“I’ve decided,” Buddy cut in.
“Oh, really?”
“Fallon and Linda,” Buddy said as his pulse hit his throat like a bomb.
“I’m not shocked, but I am a little surprised that you said that with such conviction. Where’s the horror over the ones you can’t save?”
“I’m not a fed anymore. Those girls aren’t my problem. I don’t care what you do with them.”
Dawson flinched. Hard.
Buddy remained stone-faced.
“Lovers over strangers. It’s predictable, even for you. But the callousness of your decision is a fascinating development.”
“What can I say? After a while, you stop noticing all the dead girls piling up around you.”
“Fine. You made the choice. Not me.”
“I want them alive and unharmed,” Buddy said. “That’s the deal.”
“Oh, you’ll get them,” EJ said. “I’ll text you a location?—”
“No.” Buddy’s voice cracked like a gunshot. “You’re not dictating terms.”
Dawson hissed a warning under his breath but didn’t speak.
“You’re in no position to negotiate,” EJ said with an amused tone.
“Bullshit,” Buddy snapped. “My team is standing down. I’m coming alone. You pull over half a mile up the road. You hand Fallon and Linda over. I drive away. You drive away. And that’s the end of it.”
Silence crackled for what seemed like minutes, but in reality, was only seconds.
“And the cop?” EJ asked pleasantly. “The one driving your car?”
Buddy didn’t blink. “Small-town cop. No jurisdiction. No credibility. He can’t touch you.” He stared straight ahead, refusing to chance glimpsing Dawson’s expression. “He’ll learn to live with the choice.”
A soft, delighted exhale. “Ballard… I misjudged you.”
Buddy’s stomach rebelled at the praise, but he pushed through it. “So?” Buddy asked. “Do we have a deal?”
“We do,” EJ said. “Half a mile. Don’t be late.”
The line went dead.
Buddy lowered the phone.
Dawson stared at him. “You think he’s actually going to let them go?”
“No,” Buddy said. “I think he’s going to try to kill all three of us.”
Dawson nodded once—grim, steady. “Good. Then we’re on the same page.”
Buddy’s chest tightened, but not from fear. From certainty.
“Get everyone ready,” Buddy said, his voice low, dangerous. “Because this ends tonight.”
He looked straight ahead—into darkness, into what waited, into the trap EJ laid—and refused to flinch.
