“Carson where are you!” Richard’s voice filled his ear. Carson ignored him. He wasn’t going to wait for the suspect to kill her. If they all waited outside, waiting for him to pick up the phone and negotiate, they’d have two dead victims- the killer and the innocent girl.
The killer would most definitely be his victim.
“Carson!” Richard yelled again.
“Don’t worry boss, I’ve got his back.” Gwen’s voice filled his ear and then she appeared next to him. “Just like old times Carson.”
Stepping into the room, “Let’s just get this done.” The suspect pulled the girl up and held a large sharp blade against her quivering neck. “Put the knife down Troy!”
“Come any closer and I’ll slit her throat open!” He yelled back, with a sadistic laugh.
“Calm down Troy, we can figure a way out of this.” Gwen yelled back.
“Keep talking, I’ll find a shot,” Carson whispered.
Gwen cursed under her breath. There was no way he could shot Troy without hurting the girl. But before she could say another word a loud bang rang in the empty warehouse. Gwen watched the two fall on the ground, a sharp scream escaping the girl’s lips.
Gwen rushed to them and pulled the girl away. She checked her for a bullet hole when she saw a large patch of blood on her back. She let out a sigh of relief when she found none and then turned to the suspect. She watched his body jerk around, blood leaking out of the two holes in his neck as his empty eyes stared up.
Richard entered the room, “What the hell?”
Carson holstered his gun and walked out, “I had to take the shot.”
Kevin watched him leave wondering where the man he knew had disappeared to. “Do you think he’ll ever be himself again? It’s been a month since he accepted that they were dead.”
“He didn’t accept it, he just gave up trying to find them.” Paloma answered. She’d watched him spiral down and it broke her heart. “Living in that kind of pain for months, it has gotten to the point that he is just shutting down.”
“Do you think they are dead?”
“Maybe, but for his sake I hope not.”
“Whether they are or not, he believes they are. And his way of grieving is killing every suspect we corner.” Doran made a passing comment as he walked to Richard and the cold body. “What are you going to do about Carson?”
Richard huffed, brushing his hand over his face. “I don’t know. I understand he’s grieving, but this is the eighth suspect he’s shot dead. What bugs me isn’t that he’s killing them, it’s that he doesn’t wait a beat.”
“Troy would have slashed her throat.”
“And maybe he would have surrendered. We’ll never know.”
Carson sat at his desk cleaning his gun, waiting for another reprimand from Richard. He had completely isolated himself from his team. The only time he came in contact with them was when they were working. He blamed them for Ellie not trusting him and for not doing their job. Who’d blame Ellie for taking off? Gwen was gunning to put her behind bars! It was that spiteful little bitch’s fault he had no idea if his family was alive or not!
Carson looked at his ring finger. He’d found it impossible to take it off. A part of him had accepted he’d never see his girls again but a part of him was still holding on- the part that wouldn’t allow him to take his ring off.
He twisted it around his finger, diving into the memories of his wedding day. He couldn’t believe he’d contemplated running away. Now it just felt like five minutes he’d wasted. Five minutes he could have spent with Ellie and Stacey-Ann. He’d do anything for five more minutes with his girls. His face creased as he came so close to breaking down again, but the rap on the door made him gather himself back.
He picked up his gun and went back to cleaning it, “Make it fast Richard, I’d like to go home.”
“You mean hotel. You haven’t been to your apartment for months.” Gwen chirped, dropping in the chair across his desk, a large smile on her face. “That was a crazy shot you took today. I thought the roof top one was sick, but with this guy you had two inches of exposed neck to work with,” she whistled. “If you were half an inch to the right, the victim would be dead and you’d be in lock up right now. Risky, but super awesome! You’ve got to teach me that sometime.”
Carson stared drily at her. How he wished she’d just disappear. He turned his attention back to his gun. “What do you want?”
“We figured you’d want to go out.”
“Why?”
“Celebrate your little girl’s birthday. She would have been one tomorrow, right?”
Carson stopped. His grip tightening around the gun as his rage mounted. She didn’t know how lucky she was it wasn’t loaded. He bit down on his tongue as he tried to simmer down his anger.
Gwen climbed on top of his desk and gently ran her fingers from his ear to his rough chin in a gentle caress. She lowered her voice and tuned it to a seductive tone, “If you want, we could go to your hotel and I could give you a condolence gift or a birthday gift. Whatever you like, however you like it.”
He grabbed her hand and crushed it in his grip, “Get out!”
Stunned, she pulled her hand out of his painful grip, “Hey! I was just saying…”
“Get out!” He bellowed. He shot off his chair, his hands held in a tight painful fists. Gwen jumped off the desk ready to defend herself. “I will not let anyone, especially you mock my loss. Out, now!”
Just then Audrey rushed into the office, gasping for breath and with tears in her eyes. “Carson, she’s here!”
“Who?”
“Kris just came with her!” She laughed, tears trickling out of her eyes.
“Who is Audrey?”
“Ellie. She’s alive and she’s…”
She didn’t get a chance to finish. Carson ran out of his office and kept running until he got to where there was a small gathering. “Where is she?”
“Where else but by the elevators?” Doran answered, with a relieved laugh.
Carson rushed passed them and then came to an abrupt stop a few feet away from the trio. Paloma was standing in front of her, blocking his view. But he could see Kris. She was crying, nodding her head at him and smiling.
Carson felt like his heart had stopped when Paloma moved, exposing the sight he’d craved and mourned for months. He bent over, his hands on his knees. He couldn’t breathe. It was too unreal for him to believe.
“Dale…”
Her sweet quiet voice rang in his ears. He put his hand on his chest over his racing heart and stepped a few feet back, tears freely spilling out of his eyes.
Ellie moved towards him, “Dale I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” She went to put her hand on him but he retreated. He turned around, giving her his back.
“Dale…”
“This isn’t possible,” he gasped. “I must be dreaming. You can’t be alive.”
Ellie hugged him from behind, placing her hands on his chest. “I swear I’m real.”