Sabrina closed her eyes, thinking of all the ways this woman had wronged her, thinking of all the ways this woman could wrong her still.
Then, she thought of Hew’s lips on hers. Of how it felt to finally live again. To finally feel whole again.
She didn’t want to sully all that with Black Widow’s blood.
“I don’t want to put any of us in danger,” she admitted quietly to the men. “But I also don’t want another life on my conscience. So, I say we cage her or free her. And I’m leaning toward the latter.”
Hew exhaled, his forehead coming to rest briefly against her temple as if he’d been right there with her, suffering the same turmoil she’d suffered in having to make her choice. Now that she had, he could breathe.
Black Widow stared hopefully up at Boss. His brow ridge cast his eyes in deep shadows, making them unreadable.
“Reckon we should flip a coin?” Graham offered, and Sabrina thought he was only half-joking.
“Just let me go,” Black Widow pleaded. “I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again.”
The only indication Boss struggled with indecision was the subtle flex of his jaw. When he finally spoke, the threat in his voice was sharp enough to make Sabrina wince.
“Remember how easily we thwarted your little operation,” Boss said. “Remember that we have resources you could only dream about and a reach far beyond anything you could fathom. There’s no corner of the world you can go to where we can’t find you. There’s no amount of protection you could pull around yourself that we can’t penetrate. Don’t mistake our clemency today for an unwillingness to put a lead round between your eyes.”
33
Hew pressed a palm over the red button on the brick wall and watched as the motorized door to the Bat Cave moved along its tracks.
The sound of it, a deep, resonant rumble, always reminded him of the earth grinding its teeth. And with it closed, the bricks fitted together so tightly that the seams in the mortar were impossible to see.
He’d watched the phenomenon dozens of times. Each time, he was amazed at the completeness of the illusion.
Graham and Boss remained in the tunnel with Black Widow. They would handle what came next regarding how, when, and where she would be released.
And thank god for that.
Hew had agreed with Boss that Sabrina deserved a say in the assassin’s fate.
But Christ on a snowmobile!
It’d been torture watching her struggle with the choice.
If she’d agreed to pull the trigger, she’d have been haunted. If she’d decided to imprison the Widow illegally, she’d have been haunted. And letting the woman walk? Well, that might still haunt her, depending on how things played out but?—
“So?” Becky’s voice cut through his thoughts. “What’s the verdict?”
Dum-Dums stuck out of the bib pocket on her pink coveralls. And the look on her face was…
A little more than concerned.
She tried to cover her anxiety by nonchalantly tucking her blond bob behind her ears. But she wasn’t fooling anyone. Her fingers shook.
She wasn’t scared. Not in the traditional sense. She simply didn’t want her husband back in the killing game.
And, really, who can blame her?
“We’re letting her go,” Sabrina said with a staunch dip of her chin.
Becky’s shoulders slumped like someone had stuck a pin in her, letting out all her air.
“And we’re hoping that choice doesn’t come back to bite us on the ass,” Sabrina added, her mouth twisting with distaste.
“If it does, we’ll deal with it. I’ve got a salve that usually works.” Becky winked.
