Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

yanked up against him, the gun leaving her back and reappearing at her temple. ‘Stop!’ Doug yelled. ‘Or I’ll blow her fucking brains out.’
    Everyone froze. Daphne searched the faces before her for the only one that mattered. Joseph stood stock still, having covered most of the ground between them in the few seconds before Doug got over his initial shock.
    His eyes were dark. Hard. Focused. Not meeting hers. That was okay. She needed him to stay calm, because now that her heroics were over, her heart was pounding and it was becoming harder to breathe.
    No panic attacks . No panic attacks . Stay calm and stay alive .
    ‘ I want all guns on the ground,’ Doug barked. ‘All of them.’
    Everyone looked to Joseph, who nodded. The cops laid their guns on the snow.
    ‘Good. Anyone who tries to stop me will have her blood on his hands.’
    Doug started marching her toward a white Jeep when Daphne caught a motion from the corner of her eye. It was the rear hatch of another black SUV, the Dodge emblem on its grille. It was parked midway between the cabin and the white Jeep. The rear hatch was opening by itself. Someone else had a key fob in their pocket.
    Again Daphne scanned the faces and knew the second she locked gazes with Deacon Novak that he’d been the one to open the hatch. He lifted one snow white brow as Doug marched her past him.
    Then she saw why. A blur of black leapt from the back of the Dodge, one hundred pounds of snarling Giant Schnauzer. Tasha . Deacon had brought Ford and Tasha.
    The dog advanced, slowing to a deliberate prowl, blocking Doug’s path to the cars parked down the drive.
    ‘Call off the dog,’ Doug yelled. ‘Or I will kill it. And anyone who shoots me kills another little girl, because if I’m dead I can’t tell you where to find Pamela MacGregor.’
    ‘If you’re keeping Pamela at your house, Mitch ,’ Joseph said, walking up behind Tasha, ‘then we’ll find her.’
    Daphne didn’t know who Mitch was, but Doug did. He jerked like he’d been shocked with a live wire. ‘Keep back,’ Doug shouted. ‘I will kill this bitch.’
    He began to back up, forcing Daphne to back up with him. Away from the vehicles lining the drive. This was good. The minute she drove away with him, she’d be dead. As he backed up, Tasha followed, step for step, her teeth bared in a feral growl.
    Doug took a step toward Joseph’s Escalade and she realized she held the means of his escape in her hand. She threw the keys before he could stop her and they landed in the snow.
    Joseph scooped them up, dropped them in his pocket. Still didn’t look at her. He kept his eyes on Doug who was vibrating with fury.
    He jammed the barrel of the gun into her temple, so hard she cried out. ‘You’ll be sorry you did that, bitch.’
    ‘I don’t care. My son is in that SUV and you’re not touching him again.’
    He pressed his forearm into her throat, making it almost impossible to breathe. From the corner of her eye she saw a wide-eyed Mark O’Hurley crouched behind his car as they passed. She’d forgotten he was there.
    ‘I want a car,’ Doug declared and Daphne could hear the desperation in his voice. ‘Give me those keys. Now.’
    ‘I can’t do that, Mitch,’ Joseph said calmly. ‘You know I can’t. Let her go and we’ll talk.’
    ‘We have nothing to talk about. I will kill her.’
    ‘And then we’ll kill you,’ Joseph said quietly. ‘Or worse maybe, in your mind, we’ll send you back to prison. You think the three years you did was hard? You try the rest of your natural days.’ He tilted his head to one side, watching. ‘Either way it goes down, who will take care of Cole?’
    Doug jerked again, his chest expanding against her back as he sucked in startled breath. ‘Don’t you touch my brother.’
    ‘We won’t. But he’ll go into the foster system. And you’ll never see him again. Unless you cooperate. Now.’ Joseph took a step forward.
    Doug stepped back two, dragging Daphne with him. ‘Shut up!’ He hit the garage’s outer wall and froze. His forearm tightened against her throat. ‘She’s yours, isn’t she, Agent Carter? This bitch is yours. Don’t even try to deny it.’ He started moving sideways, toward the door that was still open. ‘I saw you on TV. I saw how you leaped in front of bullets to save her. I saw you two last night, in her hotel room. You, holding her while she cried. Both of you half dressed. If you ever want to hold her like that again,