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Mason had never told Catelyn that Bethany was his daughter. She must have figured it out. Either that or he didn’t hide his feelings for Lacey very well, and she’d realized he was in love with Lacey.
It didn’t matter, he was going in.
Daniel said Janice had an alarm on the doors leading in through the front. A SWAT team was on standby. From listening in on the conversation between Janice and Lacey, Mason knew they were in the back of the store.
That door didn’t have an alarm, but according to Daniel would be visible from where he suspected Janice would be.
Catelyn had snagged him an extra earpiece. He shoved it in deeper and listened closely. Lacey still had her phone on.
From what he could tell, Janice had the gun on Bethany and planned to kill her.
At the back door three SWAT members held the battering ram. On the count of three, they’d ram it down.
One.
Two.
Three.
A loud crash sounded and Mason rounded the doorway with Catelyn. “Freeze! Police!” she shouted.
Mason took in the scene in a split second. Janice, her back to the front of the store, held the gun to Bethany’s head.
Bethany had her eyes closed and Lacey looked frozen, eyes wide on the action before her. “Mason,” she whispered.
He held up a hand to tell her to be still.
She didn’t move.
Catelyn stared down the barrel of the gun she now had trained on Janice. “Ma’am, I need you to please put that gun down.”
Fury lit in Janice’s eyes. “Why? How…”
A low beeping came from the direction of Lacey’s purse and she jerked. Janice screeched, “What is that? What is that?”
Lacey reached in her purse and pulled out her cell phone in a slow, methodical manner. “Dead battery,” she monotoned. Then blinked and seemed to gather her wits. “Please, Janice, I’ll do anything you want, just let Bethany go.”
The woman sneered and jabbed the gun harder against Bethany’s head. The teen winced and anger twisted in Mason’s gut. Soothing his voice so no hint of ire or emotion showed, he said, “Janice, there’s nothing you can do now except give up. Just set the gun down and no one has to get hurt, right?”
“I’ve already been hurt. I’ve been hurt so much I don’t think I know what it feels like not to hurt anymore.” Her brow crinkled. “Where’s Daniel?” she asked suddenly.
“We wouldn’t let him come in,” Mason answered immediately. “Protocol, you know. There’s no way he’d be allowed to come in.”
“Liar!” she screamed at him. “I want him here. I want him to see what he’s done. Get him in here.”
Catelyn held up a hand. “Calm down, Mrs. Ackerman, Janice. I’ll get him to come talk to you if that’ll help.”
“Oh, it’ll help. I have a few things I want to say before all this is over.”
Mason blew out a breath and watched Catelyn get Daniel on the phone.
* * *
Lacey couldn’t seem to take her eyes from Bethany’s scared face. Her breathing seemed labored, but Lacey decided it was just from the fear. She didn’t seem to be having any negative side effects to whatever drug had been injected into her system.
“Where’d you get the drug?” Mason asked conversationally.
Janice smirked. “I volunteer at the hospital, remember. I have access to a lot of places. And no one even looks twice at me. Now shut up, I have to think.” She looked at Mason, Catelyn and Lacey and blinked. Her breath started coming in pants.