She reached the van and paused.
Everyone was there.
They were shaken.
They were breathing.
They were alive.
Andi’s knees threatened to give out.
Then she saw Ranger.
He stood several feet away, his hand locked on a woman’s arm.
Fake Pam.
The woman twisted against his grip, hair wild and eyes bright with something sharp and unhinged. Purple liquid dripped down her face and covered part of her hair.
What was that?
“Why’d you have to ruin everything?” Fake Pam screeched, her gaze focused on Jack as Duke walked out of the dark with Jack in custody, hands bound behind his back. Jack’s head hunglow, and his shoulders had lost their rigid set. “We had a plan, and you messed it up!”
Jack said nothing.
“People need to be taught a lesson!” she continued. “You messed up everything! I should have never listened to you. Youhadto take things too far and leave those women to die. That was never part of our strategy, but you were just havingso much fun. Mom always said you were good for nothing. She was right!”
Mom? Wait . . . were Fake Pam and Jack related?
“Easy,” Ranger murmured.
Ben stepped closer to Andi. “She must have parked down the road and cut her lights before she got too close. She showed up on foot with a gun. Ordered us out of the van. Said she was finishing things.”
“What happened then?” Andi asked.
“You can thank Mariella for the next turn of events.” Ranger nodded at her, indicating she should take the lead.
Mariella practically beamed. “I happened to see one of the energy drinks in the van. I had it in my hand when Fake Pam showed up. When I got out of the van, I didn’t put it down. I knew we needed a distraction. So I did what anyone in my shoes would. I shook the can, opened it, and sprayed her in the face.”
“That distracted Fake Pam,” Ranger continued. “She wasn’t that hard to take down, thankfully.”
“I knew those drinks were worth endorsing,” Mariella added in a singsong voice.
Andi nodded, her chest still tight.
Police lights washed over the desert now, sharp and real as patrol cars crested the ridge.
Doors slammed. Voices rose. Control returned in pieces.
As the officers took Jack and Fake Pam away, Andi and Duke paused in front of each other.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Everything around them moved—officers, medics, voices—but the space between them held.
They were here.
They were standing.
