Brian Freeman - Goodbye to the Dead (Jonathan Stride Book 7)

‘Stop!’

Stride took another step closer.

‘I told you to stop!’

And another step closer.

Then the man finally did what Stride wanted. He took the gun away from Cat’s head and pointed it directly at Stride’s chest. ‘I said, stop !’

Stride froze. No one had a clear shot yet. Cat stared at him with a question in her eyes. Now?

‘Let me talk to her,’ Stride said. ‘I need to talk to Cat and make sure she’s okay. Take off the gag.’

He didn’t dare look at Serena, but he hoped she was keeping a dead aim on the man for the instant when Cat was free.

‘I need to talk to Cat,’ Stride repeated. ‘That’s a deal-breaker. Take off the gag!’

The man relented. He ripped the tape away from Cat’s mouth and yanked out the gag inside. In doing so, he had to let go of the chokehold holding the girl in place. Stride wanted Cat to fall where she was, but instead, with her hands free, she grabbed the man’s wrist and sank her teeth into his thumb and knuckle, biting down hard until her teeth were stopped by bone.

The man wailed. The gun fired wildly in the air. His hand, spurting blood, let go, and the pistol dropped at his feet.

Stride ran. So did Cat. The girl threw herself into his arms, and Stride spun her around and lowered her to the ground and sheltered her with his body. He couldn’t see behind him. He couldn’t see the man drop to the tracks as bullets missed high, couldn’t see him grab the gun with his uninjured hand and swing around to aim at Stride’s back.

An easy shot. A paralyzing shot. A kill shot.

The beach was alive with gunfire. Deafening, overlapping.

The man aimed, but he never fired again. A dozen bullets hit him at once. In his chest. In his head. The gun fell again, and so did he.

Stride waited, protecting Cat, until the echoes died to silence.

Cat fidgeted on the hospital bed.

‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to be here. When can I get out of this place?’

Stride held her hand. ‘You’re not going anywhere until the doctors check you out. You and the baby. We want to make sure you’re both okay.’

‘I want to go home—’ she began, but then she stopped nervously. She looked away, not meeting Stride’s eyes. She wasn’t sure if she had a home anymore. She didn’t know whether, after everything she’d done, Stride would let her stay.

‘Don’t worry, you’ll go home soon,’ he told her. ‘Maybe tonight, definitely tomorrow.’ Then he added: ‘And we have a lot to talk about.’

Her pretty face was unusually pale, her long hair dirty and matted. ‘What’s going to happen to me?’

‘I don’t know,’ he replied honestly, ‘but I can tell you a few things. You’re going to make a list of every house you were in and everything you and Anna stole. You’re going to go to every one of those homes in person and apologize. You’re going to return anything you still have, and you’re going to make restitution for anything you don’t. You’re going to do community service every weekend from now until you graduate from high school. And that’s just my punishment. A judge will have more to say.’

She nodded. ‘Okay, Stride.’

‘I’m the easy one,’ he added. ‘Serena will be much tougher.’

Cat gave him a tiny smile, and it was good to see that smile lighting up her face again. When he’d first met her, he’d thought she had a magical smile. Then her lips bent down in genuine confusion. ‘Why the heck aren’t you kicking me out?’

Stride thought: Maybe because you keep telling me to.

‘Let’s make a new rule,’ he said. ‘You never ask me that again. Okay?’

She nodded. ‘Okay.’

Serena joined them in the hospital room. She sat next to Stride, and he slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He could feel her exhaustion, emotional and physical. He was sure that some of the bullets that killed Bernd Frisch were hers, and she knew it, too. It didn’t matter who was on the receiving end or how justified it was or how much the man deserved it, firing a weapon into another human being took a bit of your soul and never gave it back. It wasn’t her first, but it wasn’t something that grew easier with experience.

‘Erin Tierney?’ Stride asked.

‘The doctors say she’ll make it,’ Serena said. The relief in her voice was palpable. ‘She was conscious for a while, but she’s sleeping now. She doesn’t remember much, which is a good thing. I talked to her parents, who are flying in tomorrow. We’ll get a therapist here, too.’

‘I’m glad she’s alive,’ Cat said from the bed.

She didn’t ask about Anna Glick. She knew Anna was dead. Stride realized that Cat had seen way too much death this year — more than anyone should face in a lifetime. And yet fate played out strangely. If Cat hadn’t made her mistakes, things would likely be different for Erin. Other women would still be in danger. By accident, Cat had led them to an evil that was far worse than stealing jewelry or cash under the guise of painting houses. Which didn’t excuse what the girl had done.

They’d linked Bernd Frisch through his passport to the Ingersstrom . The ship was on lockdown in the harbor. The feds and Interpol would be asking questions, and hopefully, the answers would blow open a European crime syndicate and save more lives overseas.

Strange fate.

Cat stared at Stride and Serena. ‘Can I ask you two a question?’

‘Of course,’ they said together.

She played with her fingers and then placed both hands over her stomach. ‘Am I really ready to be a mother?’

Stride looked at Serena, not sure which of them should answer. Finally, he said: ‘That’s your call, Cat, not ours.’

‘I want your opinion,’ she said. ‘And I want you to be honest with me.’

Serena leaned forward and put her hand on top of Cat’s. ‘Honestly?’ she said. ‘No, you’re not.’

‘I knew you’d say that. You’re right.’

‘Not because you’re a bad person,’ Serena went on, ‘and definitely not because I think you would be a bad mother. It’s just that you’re too young to take on that kind of responsibility. It will cheat you and cheat your son.’

Cat suddenly looked older than her years. ‘I’m thinking now that maybe adoption would be a better way for me to go. Are there ways to adopt where he can know who I am?’

‘Yes, open adoption is becoming more common,’ Serena said.

‘What about you two? Would you two consider adopting him?’

Stride and Serena both stared at her, wondering what to say. ‘Cat, that’s a sweet thing to suggest,’ he began, ‘but we can’t—’

‘I mean, you two are going to get married, aren’t you?’ Cat continued, as if she hadn’t already taken away enough of their emotional hiding places.

Serena waited. And watched him. As if she were very interested in the answer he would give. She could have let him off the hook. She could have smiled or made a joke. But no. They’d left the subject of marriage off the table ever since getting back together, but sooner or later, they would have to decide what this relationship was.

In the end, Cat gave him an out.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I know it’s none of my business.’

He hadn’t said a word, and he felt the faintest cool breeze of disappointment blowing toward him from Serena. He got up and went to the hospital window. Behind him, he heard Cat whisper: ‘Did I say something wrong?’

He heard Serena’s reply. ‘No, he’s just not ready.’

Stride let their hushed conversation go unanswered, even though he wanted to turn around and gather both of them up in his arms. All he could think about was how much he hated hospitals.