Page 22 of Gideon

“Please, be careful with it,” I urged.

“I will. But I need to stay calm for Haley. She can’t know something’s wrong.”

“I won’t let him anywhere near you. I promise.” What I wanted to do was hold her close and reassure her. But I couldn’t—not while she was living here, relying on me. I had to wait until this nightmare was over before I could tell her how I felt.

Sometimes, I caught her watching me and wondered if she felt the same way. But she always looked away before I could be sure.

I stepped outside, scanning the water. If I saw that bastard, I would blow his boat out of the water. I had already decided—I would kill him. I’d been planning it ever since he showed up in California.

So it can be today or tomorrow. I didn’t give a damn. Hopefully, it will be today. I sat down, and then Sean stood there. “Pull up a chair. I’ll get us a beer.”

“No, I’ll get it. Where is Laney and Haley?”

“They’re in their room. Sean, have you ever used a gun?”

“Once, I’ve never told this to anyone, but I killed a man I caught raping a two-year-old toddler. I took the baby to the church, and the pastor’s wife took her. She kept herand raised heras their daughter.”

“No one ever questioned you about the guy?”

“No. Joanie and I pulled him until he fell into the river. I don’t know if he was ever found.”

“Was he a foster dad?”

“Yep.”

“How old were you?”

“I was thirteen, and Joanie was twelve. It gave her nightmares for years. The pastor saved her. He talked to her about evil people who hurt others. He said that guy wouldn’t hurt anyone else.”

We both heard the boat. I set my guns on the table next to me and held my big one in my lap. Raven walked around to where we were. He saw the guns and stopped.

“Where is he?”

“In that boat there.”

“Fuck! Where are my sister and niece?”

“In their room. Do you have your gun?”

“Of course.”

“Then sit down and let’s see what happens,” I said.

“This is the chance we’ve been waiting for. If I see that bastard, I’m killing him today.”

“You’ll have to get in line because Gideon says he’s blowing the boat up with him on it,” Sean volunteered.

We heard a loud noise, and then a voice spoke. “Send my granddaughter out here to me, and I will let all of you live. If you don’t send her out in five minutes, I will kill all of you.”

I looked at the boat. It was large and had two motors. We would have to hit both gas tanks to blow that boat up. I turned to say something to the guys whenI heard bullets whiz past us. The boat exploded into little pieces. All of us jumped up and ran to the edge of the water.

“Who the fuck did that?” I asked, looking around. Then, I saw Laney standing with a rifle in her hands. I rushed over to her and took the gun. “Go back inside. I don’t want you involved in this. We will say they were having trouble, and the boat blew up.”

“That bastard won’t ever hurt us again,” she said, looking at me. I gave the rifle to Raven, and he took it to his place.

“Let’s go inside,” I said to Laney.

“No,” she replied, her voice firm but shaking. “I want to make sure he’s dead. I don’t want to see him floating away on something. You don’t know this man like I do. He’s the devil.”

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