A branch snapped to her left.She whirled that direction and saw him.
He was about six-one, shorter than Faith had guessed, but wider in build, carrying most of his weight on thick thighs and a barrel-shaped core.He didn’t wear a hoodie, but his baseball cap was pulled low over his eyes, and he wore a pair of dark sunglasses and a windbreaker with a turned-up collar that further obscured his features.
And of course, he wore generic size thirteen work boots that looked like they had cost forty dollars brand-new and were now scuffed to hell.
His hand was in his pocket, and when he saw Faith, he bared his teeth and pulled out a small hideaway gun.
Faith drew her handgun, leveling her weapon at him before he could bring his own gun all the way out of his pocket.“Drop it!”she commanded.“Put it down, now!”
“Faith?”Jessica said.“Shit, you’re supposed to tell me if you see him!Turk, let’s go!”
The killer blinked, stunned that Faith drew his weapon faster than he could draw his.Faith repeated her command, still grinning like a fool.“It’s over.Drop the weapon and put your hands on top of your head.”
The killer stared at her in disbelief.“Why are you smiling?Why thehellare you smiling?I was about to kill you, and you’rehappy?”
“You’re not going to kill anyone else,” Faith said.“That’s what makes me happy.”
“Why do you get to be happy?”the killer said.“It’s not fair.I’m a good person.”
Faith had to stifle laughter at that.She dropped her smile too.“There.I’m not smiling anymore.That good enough for you?”Turk barked in the distance, and she added, “That’s my K9.He’s not like the dogs you beat.He can handle you easily.He’s got my partner and all of those sheriff’s deputies and police officers coming with him.It’sover.This is your chance to come without getting hurt.”
The killer looked at his empty hand as though realizing something.“Oh yeah.I forgot my club.”
“All the more reason to not be holding that gun when they get here,” Faith said.When the killer still didn’t drop the gun, Faith tried a different approach.“I’m Special Agent Faith Bold, FBI.What’s your name?”
“Kenneth,” the killer replied absently.
“Kenneth, why don’t you put the gun down for me?We’ll talk.I don’t want to hurt you.If you can drop your weapon, I’ll put mine away, okay?I have to handcuff you, but I can get you away from the crowd and take you somewhere safe.I’ll get you a meal too.You like Mexican food?It’s damned hard to find good Mexican food in Virginia, but I know the best spot.I’ll get you the best burrito you’ve ever had, and you can tell me what’s been going on with you.”
Kenneth lifted his eyes to her.She couldn’t see behind the sunglasses, but the pain on the lower half of his face was palpable.Faith couldn’t quite bring herself to feel sympathy for him, but she felt a whisper of something akin to compassion.“Let’s just take it easy, Kenneth.We can at least get you comfortable.Won’t that be nice?”
Turk barked again, much closer this time.
“You’ve only got a few more seconds,” Faith warned.“Then this becomes very painful.”
Kenneth chuckled bitterly.He looked down at the gun.
“Bad idea,” Faith said, drawing the hammer back.“Very bad idea, Kenneth.Let’s be smart, okay?”
“You know,” Kenneth said, “it really sucks that the nicest people in my life are the guy who kicked me out of my apartment and the FBI agent about to arrest me.Nice job with the whole dog charity story.I really thought you were some stupid twat who was happy for no good reason.”
“Kenneth, put the gun—Kenneth!”
He turned away from Faith and lifted the gun toward his head in one smooth motion.Because he turned away, she couldn’t shoot his hand and make him drop the gun.She started forward, but she wouldn’t reach him before he killed himself.
A blur of black and brown leaped into the air, and an instant later, Kenneth cried out in pain and fell to the ground.Turk stood above him, teeth clamped around his wrist.He lifted his head, forcing the gun away from Kenneth’s body and harmlessly up toward the trees.
“No!”Kenneth cried.“Let me go!”
He punched Turk in the ribs, but the movement was awkward from the position he was lying in, and his blows landed far too softly to hurt the dog.Faith jumped on his arm and forced it to the ground, then grabbed his other hand and pried the .22 out of his grasp.
Kenneth struggled until Faith took the gun away, then went limp.He burst into tears, weeping like a child and muttering, “It’s not fair.It’s not fair.”
Turk looked at Faith.She nodded, and he released him, backing away and watching while Faith rolled Kenneth onto his belly and handcuffed him.
Jessica jogged up a moment later.She blinked in confusion at the scene.“Did he just give up?”
Faith looked down at the weeping man, who continued to mutter about how unfair it was that Turk had prevented him from taking his own life.“Yeah,” she replied.“You could say that.”
