“I was eating,” Lany replied.
I knew that. He had told me he was going to eat with Eddie and Lyn.
“No, no,” the gunman said quickly. “That’s not what happened.”
I hit my mic button, making sure everything that was being said was going back to the tactical van being recorded. “Is that a confession?”
“Yes! Yes, I confess!” the man shouted. “I took him and all these other people hostage. I shot his friend. I shot at you.”
“Did you get that, Clarke?” I asked.
Clarke’s demeanor was professional, but I could hear the amusement in his voice. “Yes, sir, I did.”
“Lyn, go let the others inside.”
“Yes, sir.” Lyn was up and running toward the door.
When it opened, SWAT uniforms and police flooded into the room. I stood there next to the check-signing counter, arms crossed, and waited as the scene was secured, the suspects taken into custody, and medical personnel saw to the injured.
Once the room was safe, I pointed to the floor in front of me. It was hard to keep a straight face when Lany huffed heavily and climbed to his feet. He trudged toward me, moving so slow a snail could have passed him.
The sight of blood on his hands and clothes tore a piece off of my soul.
“This is not acceptable, Lany.”
“I know.” Pure dejected laced that tone. “But it really wasn’t my fault this time.”
It was never Lany’s fault. He did his level best to stay out of trouble. I knew that. Everyone knew that. He still ended up neck-deep in shit.
“You know what is going to happen when your father finds out about this, right?” I knew what would happen. Not only would the guy start in again about hiring a full-time bodyguard, but he’d spend at least an hour on the phone chewing me out for not taking proper care of Lany.
Lany’s head hung as he nodded.
He knew too.
“So.” My lips curved up as I smiled. I grabbed Lany and pulled him into my arms where he would have been the moment I stepped into the room if he hadn’t been surrounded by danger. “I guess that means I’ll have to come up with something to keep you occupied while you’re under house arrest.”
Lany’s head popped up. “Yeah?”
God, I loved the way his amber-green eyes sparkled when he looked at me. It was as if I was his entire world.
I was good with that.
He was my world.
He was also covered in blood, and now, so was I.
“Lyn.”
Lyn darted over to me and Lany. “Yes, sir.”
God, the guy was so easy to please, like an eager puppy.
“Would you run out to my SUV and grab Lany a clean shirt?” I tossed him the keys. “There should be one in my go-bag in the back.”
“Yes, sir.”
I rolled my eyes. Even though we were on the same team and were now friends, Lyn still refused to call me Sal. It drove me insane, but what could I do? If I thought ordering him to call me by my first name would do it, I would have made that order ages ago.
