Page 56 of Special Agent Anastacia

With her back to Vlad, he’d imprisoned her neck with his hand restraints in a grip that had her barely touching the ground. In a voice thick with menace, he growled, “You’re going to cut me loose. Do you understand me?”

With her air being viciously cut off, Hanna couldn’t speak… she could only nod. Which she did.

As if he couldn’t believe her, he twisted tighter, harder... cruelty covering his expression. Hanna’s knees buckled leaving an opening needed by a sharpshooter.

That’s when Ana pulled the trigger and shot the son of a bitch right between his eyes.

Chapter Forty

Sitting next to Hanna while she spilled her guts to Dave in his office, the girl clung tight, insisting Ana stay as close as possible. And even though Ana knew that it had been therapeutic for Hanna to express what had happened, she also understood the trauma was fresh and hurtful as hell.

Over and over, Hanna had turned to her cousin, clenching their joined hands. “Thank you.” She gripped tighter. “You put him down like the animal he was. I needed to see it happen for me to ever believe him dead. Now… now I can heal.”

“I had no choice, baby. I promised I wouldn’t let him hurt you again, and I meant it.” Ana’s eyes went to the reddened wounds showing on Hanna’s poor throat. Then she looked toward Dave to share her own misery at the thought of what Hanna had gone through.

His eyes were soft with understanding, and his voice gentle when he’d come back from taking care of closing the cell where the body still lay. “Not sure when the coroner can get here buthe’s covered for now.” Dave held up the video he’d gathered from the camera installed in the cell area. “It’s all here on tape. Shows exactly what happened. Doubt if there’ll be much of an inquiry once the big cheese gets to see this evidence.”

Nash’s glance at the females made him decide to step in and shut down the investigation for the night. “Both girls have had enough for now, Dave. I’m taking them to the hospital. They’ll get a bed for Hanna for the night and check out her injuries. The devil did a number on her face and throat.”

Dave stood. “Good idea. I have something for you to give to Beth in case I don’t get in to see her for a while. Ana asked for me to give the girl’s belongings back. Don’t see no reason to send them for prints since we know what happened and who the backpack belongs to, right?”

Ana kept her arm around Hanna’s waist but looked at the sheriff after hearing his words. “Thanks, Dave. We’ll be sure she gets it.” She stopped on the way out and added, “Look, I’ll be around, so if you need anything, you let me know.”

“No problem. You two just take care of our Hanna. Poor girl looks on the verge of collapsing, and I don’t blame her after everything she’s been through these last few months.” He turned to Hanna and added, “And thank you for telling me about what happened to your parents. I know how difficult it was to rehash that event. But it’s in your testimony now and brings credibility as to why you came to the jailhouse tonight.”

Hanna stopped walking toward the door. She looked at Dave, her eyes globby with the tears she’d been bravely holding back. “I know I broke the law, Sheriff. And I’m willing to pay for that. But so you know… I’m not sorry he’s dead.”

Dave grinned, his face finally showing his humanity and not just his official expression. “Neither am I, Buttercup, neither am I. Bastard deserved exactly what he got.” He leaned over andtouched her cheek so softly, she let her face rest for a moment in his big hand.

***

A while later, when they reached the hospital, Ana woke Hanna from the nap she’d dropped into the moment they’d made themselves comfy in the back seat of Nash’s truck. He’d watched them cuddling through the mirror, and Ana had seen the special smile he’d sent her. Truth be told, the look in his eyes made her tummy flutter, and she had to turn away after a particular long hot glance they shared.

But since her cousin had clung to her, she’d no choice but to stay close to Hanna, which meant sliding in the same seat with her. Thankfully, she knew that Nash understood. In fact, she had no doubt he also understood her personal shock over the recent ordeal. Killing another human being was it’s own special kind of torture no matter how badly the person had lived.

Once they got Hanna’s throat examined, had her settled in a bed, and the nurse had given her the prescribed medication to help her sleep, Ana and Nash could finally be alone in the empty waiting room.

Nash led her to the couch and settled into the corner with her in his arms. At first they didn’t speak, but after a short while, once their closeness warmed them, he talked real low. “I’m so sorry, darling. You have to know I sympathize with what happened tonight. It must have been terrifying for you to see Hanna like that.”

Ana covered her face, yet the onslaught of tears she could finally release flowed through. Her voice trembled from her recent dreadful panic. “Vladwantedto kill her, Nash. I saw the truth in his eyes. The only reason he didn’t was because he needed her to help him get loose. Oh, my God, she looked so pitiful and scared.”

Ana’s body clenched… the alarm still real. “Goddammit. Whatever possessed her to go into the cell and confront him like that?” As soon as the words popped out, she wished them back.

Nash sighed. “I have no idea. It’s the one thing I keep asking myself too.”

Ana didn’t say anything, because she knew there was an answer she couldn’t share with him. But her mind went back to just after the shooting when Dave had found her alone in his office while Hanna was away using the washroom. He’d returned from checking the dead man holding an evidence bag.

When he’d appeared, she’d lifted her face from her hands. “Christ Dave, I wish the fuck I knew why she came here tonight to confront that scumbag.”

“She came to kill him.”

“Excuse me?” Ana straightened as if she’d been shot. “Why in the world would you say that?”

“I picked this up in the cell. It had slid under the bed.” Dave held out a kitchen knife resting in an evidence bag. “I’m not absolutely positive, but I’m thinking the poor kid took this with her to get restitution for him killing her folks in Ukraine. Look, between us, this bit of evidence goes to the grave with me. No one needs to know her intentions. And before you ask, it doesn’t show up on the video, so we’re safe. Far as I’m concerned, she’s suffered enough. And now that he’s dead, as she said herself, she can finally breathe.” He took the knife from the bag and wiped off her fingerprints on his pantleg.

“Thank you, Dave. You’re a good man.”

“Yeah. Well, so was your father. He did me a good turn a few years ago, covered for me when I got shitfaced over the loss of my wife and had an accident. He hauled me out of the gutter and got me sober. Today, its payback time.”

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