Page 94 of Hidden Resolution

Shonda was to lie in wait and call for help if things went sideways.

“You good on the plan? You’ll listen from outside the window, and if it turns south, you call Bucky,” he reiterated because she was bullheaded.

“Why aren’t we trusting the police with this? Our last foray into rescuing Erica still gives me nightmares,” she said.

“Zack’s woman, Zack’s call,” he replied.

Their eyes locked.

“Stay safe, love.”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” she whispered back.

With a grin, Mason slipped into position. Taking care to be quiet, he inched his way toward the dining room sliders. As he was passing the kitchen, he chanced a peek.

Zack’s hands were half-raised, and he was visibly struggling to stay calm.

A step to Mason’s right revealed Christie, who was continually opening and closing her lighter. Jacob was tied to a chair, sitting inside a kiddie pool, lost and terrified. The sight of Erica’s unconscious form slumped in her seat shot his heart rate up.

Not good.

Blowing out a breath, he disabled the alarm chimes, using the app, and waited impatiently for the required two minutes for it to take effect. He was reaching for the handle when a gun cocked behind him. The barrel was pressed to the back of his head, aborting any action on his behalf.

Fuck!

Zack had been correct in assuming Christie had an accomplice.

Dane was their only hope.

“Get moving,” Judith snapped.

“Neither you nor Christie will get away with this. There will be a massive manhunt. You have to know that, right?” he tried to reason.

“Do you think we care? Zack convinced Charlie to commit my daughter to an institution,” she said, pressing harder. “Do you really think she’ll be taken alive to be drugged and locked up until the end of time? She’ll burn this whole place to the ground first.”

Mason’s heart stuttered to a stop.

Minus his mother, his whole world was in that house. Shonda would also be injured in a blast. His heart restarted, beating double time. Why the fuck didn’t he tie her to a chair and leave her behind?

Judith ordered him to stop outside of view as she awaited her daughter’s cue.

“Mason, you might as well come out now,” Christie tauntingly called a minute later. Directing her next statement to Zack, she said, “I know you’d never come here alone. You don’t have the balls.”

“Actually, I did come here by myself.” Zack was a fraction louder than he normally was, relaying the bluff to Dane and him.

She tsked. “Hmm. Well then, let’s see about that. Mother?”

Mason entered, followed closely by Judith, who had a Glock jammed against his lower back. His fury at being caught was a living entity. Palpable to those around him. But unless he wanted a bullet in his spine, there was nothing he could do until they provided an opening.

His brother’s dry humor in the middle of the chaos surprised him.

“Dude, you let an old woman get the jump on you?” Zack scoffed. Apparently, his inner child couldn’t resist.

“Fuck off, dickhead.”

Zack grinned, showing he had no hard feelings.

“Come out, Dane, or my mother shoots Mason where he stands,” Christie threatened.