Page 2 of Vision of Truth

“Okay.” Hearing Sabrina’s high pitched falsetto never failed to hit her with a shot of warmth. Julie placed the headphones over Sabrina’s ears, then crossed the room, yanking open the window and pushing out the screen. The metal and mesh slid down the roof and clattered to the ground. She lifted Sabrina and settled the thin girl on her hip, positioning her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist. “Okay. Arms and legs around me. Very tight.” There was a clash and splinter of wood. This was it. The intruder was inside the bedroom. She used the toilet as a stepping stool and with one hand braced on the outside of the window, slid on her right hip out the window, sheltering Sabrina from hitting the frame with her free hand. The child was following instructions, gripping her tightly. She crab walked toward the edge of the roof.

“Get back here, bitch!”

The voice boomed right over her head. Her heart leapt into her throat. She didn’t look behind her, but squatted and leapt. By some miracle she didn’t go tumbling through the tree. Her feet landed on the thickest part of the branch and she started her descent as fast as she dared. She’d known a tree like this once, outside her brother Gus’s window. When Dad came home, alcohol on his breath and rage in his eyes, they’d shimmy into the branches until he’d passed out. Shots thundered from above. The branch above her exploded into fragments. Sabrina’s heart was thumping wildly, nearly matching the rhythm of her own. With about ten feet left, she released her grip and dropped to the ground. Pain spiked up her right ankle. There was a burning sensation along the side of her abdomen.Run.

Gritting her teeth she ran toward the tree line, repositioning Sabrina at her front as bullets continued to fly. The girl had gone completely still, her body rigid. Each time Julie’s battered ankle hit the ground, she clenched her teeth to hold in the cries that were on the tip of her tongue. Branches tangled in her hair, scraped her face, and provided her and Sabrina with the cover they’d need to get the hell out in one piece.

They were close to a steep ridge. One Mr. Vesey had warned her to keep his daughter away from. Right now it was going to be their lifeline. The man behind them was closing in. Each crunch of dead leaves seemed closer than the last. Sabrina’s face was now pressed into her collar bone. Arms and legs still bound around her. Adrenaline was pounding through her as she dropped to her butt on the edge of the ridge and began to slide. The rocky ground showed no mercy as she careened down, the rough surface scraping every inch of exposed skin.

Something sharp sliced up her outer thigh, tearing a large swatch from her jeans. She’d feel the bumps and bruises tomorrow, but right now her sole purpose was getting Sabrina to safety. Her teeth clashed together, jarred by the terrain.Almost there.The ground was starting to flatten, a sure sign they’d slow to a stop soon. They’d made it. Movement caught her eye. A blur springing from the shadows.

An unfamiliar man planted his boot on the ground. Rolling to either side might harm the girl in her arms, so she braced. The man’s extended leg connected with her groin, the power of the collision throwing her to the side. She forced herself to suck in breath to regain the air that had been knocked from her lungs. The quick slide and snap of steel cemented her muscles in place. The man looming above them pointed a pistol at her forehead.

Air whistled through his pinched, upturned nose. “Could have some fun with you.” The man wheezed, his cheeks full and red. His eyes snaked over her form.

Cold swept down her body like a curtain of ice being lowered. She nodded. A painful lump constricted her throat. “I’ll go. Let her get to the tree line.” She made a small gesture to Sabrina. “I’ll go without a fight. Too much work to take us both.” Her heart hammered as the man hesitated. “There’s no risk to letting her go. She didn’t see anything. Even if she did she couldn’t tell anyone.” That was a lie. Sabrina was incredibly bright and used her tablet to communicate. In certain situations, she was able to verbalize as well. The man in front of her? Not so bright. That would benefit both her and Sabrina. She’d gotten her friend this far, and she had no doubt her brothers and their wives would be scouring the forest at any moment. They’d cross paths with Sabrina and get her to safety.

“Lower your weapon.” A gruff voice ripped through the air. She didn’t need to look up to know it belonged to her biological brother, Gus.

