Chapter Ninety-Two

Lena heard Dane’s order to take cover, but her brain couldn’t process it. Her daughter was right there. Only twenty feet away. But she couldn’t get to her because Butch was shooting at her, and Viktor was pulling Kenzie in the opposite direction.

Colton fired again and Butch fell back, the gun dropping from his hand. But now another man had rushed to the rail and was firing at them from the deck above. For some reason, Dane wasn’t returning fire.

During target training with Angel and Samantha, Lena hadn’t been sure she’d be able to shoot an actual person. Now there was no doubt.

She raised her gun and aimed it at the guard. She pulled the trigger. When he went down, she refocused her sights on Kulakov.

Stepping onto the gangplank, Viktor stopped to hoist Kenzie up in his arms, either to use her as a human shield or to get her to move faster. She was much too close to him for comfort, but Lena had to take a chance. She wouldn’t get another one.

She definitely didn’t want to shoot Kenzie by accident. Instead of aiming for his back where she might miss a vital organ but hit her daughter if the bullet went through and through, she aimed higher. She let out an even breath and squeezed the trigger with a slow, solid pressure.

The gun went off.

Kenzie screamed.

As a mother, Lena knew every one of her daughter’s cries.

This one was pain.