The sound that erupted from Tatiana’s throat was the sound of pure evil. ‘Talk. Right. Well, all I want is to get out of this god-forsaken state. Now, let’s check our situation, shall we? I’ve got a gun. Your people have guns. And sure, if you all rushed me at once, you could probably take me down, but can you do that before I begin shooting? No. How many casualties are worth my capture, Detective? One, five, more? How many lives are worth my one?’

Without warning, she jerked her hand to the side and shot. A man cried out as he fell to the ground clutching his leg. ‘Oops.’ Her cold glare met Alyssa’s steady gaze. ‘The next will be right in the head.’ She bumped her chin against the teenage boy in her arms as she brushed her gun along his cheekbone. Then she leaned down to whisper something in his ear. Something that made the boy whimper.

‘We need to get that man medical help,’ Alyssa said, more to distract Tatiana from the movement behind her than because she truly believed Tatiana cared what happened to the guy she’d shot for no reason other than because he’d been there.

As she suspected, Tatiana laughed. And pointed the gun at yet another innocent bystander. But this time, before she could pull the trigger, the woman in military fatigues dove low, knocking into Tatiana’s legs and throwing her off-balance, which forced her to loosen her grip on the teenage boy, who dropped and rolled away.

And then Cord was there, pressing down on the wrist still gripping the gun until Tony could pry it from her fingers. While Joe and the two transit officers raced over to the man who’d been shot, Alyssa joined the Army private as together they wrestled Tatiana Salazar over. By the time they got her flipped over onto her stomach, Alyssa’s vision was hazy from anger, and she pressed her knee harder into the woman’s back as she struggled against their restraints.

It took all four of them to subdue her long enough to slap the cuffs on her. It was Cord who yanked on the manacles and dragged her off the ground. Tatiana stopped shouting obscenities long enough to spit at both Cord and the private. And then Cord was in her face, and though Alyssa couldn’t hear what he said, it was enough to shut Salazar up, though the murderous glare she bestowed on him would’ve felled most men.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Wednesday, May 29

‘I just don’t understand,’ Holly said for the third time as she and Sophie clasped each other’s hands. ‘It doesn’t make sense.’

Sophie stared out the window, traces of the tears she’d cried earlier streaking her make-up and leaving a jagged line down her cheek. ‘I think we chose not to see it,’ she finally said. ‘When Leigh Ann moved here our freshman year, do you remember her first day of school, the way she walked in like she was the most important body to ever grace the halls, like she was a gift to the student population?’