“Now,” Easton, one of her foster brothers, growled out the warning, but not before a single pop echoed through the trees. She flinched. Warm liquid splattered against her cheeks and forehead. The man who had his gun trained on her tumbled to the ground, a single gunshot wound to his temple weeping a crimson trail that dripped down his ear and cheek.

“Flinched toward his trigger.” Kinley, Easton’s wife and Gus’s law enforcement partner, pushed past the body and dropped to the ground. “Are you okay, Jules?”

She nodded, even though she wanted to burst into tears. Not in front of Sabrina.

There was only one thing that would make her okay right now.

Isaac.

Chapter Two

Isaac burst through the front door of Gus’s quaint Cape-style home, not bothering to knock. They all had keys to each other’s places. Always welcomed each other. “Where is she?” he bellowed. Pustules of anxiety bubbled in his gut and burst in his chest. The twelve hour flight from Syria to his base in Fort Story, Virginia, were the longest of his life. He’d wasted no time calling in a favor. The helicopter flight had only taken an hour, but damn, he’d nearly crawled out of his skin. He’d been in contact with his brothers, but despite their reassurances, he had to see Julie for himself. It had already been a day and a half since her SOS alert.

“Took you long enough.” Gus appeared in the hallway and gave him a chin lift.

“Fuck you.” He had no time for good-natured sarcasm. “Where’s Jules?”

“Hey, brother.” Easton walked into the room and stood beside Gus. His vision narrowed and there was a sharp ache at his temples. He’d known them both long enough to understand when they were hiding something from him.

“Listen,” Gus lifted both hands and raked his fingers over his short hair. “We need to talk first.”

“After,” he bit out and paced toward the stairs that would take him to the second floor. He usually kept away from Julie’s bedroom; Being in a space where her scent clung to everything, where her personality was reflected on every throw pillow, was torture. Right now, though, he’d walk across burning coals, so long as Jules was at the end of the path.

Just as Gus and Easton blocked him, a low growl sounded behind him. He turned, expecting to see Gilligan, the ornery Chihuahua. He drew in a quick breath. The small dog was cradled in the arms of a young girl. He cast a look at his brothers, then crouched down to eye level. Her sharp green eyes didn’t focus on his gaze, but she didn’t seem upset or uncomfortable.

“This is Sabrina. One of Julie’s students.” Gus was trying to communicate something important without saying it outright. Something bad had happened the day his sister sent the call for help, and if he had one guess, he’d say that something sinister had happened to the kid’s family. Otherwise she’d have no reason to be in Gus’s home.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he murmured.

“Hi, sweetheart,” she echoed back and placed the dog on the floor. Gilligan huffed out a breath and meandered into the kitchen behind his brothers. The little girl moved forward, and he went completely still when she sat on his bent knee. She lifted one small hand and brought it to his cheek. His heart thumped harder as protectiveness welled inside his chest.

“Sabrina, do you want to go outside on the trampoline?” The girl’s gaze swung to Sasha, Gus’s wife. She rocked forward, clapping her hands several times before darting toward the red-headed woman, an enthusiastic shriek breaking from her lips. “Take some time to talk.” Sasha said. “Kinley just texted me.” She turned to add, “She’s bringing home pizza after her shift.” Both of his brothers had found good women who were now a part of their family. Sasha had lost everyone she ever loved growing up and nearly died due to an individual’s insane obsession. Kinley, Easton’s fiancée had been the lone survivor of a ruthless serial killer as a child, only to be abducted a second time several months ago. She’d bounced back quickly, but it wasn’t lost on him the amount of drama that seemed to follow his family.

“Since when do you have a trampoline?” He stood from his position on the floor and eyed Gus and Easton.

“We put it together when Sabrina was released into Julie’s care yesterday.” Easton stalked forward and yanked him into a brief hug. “Let’s talk in the living room.”

All he could do was nod. When the kid touched his face almost reverently, it had thrown him. He didn’t like feeling off kilter, but there it was. Give him covert missions in hostile territories and he was solid, but spend thirty seconds with a child who seemed to look into his soul and he was shaken. “What happened to her family?”

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