Sean brought the hammer down in the exact center of the piano and it crumpled into splinters of wood and ivory with a discordant crash. Then he stepped up onto the chair again, his boot next to Lennie’s head, and placed the cold iron head of the sledge hammer on the man’s forehead. “Talk,” he said warningly.
“You two arefucking nuts,”Lennie blustered. “You think you’re going to get them back fromMalone?You got a private army?”
“No harm in telling us, then,” said Sean.
Lennie looked around at the devastation, looked up at Sean’s face, and gulped. But his mouth stayed shut. This could take hours. And we might not have hours. Once Malone split the drugs up and sold them, we were screwed. Kayley was going to die because this asshole was too scared, too proud, too arrogant to tell us what we needed to know.
I was suddenly tired of being the good girl. Malone didn’t play by the rules. Well, neither would I.
“Give me the hammer,” I said.
Sean and Lennie both turned to look at me. “What?” asked Sean.
“Give me. The hammer.” The blood was pounding in my ears.
He slowly handed it over. I nearly staggered under the weight.Jesus, how does he swing this thing?Lennie laughed.
“Duct tape his legs apart,” I said. I’d started to pant, fear and adrenaline sloshing together through my veins.
Sean gave me a long, steady look...then nodded. He pulled the duct tape from his pocket and grabbed one of Lennie’s legs.
“Wait…” said Lennie slowly.
Sean shook his head. “You had your chance with me,” he told him. And wrapped duct tape behind Lennie’s knee, pulled it to the arm of the armchair and secured it there. He did the same with the other knee, so that Lennie was sitting with his legs wide apart.
I stepped in front of Lennie and heaved the sledge hammer back over my head, like Sean did. For the first time, I really understood the power of it. My heart was thumping like I’d never known it. “Lennie,” I said warningly. “Where are our drugs?” I focused on the crotch of his suit pants.
Lennie started to pant with fear. “You wouldn’t,” he said, struggling against the duct tape. “You’re the brains. You’re a fucking science nerd.”
“You’d be surprised what I’m capable of when someone threatens my family,” I said coldly. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, preparing to swing. “I’ll count to three.”
Lennie shook his head.
“One.”
Lennie’s breathing hitched.
“Two.”
His eyes were locked on mine, now, trying to reassure himself that I was just some scared civilian. He tried to find that person I used to be. But he couldn’t. Because she’d stepped out for a minute.
“Thr—”
“They’re at the jazz club! Malone’s auctioning them off tonight!” The words came out so fast, it was like he was being sick. “He wants everyone there at ten. I’m going—everyone’s going. That’s all I know!”
I stepped back a step and let the hammer slide from my fingers. Sean caught it before it hit the ground. Then I watched as he duct-taped Lennie’s arms, wrists and head to the chair so he couldn’t move, then finally stuck tape over his mouth so he couldn’t yell for help. He dragged the three heavies into the room and I helped him duct-tape them, as well. I was still nervous and shaky, amazed at what I’d nearly done.
“You weren’t faking, were you?” Sean muttered to me as we duct-taped one guy’s wrists.
I slowly shook my head.
Sean stared at me in amazement...then grinned. “Good for you.”
We finished taping and looked at the four bound men, three of them unconscious and one of them glaring at us in rage. “So we know where they are,” I said. “What the hell do we do now?”
Sean turned to me. “I’ve got a plan,” he said. He reached out and stroked my head. “But I need your big brain to make it work. And it means getting nasty. You ready to get nasty?”
I thought of Kayley.
