst open before she could. Jarrod rushed in, gun drawn.
"You bitch," he yelled, more than a touch of craziness thundering through his words. "You've ruined everything."
Tamara threw herself in front of Essie right as the side door flew open.
* * *
Isaac
Isaac rushed through the chapel's side door and time screeched to a halt. The rest of the world fell away until all Isaac could see was Jarrod Fane with his finger on the trigger and the handgun pointed at Tamara's head.
There was no hesitation. No flashback to Afghanistan. No second thought. Isaac fired.
The bullet hit Fane in the shoulder, the power of it knocking him back and sending the gun sailing from his grasp. Tamara kicked the gun out of Fane's reach as Isaac ran across the vestibule, hurdling over the guard, who was out cold.
Relief rushed through Isaac, enough that the adrenaline rush from the rescue seemed puny in comparison. She was safe. His entire body ached with the need to curl around her and confirm it in a way his eyes couldn’t, but he knew Tamara was finally safe. Everything from Wolczyk showing up at the engagement party to Essie being kidnapped had led up to him firing his gun at another human being for the first time since Afghanistan. Part of him should be freaking out. But he wasn’t. The power of seeing the woman he loved without Fane’s threat hanging over her head made it all worth it.
He gathered Tamara in his arms while Marko secured the prisoners and Elisa led Essie into the chapel. It wasn't until that moment that he truly realized how close he'd come to losing her, and it shook him right down to his toes. He didn't know how he was going to convince her to stay in Fort Worth, but he'd figure it out. Now that he'd found her, he wasn't about to let her go.
She pulled back far enough to look up at him. "I knew you'd come."
"Always." He cupped her face and tilted it up. "You can trust me on that."
He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers, needing to say more but knowing now wasn't the time. ATF agents were already streaming into the chapel behind them. He ended the kiss before he was ready.
"Come on. Let's go get Essie."
Tamara nodded, but there was something in her eyes that gave him pause. "One thing first,” she said.
She stalked over to where Fane was propped up against a wall with one of the agents squatting in front of him applying pressure to the wound.
"Is he going to be okay?" Tamara asked.
The agent nodded. "A through-and-through."
"Good. I'd hate not to be able to get this in." Her leg shot out, connecting with Fane's balls. "That's for my sister."
Every man in the room winced, but no one said anything as Tamara made her way back over to Isaac. "Let's go get Essie."
Isaac couldn't keep the grin off his face as he tucked her arm into the crook of his and led her into the chapel. Tamara may not be Texas-born, but the girl definitely delivered some Texas justice when needed.
* * *
Tamara
From her seat in the back of the ambulance, Tamara had a front row seat when the ATF agents led Jarrod out in cuffs. No doubt they had him on gun charges for all of the illegal firepower in the armory, but she'd get the specifics later. Right now, it was enough to know he wouldn't be bothering Essie ever again. The agents led a patched-up and bruised Jarrod to a transport van already half-full of his handcuffed henchmen, among them the asshole guard who'd helped him shoot her full of sedatives.
"I know the view is good, but I need you to follow the light for me." The paramedic squatting in front of her moved a pen light from left to right, then up and down. "Okay, that looks good. No idea what they injected you with?"
She shook her head. Her vision didn't get fuzzy at all. "All he said was that it was a sedative."
