Page 129 of Lethal Weakness

Only then do her eyes shift back to life, flicking towards mine without even blinking. “Avery.”

Dread creeps in. “She’s not here?”

“They ran.”

I press my fingertips to my ear. “Eagle One. I need boots on the ground. Two innocents in the wind.”

“Copy.” The voice in my ear chirps.

“We’ll find them. Kay will keep Avery safe,” I assure her, hoping like hell that it’s true. Kay is a fearlessly maternal woman, but she’s 80 years old.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” She cries, curling into my chest finally. “I thought it was over.”

“I found Edmund and Merrill, and Turner wasn’t with them. I knew something was wrong. I got here as fast as I could.”

“He put a tracker in Avery’s purse. Even at his worst, I never thought he would be so evil. That bastard put Avery in harm’s way, again,” she cries painfully.

“I’m sorry, Linden. I never thought they could reach you here.”

She rocks her head back to look at me fully. “Is it over now? Are they all dead?” She asks dully, not a lick of remorse in her voice. Not anything.

“Every last one of them.”

She tips her head over her shoulder to look at the dead body beside us, and turns from it again. “Good.”

“Come on, let’s find your girl.”

She nods stiffly, staring vacantly past me, and I swallow back a lot of emotion that I’m not used to because I still have a job to do.

She’s in one piece, but she isn’t okay.

I bring her to her feet and use my shirt to wipe the rogue droplets of blood from her face before relaying into my ear-com. “I need a body removed ASAP.”

Her attention flits to mine, but she’s still unreadable.

“So Avery doesn’t have to see it,” I explain, taking her outside. Her gaze whips to the night sky when a helicopter flies over, spotlighting the neighborhood.

“I hitched a ride because I needed to get back to you fast. They circled back to look for Avery.”

Her face crumbles in fear and agony, but she nods.

“I need uniforms on the ground, locals. Anything you’ve got,” I say into my radio.

“Locals risk our operation.”

“I don’t give a fuck. I need bodies out here.”

“Copy.”

“Did they run out the front or the back?” I ask Linden.

“The back but…” She starts walking, and I fall in step behind her. Whatever her instincts are telling her is our greatest asset, and I’m just her shield.

Linden keeps walking down the sidewalk, and I scan the yards between the houses with the light on my rifle.

“There.” Linden points to the old brick building down the block that’s been there since I was a kid.

“The community center,” I say in relief. Of course.