That it was a child killer who was targeted made little difference. Todd was just supposed to watch it happen.
Then walk away. So that Lytel would have Todd in his pocket, right where he wanted him.
To Lytel that was probably exactly what they were talking about.
Todd used every bit of his training to keep himself from looking like a total asshole. Or a coward.
First chance he got, he was going to go to Dennis, confess his sins. He wasn’t about to keep getting deeper and deeper into this.
Not with innocent people dying. He had his own code of honor; murder had no place in it.
Lytel ordered him to stay close. Todd remained in the command post, in the van with Lytel’s own computer tech. The guy barely looked at Todd.
It was a wasted trip. He knew it when Lytel radioed back. He didn’t let his relief show.
The instant he was getting back to the PAVAD building, he was going to go to Max Jones and confess. See if that guy would run interference for him with the director.
He was going to do the right thing. First chance he got.
87
Ava needed medical attention. She wasn’t getting better, and he suspected the respiratory virus was triggering her asthma. He didn’t know what to do. If he took her to the hospital, it was over for him. He’d be arrested and taken away from the girls in an instant.
They’d become wards of the state.
He couldn’t do that again. He couldn’t live with losing his children again; not into that horrific system that was destroying Bentley. His beautiful, wonderful, almost perfect children. Three of them. He still had three beautiful children living. His legacy for the world was secure.
His mark would be left.
He had to take some solace in that. In knowing that at least he wouldn’t be forgotten.
When the time was right, he was returning for Bentley. Going to get his son and raise him with the girls. Raise him properly. It was his duty to his child. To Holly’s child.
Bentley was all that was left of Holly, too.
Ava coughed again. She wheezed. It terrified him. None of the cold medicines were working, and her rescue inhaler was almost empty. He used it and prayed. She’d ended up in the hospital more than a dozen times with the wheezing.
Life on the run was no kind of life for her, not with her regular need for medical treatment. Not her, she just wasn’t strong enough yet.
He held her until the coughing and wheezing finally stopped and she slept curled up against his chest.
He carried her to the window; it had always soothed her to be carried around when she didn’t feel well. Olivia was snoring softly in the bed, congested and feverish but not as ill as Ava, snuggled with the new stuffed animal he had bought her. He’d just wanted to distract the girls from the horrible news he’d given them tonight.
They hadn’t known Rachel had died. Thank God Debbie hadn’t told them.
That had left him free to tell them exactly what he wanted them to hear.
As far as his girls would ever know, the mother who had adored them had died falling down the hallway stairs. Their mother’s aunt had died when the car had run off the road—because she had just been too sad to focus on driving safely. He’d told the girls Rachel and Debbie were angels watching over them now.
Now, their father was there, and he would always take care of them. But…the loss of their mother made him too sad to go back home right now.
Ava had believed him. But Olivia…he didn’t know if Olivia believed him at all.
Paul stood at the window for the longest time, just holding his daughter, as the fever raged her tiny body.
He had to help her. He just had to.
Paul looked at the little girl still sleeping on the bed. Olivia was waking, but Ava…she was almost comatose. He had to do something. To end this for his daughters.
Paul told Olivia to stay where she was while he gathered everything they’d carried into the cheap motel room. Within ten minutes, he had the car he’d taken from his biological mother’s home loaded.
He returned for his daughters.
Paul scooped his youngest into his arms and ordered her older sister to follow him.
It was time he did what he had to do.
His daughters were counting on him.
Paul was going to be the father his children deserved.
The sun was just rising, illuminating the damned arch over the city, as he turned the car south.
Toward an address he had memorized weeks ago.
There was only one thing he could think to do now.
88
Nat had always risen before the sun. It was just a natural thing for her. Especially after nearly sleepless nights. The idea that two little girls were missing and she was unable to help guaranteed she would have nightmares.
She had too many memories of being left in the woods with only Jac to count on to rest when Olivia and Ava were still out there.
Nat was just finishing her shower when she heard the first sound. She had a house a few miles south of the city. She had wanted enough land for Kudos and Karma to have room to play—where she’d have acreage to train them daily. Jac’s new place was closer to PAVAD. Nat had wanted to be closer to the building—chances were good search and rescue was going to be called out again very soon.
She’d checked in with Dan Reynolds, the CCU coordinator, before retiring last night. He’d told her the teams were going out searching cabins. Cabins meant woods. Terrain.
Critical search teams, where time was of the essence. Anything she could do to be ready and get there sooner. Including resting and being ready when the call came.
She’d cleared
