Page 52 of Vicious Temptation

“Contact,” Grey shouts.

“Back right,” Ryan calls.

I search the area until I catch the suspect shifting behind the counter, his weapon raised as he searches for another shot.

“Drop the weapon!” our lead commands.

He answers by firing again. The man is desperate and running out of options. He knows he isn’t leaving this bank unless it’s in cuffs or a body bag. With his back against the wall, every shot he fires grows more reckless than the last.

We need to end this before someone else gets hurt.

I track him, the angle, and every shift of his weapon, but Zara remains at the edge of my awareness, so I lean out just enough to return fire, forcing him back behind the counter.

“Still up,” I say, repositioning.

Grey covers me as I move, cutting off another angle while the suspect fires again, his shots growing wilder.

“Next time you move, you call it,” Grey grits out over the comms.

I ignore him. We can hash it out later.

The suspect shifts, giving me the opening I’ve been waiting for. I steady my aim and take the shot. He collapses behind the counter. The gunfire stops, but I keep my weapon raised as the seconds stretch out.

“Suspect down,” I confirm, scanning the room for another threat.

Surveillance showed three suspects entering the bank, and all three are accounted for, but none of us lowers our guard until we clear the rest of the room.

“Clear,” Ryan confirms.

My eyes immediately lock onto Zara.

I cross the room and drop to my knees in front of her, lowering my weapon as I search her for injuries. There’s so much blood on her that I can’t tell what’s hers and what isn’t.

Then I look at the woman beside her.

It isn’t Remi.

Relief hits me first, immediate and instinctive, then guilt follows when I get a better look at the woman.

She’s older, with blood soaking the front of her clothes from a wound at her neck. One look tells me there’s nothing I can do for her.

“Zara,” I say, keeping my voice steady as I lower my mask.

Her head lifts slowly, eyes wide and glassy as they search my face, as if she’s struggling to make sense of what she sees.

“Officer…Thiago?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” I ease closer to her. “You’re safe now, Zara.”

She shakes her head and looks back at the woman. “She won’t wake up. I-I tried. She told me to stay down, and I did. I did exactly what she said.”

“You did good,” I tell her. “You listened, and you did everything right.”

I reach for her, and Zara grabs my vest. Her little body shudders against mine as I lift her from the floor, her sobs muffled against my chest.

I don’t know who the woman is, but Zara refuses to let go of her hand until the distance between them forces their fingers apart. That tells me enough. Whoever she was, she loved her.

“Do we have an all clear?” I ask as I rise with Zara in my arms.