The Belial Stone(100)

“Jake, what was that?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, Laney. I really don’t.”

Laney pulled up in front of the enclosure in a daze. That fight had been incredible. But what did it mean? Who, or more accurately what, was Henry

“Where do they think they’re going?” Jake asked.

Laney followed Jake's gaze. Kensington and Priddle sprinted from behind a piece of rubble, heading for a giant SUV. They must have been hiding out and only now tried to escape.

She leaped out of the car, rage fueling her. “Oh no, you don’t.”

Kensington was only a short distance from his car. She put on a burst of speed. Ahead of her, Kensington fumbled for his keys, dropping them to the ground in his haste. Laney reached him just as he retrieved them.

She spun, aiming a back-kick at the base of his spine. Kensington screamed as his chin connected with the roof of the car and his broken arm crashed into the door.

Anger rolled off her in waves as she stalked towards him. Grabbing him by the back of the head, she slammed his face into the car, breaking his nose. She spun him around and let him drop to the ground.

He sniveled, clutching his nose and moaning. She looked at him with disgust. This was the man who had killed hundreds of men in the name of power, who was responsible for Drew's death, and who had endangered the people she cared about. And when confronted, he collapsed without a fight.

She thought she should say something to let him know that he had lost. As she looked at the sniveling mess of a man on the ground, though, she realized he wasn’t even worth the energy to speak the words.

“You good?” Jake asked from behind her.

She looked over her shoulder at him. She smiled. “Yeah, I’m good.” She started to turn, when she heard the retort of a gun. Confused, she looked around, trying to determine where it had come from.

Jake closed the distance between them in seconds and grabbed her around the waist. Priddle stood peering over the hood of the car, his gun aimed at them. Somehow, he had crawled around the side, unseen, to take his shot.

Jake pulled Laney close as he shot over her shoulder. Jake’s shot found its mark, right in the middle of Priddle’s face, now all but gone. The force of the shot blast forced him backwards, into the cage where he’d enslaved men to further his own career.

“Laney? Are you all right?” Jake asked, his face a mask of concern.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” she said, as her legs buckled. She stared at the darkening pool on the ground below her with confusion.

Where’s all that blood coming from? she thought, right before her world went black.





CHAPTER 93



Great Falls, MT



Patrick sat next to the hospital bed, waiting for Laney to open her eyes. The bullet had cut through her right lung, just missing her spine. She’d survived the surgery, but the doctors said the next couple of hours were critical.

Patrick looked around the room at the medical equipment, listening to the heart monitor beeping away, keeping track of her heartbeat. He wasn’t sure he could stand this.

Yoni had gone running when he heard the retort of Priddle’s gun. Patrick had hobbled along behind him. The first thing he’d seen was Jake’s anguished face as he knelt next to Laney, the ground stained with her blood. He didn’t remember much after that.

He vaguely recalled the Chandler helicopter landing in the field. He and Jake had flown to the trauma unit at the Benefis Hospital in Great Falls.

The hospital’s helipad already had a helicopter on it, so Jake had made the pilot land in the parking lot, indifferent to the cars and pedestrians who'd had to scramble out of the way.

A medical team whisked Laney onto a gurney right from the parking lot. She'd immediately been taken into surgery. Patrick had stood there numb, watching the doors to the operating room swing shut behind her.

Henry, Yoni, and even Tom had all been by, but Patrick couldn’t have said when they had shown up or when they had left.

Jake had paced the waiting room like a caged tiger during the surgery and refused to leave. The police and feds had shown up two hours ago to get Jake’s statement, after their attempts to get him back to the enclosure failed. Patrick had encouraged Jake to speak with them. He knew Jake needed to do something. He promised to call him if anything changed.

But he hadn’t had to call. Laney lay still in the bed, only the monitor letting him know she was still here. He looked up as a shadow fell over him.

Jake stood framed in the doorway. “Any change?”

“No. Nothing.”

Patrick stretched and looked at the strong man staring at his niece from the door. Jake’s eyes were wild and he could tell he was trying to keep a storm of emotions at bay.