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He doesn't hesitate.

Sean and Taylor run toward the vehicles.

I wrap an arm around Lily and watch them go.

Eighteen years ago, Sean disappeared from my life, and I believed I would never see him again.

Today, I watched him run away from me for a different reason.

To save someone else’s daughter.

And this time, I know something I didn’t know eighteen years ago.

He’s coming back.

9

SEAN

The cargo van has a two-minute head start.

Taylor cuts that to one before we clear the mine road.

I brace one hand against the dashboard as the SUV tears across the desert, throwing a cloud of dust behind us.

“West,” Sheriff Vega says through the radio. “Van is still heading toward the airstrip. State police are approaching from the north.”

“How many girls?” I ask.

“Unknown.”

“How many armed men?”

“Also unknown.”

Taylor glances at me.

“Useful.”

Vega hears him.

“I’m working with what I have.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I almost look at him.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“She has a gun and authority.”

“You had commanding officers with guns and authority.”

“Different.”

“How?”

“I liked some of them.”