“I’m going out.”He could feel the seconds ticking past.Too fast.He was running out of time.Had to do this before he lost his nerve.Couldn’t allow himself to stop and think about what he was going to do.
“Out where?Why?”
The less she knew, the better.Plausible deniability.If this all went to shit, at least she and the kids would be okay.
“Don’t hold dinner.I don’t know when I’ll be back,” he muttered, grabbing his keys and rushing out the back door.
He wasn’t sure how much time he had left.It was at least a twenty-minute drive to the area where Willow was.He had to get to her while she was alone.
The drone was in the bed of the truck where he’d left it.He got into the driver’s seat, spun the truck in a tight circle that kicked up gravel at the edge of the driveway, and sped for the main road.
The tires skidded slightly as he made the turn.He tightened his grip on the wheel, struggled to keep it steady and shook his head to clear some of the fog away.
Shit, he was drunker than he’d realized.He couldn’t slow down, but he couldn’t afford to get pulled over either.
He licked his lips.Tasted salt from the sweat beading on his upper one.
An icy trickle of fear began to bleed through the rage and hatred.He fought it back.
Fear was a weakness he couldn’t afford.If he could get to Willow while she was alone, he could get rid of at least one threat against him.
He would use the drone to find her.Then make her death look like an accident.
Unease crept up his spine, making his skin prickle.
“It’s her or you,” he told himself as he sped along, steeling himself for what he had to do.
He’d killed before, in combat.To protect himself.But Willow was a civilian.
“This is the same fucking thing,” he growled, focused on the road ahead.
Either he made Willow and all the rest of this go away, or the people he worked for would end him.
But not until after they made him—and maybe his family—beg for death.
FORTY-FOUR
