All of a sudden she heard nothing but an ugly gurgling. She shuddered and turned to look away. All this was happening as Angel now tried to get Sari out of her high chair. But Weston was right there too. Then suddenly he had Angel in a chokehold, glaring at the gunman beside her.
“I’ll kill Angel,” Weston snapped, “then you.”
The gunman shrugged. “I don’t give a shit. Those are my orders. If we don’t get the money, we are supposed to take the baby and ditch Angel.”
Angel stared at him, unable to speak, still choking under Weston’s pressure around her neck. Weston eased his grip enough to let her stand to the side. There wasn’t anything about this scenario he liked.
“What?” he said in response to her look. “Why do I need you? You don’t even know the kid. The kid doesn’t know you. I can listen to it scream just as good as you can.” He sneered and without warning put a bullet in her head.
Weston was already on the move, looking for a distraction, and somehow he had the dog moving once more.
Daniela watched in horror as the dog raced toward them. The gunman turned his gun hand away from her and moved to point it at Shambhala, and she knew she had to stop that. She reached up with her leg, trying to kick his arm.
As he tightened the chokehold around her neck, everything in her world sank down to a black circle, but she was determined to stop him from shooting the dog who had already saved her daughter once. Then, all of a sudden, the arm was jerked away from her throat.
The dog had the gun arm this time, and there was Weston, landing one heavy punch in the gunman’s face. After a second heavy punch, the guy went to his knees. With the third one, his nose shattered, and he went down screaming. Then he went quiet.
Weston stopped and talked to Shambhala. She looked at him, still growling with a bloodlust in her eyes that Daniela had never seen before. But, with simple hand gestures, Shambhala dropped the arm of the second man and came over to Weston, whining.
He cuddled her gently and whispered, “Good girl. That was a good girl. You did exactly what you were supposed to do.”
Daniela ran to Sari, who was screaming at the top of her lungs in terror. Daniela picked up her daughter and wrapped her arms around her, holding her close. And then, not wanting to be away from Weston or Shambhala, she crouched beside the dog and the man. Weston wrapped up all three of them in his arms, and Shambhala licked Sari’s face as she sobbed, each little hand clutching her furry friend. They all held each other like that for a long moment.
“Is it over?” Daniela whispered.
“Two dead probably, one not,” he said. “I’m still hearing sounds from behind you.”
She didn’t want to look at the man whose throat had been ripped out because the blood was still pumping.
“There’s nothing anybody can do for him,” he said gently. “It’ll be over fast. The other man, I think he’s gone, but I don’t know for sure though.”
She shuddered and burrowed her face tight against him, while he tightened his arms and held them close. “I don’t know how that happened,” she whispered, “but, dear God, I just want it to be over.”
“Except for this guy down beside us,” he said, “it is. Angel is definitely dead.”
“Is it wrong of me to be happy about that?” she whispered.
“No,” he said, “that would be completely normal. But I need to phone the detective.”
She nodded and pulled back so he could find his phone. But, with the armload he was cuddling, it was hard. He finally got his phone out, and she realized his hands were bloody, but he dialed the detective. She could hear the call as he explained what happened. The detective sounded shocked, if not horrified, and then resigned.
“I’m on the way,” he said, “but, damn, I was really hoping to get home and have a meal with my family tonight.”
“At least now we know where Angel is,” Weston said. “You need to get an ambulance here for one guy. There’s nothing to be done for the other one.”
“I’ll be there in ten,” he said in a resigned voice.
Weston ended the call, while Daniela watched. She looked up at him and said, “Are we in trouble over this?”
He shook his head. “No, we were defending our family. That’s all there is to it.”
“What about Shambhala?” she asked, reaching out to stroke the beautiful dog who’d done so much to save her baby girl.
“Nope. She did what she was supposed to do too. If anybody would pay a price for that, it would be me because I gave her orders, but I don’t think that will be a problem either.”
She sighed gently. “You know what? The next time you suggest going on a date, I think we should do it,” she said, “because, staying at home sucks.”
He burst out laughing and said, “Listen. It’ll be an ugly night here. Do you want to take Sari and go stay somewhere else, like with your sister or something?”
“I want to stay with you,” she said.
“Good enough,” he said. “I’ll have to see if I can get you upstairs, while the men are working down here.”
She nodded. “We will do what we need to do, but I wouldn’t mind an early bedtime and at least some chance to de-stress.”
It was crazy watching the organized chaos as the detective came in and took one look, then shook his head and got down to business. After she’d given her statement, she was allowed to go upstairs with Sari. Shambhala went along at her heels, not leaving Sari’s side. And Daniela was beyond grateful. She owed the dog so much.
She was just thankful Sari was okay. The fact that Angel was
