Violet looked around, turning her head from side to side. “Where are we? Where’s Daddy? I thought we could see him at the hospital.”
April swallowed and turned Violet in her arms until they were facing each other. “Tanner had to go into surgery so the doctors could fix him.”
Violet’s eyes immediately welled with tears. “I didn’t stop all the bullets, did I?”
April didn’t know how to answer her without causing more pain and anguish. None of this was Violet’s fault. “The doctors are going to do everything they can to help him, and I know he’ll be so happy to see that you’re safe when he wakes up.”
“I failed the test.” The words came out on a whimper as her body shook with silent sobs.
“You didn’t fail anything, Violet,” Martin interjected, taking her small hand in his. “There were too many, and your body justcouldn’t handle all of them. You saved so many lives today. My friends and I owe you a debt none of us could ever repay.”
His words didn’t seem to affect Violet, who was still crying. She turned in April’s arms and hid her face in the crook of April’s neck, hot tears hitting her skin. Then Violet looked up at April, her eyes big as saucers again. “What about Echo? I saw him running, but then I don’t remember what happened.”
April hated that the two men Violet had come to know and care about most were the ones that had been shot. “He’s also in surgery,” April said quietly.
“He got shot, too?” Violet sniffled, as big, chunky tears rolled down her cheeks. “I tried so hard, Aunt April. I tried to keep the bullets away.”
“Awe, Sweetie, I know you did. You were so amazing, but like Martin said, there were just too many.” Even saying the words made April shudder. How Ned could have his guards firing semi-automatic weapons around a child was beyond her.
It took a while for Violet to settle down. When she finally drifted into a deep, healing sleep in April’s arms, all April could do was breathe another sigh of relief.
The television in the corner was now playing the early morning news, and the anchor was talking about the governor taking the stage at the state fair later tonight as part of his re-election campaign. April stared at the screen blankly, her thoughts on Tanner, when the news put up a blue screen with an outline of the governor’s campaign points. April had seen and heard about them before, but one of the bullet points drew her attention now. The governor planned on cutting back funding to private military defense contractors in order to allocate more funds to the border crisis. April’s jaw dropped as realization struck.
“What? What’s wrong?” Martin asked, no doubt picking up on the new tension in her posture.
“The bomb,” she whispered. “Martin, the governor is going to cut back on funding for companies like DynaTech. Ned was probably going to lose millions of dollars if the governor won re-election. With Violet unable to build it for him, he probably outsourced it, and now -”
“Shit,” Martin breathed. “I’ll make a few calls. If that was his plan, you have nothing to worry about. It’ll be taken care of.” Martin left the room, and April couldn’t believe she’d actually figured out what Ned had been planning. Or at least she hoped she had because that meant the police and the bomb squad had plenty of time to find any bombs he might’ve had planted and save all those people.
April almost couldn’t believe it. Violet was safe. Ned was dead. And the horrible atrocity he planned would be prevented. Ned Dynam would never hurt anyone ever again.
Footsteps had April raising her gaze, and it locked with a familiar set of eyes that she honestly never wanted to see again. “Ethan,” she whispered, not wanting to disturb Violet. The man looked like he hadn’t slept in days, and one of his arms was in a sling. “Why are you here?”
Ethan held out his good hand in front of him as if to show he meant no harm. “I heard about what happened. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”
April’s eyebrows almost hit her hairline. “Me?”
He nodded and stuffed his good hand in his jeans pocket. “We didn’t exactly start off on the right foot, and you’d probably be just fine never seeing me again. I just wanted to thank you for what you did.”
April shook her head. “I didn’t do anything.”
Ethan sighed. “You helped take down a monster that’s been haunting me since I was a teenager.”
And that’s when April remembered about his sister, Stephanie. “How did you know Ned was involved? And if youknew, why didn’t you do something about it instead of helping him? Do you have any idea how many kids you could’ve saved?”
“I didn’tknow,” Ethan said with so much pain in his voice that it almost made April wince. “I never knew. I just had a gut feeling. A strong suspicion. I risked everything: my life, my badge, all of it to find out. But the bastard was so good at hiding everything. People only saw what he wanted them to see, and nothing else. I didn’t even know what your job was there. I just knew that if he had us checking up on you, then you must be in deep. I had no idea what he did with… if you and Violet hadn’t…” His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat before continuing. “Thanks to you and Violet, law enforcement was finally able to get blanket warrants for all his properties. I just got off the phone with my captain. He said they found four other kids, April. The youngest is only two. I’d made it my life’s mission to bring him down, but if it hadn’t been for you two, I’d still be spinning my wheels trying to get something concrete on him.”
It was then that April realized something. “You were undercover.”
Ethan nodded. “That’s why I couldn’t say anything to Tanner or to you. I knew what I was risking, and I was fine with giving my life for this. But there was no way I’d put anyone else in danger. Even if that meant being a complete and total ass to you.”
“What about the officer you were with that night when you pulled over my Uber? Was he undercover, too?”
Ethan let out a heavy sigh. “No. He was fully under Ned’s thumb. Which is why I was such a jerk. I’m so sorry about that. About all of it.”
April nodded. She hated what a man like Ned could do to otherwise good people. “I understand. I’m just sorry you got hurt.”
Ethan shook his head. “It was worth it. That bastard took my sister, and who knows how many other kids over the years. It’s still under investigation, so you didn’t hear it from me, but word is that he was trafficking those kids out of the country. Selling them to the highest bidder.”
