“One...” Rake was counting. “Two... Three...”
Daniel felt the world freeze around him. The bomb wasn’t real.
He knew it deep in his gut with absolute certainty.
Maybe it was because Rake’s posture was far too relaxed for someone standing next to an explosive he knew was live. The so-called head of the Faceless Crew had always made sure he was far away from the blast radius before. Maybe it was because the mass of tangled wires looked too much like someone’s uninformed idea of what was supposed to be scary. Or maybe it was that even though Sarah’s cheeks were wet with tears, her eyes had that same defiant, petulant stare she’d adopted when she was barely more than a toddler.
Instinct is nothing more than your brain suddenly catching up with what your subconscious already knows.
The Faceless Crew didn’t want Sarah.
They wanted Olivia.
“Four...”
Daniel slammed the laptop shut and shouted for Olivia to run.
Rake froze. Daniel gripped the laptop with both hands and swung hard.
The blow caught the faceless thug on the side of the head. Rake stumbled back. His gun shot off into the air. Sarah screamed. In fear? No, rage. One swift punch to the jaw and Rake fell to the ground. The gun dropped from his hands. Daniel threw the laptop at Rake and leaped for the gun.
Then Daniel wheeled around, the gun safe in his grasp. “On your knees. Hands on your head.” Rake knelt. “Now take off the mask.”
The faceless thug pulled his mask off and tossed it into the dirt.
The sallow face belonged to a stranger.
Another stranger.
Where were the rest of the Faceless Crew? The back of his spine tingled. Lord, what am I’m missing here?
“Daniel, hand me the gun.” Sarah reached out her hands. “I’ll point it at him while you find something to tie him up.”
“No. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. The wire contraption had come loose from Sarah’s chest during the struggle and was hanging sideways. No timer. No detonator. No explosives. Just wire, duct tape and an empty box. It was all just a sick and violent charade. He yanked it off and she grabbed for the gun. But his other hand held it back at arm’s length. “I don’t know what kind of game you think you’re playing, Sarah. But it ends here and now.”
A sound like a gun blast echoed from beyond the trees. Then the distorted sound of Ricky screaming took over the walkie-talkie hidden by his shoulder. “Hello? Hey, Ricky? Is Olivia okay?”
Too late he heard the click of a gun. He turned back.
Sarah clutched a small handgun. Her arms shook, but she kept the barrel pointed straight at him. “Sorry, Daniel. I won’t let you ruin my life anymore. Now just keep quiet and let me walk out of here.”
I promised to be her guardian. No matter what. Lord, help me keep my promise now.
“Trent!” he yelled. “This whole thing’s a setup. Sarah’s working with the Faceless Crew.”
Sarah swore. “Trent’s a cop?”
Rake took advantage of their distraction to leap up off the ground. He started for the fence.
Trent ran through the gate after him.
Daniel threw himself at Sarah. The gun went off in her hands.
The kickback sent the bullet flying over his head.
Daniel tackled her, bringing his ward to the ground.
She dropped the gun. He reached for it.
Sarah kicked him in the jaw, squirmed from his grasp and ran deeper into the broken fairground.
“I’ve got him.” Trent was standing over Rake. With his one good hand he’d somehow managed to pin the thug in a headlock. “Doesn’t look as though the rest of the crew are here. Chloe’s gone to find Olivia and Ricky. Try to catch Sarah.”
This time, she wouldn’t be getting away.
Daniel turned and ran after her. She darted into the warped and broken remains of a mirror maze.
“Enough.” He caught her by the arm and spun her back around. “No more lies. You were the one who lured Brian into the parking garage that night, weren’t you? He told you he’d made a deal with the authorities.”
The rising sun was brushing the horizon now, rays of light hitting the fractured reflections around them. Sarah wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You don’t know anything,” she argued mulishly.
She tried to pull away. But his grip held her fast.
“No, I know plenty. I just never put the pieces together until I saw you stand there and demand Olivia come out and turn herself over to killers to save your own selfish neck. Brian was never smart enough to pull this off on his own. But you, Sarah. You had all of your mother’s street smarts and your grandfather’s business savvy. Brian probably didn’t know half the things you’d gotten the company into. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“So what?” Sarah shouted. Her fists beat against his chest. “What are you going to do about it? Everyone knows you won’t let me go to jail. You think Mom stayed married to you because she cared about you? She wanted you to be my guardian because you’re nice. Because you’re a pushover. She told me, when she knew she was sick. She promised me that if I agreed to live with you, as my guardian, just until I could inherit my money, you’d protect me from Brian without messing up my life.”
Yeah, Mona had never understood his wedding-day promise to love her unconditionally. So she never would have understood what lengths he’d go to love and protect her daughter, too.
The fierce, anxious need to protect her that he’d felt ever since he’d first laid eyes on the tiny baby in Mona’s arms broke like a cresting wave and flowed like sadness over his chest. Her shouts rose until they were nothing but a wail of fury. Her hands beat against him, harder and faster, until so much anger surged through her frail form that she tried to claw at his face. Gently but firmly, he pushed her back against the mirrored wall. Then he turned to the walkie-talkie. “I’ve got her, but I need a cop to take over now.”
Her face paled. “You’re not going to tell on me or let them arrest me. You promised to look out for me.”
“I’m going to keep that promise by seeing you face justice.”
Her jaw dropped. “This is Olivia’s fault, isn’t it? He told me not to trust her. When I wasn’t sure I could go through with helping him kill her, he showed me a picture he took of the two of you all cozy inside the diner, holding hands. Told me if she didn’t die, she’d sway your heart, poison your mind against me and ruin everything.”
“Who, Sarah? Who’s him? What does he have against Olivia?”
“He’s the man who’s going to catch her and kill her. And I won’t tell the police anything to help stop him unless you agree to meet all my demands. You’re going to help me, you’re going to make sure I don’t go to jail and you’re going to promise me you’ll never speak to Olivia ever again.”
“I’m not going to be blackmailed, Sarah. You’re not calling the shots. Not anymore.”
Sarah spat in his face. Daniel just wiped his cheek with his shoulder without loosening his grip.
“Daniel!” Chloe appeared around the corner, gun in one hand, badge in the other. “We’ve got a situation. Ricky’s been shot and Olivia’s gone.”