Within the Shadows by J.D MCG (knowledgeable books to read .txt) 📕

either way,' Barnes admitted he knew where they were. 'You'll be dead or arrested before you can get anywhere near them.'

'So you know where they are? This whole time you could have just told me and spared yourself and your family so much pain. Did you ever think why I just came after you? I knew you took them and I know they're not where they are supposed to be.'

'Lily, I'm begging you, just let my wife and daughters go and I'll tell you where they are,' he continued to beg.

'You had your chance.'

Before Barnes could move, Lily stared Vanessa dead in the eyes before pulling the trigger, blasting a bullet straight in her stomach. She hit the floor with a thud with blood pouring everywhere on the floor. Barnes rushed to snatch the gun out of Lily's hands before she could take a shot at him, but she was quicker than him and pointed it in his direction.

'No sudden movements, Joe,' she demanded calmly.

'Let her get some help,' he pleaded. Lily said nothing, making Joe shout, 'She's gonna die! She needs to go to the hospital.'

'Nobody's leaving,' Lily yelled back, still pointing the gun at him.

The twins had come back to the stairway after hearing the gunshot, to see their mother bleeding on the floor beneath them.

'Mummy,' Bonnie cried out, her tears streaming down her cheeks.

April came running down the stairs and towards her mother before Barnes stopped her from getting any closer to Lily. Bonnie remained on the stairs, too afraid to move. Her eyes focused on the gun Lily had pointed at her father.

'Stay back,' Barnes said to April, as he pushed her behind him, shielding her from Lily.

'This is all your fault, Joe,' she yelled once again.

'Aren't you going to do anything?' Ally yelled at the armed response officer.

'We can't ma'am. We can't get a clear enough view. The curtains are drawn and we can't get a shot on the suspect,' he explained.

She stormed off and approached the front of Vanessa's house, despite the officers shouting at her to return to a safe distance. She could hear shouting coming from what she thought was Lily's voice. Children crying was the next thing Ally could hear, before hearing her boss pleading and begging.

Ally quietly rushed back behind the tape and informed the armed officers of what she heard.

'Someone's been shot, which I believe is Vanessa Barnes. Our suspect, Lily Black, seems to be inside and armed.'

The officer responded with just a nod while keeping his sights on the house in case of any activity. The rest of her team made their way across the street and reconnected with Ally.

'Pretty ballsy, boss,' Brian joked.

'Lily has Barnes' wife and kids hostage,' she explained to them. 'I'm gonna go round the back and find a way inside.'

'But you can't. They won't let you enter there alone,' said Sarah, talking about the armed response unit.

'I don't care. There are two little girls inside that house and one mother, who is bleeding out from a gunshot wound, and the most they are doing is aiming at a house with no target in sight,' she explained with frustration.

Ally opened the boot of her car, put on her Kevlar vest, and gave her gun the once over before moving towards the house. She ran around the back while the officers once again shouted at her to stand down, but Ally wasn't waiting any longer. Barnes and his family were in there and in danger.

Once she made it into the garden, she checked the back door to see if it was open. That's when she noticed one of the glass panels in the door had been smashed. The door was still slightly open, making it easier for Ally to enter.

Her foot avoided the smashed shards of glass currently laying on the floor and made her way through the kitchen and to the hallway. Sounds of shouting could still be heard, echoing throughout the house.

Lily sounded panicked as if she had no idea how to remove herself from the current situation she was trapped in.

'Lily, please just calm down. You're scaring my daughters. Just let them and my wife go,' he begged once again.

'I've told you, no one is leaving,' she replied, with her hands on her head pacing around the floor, trying to think of a way out of the house alive.

Vanessa was unconscious and losing blood. Barnes heard a noise to his left, like a squeaky floorboard, coming from his right. He took a quick glance and caught sight of Ally, peeking from behind the door frame.

Ally moved stealthily across the hallway to the room opposite which would give her another vantage point at Lily. Barnes moved his focus back on Lily. He could see Ally hiding by the door frame from the dining room next door to the lounge area. Both Barnes and Ally now had Lily cornered with nowhere to go.

'Lily, just walk out of here, before you end up dead,' Barnes instructed.

'What makes you think I'll end up dead?' she questioned with a smirk.

'Because you're cornered,' Ally informed her, aiming her gun at Lily.

Lily took a quick shot at Ally, missing, before moving her gun back at Barnes and pulling the trigger. But Barnes calculated her next move and jumped behind the wall to the hallway with April.

'You and your sister go upstairs and don't come out of your room till you hear me, okay?' he told April, giving her clear instructions, before removing his gun from the back of his trousers.

Ally fired back, also missing Lily as she ducked behind one of the sofas, getting out of the line of fire from both Ally and Barnes.

'Is that the best you’ve got?' Lily called out to Ally, taunting her.

Barnes peeked around