Dark Secret - Avelyn Paige Page 0,46
his gun at the ready.
“Let me fucking think!” Judge snaps, running forward and snatching the binoculars from Hashtag’s hands. “Fuck!”
He watches for a few more moments, his jaw clenched tight. “Okay, he’s gone back inside. Shelby, you get your ass back in the van. The rest of you, we’re going to move in. We don’t know for sure if that motherfucker is onto us or not. He could just be paranoid.”
“There are no windows on the south side of the house, which means we go in low and fast. We reach the building and we head in, SWAT style—everyone armed, everyone alert. You got it?”
The men around me all nod, or call out their affirmations, ready to go. “Get your guns, boys,” Judge orders. “It’s time to take out a fucking pervert.”
Watching them all strap on holsters and bulletproof vests is surreal. It’s like watching a Hollywood movie, but this time, there’s no guarantee that the good guys will win in the end.
“Get in the van, baby.” Wyatt, approaching from the side, pulls me into his chest. “We’ve got this.”
I look up at him with tears burning in my eyes. “Be careful, handsome.”
He grins. It’s what I used to call him when we were young. “Ah, you do love me,” he teases, placing a kiss on the tip of my nose. “I’m getting our girl back. This family is long overdue for a fucking reunion.”
I watch, my entire body trembling as the group splits up, all of them crouched low to the ground, guns clutched in their hands.
God, if you’re listening, I know you and me aren’t real good friends, but I need a favor. I don’t have much family, and what I do have is in danger right now. Please, can you take care of them?
I stand frozen until I can’t see them anymore. I try using the binoculars, but the area they’re in is dark, and they’re staying low. They’re going to make this work.
A crash rips through the quiet, and I swing the binoculars around to see Kevin’s uncle barging out the door. My heart drops to my feet. There are two young girls in front of him, along with Kevin.
But it’s the girl he has clutched to his chest, a gun jammed into her temple, that causes my knees to go weak. Hayden.
I gaze in horror as he barks something at the three children out front. They’re too far away for me to see their expressions, but from the way they’re moving, I can tell they’re afraid.
Desperate, I look in the direction the Black Hoods had gone, and see a flash of something midway between the van and the house, and then the outline of a few of them. They’ve stayed together. They’re not close enough.
The children climb into the man’s rusted-out van, as he follows behind them with Hayden. When he gets to it, he grabs her by the hair and shoves her inside, causing her to cry out in pain, the sound echoing through the night. And that’s when I make my decision. It’s going to be me who kills Randall. I don’t give a fuck what Judge wants, or what Wyatt says. His blood will be on my hands, and I’m so full of rage right now, I’ll gladly bathe myself in it.
He rounds the vehicle at lightning speed, and before I can blink, the van’s speeding down the long dirt road.
I look back to Wyatt and the others who are still so far away. He’s going to get away. He’s going to make it across the border, and then we’ll never find her.
Without another thought, I run back to the van and jump inside, sliding the side door closed behind me. The key is in the ignition when I jump into the driver’s seat, and I bring the engine to life. I don’t allow the doubts I feel to gather in my head. I can’t wait for Wyatt and the guys. There’s no time.
I don’t try to go incognito, seeing as Randall already knows we’re here.
Even at top speed, it feels like I’m not gaining enough ground. The area around us is open and flat, and so fucking dark. I press the pedal to the floor, willing this jalopy to morph into the Batmobile, or an Indy 500 race car, but it doesn’t happen. My speed is already maxed out.
Approaching the interstate, Randall turns onto it. He’s heading right by me, but on a different road. Fuck that, asshole.
Making a decision that