Page 35 of Secrets Beneath the Waves

When he stepped out of the bedroom with his gun aimed at the other man, he didn’t squeeze the trigger. On the floor, the kidnapper had Zeyla’s gun pointed at the underside of her throat. The second Ramon put a bullet in this man, that gun was going to go off, and another round would enter her throat and exit through the top of her head.

“Let her go. It’s over.” He kept his aim on the man, but there was nothing he could do while the guy was so close to shooting her. He couldn’t even pistol-whip the man without risk.

Far too much risk.

Kenna wanted to know her sister, and if tonight cost Zeyla her life, that wasn’t going to happen. Ever.

Zeyla pushed against the man, dislodging the gun from the underside of her chin. Before he could squeeze his trigger, she got the gun around and pointed at the man’s chest. It went off.

The man’s body jerked, and he slumped to the side.

Zeyla rolled him off her onto the floor, where he lay, leaking blood on the fake wood planks.

Ramon held up one hand, and she clasped it, so he pulled her to her feet. “You good?”

She let out a long breath, pulling herself together. The second he noticed she had managed to do it, Ramon went to the room and approached the girl slowly. She couldn’t be more than a high school kid.

“It’s okay,” he said softly and gently. Approaching her with the need to get her out of here but knowing he couldn’t rush it. “I’m not going to hurt you, and neither is my friend.” He crouched in front of her. “Let’s get this blanket around you so you can get out of here and go home.”

She shifted, sucking in a breath and lifting her head. Wide eyes, with a bruise high on her cheekbone. Her blonde hair fell beneath her shoulders, mussed and dirty.

Ramon wrapped the blanket around her as best he could and lifted her in his arms. Zeyla finished adjusting the material to cover her, and they headed for the door.

Halfway down the hallway, the front door banged open, and more than one person rushed in. “Spokane PD!”

“Put your weapons down and get your hands up!”

Zeyla lifted her hands, the pistol still in one but without her finger on the trigger.

Ramon said, “This girl needs an ambulance. And I’m not putting her down.”

The two detectives lowered their weapons. In business suits and shiny shoes, they were both at least fifty. One had shaved his head a long time ago, and the other was completely gray. If they weren’t involved with the Count of Shadows, that meant they might have been around Spokane long enough to have learned something about what was going on.

If there was time, Ramon wanted to pick their brains about this case they were working.

The detective to the left lowered his gun but didn’t put it away. “I want both of you to hand over your weapons until we’re done talking.”

The other detective approached Zeyla.

Before she could back up, Ramon said to her, “Hand it over.”

Zeyla stiffened but turned the gun so the barrel pointed down and allowed the detective to take it from her.

Ramon said, “Give him mine. It’s in my holster.”

She took it from his belt and did the same thing.

Ramon nodded to the girl in his arms. “This young lady needs an ambulance.”

Isabella hadn’t said anything or even lifted her head since he’d picked her up. She huddled against him now with her face tucked into his shirt.

The other detective lifted his chin. “I’ll call it in.”

Zeyla said, “There’s a dead guy in the hallway. He’s the one who kidnapped her in the first place.” He could tell she almost addedYou’re welcomeon the end of that, but thankfully, she held her tongue.

Ramon followed one of the detectives and Zeyla to the door, where they stepped outside.

The detective said, “Why don’t you set her down?”