Game of Fear (Montgomery Justice #3)(99)

Two people raced toward the fallen girl. Whitney and Seth.

Thank God.

Seth knelt down and lifted the small figure in his arms.

“Is it her?” Gabe shouted.

The swell of blackness parted, and through the smoke, Seth strode toward them, propping up Whitney on one side, balancing a blonde-haired girl close to his chest.

Holy crap.

“Deb . . .”

She tried to open her eyes. “I don’t care anymore, Gabe. Ashley’s gone.”

“Deb. Look.”

She heard a familiar shout.

“Admiral!”

“Ashley?” Deb struggled to sit up in Gabe’s hold, tears nearly blinding her. “Oh my God, Ashley! It’s really you.” A sob broke from her and she held out her arms. “Ashley!”

Ashley stumbled, then fell beside her sister, laughing and crying as Deb hugged her close. “Oh, Ashley.”

Tears streamed down Ashley’s battered, sooty face, but nothing could detract from the joy in her eyes. “I knew you’d come for me, Deb. I just knew it.”

“Always,” Deb whispered and held on tight.





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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE




* * *




DEB COULDN’T BELIEVE she held Ashley in her arms. She winced, her shoulder throbbing, her head going woozy, but she didn’t care. She gently pushed the hair away from her sister’s bruised face. “Are you okay, pipsqueak?”

Ashley nodded. “I will be. For a while there, I didn’t know if I’d make it through.” She grinned. “I just kept running that stupid mantra through my head, ‘Never give up . . .’?”

“?‘Never surrender,’?” Deb finished for her. “Oh, sweetheart, I love you so much. Nothing matters now that you’re safe.” She looked over her sister’s shoulder at Gabe. He still held his shirt against her wound, an enigmatic look on his face. But he seemed quiet and serene amid all this chaos.

He’d been her rock through all this, and she didn’t know what she’d have done without him. She certainly wouldn’t have been holding her precious sister alive in her arms right now.

Zach stood by Gabe, using his voodoo magic gizmo phone to call the authorities to come in and help transport the kids and clean up. “Medevac units on the way. Ambulances will be here shortly thereafter.”

“Who were those guys in the chopper that came from out of nowhere?” Zach asked.

Seth’s face grew cold. “All I can tell you is they don’t get involved, in any op, without extremely high authority. I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but I swear, I’ll find out.”

“Gabe,” Deb whispered, blinking feverishly. “I think I need a doctor.”




Deb blinked against the bright light and stared around the room. “Ashley.”

“Ashley’s in surgery to remove a chip those bastards implanted inside of her. She’ll be out soon.”

Gabe stroked Deb’s forehead, and she relaxed.

“It wasn’t a dream.”

“More like a nightmare,” he said.

She looked up at him. “Everyone’s okay?”

“Nothing that’s not recoverable. Most of them went home after they knew you’d be okay. Mom’s planning a huge, celebratory Thanksgiving dinner.”

“How long have I been unconscious?”

“Forty-eight hours.” Gabe swallowed deeply, and for the first time Deb recognized the sallowness of his skin, the dark shadows beneath his eyes.

“You look terrible.”

His mouth quirked. “Yeah, well, interviews with the Feds can do that to you. Not to mention you dying on the operating table. Twice.”

He clutched her hand. “I’ve never been more scared.”

“What happened?”

“You lost so much blood by the time the chopper got there, it was touch and go.” He looked at her. “I’m sorry, Deb. I told you I’d protect you.”

“It wasn’t your fault. Did they get everyone?”

He nodded. “It’ll be a while before they can piece together who died in that hellhole. Whitney will do it, though. She’s got some chutzpah. Called in I don’t know how many favors to make the legal problems disappear.”

He sat in his chair for a moment. She longed for him to hold her, but he stared at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s over,” he said quietly. “You have your family back.”

“Not everyone,” she said, her heart breaking.

“No. Not everyone. I’m sorry about your brother. What are you going to do now?”

Then she understood. No us. No we. Only her.

“I guess I’ll move down to Colorado Springs, take care of Ashley for a while. Not take so many risks. She needs me.” Deb bit her lip and waited. Surely this wasn’t it? After all they’d been through.

“I thought so.”

“What about you?” Deb asked, the words barely forming. Perhaps it had all been a lie. Maybe he’d realized she wasn’t good enough, that if she could let Ashley down like that, she’d eventually let him down, too.