“You can’t come on a tactical operation,” she warned.
“I’m not going to interfere.”
I looked her directly in the eyes.
“But I’m not sitting in a hospital while the man who tortured my daughter drives around with Elena.”
She studied me for a moment.
“Stay behind us. Do not leave your vehicle unless we tell you to.”
Twenty minutes later, we found Julian.
Two state troopers and Detective Vance’s unmarked vehicle had forced his silver Explorer against a guardrail on an abandoned industrial road.
Rain hammered the pavement.
Police lights flashed across the darkness.
Julian was inside the SUV holding a revolver.
Elena was beside him.
Her wrist was zip-tied to the passenger door.
She looked terrified.
Officers surrounded the vehicle.
“Julian Vance! Drop the weapon and step out with your hands up!”
He refused.
“I’ll shoot her!”
Elena looked toward Detective Vance’s vehicle.
She wasn’t begging for herself.
She silently mouthed one word.
Maya.
Something inside me broke.
For years, Elena and I had carried the bitterness of our divorce. Arguments. Resentment. Lawyers. Silence.
None of it mattered anymore.
She was Maya’s mother.
And she’d tried to protect our daughter.
I opened my truck door.
Keeping low behind the police vehicles, I moved toward the Explorer.
Rain soaked through my clothes.
Julian was focused on the officers in front of him.
He didn’t see me approaching from the passenger side.
Then Elena saw me.
Her eyes widened.
She subtly shifted her body, blocking Julian’s view of the passenger mirror.
I reached the vehicle.
I had only seconds.
I raised the tire iron I’d grabbed from my truck and smashed the rear passenger window.
CRACK!
Glass exploded across the interior.
Julian spun around.
That was all the police needed.
Detective Vance and two troopers rushed the driver’s side. They grabbed Julian’s weapon arm before he could fire.
I yanked open the passenger door.
Elena’s wrist was still bound.
I cut the zip tie and pulled her out.
“Robert!”
She collapsed against me.
I held her tightly.
“He locked her away,” she sobbed. “Where’s Maya? Is she okay?”
“She’s safe.”
My voice broke.
“She’s at the hospital. I found her. I broke the cage.”
Elena’s knees gave out.
