Page 10 of Then and Now (The Edge of Retaliation 3)
I’ve learned that the hard way.
“What are you going to do about them?” I ask.
Ethan shrugs. “Hopefully we can get them out without anyone even noticin’. We’re prayin’ we can find a way in and late at night they’ll be sleepin’, but if not … I don’t know, Callie. I don’t know, but we’ve got guns, and Tanner has made it clear that if it comes to it, we shoot.”
“If you shoot them, you could be risking everything. You’re a guard, Ethan, at a prison. You’d be risking your job.”
He stares at me. “Not really. People like the ones we’re taking on, they rarely deal with the law. Someone finds them dead, nobody is going to question who did it. They’ll figure it was a drug deal gone wrong. We’ll walk away clean.”
“But your minds won’t be clean. Can you—”
“Kill someone?” he finishes for me.
I nod, holding his eyes.
He stares at me for a moment, then looks out at the lights. “I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.”
“If it does …”
“Don’t know, Callie. If it comes to my life or theirs, then yeah, I guess I’d do what I had to do.”
I swallow, and my chest tightens. Ethan is a good guy, the best kind. He’s the sort of man who always tries to do right, even if he has an easier choice by doing wrong. Something like this, it’ll hang with him forever. That’s just the way he is.
“You don’t have to come, I’m sure we can do it without you.”
He doesn’t look at me when he says, “I know you can. I’m coming anyway.”
“You’re a good person, Ethan.”
“Aren’t we all, Callie?” he murmurs. “Aren’t we all?”
I narrow my eyes and say softly, “You’re not a killer.”
“Neither are you.”
My chest clenches, and I look down at my hands. I know what he’s getting at, but I don’t like it all the same. I don’t want Ethan to live with the guilt I’ve lived with, I don’t want it to ruin his life. Tanner … He’s strong, he’s made for this kind of thing. Ethan isn’t. He’s strong, and he’s brave, but he’s got the kindest heart of anyone I know.
“Why did you come on this trip?” I ask. “I mean, you could have just stayed behind, we would have made up eventually. Why would you risk everything?”
He glances at me again, and his eyes soften when he says, “Because I believe in you, Callie. I always have. I’ve watched you from the very beginning fight the biggest battle of your life and come out the other side. I’ve been there. We’re friends. You matter to me. I wasn’t going to let you end it alone, even if you didn’t want me around.”
My heart feels like it’s going to explode, and I reach out and take his hand, curling my fingers around his long ones and say, “Thank you, I know I’ve said it before, but I’m saying it again. I couldn’t have done any of this without you. I couldn’t have survived without you. I hope you know just how much you mean to me.”
“I know,” he tells me, squeezing my hand. “Or you wouldn’t have forgiven me.”
He’s right.
I wouldn’t have.
But he’s my friend, not only that, but he’s kind of like my hero.
Swooping in and saving me when I had nobody else.
Of course I forgave him.
He’s the reason I didn’t drown.
5
JOANNE
The basement latch clicks, and my head jerks up. My heart races, and my eyes flick in Tatum’s direction, even though I can’t see him. I hear him shift, and I know he’s awake. As soon as these lights come on, they’re going to know he’s not tied anymore. I don’t know what he plans on doing. I’ve gone over so many scenarios in my head, and none of them work in our favor.
But I trust him.
He’s smart.
I hear more shuffling, and I’m certain he stands and walks closer to the door. It opens with a creak and then the light flicks on. It’s so bright it takes me quite a number of rapid blinks to see anything, but, when I do, everything moves quickly. Tatum is by the door, and the same two men enter the room as they did before. The only one holding a gun is the main leader, and he’s so taken off guard by what Tatum does that he doesn’t have time to use it.
Swift as lightning, Tatum is there, throwing his hands up and over the man’s head. It’s so quick and so well done that I’m still blinking by the time he’s got him against his chest, his cuffed hands over his head and around his throat, pulling him so tightly against him the man’s face is already going red.
The other man reaches for the gun and Tatum roars, “You grab that, I snap his neck before your finger touches the trigger.”
