Page 92 of Every Which Way

“I was. Is he here tonight?”

“He’s taking lead.”

“What about Detective Langford?” She patted her hips as if looking for something. “I think I lost my phone.” And she’d lost Bruce, plus where were her mother and sister? “Among other things.” She coughed.

“Is there a reason you smell like smoke, ma’am?” He glanced at the back door.

A small group stepped out and came down the steps toward them.

Smoke continued to pour from the door she’d come out of. “Someone should probably call an ambulance. I didn’t start the fire, though. Just so you know.”

Senator Woodford, two women, and three other men. One of the women held the other up so she could walk.

Kenna gasped. “Zeyla! Amara!” She moved toward them, but the FBI agent caught her.

The senator and his men escorted Amara and Zeyla down the steps and across the gravel.

“Let me go. That’s my family.”

“Don’t make me draw my weapon, ma’am.”

“I’m not the criminal here. He is!” Kenna pointed at the senator, who looked over at her.

“Lewis?” The senator called over—to the FBI agent.

The agent said, “There’s a Jeep just past the tree line. You need to hurry.”

“You’re letting them go!” Kenna shoved the agent and started running. “Amara!”

One of the men with them pulled a gun and fired wildly in her direction. Kenna ducked her head, covered it with her arms—as if that would help shield her from bullets—and went to one knee.

“Kenna! Run!” Amara yelled at her.

“We had a deal, Woodford!” She didn’t move, but she wasn’t going to let them just leave without putting up some sort of a fight.

The agent slammed into her from behind, and they both went down.

Her face hit the ground and pain flashed through the side of her face.

“You asked for someone else! That was our deal!” Woodford sounded amused, but she couldn’t see his face.

Her head was turned toward the building.

The agent on her back secured her hands behind her, and she heard the clink of cuffs before cold metal snaked around her wrists.

“Get off me.” She winced, his weight pushing her hips against the ground.

“You have the right to remain silent, remember?” He pulled her hair, lifting her face off the ground, and leaned close. “You might want to use it before I find a creative way to shut you up.”

She wanted to smile.

She nearly did, and if he’d seen it, he would have known exactly what it meant.

He lifted off her. Backed up, but she didn’t look to see.

Kenna moved slowly, curling her legs and lifting up so she could sit. The basement was well and truly on fire.

Which meant it wouldn’t be long before Garnet’s life was swallowed up by the flames, and she ended it all. Kenna didn’t want to carry the weight of another suicide. Garnet had made her choice, and Kenna lacked the strength to bodily force her out of that room. She had opted to save herself, sure. But what were the alternatives? Life in a psychiatric facility where they ensured Garnet didn’t kill herself. Misery. If the company took her back, she would endure even more pain and humiliation.

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