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And then we breached. King used a loud flash bang in the back of the house to sow confusion. From her side, Saff threw out some smoke. Rook and I donned our gas masks and breached through the front door.
King shouted, "I have movement."
Saff rumbled, "Me too.”
I heard a series of grunts and kicks.
Rook and I were in. No one was in the front room, but a little girl was in the kitchen, holding a glass of milk. Connor Lohman was standing behind her with his arm around her neck.
Our earlier discussion came back to haunt me. Could I allow Lohman's child to be collateral damage? I knew in that moment, seeing the wide-eyed surprise and fear on the little girl's face, my answer was no. It was not who I was. I wanted to make him pay for Elise, for putting Kaya in danger. But I wasn't willing to sacrifice someone else. Especially not the innocent.
"If you step any closer, I swear to God, she will die."
That was the thing with villains. Not only did they immediately know your moral failing, but they were more than happy to use it against you. The little girl stared at me, wide eyed with terror.
Meanwhile, in my comms I could hear Lock and Saff clearing their rooms. From what I could tell in Saff's room, there had been a bit of a scuffle, but she'd handled it easily.
The little girl's eyes were wide as she stared at me. I took off my night vision goggles and my gas mask. "Sweetheart, hi, look at me. My name is Saint. What's yours?"
Her lips quivered. "Cecile."
"Hi, Cecile. Okay, I know you're very scared right now, but we're not going to let anything happen to you, are we?" I pointedly glanced up at Lohman.
He tightened his grip. "Shut up, Saint. You don't know what I'm willing to sacrifice."
"For what? For your own life?"
He shook his head. "You don't understand. It doesn't matter what I do, or what you do. When he finds out, he'll come for them anyway. They might as well be dead."
"So you're going to hasten it? What's wrong with you?"
His arm tightened around the little girl's neck again, and she cried out. "Daddy, no."
He crooned something in her ear, and she stopped struggling. She still had that worried crease between her brow, but she didn't move. He probably told her it was just pretend and he wouldn't ever hurt her. The kind of thing all fathers said to their children. Had mine ever reassured me like that, our relationship would have been a lot better. Connor started to pull her toward the back door, moving them backward. Rook had a bead on him and wasn't letting up.
I approached slowly with my hands up. "Lohman, let the kid go. We don't want to hurt her."
"I know you don't. And I don't want her hurt. But I'm between a rock and a hard place. I can't let you keep me. He's coming. I need my best chance at survival."
At that moment, Saff came through the door with Cecile’s mother, I presumed. When she saw that Connor had her daughter by the throat, she screamed, which only made Connor tug harder.
My eyes went back and forth, and Rook inched forward with me. He growled out, "What's the play? What are we doing?"
Without answering him, I pulled the gun from my holster and fired.
CHAPTER 29
SAINT
I was antsy.All I wanted to do was interrogate this fucker then get back to Kaya. But it was already Wednesday, and I knew she’d be at school. I’d have to wait to see her.
Once again, I found myself pacing outside the door of the interrogation room. Finally, Gabe came out. "He's ready."
I gave him a nod and headed in, but he abruptly stopped me. "For what it's worth, I would have told you about Dove sooner if I could have."
I clamped my jaw tight. "That's the thing with you, Gabe, I'm never quite sure if I can trust you."
"You think that we operate in a vacuum. We don't."
