Harlan’s phone buzzed, the sound almost lost in the ringing in her ears. He glanced at the screen and his jaw tightened.
“Be careful where you shoot,” he warned, his voice low but urgent. “Crossfire Ops just arrived.”
Laney swallowed hard, shifting her grip on the Glock. That made things more complicated. She couldn’t risk a stray bullet hitting one of their own.
Sherry’s moans drifted through the smoke again. “Help me,” she called weakly, her voice ragged. It was enough to keep Laney’s nerves stretched taut. The woman might be bleeding out or she might be setting them up.
Laney forced herself to scan the haze for movement, but Billy was gone from where she had last seen him. The empty stretch of broken pavement and smoke-filled air made her chest tighten.
“Damn it,” she whispered. He could be anywhere now.
Her pulse hammered as she kept her weapon trained on the shifting shadows, knowing he might already be moving in for the next strike. At least Billy didn’t have that damn grenade launcher because she had eyes on that.
Harlan fired off a quick reply to Crossfire Ops, then slipped out of the culvert, low and fast. He angled to the right, moving like a shadow through the haze.
Every nerve in Laney’s body felt raw and tense. Every instinct in her screamed to grab his arm and keep him with her, but she bit it back. If anyone could get close enough to stop Billy, it was Harlan.
“I never planned on hurting the kid.” Billy shouted. His voice carried through the smoke, and every word was tight with rage. “That hair clip was just to rattle you. A joke. Looks like it worked.”
That gave her another shot of rage. This SOB thought that terrorizing her daughter was some kind of game. She clenched her jaw and forced the anger into her voice.
“You call that a joke?” she shouted back, making sure her words cut sharp. “You put your hands on something that belonged to my little girl. That makes you a coward, Billy. And it makes you stupid for leaving your DNA on it, for making the evidence point right back to you.”
Silence pressed for a beat, then a hoarse laugh rang out. He was still close. Too close.
“I wanted the evidence to point to me,” Billy shouted. “Well, not enough evidence to prove I’d done anything. But this way, you were fretting that I’d been set up. Muddy the waters enough, and nobody can see shit.”
Laney kept her Glock steady, straining to track him in the smoke, but her real goal was to hold his focus. Keep him talking. Keep him from noticing Harlan closing in.
“I’m not a coward.” Billy’s voice tore through the smoke, ragged with rage. “David ruined my life, and now I’m going to ruin yours.”
Laney’s heart pounded in her ears. Her hands were steady on her Glock, but inside her fury burned hotter than the fire behind them.
“You killed him,” she forced out, her voice sharp with disgust. “You killed David.”
Billy laughed, the sound broken and twisted. “Yeah, I killed him. That should have been enough. But then my wife left. Took the kids. Said she couldn’t live with what I’d become. You know whose fault that was? David’s. If he hadn’t hauled me in, none of it would have happened.”
Laney’s stomach churned at his words. He wanted to blame everyone but himself. He had murdered a good man, and now he was trying to twist the story so he could cling to his hate.
She kept her voice steady, though the taste of bile rose in her throat. “You destroyed your own family,” she said. “That’s not on David. That’s on you.”
A choked sob broke through the tension. Sherry’s voice, raw and trembling. “You… you killed David? It was you, Billy?”
Billy didn’t answer, but his silence was enough. Sherry’s grief morphed into fury in an instant. Her face twisted, her voice a scream. “You murdered my partner, you worthless piece of shit.”
Before Laney could stop her, Sherry surged to her feet, stumbling but determined, as if her anger alone could carry her to Billy.
“Sherry, no!” Laney shouted, but it was too late.
Billy leaned out from behind the debris, the muzzle of his weapon flashing. A single shot cracked through the chaos.
Sherry jerked back, blood blooming across her side as she crumpled to the ground.
Billy leaned out again, gun lifted, aiming straight at Sherry’s crumpled body. Before he could fire, a sharp crack split the air. Billy howled and twisted, clutching his shoulder as he ducked back behind the cover of debris.
Laney’s breath caught in her chest. That had to be Harlan.
More gunfire rang out, echoing through the smoke and chaos. Some of it was Harlan’s, maybe some from Crossfire Ops now that they had arrived, but there was no mistaking the sharp, furious bursts coming from Billy’s weapon. He was still fighting, still dangerous.
