Page 149 of Override

She stops trying to ease away. She shoves him. Hard.

Ronan stumbles one step backward. My phone is already in my hand when he looks at her again.

I know what happens next before he moves. Ronan closes the distance between them. One hand catches her shoulder.

The other rises toward her throat. And the entire world narrows to the space between them.

The laptop slips from my hands. It hits the ground hard enough that the screen flashes once before disappearing beneath dead leaves. I don't stop to pick it up.

My phone is at my ear before I clear the first row of trees.

Matt answers before the second ring. "Skee?"

"I'm going in."

The pounding of my boots across the forest floor nearly drowns out his response. "What happened?"

A branch catches my shoulder, snapping backward as I push through another stand of pines. "He put his hands on her."

Silence. Not because he doesn't understand. Because he understands perfectly.

"Where are you?"

"East tree line."

Another few strides. The fence comes into view between the trees.

"I'll have everyone moving now," Matt says, his voice suddenly calm in the way it only becomes when everything has gone sideways. "Don't do this alone."

I don't answer immediately. "I'm not waiting."

"Keaton—"

I end the call.

The phone disappears into my pocket without breaking stride. Every second I spend talking is another second Ronan Gallagher is alone with Maeve. The chain-link fence rushes toward me.

I don't slow down.

One foot catches the support rail. My hands find the top. Momentum carries me over before gravity has the chance to argue. I hit the ground harder than I would've liked, my boots sliding through loose pine needles before I catch myself and keep running.

The garage. It couldn't be more than a hundred yards away. A hundred yards had never felt farther. My lungs burn, but I barely notice. All I can see is the last image frozen in my mind. Ronan's hand. Maeve's throat.

I don't know if she fought him. I don't know if he let go. I don't know if she's still standing. The uncertainty claws at my ribs harder than the sprint ever could.

Every decision I'd made over the last three days crashes into me all at once. I should've ignored Matt. I should've climbed that fence the first night. I should've broken into the house the moment she whispered goodbye through that bathroom microphone.

Discipline. Procedure. Evidence.

I'd told myself waiting was protecting her. Right now...It feels a hell of a lot like I abandoned her.

My hand instinctively reaches beneath my jacket, fingers wrapping around the grip of my pistol. Not because I want to use it. Because for the first time since this mission began...I have absolutely no idea what I'm running into.

The trees begin to thin. The stone wall of the garage comes into view through the branches. The overhead door is still open.

Thank God.

If it had closed...I force the thought away before it can finish.