Page 104 of Midnight Secrets

I scrambled to my feet, knowing Claire was out there. “Take over.”

“Hell no. He’s already dead.” Ellis hung up.

Most likely. My aim had been true. Picking up my gun, I ran around the counter and into the living room to the busted-out front window.

Cautiously, I peered out.

The driveway and front yard were empty, but movement and raised voices under the tall pine in the side yard caught my eye.

“There.” Ellis nodded in the same direction.

“Yeah.”

Sirens blared and bright red and blue lights lit up the street as Riggs’s truck came roaring around the corner.

No more shots rang out, and whatever it was going on under that tree, it wasn’t focused on the house or the street.

“Come on.” Head on a swivel, I stepped through the window.

Turning right, I jogged through the yard and around my truck.

Riggs rocked to a stop at the end of the driveway and got out. His flashing lights lit up the area, and in the strobing glow, I saw three figures in the snow flailing about.

“Dammit, they were supposed to stay in the truck.” Ellis started forward.

I couldn’t make out who was who in the wild lighting or from this distance, but I could tell it was at least two women by the sound of their voices and their slighter figures. One voice rose above them all with a cry of pain.

My heart stuttered, praying it wasn’t Claire.

Speeding up, Ellis and I reached them in seconds. I paused for a moment, taking in the fracas.

Mina lay over a pair of black-clad legs—a woman’s legs—holding them down. Claire was sprawled over the woman’s back, holding one of her hands wrenched behind her back. Blood dotted the snow on the woman’s other side and three guns—a pistol and two rifles—were scattered on the ground just out of everyone’s reach.

“Claire! Mina!” I dropped to my knees beside Claire and took hold of the woman’s arm.

“No!” The woman shrieked and bucked.

Ellis stooped beside Mina to help her.

The woman turned her head, her brown eyes spitting the fires of hell at me.

Grace Alonso.

She shrieked again and tried to pull her hand away.

I clenched my teeth. Once again, I didn’t have any handcuffs on me.

“Quartermaine!” Riggs jogged over, kicking up snow.

“Do you have cuffs?”

Metal clacked together as he pulled them from his belt. Coming around Grace’s other side, he reached under Claire, who moved back to give him access.

The bracelet clicked as he locked it around Grace’s wrist.

“Be careful with her other hand. It has a hole in it.” Claire sat back on her haunches and swiped the hair out of her eyes.

Riggs picked up Grace’s arm, bending it back, and the woman howled again with pain. He locked the cuff around her wrist, which was coated in blood.

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