Chapter 18 #2
“But it’s my mommy,” Bridget whimpered.
“Let my daughter go now, or I’ll shoot you,” Desiree said, and at her mother’s harsh words, Bridget finally stilled.
“No,” Chelsea said with more confidence than she felt. “I don’t think you will. Not with Bridget here.”
“Mommy, why would you shoot her? She’s not one of the bad men. We played in the maze together before, I told her how to get to the middle so she could beat her husband and win.”
This poor, sweet little girl had no idea who her mother truly was. Bridget was too young, too innocent to understand what was happening around her. All she likely knew was that her mother loved her and provided the medical care she needed to manage her condition.
“Come, Bridget, now,” Desiree barked, but this time the little girl burrowed into Chelsea’s hold.
“Stop it, Desiree, you're scaring her, and I know that’s not what you want,” she told the other woman.
“What would you know?” Desiree sneered. “You got what you wanted, you’ve destroyed everything I've built. It’s all falling down, all coming apart, and …” The woman broke off in a sob. “You just gave my daughter a death sentence.”
Shifting slightly so she had Bridget tucked more securely in her grasp, but could also get a better look at Desiree, Chelsea shook her head.
“No. No death sentence for this precious child. She’s completely innocent in all of this, and the last thing anyone wants is for her to suffer any more than she already has.
Put your weapon down, Desiree, surrender, and Prey will make sure that Bridget always has access to the medical care she needs. ”
“But only if I surrender, right?” Desiree’s mocking snarl looked particularly eerie in the beam of the flashlight.
“No. Regardless of what you do here tonight, I will personally ensure that Bridget is always well taken care of and is seen by the best doctors in the world.” It was an easy vow to make because there was no reason for this innocent little girl to suffer.
It didn't matter who Bridget’s mother was, or the pain and suffering she had inflicted on hundreds of people, this child had nothing to do with any of that.
“It won't be enough, it wasn't before,” Desiree wailed.
“I know. What happened to your husband and your sons was awful. No one should have to go through all those losses. I understand why you did this, how desperate you must have been. That loss … it was crushing you, and you thought losing Bridget would be the final blow. But just because I understand the whys doesn’t make any of this okay, you know that, Desiree.
How would you have felt if someone had taken your husband, cut him open, and taken his organs to save someone else? ”
This woman was unstable at best, completely deluded at worst.
There was no chance that Chelsea was going to be able to talk Desiree Tilly into turning herself in, no matter how hard she tried.
The woman could only see things one way.
Hers.
Saving Bridget was the only thing she cared about, and she saw her trafficking ring as the only possible way to do that.
With it all burning down around her, she was quickly unravelling, and Chelsea was pretty sure that at the end of that rope would be bullets for all three of them.
The problem was, out here in the maze, nobody knew where she was.
Sooner or later, Josiah would realize she wasn't in the linen closet where she had promised to hide. When he found that out, he was going to be so angry with her, but he’d be scared too.
Honestly, she’d rather take the anger than his fear, because the last thing she’d wanted to do was scare him.
Despite the terror she knew he’d feel, she also knew he’d come looking for her. Could she at least keep Desiree Tilly talking long enough for him to find her?
It was a gamble, but it was all she had.
If she tried to rush the woman, she had no doubt that Desiree would fire before she could tackle her and try to get control of the weapon. Chelsea had no weapon of her own so it wasn't like she could fire an incapacitating shot and then go looking for Josiah.
Plus, she had Bridget to think about.
The little girl trembled in her arms, obviously upset about her mother’s behavior.
Should she try to get the girl to run? Even if Desiree was planning a murder suicide rather than be caught and imprisoned, she didn't think the woman would just randomly fire on her own daughter if Chelsea told the girl to run.
But if she did that, she left Desiree with no deterrent from just shooting her and running after the little girl.
Chelsea was under no doubt that the only reason she wasn't already shot and bleeding out was the fact that she’d been so close to Bridget when Desiree showed up.
The woman wasn't going to risk a shot hitting her child, at least not yet anyway.
“Where are they?” she asked softly.
“Where are who?” Desiree asked.
“Your husband, your sons. Where are they buried?” If there was one thing Chelsea was sure of it was that Desiree Tilly loved her family.
It was the compounded losses of her parents, then her sons, then her husband, that had tipped her over the edge, and now they might be the only thing to bring her back.
The gun aimed at her wavered a little. “They’re not. I had them cremated,” Desiree whispered. “So they could always be a part of our lives.”
“Daddy and my brothers watch over me from the necklace,” Bridget whispered, and when Chelsea glanced down, she saw the little girl had pulled out a heart hanging on a chain around her neck.
It was about two inches wide, and there seemed to be words engraved on it, although it was too dark to read what they were.
“That’s nice,” Chelsea whispered back. “Your daddy and your brothers love you very much, and you get to have a piece of them with you everywhere you go, so they never have to leave you.”
“Mommy has one too. When I'm sick and I have to have another operation, Mommy and I always hold our hearts in our hands right before the doctors take me away, and we ask Daddy and my brothers to watch over me.”
“Family is everything,” Desiree murmured.
“And you did all of this to try to save all you had left of yours,” Chelsea said.
The gun had lowered a little more, and she was trying to figure out what her best move was.
Telling Bridget to run and then rushing Desiree might be the only way to end this, but if she went that route, she would have to pray that she was quicker than a bullet.
Even more than she didn't want to die today, she didn't want Josiah to have to find her body, dead from a gunshot wound, the same way his team had been taken from him. They were a team right now, and to lose her would destroy him, she was positive of that.
But what was the alternative?
Wait there and hope that Josiah found her before it was too late?
Just because Desiree was wavering didn't mean that she wasn't still going to kill all three of them before they could be found.
Risky or not, she had to make a move.
Bunching her muscles in preparation for what she was about to do, Chelsea shifted her hold on Bridget enough that she could both push the girl away from her mother and fling herself toward Desiree all at the same time.
“Family really is everything, and I don’t think there’s a person alive who can know for certain what lengths they would go to in order to save the people they love,” she said softly, and when Desiree’s shocked gaze met hers, Chelsea sprang into action.
“Bridget, run!” she shouted as she launched herself forward.
Right as she moved, a deafening shot cracked through the night.