Free Riordan by Kathi S. Barton

running full
    tap, as Ennis had told him. It was pumping her system clean of the poison that had been given to
    her. Lucky for Storm, she’d pulled the needle out before more than a few drams of the stuff had
    been put in her. He was just glad that he and Blackson were so near when he said that Storm was
    in trouble. Riordan’s opinion about the man had been wrong, he thought now.
    His dad came in the room again and sat next to his mom. He was upset, too, but he was nicer
    about it.
    The scrubs Riordan had been given felt foreign to him. After his suit clothes and shoes had
    been torn up when he shifted, Ennis had been nice enough to find him something to wear. He
    wasn’t used to being so informal. And being uncomfortable wasn’t helping his temper right now.
    “If they hadn’t made her come here, she’d be safe at her house.” He tried his best to calm his
    cat, but he wanted to find the woman that had hurt Storm and kill her again. “I would think
    they’d listen to her when she says she’s just fine.”
    The door opened again, and he had to fight hard with his other self not to shift and kill. And
    seeing Blackson didn’t calm him either. Riordan felt his body crawling with the need to protect
    her when she was hurt like this, and Blackson seemed to know it. He stayed as far from the bed
    as he could without leaving the room.
    “While I’m going to share what happened, I must tell you that sharing this information will
    have you before a firing squad. Anything and everything about today is going to be classified.
    But as her family, I’m going to bend the rules a little and let you know what happened.” Riordan
    nodded, and so did his mom and dad. “First of all, the shooting at the bakery is going to be listed
    as a robbery gone wrong. He came in to get money for drugs and he was shot and killed by an
    unknown hero. Neither of you will be listed in any report filed, nor will anyone ever know that
    Stormy killed him because you were being held. Got that?”
    “Why?” Riordan thought that a good question and nodded at his dad for asking it. Riordan
    had a lot more questions like that one, but he was willing to wait for answers one at a time. “Why
    not say that he came there depressed and wanted to commit suicide by cop?”
    “Because it would have to be mentioned that Storm Browning was involved.” Blackson sat
    down in the room’s only other chair. Riordan looked at him then. The man was exhausted, and
    he’d bet that it had to do with this woman in front of him. “We’re trying our best to keep her
    name…not just her name, but everything about her out of the paper. Sergeant Major Storm
    Browning is a name that would get her…as you can see, get her killed. She’s a wanted woman in
    Afghanistan. Not for crimes that one would think, but crimes against their forces. They’re saying
    that she is responsible for the murder of over nine hundred men, women, and children. And in a
    way, she is. Just not the way that it is being broadcast in their neck of the woods.”
    “I don’t understand. How is she solely responsible for that many deaths?” Riordan looked
    down at Storm as he continued. “I know that she was in the services and all, but that is a lot of
    kills for any one person.”
    “She didn’t actually do any of the killing. But she did guide our missiles to a place where
    there were…this is difficult without involving you in things that you’re not supposed to know.”
    He got up to pace. “When she was recruited, it was figured out right away that she was special.
    Not just as a human, because we knew that was what she was, but her intelligence, as well as her
    innate ability to see things that none of us could. Like, she could see an outcome of a mission,
    see how people would react, how they would move when shit hit the fan. That day she was hit,
    she could see what no one, not even our boots on the ground, could see. Not just what was in her
    head, but she could see directly