Colin was behind me. I motioned for him to escape, get out the door.
Still, he stayed next to me.
A nice gesture. He didn’t want me to be alone while I potentially ended another human life. Gentlemanly of him. I’d have felt better, though, if he’d have just gotten away. He could run and find help.
Again, I motioned for him to leave.
Again, he didn’t.
These are my friends…
Do it. Do it. Do it.
I moved closer to Alex, my hand hovering above her.
Chapter Seventeen
Bryce
“Brad, is that you?”
For an instant, Talon lost his focus, and the thin man lunged toward him. I aimed to graze the bastard’s ankle and shot.
He cried out as he fell to the floor.
Talon went running toward the voice, while I dealt with the asshole on the ground. “Who else is here?”
No response.
“It’s a scratch. Answer, damn it, or the next bullet will go between your eyes.”
“No one. Just me and the old lady.”
The old lady.
Brad, is that you?
Brad Steel. Shit! We’d just found Daphne Steel!
“Where’s Marjorie?” I said through clenched teeth.
“I need medical help here!”
“You’re fine. If I’d wanted to kill you, I would have. Trust me.”
“Please. Call 9-1-1. Please.”
“You’ll get nothing until you tell me where Marjorie Steel is.” I grabbed his shirt collar. “I don’t give a shit if you bleed to death right here in this trash heap, got it? I only care about Marjorie, so start talking.”
“Down the road,” he gasped. “Next block over. Mobile…home…” His eyes fluttered closed.
What a fucking wuss. An ankle graze hurt like hell, for sure, but he wasn’t going to bleed out. I hadn’t hit an artery, for God’s sake. “Dude,” I said out loud, “you’re in the wrong business if you’re fainting from this.”
No response, but I couldn’t take the chance he was bluffing. I continued to hold my gun on him. “Tal! What do you have in there?”
“My mother. She passed out. I’m bringing her out.”
He emerged, carrying Daphne Steel as if she weighed no more than a child. In her arms, she clutched a realistic-looking doll. Marjorie had told me about the doll she called Angela, which had been Marj’s name at birth.