Mary Jane started after Ariel, but Robertson grabbed her arm and yanked her back. “We’re not on the case anymore, Mary Jane, since we spent half our manpower and time searching for you.”

“Please, understand that Woods is a very bad man. I know we haven’t gotten along,” Mary Jane spoke to Robertson before he could slip inside the camper where Ariel had followed the boss. “Please, if he sees Wulf, he’s liable to kill him and the little girl. I had a dream about it. Let me go in first!”

“There’s nothing I can do. Now, listen to Juarez and don’t move a single muscle.” Robertson started for the stairs of the trailer.

Eyes wide, she stared at the back of his head.

Everyone had blown her off. Except for Ariel. Mary Jane had gotten the feeling that the agent had to prove herself as a woman. Wulf had called home last Christmas when he spoke with his family, and she’d heard Bree’s voice…well, that had caused her heart to take flight with worry.

Mary Jane bit her lip, passing one zig-zagged cruiser and then another. She fidgeted with her fingers while moving around the SWAT bus.

She ran.

“Ma’am!” The shouting came a half second after.

A slew of officers tailed her to the barricade. A few yards away from the building, they fell back in order. There was no time to rationalize why they chose not to continue after her. Besides the imminent danger or their own orders. She hurried toward a rusted door and crept inside the abandoned factory.

It was dark. Her eyes widened then squinted, and her vision adjusted to the lack of light.

Mary Jane took a deep breath of air, moist with contaminants. The faint sound of water dripping slowed her heart down, and Mary Jane tiptoed toward Jake’s voice.

Mary Jane’s eyes widened in horror upon seeing Bree. The rope engulfed and was bounding her about the chest and legs was thicker than her arms. Bree sat on the floor in the middle of old bins and other factory equipment. Mary Jane hurried over without a thought besides helping her.

The girl’s eyes were wet with tears, and the brown pupils held no glimmer of hope.

Intuition caught up. Mary Jane put a finger over her lips and finally looked around her. Jake was nowhere in sight. There were crates and bins cluttering the room. She bit her lip and ducked down while moving toward the girl.

“Bree,” she whispered in a soothing voice as she knelt on the floor, “I know your uncle Dylan.” Mary Jane smiled as hope washed over Bree’s face. It instantly vanished. “Do you like ice cream? How about Dylan and I take you to get some ice cream after you see your parents?” she asked, trying to get the little girl to reclaim just a seed of faith. Just a smidgen made all things possible, and she needed Bree receptive to orders if need be. Not hollow and timid with fear.

The sound of a gun cocked back so close to her ear made Mary Jane flinch. With a heightened level of awareness, she cautiously looked over her shoulder slowly to see Jake. He wore army fatigues. He’s ready for war.

“Hello, Jake.”

“Hello, Mary Jane.” His voice reminded her of sweet tea and a summer breeze. His gun never left the back of her ear as she stood straight, arms up. “What are you doing?”

Though she looked dead ahead, Mary Jane gulped. “I just want to get this little girl to safety. That’s all.”

“Where’s Wulf?”

“I don’t know.”

“I have to kill him and the kid,” the gun went back to Bree, “or you, Mary Jane. Let me kill them, please. And we can go.”

“No!”

“Don’t do this.” His honey-brown eyes warmed over once more as he glanced at her.

“It’s the dreams, isn’t it?” Mary Jane slowly reached out to touch his shoulder. It was a calming movement but the gun went to her chest. Keeping the focus on her and not Bree was exactly what Mary Jane needed so she held her composure.

His voice was filled with regret. “The dreams won’t stop, MJ. You…you’re supposed to be my target.”

She thought of the right words to say. The dreams had taken root into her mind, making it so much easier for her to leave Wulf last night. That was, until she told him she might be pregnant.

“You don’t have to kill anymore, Jake.” She needed him to remember the man he’d been for her very own sake while saving her from Beasley and Peter.

As her hand caressed his cheek, Jake’s eyes stopped on hers. Dark eyes consumed with death, he uttered each syllable slowly, “I-refuse-to-stop. It’s the kid and Wulf or you. MJ, I swear, I refuse to murder you, unless you force me to!”

The gun left her head. Mary Jane stumbled in front of Bree. With as much conviction as she could muster, she shouted, “Listen here, Sergeant Woods, you’ve been reassigned!”

He didn’t seem convinced.

“Sergeant Woods.” She spoke with the force she remembered her father would use. His words came to mind. There had to be truth in them when he’d jokingly ordered Elena around before she went on vacation and became timid. Or the stories of war he’d tell when Mom wasn’t around to complain. Mary Jane knew some soldier lingo. She knew how to use certain words to her advantage. “Your mission is over, Sergeant! Stand down! Do you understand?”

Something in his stiff mannerisms indicated that she’d gotten through to him. That maybe whatever curse or scientific spell Peter put on Jake had been tampered with. The brain is a flexible and strong muscle, but how was it that she so easily learned about her past? Mary Jane didn’t know how many years Jake was under the influence of Peter. She determined that the length of time had something to do with it.

“Listen to me, Sergeant!” she shouted.

Bree had further retreated into a shell. Her lip quivered and there was not an ounce of hope in her big brown eyes.

“No.” Jake shook his head. He clutched a hand at his brain but held his gun steady at her chest.

Mary Jane drummed up more of her father’s old war sayings. The crude jokes that many army men knew became second nature as she spoke of the enemy. She willed something, anything to slow his mindset, but in the end, Jake held steady.

“Just kill me,” Mary Jane said, simple as that. There’d be no assistance from a sniper since the building had no windows. At that very moment, she knew breaking through his resolve would be two steps past impossible. He’d been fucked with for too long. And Ariel had explained that Jake was never a good guy to begin with.

“Kill me.” Her voice rasped. “Just me. Nobody else has to die but me.”

“No.” He shoved Mary Jane so hard she fell.

“You want to kill me, Jake, do it.” Her voice faltered as Jake pointed the gun at Bree. Tiny sobs made her heart crack even further. On her hands and knees she crawled. For the first time in her life, Mary Jane desired to be happy, and even more, she longed for a future. She took Bree’s hand and they both stood, as she concentrated on a small dream of happiness. Wulf was outside, probably trying his damnedest to get inside. To save Bree and her.

“Close your eyes,” Mary Jane spoke softly to Bree, and then she stepped before her again.

Bree’s sobs were silent. Her tiny body vibrated against Mary Jane’s back. Mary Jane gripped the barrel of Jake’s nine millimeter and planted it square in her chest. Eyes glossed over, she said, “Do it. Complete your mission. The dreams will cease once you finish your assignment. My bad dreams will stop too.”

She’d dealt with Peter Grienke’s dreams long enough. The hold he had on her was already more than she could bear. If her death meant Wulf and Bree, who’d just started to live, would be safe, then she readily agreed.

Jake took a deep breath.

Don’t sleep. Don’t sleep. Don’t sleep. Don’t dream. Don’t dream…Those thoughts plagued her again, making it easier for her to goad Jake.

“Pull the trigger, soldier!” Mary Jane screamed at the top of her lungs. “Complete your fucking mission!”

Bang!