Page 111 of Lost Lake
Gabe froze. He could do nothing else. They’d moved too far away from SWAT for them to see or hear what Trent had said.
“What are you doing here, Trent?” Gabe yelled. “Do you really have a gun or are you bluffing?” He made sure his voice carried over the wind and prayed SWAT heard his questions.
“That’s the bad man.” Lucy’s fingers dug deeper into his shirt. “I heard him when he made Mommy hurt lots. A big hurt. And then he took me away and told his friends to keep me in scawy places.”
Gabe slowly faced Trent to stop Lucy from having to look at him. “Are you sure, sweetie?”
“Yes. I didn’t like him. He was mean.”
“This is the last time he’ll get near you, I promise.” Gabe would die trying to keep this psychopath’s hands off Lucy, but wouldn’t say it aloud and scare her.
Instead, he held her tighter and pressed his hand over her ear, so she didn’t have to hear anything that was about to happen.
Trent stepped into view, handgun raised, black-clad silhouette sharp against the sky. He’d locked his eyes and gun on the child.
“Put her down,” he called. “Or I swear I’ll kill her.”
“I can’t let you take her, Trent.” Gabe filled his voice with confidence. “You know that.”
“Don’t even think of running,” Trent shouted, his anger growing. “I’ll pick her off before you can move.”
Gabe might have his hand over Lucy’s ear, but Trent’s voice was out of control, and he didn’t want to risk her hearing the conversation. He lifted his hand. “Why don’t you sing to yourself, sweetie? How about your favorite, Jesus Loves Me?”
Her little voice rang out with her love for Jesus, and Gabe pressed his hand over her ear again then turned his attention back to Trent. “This is all about you killing Kenna, isn’t it? You made a mistake, and Lucy saw you. She can testify against you. You can’t let her do that, but you don’t have it in your heart to end a child’s life, which is why you’ve kept her alive.”
“Believe it or not, I didn’t really want to end anyone’s life. Not even Kenna’s, but she wouldn’t leave things alone, and I wasn’t going to prison. She agreed to meet with me in my office, and I tried to reason with her, but when she wouldn’t listen, I got mad. Couldn’t let anybody at my office see how I felt, so I had to hold it in and let her go back to work. Then I planned. Starting with taking Mason’s boat.”
“You killed him too.”
“So what? He’d come to the dark side to help me and was going to die anyway. What was another month or two?”
Gabe wasn’t surprised by his callous regard for life. It seemed fitting with the selfish man they’d interviewed earlier. “And then you arranged for Kenna to meet you at the lake.”
“And I forced her off the road. Had no idea she’d bring the kid with her. Added to my anger, and when the accident didn’tdo the job for me, I saw red. Grabbed Kenna by the neck and squeezed until she wasn’t breathing. Took her to the lake and dumped her in. That’s what she deserved, you know. She should never have messed with me.”
Gabe was seeing red himself now and wanted to charge over and strangle Trent. He sucked in a breath and remained in place with Lucy, but he didn’t do nothing. He took what he hoped was an undetectable look over Trent’s shoulder. Movement. Shadows shifting. SWAT positioning their rifles.Good.
“And now we’re here!” Trent shouted. “Give me the kid or I shoot. Simple as that.”
“Sir, drop the weapon!” a SWAT officer shouted.
“Last warning!” another voice said.
“You don’t want to do this, Trent,” Gabe said, voice steady despite the adrenaline pounding through him. “It’s over.”
Trent’s finger dropped to the trigger.
The guy just might be stupid enough to fire even with multiple SWAT weapons locked on him. A shootout seemed inevitable.
Gabe couldn’t let Lucy be hit. He spun, putting his body between Lucy and Trent’s gun.
Time fractured.
A single crack split the air.
“Shots fired!” the team commander called out.
Knowing what was coming, Gabe dropped to the ground, twisting as he fell, shielding Lucy beneath him.
